《Sky Pride》


 Chapter 1- In the Care of a Hateful God

    ¡°Where is my son? It is time for him to die.¡±


    ¡°Madam?!¡± The old nanny stood between the frail boy and his mother. Her withered hands clenched the hem of her faded dress. Screams of dying men and chopping blades filled the hallway, loud and close. ¡°He¡¯s just had one of his fits. The battle-¡±


    ¡°There is no battle.¡± The Madam¡¯s eyes were red, her pupils barely pinpricks. ¡°The Hongs managed to hire some Lay Brothers, which means someone in the Inner Court gave their approval. Our family is dead.¡±


    ¡°The guards-¡± The nanny slowly retreated towards the carved wooden bed. Madam lurched forward, the green brocade of her robe swaying madly in the yellow light of the oil lamps.


    ¡°The guards can¡¯t last one move against cultivators. Steel sabers against flying swords- what could it be but a slaughter? The Hongs are slowed only by making sure they don''t miss anyone. Time for me to do my last maternal duty.¡±


    ¡°But the Young Master is so small. He¡¯s sick. He¡¯s no danger to them!¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s the heir. Rip the weeds out by the roots. That¡¯s what we did to the Fengs. It¡¯s what everybody does. By the roots, so they don¡¯t grow back.¡± Madam stumbled onto the nurse, who caught her awkwardly. Not seeing the dagger Madam stabbed into her heart. Just feeling the sudden pain, then nothing.


    ¡°Rip them up by the roots. Sorry Nursie, but I always thought you were a spy. It doesn¡¯t matter if I¡¯m wrong. They wouldn¡¯t let you off anyway.¡± She giggled. ¡°Ah, if only I could see their faces after their ¡®victory.¡¯¡± She sat on the bed next to her baby. Just six years old, but he looked younger. Disease had ruined his body before he had left her womb, and he hadn''t gotten better.


    ¡°Life has been Hell for you. You should have been born into a life of comfort, and haven¡¯t known a day of it.¡± She pulled a grey pill from inside her sleeve. It reflected the light from the oil lamps with a soft metallic sheen.


    ¡°Here. Mother brought Baby a special pill. I¡¯ll break it open for you, just a little. Into your mouth, yes Baby. Just suck on it. Just suck on it, and drift off on golden waves.¡± Her soft hand stroked the boy¡¯s thin cheek. She murmured to him, half singing a prayer to ease him into the dark.


    ¡°I pray your next life will be peaceful. I pray that you will be healthy. I pray you never have another devil mother and demon father. I pray that you have no enemies. I pray-¡±


    The door exploded off its hinges and crashed into the far wall, smashing oil lamps as it fell to the floor. The lamp oil spilled over the flagstones and carpets, spreading the fire. A spray of golden darts ripped through the room, burying themselves with dull thuds into the dead nurse and into the back of Madam. She fell across her baby, a little chuff of surprise as the air was knocked out of her. Then silence- the beautiful green brocade stained and ruined with blood.


    ¡°Check them!¡±


    A rough man rushed in. The nurse was deader than dead, Madame¡¯s eyes were already glassy and-


    ¡°I found the boy!¡±


    ¡°Finish him!¡±


    ¡°His mother already did.¡± There was foam pouring from the boy¡¯s mouth. His eyes never blinked or moved, even as his mother died on top of him.


    ¡°Be sure.¡±


    The man reached out with his knife but paused, hearing a rushing sound. Madame¡¯s green brocade robe hissed into a roaring, white hot blaze. It caught on the bed sheets and raced for the heavy curtains. It wasn¡¯t alone. The man looked back over at the fire on the floor. It was spreading wildly, bolting for the silk curtains and rushing up to the roof. He followed the trails of fire to big jars up in the rafters.


    ¡°Oh you spiteful bitch. RUN!¡±


    He didn¡¯t make it to the door before the house exploded in flames.


    Nothing of the once elegant home could be salvaged after the fire. Serfs pulled the wreckage over to enormous many-legged garbage bins, which walked themselves to the dump and emptied themselves on the enormous piles. The serfs had explicit orders not to remove any bodies they might find. The Hongs felt the dump was exactly where those bones belonged.


    A boy woke up in the trash. He couldn¡¯t remember who he was or where he was, or why everything hurt. There was something round on the ground. He reached for it and saw that he only had a few fingers. He should have had more- he could see the bloody stumps where most were missing. His body was covered in blood and burns and everything was pure pain. The boy screamed. He screamed for a long time.


    Once he had screamed his throat dry, the boy firmed up his guts and crawled off. He was so thirsty, he thought he would die. He had to find water somewhere. And he did. Stagnant and filthy in the ruins of an old clay pot.


    Everything hurt. There were flies floating in that water. Bits of rotted cabbage too. It smelled diabolical. He wanted to vomit just looking at it. He hesitated, but he hadn¡¯t seen any other water. It was vomit, or drink and keep it down. The boy teetered on the edge of the choice, and forced himself to drink. It was as disgusting as he expected. He had another mouthful. Everything hurt, but he was determined to live.


    Days passed.


    The boy lay on the ground, unaware that he was dying. Everything hurt. Everything always hurt. Doing anything hurt. His head, especially, hurt. He had a headache and everything went swirly when he tried to stand. But the boy had a treasure- a little black ball of soft metal that he could lick, and once he did that everything stopped hurting. He could just float in the warm waves.


    His hand brushed idly over the trash covered ground, feeling the scraps of bone and bits of paper. His little hand swept right past the thin ring of bone that materialized right where his fingers should have been. Pinky, ring, middle, then the surviving index finger ran over the worn bone ring. The ring flipped itself onto the little finger and sank into the horribly thin flesh to merge with the bone below.


    The boy didn¡¯t notice. There wasn¡¯t much left of him to notice. He had been spending more and more time lost on the warm waves. It was so much better than feeling everything his little body usually felt, and it meant he didn¡¯t get hungry nearly so often.


    From infinite chaos was born yin and yang. From yin and yang, the three qi were born, and from the three qi was born the five elements and from thence all of creation! And who was it that ordered the undifferentiated qi? It was the Old Master! Oh Child of Destiny! You have awoken me from mine ancient- hello?


    There was an awkward pause.


    Hello? Hey Junior, can you hear me? OOOIIIII! Child of Destiny, OOOOOIIIII!


    The hallucinations had come. This one was odd, but they were always odd. The boy didn¡¯t find it too bothersome. Better than when animals hunted him in trash heaps. Or when he tried to pee, or drink water, or do anything except lie quietly amongst the rotting trash.


    There was a series of clapping sounds. They achieved nothing.


    Alright. Let¡¯s see what¡¯s going on here, and why my starting budget was so¡­  oh.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    This is usually the point where I say that I¡¯ve seen worse. That always cheers people up, knowing that some other bastard suffered more. But I haven''t. Condemned by the merciless Heavens, oppressed by cruel Fate, that¡¯s normal, that¡¯s fine. Fianc¨¦ left you, your clan got exterminated, someone stole your precious whatsit- all fine. Normal, even.


    This is sick.


    This is why I got such a high exchange rate- I¡¯m going to dump everything I earned over two hundred years into this kid in a day. In ten minutes, even. I got screwed. Not as bad as this kid, but¡­


    There was an ethereal sigh.


    I¡¯ll take it as an investment. And really, what¡¯s one itsy bitsy intracranial hemorrhage? Practically nothing, amirite? Plenty left over to fix¡­ to fix¡­


    Can you please stop revealing new, horrifying, chronic conditions? You aren¡¯t supposed to have all of them.


    The boy drifted on the warm waves. He was feeling a bit nauseous now, but his magic treasure would make him feel all better again.


    Sudden shift in brain chemistry¡­ what are you licking? Hey kid, what the hell is that thing in your hand?


    The boy gave it a long, wet, lick.


    Don¡¯t you lick that! Don¡¯t! Don¡¯t you lick that, you naughty boy! No! Bad! Drop it! I don¡¯t care if you are six, don¡¯t eat things you find in the trash! You still aren¡¯t hearing me. DAMN IT!


    Spending my savings here on what? A heaven defying cultivation method? Bestowing Nine Dragons Meridians? A natal sword? No! I¡¯m spending it on draining some edema, coagulating the torn blancmange of your brain, knotting the macram¨¦ of your sheared axons and dendrites. Did you get your head kicked in? This wasn¡¯t a one-time thing. In addition to everything else wrong with you, you have both CTE and boxer''s dementia. Were you a shaken baby or something? You are six years old. Malnourished, under developed and six.


    This world did you dirty, kid. But you aren¡¯t alone now. Everything gets better from here, I promise.


    A particularly enlightened monk, one who had begun to cast off their mortality and truly ascend to the infinite, might have noticed filaments of dark gold winding through the boy¡¯s brain, stopping the bleeding and repairing torn membranes. It was an incredibly delicate job, equaling or exceeding the healing provided by the most powerful of spells and talismans this side of true Immortality.


    It also, gently, knocked the boy out. This next bit would be unpleasant.


    Lead poisoning and opium addiction. For at least a year or two, maybe longer, and in freakish quantities. Unreal damage. Your nerves are fried. Fried! You weren''t getting any iron to begin with, and now you are stuffed full of lead. I don¡¯t even know how you got hooked on opium.


    Golden energy traced through the neural pathways, healing what should never have been damaged, repairing what should never have been broken. If the boy had been conscious, and if the voice hadn¡¯t temporarily blocked a number of important nerves in the spinal column, he would have been in absolute agony.


    Alright. With this you are just a maimed, malnourished, underdeveloped kid with a number of chronic skin diseases, some hereditary illnesses, a weakened immune system, severe burns that are also infected, kidneys that are about boxed, you have a fungal infection in your lung, and not to put too fine a point on it but I¡¯m noticing some problems with the development of your lets just call them primary sex characteristics. Also you have myopia, you are color blind, have awful muscle tone and the bone structure of the deeply, profoundly, ugly.


    But hey, at least leukemia and pancreatic cancer are going to make sure that you don¡¯t have these problems for long.


    I fixed the epilepsy for you, along with the nerve damage and physical symptoms of addiction. So that''s something.


    You must have one Hell of a Heaven-toppling destiny for Fate to land all this on you. And I don¡¯t have nearly enough energy to fix all of this. Or even most of it. Or even just the cancer.


    The dump wasn¡¯t ever really quiet. Things shifted around, and it was a promised land for all sorts of animals. The boy was in a reasonably out of the way place, but hardly secure. There was almost nothing more the voice in the ring could do for him. There was a ghostly sigh. There was one more thing it could do- going all in on this obviously failed gamble. It teetered on the choice for a while. There was another ghostly sigh, and an electrochemical prod woke the boy up.


    Listen closely, I don¡¯t have much time. I¡¯m transmitting a set of exercises and breathing techniques to you. They won¡¯t let you cultivate, but they will let you digest the energy in your food better, fight infection better, and clean out toxins from your body. They will also keep the cancer in you from progressing¡­ much. But since you don¡¯t know what that is, don¡¯t worry about it and just practice.


    Practice every day. You will get stronger, feel better, you won¡¯t hurt as much. If anyone asks what you are doing, tell them you are imitating animals to gather their strength. That tends to stop questions. I¡¯d avoid people entirely, if possible. I¡¯ll talk to you again once you are stronger, but it won¡¯t be for years. But you will feel me. Because I am with you. You aren¡¯t alone any more. You were never trash. You will soar.


    The voice faded away, leaving only the lingering feeling of a warm hug.


    The boy tried to work up some spit. His mouth was terribly dry for some reason. Eventually, he managed a single word. ¡°Grandpa?¡±


    He lifted up his treasure to take a lick, then spat hard. For some reason, it tasted very bitter now.


    The first time the boy tried to do the exercises, he only managed the first of the ten forms. His malnourished body and withered limbs couldn¡¯t stand the new strain. He had to find some not too rotten or wormy bits of vegetables to eat and regain some of his strength. Usually, eating like this gave him horrible stomach aches if it didn¡¯t make him fountain at both ends. He didn¡¯t care. He was just that hungry.


    And then¡­ nothing bad happened. He looked around, wondering if there was something special about the vegetables. There didn¡¯t seem to be- they were just mixed in with the rest of the trash. Since he had a bit more energy, he did the exercises again. Stronger this time, but he still only managed the first form. Some kind of gunk surfaced through the pores on his skin. He ignored it. It was a bit smelly, but there wasn¡¯t much of it.


    The first time he managed a complete set of the ten forms, he could feel Grandpa hugging him. He could almost hear Grandpa whispering how happy and proud the boy made him. It was the single greatest moment of his life so far. He knew he wanted to make Grandpa proud again.


    So he kept practicing. Eating rotting garbage. Digging up grubs with his one good finger on each hand. Drinking water collected in puddles and bits of broken pottery. He learned to move low, to stay crouched in the shadows. He was too weak to fight anything bigger than a mouse, so he had to be stealthy and careful enough to find a mouse in the trash heaps.


    Sometimes, when the sun got too hot or there were dangerous animals moving around, he would crouch under a heap and look up at the blue sky. His eyes were blurry, and it was hard to make anything out too far away, but he could lose himself in that blue. Wondering what it would be like to be a bird.


    One day, he saw people that sort of looked like big versions of him close to the dump. He crept over towards them, curious. Hopeful. Maybe they could make the hurting stop. It always hurt to move. It hurts to do anything. It would be so nice if they could help.


    ¡°AHH! Unclean beast!¡± One of the big people scooped a rock off the ground and threw it hard enough to rip open the flesh on the boy¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Go away! Scram! Come on, you throw rocks too.¡±


    ¡°No need, it¡¯s run off. What do you think it was? Some kind of diseased monkey?¡±


    The boy hid under a mound of rotting rags and broken furniture, clutching the bleeding wound. He could feel something bubbling up in him. Something that made him clench his teeth and want to hurt those big people. Made him want to throw rocks at them! The loneliness howled around him, devouring him. The pain and isolation and fear all gathered to drag him into the dark.


    But then he felt Grandpa holding him, and thought he felt an old hand caressing the back of his head. He couldn¡¯t hear Grandpa¡¯s voice, but he thought he heard whispers of calm, of comfort. Promises that, one day, no one would be able to hurt him. It was okay to acknowledge the pain, but trust that one day, the pain will pass.


    Right now, everything hurts. The rock throwers hurt him very much.


    The boy broke down and cried. Every action he took had a hidden calculation- how much energy will this cost? How much pain will this cost? He put up with this life, but that too had a cost. The cold dark was always there, always pulling on him. Promising oblivion.


    Soon enough the tears ran out. Everything hurt, but he was still furiously determined to live. He wanted to make Grandpa proud. And there was something even below that thought. Some ember that refused to be extinguished by tears or put out by the cold.


    The boy patted himself off and started moving. It had been raining for most of the day for the past few days, and he had quickly figured out that the trash piles tended to collapse without warning. He didn¡¯t want to be buried alive. He would have to make a little shelter for himself out of the more solid scrap. He didn¡¯t know what Monsoons were. He just knew he wanted to live.


    This continued for the next four years. Monsoons came and went. The trash was piled up, then rotted down. But the boy remained. Still gorging on trash, feasting on mice and lizards and cockroaches, choking it all down with the naked will to live.


    As the years slipped past, the boy started to understand why Grandpa said the forms were modeled after animals. The low crouch of the Bright Eyes, the tall stretch of the Green Stripe Scaley, the little hops of Big Ears. Each movement reminded him of an animal he saw around the garbage heap. He slowly grew strong enough to hunt them.


    Missing fingers on both hands meant it was hard to grip a weapon, so he resorted to snares and traps. It took a lot of experimentation, but that was fine. He had nothing but time. Snares and traps meant he didn¡¯t have to move much. It hurt to move, so he learned to be small and still. Just another piece of trash on the heap.


    A Big Teeth Hunter came into the garbage dump as the sun set. They usually moved in packs, but this one was alone. The boy saw that it was sick, foaming at the mouth. He hid as best he could in one of his little nests, snares and traps set around him. The boy had been hunted by beasts before. And the Big Teeth Hunter, sick or not, was very good at finding prey.


    It found the boy in minutes. It jumped over the pits, broke through his snares, and was only stopped by the last-ditch scrap fence the boy raised from the ground. The beast snarled and barked, trying to bite off the hands and few remaining fingers holding up the fence. The boy knew he couldn¡¯t hold out long.


    In a fit of desperation, he shoved the fence into the beast¡¯s face, confusing it. Using the distraction, he hopped on the Big Teeth¡¯s back, slipped an arm around its neck, and choked.


    The boy had grown up starving. He was more than just small for his age- he was stunted. The Big Fangs could handle the weight. What it couldn¡¯t handle was the strength in those thin arms. Tendons like cords popped out of slim, but highly functional, muscles. All the boy had to do was hang on and squeeze. So the boy lay on the stinking, piebald grey fur, and squeezed until the animal stopped moving and the breathing stopped and he couldn¡¯t feel the blood rushing through it any more.


    He felt Grandpa hug him. Grandpa was so proud of him! The boy decided to celebrate with a meat feast.


    Ah, no, please don¡¯t. The wolf is very sick. Rabies isn¡¯t something a little exercise routine can fix.


    ¡°GRANDPA!¡±


    Hahaha, I told you I would be back. Yes, you can call me Grandpa if you like. Or Grandpa Jun. But I don¡¯t think I ever learned your name.


    The little boy nodded.


    So. What is your name?


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Grandpa. Maybe ¡°Go Away?¡±


    Huh?


    ¡°That¡¯s what the people say when they see me. They yell ¡°Go Away!¡± and they throw rocks. I have to stay far away. They are good at spotting me, and are very strong.¡±


    It sounds like you don¡¯t have a name. Would you like me to give you one?


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    Tian Zihao. That¡¯s a good name for my grandson. You are going to shake the world, my boy. And it starts today.¡±

 Chapter 2- Gourmet in the Garbage

    ¡°Is shaking the world a good thing Grandpa? Tian Zihao doesn¡¯t know.¡± The boy looked around trying to find Grandpa in the heaps of rags, rotting food and broken pottery. ¡°Grandpa, where are you? Tian can hear you and feel your hugs, but can¡¯t see you.¡±


    Ah, you can just call yourself ¡°I,¡± you aren¡¯t a baby any more. As for where I am, I¡¯m on your finger. Have you ever noticed a tiny ridge of bone just above the knuckle where the finger joins the palm? That bone ring is where I live. You can think of me as a sort of ghost or spirit.


    ¡°Oh! What¡¯s a ghost?¡±


    I have a feeling I¡¯m going to be answering a lot of ¡°What¡± and ¡°Why¡± questions in the near future.


    The little boy nodded.


