Chapter 24
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Chapter 24: Ice and Fire Poison Dragon
Seeing Fang Lie return, a group of children rushed over, clinging to his legs while shouting, "Brother! Brother!"
"Brother, you’re back at last! We worried sick!"
"Brother, we missed you terribly!"
"Those mean outsiders said you died. Our hearts almost broke!"
"Brother, we’ll behave! We’ll skip meals! Please don’t leave again – too many bad people outside!"
"Brother~ waaah~"
The children dissolved into tears as they spoke. Their patched clothes and earnest, childish pleas finally broke Fang Lie’s composure. Tears streamed down the tough man’s face – this same man who’d endured 108 strikes from flaming and watery great rods without blinking, who’d borne three stab wounds without bending his knees, whose tendons had been shredded until sweat poured like rain yet never cried out.
Now he sobbed openly like the children around him. Even steel-hearted men weep when grief cuts deep.
"Little ones," he vowed, "From today, we’ll fear nothing. We’ll have money for new clothes, good meals, proper lives. Brother promises!"
The children stared wide-eyed before erupting: "Really? You’re not fooling us?"
"When has Brother ever lied?" Fang Lie declared solemnly.
"You fib about eating! Said you weren’t hungry but went without food!"
"Brother tells stories all the time!"
Fang Lie’s ears turned red. "That’s… different. This time it’s true. See? I returned unharmed."
"But Brother grew wings!"
"Golden ones! So shiny!"
"And words saying ‘Dao De’! What’s that?"
"Treasures from the Cycle of Fire," Fang Lie grinned. "They let me fly fast!"
"Prove it!" the children chorused.
"Watch closely!" He snapped his wings open, soaring upward. The ancestral cave dwelling’s vast space – a mile wide, hundred-foot ceiling – allowed easy flight.
The children gasped as Fang Lie darted through the air like a sparrow, executing sharp turns. On impulse, he swooped to grab two daring kids for a tandem flight. Their shrieks of delight made others clamor for turns.
Trapped by their pleas, Fang Lie spent hours giving rides to dozens of children until his robes clung with sweat. Though exhausted, his heart swelled seeing their laughter echo through the cavern that usually held only sorrow.
Actually, the children under Fang Lie’s care endured lives harsher than ordinary orphans of the mortal world.
Their parents had all been Mo Sect disciples – cultivators who’d achieved some success in the Dao, many from the prestigious Eight-Hundred-Generation Families.
Yet cultivators, especially powerful ones, despised offspring lacking spiritual roots. Such children were considered shameful stains on their parents’ reputations. Those with even weak spiritual roots escaped mockery, but rootless children became unbearable burdens.
Some marginally compassionate cultivators dispatched servants to raise these children like unwanted pets. The image-obsessed resorted to infanticide and secret burials. Many simply abandoned babies in the vast wilderness surrounding Mo Sect headquarters – ten thousand li of sparsely populated land where disappearances went unnoticed.
Others became orphans through parents’ untimely deaths. Those with spiritual roots found adoptive families, but the rootless faced rejection even from relatives.
Fang Lie’s household consisted almost entirely of such castoffs. Before becoming orphaned himself, his kindhearted family had frequently taken in abandoned children. After his father’s death in battle, Fang Lie continued this tradition despite being the Fang Family’s sole survivor.
Over years, the Fang ancestral home evolved into Mo Sect’s unofficial orphanage. Dozens of parentless children arrived voluntarily, some literally left on the doorstep. Maintaining forty-odd mouths required constant spirit stones in this merciless environment.
Fang Lie made desperate choices – converting spiritual fields meant for medicinal herbs into rice paddies, even planting crops in the precious Zi Yun Spiritual Field that recently attracted unwanted attention. He sold ancestral properties and magical tools to scrape by.
His struggles stemmed from multiple injustices. The Fang Family had never been wealthy due to his father’s charitable nature. All treasures vanished after his father’s death, leaving no inheritance. Worse, Mo Sect scoundrels withheld battle compensation, seized external Fang properties, and denied Fang Lie proper outer disciple privileges.
Despite being exploited at work and bullied by Yuan Hua’s gang, Fang Lie miraculously kept dozens fed and healthy. Without him, few would have survived.
When Old Bird spoke of Fang Lie’s accumulated merit, it was no exaggeration. Beyond sustaining orphans, he constantly defended fellow outer disciples despite frequent beatings. His thick skin, talent, and rapid cultivation progress prevented worse outcomes.
As virtue ultimately finds reward, Fang Lie’s years of kindness bore fruit. His great merit enabled passing the Divine Phoenix Nirvana Scripture’s final trial, mastering this supreme art and securing his future ascendancy.
After settling the younger children, Fang Lie gathered four older teens in the main hall – three boys and one girl, all fourteen or fifteen with spiritual roots.
The eldest was chubby, amiable Ice Second Brother (Chi Hanbing), bearing an ice-element spiritual root. Next stood fiery-haired Fang Huo, who’d adopted the Fang surname.
Then came the black-shrouded Du Mei, called Mao Mao. Covered head-to-toe except for eye slits, her caterpillar-like hairs and acrid odor made others avoid her. Despite her poisonous nickname and tragic appearance (a result of childhood experiments by poison cultivators), she remained gentle and timid.
Last came the most striking – a ragged youth carrying himself like royalty. Abandoned naked in winter forests with no Token, he’d been rescued by Fang Lie’s father. Naming himself Longxing Tianxia (Dragon Walks the World), the independent teen demanded everyone call him Little Dragon.
Together, they formed Fang Lie’s core companions – Ice, Fire, Poison, and Dragon.
