Li Jian scowled as he looked at Shen Mu with eyes that could kill. It was clear that had this other person not arrived, then Li Jian would without a doubt have caused problems for Xue Wei, but now that the son of the City Lord was present, he did not dare to do anything.

"You won't be this lucky next time!" Li Jian sneered as he turned around and left, leaving behind only Xue Wei and Shen Mu where they stood.

"I am so sorry!" Shen Mu said apologetically, and he truly looked incredibly sad. "I was too obsessed with getting my hands on a Rising Mountain Dewflower that I even lost track of you, and when I returned, I saw you were caught by Li Jian."

"Li Jian is a no-good guy; he is not a nice fellow. Try to stay clear of him whenever you can." Shen Mu sighed, but although he looked sad, a twinkle sparkled in his eyes and his arms were grabbing hold of a paper bag with a jade case within. It was clear that this was his treasured Rising Mountain Dewflower.

Xue Wei shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said blandly. He was not disappointed at Shen Mu vanishing like that, because he had never really expected anything from Shen Mu, and although the latter considered them friends, Xue Wei still only saw him as an acquaintance.

Xue Wei returned to look at the stall in front of him as if nothing had happened before and ended up purchasing a few books. Shen Mu tried to convince him to eat out at one of the dining places, but Xue Wei was adamant on returning home.

He had made it a ritual to always eat his meals together with his uncle, and this was something he did not want to lose out on.

This was not the last time that Xue Wei visited town. As the weeks and months went by, Xue Wei went to the markets at least once a week to purchase newspapers, books, and other readable information from the vast world.

It was not every time he went with Shen Mu, sometimes he went on his own, and when he did, he quickly experienced that Li Jian would know about him coming out to do some shopping.

Li Jian would not let go of any chance to ridicule and torment Xue Wei. At the start, this began as verbal sparring, but Xue Wei was very scholarly. He had read so many books and knew so much that it was impossible to defeat him using words, and thus Li Jian had no other option than to resort to using his fists.

At the beginning, it did not hurt Xue Wei too much. Li Jian was still just a mortal and a ten-year-old child to boot. Although he had gained some Qi, he was still not a first layered Ordinary Warrior and thus his punches did not sting too much, but as time went on and he became stronger and stronger, Xue Wei became more and more alert.

Li Jian made sure to always hit Xue Wei where the clothes covered his body so that no one would notice the bruises and wounds, but from time to time rumors of the bullying made it through town and arrived at the mansion, reaching Xiao Lei's ears.

When this happened, Xiao Lei would be furious. He would explode with anger, and it took everything in Xue Wei's power to keep him from going to kill Li Jian, or at least beat him up.

Slowly, years went by. Nothing much changed in the proceedings of Tiankong City, and although not many spoke about Xue Wei any more out of fear for what Xiao Lei would do if he heard them, everyone looked down on this particular young master. It was hard to respect someone who could not even become an Ordinary Warrior.

"Trash! How can someone like you even be allowed outside! You should just be hiding inside your mansion. If it were not for your uncle, I'd have crippled you for real already!" a cold and cynical voice sounded next to Xue Wei as he was walking on the street.

As he heard the voice, he sighed internally and straightened his face, completely hiding any and all emotion that could be shown.

"Young Master Li, how come you are here? I thought it was time for you to train?" Xue Wei asked casually as he lifted his head and looked at the young man in front of him.

Although some years had passed, Li Jian looked very much the same as he had done when he was a child, albeit his features had matured over the years.

Xue Wei had learned at what time the young masters of the prominent families within Tiankong City were training. It was at this time he would usually venture out into the City, but from time to time he would be unlucky and run into a young master or young miss that was taking the day off. Today was exactly such a day, and Xue Wei could not help but sigh to himself because of his bad luck.

"As if a piece of trash like you understands what it means to train in the first place," the young master of House Li snorted as he looked at Xue Wei maliciously. "Beat him up!" he grinned to the men behind him, and without delay, the young men behind him all jumped out and started kicking and beating down on Xue Wei.

These were all cultivators, and although they were only Ordinary Warriors, their strength far exceeded Xue Wei’s. He could not even hold the slightest wisp of Qi within his body, and as a result, he was beaten rather badly.

Usually, the young masters would not beat Xue Wei too much as they knew about the looming dragon behind him who would go into a fit of rage whenever Xue Wei came home wounded, but today they ignored every bit of caution and kicked and hit Xue Wei till his entire body was aching and yellow and blue bruises sprouted all over.