    I promise to explain¡­ well¡­ everything I can. But I really, REALLY, don¡¯t want you to die, which means that we have to make you stronger. And healthier. The Sunnyvale Retirement Community Calisthenics Routine For Active Senior Living has kept you alive so far, but the sheer quantity of environmental toxins it¡¯s clearing out means that you have a brand new bone marrow cancer to go with the pancreatic cancer and leukemia. You have so few functioning nephrons left I can count them individually, and that fungal infection in your lungs is only biding its time, not gone. And those are just the more immediately fatal problems.


    Tian could hear Grandpa sigh. There was a squeeze on his shoulder, and he instinctively put his mutilated hand over it.


    Worse, you don¡¯t have a spirit root, dao bone, double pupils or any kind of special meridians. In fact, some of your meridians aren¡¯t just broken, they are gone entirely. Like you were born without them.


    ¡°Is that bad?¡±


    Let us say that your life is a miracle, and that luck comes in two flavors. Let¡¯s get to it, I only have a tiny bit of energy to work with here. Almost nobody comes into the dump, right?


    ¡°Yes, Grandpa. The people come and throw big buckets of garbage into the boxes at the edge of the dump, then the boxes walk in and dump themselves out.¡±


    This was a reasonably accurate description. Giant dumpsters crawled about on hundreds of tiny legs, ignoring the animal life of the dump. Life that included the newly named Tian Zihao.


    Good, good. This seems like the dumping ground for local mortals, not cultivators, so the odds of running into something really heinous should be minimal. I¡¯m afraid that given the tiny amount of energy I have saved up and your¡­ difficult¡­ starting conditions, I can only provide you another bull- another very minor method for preserving your life and strengthening your body. It can¡¯t make any really major physical changes, never mind the meridians and all that, but at least it can get you healthy-ish.


    ¡°You won¡¯t vanish again, will you Grandpa Jun?¡±


    Not this time, I think. Last time I had to immediately save your life and that was expensive. Don¡¯t worry about that for now. Let¡¯s focus on making you healthy!


    ¡°Yes, Grandpa!¡±


    This is called the GVNRRCH Municipal Sanitation-


    ¡°Grandpa? I¡¯m sorry, but there was a strange sound. I didn¡¯t hear you.¡±


    Hah. Foolish of me. This is a method used by¡­ garbage collectors? In a far, far away place? This was how they stayed healthy and strong. More stretching and breathing, but this time, we are focusing on your digestion and then the rest of your internal organs. Let¡¯s call it Gourmet. That¡¯s a nice name for it that won¡¯t get my energy stolen.


    Tian felt a finger gently tap his forehead, and he suddenly knew. There was a certain way of posing your arms, swinging them down, then up again, holding your breath for the lunge forward, three quick inhales for the leg raise and stomp. It was all there and waiting for him. He just had to practice.


    Oh you utter scumbag, it¡¯s not even a cultivation art. Tian, I guessed wrong. Your true destiny is simply outrageous, and I¡¯m getting killed for every little thing. Listen, stay away from the other humans, you hear me? Stay away! I¡¯m going quiet for a while, but I¡¯ll still be here with you. Practice well, and start with dirt under old piles. The faster you heal yourself, the faster I can talk again. You¡¯ll see. I¡¯m so proud of you, Tian. You are going to soar.


    ¡°Grandpa Jun?¡± Tian looked around then looked down at his left hand. He traced the base of his thin index finger with his thumb, not minding the ragged stumps where the other fingers should have been. He couldn¡¯t remember a time when he had them. He had Grandpa here, with him. In that little ridge of bone just above the knuckle. Grandpa Jun might not talk much, but Tian was never alone.


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Things might hurt. He might be hungry. He might be scared. But he could always feel Grandpa Jun¡¯s warmth. And that was enough.


    He got started on the exercises. These came fairly easily. The poses weren¡¯t too strange, the breathing patterns were odd but not awful and even things like contracting certain muscles in a certain order was finicky, not hard. The only problem was, after running through a single set, his stomach growled.


    Tian took a long look at what he now knew was called a wolf, and dragged it away from his little nest in the rubbish heaps. If Grandpa said it couldn¡¯t be eaten, then it couldn¡¯t be eaten. He would bury it where other animals couldn¡¯t eat it either, and find food along the way.


    Tian didn¡¯t get far before he remembered Grandpa saying- ¡°Start with the dirt under old piles.¡± Start¡­ what? Start why? He changed his destination. He knew a great place to both bury the wolf and find old dirt.


    The trash heaps were a mix of rotting food, scraps of wood, broken pottery, bits of paper and cloth and bone. There was never anything intact. No iron pipes, no old chairs or a now unwanted book. Never any intact clothes. Only things that were ruined past any reasonable use. Now there would be a sick wolf buried under the heaps. It seemed right to Tian.


    Tian had been watching the people outside the dump his whole life. They wore things to protect their feet, and wrapped cloth around their upper body and legs. When the rain came, they covered their shoulders with capes made of straw and wore big straw hats. The animals had their coats too. Even this wolf did. So he imitated them.


    Bits of rag were knotted together with torn and mildewed blankets. Thumb and forefinger were strong enough to punch holes in the rotted cloth, and nimble enough thread broken bits of string and gardening twine through. A broken knife with barely an inch of metal still attached to the handle made an excellent fabric cutter.


    He could cover his body from the sun, and it never got very cold. Other people¡¯s worn out shoes could be repurposed into something that wasn¡¯t comfortable, but was safer than walking on the broken shards of who knows what. Broken straw hats could be patched, though not mended.


    This particular heap was a long way from where the dumpsters were filled, and they rarely added to these particular heaps. They were practically the second to last layer of trash before you reached the back of the dump. There were tall, barren hills along the back edge, but Tian stayed well away from them. He¡¯d seen people walking on the top of them occasionally, and people meant thrown rocks.


    Old dirt. This was just the spot. He found a good digging stick, and got to it. He dug deeply- he had seen the animals digging for food, and knew that they, like him, would go a very long way for a very small mouthful. Eventually the hole was deeper than he was tall. It took him a long while, but there were edible weeds that grew in the cracks of the rocks on the hillside, and grubs in the rotting food. It was enough. The big meal was coming. He tossed the wolf into the pit, then set to work building traps all around it. Animals would come following the smell. Then he would have a good meal.


    His nostrils twitched. He drew a long breath through his nose. He could smell the dead wolf, and the garbage, but there was something else. There was a hint of something delicious. He looked around, but didn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. It was strongest next to the pit. He sniffed around some more, and finally looked at the dirt pile. It was very faint, but when he lifted a bit of the dirt up to his nose, there was a wonderful smell.


    Tian thought that he could eat almost anything thanks to the exercises, and it¡¯s not like he hadn¡¯t eaten dirt when there was nothing edible in the dump. He gingerly swallowed a piece. It tasted like dirt. But in that dirt was something else. It was a faint, elusive flavor, but it satisfied something in him. He contracted his stomach and flexed his muscles according to Gourmet''s cycle. The wonderful flavor intensified. He ate a bit more dirt. And a bit more.


    He still hunted the animals that came for the wolf, of course. You would die if you only ate dirt. But they had never tasted so good before. Skinned, gutted, and eaten raw with bloody hands. They were the most delicious thing he had ever eaten.


    Tian didn¡¯t know how to make fire. He didn¡¯t even remember it existed.


    A week later, Tian noticed that, for the very first time, he could pee without feeling a burning, stabbing pain running all the way up inside of him. He was bruising less easily. He wasn¡¯t tired all the time.


    Other things started smelling good, seemingly without rhyme or reason. Bits of some pots. Certain rotting fruits and vegetables moved seamlessly from nauseating to delicacies. Paper with smudged red ink was absolutely divine to suck on, provided one also kept a particular splinter of wood in your mouth.


    Some things like the potshards and rocks were simply inedible. His already weak teeth would shatter if he tried to bite them. Instead, he ground them down with rocks, mixed them with water, and drank them up out of a bit of shattered vase.


    His mother had loved that vase, once. Tian would never know.


    He noticed the way he could take deep breaths now. Every now and then he would feel something bubbling terribly in his guts and he would puke out something so vile it etched rock, but other than that, he had never felt better.


    One day, Tian managed to jump between two big heaps of garbage and landed steadily on his feet. It had been a trickly operation- he was jumping from a slippery pile of mixed garbage and landing on a slippery pile of jumbled together trash. He had to gather his strength, mentally prepare for the pain of a big motion, plan it out in his head. Then he exploded, pushing through th pain and clearing the gap. Landing like a leaping lizard.


    There was no reason for it. He just wanted to try. It wasn¡¯t often that he dared leap from the shadows, but something in him needed to know how far he had come. Here was the proof- he had come a long way. He looked up at the blue sky between the rotting piles and laughed for the sheer joy of it all.


    Good jump.


    ¡°Grandpa!¡±


    I¡¯m back. I told you it wouldn¡¯t be so long this time.


    ¡°Did I cure the whatevers?¡±


    The several types of cancer you have, note-the-present-tense? I¡¯m afraid not. But you have a big piece of your kidneys functioning again, and your cancers are in remission, both of which are huge. And did you notice the way your skin cleared up? And the way your bones are way, way less brittle?


    ¡°They are?¡±


    You bet! I won¡¯t be able to transmit anything to you for a good long while, but I can keep you company at least, and help you make the most of Gourmet. And I¡¯ll start teaching you the basics of the basics of cultivation. The stuff you have to know before all the meditation.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to.¡±


    Eh?


    ¡°Every time you try to help me, you disappear. It¡¯s okay. If Grandpa can stay with me, it¡¯s all okay. You don¡¯t need to help more.¡±


    Heh. I have a cute grandson. Cultivation is the cultivation of one¡¯s self. Your character, your wisdom, the way you exist in the world. Some parts of that will be expensive. But kid, let me teach you something that doesn¡¯t cost any energy. It¡¯s not always about you. It¡¯s definitely not about me.


    ¡°So what is it about?¡±


    Becoming strong enough to save the world. Sounds nicer than ¡°Killing God,¡± doesn¡¯t it?

 Chapter 3- Junkyard Classroom, Trash Heap Hospital

    ¡°Killing God? What¡¯s God?¡±


    God is the principle that says the world exists, life exists, the universe, the sun, moon, stars, devas and devils dancing in the infinite void, cultivators summoning the wind and rain with a flip of their hand, swords that can cut iron like mud and mud that can bring life to millions- all of that exists because someone made it exist, and it is therefore right and good if that same person gives kids cancer.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±


    Grandpa Jun sighed. Me either. Stick with saving the world. It¡¯s not much less complicated, but people tend to take it better when you say it out loud.


    ¡°And¡­ you are going to save the world?¡±


    No. You are.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    It will be hard. Very hard. But I believe in you. After all, you are used to doing very hard things.


    Tian nodded. He was used to doing very hard things. Some days, just moving was very hard. Accepting the way his burn scars would pull and tear and weep when he tried to do his exercises was hard. Feeding yourself, that was very hard. Making clothes was hard. Staying dry in the rainy season, staying cool in the hot season, all hard. Even the bugs could be hard to deal with, though he noticed they really didn¡¯t like biting him.


    ¡°Can we save the world from the dump?¡±


    Hahaha! Oh Grandson, you have so many amazing things to see and do. We won¡¯t always be in this dump. But while we are weak, it¡¯s a good place to hide out and get stronger.


    ¡°It is?¡±


    It is. You know what the scariest thing in the world is? People. They are also some of the best things, but you don¡¯t get the good without the bad. People are very scary, and right now, they are very hostile to you. That means they will attack you on sight.


    Tian nodded. They did that.


    The poor bastards think¡­ you know what? Not relevant right now. The point is that people will avoid this place and you aren¡¯t likely to suffer unreasonable accidents. The Dump is practically the safest place you could be!


    ¡°Unreasonable accidents? What does that mean?¡±


    If you jump on a pile of trash and something slips out from underneath your foot and you fall and hurt yourself, that¡¯s a reasonable accident. Sitting quietly under a pile of garbage and getting struck by some cultivator¡¯s Thousand Refinement Ten Thousand Deaths Arrow of Supreme Annihilation which he only threw into the air as a joke- that would be an unreasonable accident.


    ¡°I understand. What''s an arrow? And all that? And a cultivator?¡±


    Homeschooling was already on the to-do list. But first- games!


    ¡°Games?¡±


    Fun things you can do to make yourself stronger, faster, smarter, more agile, all that good stuff! Trace out what I tell you to draw in the dirt.


    Tian followed Grandpa Jun¡¯s instructions, and drew ten circles in the dirt. Grandpa was very particular about where they went.


    Alright, now we need to mark each circle with special signs. First go to the leftmost circle and draw a straight line up and down. Then in the next circle-


    Grandpa went through all ten. Congratulations, you have just written out the numbers one through ten. You will learn them well as we play the game.


    ¡°What¡¯s the game?¡±


    I call a number, and when I do, you jump onto that circle. Easy, right? But the trick is that we sing a song while you jump, and if you forget the song or jump into the wrong circle, you lose and we have to start over. You win if you can get to the end of the song without missing a jump.


    ¡°Is this really fun?¡±


    You bet! Let me teach you the song.


    It was a silly little song. It was only one short verse with a chorus, all about colors. Tian quickly agreed that it was a fun game, and smiled when Grandpa told him that there were more verses they could sing.


    Grandpa Jun knew lots of fun songs and games. There was the dinner game- when the two hunted for food in the trash and then Tian had to find the best not-food things to eat with it. It was a shocking feast- a thousand different flavors to try. The only time Grandpa Jin scolded Tian was when the boy wanted to eat a bit of painted wood.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    ¡°But why Grandpa?¡±


    Because I already fixed your nervous system once, and I¡¯m damned if I¡¯m wasting my thimbleful of energy on fixing it again. No more lead in your diet, you hear me? None!


    Other than that scolding, dinners were a lot more fun and a lot more delicious. Then there was building snares and traps. Grandpa knew so many ways to build snares and traps it boggled the mind. He taught Tian how to read the faint game trails that ran through the dump. How to catch fat rats and chubby birds. Tian thought he was already a junkyard predator. Grandpa Jun showed him how to be a much better one.


    You should take pride in hunting Tian. You are pitting your whole life against your prey¡¯s. But never let them linger. See how that rat is screaming in pain? Grab a rock and bash its brains out. Safer for you, and kinder for the rat. You can¡¯t eat cruelty, but it can sure eat you.


    The games were all really fun too- games about counting, about colors, about how to read strange shapes called ¡®characters¡¯ or the stories hidden in the blurry dots of light in the night sky. After it rained, there was the fun ¡°Where does the water go?¡± investigation, trying to figure out why the puddles in the shade lasted longer than the puddles in the sun, and why some bits of pottery could hold water for days, but others absorbed it all.


    Another constant was ¡°Elbows, Knees and Toes,¡± where Tian would make dots on bits of rotting wood or piles of cloth, then hit it with his elbows, knees or¡­ not actually his toes, but his feet or his shin. Then grandpa combined that with the circle jumping game, and things got very, very complicated, but always very, very fun. He was never bored with Grandpa Jun and all his fun games. Although they did hurt.


    ¡°Grandpa, when we do these games, all the crinkly bits of skin pull. It really hurts.¡±


    I know. I¡¯m sorry about that. But you are going to learn that being able to work and fight through the pain is the greatest thing about these games. It will save your life over and over again.


    ¡°It will?¡±


    It will. And even if it hurts, aren¡¯t you still having fun?


    Tian was. And every time he traded pain for a full belly, he agreed again it was all worthwhile. Throughout it all was the breathing and stretching exercises. Those were mandatory, and nearly constant.


    A pagoda of nine million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine floors is built from the foundation up. And since I¡¯m aiming for more like nine billion or nine trillion floors, we are going to be working on your foundation for a long time.


    Tian could count up to ten. Bigger numbers required more explanations. The jumping games got more complicated and the songs got longer, stretching all the way to a hundred circles and dozens of verses. It wasn¡¯t easy to memorize so many things, so Tian had to learn tricks of memorization, mnemonics, making a jumping game in his imagination and writing a verse next to each circle.


    It was a happy year. Tian was eating well, moving like a leopard with the muscles of an anaconda. Even better than that, he was in less and less pain.


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know the right words yet, Grandpa. I can¡¯t remember when things didn¡¯t hurt. And now a lot of things that used to hurt, don¡¯t hurt. I¡­ I think I¡¯m smarter now, but that hole where the pain was can¡¯t be filled with my words. I can breathe now.¡± He spread his hands helplessly.


    You have spent the last year transforming trash into medicine inside your body. That¡¯s what Gourmet is for- making you stronger is a happy side effect. Gourmet and the Calisthenics are all about taking what¡¯s toxic and refining it into tonic. Remember how I told you the dirt is filled with animals too small to see, which can promote both sickness and health?


    ¡°Yes, and they live together in groups called colonies.¡±


    Yes. It¡¯s why some of the dirt smells really good to you, and some of the dirt smells really bad. You are smelling the good animals, and eating them up. Same thing with the metals and chemicals you have been eating. The stuff isn¡¯t really digestible- zero nutritional value. But thanks to Gourmet, those chemicals can be sent to attack the diseases that were ravaging your body.


    ¡°Woah!¡±


    I told you all this before. Many times.


    ¡°I know. But it¡¯s still amazing. Grandpa?¡±


    Yes?


    ¡°You said that I can¡¯t cultivate, and the people outside the dump are way stronger than me. Why is that? Also, what is cultivation?¡±


    Grandpa Jun was quiet for a moment. Tian knew that Grandpa had to speak carefully. Sometimes he would say the wrong thing and be silent for days. It made Tian not want to ask questions, but Grandpa scolded him and told him that it was the responsibility of his elders to show how not to invite trouble with their mouths. It was the responsibility of the young to learn.


    This world has certain rules and principals it operates on. If you combine a certain mix of water, gravel and burnt sea shells, you can make iron mud. That¡¯s a rule. But you can also say it¡¯s a rule that is based on other rules. Like if you have two rocks and add another two rocks you have?


    ¡°Four rocks.¡±


    Right. So it is true to say that there are four rocks as a thing that exists in its totality- the four rocks are their own complete and unique thing, and that those four rocks are the inevitable consequence of two sets of two rocks coming together, and that those sets are, themselves, an inescapable conclusion from bringing together four individual rocks. And for that to come true, there must be one rock. And in theory, if you completely understand everything that is part of the totality of the concepts of ¡°one,¡± ¡°rock,¡± and ¡°one rock,¡± you could eventually figure out four rocks. Or any number of rocks.


    ¡°Grandpa¡­ I don¡¯t understand any of that.¡±


    It would be weird if you did, honestly. Look, you can eat food, and it keeps you alive. There is energy in the food that lets you do that, stuff for making muscles, blood, all that. And that¡¯s a rule, a Four Rock rule. But under that are more rules and more rules. And one of the big rules, one of those One Rock rules, is that there is an energy that fills the world. Everything touches it and is affected by it.


