Chapter 3

Chapter 3

And that was how my senior brother became my senior brother.

He said I was lucky. I had shown up just when he needed to do good deeds and build up some virtue.

Until I recovered my memories, he would keep exorcising demons while helping me search for my parents.

But there was one condition.

“From now on, you only call me Senior Brother.” Senior Brother bent down and leaned closer, making me look carefully at his face. “Do I look that old? I can’t be more than a few years older than you, can I?”

Senior Brother said he had endured it from me for long enough. If I called him uncle again, he would make me pay for it.

I tried my best to look obedient and nodded hard.

“I understand, Senior Brother!”

In front of Senior Brother, I did not dare misbehave.

After all, from the very first time I saw him, I had felt he was something special.

When he talked about killing people, it was as casual as discussing whether a steamed bun was too hard.

When he brought up exorcising demons, he made it sound as effortless as crushing an ant.

Yet strangely, not only was I not afraid of him, I even felt warm inside.

There was just one question that would not leave my mind.

“Senior Brother, didn’t you say you don’t kill people?” I asked indistinctly while chewing on a steamed bun. “That fat man surnamed Zhao was human too.”

By then, five days had passed since we left the county town where the Zhao Family lived.

Yet even in a small town a hundred li away, we could still hear news of Fatty Zhao’s sudden death.

“That crooked merchant finally died?”

“Who did it? Well done!”

“This is a blessing from the heavens! Which righteous hero took action?”

…

People on the street were talking excitedly, unaware that the hero they spoke of was crouched in an empty alley next door, gnawing on a steamed bun.

Senior Brother answered me just as indistinctly.

“I really don’t kill people. But he was a bad person.”

Senior Brother swallowed his last bite, then glanced at the half bun paused by my mouth, eyeing it hungrily.

“If bad people don’t die, they will hurt good people.”

I thought he had a point, but after thinking about it again, my feelings inevitably grew complicated.

“Senior Brother, how do you tell good people from bad people?”

“Didn’t they bully you? Anyone who bullies you is a bad person. They also tricked me, and anyone who tricks me is a bad person.

“Greed, theft, arson, murder, robbery-anyone who does those things is a bad person.”

Senior Brother paused, then raised a hand and pointed. “Are you eating that bun or not? If not, give it to me.”

I had already lost my appetite, so I grudgingly handed the rest of the bun to Senior Brother.

“I don’t know whether I am a bad person.”

If I counted it up, eating and living for free at the Zhao Family’s home was greed. Killing chickens on the back mountain was theft.

If Senior Brother killed bad people, would he kill me one day too?

Great fear seized my heart, and my reverence for Senior Brother deepened even more.

While I was feeling uneasy, I heard him say quietly, “Ask, and we will know.”

I froze. “Ask who?”

Senior Brother said, “The sword.”

He abruptly stood and gripped the hilt at his waist.

His palm opened and closed, and the blade shot out, slicing through the air.

This was the first time I had ever seen Senior Brother draw his sword.

The blade was about as wide as my palm, rippling with a glassy radiance.

From top to bottom, it first shone as vividly as rosy dawn clouds, then turned clear and pure like spring water washing over stone. Farther down-

Farther down, there was nothing.

The blade ended abruptly, and its light dimmed in an instant, turning into mottled rust.

I was a little surprised. Senior Brother was so powerful, yet he carried a broken sword.

“This sword…”

This sword was way too shabby.

Afraid of offending Senior Brother, I stammered and could not get the rest out. As I hesitated, I heard a sharp sound split the air overhead.

I looked up and focused, only to see Senior Brother holding the broken sword and chopping down at me.

He was so fast that I froze in place, even forgetting to breathe.

It was over. Senior Brother had suddenly gone mad and wanted to cut me down-this was my last thought before I closed my eyes.

But several breaths passed, and the pain I had expected never came.

I slowly opened my eyes and discovered that the broken sword had vanished into thin air. In its place were feathers filling the sky.

Crystal-clear feathers reflected my image as they drifted around me.

They brushed across my cheeks, swaying down like gentle pecks, and gradually formed a vortex on the ground.

I was lost in that stunning sight and could not speak for a long time.

Senior Brother stood outside the vortex, watching me with an utterly calm gaze.

After who knew how long, the feathers rose gracefully and flew back into Senior Brother’s hand, gathering once more into the rusty blade.

Slowly, I touched my face, as if that soft sensation still lingered there.

When I looked at Senior Brother again, he was also staring at the sword in his hand in a daze.

“Senior Brother?” I called softly. “What did your sword say?”

Senior Brother lifted his eyes. His expression was strange, but his tone remained flat.

“It said you are the most pitiful person it has ever seen.”