The Legend

7. Becoming A Guard

In the quiet room, Linfen still on the bed, his eyes closed. After an unknown amount of time, his eyelashes fluttered, and his eyes slowly opened. Clearly unaccustomed to the light, he squinted sharply, and it took him a while to adjust. 

When Linfen felt a surge of heat, he frowned, and just as he was about to make a move, a pain pulled him back to reality. 

"Hah!" Linfen gasped sharply, the sharp pain in his neck making him wince. His injuries seemed quite serious! He couldn't help but grimace, and only then did he have the mind to look around, momentarily stunned. Then he frowned and muttered to himself. "Where am I?" 

It was a fairly clean room, not luxurious like a wealthy family's, but not as shabby as a poor family's either. There was a bed, a table, and a shelf displaying a few pieces of porcelain, on which a sword sat quietly.  

Linfen frowned and sat up. 

Just then, the door opened, and he saw a cute little head peek in.  

Seeing Linfen staring at her, it instantly shrank back like a startled rabbit.  

"Hey...where..." Linfen couldn't help but wondered in confusion.  

But only a moment later, the little head poked in again, stuck out its cute little tongue, and then pushed open the door and walked in. 

Only then did Linfen get a clear look at the person. It was a little girl about the same age as him, with long, flowing black hair that cascaded down her back. Her light blue dress made her look even more delicate and lovely, and her bright eyes blinked, full of spirit. 

"Relax, you're safe here?" The silvery voice, carrying a faint, sweet fragrance, was soothing and instantly increased Linfen's goodwill towards her. 

"Where am I?" Linfen asked slowly as he winced in pain. "The tiger.....you saved my life?" 

"To be precise, we saved you. It was my little sister who found you! Seeing you severely injured on the ground, she brought you back to life! Also, this is a branch city; we are just a small branch of the Samsara Clan. Your injuries haven't fully healed yet, so if you don't have anything urgent to do, you can rest and recover here!" 

"Thank you so much, ma'am. May I ask your name?" 

"My name is Layun, everyone calls me Yuna, you can call me Sister Yuna" The woman seemed very pleased that Linfen called her sister, and a charming smile appeared on her face, revealing a row of snow-white teeth, which was quite beautiful. Seeing Linfen's stunned expression, Layun couldn't help but smile and said, "What's your name? How did you end up in the middle of the Starry Night Forest? Luckily, you weren't too deep in, or you would have been dead!" 

Linfen smiled sheepishly, her face slightly flushed, and lowered her head slightly as she said, "My name is Linfen. I was playing around and accidentally ended up there." 

The woman seemed very surprised! "Playing around? You're just like my little sister. She's a real troublemaker. Even though everyone bullies her, she's still very happy." 

"What a lovely little child." Linfen said, pretending to be an old man. 

"Hehe, alright, I won't disturb your recovery any longer. If there's nothing else, just stay here and focus on healing!" Layun smiled and turned to leave. "By the way, what of your parents? How could they let you go to such a dangerous place alone to play?" 

Hearing this, Linfen's eyes dimmed slightly. He forced a smile and said, "I'm an orphan, so..."  

Upon hearing this, Layun immediately lowered her head in embarrassment. "Oh, I'm so sorry. That means you're all alone. You can stay here with us, but you'll have to be my guard. How about that?" 

"A guard?" Although Linfen had no intention of becoming a mere guard here, he still said, "I'll consider it." 

After a while, Linfen felt several people in the room and slowly opened his eyes. He was shocked when he saw the people in front of him. 

Above him stood a middle-aged man with piercing eyes. His distinctive aura sent a chill down Linfen's spine; he was definitely a powerful figure. Meeting the man's gaze, Linfen felt as if he were suffocating, his breathing becoming labored. 

"Father, don't treat him like that! He's still injured!"  

The middle-aged man nodded slightly, a hint of doting affection appearing in his eyes as he looked at the girl. Then he turned to Linfen and said, "Since my daughter already saved you, you can stay here as a guard." 

The tone was as if Linfen were being treated like a servant, causing him to frown. But before he could speak, the man walked straight towards him, lifted his right hand, and a faint stream of energy entered Linfen's body from his hand. Linfen was shocked, and a surge of anger welled up from the bottom of his heart. 

Before the middle-aged man could finish, she suddenly flung his hand away, shaking off his grip.  

A hint of anger flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes, and he sneered, "I was testing whether you were qualified to be our family's guard or not?" 

"I don't want to be any mere guard!" Linfen's temper flared up. A pure heart didn't mean weakness; on the contrary, it meant not backing down when faced with unreasonable situations! 

