"Boy! Get over here now!" The old man yelled as he stormed out of an old wooden house. "I told you to chop this pile of wood! Why isn't it done?!"

The boy glanced up from the well he had just pulled water from. It started to snow as the boy strained his eyes toward the man and began to say, "Fath—"

"Don't call me your father! Call me Zheng Xia Ning!" He strode over to the boy and towered over him. Raising his hand over his head, he prepared to strike the boy. The boy, who by now was leaning against the full bucket of water that rested on the well's rim, looked at the old man with fear in his eyes.

The man's arm came down. The boy felt a blow to his face, and his head snapped sideways as he dropped to the ground. His vision blurred, and he waited a couple of seconds before they returned to normal. He slowly glanced up at the old man who stood above him, fists clenched. He saw the rage and hatred the old man had for him. It was always like this. The old man would find any excuse to blame him and hit him.

"Don't you dare look at me that way!" He kicked the side of the boy's abdomen hard. An intense pain shot through the boy as he curled up, bracing himself for the worst to come.

The beating lasted for ten minutes, and by the time he finished, the boy could hardly move.

"Get up! You idiot! Get up now!" He screamed.

The boy lay on his stomach. Slowly, he put his two hands palms down on the ground and tried to push his body upwards. He had almost succeeded in lifting himself when he suddenly fell back onto his stomach,  too weak to get up.

"You worthless person! If I had known you'd be this troublesome, I never would have agreed to take care of you! Humph!" He kicked the boy one last time before storming inside the wooden house.

The boy lay in the same place and closed his eyes. How did I become so unlucky? He thought to himself as his mind drifted off.

When he came to himself again, it was already nighttime, and he was still outside. Slowly, he forced himself to get up and dragged himself to a small wooden structure near the back of the house.

This structure had cracks and holes everywhere, and during long, cold nights such as this one, he would shiver very hard. All he had in the wooden structure was hay for a bed, a wooden basin, and a small candle, which he considered a luxury. He pulled himself onto the hay and wrapped himself in a thin, worn-out blanket. He shivered uncontrollably. "One of these days, I'm going to die. It's only a matter of time," he thought to himself as he slowly drifted off into a restless sleep.

***************************************************

It was twilight when Zheng Xia Ning burst through the door screaming, "Get up, boy! It's time for you to cut the wood!" He stomped over to the huddled form lying on the mat and ripped the blanket away. He tossed the blanket to the ground and forcefully yanked the boy up by his arms. The boy moaned.

"What! Do you think that just because you are hurt, I should pity you? Or do you think I should give you a break? I'm telling you, ungrateful brat, that you are nothing but scum to me! I can get rid of you if I want! Now get up before I do!" 

The boy moaned as he was dragged out of the shack and brought in front of a pile of wood, which was partially covered by snow. The man let go of the boy who immediately collapsed onto the ground. The man took out his whip and hit the boy. The boy groaned.
    "I said get up! Get up!" the man bellowed as he beat the boy blow after blow. The boy covered his head and ears as he curled up into a fetal position. Finally, Zheng Xia Ning stopped beating him and tucked the whip between his belt and his body.

"You better have finished cutting this pile of wood before noon, or else you will have no breakfast," Zheng Xia Ning said as he smiled cruelly.

The boy was left in the snow and felt relieved as he heard Zheng Xia Ning's receding steps. After a minute, the boy got onto his knees and reached for the wooden pile. It took a couple of tries before he finally managed to grab the edge of a wooden block. As he attempted to stand up, his body screamed in pain. He felt his stomach splitting open. Despite this, he slowly used one of his arms to pull himself up. He was almost successful when his knees buckled under him. As quick as lightning, his other hand grabbed the wooden ledge, and he stabilized himself. He was standing up now, but barely. His heart was racing wildly, and his breath was shallow.

Only at this moment did he realize he did not have proper clothing on. Except for a thin white robe, he wore nothing that could block him from the cold. Even knowing this,  he knew that retrieving his clothes would be very challenging. Zheng Xia Ning always made sure he suffered as much as possible.

Shivering violently, he picked up a solid piece of wood but dropped it due to his shaking hands. He tried again and managed to put the wood on the stump of a tree. He bent down, picked up an equally frozen ax, lifted it over his head, and brought it down. The wood split, and he made a new pile of split wood on the ground next to him.

