The Way of the Sword (BL)

Chapter 2: Pretending to be a Pig until they become a Tiger

Finally edited! Edited by Shae_1812.

(...)

The two little beggars after listening to the disciple of the Celestial Sword Sect had their eyes shining with the flame of hope.

"Aiy! My little Jie'er will most certainly be one of those selected!", said the older woman with a proud smile. This older woman is the hypocritical one who likes to wag her tongue, speak ill of others, and chase the poor of the village with her mocking and poisonous tongue. Her name is Lady Wen. She is married to the village elder's younger brother and is a mean envious woman. She is one of those odious characters who lived in the village, spoiling the harmonious environment of the small village.

Lady Wen has a son who is quite strong and would have an excellent future as a hunter and village provider, but now with a large sect recruiting talented youngsters her son "clearly" would have a better chance in life! Obviously, the Celestial Sword disciple did not mind the woman's arrogant remark, in fact, he even smiled sarcastically.

How could it be that easy to get into the sect?

The two little children who were watching Lady Wen strutting around all of them just snorted in their hearts with disdain. They then hurried back to the forest, which was outside the walls which by the way were made of logs - of the small village. In fact, it was rather strange that the two boys could live outside the small village, mainly because the forest was a dangerous place even for the skillful adults of the village.

However, the villagers did not know that these children slept outside the village. Everyone thought they slept along with the other beggars. The younger boy was walking in front of the taller boy with footsteps that were steady and full of confidence, showing just how familiar they are with the way. Arriving in a clearing they stopped walking, there was a tent made of animal skin and on the floor was a circle drawn with coal surrounding the children's camp. The circle had some strange runes engraved and intertwined in it. If one of the Celestial Sword Sect members saw this, they would be shocked because that was the circle of a matrix of very powerful protection and was very complicated to be mounted.

On arrival, the little boy suddenly reached out and a strange stone came out of nowhere in his little dirty hand, then a silver barrier appeared flickering and then an opening appeared. The two boys passed through this silver barrier which then closed, and the environment returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

"Brother Yan, are we going to take this test?", asked the older boy as he took the leftover food and placed it in a cloth bag, tossing it to the side. 

The younger boy was silent for some time as he decided not to respond. He went into the small hut where there was a large barrel of water. He picks up some wooden buckets with water and filled up a copper tub (which looks like a big bucket). Surprisingly, as he put his hands in the copper tub, his hands began to turn red and a few seconds later the water was warm.

The older boy who was still outside the hut only sighed at the lack of response from his brother. He knew that his Brother Yan probably would not participate in the test of this great sect, though he did not know why. What he knew was that his brother Yan was very talented, but he always kept a low profile. So low that he pretended to be a beggar in this little village, even turning the garbage like a hungry pig!

A few minutes later a very thin boy came out of the hut. Though, now he was very clean, with long brown hair that was still wet and soft brown eyes. This clean little boy is clearly Brother Yan, or as it is known in the village, Song Yan. Song Yan was not handsome, having a rather ordinary face. Only that his eyes had a very soft and warm glow, which created a sense of closeness and protectiveness in people.

"Jun, go shower, you're stinking", said Song Yan frowning. His face was very thin, as he did not eat regularly and neither did his friend. "And who said we had to look miserable and then forced me to act like a pig digging in the trash?", Jun asked back with an ironic voice. 

"Brother Yuga, do not be rude, it's all for the sake of survival," Song Yan said flatly, thus wringing a smile from the dirty little boy standing with both the hands on his hips.

"When are we going to stop being pigs and play with the tigers?", Jun sighed and asked. After all, who would like to go scavenging as beggars? 

"My parents told me that I can only act like a tiger when I'm 16", Yan Song quipped with a smile.

"If uncle and aunt said that to you before they died, then I cannot do anything", said Jun, resigning himself to this pig destiny.

Yuga is an orphan from another village, whose family was wrongfully killed. The village leader, who needed someone to take the blame for some robberies made Yuga's family the scapegoat. However, in the end, the village failed to kill Jun, perhaps out of pity or just not to be cursed by the gods for killing a child.

But the village leader could not allow Yuga to grow into someone strong and then cause confusion in the village or seek vengeance for his family. So, he expelled Jun into the forest and left him to live on his own. Which was the same as a death sentence!

From that day onwards, Yi Yuga disappeared into the forest and was never seen again in that village. Everyone thought that he had fled because he felt shameful for his family's deeds and that he eventually died in the forest. Yi Yuga was seven years old at the time and luckily, he found another child in the forest. This child was in poor clothes but was clean and tidy, which surprised Yi Yuga. It did not take long for the two of them to get acquainted and each told the other his own story. Over time Yi Yuga discovered that his Brother Yan was very talented, intelligent, always optimistic and good-humored.

However, what he did not understand was Song Yan's obsession with keeping a low profile and pretending to be crazy in front of the villagers. Whenever he tried to broach on this subject, his Brother Yan looked brooding and silent. So, over time, Yi Yuga stopped asking about the reason behind this pretense. After all, his Brother Yan felt bad talking about it.

While Yi Yuga was washing, Song Yan sat on a wooden log bench which he and Yi Yuga had made themselves. No one would believe that Yi Yuga and Song Yan had built the small hut, the items they have in the house and that they even had a copper tub!

Song Yan stared into the darkening sky, his small bony hand gripping the copper ring tightly. This copper ring was very simple and looked very old. A rope held the ring on Song Yan's thin neck. It was the only thing left behind by his parents and it was more precious to Song Yan than his own life.

Song Yan closed his eyes as if asleep, but his consciousness entered the rusty ring. Just before Song Yan's brown eyes, appeared a vast collection of items, plants, eggs, recipes, cauldrons, weapons, etc., filling the whole ring. If any powerful sect could look into that ring right now, their jaws would drop in disbelief. This little unassuming ring is even more well-endowed than the treasures of the sects!

But then, who was this Song Family? Who is Song Yan?