The Guardians: The Swordsman of the Moon

Wu Jiao Xing's.

Mo Xian was tidying up his adoptive mother's hair when Li Huan went inside.

Li Zhou Ran immediately gave him a sharp look.

"Have they left?" ask Li Zhou Ran.

Li Huan took a seat across the table and sipped a cup of tea.

"Mm, they're gone."

"You've taught them a lesson?" 

Li Huan nodded.

Li Zhou Ran sighed and grabbed Mo Xian's hand which was tidying his hair.

"How dare a lowly sect like them denounce the mother's favorite son," he said as he peeked at the back of Mo Xian's hand.

Mo Xian smiled even though he didn't really understand what had just happened. He hugged his mother from behind.

"Mother, stop being so angry. It's not good for health."

Li Zhou Ran snorted. "Hmph, you're a bad boy. You're just like your father. You guys are the same! Just tell me you're tired of hearing mom's chatty voice too!"

Li Huan chuckled at hearing that. The Li family was never lonely from the voice of Li Zhou Ran who continued to grumble every day for whatever reason. Nagging the waitress who made a mistake, nagging her overworked husband, nagging the chickens who made a fuss in the cage, nagging Xiao Hei who stole fish in the kitchen, and grumbling at the chicken who was making a fuss in the barn, nagging the gossiping neighbor in front of his house and nagging Mo Xian for everything.

"What is the importance of martial arts. Your father and mother were strong enough to protect you even until you got married and gave me a grandchild. Don't think of the circulars from the palace, ignore them." 

Li Zhou Ran massaged his temple, feeling dizzy. Mo Xian said he had a way to avenge anger on someone in a better way. However, Li Zhou Ran did not expect that his son who was now only ten years old said that he wanted to learn martial arts.

Li Huan who heard that looked at Mo Xian who was now massaging his wife's head. 

Mo Xian who got that look immediately understood. "I want to learn martial arts to add skills. Besides, I also want to protect Mom and Dad."

Li Huan nodded, he understood Mo Xian's words well. Even younger children of his age had already started learning martial arts, Li Huan himself had started learning martial arts since the age of five. However, because Mo Xian's presence in the Li family actually brought happiness, Li Huan had forgotten to discuss this with his wife.

"It's fine if Xian'er wants to learn martial arts, father will teach you," he said before sipping tea and being greeted happily by Mo Xian and greeted unhappily by his wife.

"Rummit!" Li Zhou Ran was about to protest.

"Self-defense is necessary not just to fight and kill people. It's to protect yourself. Xian'er will one day mature and travel, and adventure. We can't always be with her."

Li Zhou Ran stared angrily and disappointedly. "Xian'er won't go anywhere."

"He must go to gain knowledge."

"What is less than the knowledge of the Peacock Alliance. He can read all the information we have and he will not be an ignorant person. Xian'er's a smart kid."

"Reading and doing it in person is a different thing. We can't keep him locked up for the rest of his life."

"I don't care."

"She also needs to find a wife, if she's locked up in the house how can she find her soul mate?"

Mo Xian's face began to darken, their quarrel had gone too far. What do they want to say to a ten-year-old?

"Mo Xian was a handsome boy, who did not know about the son of the Li family who had a face as beautiful as a lotus flower. Girls would come to my house to propose. Tell Xian'er to pick one!"

Mo Xian's lips trembled, his head suddenly dizzy just to think of all those words. She's a girl, she can't possibly choose.

"What if there's nothing Xian'er likes?"

Li Zhou Ran stared with annoyance at the husband who kept fighting him.

"The city is so big, beautiful girls are born every day. How can there be no one who can attract my son?"

Li Huan smiled, for some reason Li Huan's smile this time was a little different because her face was slightly reddened. Pouring tea into his wife's cup and his own.

"There are hundreds and thousands of beautiful girls in my town, but I found you in the woods."

Hearing that Li Zhou Ran froze and lost for words, his face immediately turned red.

"Even that forest is miles away from my hometown."

"Laopo, do you remember the time ...," 

"Stop!" Li Zhou Ran suddenly got up. Staring angrily with a reddened face at her husband.

"Shameful!" he said before he fled. Leaving behind Li Huan and Mo Xian who were staring at his disappearance who kept nagging. "The man is shameless! How could he say that in front of my son. Not know yourself! It's useless!  Xiao Hei, grab all the fish in the kitchen! Don't leave a single tail behind, make sure the shameless man can't have dinner tonight!"

"Meow?"