I hate him! I hate him! With each strike of the ax on the wood, he hit harder and harder despite his muscles protesting in pain. With every blow, his resentment towards Zheng Xia Ning grew. Yet every time his resentment surged, he tried to remember the good times he had with the old man when he was younger... It was only mid-morning when he finished. He wiped the sweat off his brow, walked to the door of the main house where Zheng Xia Ning lived, and just stood there waiting, something he had been taught since he was a child.

"I am done," he called.

No answer.

He tried again, "I am finally done."

Still no answer.

The boy started to shift back and forth between his two feet and stared at the ground. He was startled when he heard the front door squeak open and slam shut. He furtively glanced up.

There stood Zheng Xia Ning. His hands clenched, his feet apart, and his shoulders tensed. He shot his hand to his left, where he grabbed a neatly folded pile of clothing on the porch's railing. Then, throwing them on the steps covered in snow in front of the boy, he sneered, "Get changed. Come back when you are done. I have a task for you."

The boy gingerly bent down and picked up the clothing. He looked up only to find that Zheng Xia Ning was no longer standing on the porch. He headed back to his shack.

The boy grabbed a basin and went to the well to fetch some water. He held the rope tied to one end of the pail and dropped the pail down the deep hole. It took a few minutes before he heard it hit the water with a splash. He held the rope and pulled on it as he slowly lifted the pale toward him. Taking the pale filled with water, he tipped the pale towards the basin. Water came rushing out of the pale, and the basin overflowed. Water flowed down the well's rim and onto the icy ground. The boy was unaware of this, however, and was concerned only with bringing the basin back to his shack. 

Once there, he washed his hands and face with icy water, which made him shiver. He quickly put on the second layer of clothing, which consisted of long, flowing sleeves that hung down from his arms. He pulled the remaining cloth from his left shoulder toward his right waist. Then, he used a strong piece of felt to tie the loose end of the fabric to his waist.

Finally dressed, he stepped out of his shack and stared at the ground as he walked toward the wooden house.

Once at the front of the porch, he stopped and stood there, waiting for Zheng Ning Xia to come out. It was an hour more before he finally did.

"You're out. Here's your food, dog," Zheng Ning Xia said as he set a cold bowl of rice on the porch. The boy climbed on all fours toward the bowl of food, for he knew that to see him like that was one of Zheng Ning Xia's delights. He remembered that the first time Zheng Ning Xia had set a cold bowl of rice on the floor, he had tried to walk toward the food only to be hit on the legs and screamed at. He was told he had to crawl on all fours to get the food and eat like a dog if he wanted to eat at all. The boy loathed Zheng Ning Xia, but where else could he go? No one would be willing to take him in. The first couple of times he ran away from home, he had tried to find someone who would take him in. But each time he met someone, they would immediately return him to Zheng Ning Xia, who immediately beat him. From then on, the boy had no choice but to do as Zheng Ning Xia demanded.

The boy had just finished eating when Zheng Ning Xia spoke gruffly, "Today is Tuesday. Go to the market and buy some supplies." He handed the boy some metal coins that had square holes in them.

The boy merely nodded and got up. He picked up a wooden basket and strapped it onto his back. Then he made his way down the mountain to the little town that sat at the bottom of the mountain.

It was a treacherous journey. The mountain was very steep and in many places, the water had frozen. If he were not careful enough, he might have tumbled over the edge of the mountain and perished. Fortunately, he knew his steps very well and reached the bottom of the mountain in only three hours.

It was spring in the town. The boy lived on the boundary between the spring country and the winter country. He always enjoyed going to town because he liked spring much better than the all year winter up in the mountains. The marketplace was bustling with all kinds of noises. Wooden carts of loaded goods lined the street made from cobblestone. Sellers called to by-passers as they tried to attract customers to their goods.

The boy stopped by his usual fish stand. Madam Ming greeted him with a smile. "Oh, it's my favorite buyer: Luo Xiao Zhao! I saved the biggest fish for you today! I knew you'd come! How are you? I didn't see you last week!" She showed him the big fish she had saved for him and started to gut it.

"Good morning Madam Ming! Thank you for your thoughtfulness. I've been doing pretty well. I was just a little busy last week and couldn't come. How is business going?"

"It's going very well! It's been especially busy today."

"By the way, I noticed that today, there seems to be more people passing by. Do you know why that is?" Luo Xiao Zhao asked.

"I heard that a bunch of Jing bandits were causing lots of trouble in the south and were looting and burning lots of people's houses. All these people are passing through this area hoping to get to the north where it is safer," she replied as she continued to gut the fish.

