Vol 1 Chapter 4 (1/2)
Chapter 4: Ancient Moon’s Fang Yuan!
The bright rays of the sun rose into the sky.
The mists in the mountains were thin and easily pierced through by the suns.h.i.+ne. Around 100 fifteen year old youths were currently gathered before the clan head’s pavilion. This pavilion was located directly in the center of the mountain village and five stories tall. It had upturned eaves and curved roofs, as well as many guards. Before the pavilion was a large square, while the inside contained the memorial tablets of past Ancient Moon Clan ancestors. Every generation of clan elders lived in this building. Whenever there was a grand ceremony or sudden event, they would gather everyone here for deliberations as well. This was the center of everything in the village.
“Very good, you all came on time. Today is the Broadening Horizons Ceremony, the most important turning point in your lives. I won’t waste any more words, so come with me.” the man responsible for today was an elder of the schoolhouse. His beard and hair were both white, but he was as hale and hearty as a young man when he led them inside. Instead of going up, he led them through a large entrance to go downstairs. Pre-cut stone steps led them into an underground limestone cave.
The youths all gave out confused exclamations. This limestone cave was like a magnificent mansion, filled with stalacites that glittered in all the colors of the rainbow. Such radiance reflected off the youths’ faces in gorgeous hues. Fang Yuan mingled in the center of the crowd, quietly observing everything. He mused, a few hundred years ago, the Ancient Moon Clan migrated from the central lands to the southern borders to settle in these mountains, all because of a spirit spring in this cave. This spring generated a large quant.i.ty of spirit stones, so it can be said to be the foundation of the Ancient Moon Clan.
A hundred steps into the cave and their surroundings had gotten darker. Moreover, they could hear the sound of running water. After rounding a curve, a ten-meter wide underground river came into view. By now, the glittering light of the stalacites had all but vanished. Still, within the darkness, the river gave off a faint, dull blue glow, as if it was Night’s very own Milky Way. The river flowed from the darkness of the cave, its water incomparably limpid and clear. One could even see the fish and plant swimming within, as well as the sand and stones on its bottom.
On the opposite side of the river was a sea of flowers.
These were Ancient Moon’s specially cultivated Moon Orchids. Their exquisite, blue-pink petals resembled crescent moons, their floral axis like jade. The center of each blossom glittered like glowing, luminescent pearls. Seeing them for the first time in the darkness was like seeing a large blue-green carpet dotted with countless glowing orbs.
Moon Orchids are a source of food for many different Gu bugs. This sea of flowers is our clan’s largest culture medium, Fang Yuan mused to himself.
“So beautiful.”
“It’s really pretty.”
The various youths had s.h.i.+ning eyes as they gazed on in a mixture of excitement and anxiety.
“All right. Next up, listen as I call out names. Those who are called will ford the river to the opposite sh.o.r.e. Go in as far as you can and no more; of course, the farther in the better. Do you all understand?” the elder spoke.
“Understood,” the youths all replied. Actually, they’d all heard from their families or seniors about this task. They knew that the farther in one walked, the better one’s latent talent was. Their achievements from then on would be greater as well.
“Ancient Moon’s Chen Bo[1],” the elder read the first nam
e from the list.
Though the river was wide, it wasn’t very deep and only reached the boy’s knees. Chen Bo’s face was all seriousness as he stepped ash.o.r.e into the sea of flowers. Immediately, he felt a invisible pressure, as if a wall existed right in front of him to block his way. As he made his way forward with difficulty, the flowers at his feet suddenly gave off a clump of light, thin and white in color. The lights converged around Chen Bo before entering his body. Instantly, Chen Bo felt the pressure on him decrease somewhat as the invisible wall before him seemed to turn soft and slacken.
He gritted his teeth and kept walking forward, stiff and forceful. After taking three steps, the pressure before him increased until it felt like a solid wall again, blocking him from advancing any further. Seeing this, the elder sighed and made a record right then and there.
“Ancient Moon’s Chen Bo, three steps. No latent talent to be a Gu master. Next up is Ancient Moon’s Zao Xie[2].”
Chen Bo’s complexion was ashen white as he clenched his jaw and came back across the river to his old spot. Without latent talent, he could only live as an ordinary person from now on and occupy the lowest position in his family. His body seemed on the verge of collapse from the shock. This had thoroughly smothered all his dreams for the rest of his life.
Many people shot him cold looks, while even more paid attention to the second boy to reach the sh.o.r.es. Sadly, this youth could only take four steps at most. He too had no latent talent. It wasn’t guaranteed that everyone would possess the conditions for cultivation. Generally speaking, it was already considered not bad for five out of ten people to carry potential. Within the Ancient Moon Clan, the probabilty was slightly higher at six out of ten.
This was due to the Ancient Moon Clan’s ancestor. In other words, the first elder. He was a famous and celebrated figure. Cultivation had transformed his blood so it carried the gene for cultivation. Because members of the Ancient Moon Clan had his blood, their latent talents were naturally higher.
After going through two youths in a row with no latent talent, the elder in charge had a very unpleasant xpresion. Even the experienced and prudent Ancient Moon Clan Elder was minutely wrinkling his eyebrows. Right at this moment, the schoolhouse elder called out the third name.
“Ancient Moon’s Mo Bei[3].”
“Present!” a horse-faced boy dressed in sackcloth replied lightly as he stepped out from the crowd. He was tall and big, appearing much st.u.r.dier than his peers. There was an intrepid and valiant air about him.
It took him two to three steps to cross the river, then ten, twenty, thirty steps into the flowers as light was absorbed into his body. When he reached 36 steps, he finally came to a stop. All of the youths on sh.o.r.e looked after him dumbstruck. The schoolhouse elder joyfully cried out, “Good, Ancient Moon’s Mo Bei is a Grade B latent talent. Come here and let me see your Primordial Sea.”
Ancient Moon’s Mo Bei returned to the schoolhouse elder, who rested his hand on the younger boy’s shoulders as he concentrated with eyes closed. Afterwards, he withdrew his hand with a nod before recording the information in his records. “Ancient Moon’s Mo Bei’s Primordial Sea is six by six. It can be cultivated vigorously.”
These different grades of latent talent were divided into the four levels of Jia (A), Yi (B), Bing (C) and Ding (D).