    Cultivation, as most people use the word, is learning how to interact with that powerful energy directly. To incorporate it into you, and use it to make yourself stronger intentionally. Most things, yourself included, are passively affected by it. How much they are affected varies wildly. Even the trash in this dump is affected by the energy.


    Tian nodded.


    So why are the people outside so much stronger than you? Do you remember I mentioned that you are missing meridians, don¡¯t have a dao bone or a spirit root or any of that? They do have ¡®em. Well, just the meridians, they don¡¯t have the other things either. Most of them. Meridians are like blood vessels that interact with the special energy and run it through your body. They are quite mystical- they are both physical and work on the level of that energy.


    Even if they can¡¯t properly cultivate, the people around you have a full set of functional meridians. They are reinforced by that energy much more than you are. For now.


    ¡°For now?¡±


    Grandpa Jun chuckled. Grandpa had a nice laugh, Tian thought, even if sometimes it sounded a little spooky.


    I have thought it through carefully. What you need isn¡¯t incremental improvements, you need a complete body reforging. Your body will be hammered out and improved over and over again. And that, unfortunately, is not something we can do in this dump. We will have to go on our first grand adventure.


    ¡°Our first grand adventure? Out of the Dump?¡±


    Exactly! You are now a boy who can survive in harsh conditions. The journey will be very dangerous- most things are going to be stronger than you, faster than you, with better senses than you. But you can survive what others cannot. You can endure. And, if I may say so myself, my Grandson is pretty darn smart! So we will survive.


    Tian started squirming. ¡°When do we go?¡±


    Hmm. It¡¯s not like we can prepare much here. We can gather a few useful things and set off tomorrow.


    Tian¡¯s eyes opened wide. ¡°So soon?¡±


    Is there anything here that we particularly need?


    ¡°What about all the traps, all the snares, the plants we are growing in pots?


    We will take the traps apart and leave the plants to their fate. With luck, they will thrive. If not, that was their fate. We, however, will not thrive unless we move.


    ¡°So how do we make my body better?¡±


    Remember what I said about the rules beneath the rules? And how that mysterious energy affects everything?


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    Well, we just need to get the right stuff, turn it into soup and add you as the final ingredient. And since we aren¡¯t trying to do anything too Heaven-defying, it won¡¯t even be suicidal!


    ¡°Err¡­ suicidal?¡±


    Power has its price, my boy. You have already paid part of it. Time to pay off the balance and take what you are owed.

 Chapter 4- First Steps on the Path

    Tian Zihao and Grandpa Jun set out from the garbage dump with a sack of whatever grubs and meat he could scrounge up, a stitched hide waterskin, and mixed feelings. This was the only home Tian knew. He didn¡¯t love it, but he knew how to live here, how to eat, how to hide from scary humans and the clumsy, crushing dumpsters.


    Outside the dump was a mystery. Cupping one corner and the back of the dump were steep hills. On the other sides were shorter, rolling little hills with clumps of trees and a well worn road winding through them.


    Tian avoided the road. He didn¡¯t have to be reminded.


    Remember, all we have done is clear up the more immediately fatal diseases. Your kidneys are working, your cancer is in remission, your MS predisposition is still just at the stage of a predisposition, I took care of the brain damage and lead poisoning years ago¡­ I still don¡¯t know how you got hooked on opium, but that¡¯s fixed too.


    And yes, you do have severe hormonal and glandular problems and if necessary I¡¯m going to help prevent puberty from kicking in until we can fix your¡­ downstairs bits, but-


    ¡°Grandpa, you are doing that thing again. I don¡¯t understand most of that.¡± Tian whispered. He had learned a long time ago that Grandpa¡¯s voice didn¡¯t startle the animals, but his voice could. Grandpa said that only Tian could hear him, but that didn¡¯t make sense to Tian. How can only one person hear a voice?


    I can¡¯t wait until you have started qi cultivation and can communicate with your mind alone. It¡¯s going to be much more convenient.


    The two were creeping between small hills, trying not to disturb the bushes as they went. It was a very different way of moving stealthily, Tian learned. Very different from the sliding heaps of the junkyard. The plants weren¡¯t anything like the ones that grew in the junkyard. These leaves were wide and thick, shiny in the moonlight.


    The shadows were deep and comfortable. That, at least, hadn¡¯t changed.


    He could hear birds calling softly in the warm, humid night. All the smells were new too.


    We are going to have to bathe you, and soon. I didn¡¯t mind in the dump because the gunk was keeping the bugs off, but as you are now, everyone and their cousin will smell you coming a mile away.


    The two climbed to the top of a hill and the world opened up in front of them.


    Above was a hazy moon, brilliant and huge. A shining ribbon of silver stretched in the distance, and little puddles of silver light were scattered around. Flecks of yellow light were scattered around too, usually in little clusters. Then the clusters clumped into bigger clusters of light, then a huge mass of firefly lights all massed together. And then, at the very edge of his blurry vision, something stretched up into the sky. Something that caught the white light of the moon and carried it back upwards again.


    Tian crouched under a broad leafed bush and drank it in. Letting the sight fill parts of him he didn¡¯t know were empty. Letting himself fall into the wonder of it all.


    ¡°Grandpa¡­ what am I seeing?¡±


    The river shapes the valley, flowing long and wide, providing water for the rice paddies. See those shimmering places in the stone walls? That¡¯s trapped water, with rice growing in it. You have seen grains of rice in the dump- those little tasteless white things that look like grubs. You are going to learn to love it, believe me.


    Next to those paddies are the homes and villages of the farmers. Solid stone walls, a tile roof, a hearth with a chimney. They live comfortably in them, though they probably think themselves very poor.


    Then you can see the towns, where even more people live. There will be shops where you can buy things, amazing things. Those are the people who are even better to-do than the farmers. They might own the farms, or own the businesses that buy and sell things.


    Behind the towns is a city, filled with the wonders of civilization. I can¡¯t even describe them to you. You have to experience it for yourself. Magic and talismans and enchanted everything. Clothes woven from silkworms that grew in frost caves, or on lava, or that fed on mulberry leaves watered with spiritual spring water. Endless, endless wonders to discover.


    It must belong to the sect that rules the spiritual mountain behind it- sects often do this, as it gives them a lot of conveniences when dealing with the mortal world. The spiritual mountain behind the city is the true gem of this place. Probably of this whole region. That mountain is where the true cultivators live. It is a place of immense glory. And terror. A force that can dominate that mountain is one that could exterminate a billion mortal lives without a single regret.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    You have so much to discover. The world has so much beauty in it. So much life and joy.


    The two watched silently. The world was¡­ just so huge. So many impossible wonders. And everything was new in Tian¡¯s eyes. He had never seen a river, or a paddy, or a stone wall. He had never seen a house. People were only seen in their ones and twos, never in their hundreds and thousands.


    ¡°This is¡­ very dangerous, isn¡¯t it? There isn¡¯t anywhere to hide here.¡±


    Yes it is, but not because there is nowhere to hide. You can¡¯t see it because it¡¯s night and your night vision is almost shot, but there are lots of places to hide. It¡¯s dangerous because you don¡¯t look like them. Your face is a different shape, your hands, the way you are dressed and how you smell- all make you seem different, and probably dangerous. So they will attack you. Even if you try to tell them you aren¡¯t dangerous, they will attack you. It¡¯s cruel. And it¡¯s very human.


    ¡°Maybe it would be better not to be a human. They are all rock throwers.¡±


    People are cruel. But a person can be kind. That kindness and warmth¡­ when you feel it, Tian, you won¡¯t be able to live without it. Just the thought of losing it will terrify you. Can you be kind, Grandson?


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe?¡±


    Think of it like when you were hunting. You killed to eat, but you didn¡¯t let them suffer in the traps, right? The pain was a bad thing, but you still had to eat. You can treat the world like that too. Just don¡¯t become someone who enjoys hurting. I¡¯ve seen how that story ends many times. Badly. Every time.


    Tian nodded. ¡°Where should we go, then?¡±


    East, to the mountains. After your first body reforging, we can see about introducing you to humanity. I¡¯ve done my best, but we are damn near a decade behind where you should be with your primary and secondary socialization. It¡¯s definitely going to impact your personality and relationships in the future. Thankfully I¡¯m not working against a lot in the moral indoctrination department, though I guess we will need to discover what local cultural mores are like.


    ¡°Grandpa, you are doing it again. Which way is East?¡±


    The direction that has the many smaller mountains, not the one big mountain.


    They walked in the moonlight, keeping to the shrubs and sparse trees. Tian found himself taking short steps. He knew he didn¡¯t have to, but he was used to navigating the trash heaps. There was plenty of room to walk boldly, but he was still taking the little tap tap tap steps of a boy who might have to jump to a nearby pile at any moment. Who rarely knew if his foot was on solid ground, and that the shadows were safer than the light.


    ¡°Grandpa, how long will it take to walk to the mountains?¡±


    Hard to say. Maybe a few weeks? It might be less with a little good fortune.


    ¡°That¡¯s a long time. I don¡¯t have enough food.¡±


    Believe me kiddo, that¡¯s going to be the least of your problems. Remember our jumping games?


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    Expect things to come trying to eat you. Jump out of the way, then hit them like we practiced with your elbows and knees and feet. Fresh food, delivered right to you. In the meantime, you and I will start the magical process of learning what mortal grade plants can be used for healing purposes, what¡¯s edible, and what should be avoided.


    Tian doubted that things were really coming to kill him. The largest animal he had seen was the occasional wolf, and only the sick ones would try to attack. Mostly they just stayed away. It was little ones like the rats that would come up and bite you at night. Though they didn¡¯t like the taste of him either. The gunk seemed to repel almost everything.


    They picked their way east, stopping when they found a stream. The water tasted different here- not the usual rainwater caught in broken jars and animal hide water catchers. It was brighter, fresher. It even felt different in the mouth, like it was slippery and somehow round tasting. He couldn¡¯t explain why, it just was.


    He stuck his hands in the water, letting it flow past the ragged stumps of his fingers and tickle the bone ring Grandpa Jun lived inside. Inhaling the fresh green of the world. Even in darkness, he could taste the color of it. Rich, sweet, thick with life.


    ¡°Grandpa?¡±


    Yes, Tian?


    ¡°Thank you. For everything.¡±


    Between us there is no need for thanks.


    Tian laughed a little, and shook his head. It was the first time he really believed Grandpa was wrong.


    Look sharp- we are getting close to dawn. Now would be a good time to find shelter. Remember what we talked about?


    ¡°Dry, near water, with enough dead leaves or grass that I can make a pile of them as high as my knee and long enough for me to lie down on, plus more for sleeping under.¡±


    Exactly. Let¡¯s go.


    Tian set off along the bank of the stream. It was hard to see under the trees, but some light made its way through. There really wasn¡¯t much in the way of convenient caves, but he managed to find a reasonably sheltered overhang with lots of leaf litter nearby. It crackled constantly, was filled with bugs, bits poked at him, and it smelled strange. Since he had been sleeping in the dump for as long as he could remember, he rated it ¡°Quite nice.¡± He made himself a little nest, ate a little jerky, and went to sleep.


    Tian! Tian! Get up! NOW! A jolt of adrenaline launched Tian¡¯s explosive return to consciousness. He thrashed his way out of the pile of leaves, rolling on the ground.


    Something went ¡°WAO!¡± but he couldn¡¯t see what yet, his eyes still light blind. He jumped left and heard something smash into his pile of leaves. He spun, blinking furiously.


    It was big, a little smaller than a wolf but heavier, with a boxy head, pointy ears and wide paws. Paws with long claws on them. It looked at him again and screamed. ¡°WAO!¡±


    Tian slowly backed up. The beast crouched. Tian crouched too, getting low, ready to move.


    The animal screamed once more and launched itself at him, paws wide, claws coming for his face. Tian barely dodged, feeling the rough fur slide over his flank and knocking him stumbling backward. He had never seen an animal like this before. If one did come into the dump, he would have hidden and set traps for it.


    No chance of that now. It was kill or be killed. The beast sputtered and hissed, crouching again, getting ready to attack. Tian didn¡¯t wait for it. It was the mentality of a junkyard predator. Moving is dangerous. It costs pain and energy. So when you have to make a move- kill!

 Chapter 5- Child of Destiny

    Tian charged the beast, and the beast met him with a lunge. Paws spread wide, sharp claws coming for his shoulders. Tian shifted right, then countered with an elbow to the head. The elbow landed on coarse fur, making the beast snarl but seemingly doing no damage. It hopped back, then forward again, swiping with a paw. He could hardly see the paw move, but the jumping games were carved into his bones by now- he kept moving. Every time his feet touched the ground, he shifted. It was giving the animal fits.


    Tian shoved off his front foot, cutting an angle to the left, then with an explosive shove from his back foot, kicked the beast in the ribs. A big stomp of a kick. This time he felt things break, like thin branches woven inside flesh.


    The beast exploded with fury. Wide paws came smashing out, claws whipping at his face, the beast shifting even faster than Tian could manage. He could feel them raking along his flanks, trying to set themselves in his legs or guts. The boy pushed himself as hard as he could dodging, smashing out with elbows and knees, trying to get distance.


    The animal whipped a paw around and caught the loose poncho Tian wore as both shirt and jacket, ripping it half off him. Tian slipped out and flipped the cloth over the animal¡¯s head. In the moment it was blind, he darted in and got on the animal¡¯s back. He got his arm around its neck, trying to choke it out like he did the wolf back in the junkyard.


    This was no sick animal though. It rolled over, tried to twist in his arms, tried to claw at him with its hind legs and scored his thighs with long tears. The broken ribs were badly holding it back, the animal unable or unwilling to put pressure on them. And Tian was much, much stronger than he was a year ago. The python arms slowly tightened as his legs squeezed around the broken ribs. They tumbled over and over on the ground, sticks and rocks tearing them up. Tian didn¡¯t let go. He was used to fighting through the pain. The beast wasn¡¯t.


    It just took time and a furious will. When the beast hadn¡¯t twitched for a long time, Tian finally rolled off. He could withstand pain. But he was also in quite a lot of it.


    Time to teach you how to make a fire and boil water, I think. Your body resists infection extremely well at this point, but it¡¯s only a resistance, not an immunity. Let¡¯s see if some of the plants around here can be used to clean wounds and heal you faster. Good job, Tian. Very good job.


    ¡°Thank you Grandpa. What was that?¡±


    A cat.


    ¡°A what?¡±


    A cat. It¡¯s a type of animal. This one was on the bigger side of small, so locals might call it a bobcat or something. People keep smaller ones around the house to kill rodents or as a kind of animal friend. There are people who form bonds with much, much bigger ones and use them as battle companions. There are even ways to cultivate various aspects of a cat within one¡¯s self, a sort of cat-body modification, or cultivation path, or summoning an ancestral spirit. Cats are popular, is what I am trying to say.


    ¡°Oh. Can I use any of that?¡±


    Now? No. Also you can do so, so much better. I just thought you might like to know. Incidentally, grab that big leaf right there. No, the- yeah, that one. Alright, now, go over to that tree. I¡¯m seeing some promising looking moss.


    Tian was dripping blood everywhere, but there was nothing he could do about it. Grandpa Jun introduced all sorts of different plants- most useless, but some could be combined to make a blood clotting paste, or to clean a wound from infection. It was interesting, but he just wished Grandpa would stop going on and on about how terrible it all was.


    If it worked, it was good. Maybe there was a divine nine-colored sunflower or whatever out there somewhere. But for right now, he was alive. And apparently, a combination of Iron Thread Grass and Bitterwort made an adequate healing salve.


    It was a long process, but Tian wasn¡¯t bored. The dripping blood and burning pain kept him motivated. Afterwards, he would have to butcher and skin the cat, then process it. No time to tan the hide- it would have to be abandoned. It felt wrong. The hide was in perfect condition.


    Tian laughed a little, wincing. ¡°Funny. I used to be the one amazed at what people throw out, and now I¡¯m throwing out perfectly good fur and bones.¡±


    Get used to it. We can¡¯t hang around carelessly. Bigger predators will come following the smell. We don¡¯t need to hide from humans out here and can risk a fire. I¡¯ll teach you now.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Grandpa Jun taught Tian how to make a fire. How to make a bow drill and carefully, after many failures, nurture an ember. The tiny spark landed on some shaved wood and Tian¡¯s gentle breaths blew it into a flame. The little flame was enough to light a tiny stick, and then a few more tiny sticks. Then bigger sticks. A steady fire, burning on a flat rock. Tian stared at it for a long time, feeling the heat of it. For some reason, the fire scared him.


    You were very badly burned when we first met. You are still covered in burned skin. I don¡¯t know what happened, exactly, but you were clearly in a terrible fire. But look- this is the fire you made. You control it. You breathed life into it, and without you feeding it, it will die. And you can use it to do magical things. Grab that big green leaf and some of the bark twine.


    Tian hung the leaf over the fire and filled it with water from his water skin. Then he ground up the Iron Grass and Bitterwort between two stones, making a rough paste of it. Once the water started to bubble and steam, he added the paste to the leaf.


    You would think the leaf would burn. If there was no water in it, it would burn. But now, the water boils first, drawing the heat from the leaf. It¡¯s not magic. It¡¯s the rules. A four rock rule, and you don¡¯t even really need to understand the why behind the what. It works. And using that, you can take two things that don¡¯t do anything much individually, boil them into a thick paste, let it dry into a cake, grind that cake as smooth as you can, mix with a tiny amount of water to make another paste, smear it over the tear in your side, and then your wounds are going to heal up well. Not perfectly. But well. And once you do understand the why behind the what, you can apply that rule to thousands of other things.


    ¡°Grandpa, is this what you mean by reforging my body?¡±


    Sort of. It¡¯s what I mean by ¡°cultivation.¡±


    Tian watched the paste bubble in the leaf. Thinking about his fight with the cat. It would be great if he could just poke things to kill them. It was hard for him to hold sticks and knives, so weapons didn¡¯t do much for him. He had both his index fingers and thumbs and most of his right pinky and some of the stubs were around where the first knuckle should be, so that should be enough for a pokey-killy power. He rubbed his head. He might as well dream of being able to regrow his fingers. Maybe they would come back when he reforged his body.


    The paste was processed and allowed to cool. It stung when it went on, but then the weeping cuts stopped bleeding and the pain eased. Tian couldn¡¯t stop smiling.


    And now that you have learned a little about boiling, let¡¯s teach you the old camping classic- roasting meat. You can expect to burn it, and cat meat isn¡¯t very nice, but¡­ get ready for a lot of new tastes. You are going to love it. Cooked food is a whole new world.


    Tian did burn the first few pieces, but he didn¡¯t care. The smell drilled its way into his nostrils and started hammering nerves he didn¡¯t know existed. It smelled delicious. Tian tore into it, his few good teeth ripping away the stringy flesh and his tongue delighted in the way the charred outside danced with the sour meat. Everything was new and wonderful and so, so filling. It warmed him up from the inside out, in a way that Grandpa¡¯s hugs had only ever done before.