"It's an honor for someone at the Bitter Mortal Realm to serve as a guard in my house. Besides, you barely qualify as a guard. Your eight meridians are blocked, and your energy channels are difficult to open. What right do you have to speak to me? If it weren't for my daughter, you would probably be lying dead in the wilderness long ago, hmph!" 

"Alright, Father, that's enough! He'll be my guard, right, Linfen? Don't worry, Father, it's ok." After speaking, Layun looked at the middle-aged man with a pitiful gaze, which immediately softened his expression. She then stared intently at Linfen, who was still on the bed, and glanced at him with extreme disdain. 

"The Bitter Mortal Realm, even the menial servants here are at the Meridian Opening Realm. Your meridians are blocked, your pulse points are difficult to open, there's no way you can enter the Meridian Opening Realm! Shy should I even keep you in my house? What a joke!" The middle-aged man snorted coldly, then turned and left without looking back. 

Linfen was startled. At this moment, Linfen did not listen to what the man said afterward. His mind was filled with the middle-aged man's previous words: "The eight meridians are blocked, and the meridian gates are difficult to open! It will never be possible to enter the Meridian Opening Realm!"  

A tear of humiliation slid down Linfen's cheek. 

"Fine, I'll prove it to you that I can be a guard." Linfen's fists clenched until they turned purple, his face flushed red, and his body trembled uncontrollably. 

Seeing Linfen like this, Layun didn't know how to comfort him and could only turn and leave.  

The room seemed to fall silent instantly!  

Linfen became absorbed in trying hard to sense the meridians throughout his body. Just before his consciousness faded, he clearly sensed the flow of energy throughout his body—this was the first time he had truly felt the circulation of energy within his meridians. 

He gently placed his hand on his lower abdomen, trying his best to capture that feeling! Finally, the feeling became clearer and clearer. Just as he was about to give up from exhaustion, his body trembled, and he saw the pathways of the meridians throughout his body. At that moment, his eyes lit up with joy. However, the next moment, this joy completely vanished. 

As the middle-aged man said, the eight extraordinary meridians are blocked, and the meridian gates are difficult to open! The second stage of meridian opening cultivation relied entirely on one's own sensing mental power to break through the eight extraordinary meridians and open the eight major meridian gates. 

But for Linfen, who couldn't use his mental power, all of this seemed incredibly distant. The complete inability to sense any mental power caused his heart to sink to the bottom. Cold sweat slowly trickled down his face.  

No matter how unwilling he was, he had to face reality. For now, the only thing he could do was become a guard of the Samsara branch family! Although he didn't intend to become a guard, he couldn't swallow the sarcasm and ridicule from the middle-aged man. His stubborn nature made him unwilling to accept it! A seed of becoming stronger slowly sprouted in his heart. 

With his eyes tightly closed, he tried desperately to sense the presence of mental power within his body, but it was all in vain. His body seemed incapable of generating mental power. Despite his extraordinary physical abilities, he couldn't break through his meridians, let alone his pulse points.  

After several days, Linfen's wounds were completely healed! He felt much more energetic and had gained a more open-minded perspective on many things! 

"Linfen, come on, let's go out for a walk! Aren't you bored staying cooped up in your room all the time?" Layun seemed to have found a playmate, constantly urging Linfen to go out and play. This kind of treatment made some people extremely envious, but Linfen could only smile bitterly to himself. 

As Layun arrived in the branch city, Linfen could clearly see the murderous looks directed at him from those around him. All he could do was smile bitterly. Although he was unwilling to play the role of a guard, he didn't know how to refuse when he looked at the charming Layun. He could only think to himself, "Being her guard is my way of repaying her for saving my life!" 

"Please stop hitting me, okay? It hurts!"  

Just as Linfen followed Layun into a shop, he heard such a voice. The voice sounded so weak and helpless that it touched Linfen's heart. However, someone was faster than him. 

"What are you people doing? Didn't I warn you not to bully her again?" Layun roared at the group like an enraged lioness. Her pretty face was flushed red as she walked past the little girl who was curled up on the ground and said, "Get up, little sister, don't cry!" 

The girl came to her senses, slowly raised her head, and looked at the figure in front of her. A touching smile spread across her scarred face, shining brightly in the sunlight. "Senior Sister, I'm fine. They were just playing a game with me!" 

Linfen and Layun's eyes instantly reddened at that sight. Even in this situation, she was still speaking up for the people who bullied her.  

Layun patted her little head, but couldn't say a word.