Thou shall not steal.
Even though this concept is considered to be an act of evil, the question of why that is so can be raised.
Is it because you're taking an item from someone who has worked hard to obtain it? Or is it because taking that item will deprive them of a resource they need to live?
But if a person owns a rice field and I steal a single grain of rice, is that considered an act of evil? What if I stole the entire rice field, but supplied them with enough rice to survive for the rest of their life, is that considered an act of evil?
What if I were to claim the air one breathes, which is ownerless, as my own. Everyone in the world would be stealing from me, so will it be considered an act of evil if I stole it back?
The concept of stealing seems to cease to be an act of evil depending on the item stolen and the nature of how it was stolen.
"Ah Mieu? How did you get up there?"
A baby, who looked to be a few months old, was on top of a chair, standing on the tip of his toes peeking through the window at the dense forest outside the make-shift house. After being brought out of his thoughts by the voice, he turned to gaze at his approaching mother with a somewhat dazed expression on his face.
The mother's heart tightened when she saw such a dull expression on her son's face, but the feeling did not last long as she pushed it aside.
Perhaps it was normal for newborns to be so distracted during their early months of growing up. It did not mean her son had mental problems. But even if he did, she would love him regardless.
Smiling, the mother, who looked to be around sixteen, picked up her son. She cradled him in her arms and fed him a bottle of breast milk she had prepared. Her white dress that looked extra-large on her thin frame swept the wooden floor as she paced around the small one-bedroom home.
Even though her arms were getting tired after carrying her son for just a minute, the mother was too distracted gazing at her son's face to notice.
"Ah Mieu, your mother is very worried. If you grow up too handsome while lacking intelligence, I'm afraid you'll be stuck inside a brothel for the rest of your life like your mother. But mother will try her best not to let that happen to you or your brother."
The mother glanced at the other baby that was sleeping soundly on the bed in the corner of the room, a resolute expression on her slightly pale face. Even though it had been a few months since she gave birth, her body was still slightly weak.
After her son finished the bottle of milk, the mother finally decided to put him down to give her aching arms some rest. However, just as she went to place her son next to his brother on the bed, loud and rushed footsteps came from the outside. What came next were shouts, angry shouts filled with curses.
The mother's face became even paler than before, but before she could hide her sons under the bed, the door was brutally smashed apart by an invisible force. The mother let out a terrified scream as the splinters of the broken door scattered inside the small room.
A young man who looked to be in his early twenties then walked into the room. He stood at the height of two meters with a lean physique fitted by a golden Daoist robe, which had the character 'Yan' embroidered on the chest with silver threads.
When the mother looked up and saw this young man, her entire body began to tremble uncontrollably.
The young man's face was devoid of expression as he glanced at the mother and the baby in her hands, and then at the other baby still sleeping on the bed despite the loud noise.
Leaving his men outside, the young man slowly walked into the room and approached the mother, who was on the ground next to the bed.
The mother was so terrified that even her fingertips and toes were trembling.
"Y-Young Master Morong, please spare my life. I didn't want to do it; the brothel manager was the one who forced me to bed you and bear your child."
The mother tried to explain her innocence, but the young man merely looked at her coldly before raising his hand and pointing a finger at her forehead. A silver Sword Qi then flew out and pierced the space between the mother's brows, killing her.
"To think a mere brothel whore dares to scheme against me."
The young man said disdainfully before he turned to leave. One of the men outside looked inside the room at the two babies and asked.
"Young Master, what should we do with these two Bastards?"
With a frown, the young man responded.
"Even though they were born from a brothel whore, they are still my flesh and blood. However, I don't need two sons. Kill one and take the other back to the Clan to serve as a servant. Handle the matter thoroughly so no one knows he is my son."
"Yes, Young Master!"
After acknowledging the order, the man stepped into the room. As he approached the bed, he withdrew his sword from his side. After glancing at the child in the dead mother's arms, and then at the one sleeping on the bed, the man frowned.
The baby in the dead mother's arms had been observing everything that was unfolding without a reaction. When the man approached with his sword, he merely glanced up at him with a dazed expression on his face.
The man caught sight of the baby's odd behavior and dull expression and instantly made up his mind. With a swift thrust of his sword, he stabbed the baby in the dead mother's arms through his chest, where his heart was, killing him. He then sheathed his bloody sword and carelessly picked up the baby sleeping on the bed before leaving the room.
After the young man and his men left this area of the forest, the sun went down, and another group of people silently appeared by the door like specters. It was three individuals wearing cloaks that hid their appearances. One was leading at the front while two were at the back.