    ¡°Grandpa, can we do this with rotten plants too?¡±


    Fresh is better. Welcome to cooking. I think you are going to love what you make. Grandpa Jun sounded like he was smiling and sad at the same time. Tian didn¡¯t know why.


    ¡°Is this also cultivation?¡±


    Yes.


    ¡°And killing the cat?¡±


    That too.


    ¡°The jumping games? Elbow, Knees and Toes?¡±


    All cultivation, as I define it. Almost nobody agrees with me, mind you. Some would even be very offended if you said it was. But to me, it¡¯s cultivation.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    Because there are ten thousand paths to The Absolute, so ultimately, what is the form? It is nothing. So if the form is meaningless, then what is cultivation? It is the cultivation of one¡¯s self.


    Cultivation is understanding oneself by understanding the universe. Flying swords, demon summoning, internal and external alchemy, formation mastery, martial arts, all are simply roadside flowers. To be studied and used, but never confused for the journey itself, or the destination.


    ¡°Grandpa¡­ I don¡¯t understand any of that.¡±


    It would be strange if you did. But you will. Finish eating and clean up. It¡¯s time to be moving. I was hoping to move at night, but we can¡¯t stay here any longer.


    The two set out quickly. Tian was shocked at how different everything looked in the daylight. All the greens and browns blur into the shade under the wide trees, then suddenly you were blinded by the sun in a clearing, surrounded by tall, wild grasses coming up where some mighty ancient of the forest fell. Then blinded by the shadows once again as you dove back into the land between the trees.


    ¡°Maybe this is cultivation,¡± Tian thought. He hoped it was. How wonderful must cultivation be if it was like this?


    It was close to sunset when he heard a familiar ¡°WAO!¡± Far louder this time, and coming from right behind him. He didn¡¯t think. He just dove behind a tree and came up facing the noise.


    It was another cat, but twenty times the size of the bobcat. Black and green stripes, and the character for King on its forehead.


    Tiger! It¡¯s too much for you. Run!


    Tian kicked dirt in the tiger¡¯s face, spun and ran.


    The tiger roared, and he could feel the breath of it coming behind him. Tian zig-zagged between trees, trying to slow the beast¡¯s charge. No use, the tiger was even more agile than he was. There was a clearing ahead, he could smell water. Maybe the tiger would be scared of water? He got his head down and squeezed every bit of speed he could out of his body.


    The boy dashed into the sunlight and stopped sharp. There was a river- far below him. The clearing was the edge of a cliff. The tiger burst out of the forest, barely two seconds behind him. No time to think. He ran to the cliff¡¯s edge, intending to climb down.


    The rock crumbled under his feet. Tian felt the world slow down. He had lots of time to feel himself spin around, clawing at the cliff, as the Tiger slammed to a stop. Its wide paws kicked up a wave of dirt as it slid forward. And then Tian¡¯s eyes slid under the cliff¡¯s edge.


    A frantic second of scrabbling at the cliff face. Thrashing wildly in the air, clawing for a miracle. Then a brutal hit, knocking the wind out of him.


    When Tian came to, he was hanging like a towel over a little tree trunk growing out of the cliff. Something smelled amazing.


    With agonizing care, Tian climbed onto the thin tree. It was a tough, scraggly thing, twisted and gnarled by its living conditions. The smell was coming from near the roots. He climbed over and gently parted the dirt. The smell got stronger and stronger- earthy, rich, organic in a way he associated with meat more than plants. He reached into the hole and pulled out a black, rough sphere half the size of his fist. It felt alive, almost like it was throbbing in his hand.

 Chapter 6- Eating Treasure with Broken Teeth

    Stormborn Pine Truffle. A delicacy and a body refining treasure. They cannot be farmed, and only chanced upon by luck.


    Tian was balanced on a tree trunk no wider than his leg. The drop to the river below was a hundred feet or more. The climb up was not much less daunting, and besides, there was a tiger up there. He knew the tiger was still there because the big bastard kept peeking over the edge of the cliff. It could smell the truffle too.


    I bet that¡¯s why you ran into that Tiger. This isn¡¯t the right sort of environment for a tiger. It must have been driven out of its territory, smelled the truffle and guarded this place while it matured. It was probably just looking for a way to get down the cliff without dying in the process.


    ¡°Good thing it can¡¯t climb.¡±


    Oh, they can. They just don¡¯t like climbing cliffs. If you had run up a tree you would have found out really quickly why they are called the Kings of the Jungle.


    Tian shuddered. The tiger was huge. The bobcat was already a nightmare. He didn¡¯t know what to call the tiger. It was just death. He had lost his waterskin and tools too, along with his jerky. That wasn¡¯t good at all.


    ¡°It¡¯s a body refining treasure?¡±


    Oh yes. Well. ¡°Treasure¡± for you, certainly. Most cultivators at the lower stages of most cultivation methods would be quite happy to find it, but they probably wouldn¡¯t risk their life for it. The main thing is that, used properly, it¡¯s transformative. We are really going to waste great stuff here.


    ¡°What¡¯s the right way to use it?¡±


    Soft scramble three eggs with salt, white pepper and finely chopped chives. Shave the truffle paper thin over the eggs and serve immediately. Accompany the eggs with toasted, buttered sourdough bread and a bright, sweet juice like orange juice or pineapple. Share the food with your nearest and dearest friend, or, better, lover. Savor the moment intensely, excluding all other thoughts except the interplay of flavors, textures and emotions. Rejoice in life.


    Tian blinked ¡°Grandpa¡­ I don¡¯t know what any of that is.¡±


    It would be strange if you did, but I kind of wish you knew about scrambled eggs, at least. You¡¯ve certainly seen plenty of eggs.


    ¡°Sure, but what¡¯s a soft scramble?¡±


    A conversation for another, happier, time. Look over the truffle carefully. First, give it a feel. Stormborn Pine Truffle should have a faintly rough texture to it, almost like a tree bark. The exterior color is a deep brown verging on black. When it is mature, it emits a strong fragrance that smells like¡­ well like this. You will find out more things to compare it to when you are older. The flesh inside should be fish-belly white with faint stripes of yellow and green. Don¡¯t crack it open, I don¡¯t want to lose any of the potency. It¡¯s the real thing.


    Tian just nodded along, and remembered. Grandpa always did this- explaining things endlessly. He once told Tian that he wanted to teach all he could, as fast as he could, in case he had to go silent for a long time again. That was a scary thought. So Tian just nodded and listened.


    No need to worry about fancy preparations- we can¡¯t make any. So just shove it in your mouth and eat it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think it will all fit?¡±


    It¡¯s soft. Your teeth will bite through well enough. Just cram it all in there and do your best to chew. Make sure all the liquid runs down inside your throat. No drooling.


    The tiger at the top of the cliff saw exactly what was happening. It kept looking over and roaring, warning Tian not to eat its treasure. He could see the tiger trying to swipe at him with its huge paw, claws extended. Tian smiled up at it. The tiger was dozens of feet above him. It could roar all it liked.


    ¡°The tiger has very big teeth, and I think it has all of them. I¡¯ve got gaps in my teeth.¡±


    Yes. Another reason to reforge your body.


    ¡°You don¡¯t understand, Grandpa. The tiger is very big, it has claws and teeth and it¡¯s strong. But I¡¯m eating the truffle. It feels¡­ good.¡±


    Heh. Keep working hard so you can be strong enough to get more treasures in the future. After all, you couldn¡¯t have found the truffle if you weren¡¯t strong enough to kill the bobcat, outrun the tiger and survive the fall.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Tian gave the truffle another sniff. It smelled very odd, but his mouth was watering and every scrap of him was screaming that, odd or not, it would be the tastiest thing ever to eat. Tian opened his mouth as wide as he could, stretching his jaw until the hinge ached. Then, looking the tiger dead in the eye, he crammed the truffle into his mouth, and bit down.


    The flavor nearly knocked him off the tree.


    Rich. Overwhelmingly rich. Savory. Meaty, but deeper and darker than the roasted cat meat. The juice and aroma rose up from his mouth, into his nostrils and filled his body. The juices trickling down his throat had a bitter tang, but even more savoriness to make up for it. There was a lingering scent of pine, and a whiff of char.


    All the smells and tastes whirled around like a storm in his mouth and flooded in his senses. Dizzying and bewildering and fascinating, endlessly fascinating. And somehow, it was medicine. This delicious thing was basically the same as the paste he smeared on his wounds, except for his insides.


    He chewed carefully, making sure every drop of juice went down his throat, closing his lips and teeth as soon as he could to trap every scrap of aroma inside of him.


    Hold on to the tree, Grandson! Hold on to the tree whatever happens! Stay balanced and hold on!


    ¡°This is medicine. The truffle is like the herbs, and my body is the leaf. My stomach is the water. So what¡¯s the fire boiling it all?¡± Tian thought.


    His stomach started to cramp. Stabbing pain, like needles boring out into his stomach lining, then the muscles of his abdomen. Then into the rest of his body. Needles tore his lungs with every breath and every pump of blood drove them deeper into every muscle and fiber in his body. He shivered, then convulsed. But he didn¡¯t let go of the tree. Grandpa said to hang on no matter what, and his own eyes told him to do the same. Tian hung on for dear life, even as his body tried to shake him off.


    ¡°I can¡¯t let go. I can¡¯t let go. I can¡¯t let go.¡± Tian chanted in his mind. Anything or everything else could happen, but he couldn¡¯t let go. He wouldn¡¯t die. He could get through this. He knew how to work through the pain. Willpower. As long as he had willpower, he could get through this.


    ¡°That¡¯s the fire,¡± The thought cut through the pain-fog like lightning. ¡°Everything is just separate bits without it. Everything comes together and transforms with willpower!¡±


    Even as he convulsed, even as his body shook with pain, he smiled. It was all down to willpower. And he had plenty of that. Growing up in the junkyard, eating trash, sleeping under more trash, fighting the rats and foxes that came to nibble on him while he slept- he had lots and lots of willpower. He could endure pain and loneliness. This? This was nothing.


    When the convulsing stopped and he regathered enough strength to think clearly, Tian tried to feel what had changed. And¡­ couldn¡¯t.


    Don¡¯t worry about it. You aren¡¯t seeing the difference right now, but I am. I may have underestimated the Stormborn Pine Truffle. Or overestimated your condition. Or underestimated the spitefulness of¡­ Grandpa Jun trailed off.


    Sorry, went off on a tangent there. You are much, much stronger now. It¡¯s not potent enough to regrow anything you are missing, but once you have a meal in you and a good night¡¯s sleep, three days at most, you will notice the change.


    ¡°Which is?¡±


    You are about to feel like you have way more energy, you are more coordinated, and you are going to have to rewire your brain. Oh, your eyes are probably going to feel weird for a while. Maybe a few days. But it¡¯s a good thing.


    Tian noticed that his eyes really were hurting. ¡°What¡¯s going on with my eyes?¡±


    It cured your myopia and your colorblindness. You really will see the difference.


    ¡°What do you mean colorblind? I see colors.¡±


    What color was the tiger?


    ¡°Green and black.¡±


    Boy are you in for a surprise. But actually, you will have to retrain your brain too- it wont start distinguishing the colors by itself. It¡¯s a pain, but it¡¯s doable.


    ¡°And the other stuff?¡±


    Basically your hormonal system¡­ you know when you gut an animal they have all these glands and things that I tell you not to eat and just use as bait?


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    And I said that it was pretty complicated explaining what they all do?


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    The truffle fixed a lot of your gland stuff. So, good news, you are most of the way to a normal puberty! Still have some trouble to take care of in the trouser department and some of the chemistry is wonky, but it will all settle out. A wonderful start!


    ¡°Are glands really that important?¡±


    Yes. So much. So very, very much. There are entire cultivation arts, martial arts, magic arts, beast taming arts, alchemy arts- below a certain level of physical and spiritual evolution, your body is going to be some variation of Basic Human. So anything that lets you adjust or improve your Basic Human is going to be a very good thing. No wonder junior cultivators love these truffles so much- it¡¯s a full endocrine system tune up.


    Tian blinked at that. He didn¡¯t know what a lot of those words meant, but it sounded very good and Grandpa was very happy for him, so he wouldn¡¯t worry about it. Instead he worried about how to get down.


    ¡°Grandpa¡­ can I climb up from here?¡±


    No, you absolutely cannot climb up from here. Not because you aren¡¯t strong enough, but because the tiger is waiting for you. You ate his treasure. He hates you to death and is trying to kill you.


    Ah. It seems there are consequences to enjoying someone else¡¯s treasure directly in front of them. He had to consider how to escape afterward, too.


    ¡°So I have to climb down?¡±


    Yep.


    Tian looked down at the ragged stumps of his fingers. Only his two good thumbs and index fingers were really strong. Far from enough for a climb down a cliff.


    ¡°It seems a very long way.¡±


    It is.


    ¡°So¡­?¡±


    So what? Are you going to sit up here until you die? Do you think you can sleep balanced on a tree branch? Take a minute longer to recover, then get moving. You will only get weaker without food and water. Might as well start moving now.


    Tian slowly reached for the next thin rock lip, trying to get as much of a grip as his limited flesh allowed. ¡°It¡¯s even easier than climbing the trash piles. The rock doesn¡¯t slip or slide around.¡± He kept lying to himself. It was better than acknowledging his shaking hands and trembling legs. He had never been afraid of heights before, but he was pretty sure he was now. ¡°And going down is easier than going up. I don¡¯t need to see where I am going, I¡¯d just get more scared looking down.¡±


    He got a ¡°good¡± grip on it and lowered his weight. His toe found a little rounded bump sticking out of the rock face. You normally couldn¡¯t call it a place to stand, but he was prepared to love it. He could get the ball of his foot and all his toes on there. It was a great bit of rock.


    Half way down, my boy. Half way down. You have this. You are doing great! There is a beauty of a seam you can work with down and to your left. Once you get a grip there, it¡¯s easy street for almost twenty feet! And that puts you just a little bit above safe drop distance. This is going absolutely great!


    It was at this point that Tian was attacked by eagles.

 Chapter 7- What鈥檚 Swimming?

    Tian didn¡¯t have much understanding of eagles. He had heard Grandpa use the word, but generally there wasn¡¯t anything in the dump that was worth their attention. These birds, however, felt that Tian was worth not only their attention, he was worth their interest.


    The family of eagles swooped in and ripped at him with their long claws. Wide wings the color of bronze and earth drove huge gusts of wind into his eyes. Worst of all, he didn¡¯t dare let go of the cliff. If he took even one hand off to fight, how would his remaining fingers and precariously perched toes hold on? He reached for the seam Grandpa told him about, trying to work his left hand in. An eagle clawed at his head. Tian jerked away and in that moment,


    He slipped.


    And fell.


    The eagles didn¡¯t let him off.


    They swooped in, pecking at him, trying to rip off strips of flesh or even hook his thin body with their talons. They had carried away mountain rams. What trouble could a little beast like him present?


    Quite a lot, it turned out. In the few seconds of his fall, Tian managed to get a foot up and around, whipping into one eagles¡¯ head. Another eagle had its strong talons caught by a weak hand that managed to grab it above the ankle. It was enough to yank the eagle down for a few seconds before Tian¡¯s hand slipped off. It also had the happy effect of slowing his fall. He hit the water before the eagles could regroup for another attack.


    Tian had never taken a bath before. The closest he came to completely submerging in water was monsoon season. The river was very deep, and very cold.


    He couldn¡¯t breathe. He thrashed in the water, the shock hitting his body like hammers. He waved his arms, clawing for the air, but he slid under the water. The swift river carried him forward, along the base of the cliff. His toe touched something and he kicked up, breaching the surface for one breath, then under again. The water was chaotic, dark, tossing and spinning him. He lost track of up and down.


    His back hit a rock, knocking what little breath he had out of his lungs. He scrabbled up, eyes going dim, and managed to suck in a breath of air. Then another breath. Then a wave smacked him off the slippery river-rock and back into the thrashing flood.


    The water slipped through his ruined fingers and slid around his feet. Tian could feel the weight of the water, feel the solidness of it, but when his legs kicked down, it was as though he pushed against nothing at all. Like the water was only solid enough to hurt him. To smother him. To blind him. No matter how much he thrashed, he couldn¡¯t climb out of the water.


    Fear sank its claws into him. Like the eagles, the fear had found a helpless moment and struck then. The water choked him, but the fear stuffed up his mind, muting his thoughts. Reducing him to vermin. He thrashed and scrabbled, desperate to find anything, anything. Not understanding that his panic was costing him precious heartbeats and irreplaceable oxygen.


    He came up once, twice, a third time¡­ then was under, and Tian knew in his heart that he was dead. That there was no fourth breath for him. A mad thought trickled through his terror-locked mind. ¡°If I can¡¯t go up, what happens if I go down?¡±


    Tian stopped fighting the water. He was already dead, and he wasn¡¯t hurting too badly. He could feel his lungs tightening already and his heart struggling, but he wasn¡¯t in too much pain. It was endurable. Since he was already dead, there was no need for panic. He opened his eyes properly, and looked around.


    He could see. He was shocked at how well he could see. Even with the rushing water all around him, shapes were clear and close. It was almost disorienting. He had been staring at the cliff face before, and hadn¡¯t understood what ¡°fixing his eyes¡± really meant. Apparently it meant there was a lot more going on in the world than he had realized. For example, there was that big rock coming up fast on the right.


    He tried clawing his way towards the rock, but didn¡¯t achieve anything. Tian forced himself to be still. Once there was hope, there was fear. He forced himself to be still, and waited. The rock rushed closer, and as it did, Tian¡¯s thin body drifted down towards the river bottom.


    His lungs were hurting now. Squeezed by some giant hand. His blood thundered in his ears and his newly sharp eyes were going dim again. He forced himself to be still. His toes drifted across the sandy bottom. He stretched them out. Let them drag him down. Then with the last of his strength, pushed hard for the rock!


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    His guts froze. His desperate, all out, leap barely shifted him. The water was solid, but only when it could hurt him.


    He hopped a little closer to the rock. But not close enough. His toes brushed the ground again, but it wouldn¡¯t matter. He was too far, too far and too weak. He didn¡¯t know what part of him gave him the strength to kick again. It was a weak little thing this time, barely a nudge against the sandy bottom. And to his disbelieving eyes, the blue-grey rock got closer.


    The river seemed to conspire with him this time, carrying him right to the rock. He spread his arms wide, and like a drowning lizard, climbed his way up. The river did its part, pressing him to the big rock and lifting him up. In the seconds before he started convulsing, he managed to get his head above the water and pulled in big gasping breaths. He scrambled up onto the top of the rock- barely a foot square and inches above the water, but he loved it with every scrap of his being.


