Chapter 54 - Salvation From Darkness

"Everyone, it's time for lunch, there are also sweets which brother Li Jie had brought, you all can have it as a desert", shouted Fu Li, it can be seen that Fu Li and the maid Xiao Chu were preparing food and serving, while Dai Chen can also be seen helping them with their work.

Whereas the younger siblings of Dai Chen and Fu Li were ignoring her, as they were engrossed in Li Jie's storytelling about "The Forest" where his master had left him to train, he was telling them about the various beasts, which was not something these kids had ever experienced, what impressed the kids most was when Li Jie told them about "The Thunder Bird", while he didn't know about the species of that king stage bird at that time, but later when he came back to his home, he started reading through Beasts and Magical plants record, he found it's species name to be "Thunder Bird", it's an extremely strong king stage beast, but unlike other common type or special type beasts, it has potential towards reaching the divine stage, while others can also reach the divine stage, but the chances of them reaching divine stage is minuscule and in the same stage "The Thunder Bird" is stronger than it's peers, it can be said to be comparable to the Bird of the imperial family with thin vermilion bird bloodline.

Reading various books from the Li family library would help Li Jie remember the species of various plants and animals, as unlike before, he had decided to prepare properly and not be in a life-threatening encounter like before in the forest, this is what Li Jie understood from his experiences that the difference between beasts and humans is that of knowledge while having knowledge doesn't give direct benefits, but they can help in most crucial times, that's why Li Jie had decided to read more and more about everything he can find out about.

The kids were in awe about "The Thunder Bird, it's beauty and strength of the beast as described by Li Jie really made them excited as they wanted to see it for their own, but they shuddered at the thought of it's fearsome strength which was mentioned by Li Jie as standing in front of that beast, they could only stay still and not move from the king stage's beast's very aura.

All of the kids listening to Li Jie had their mouths open in awe, it was then they noticed that Li Jie was looking at them with a helpless smile, they couldn't understand Li Jie's weird smile at first but suddenly out of nowhere they felt a cold sensation on their back, it was then that they felt a cold sensation on their back, they understood that someone was behind them, and when they looked behind themselves, their fear came true, it was their eldest sister Fu Li holding a ladle on her hand, with a pissed off smirking expression, who looked like she was ready to give these kids a good scolding, but then she saw Li Jie coming forward In their defense, "Sister Fu Li, I apologize it was because of me, that they didn't listen to you and I was too excited meeting them in person and it's been long since I have met with someone of my age, back at my home I was bored and I only had my younger siblings to play, I hope you don't scold them on my behalf".

Normally Fu Li would have disregarded these words, if it was Dai Chen because he would always try to save the younger ones from punishment, while Fu Li also didn't want to punish them unnecessarily, she didn't want her younger siblings to go down the wrong path as it is easy to be influenced to do wrong in this slum, where those who aren't even that much older can do horrible things which one would not be able to fathom, all she wanted was for her cute innocent siblings to be as they are, she started reminiscing about the time when she was new to the slums, she nearly hated all of humanity and entering the slums pushed her more towards darkness, where all filth of the continent truly was collected as she had seen things which she would never have thought to be possible, if not for her experiencing the slums, she felt she would lose her mind from all the filth she witnessed, she still remembered how when she was new, she had to fight for her survival day and night and what happened with weak female members in the slums was something which was branded in her mind.

Regardless of their gender, those who were older and with strength, besides the hunger many other filthy and disgusting acts occurred by them and that too openly without any shame.

Fu Li never wanted her siblings to turn that way, all she wanted was for her siblings to be just and right as she had always wanted, and it was also at that moment, her gaze went towards Dai Chen, who even after being her sibling felt like a mystery to her, from outside he was meek and servile but Fu Li knew he was a kind person who would try to help everyone if possible but what was a mystery to her was that he lived in the slums far before she came to the slums, and he was the only type of person in all of the slums, any human no matter their nature after coming to the slums would have a drastic change in personality and that too one with a ruthless nature, but he never felt violence was the answer, as he would solve everything differently.

How could Fu Li forget the one who saved her was none other than Dai Chen, while she was skilled enough to fend for herself but in the process, she used to feel as she was drowning in a river of darkness in the slums, where she had to experience the most disgusting side of human nature on a daily basis, and one time she was surrounded by many corpses, while she was tired and wanted to sleep but she knew any kind of relaxation will only lead to her death, but who could have known a girl who was almost on the verge of dying inside her heart was saved by an unremarkable weak boy who was none other than Dai Chen.

When she felt there was no end to the cruelty and darkness of human nature, she saw from the corner of her eyes a boy who climbed the hill of garbage and picked her body up and ran into hiding, she at first wanted to resist but she was too tired and fell asleep when she woke up, she found herself in a shabby hut, where she found herself to be bandaged with different colored clothes, and she felt relaxed but there was vigilance in her eyes, and then she saw a boy entering her room, which made her ready to fight, but the moment she was picking herself up, she was stopped by Dai Chen, who told her that he will go out if she feels insecure after the boy left, Fu Li felt weird about the boy's behavior and wondered if she was outside the slums, but the shabby hut was proof and a certain kind of smell was very familiar to Fu Li, after some time she felt someone entering her room and found three kids, two boys and a girl who were looking at her curiously, she was surprised, she wondered why would the boy who saved her have small kids in his hut, and then she remembered something, which made her face solemn, she felt that the kids were made bad things done by that boy or he will be doing something bad to them, so she decided to save them from the clutches of this filthy boy who must have the same intention towards her.

After regaining her strength, she went outside, which was what shocked her most, she could see the kids playing around the hut with carefree expression, and seeing their happy expressions she started to wonder if these kids were even of slums, who had solemn expressions on their face all the time.

She thought that maybe the boy will sell these kids for his own interest, but then she witnessed the most shocking thing of her life, which was how the boy would come with food, sometimes less and sometimes more, but every time she witnessed the boy to first serving these foods to the kids and only when they eat to their full would the boy eat the remaining, he would always be the last one to eat which made her opinion of the boy improve drastically, there were even times when she would see the boy not eating anything, due to the low quantity of food, one day she told him to take care of himself and that he should also eat, to which Dai Chen only smiled back and said that small kids need to eat as much as possible to grow big and strong, hearing the boy, Fu Li only had one thought, "Even the outside world has no one who can compare to the kindness of the boy, it was hard for a girl her age to fathom a boy with such kindness to be in the slums, where all the filth of continent is present, she only had one thought regarding this, "Looks like while throwing garbage in the slums, the continent has mistakenly thrown gold in the slums.

Whenever Dai Chen told her and his other siblings about Li Jie, she knew exactly how he felt, as it was Dai Chen who saved her from something which even the strongest of the practitioners of this continent could never, she knew how he looked at Li Jie with utmost admiration, because that is how she looks at Dai Chen.

Looking at Dai Chen, made her old memories surface, and there was a drop of tear at the corner of her eyes which she removed fast for no one to notice and smiled with quite a beautiful expression and said, "Ok, if brother Li Jie says so, then I will not punish you guys, but you all will behave and listen to me from now on".

The kids nodded, and then they all went to eat.

Fu Li was happy with her life and with her siblings, she felt salvation, which was only possible because of Dai Chen.