After stepping inside the room, one of the two at the back spoke in a voice that indicated he was an old man.
"What a pity, this hideout was discovered by the Young Master of the Morong Clan."
The other cloaked individual at the back spoke; this time, it was the voice of an old woman.
"It's to be expected, the Morong Clan might only be an Inner Circle Clan, but they secretly have ties to one of the Clans in the Main Circle."
"Will this become an issue?"
The old man asked worriedly, but the old woman responded assuredly.
"Don't worry, the Young Master of Morong Clan wouldn't dare openly reveal that he came to our Nine Desires Pavilion to increase his cultivation talent. It's just a pity that we couldn't obtain his bloodline. If we had, we could have cultivated it and gained a path to the Main Circle."
The old man nodded in agreement; however, the figure at the front suddenly spoke, the voice was that of a young woman.
"I sense a faint lifeforce force from that child."
"Hm?"
The old man and the old woman were both taken aback by this revelation, and they didn't hesitate to step forward to check.
"This is unexpected, this child was born with his heart on the right side of his chest, narrowly avoiding a fetal sword strike."
The old woman said in amazement.
"But even then, to think he could still survive after being stabbed in the lungs. His constitution must be outstanding."
The old man added, before reaching forward to pick up the baby and placing his wrinkly palm over the wound on his chest. A soft white glow appeared around his palm, and the baby's wound visibly healed.
Afterward, the old woman flipped over her hand, and a pearl the size of the baby's head appeared in her palm. While holding the large pearl in one hand, she raised her other to touch the baby's forehead.
The Spiritual Qi of the old woman slowly gushed into the baby. After circulating throughout his body, capturing his soul signature and other unique aspects of his body, the old woman's Spiritual Qi flowed back into her hand and then traveled into the pearl.
The white pearl trembled for a brief moment before a tiny black dot appeared inside of it. Then, like an ink spilling onto a canvas, this tiny black dot spread to cover half of the pearl.
"Wonderful! This child possesses a Divine Constitution!"
The old woman couldn't help exclaiming when she saw the change in the pearl. The old man then added.
"It's the rare Darkness Element Constitution. If we plan this right, we can sell him to the Shadow Messengers Guild for a good price."
The old woman nodded repeatedly before turning to the silent young woman.
"Young Lady, what do you-"
However, before the old woman could ask the young woman's opinion, the pearl in her hand suddenly began to change once again. The ink-like color faded before being replaced with a bright pink color. But unlike before, when the black only took up half the pearl, this pink color not only swallowed the whole pearl, but it even began seeping out. An overly intoxicating smell soon engulfed the roof.
"This-This is…"
The old woman was so shocked out of her wits by this scene that she could not form a coherent sentence. The old man was equally dumbfounded as he said.
"Why is it this Divine Constitution, is this child not a boy?"
As the old woman and the old man were stirring in their confusion, the young woman spoke as she stepped forward.
"Not bad, to think our Nine Desires Pavilion would find someone who possesses the Heavenly Dao Cauldron Constitution."
The young woman took the baby from the old man and gently held him in her arms.
The old man hesitated for a moment, then spoke up.
"Young Miss, this is odd. How can a male child possess such a constitution? Could the pearl have malfunctioned?"
Without looking up from the baby, the young woman responded.
"What's odd about it? The Heavenly Dao Cauldron Constitution is formed when one possesses the Extreme Yang and Extreme Yin Constitutions. Both male and female possess Yang and Yin energies within them, only one is more dominant than the other. It's rare for a male to possess an extreme Yin Constitution, but it's not unheard of. So, having both to then form the Heavenly Dao Cauldron Constitution is not impossible, it's just never been recorded in history before."
"Then, what is to become of this child? Will we sell him to the Shadow Messenger Guild, or…"
The old woman's words trailed off, but the young woman knew what she wanted to say, and she calmly responded.
"What's there to choose? He will work for our Nine Desires Pavilion. Our customers have always been Young Masters from Clans and male Sect Disciples, but now we have a chance to branch into a new market."
The old man and old woman turn to look at each other, not sure what to think of their Young Miss's words.
The young woman, however, ignored them. The baby in her arms was slowly opening his eyes.
"What a strange child you are."
The Young woman commented.
The baby didn't show any reaction after waking up, he just stared at the young woman's face with a dazed look.
However, the baby suddenly blinked, and clarity seemed to appear in his eyes. He then looked around curiously before fixing his eyes back onto the young woman.
Upon meeting the gaze of the baby, the woman had a strange sensation that this baby was observing her. Not like how a baby a few months old would observe someone, but how a child aware of their surroundings would observe someone.