"These bandits are so heartless! What is the government doing about the whole situation?"

"The government is very powerless in the south because they are underfunded."

"Why isn't the emperor doing anything?"

"I believe he wants to send money but the situation down there is too dangerous. I guess he is just waiting for the right time. Here's your fish," Madam Ming said as she handed the fish to Luo Xiao Zhao.

"Thank you, Madam Ming! Have a great day!" He called as he walked away.

"You too Luo Xiao Zhao!" She called back.

He stopped by a bread stand next. As he was paying for the bread, he overheard two men talking as they were served food.

"Hey, did you hear the news?" One guy asked.

"No. What news?" The other replied.

The guy glanced around then lowered his voice saying, "I heard that an expert in martial arts is coming to town today."

"Really? It's been a while since an expert has come to this small town."

"I know right? It's been years since any expert in martial arts has been willing to come. He's not just passing by though, he is recruiting people to join his sect! I heard that he just appeared in Jiang Hu not long ago and has beaten martial arts masters all over Jiang Hu."

"Wow! Really?! He must be very skilled! Too bad we don't really have martial artists here that he can challenge."

"From what I've heard, he isn't here to fight anyone."

"I know, but it would've been exciting to see a fight."

"I agree. Its been a while since the town had this much excitement."

"Excuse me, sirs," Luo Xiao Zhao interjected. "You said that this skilled master is one of the best in Jiang Hu? Do you know how I can become one of his disciples?"

"Indeed. He is one of the best in Jiang Hu. I believe that you have to pass a specific exam to become his disciple. The exam is to be held in the town hall," the first man replied.

"Thank you, sirs. I shall take my leave now," he said as he clasped his hands in front of him and bowed to them. They bowed back.

If I can learn martial arts and become well known in Jiang Hu, then I can escape from that horrible man, Luo Xiao Zhao thought to himself as he headed toward the center of town.

The town hall was single-leveled and took the shape of a hexagon. It had a balcony surrounded on all sides and with each turn of the building, a rusty-red column stood to attest to the many years it had remained faithful to its people. The walls of the building were made of gray stones carved out of the quarry nearby and the roof was made up of glazed tiles which overlapped each other. Where the ends of the roof met, the tiles curved into an upward fashion.

At present, there was an old man with a white beard who sat at a desk in front of the wide doors. He had his feet propped on the desk as he leaned on the back legs of the chair.  There was a piece of grass sticking out of his mouth which he was currently chewing. A hat woven from grass covered his eyes as he rocked back and forth on his chair.

Luo Xiao Zhao stepped up to the platform, quietly strode to the front of the desk, and observed the man for a minute before speaking, "Sir?"

As soon as the man heard Luo Xiao Zhao, he leaped into the air, spat out the grass and whisked  his hat off. "I promise you, I wasn't sleeping. I was only—" The man suddenly stopped mid-sentence upon seeing Luo Xiao Zhao. He scowled. "Oh it's only you," he said as he settled down into his chair and prepared to put the hat back on his face as he tried to go back to sleep.

"Wait," Luo Xiao Zhao stopped the man's arm that held the hat.

The man glared at Luo Xiao Zhao and shook the arm he held.

"Oh," Luo Xiao Zhao said awkwardly as he let go of the man.

The old man coughed. "What do you want?"

"I want to take the exam."

"Do you have a tablet with your name on it?"

"I needed one for those?"

"What did you think? My Shi Fu Wang is an expert. Not just anyone can enter the exam."

"Are there other ways for me to get in?"

"No. There aren't," the man dismissed Luo Xiao Zhao, clearly annoyed as he tried to put the hat on his face once again.

"Well, could you at least give it a thought before turning me down?!" Luo Xiao Zhao violently slapped the man's hat away.

"Hey!" The old man yelped. "Don't you have any respect for your elders? What did your parents teach you? You disrespectful child!"

"You don't know my parents. You have no right to even mention them! Besides, it's not up to you to decide what my parents teach me," Luo Xiao Zhao replied as he pushed the basket of tablets off the desk and rested his left foot on the desk.

"You—" the old man fumed.

"What's going on here?" A new voice broke in.

Luo Xiao Zhao jerked his head up and his jaw dropped.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Shi Fu (师傅）:refers to master

Jiang Hu（江湖）：1) refers to the whole wide world 2) means the community or world of martial arts in wuxia fiction, 3) its a network of communities that operate independent of mainstream society and can be thought of as the free world where anyone can hide and anything can be done