    Tian didn¡¯t hear anything except the rushing river and the thunder of his own heartbeats. The gasping sound of his breath as he pulled in lungful after lungful of sweet air. He wasn¡¯t aware of anything except the visceral need to breathe for ten whole minutes.


    When he raised his eyes, he found himself sitting at the mouth of the river, where it emptied into a wide, more still expanse of water. He couldn¡¯t see the far edge of it, but what he could see was ringed with trees and narrow beaches.


    ¡°Grandpa, what is this?¡± His voice sounded wrong. He coughed. ¡°What do you call a river that¡¯s wide and still?¡±


    Depending on how big it is, and if the water is fresh? A pond or a lake. This is big enough to be a lake.


    Tian sat on the rock and watched the river spill into the lake. It had been rushing so quickly, and it calmed again so quickly. The lake was so vast, but it didn¡¯t seem big enough to hold all the water coming in from the river. Did the water evaporate, like the glazed jars with water in them back in the junkyard? Or did it sink away, like the puddles on the ground?


    He shivered. It seemed to be very cold here.


    You nearly drowned. You used all your strength and energy climbing and fighting the river, not to mention undergoing a bit of bodily reconstruction. Your body is cold because you are covered in water and no longer have the food burning inside your belly to warm you. In a manner of speaking.


    ¡°Is that how that works?¡±


    Kinda. It¡¯s complicated. What you need to know is wet equals cold and cold equals dead. So you want to go dry off as best you can and warm up. You will also need to hunt some food, or forage some, but that¡¯s nothing too terrible. Always plenty of prey near lakes and other bodies of water.


    Tian nodded, carefully remembering. Staying warm was hard in the rainy season. It must have been because he was all wet. He smiled slightly. He could make fire now. It would take time, but he could do it. Then the smile ran away from his face. There was one small but crucial problem. He was on a rock in the mouth of the river, and he couldn¡¯t swim. The shore was at least ten yards away.


    ¡°Grandpa? How am I supposed to get to shore?¡±


    Use your eyes.


    ¡°I can¡¯t swim with my eyeballs, Grandpa.¡±


    Not with that attitude you can¡¯t. But I mean more literally. Look around. Specifically between you and the shore.


    Tian looked down. The water was dark, but if he squinted he could just about see¡­ gravel? Little rocks and sand? He kept looking, following the line to shore. He couldn¡¯t see all the way, but it looked like it just about connected the shore to the rock.


    ¡°I can walk to shore?¡±


    It¡¯s going to be chest high on you or a little higher, I¡¯d guess. But yes. Congratulations, Tian!


    ¡°For what?¡±


    Surviving your first treasure hunt. It¡¯s a bigger deal than you might think. Go on. Nothing good on this rock. Head for the shore, and dinner.


    It turned out that it was hard to wade through chest high water, even if it was just for thirty feet. He was freezing and ravenous by the time he got to shore.


    Your luck is decent. You see that bush over there? It looks like animals eat the berries off of it. You shouldn¡¯t eat them, but you could set snares around the game trails. Might get lucky sooner rather than later.


    The forest was surprisingly full of good things. Some roots could be eaten, or leaves if they were cooked. There were reeds that could be cut down with a bit of sharp rock that would make an amazing nest to warm up in. Especially since he found a couple of big rocks to hide the nest under. He should be safe from predators this way.


    Grandpa was right about the bush too- it barely took a few hours before they found a squirrel hug dead on a snare. All that was left was gathering firewood, finding a concealed place to make the fire, and settling in for the rest of the day.


    Pile those reeds deep, Tian. Remember- knee high in a pinch, waist high is best. Remember how much the leaves crunched down when you lay on them? Then you build your nest around the pile. Grab big bunches and lean them together against the rocks, like a little wall. It won¡¯t hold up in the wind, but it¡¯s pretty still today. Just keep the fire well back.


    Tian soon had a little fire going. He had dried off after all the running around, but he had progressed from hungry to actually starving and was desperate to start roasting the things they found. He quickly skinned the squirrel with a bit of chipped rock, roughly cleaned it, rinsed it in the lake, and got it roasting. He alternated between bites of charred squirrel and foraged roots. It wasn¡¯t as delicious as the truffle, but at the moment, he could hardly imagine anything better.


    ¡°Grandpa?¡±


    Yes, Tian?


    ¡°What are we going to do once my body is all better? I know you said save the world, but¡­¡± The little boy waved his hand at the lake, and by extension the whole of existence. ¡°I¡¯m not even sure we can save me.¡±


    We will. Never doubt that. But let me ask you this. Assume you were completely healthy. You could cultivate. Your¡­ everything¡­ was fixed. You have nothing but your strong body, your good mind and me. Absolutely nothing holding you back. If you could do anything at all, have anything at all, what would you do?

 Chapter 8- Pointing A Sword At Heaven

    Tian watched the fire, bewildered. He had no idea what things he could do. Mostly he knew about the junkyard and all the problems with his body. And the forest and the river. That was about it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Enough to eat. A dry place to sleep where animals can¡¯t bite me. Maybe better clothes and something to cook with? I don¡¯t think I can cook much on a leaf or on a stick. I¡¯d want to do whatever got me that.¡±


    Would you like to meet people? Live in a nice house like them?


    ¡°No. They are scary and throw rocks. I don¡¯t think I really want to be a human. Or around humans, anyway.¡±


    Good survival instinct for now, but¡­ going to have to work on that one. I guess we could start with ¡°Man is a thing to be overcome¡± and work from there. How about something a little more primal- safety. How would you like to be so strong, nobody could hurt you?


    Tian nodded. ¡°Of course that¡¯s good.¡±


    At a high level of cultivation, people don¡¯t need to eat any more. They just do it for fun. Want that?


    ¡°Not being hungry is good.¡±


    Immortality?


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what that is.¡±


    Living forever, or so long as to make it seem like you do.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s a terrible idea. Hurting forever sounds bad.¡±


    You would be healthy. No pain when you pee, no sudden shooting pain in your guts or running down the marrows of your bones.


    Tian just shook his head. He couldn¡¯t imagine it.


    I¡¯d ask about wealth, but you don¡¯t have that concept yet. Ditto lust, and man am I glad malnutrition is helping me out there. Never thought I would say that, but here we are.


    ¡°Grandpa, I don¡¯t understand any of that.¡±


    You will. But for now, it¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t.


    Tian thought he felt a sigh.


    You are really survival oriented. Which is good, but also limiting. You need more context, more experience. More contact with other humans. Even if you don¡¯t like them.


    Tian watched the fire burn. Brown sticks turned black, then glowing red, then ashy white and stopped burning, but could still be very hot. It still scared him, but it was also beautiful. The transformation of light and shape. The crackling, rushing noise. Scary, but comforting. And you could cook food with it. He didn¡¯t ever want to lose that.


    ¡°What do you think I should do, Grandpa? Other than saving the world.¡±


    It¡¯s going to sound weird coming from an old monster like me, but I want you to find something you love, and for you to do it wholeheartedly. Even when it is boring, or frustrating, or feels like you aren¡¯t making progress. I want it to be something you can take satisfaction in. You know how everything rots in the junkyard. In the end, everything, even the pottery and metal, break down.


    ¡°Mmm hmm.¡±


    The whole world is like that. Doesn¡¯t matter if you are the Grand Immortal Whozit Reverend Master of Ten Billion Blades or whatever, in the end, even immortals die. In the end, their creations turn to dust and are forgotten. It might take longer for some than others, but in the end, everything rots.


    ¡°Okay?¡±


    So this is it. This is what there is. How you choose to spend this life should be on what brings you joy, and hopefully, what brings joy to the people around you. Nothing will make the world a better place forever, but since right now is all there is, isn¡¯t it good enough to make it better for now?


    ¡°You think I should just do whatever makes me happy?¡±


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    More than happy- you should do what gives you satisfaction. What you find meaning in. Then you will need to figure out what you have to do to support that. Raising a family might require you to study farming, or the way of money. Defending your family might require mastering the sword or spear. Healing them might require mastering medicinal arts, or creating formations, or even forging powerful artifacts.


    In every case, given the sheer unreasonableness of the world, given the absolutely unjustified and unfair things that are going to happen to you, it will require strength. Above all else, you will have to be strong. And it will mean you wind up saving the world, because the spiteful heavens will give you no peace until you do.


    Tian laughed. ¡°Grandpa, I didn¡¯t understand any of that.¡±


    You understood. And you will spend the rest of your life learning how right I was.


    Tian rose with the sun, hearing the racket the birds were making to herald its light. ¡°Grandpa, where do we head now? Are we still going to the mountains?¡±


    Yes, the river didn¡¯t take us too far off course. Let¡¯s pick a few things to eat along the way, and get going.


    He was a bit fortunate- there were no random tiger attacks, bird attacks, or similar common forest mishaps. There was a wasp¡¯s nest the size of a full grown man, but he walked a very long way around that.


    Giant beehives are worth investigating, and often their honey is quite special. You will love honey when you try it- super sweet stuff. Some honey is even a rare body improving treasure. Not wasps though. They don¡¯t make honey. Wasps are strictly good at pest control, right up to the point when they become a nuisance. Stay far away if you can.


    Tian could practically feel Grandpa frown. Also hornets are murderous bastards, all of them, and will kill you if they can. And they definitely can. If you see one, stay far away from it. If you must kill one, kill it, then run far, far away. They can smell when one of their own dies, and they always take revenge.


    This was the standard for the trip. Every tree had a story, a use, a secret. The rocks all had names, the clouds could be read like the footprints of forest animals. And Grandpa Jun knew them all. He didn¡¯t insist that Tian remember everything, but every now and then he would insist that his Grandson could surely tell him four things to do with a Rono Bush, or tell which of two seemingly identical bird calls was a Green Throated Termite Terror in distress and which was a Green Throated Termite Terror faking distress and calling for reinforcements.


    Tian did pretty well on the quizzes. It was all so fascinating, he couldn¡¯t help but pay attention. It was like the world was talking to him, and Grandpa was teaching him the words. He could learn the language too. All he had to do was pay attention, and listen.


    It was the same when they stopped at night. Each campsite was chosen for a variety of reasons, but always on flat ground near water.


    Never ever pitch your tent in a hollow! You might think you are being clever, getting out of the wind, but the cold air rolls down the sides of the hollow and will freeze you. So will water. You might get away with it on a warm, clear night in a warm climate, but I sure wouldn¡¯t bet on it.


    ¡°What¡¯s a tent?¡±


    Like a portable house or shelter made out of cloth. Hmm. We have some time before sunset. I will show you how to make a lean-to shelter this time. It¡¯s a bit like a tent, as far as the shape goes.


    ¡°Grandpa? Are you going to disappear again after teaching me all these things?¡±


    These are the lowest mortal wisdoms and the wisdom of animals. So no, the energy cost is completely offset. Bit of a blindspot there. Heh heh.


    ¡°Who¡¯s blindspot? And what does ¡°offset¡± mean?¡±


    Oh look- see that plant with the spiky leaves and the bluish veins running up the stem? Grab it! It¡¯s got a TON of good nutrition. And the taste is not bad either.


    Tian had come to love staring up at the stars. He had no idea that the night sky was so beautiful, or that there were so many hidden mysteries within it. He looked into the billions of lights in the infinite void and let the wonder of it all consume him. Grandpa would stop talking at those times. Tian thought he must love the stars too.


    ¡°Grandpa? Where are we going, other than the mountains? Are we really just going to go there and look around, hoping to find something useful?¡±


    Yep.


    The rustling sounds of the night wrapped the two of them in a warm blanket of sound. Sometimes the insects were annoyingly loud, but that was alright too. You could eat them, and if they wanted to shout their location, so much the better.


    ¡°That easy?¡±


    Easy is a stretch, but yes. We are moving with nature here, not against it. This world is built around that universal energy I was talking about. It is vast, and deep, and if you fight it, it will kill you. But if you learn to move with it, learn to dance to its rhythms, it will shower blessings on you. It will lay out a clear path to power, even if it looks like there is no path at all.


    I don¡¯t know what we will find, and honestly, it hardly matters. We are building the foundation of a foundation. Hell, we¡¯re still picking the build site and shopping around for the General Contractor, and the architectural plans haven¡¯t even been approved yet. Just you watch. There will be something. The Dao will provide.


    A week and a half later, Tian was laying under a bush, staring down at a pond full of swaying lotuses.


    Lucky. Well, depending on how you define luck. These are definitely Dustless Lotuses, a Earthly Person realm plant that can grow to the Heavenly Person realm with enough time. These ones haven¡¯t quite reached that point, but are probably only a few years off.


    ¡°Why is that good?¡± Tian¡¯s voice was barely a whisper. He could see at least one large snake near the water, and was privately certain there were many more he couldn¡¯t see.


    Because if the lotuses were Heavenly Person tier, you would explode trying to eat it. Or be dissolved in the medical bath, or in a really unfortunate case, become a living seedbed for a mutant lotus.


    ¡°That snake looks poisonous, Grandpa.¡±


    The Three Venom Seven Death Adder? Yep. Super poisonous, and rarely alone. The one you can see is probably the runt of the brood, forced by the others to act as a lure for gullible predators. The others are in the pond, waiting for prey to come by.


    ¡°So how do we get the lotus?¡±


    Lotuses- plural. At least ten. You are going to need a bunch if we are going to use it as the main ingredient for our Tian Refining Soup. And that¡¯s up to you.


    Tian blinked. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    I mean it¡¯s up to you. Oh, if you can, grab a few of the adders, like a dozen or so? We can use them too.


    ¡°Grandpa, there is no way.¡±


    There is always a way. Remember this- Treasures will always seek protection from the strong. Good things will always have people eyeing them, wanting to possess them. Natural treasures will always lure in guardian beasts. These Dustless Lotuses have a symbiotic relationship with the adders- they assist one another¡¯s growth. It¡¯s going to be more or less the same no matter what treasures we find. Remember the tiger and the truffle?


    ¡°Yes, but, how am I supposed to get them?¡±


    You tell me. We have spent years training your body. You are resistant to poisons and toxins, have excellent reflexes, and a head full of mortal wisdom and earthly knowledge. The treasury of the world has opened for you, if only a hair-thin crack. So this problem is for you to solve. The truffle was unsought for good fortune. This is a fortune you will need to fight for. It¡¯s time, Grandson. Time to start your long battle, and seize your destiny!

 Chapter 9- Lotuses Root in Tragedy

    ¡°Is this a test?¡±


    Yes. But it is also completely necessary for a few other things. I¡¯ve already lowered the difficulty as much as I dare by giving you some hints. I¡¯m going to be silent now, until you are in a safe place with at least ten of the lotuses, roots included. I believe in you, Tian. I know you can do this.


    ¡°Grandpa Jun?¡±


    The clearing was full of sounds- the wind rustling the leaves, the chirping of insects and little frogs. But not a whisper from Grandpa Jun. Tian looked around, feeling lost. When Grandpa went silent in the junkyard, Tian knew how to live. There was an order and routine to everything. There really weren¡¯t any decisions to make, or none that mattered much.


    Wasn¡¯t this a little too scary? There were vipers in the junkyard. All the rats and mice made the trash heaps treasured hunting grounds for them. By and large, he stayed away. You only had to see a few mice die in terrified agony to learn snakes were nothing fun to play with.


    All the snakes in the dump looked like little babies compared to the colorful adder sprawled on the side of the pond. And this was the smallest of the bunch.


    He sighed. Snakes didn¡¯t like eating dead food either. To lure one with carrion would be hard, never mind all the snakes still in the pond. Though¡­ that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t set some traps and make some lures. It would just be a bit of a long process.


    The pond itself was the next big problem. It wasn¡¯t nearly as big as the lake he had seen, but it was still big enough to make him worried about how deep the water was. The lotuses nearest the shore were all raggedy looking. The best ones were clustered in the middle. How was he supposed to get even one of them? Let alone ten or more? A long stick wouldn¡¯t cut it.


    One problem at a time. The very first thing he needed to do was make some tools. And it all started with a stick.


    The bird screeched and flapped its wings, desperate to get free. Tian felt bad, but didn¡¯t stir. The bird had only been noisy for a minute, and the snake was already on the move. Tian had never made a snake trap before, but he thought his current plan was feasible. He¡¯d find out in a moment.


    The long adder slithered through the grass. Tian shivered. He had underestimated its size. The snake was nearly as long as Tian was tall. Its pointy head seemed particularly sinister, and the tiny scale horns over its eyes seemed to make threats all on their own.


    The colors of the snake¡¯s scales were deceptively muted. Black, gold and green¡­ his eyes watered for a moment. Was that really green? For some reason, he thought it was something else for a moment. Was this the ¡®colorblind¡¯ thing Grandpa kept going on about? In that moment of blindness, the adder reached his trap.


    Tian had woven together some thin wooden stakes, making a little fence with a single hole in it. The bird was tied to a branch in the middle of the fenced area. And just as the snake stuck it¡¯s head in-


    Tian was quite used to moving with blurry vision. He yanked the bark fiber cord and pulled the noose tight. It grabbed the snake by the neck. The cord slipped a little, then set. The snake thrashed, but Tian had him firm. The cord hauled the snake up towards the tree branch above. Tian tied the cord to a branch and dashed in with a heavy stick. He whacked the snake once, feeling it bend under his blow. Tian frowned. It didn¡¯t feel like he crushed the spine. He swung a fast backhand, and missed.


    The snake slipped out of the noose. It showed its temper the second it was free, striking fast. Needle thin fangs reached for the boy¡¯s wrist. Tian was wide open after his swing, and could only desperately leap back. The snake pressed forward, hissing furiously and darting its head at his legs. Tian kept retreating, trying to bring his heavy stick into action. Not noticing how his elusive steps followed the pattern of the jumping games Grandpa had taught him.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Tian thought he had the snake¡¯s timing down, and whipped forward with the stick. The snake ducked the blow, and immediately moved to bite the swinging arm. Tian yelped and jumped back, jerking his empty hand out of the way. It took him a moment to realize that he had just flung his stick yards away. His index and thumb were not enough to hold the stick through such a sudden change of direction. Not with three missing fingers on each hand.


    Tian turned and ran. No weapon, no traps? He certainly wasn¡¯t going to box a snake. He was off on his toes. He only managed three steps when some bestial instinct screamed at him to jump!


    The snake was faster than he was. It nearly had him. Those long fangs were inches from his leg this time. Tian did the only thing he could think of. Before the snake managed to set itself up again for a lunge, he grabbed it. He directly dove on the snake, grabbing just behind its head with both hands. The snake hissed furiously, lashing Tian with its tail. Tian didn¡¯t give a damn. The adder''s teeth couldn¡¯t reach him. It was free to lash him all it wanted.