"...Strange child indeed."
The young woman said before she raised her hand and touched the baby's forehead with her finger that glowed a faint white light.
Ah Mieu was confused. The last time he was awake, he had climbed up to the window and looked outside. It was daytime then.
Judging by the darkness, maybe a couple of hours had passed since he was asleep. However, everything drastically changed during those hours. Now his mother was lying dead on the floor, while his brother was missing. He also didn't know who these people were.
Ah Mieu wanted to keep his eyes open and find out what was going on, but this strange light made him feel extremely drowsy.
As Ah Mieu fell slowly asleep, he wondered how long it would be until he awoke.
….
…
..
Thirteen years later…
On a bed in a luxurious room, two figures were tangled together under the red bed sheets.
"Ah~… Ah~…"
With each movement from the boy on top, the girl underneath would let out weird noises. Despite her unwillingness to do so, the boy's movements were too wild. He was like a mindless animal.
"This damn Mute, slow down."
The girl said and carelessly slapped the boy's head.
However, as if he didn't hear the girl or feel the slap, the boy continued his actions at the same exaggerated pace. Like a mindless animal who only knew how to follow its instincts, he was too engrossed in this act that gave him immense pleasure to shift his attention.
The girl, seeing this, was beginning to regret coming to this place. However, the Mist Bound Sect was recruiting disciples in a month, and to secure an Inner Disciple position, she needed to increase her Innate Talent.
The girl gritted her teeth and decided to just endure this humiliation. With the Nine Desire Pavilion's reputation, no one would know she came here, not even those from her Clan. She could not imagine what would happen if the word got out. But if this increased her Innate Talent as she was told, then she would do anything, even giving up her purity to this Mute.
However, as soon as that thought finished forming in the girl's mind, the boy's movements halted.
Seeing this, the girl frowned and looked up at the boy.
"I told you to slow down, not to stop! Continue, so I can get this over with."
The girl urged, but the boy leaned away and stared at her with a bewildered expression. He then glanced at his surroundings, but the red mesh covering the bed did not allow him to see where he was.
"This… Where I am?"
Ah Mieu voiced his thoughts, unconsciously using his vocal cords. As soon as he did, he reached up and touched his throat in surprise.
"Is… my voice sounds? Wait… I speak?"
Ah Mieu then hurriedly glanced down at his hands and body, only to realize he was no longer small. However, he happened to catch sight of the girl beneath him. She was staring up at him with a shocked expression on her face, but her expression was not what Ah Mieu was focused on. He was instead focused on the fact that she was not wearing any clothes.
Well, he was not wearing any clothes as well, but his mother would usually allow him to crawl around the room naked, so the feeling of having no clothes on wasn't unfamiliar. Though what he did find strange was the uncomfortable sensation he felt where he and the girl seemed to be connected.
Although Ah Mieu found the current situation odd, he still wanted to figure out where he was since he was now awake, so he asked the girl.
"Where… I am?"
Even though he only learnt a few words from the limited times he was awake when he was still a baby, Ah Mieu thought he still managed to get his question across.
However, after recovering from her shock, the girl narrowed her eyes at Ah Mieu and coldly said.
"So, you're not a Mute. This is not what the manager told me. However, whether you can speak or not, it is none of my concern. If I waste any more time, my family will notice that I left the Clan. So, enough talking and continue!"
Ah Mieu could not understand everything the girl said, but he managed to piece together what he understood. But even then, he was still confused.
Ah Mieu wanted to open his mouth to ask another question, but before he could, he felt his thoughts become sluggish. This made him panic as it was a sign that indicated he was about to fall asleep again.
Not wanting to spend the remaining time asking this girl questions, Ah Mieu tried to hurriedly get off the bed to look around, but the girl wrapped her legs around his waist, stopping him.
"Where are you going? How dare you leave without completing your job!"
'What is wrong with this fool? Why is he suddenly acting strange? Did the Nine Desires Pavilion deceive me? Does this person truly have the Heavenly Dao Cauldron Constitution?'
As these questions swirled in the girl's mind, her anger started to rise by the second.
Meanwhile, Ah Mieu was struggling to get free, but he quickly realized this girl was unnaturally strong. Feeling his thoughts slowing down even further, Ah Mieu released a reluctant sigh and gave up.
'How long am I going to be like this?'
That was the last thought Ah Mieu had before his mind went blank.
Seeing that Ah Mieu had returned to 'normal', the girl angrily urged him to continue, and with a dull expression, Ah Mieu complied.