2 YOU ARE CALLED CHENG HAO (2/2)
”Hey Bindlight,” The boy rubbed his two hands together grinning, ”Are you thinking the same thing I am?”
”Oh, definitely!” The mysterious voice responded dreamingly, as if intoxicated. ”It is indeed a beautiful scenery, although I can't really see those sheep you are talking about…”
”Not THOSE sheep, you damn reptile! Look at those guys clustering there like morons! There, see? My pouch is empty right now and it seems reeeeally sad. Look at how it's bending downwards! We should really help him up, if you know what I mean... don't you agree? Good! Then, let's head down!” At that the boy suddenly bent his knees. ”Brace yourself, Goldy!”
”What did you say? Did you just call me G-Goldy? ME, Blindlight, the devourer of worlds and the eclipser of stars?” The middle-aged man's voice replied enraged. Suddenly, it stopped and the same voice that had appeared so overbearing before suddenly asked tremblingly, ”Uhm... You are not thinking of... No, no, no! Absolutely not! Hey, did you hear me! I said stop! STOP, DON'T J-” The voice seemed to have understood something was about to happen, because it grew louder by the word, but before it could say anything else the boy had already jumped off the cliff.
”Hey, you crazy boy, I told you to wait, didn't I?”
”You did… I just ignored you!” The boy laughed with delight and soon his tiny figure disappeared in the valley below.
...
In the Four Beasts Mountain Range, one of the longest mountains chains in the Western Continent, many sects and schools had been built by powerful figures in their time. Although these organizations also taught common subjects like math and literature, their main focus was on the so-called Martial Cultivation, a way to enhance one's strength through training and enlightening of special techniques. Since such a resource had nearly infinite potential, it had long since been incorporated into the world.
Those people who underwent and explored the properties of Martial Cultivation and wielded those powerful techniques were called Cultivators. The cores of such techniques were the so-called Spiritual Energy and Qi.
Cultivators used the Spiritual Energy of the world to enhance their power. At the same time, enlightening of the Qi allowed them to understand various aspects of reality more deeply, thus allowing greater control and strength over both matter and Spiritual Energy.
Amongst the ranks of those powerful sects and schools in the Western Continent was a single Sect that stood at the very top of them all, called the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect.
A thousand years ago, treasures, elixirs, precious materials, pills, and even drops of blood holding within great power... anything a Cultivator could ever wish for had suddenly fallen from the Heavens upon the lowly mortal world! Thanks to this lucky event, many powerful cultivators had arisen during that period of time and it was therefore then called the Golden Age of cultivation. According to the rumors, a powerful expert had found a big stash of those treasures and thus collected enough resources to build a first-rate sect, the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect! After his death and a thousand years after the otherworldly treasure had rained down, the Sect had prospered and currently housed millions of disciples, some of which were extremely heaven-defying geniuses.
Right at that moment, a group of twenty youths wearing the black white-striped clothing of the sect were standing together and happily chatting with a slightly older man. The older man was also wearing black robes, but unlike the other youths who only had one or two white stripes going from their shoulders to their ankles, the man's robes had three stripes, signifying that he was actually... an esteemed Inner Sect disciple! He was an existence in the Sect that statistically only appeared once for every thousand of disciples that enrolled in its ranks!
”Senior, senior, is it true that you've successfully condensed your Core?” A person asked, his expression showering the older man with respect and worship.
”What? Senior, could it be... you have stepped into the Advanced Martial stage at such a young age? Senior surely must be a heaven-defying talent!” A woman's eyes glinted with surprise and immediately edged closer.
”Eheh, so Senior finally broke through! Senior will now have to treat us to a drink right? We have to celebrate this great occasion with the finest of wine!” A burly man laughed and patted the person in question on the back.
The group of young people kept bombarding the man in his early thirties with questions and showered him with praises nonstop. He stood at one meter and eighty centimeters tall, and had long, flowing, black hair that reached down to his waist, giving him a somewhat scholarly aura... The man had a somewhat haughty air and his eyes had a bit of contempt in them, but he hid both very deeply, and acted well enough for people to mistake them for affection and humbleness!
”My, my! I am not such a genius… it took a full sixteen years to finally begin to condense my core, how could that be called genius? I am far from being talented...” The man waved his hands dismissively, but he was actually laughing inside…
Yes, YES! Praise this genius more! Heaven Defying? Indeed, indeed, these guys know exactly what they're talking about! MWAHAHAH!
”Not a genius? How can Senior say that!” A young man in his late teens grabbed the chance to flatter the older man even more, and skillfully illustrated his own bootlicking skills. ”Very few people in the sect have such talent, and those people truly are dragon amongst men! And yet today Senior has actually joined the ranks of such powerful monsters! This lowly Junior can only hope to one day also follow Senior's footsteps...”
”Yes! That's indeed right, Senior! After all, if your talent isn't good enough to be called at the very least above average, then wouldn't our talent be worse than dog crap?” Some disciple also laughed and jokingly hit the man's shoulder.
”Ahhhh, you guys...” the older youth shook his head as he chuckled.
Even though he seemingly kept dodging the praises that other people were throwing at him, it was still evident to the keen-eyed that the man actually felt really proud of himself! Stepping in the Advanced Stage at the age of thirty-one truly was something worth of praise, as some people might even not reach that level of profound martial cultivation at all in their whole lives…
Yes praise this genius more! Who is next? This genius can't wait... Preach my greatness! MWAHAHAH!
It was true though that his attitude towards the matter was kind of sickening though…
”Uuuu, seniors, is this the road that brings to the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect?” Just then a small voice could be heard. Everybody stopped talking and switched their attention towards the new arrival: the boy clearly wasn't even in his teens as he appeared to be maybe nine years old at most; most likely he was still only eight. Appearance-wise, he was wearing ragged clothes, had no shoes on and his only belonging was a big, worn out backpack he carried on his back and an empty pouch on his belt...
The child grinned exposing a row of pearly-white teeth, which stood out in stark contrast when compared to his filth-covered body, ”I seem to be lost.”