    Not that he took any chances. He kept the snake¡¯s head facing away from his body, and at arm¡¯s length.


    It took him a moment to realize the problem. He had caught the snake. The very alive, very angry, very venomous snake. If he let go of the snake with one hand, the snake would escape and kill him. He, therefore, had to find a way to kill the snake without letting go of it.


    Drowning? Tian glanced over at the pond. The snake¡¯s siblings were all in there. The pond was out.


    Bash it against a rock? It seemed dangerously unreliable, but he didn¡¯t have a better idea. He looked around for a suitable braining rock, and had a small bit of good fortune. There wasn¡¯t a convenient stone, but there was a very narrow v notch in a tree. He jammed the snake¡¯s neck into the gap, and yanked down hard. Once he had it good and wedged, he ran off and found a rock. The snake wasn¡¯t dead. It was still thrashing and writhing, trying to escape. Tian raised his rock and smashed it down on the back of the snake¡¯s neck. Once, twice, three times- he kept going until the rock was covered in blood and the snake stopped moving.


    Tian looked around quickly. No more snakes. No cats sneaking up on him. He exhaled hard, inadvertently blowing all the strength out of his body. He collapsed, gasping. He could feel the snake''s fangs biting into him. They had come so close, so often, that they had pressed themselves into his mind. He had been an inch from death. Less than an inch. The fury in the adder¡¯s eyes! The hate!


    Tian shuddered. He had seen furious animals before. He had hunted for as long as he could remember. He still wasn¡¯t prepared for that degree of malice. Grandpa Jun had called it a Three Venom Seven Death Adder. Tian was prepared to believe it. It seemed like a snake that would make you die seven times before Hell was permitted to claim you.


    He was still kind of vague on what Hell was. Grandpa used the word a lot, but wouldn¡¯t explain it. ¡°Costs too much,¡± was all he would ever say. It sounded like the kind of place a horned, venom dripping adder would drag you to.


    ¡°One down. An entire pond-full to go.¡± He muttered.


    Tian calmed down and tried to think through what worked. The bird lure worked. The noose worked for a while, but the snake could slip out of it if he wasn¡¯t careful. The stick was a complete failure. Even when the snake was hanging in the air, the stick hadn¡¯t been enough to kill it. Pinning the snake worked. Beating it to death with a rock eventually worked.


    He could lure at least one snake at a time. He didn¡¯t know about luring more, but¡­ that problem could wait for now. He could fix the noose slipping problem. The cord needed to be smoother, so it could pull tighter. Maybe make it a little thicker too, just in case of accidents. He couldn¡¯t expect the snakes to stick their head into the same hole over and over again. Was there a way to make a more portable snare? Could he¡­ put the noose on a stick?


    He tried to imagine it. It kind of made sense, but it kind of didn¡¯t at the same time. How exactly would he pull the loop tight? And once he had, how would he bash the snake with a rock? He looked over at the dead snake hanging from the fork in the tree.


    Was that the answer? Just use a forked stick to pin it in place, slide his hands down, and bash with a rock. Straightforward and easy to manufacture. Just one or two slight problems. Starting with, but by no means ending with, his ability to actually pin a snake down with a stick.


    It was an interesting problem. Tian got busy. First- collect sticks. Second- experiment. Third- figure out how to run away if the hunt goes wrong. Because he got lucky last time, and he was absolutely certain he wouldn¡¯t get lucky a second time.


    Tian set the bird next to the pond, but not too close. He didn¡¯t know how the snakes hunted, but it sounded like they ambushed prey. Which, if it was him, meant hiding just at the edge of the water, waiting for something to get close. Then they explode out at maximum speed. He would have to draw them out and make them lose that first lunge advantage.


    Assuming this worked. Assuming he could do it repeatedly. Assuming there were no accidents.


    The bird fluttered helplessly, making a racket. It knew damn well there were snakes around, and it wasn¡¯t resigned to death. How could a bird understand being tied to a branch?


    Tian waited. The snakes understood birds too. The one he had snared was a little small, but even a mosquito still had meat on it. They would come. He almost didn¡¯t notice when his prey inched its way out of the water, forked tongue tasting the air.


    The adder crept closer, moving slowly, scarcely disturbing the grass as it moved. The grass near the water¡¯s edge was short here, the ground carefully chosen by Tian. The little fence was the same, the noose was modified, a new stick was selected to be the hoist. Tian didn¡¯t need the snake up high. He just needed it to not be moving around too much when he went in with the forked stick and the heavy rock.


    The snake smelled its prey, and moved to kill. It nosed through a little hole- then was suddenly choked! Yanked up off the ground by something it couldn¡¯t see or smell. The adder lashed its long tail, furious that it was attacked by things it couldn¡¯t see or understand.


    How could a snake understand the viciousness of the human heart?

 Chapter 10- Ruthless Child

    It took a lot of strength to jam the forked stick into the hard earth. Tian¡¯s fingers were thin, small, and mostly missing. What there was left had to strain as much as they could. His aim wasn¡¯t great. The fork caught the adder, but not close enough to the head. The snake was still held by the noose, but after the first try, Tian didn¡¯t feel like it was reliable. He could easily imagine it getting loose, whipping around and biting him with those long, thin fangs. Nothing for it- he would break the snake''s spine behind the fork, and work his way up to the head if he needed to.


    It was brutal, gory work. Tian didn¡¯t even frown as the crunch of vertebrae spread along the pond banks. It wasn¡¯t nearly as gorey as killing rats or foxes. Nothing to be upset about. The snake looks dead after the first bashing, but Tian didn¡¯t take a chance on it. He pulled the forked stick out of the dirt, slid it over the grass to just behind the noose, pushed the noose forward with the fork, then repeated the bone crushing operation. This time he was sure the snake was dead. A final blow to crush the head, then it was time to hang up his prey.


    Bark twine was quite simple to make, once you knew the type of tree it could be made from. Just knapp a rock until you got a sharp-enough edge, slice down the bark, scrape away the inner bark, then hammer it into fibers. Then you just started twisting. It took time, and it was boring, but Tian was used to all that. He figured he would need a lot of twine. So he had prepared a lot.


    He tied up the new snake corpse next to the old, hanging the line from a high branch. It wouldn¡¯t keep away birds or the most determined scavengers, but it was a lot better than nothing. Job done, he looked back towards the pond. Time for round Three. And a new bird. This one was exhausted, and no longer made a good lure.


    Night had fallen. Tian stopped his hunt. He had gotten ten adders over the course of the day, but he still frowned fiercely as he built his fire. He had carefully climbed a tree branch that stretched over the edge of the pond and looked in. There were, at a guess, dozens of snakes in there still. Catching them one at a time was working, but much too slowly. And even though he had gotten good at catching them, it wasn¡¯t risk free. He needed to change his strategy.


    He mulled it over for a while, poking at the newly born fire with little twigs. If he had enough snakes, should he switch over to thinking of ways to collect lotuses? He could go up on that tree branch and try to haul them up with a noose. It might be a bit fiddly, but he should be able to throw the twine out far enough to snag at least one. Just to test if the method could work.


    He ate roasted birds and some wild plants. It tasted great, the wonders of cooking still managing to transform the ordinary into the enchanting. He carefully extinguished the fire, and slept in a nest of leaves. He didn¡¯t notice he had a little smile on his face. He thought, as his exhausted body welcomed sleep, that today had been really fun.


    Morning came, and with it a fresh resolve. Tian twisted more bark together. The lotuses were far away from the branch he would be climbing out on, and he had to make sure the loop was big enough to fit over the leaves. Preparations done, he climbed onto the branch, and tossed his noose out.


    He missed. He missed the second time too. The third time he got a bit of the loop on the leaves, but not around them. Fourth try was a miss again¡­ It took twelve tries before he finally got the loop around the lotus.


    He could see the snakes swimming around. They had clearly been irritated by the slapping and dragging of the rope in the water.


    Tian started hauling. The noose tightened, and soon the whole plant started lifting up. Tian frowned. It was heavier than he expected. Worse, he could feel it was attached to something at the bottom of the pond. ¡°Don¡¯t lotuses float? What¡¯s holding it down there?¡±


    He kept a steady pull on the line, leaning back to lift with his back and waist as well as his arms. Tian¡¯s  hands might be weak. The rest of him wasn¡¯t. He felt something tear and he jerked backward, clenching his legs around the branch to stop what would have been a lot worse than a nasty fall. The Lotus came up out of the pond, trailing a seemingly endless root behind it. Tian estimated that it was at least six feet long, and the bottom of it was torn off. It must extend even further under the water.


    The water under the lotus started churning. Adders leapt up and sank their fangs into the lotus, not letting go for an instant. Others bit into the snakes biting into the lotus. Tian stifled a yelp and froze for a moment. There was no way he could haul up live adders. On the other hand, it had taken a damned long time to make this rope. He agonized about the decision for a second, then threw the rope into the water.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    He watched the snakes below, feeling more than a bit moody. It gave him a degree of vindictive satisfaction to watch the snakes biting each other. It seemed to only be happening in the area immediately around the ripped up lotus. Tian suddenly regretted being so decisive about throwing the whole rope away. It would be interesting to see what would happen if he launched the lotus into a different part of the pond.


    A strange look stole across Tian¡¯s face. It would be interesting to see that. Very interesting indeed.


    It took hours to make another rope. Tian was hungry by the end of it, but ignored it. Partially because he was more used to being hungry than being full, and partially because he was dying to know if his guess was right. He climbed back up onto the branch, and tried to snag the next closest lotus. It took a frustrating fifteen tries, but he eventually snagged it. A happy side effect of his struggle was that all the snakes in the area were well and truly furious.


    Tian hauled the lotus up as quickly as he dared. He felt the roots snag, then tear. This time, he simply let himself lie back on the branch, yanking the rope a few extra feet above the water in a fraction of a second. He didn¡¯t stop hauling even for a second, trying to pull the lotus up before any snakes could make a move. A few did try to jump for it and missed. And then they turned on each other.


    Tian brought the flower and roots up onto his branch. He figured the roots were probably the most crucial part of this, since they were the only ones that got really damaged. Still. Nothing wrong with experimenting. He had brought up a sharp rock this time for the sole purpose of cutting everything into chunks. Once the chunks were bruised and bashed against the tree branch, he threw them into the pond. He used the whole lotus, making sure he scattered everything as widely as he could.


    The lotus smelled amazing. He was really tempted to just eat some of it. But he persevered. Snake meat tasted good too, and was quite filling.


    He didn¡¯t have to wait long to see the results. The water quickly started churning, the snakes twisting around each other, biting each other. Clearly feeling that it was ¡°You die or I die!¡± with no other alternatives allowed. It was utter chaos for ten minutes, and then slowly settled down. Tian smiled. He still had his rope. He patiently fished up another lotus, then did it all over again. By the third time, there was no more thrashing in the pond.


    Tian was cautious, naturally. Still. Waste not want not. He fished out as many snake corpses as he could find, hanging them high in the trees. Birds were already a problem, but it wasn¡¯t too bad yet. He was very careful wading into the pond, repeatedly brainwashing himself that his breathing techniques could turn poison into medicine, so he would surely be fine if he was bitten by a snake. Fortunately, it never came to the test. He carefully retrieved twenty lotuses, roots intact, from the pond, as well as forty snakes.


    ¡°Is that enough, Grandpa?¡±


    More than enough. Thanks to your clever thinking, this place is now considered ¡°safe,¡± for a given value of safe. Well done! Very, very well done! Good discipline, good using your head. Both cautious and willing to take risks at the crucial moment. You really make this old man feel gratified, and that his time teaching you wasn¡¯t wasted. I¡¯m proud of you, Tian.


    Tian felt Grandpa hug him, and it was all worth it. Everything was worth it. Hearing how happy and proud he was, feeling his approval, it was all absolutely worth it.


    Because you did so well, we can REALLY cook on your first reforging. Which, unfortunately, to maximize my energy efficiency-


    ¡°You have mentioned energy a few times Grandpa-¡±


    If I explain it, the energy costs would bankrupt me for the next few centuries. Just¡­ think of it like food. You need a certain amount of food to have the energy to hunt or hike through the forest, right? Well I need ¡®food¡¯ too. And I can¡¯t explain how I get it or how I use it, but I can tell you that the more I help you, the more ¡°food¡± I consume. Which is why I find ways to help you help yourself.


    Tian heard Grandpa laugh. His laugh was usually quite nice, but every now and then, Tian thought it was a bit creepy. This was one of those times.


    Speaking of food, it¡¯s time to cook Tian Soup. Dig a hole, good Grandson. Dig a nice big hole you can lie down in, with plenty of extra space around the sides. We will be butchering the snakes and we need to make sure their blood winds up in the pit. Be sure and save the gallbladders. I¡¯ll show you what those are. Not strictly necessary for the soup, but a wonderful strengthening medicine in its own right. We will need the snake venom too, the flesh, the bones, practically everything.


    ¡°And the lotus roots?¡±


    The whole lotus will be used.


    ¡°So how do we put it all together?¡±


    Tian Soup is an interesting dish. No two are ever cooked exactly alike, and quite often it comes down to how the chef is feeling and what ingredients are available. You have made all sorts of medicines and things on this trip. You even ate a body refining treasure. And you know some excellent, if basic, breathing exercises. Put them together how you please.


    ¡°Grandpa¡­¡±


    Figure it out, Tian. Really. This is going to be for the best. But be prepared. If you are doing it right, it¡¯s going to hurt. Really hurt. Maybe the worst pain you have ever felt. Not forever, but it won¡¯t be over quickly either. So you have a choice- Tian? Tian. Where are you going? Are you¡­  you are already digging. Why are you already digging?


    ¡°I need to do this to get stronger right? It¡¯s the only way to see the world, to eat cooked food, and to be safe from cats and rock throwers?¡± Tian didn¡¯t stop his digging stick moving for even a second.


    I mean¡­ not the only way, strictly speaking, but as a practical matter, yes.


    ¡°So the choice is hurt and get stronger, or hurt and die as another piece of trash in the dump. Maybe I die either way in the end, but I¡¯d much rather be strong than trash. So what¡¯s pain compared to that?¡±

 Chapter 11- Lotus Above, Snake Below

    ¡°Grandpa? What¡¯s soup?¡± Tian was throwing up big clods of clay-heavy dirt as he dug his ¡®soup pot.¡¯


    What¡¯s soup?


    ¡°You keep saying we are making Tian soup, but I don¡¯t know what soup is.¡±


    Good question- you take liquid, usually water or water with flavors dissolved in it, and mix it with other food. Usually by heating it and cooking the flavors together, but not always.


    ¡°So¡­ I¡¯m turning into a liquid?¡±


    That would be one way to do it, but I wouldn¡¯t take it too literally. And by literally, I mean, it¡¯s a figure of speech. You do need to get your whole body, and I do mean whole body, covered.


    ¡°Covered by¡­¡±


    Whatever you make your soup into.


    ¡°Which should be made from the snakes and lotuses?¡±


    Yep.


    ¡°And you¡­¡±


    Nope. Up to you. Figure something out.


    Tian snorted, but kept digging.


    ¡°Can you tell me about the adder venom? Why is it called ¡°Three poisons seven deaths?¡±


    Mostly because it sounds scary as Hell, and forensic pathology isn¡¯t really a thing here.


    ¡°Grandpa¡­¡±


    Alright, alright. Basically this snake venom really is damned nasty. It¡¯s blood poison, in that it stops wounds from healing and kills off a load of blood cells at the same time. What¡¯s really brutal, though, are the cyanotoxin and nerve toxin elements. Basically it fries your nervous system while sending you into organ failure. Imagine drowning while feeling like all your organs are exploding and your blood is on fire.


    Tian could, in fact, imagine it. He had experienced that in the past. He shuddered. Kept digging. Shuddered again. ¡°You mentioned the snake¡¯s gallbladder?¡±


    Grab one and cut it open- I¡¯ll show you. Start from just above the tip of the tail and start peeling the skin off.


    A few messy minutes later- Yes, you have your finger on it now. That tiny thing. It has a few uses. Properly prepared, it helps improve vision and correct minor vision ailments. It helps clear out coughs by making it easier to spit out mucus. But what we are really interested in are the last two effects- its impact on male vigor, and its ability to clear meridians.


    ¡°Male vigor? What does vigor mean?¡±


    Tian, when you were in the womb, something very bad happened to you. I don¡¯t know if it was from the moment of conception or later, but you were born sterile. Unable to have children of your own. You would probably never develop normally even if you survived long enough to hit puberty due to glandular problems and¡­ other stuff. It¡¯s a mess down there, Tian. On the off chance you lived to adulthood, the Heavens assuredly did not want you to breed. So anything we can do to help you rebuild all that is a very, very good thing.


    Related to that- you know the situation with your meridians. Normally they aren¡¯t something that can be regrown, but if your body was in a special state, who knows what might be possible? So the gallbladders are useful, if you want to use them in your soup.


    ¡°And the lotuses? What makes them special?¡±


    Oh a lot of things.


    There were digging noises, and not much else. The dirt was heavy, and progress was slow.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Could you explain more?¡±


    Not really. Lotus lore, even mortal tier information, is expensive. And Dustless Lotuses are Earthly Person tier, with a possibility to grow to Heavenly Person Tier. Very expensive indeed. And not worth it because we can deduce things from looking at the pond. For example, it looks like lotuses are snobs.


    ¡°What? What is a snob?¡±


    They look down on other plants. They are the symbols of purity, which is another way of saying isolation and separateness. They crowd out other plants around them. They do provide an environment for other animals and insects, but they are always floating in solitary splendor, on a platform of their own creation. Alone, untouched by the muck around them. Rooted in the world, but floating above it.


    ¡°Flowers on top, snakes underneath.¡±


    Heh. That¡¯s one way to look at it.


    Tian hopped down in the hole. He could lie down in it pretty well. Then frowned. He had dug it fairly close to the pond, and there was water pooling in the bottom already. Then he smiled. One less thing to figure out- how to get water in the hole.


    Snakes below, lotus above. He looked out over the pond. There really were only lotus flowers in there. He didn¡¯t see any fishes or frogs. Just lots and lots of snakes. But the snakes wouldn¡¯t be there if there wasn¡¯t food. Tian thought about what Grandpa had said, trying to work everything out.


    The snakes and the lotuses were a team. The snakes ate the birds and insects that came for the lotuses. Then the lotuses grew in the water and dirt fertilized by the snakes. Protected from predators that would eat them. It must have been what made the snakes go crazy and attack each other- the juice from the flowers was a signal to kill everything that moved.


    But how did he get from looking at the pond to Tian Soup and a new, stronger, body?


    Maybe Grandpa had been giving him instructions this whole time. Stretching and breathing to keep healthy was the start, but it was Gourmet that made medicine. Then the poison, destroying the blood, nerves and organs. Exactly what Gourmet thrived on- poison into medicine.