Li Huan who saw that laughed out loud while Mo Xian tried to hold back his laughter by covering his mouth.

*****

As the sun slightly shifted from the midpoint, Mo Xian sat in the lotus pavilion. Reflect on what just happened.

Mo Xian was a little more beginning to find out about the world he was living in now after living with Li Huan. A lot of important information he could get, if he wanted to know something, he only needed to ask his foster father, if Li Huan was busy he would ask Zhou Ran, and if the two were busy, he would ask, there were still many members of his father who were ready to answer all of Mo Xian's questions.

The first five years passed by Mo Xian with Mo Shan, during which he knew nothing of this world, as if Mo Shan was hiding this world from his eyes.

After losing Mo Shan, Li Huan came and showed him all the things he had never seen through common knowledge.

The world he lived in was now referred to as the Yuan Xing continent. Li Huan said Yuan Xing was vast and Mo Xian thought it was like Earth. Many cultivation sects were scattered throughout Yuan Xing, be it a sect with a path of truth or a path of heresy and a path of demons.

"Gege," Mo Xian said to the young man standing beside him.

A man in black clothes aged around twelve to thirteen had a dark blue bead, his face had a sharp line with a pointed nose and thin lips.

The young man was Wu Jiao Xing, one of the youngest members of the Peacock Alliance whom Li Huan had assigned to look after Mo Xian, like a personal bodyguard.

However, Mo Xian who in his life had always been taught to respect the older and to love the young, regarded Wu Jiao Xing as his older brother. 

Initially, Wu Jiao Xing felt bad about Mo Xian's 'gege' and was afraid that Li Huan would punish him. However, Li Huan turned out to have no objections at all. 

Before Wu Jiao Xing was assigned as Mo Xian's personal bodyguard, he was an orphan from one of the members of the Peacock Alliance and Li Huan took him to join his Alliance. 

From then on Wu Jiao Xing became one of the youngest members of the Peacock Alliance, studying diligently until he finally managed to master several sword techniques and increase his cultivation.

When he was eleven years old, Li Huan called Wu Jiao Xing for a mission. He thought Li Huan would send him somewhere as a spy to gather information. However, he did not expect that the reason Li Huan called him was to take care of a petite boy who was now the beloved young master of the Li family and the entire population of the Four Stones city.

Wu Jiao Xing looked at the boy who was now ten years old was looking at him with his big round eyes.

"Hmm," Wu Jiao Xing said later. 

Mo Xian smiled, dimples appearing on his left cheek.

"Gege knows? Dad has allowed me to practice martial arts. That means Gege will also have more time to train."

Wu Jiao Xing gasped with Mo Xian's words. It was true, the task of looking after the pampered young master had taken up a lot of his training time. He had to watch and follow Mo Xian wherever Mo Xian went, except when Mo Xian slept, Wo Jiao Xing would train late into the night and sleep for two hours before returning to duty.

Wu Jiao Xing did not dislike Mo Xian, this young master in front of him, who did not like him? The entire city loved it, the entire Peacock Alliance members liked it as well, even those who had never seen it had already liked it just by hearing the story. 

Only, if it was to be honest Wu Jiao Xing actually did not want to be Mo Xian's personal bodyguard. He wanted to be like the other members in charge of finding information for Li Huan instead of wandering around with the kind-hearted little boy without doing anything.

Mo Xian looked at the flat face of Wu Jiao Xing who never smiled. In fact, after hearing the good news, his face remained flat like that.

"That's great." 

Mo Xian sighed, the bodyguards his foster father had chosen were like walking wood. Sometimes Mo Xian thought that Wu Jiao Xing did not like him, but everyone said, "The boy has been like that since childhood. He never looked sad or happy. His face was always straight like that. Young Master need not worry, Wu Jiao Xing is a good boy."

"About when am I going to start practicing?"

"...."

Mo Xian looked at Wu Jiao Xing who did not answer his question.

"Did Gege not want to say anything about this?"

Wu Jiao Xing, shook his head.

Mo Xian clicked his tongue and got up from his seat before running up the rocks and jumping over the fence.

"Young Master ran away again!" 

The voice of the servant came from behind the wall. Mo Xian laughed before seeing Wu Jiao Xing also come out jumping over the fence.

"Mo Xian! Go back home or mom will hit you!"

Now came the sound of Li Zhuo Ran going berserk and Mo Xian immediately ran away from the place with Wu Jiao Xing to the center of the city.

August 25, 2020.

September 01, 2020.

1577 Words.