    The gallbladders could probably just be eaten, they were tiny enough that he could eat them by the handful. But how to use the lotuses and snake meat? What use was the meat, other than as food? And¡­ and grandpa didn¡¯t say anything about what lotuses were good for, only what they were. Purity. Snobs. Rooted in the muck but apart from it. What can we ¡®deduce¡¯ from looking at the pond?


    The bit of the lotus above the water was the smallest piece of it. The roots were quite thick and long. Many times bigger than the flowers and the leaves. It was floating in the water, yes, but it wasn¡¯t really detached from anything- it was rooted in dirt, the same as any other plant.


    Grandpa had always said that his body was broken. So it would be like a thrown away rag in the dump- he would rip it apart and make something new from it. His organs didn¡¯t work well? Other than the ones the truffle fixed up, maybe. So there was no harm in destroying them for a bit. If his body was going to be remade, it would be better if they were destroyed.


    Then there was the snake meat and bones, as well as the lotuses. Obviously the roots and leaves and flesh had to be mashed together and mixed with the muddy water in the ¡®soup pot.¡¯ Then he would jump in and coat himself in the mix. He would keep the snake heads and use them to bite himself as soon as he did that, then swallow the gallbladders and eat the lotus flowers. And while he was doing all that, he had to run Gourmet.


    It was probably going to hurt a lot, but once he ate everything and could just focus on Gourmet, it would be a lot easier. Probably.


    It was going to be a lot of work to mash everything down into a paste. He¡¯d need some rocks and big sticks. Tian looked at the sky. There was a good bit of daylight left. Plenty of time to make everything.


    While he was bashing everything apart, he discovered that some of the lotuses had tough pods with seeds in them. Tian thought quickly- seeds were what made baby plants. And Grandpa had mentioned his ability to make babies a lot. More than seemed reasonable. Tian supposed it must be important, but he didn¡¯t get it. Still. Lotuses had a lot of seeds and seeds made babies so maybe he needed to get the seeds into him?


    ¡°I¡¯ll eat them with the gallbladders.¡± He nodded decisively. He had no idea how any of this was going to work, so maybe that would work.


    He made neat piles on the side of the now partially flooded hole. One was a heap of gallbladders and lotus seeds. The next was the snake heads, carefully opened with a stick where needed. Then a bit of a hollowed out rotten log lined with flat stones, holding the hideous mash of snake flesh and lotus root. Then a pile of the lotus flowers.


    ¡°Right. Time to cook.¡± He carefully tipped the mass of meat and plant into the muddy water, then stirred it with a long stick. It didn¡¯t take long to turn the ¡®soup pot¡¯ into a reasonable portrayal of Hell. He stripped off what few rags he had on him and after a long moment of hesitation, hopped in. Even for a junkyard rat, this was disgusting. But Grandpa said it needed to touch all of him, so he lay in the muck and ducked his face under the surface. He used his hands to get every single nook and cranny thoroughly covered. He even pushed a bit up his nostrils, into his ears and, with an iron will and an adamantium stomach, ate some of it.


    The mix was getting warmer, he noticed. Not steaming, but warmer. He could feel it starting to prickle on his skin, the combination of snake meat and lotus root apparently doing something together that they didn¡¯t do apart. Tian hesitated about what to grab next, but opted for the gallbladders and lotus seeds.


    No need to think too much, he just started choking the nasty things down. He¡¯d chew a couple of times, just to get them going more easily, and then he shoved in the next metallic tasting, wood tasting handful of nastiness.


    ¡°This is going to hurt.¡± Tian was feeling giddy, lost in the insanity of what he was going to do next. He grabbed an adder head, and jammed the fangs down on his left leg. Another adder bite on his right leg. Then his right and left arms. He reached for another and couldn¡¯t. The venom had kicked in.


    His hands spasmed. His lungs locked up as his nerves turned into fire. He could feel his blood clump and die, his heart desperately trying to pump the dead blood around his body, trying to get it out of his body. His stomach cramped, trying to void everything he had ever eaten. Every inch of his intestines were knotting and melting. Everything was melting.


    The pain of dying tissue made his vision fade, going white as the nerves in his eyes were burned away with everything else. He felt his bladder go. He saw the skin around the snake bites rotting in seconds, as black blood poured out of him. Everything was pouring out of him. The muscles he had worked so hard for were wasting into nothing.


    Grandpa Jun hadn¡¯t understated how much it would hurt. The failure was in Tian¡¯s imagination. He thought he had experienced as much pain as there was. He was wrong. This was beyond what he had suffered before. Beyond being hungry. Beyond living with perpetual burns and tearing scars. Beyond his kidneys feeling punched or stabbed six times a day. He didn¡¯t have words for it. He couldn¡¯t wrap his mind around it. He fixated on his plan. Pain couldn¡¯t be allowed to stop him!


    ¡°I have to get the last thing. I have to get the lotus flower!¡± Tian pushed as hard as he could. Drove every scrap of himself, every scrap of will into stretching out and grabbing the beautiful flowers. Then convulsing hands crushed the petals and dripped the juice into wide open eyes. Burning? Beyond burning. Corroding, like worms of acid burrowing in through his pupil. Like maggots of suffering bursting from the wet sack of his eyeball.


    The pain had now reached every part of him. Tian forced the mass of crushed petals into his mouth and let himself collapse back into the soup. Eyes wide open.

 Chapter 12- Dustless Physique

    ¡°I have to use Gourmet. I can¡¯t do the body movements. I don¡¯t know if I can even breathe. But I have to use it anyway.¡± Tian tried to force his body into motion by sheer force of will. It didn¡¯t work. The venom of the Three Poisons Seven Deaths Adder was not so merciful.


    Tian had carefully manufactured his own destruction, setting the remains of the snakes and the lotuses against each other within his fragile body. The seeds and gallbladders were both potent tonics, but when consumed together, their effects were magnified. Both the good, and the bad. The same was true of the mash of snake meat and lotus root, or the lotus flowers he poured onto and into himself. And circulating all through him was the dreadful venom.


    His body was breaking down. It was dying- not in bits and pieces, but comprehensively. Every nerve, every blood vessel, every organ. His bone marrow turned urine yellow, then brown, then black and liquid. His bones, supposedly strengthened by years of using Gourmet and the calisthenics, began to crack and flake. Even the lingering strength of the Stormborne Pine Truffle seemed to sublimate into the Tian Soup.


    Perched at the far end of all this destruction was the remains of Tian¡¯s brain, desperately trying to use Gourmet. Trying to turn carnage into creation. He could feel his mind going hazy. The forces battled within him, the necessary destruction was occurring, but the last step couldn¡¯t be reached. It wasn¡¯t working!


    Through the pain and rigid thinking, a memory wormed its way in. It was when he was clinging onto the tree as the Truffle strengthened him. He had the herbs, the water, and the cooking vessel. But the fire? That was his will. That was his determination. Tian tried to scream through a ruined throat and force his body to move.


    He might as well have tried to pick up the sky. He could be as willful as he wanted, but there was nowhere for his ruined fingers to get a grip. Tian refused to care about that. He demanded that his lungs breathe. Demanded that his limbs move. That the destroyed nerves once again spark with life and command his flesh. Tian strained against his corpse-body, furiously bashing it with his will. He would live. He would live!


    Tiptoes on the razor''s edge, swaying and getting a clear view of the heavens above and the abyss below. Tian threw all his determination upward. To soar.


    Had Tian asked, Grandpa Jun might have told him that Stormborne Truffle can be grated over certain soups, resulting in remarkable transformations.


    It started with his brain. His brain had been patched up by Grandpa years ago, but it was still in rough shape. Now? Each little cluster of light, each intersection of axions and dendrites, each fold of the brain and twist of nerves was remade with spooling threads of vital energy. And this time, made right. Then the organs grew back, glands reforming, lymph nodes smoothing and refilling. The nerves stretched outwards and down as the spinal column reformed. His heart rebuilt itself. His lungs grew and filled his chest.


    On and on the rebuilding went. From his very core to his outermost skin. The disgusting muck seemed to boil around him, clearing at visible speed. Even the mud settled out and down, quickly leaving an ugly boy floating naked in the puddle. But his transformation was far from complete.


    Inside of him, invisible networks of meridians and acupoints formed. Twelve major meridians ran up and down his body, twining through his organs, then spreading through the rest of his body. You could see, with very special eyes, that some of the meridians struggled to form. As though some intangible force was keeping them suppressed. Whatever it was, it wasn¡¯t enough to stop the medicine bath from doing its job. When the Governing and Conception vessels finally formed, there was a burst of lotus fragrance, with something meaty underneath. And very, very faintly, if you had the most exquisite of divine hearing arts, you might catch the sound of a distant bell.


    The moment is now! Here, good grandson, before you draw your first breath, cultivate this! AHAHAAHAHA! FUCK YOU, YOU RAT BASTARD! DIDN¡¯T SEE THAT ONE COMING DID YOU?!


    Tian felt Grandpa tap him on the forehead, and as the information rushed in, he thought he could feel Grandpa shouting at the sky. But that was soon brushed away by the images rushing through his mind.


    It was a way of breathing without breathing, using your pores to supplement your lungs and draw in ¡®undifferentiated¡¯ Qi. Tian didn¡¯t know why it was so important, but he trusted Grandpa so he tried it. Breathe through his pores? It sounded patently impossible but he visualized energy flowing through his body just the way the pictures showed.


    Something changed on his skin. It was suddenly sensitive to every movement of the water, every vibration sensed through the earth. And at the ragged edge of his endurance, he felt a wisp of cold air enter his body through his skin. It was pulled into his meridians and cycled through his body as the art taught.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    It was a brand new body. Its heart hadn¡¯t had its first beat. And it was already getting stronger. Much, much stronger.


    Biology, at this level of cultivation, could be deferred but not denied. His heart started pumping, and Tian sat up in a spray of crystal clear water. His breaths were deep and gasping, his lungs working like bellows.


    Ahahahaha! Oh well done. Well done! Three cheers for my grandson! Three cheers for his Dustless Physique! Three cheers for his Natal Qi reinforced meridians and Daitians! Three cheers for his python muscles and lotus breath. Three cheers for his Stormborne Endocrine system and his fully revitalized body! Three cheers for the generations he will father on this earth, and three cheers for the heavens he will pierce!


    Tian looked around and then shut his eyes hard. He covered his ears too, trying to limit the sounds. There was suddenly so much information pouring in. His brain was hammered with signals he didn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Grandpa?!¡± His own voice was deafening, bouncing off his bones and rattling his head.


    Easy, easy. You are okay. For the very first time in your life, you are okay.


    ¡°Light. Noise!¡± He tried to quiet his voice, but it still sounded deafening.


    Easy, easy, now. Really, you are okay. Remember the calisthenics routine? Let''s do it together now. Up, up, up on your toes and stretch like you were grabbing the sun. Carry the sun to the right as it sets, down through the House of the Dead, then Up again with the dawn on the left and put it back in the sky. Breathing, one, two, three. Yes, just like that.


    Grandpa Jun led Tian through the routine, the familiar movements and steady breathing comforting him. It had never been so easy. His body moved and nothing hurt. He twisted, and no tendon pulled him, stabbed at him, made him flinch. He could tell all the burns were gone. All the kinks in his bones had smoothed. The knots in his muscles had untangled. He didn¡¯t know about his organs, but nothing hurt. Nothing. He flexed his fingers. Still missing, but more of them had grown back, maybe?


    He was¡­ better. Much, much better. He was barely warmed up after a full set.


    Now, about what your eyes and ears are sending you. Remember the people on the edge of the dump?


    ¡°The rock throwers!¡±


    Err. Yes. Them. Well, you wondered how they could always see you? It¡¯s because of this. Your body now has meridians. OH DOES IT HAVE MERIDIANS! AAAH HAHAHAHA!


    Grandpa Jun really sounded creepy sometimes. ¡°It must be hard, being a ghost,¡± Tian thought.


    *Cough.* Ahem. Your body is now let''s-just-call-it enriched with vital energy. Vital energy is related to qi but not quite the same, you will learn about this later. Everybody¡¯s body has vital energy in it unless their meridian network is broken. Vital energy reinforces your muscles, your organs, glands, senses, brain, everything. For most people, more than ninety nine percent of people, that¡¯s it. It¡¯s a passive thing that just happens. It doesn''t get much better or worse until your body starts breaking down and you die.


    The other fraction of one percent are cultivators. People who bring in more vital energy into their body and run it through their meridians and flesh using special breathing and meditation techniques. Eventually transforming that vital energy into qi and¡­ other things. Not everybody can do it. Most can¡¯t, in fact. You need an extra something. A special physique, meridians that absorb the world¡¯s undifferentiated qi at a certain rate above normal, a spirit dozens of times more powerful than normal, SOMETHING.


    ¡°My meridians are better, so¡­ I¡¯m hearing and seeing more? Because I¡¯m a cultivator now?¡±


    Oh you managed more than that. You gave yourself a Physique AND natal qi reinforced meridians. And dantians too, but that¡¯s a conversation for a much later day. MoohoohahahaHAAA-


    ¡°Grandpa, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re happy but the laughing is getting¡­ are you okay?¡±


    Oh, I¡¯m sorry Tian. I have a lot of resentment built up and today you helped me vent some of it. Right now, we just screwed over someone I really don¡¯t like, and that makes me very happy. The short answer is that your brain and nerves and organs have been damaged your whole life, so you have no idea what the normal human baseline is like.


    You got a dose of the good stuff on the qi and vital energy front, which does, technically, kind of, make you a cultivator as the locals would define the term. Let me explain some things very simply, and you can slowly experience them for yourself.


    Meridians- you have them now. A bare hint of python essence and a touch of lotus spirit went into their creation. Individually, both are quite common elements to a physique. Having both together is not unique, but certainly quite rare. It makes your meridians very resilient, while being very responsive to qi. They even have a slight filtration effect, keeping out more of the mortal air than most meridians do. But, because I¡¯m a sneaky old man and my grandson is very smart, very brave and very tough, at the crucial moment you learned the absolute worst breathing technique I know that doesn¡¯t have negative side effects.


    ¡°And that''s¡­ good? Somehow?¡±


    Energy cost, remember? Everything costs me insane amounts. Hell, making you practice a technique intended for prison laborers should earn me energy, not cost me a fortune. That technique is practically crippled. Don¡¯t be fooled by the breathing-through-your-pores thing, at your level, that¡¯s not a sign of quality. It¡¯s a sign of ¡°There is no way you are going to get enough qi with just your lungs.¡± BUT.


    If you have never used your meridians before. If you have never taken a single breath of the mortal air. And if you then cultivate, creating a qi vacuum inside your body and drawing in qi from the air through your pores, what you will get is some extra pure qi reinforcing your meridians and baptising your dantians.


    Natal qi is the stuff that babies are supposed to have in the womb. A sort of near-immortal qi that you lose as you scream and breathe for the first time. Having natal qi as a cultivator means that your meridians will draw in more pure vital energy and qi from now on, and will actively resist contamination by mortal qi. Qi and vital energy are different things, but you do have both. Actually, everyone has three types of energy in them but I REALLY don¡¯t want to get into that for now. Just¡­ this is a good thing. Be happy.


    Breakthroughs will be easier, spells will be more powerful, and best of all, body refinement will be way, way better. And we aren¡¯t remotely done cultivating your body.


    But, uh, don¡¯t bother cultivating using what I just taught you. Ever. It¡¯s absolute trash. So much so that it would actually slow down your future developments if you started practicing it now. So¡­ please forget it immediately.


    ¡°What about the energy you spent? Isn¡¯t that a waste?¡±


    Oh Tian, you are going to be reaping the benefits of today for the rest of your life. The natal qi alone would make you a favored son of any house this side of the Imperial Palace. And because of your ruthlessness towards yourself, you forged your own Dustless Physique. Natal qi, and a body that resists being tainted by the mortal world? I told you the first day we met. You are going to soar. You are going to pierce the heavens themselves.

 Chapter 13- Wolf Child Eyes The Sheep

    ¡°So what do we do now, Grandpa?¡± Tian had climbed out of the pit, but was still moving very slowly. He tried to keep his eyes open, but anything more than a little sliver of light was overwhelming. The same with the noise- his fingers were practically glued to his ears.


    He was naked, but he didn¡¯t pay much attention to that. His clothes had never been much more than rags, and modesty wasn¡¯t a word he was familiar with. The weather was generally hot, rainy, or hot and rainy. ¡°Cold weather¡± was barely an abstract concept.


    Mmm. I¡¯m thinking you should join that sect. Whichever one it is that rules the big spiritual mountain overlooking the dump.


    Tian blinked at that. ¡°What¡¯s a sect?¡±


    I¡¯m calling it a sect- it might be a temple or monastery or some other name for the same thing. Basically an organization that is built around a religious principle which they adhere to with varying degrees of seriousness. It ranges from ¡°Be filial and other than that, go nuts¡± to ¡°Anyone who doesn¡¯t cultivate to Sainthood is a scrub.¡±


    ¡°Grandpa, I didn¡¯t understand any of that.¡±


    It¡¯s a head scratcher for me too. Think of it as a kind of school, business and religious organization all rolled into one.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t know what any of those things are either.¡±


    I know. It¡¯s a big part of why I want you to join. It¡¯s time to get a grip on how to live with other humans.


    ¡°Rock throwers are bad.¡±


    Yes, but it¡¯s more complicated than that. Everything is. Would it make you feel a little better to know I¡¯m going to use it as a way to get lots more energy and finesse you some opportunities you wouldn¡¯t have otherwise? Sects are great for that- opportunities around every corner. Some offered to you, others you need to create. But they are definitely there.


    ¡°I guess that sounds good?¡±


    For example, any random cultivation method an orthodox sect offers you is going to be, approximately, two hojillion times better than the crap one I plonked in your memories. Reason enough to go, right there.


    ¡°Well. That sounds good I guess?¡±


    You want to get stronger, they provide means to get stronger. Listen, four key elements are required for cultivation: Land, Law, Money, People. If any of them are lacking, you can forget cultivating to immortality.


    ¡°What are those things?¡± Tian was pretty hungry, but he was afraid to eat anything. Given the way his other senses had improved, the smell and taste of roast snake might just kill him with pleasure.


    Land- you need a place that is rich in pure qi for cultivation. Mountains attract a lot of it. Special cultivation grounds with special types of qi are excellent resources, but generally you want pure qi. This is the simplest requirement to understand and the hardest to acquire. Good cultivation lands have people or guardians, always. There is a tiny, tiny chance of finding an undefended hidden cultivation spot, but it is always somewhere awful. At the bottom of a deep ocean trench, for example, or a hollow geode floating in magma. Something like that.


    Law- another way to talk about cultivation techniques. Cultivation techniques let you gather vital energy and qi and pile it up in your body to make you stronger and live longer. It does other stuff too, but focus on that for now. Think of it like eating magic air. In fact, let''s compare it to hunting.


    Right now you have a cultivation technique where after hunting for a night you catch a mosquito. A normal technique would have you hunt for an hour and catch a squirrel. A good method has you hunting for a minute and catching a fat rabbit. Some cultivation laws can give you special abilities too. Things like the ability to transform into an animal, to command flying swords, to run along rooftops and up walls as though you were weightless. To crush mountains with a pat of your hand. To rip open space with a thought. Normal meditation stuff.


    ¡°I thought you said there were a lot of ways to cultivate?¡±


    Tons. But qi cultivation through meditation is the most common way around here, and theoretically it provides a direct-ish path to the pinnacle. Set that aside for now, and let''s move on to money.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°It¡¯s the thing you give people to get stuff, right?¡± Tian was hazy on the concept.


    Yes, it¡¯s basically a way to keep track of time and labor, with a bunch of other things built into it. But mainly time and labor. Let¡¯s take Tian Soup as an example. You kludged together a medicinal bath with some stuff you found in the wild. It took you a couple of weeks, all told, to get everything you needed, you had to risk your life repeatedly, you suffered unimaginable pain, and you still needed some good luck in the form of finding everything. The end product wound up working quite well for you, but you couldn¡¯t say you got the full medicinal benefit out of all your ingredients.


    ¡°I¡­ okay?¡±


    Or you could find an alchemist, pharmacist, doctor, or even an experienced senior with a medicinal bath recipe and exchange some¡­ I don¡¯t know, spirit stones, celestial gold, sword marks, whatever they call the local currency, and have them put together a recipe for you. Someone else gets paid to gather the ingredients, to process them, to make sure you have a safe place for your bath. Then with the time you saved, you can do something else. Cultivate, forge a new weapon, study a new combat technique, whatever.


    ¡°I guess I can understand that.¡± Tian didn¡¯t really, but he sort of got the idea. That was the problem with Grandpa¡¯s explanations. Once he explained something, you would have a dozen more questions. What was a pharmacist? Or an alchemist?


    Which brings us to comrades. It doesn¡¯t matter if you have two armfuls of treasury bills if you can¡¯t spend them anywhere. That means you need reliable people around you. People who will do what they promise. People who will protect you from rock throwers, and even help you throw rocks at other people. They can be people who you work for, who work for you, comrades by your side. A partner or partners who can accompany you on your journey through life. Teachers. Family. Pets, even. With good people, your cultivation journey will be much smoother, much safer, and infinitely more enjoyable.


    ¡°I can understand what you are saying, but I can¡¯t really understand.¡± Tian waved his hands helplessly. How could he? He had done everything for himself for as long as he could remember.


    Aren¡¯t you and I people together?


    Tian got very quiet for a while. Grandpa Jun chuckled and continued. That¡¯s for later. Let''s start with teaching you the difference between red and green, as well as how to pay attention to some sounds and let your hindbrain manage the rest.


    They spent the rest of the day by the pond. Tian had to relearn how to use his body. Everything was unfamiliar, largely because they didn¡¯t hurt. When they played Elbows, Knees and Toes, he could kick over his head now. He could twist his body so flexibly, he worried he was missing bones. Each breath he pulled in seemed to be four times the size of what he used to manage, and every exhale left his mouth like a javelin. And for some reason, smelled like lotuses.


    The calisthenics and Gourmet were not neglected either, though they didn¡¯t seem to be much help. It was more the sheer joy that came from being able to do them effortlessly. To reach a degree of perfection in his form that was impossible before. To stretch his body to the utmost limit of his reach, not the limit of burnt skin or short tendons.


    The jumping games had become effortless too, his balance and accuracy reaching unprecedented heights. He pushed faster and faster, the little songs racing from his lips as his feet drew illusory paths over the dirt. Grandpa laughed and laughed.


    How would you like to combine a jumping game with Elbows, Knees and Toes?


    ¡°Can we? That sounds fun.¡±


    Oh yes we can! Come, make the marks where I tell you. This is going to be really interesting.


    Grandpa Jun started marking out a much bigger set of circles and points, many of them up on trees or on branches stretching out over the pond. The game had suddenly become intensely three dimensional.


    ¡°Grandpa, do you really think this is possible? Those are way too high!¡±


    Give it a try. Really push yourself.


    Tian jumped up, aiming a kick at a branch ten feet above him. He spun in the air, bringing his leg up high, and his heel came down like a falling ax. The branch snapped in half. Tian landed on his ass in shock.


    ¡°How?¡±


    You are a lot stronger now. A LOT stronger. Welcome to your new body, Tian. I think you are going to love it.


    When Tian jumped up, kicked off one tree branch, flew across a five foot gap to another tree, kneed that tree in its stupid tree face, then did a backflip on the way back to a light, perfectly steady landing, he agreed. He really did love his new body.


    The trek back from the mountain foothills was quite a bit shorter than the trip out. He was a lot faster, and no longer had to travel at night. The food situation remained crazy. He had to forage vegetables and greens, but meat delivered itself directly to him. Whether he wanted it or not.


    ¡°How come we keep getting attacked?¡± Tian lashed out against a screeching baboon. The baboon wasn¡¯t anything nice- nearly the same size as Tian, but with brutal teeth and long claws. It was quite happy ripping open whatever part of Tian it could reach, which made kicking it an unpleasantly exciting thing to try. Punching it was worse. Despite that, Tian was clearly stronger and faster than the baboon. He was confident he would win this fight, even if he had to pay a small price to do it. But since it was obvious to him, it should have been obvious to the baboon.


    The baboon screeched at Tian, its lips pulling back from its long canines. With an explosive leap, it jumped at his face with outstretched arms. Tian jumped wildly to the side, then once the baboon had just passed him, snapped backward with his elbow. The blow lacked refinement, but it had plenty of power. Ribs broke. The baboon screamed as it fell, and before it could rise, a tough little foot stomped down and broke its ankle. After that came the killing. Once his bloody hands dropped the rock on the ground, Tian collapsed.


    He had gotten lucky. A couple of scrapes, but no real harm was done. He was just exhausted by the effort.


    Grab the baboon and run! Hell, leave the baboon, just get your head down and run! NOW!


    Tian was on his feet with an explosive jolt and ran as fast as he could.


    Keep the sun at your back. Just run. Don¡¯t worry about anything else, just run and keep running. You may be running for an hour or more!


    ¡°Why, Grandpa?¡± Tian asked. He couldn¡¯t spend more than a breath for questions.


    Baboons live in tribes, and they kill anyone who kills one of them. Baboons hold grudges forever. The baboon you killed screamed a lot before it died, so there were definitely more on the way, and probably not far away. Did you see the nose on that bastard? They have your scent now. So unless you want to test how you would do against two hundred furious baboons-


    Tian got his head down and ran east. Two hundred baboons? No chance. He really liked his wonderful new body, and planned to keep it in one piece for a while. Having more people around to fight the baboons did sound good. And someone who could bring him roast meat. And if this is how strong he was without really cultivating, cultivation must be amazing. He would be a source of endless beatings for baboons, cats and rock throwers alike. Land, law, money, people. He was starting to see the value. He¡¯d just have to go get them.

 Chapter 14- Dressing Human

    That night, snugly tucked into a shallow cave and roasting a brace of rabbits over the fire, Tian repeated his question. ¡°Really, Grandpa. Why do we keep getting attacked? Even the rabbits attacked us.¡±


    It¡¯s an¡­ unexpected side effect of combining the Stormborne Truffle and Dustless Lotus in the context of a body reconstruction. Basically, you smell amazing. To herbivores you smell like a delicious fresh flower or fruit, and to carnivores, well, they can¡¯t really distinguish between a truffle and meat. And other things that truffles smell like. So pretty much everything is coming to check out what smells so good. And eat it. If you are lucky.


    ¡°What was that you said?¡±


    What?


    ¡°You said something.¡±


    I say a lot of things. Your rabbit is going to burn, by the way.


    Tian yelped and lifted the stick off the fire. ¡°How long is this going to last for? I can¡¯t go around getting attacked by animals all the time.¡±


    Never seen someone complain about free food so much before. And I don¡¯t think it will last forever. As you cultivate and progress your body will keep developing. It will undergo more refinements. You will lose the smell gradually. It might even go away on its own after a while, as the energy from the bath fades away.


    Tian nodded thoughtfully, and wondered about what they would do next. He still had a vague sense of the junkyard being ¡®home,¡¯ but it was already a faint feeling and fading fast. After just two weeks, he was already convinced that the forests were better. He could use fires, since he didn¡¯t have to hide from human eyes here. There was way more, and better, food. Plus unlimited building materials in the form of strong trees, leaves, vine, bark, clay¡­ the forest was a treasure trove! It would be easy as anything to live through the wet season here.


    Comparatively. He vividly remembered being buried for three days after a garbage pile slid over where he was sleeping. He lost more than a layer of skin crawling out of that. He nearly drowned. Never again. A reminder that even the discarded trash of the human world was enough to kill him. And would kill him. Not because they hated him specifically, it¡¯s just how humans were. Rock throwers.


    Tian ripped a bit of meat off the rabbit. It was wonderfully savory. He was so hungry, he¡¯d have no problem eating both rabbits. It was a wonderful night. Not too hot, not too cold, the bugs weren¡¯t bothering him, he had a full belly and somewhere comfortable and dry to sleep. Grandpa was here with him. What could be better than this?


    ¡°Grandpa? Do we really need to go to the sect? My body is fixed now, right? So even if it¡¯s a really bad cultivation method-¡±


    Don¡¯t even joke. No, if you really want to feel strong and see the world, you need cultivation. If you want to make sure the rock throwers can¡¯t hurt you- cultivation. This world needs saving, Tian. The Mad God needs killing. You have been lucky so far, and you are strong for a mortal, but sooner or later, the heavens will send something you cannot escape. So. You know. Cultivation.


    ¡°How do we get into the sect then? Without the humans killing us?¡±


    We will find out the specifics once we get to the foot of the mountain. But generally? Step one, figure out how locals dress, step two, steal you some clothes, step three, you observe local customs enough that you don¡¯t come off as a demon possessing a corpse, which all things considered is a little too close to the truth for comfort, and, four, probably join some kind of criminal organization long enough to build up familiarity with the area and secure some kind of foothold in the city.


    ¡°I feel like there was a lot going on in that answer, Grandpa.¡±


    That¡¯s because you are a very smart boy. Tian felt grandpa tousling his hair, even though his long black hair didn¡¯t so much as twitch.


    ¡°What¡¯s a criminal organization?¡±


    I¡¯m going to have to explain laws to you, aren¡¯t I?


    ¡°You said laws are a cultivation method, right?¡±


    Yes. But also, in this specific case, no. But also kind of yes. New rule- the correct answer to any and every question is ¡®it¡¯s complicated.¡¯ Let''s get into it.


    It was a really good night.


    A few days later, he reached the edge of the forest. His body had filled out remarkably thanks to all the meat he was eating. He was laying in the dirt, looking across rice paddies to some small huts.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°These are farmers?¡±


    Yep. Peasants. Serfs, maybe.


    ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡±


    A peasant has a right to use a bit of land and, after paying the rent and any taxes, they can keep the profits. In theory, they can leave their plot of land. Peasants often dream of their kids leaving the land and working in town or something. A serf doesn¡¯t have the right to dream. They are a fixture of the land, and essentially property. Not quite outright slaves, but it¡¯s often a distinction without a difference.


    ¡°Grandpa, I didn¡¯t understand any of that.¡±


    Lucky you. Just hang out here and watch. We won¡¯t be stealing clothes from them. They won¡¯t have anything to spare.


    Tian spent the day at the border of the woods, just watching the family below. It was utterly alien- five people, all working together. Nobody throwing rocks. They did mysterious things in the rice paddies, chased ducks around, they were even talking to each other. Some were small, just a little bigger than him, while others were what Tian thought of as ¡°full sized.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand any of this,¡± Tian muttered.


    I know. But you have time.


    Two months after Tian left the forest, he queued up outside the door of the town¡¯s only temple.


    The town was called West Town. He had overheard that there were quite a lot of towns scattered around the mountain. West Town town was clean, with paved roads and small houses. Whitewashed plaster walls, terracotta tile roofs, long gutters next to the paved streets to carry the monsoon water to the reservoirs and paddies outside of town.


    Tian was pretty shocked the first time he saw people riding horses. How could that work? A human and an animal working together, touching each other? One not eating the other? He got used to it eventually. He crouched in a dark corner and watched a man beat his horse with a whippy stick. The way humans ¡®worked¡¯ with other species was to beat them into submission.


    It was an ugly feeling, only made worse when he hid behind a parked wagon and watched a beautifully dressed man die because another beautifully dressed man glared at them and tore a little piece of paper. The man who died didn¡¯t leave an intact corpse. His head quite literally fell off.


    Cultivators, Tian. Grandpa isn¡¯t pushing you to do this for no reason. That guy, the killer? Isn¡¯t even a cultivator. He just bought a charm or a talisman paper from someone. Probably a defective product. A real one would require strong vital energy or qi to activate, and be much more powerful.


    The people wore linen trousers and long tunics, without much distinction between the genders. Women tended to carry a short, curved knife on a rope around their necks. Men carried a longer knife tucked into a waist sash. Men wore their hair long and up, women kept it short and shaved intricate patterns into the stubble. Tian was relieved he had long hair. All he had to do was figure out how men twisted it around and pinned it in place. He didn¡¯t quite manage it.


    The food was good. Tian noticed that straight away. The food in the town was really good. The vegetables tasted better, the meat tasted better than what he hunted, and Grandpa had been right about rice- rice was bland but delicious at the same time. You put some meat or vegetables on top of the rice and every bite became amazing.


    Feeding himself meant learning how to steal. West Town wasn¡¯t very big. New faces were spotted and distrusted immediately. Still, Tian was small for his age and very patient. If he couldn¡¯t hide behind a corner, he would hide on a roof, or in a rafter, or under a garbage pile.


    It wasn¡¯t hard for the occasional half a cabbage to vanish, or a few scoops of rice to disappear from the back of an inn. Money was a little harder to come by, but once he discovered the joy of stealing from public bathhouses, he was able to gather a few coppers. Not that he spent them. He didn¡¯t want to talk to rock throwers.


    Tian still looked like a homeless kid dressed in rags, but at least he had rags. Tian considered that solid progress. Grandpa had insisted he also steal soap, which he reluctantly used. It¡¯s not like he liked being dirty. It was just his normal state of being. So why worry?


    People are a lot nicer to clean kids than dirty ones, and cuter kids have the most leeway. You don¡¯t know how to be cute, so you will just have to be clean.


    Tian didn¡¯t argue. Grandpa was clearly right- he saw parents forcibly scrubbing yelling kids all the time.


    The whole town was run by the Temple. This was, Tian learned, merely a local temple, affiliated with the monastery up on the mountain. That being said, the degree of actual management by the Temple itself seemed light. He never saw anyone affiliated with the Temple, at any rate. It didn¡¯t bother the townsfolk. They were proud to have a Temple in town.


    Cultivators, again. If you know that the people who control your town could exterminate an army with a raised eyebrow, stop floods with a flick of a hand and cure pestilence with a hum, you too would be very loyal. Being a mortal is hard. Damned hard. And only getting harder.


    ¡°Why¡¯s that, Grandpa?¡±


    Short answer? Mad God. Slightly longer answer? Leaving aside your feelings about humans, would you say this is a nice place to live? For them, anyway?


    Tian shrugged and nodded. It was nicer than the villages, and the villages were nicer than the dump, so if you were willing to live with other humans, it was a good place.


    This place is run by what would be called¡­ I don¡¯t know, righteous cultivators? Orthodox? Saint Path? Something like that. They usually frame themselves with something pretty broad and positive sounding. That way, if you are against them, you are automatically the bad guy.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    They think in oppositional dualities a lot. Hot-cold, man-woman, day-night, that kind of thing. And they have a good reason to. You will learn about this very, very quickly in the Sect. Anyway, if they are good, then the other side must be bad. There is no third option. They probably aren¡¯t quite that rigid in practice, but I guarantee it¡¯s how their instincts work.


    Since there are ¡®good¡¯ orthodox cultivators here, then the bad ones must be around too.


    Tian lived in the town for two months, studying the locals. Trying to learn their rock thrower ways. Even in town, they threw rocks at him. Not all the time, but more than once. With Grandpa¡¯s strong encouragement, and the comfort of the stolen food, he endured.


    The local Temple opened its doors once every four months to let people come and test themselves, to see if they had any fate with cultivation. The requirements were that low. If they had any fate with cultivation whatsoever, they could apply to join the Temple. If not, oh well. Such is life.


    Parents usually brought their kids here when they were ten. It was, apparently, a good age to start cultivating or learning a trade. Nobody really expected their kids to be cultivators, but wouldn¡¯t they be fools if they didn¡¯t at least check?


    Fortunately for the parents, it was free. Once someone cultivated immortality, even their chickens and dogs would ascend, probably. Parents could expect at least a hundred years of good health and easy living, right? It kept the kids out of their hair for the morning, and they usually came back more willing to help out with the family businesses. That¡¯s good. And besides, it was free! Free!


    Tian tried to figure a way to break in, but Grandpa loudly explained why that was both stupid and suicidal. Having no other option, he lined up with the other kids at the very last moment. The other kids gave him plenty of room. Nobody wanted to be near the homeless kid. Their parents had warned them about it repeatedly. Being a bum was contagious.


    A heavy bronze bell was struck nine times, and the wooden gate of the Temple opened. Tian smiled a little. Time to see what this cultivation thing was all about.

 Chapter 15- At the Foot of an Endless Mountain

    The Temple was laid out in a series of long buildings. Black tiled roofs, polished wooden beams between plaster walls, long porches stretching out into graveled courtyards. A few old trees dotted the temple, offering shade and sweet smelling flowers to the nervous kids. The kids were marched into a small courtyard with a bronze bell as tall as an adult standing in it. There was a skinny old man with a long white beard leaning on a giant padded club, smiling gently at the kids.


    ¡°Welcome, children. I¡¯m Senior Brother Fu, and I¡¯m overseeing today¡¯s testing. It¡¯s a simple test. One at a time, you use this striker and give the bell a whack. Just once. Don¡¯t worry about how loud a sound you make. So long as you put your backs into it, the bell will ring. It won¡¯t sound very loud for anyone, even if you have fate with cultivation.¡±


    The soft smile widened a little. ¡°Don¡¯t feel like this is the moment that decides your fate. Such matters were decided before you were even born. Treat it as the chance to mark your entrance to adulthood. Once you strike that bell, you are saying you are ready to take on responsibilities. Ready to start helping your families. Take it from this old man- a mortal life has its charms and its advantages.¡±


    The kids did as instructed. They walked up, grabbed the club, and whacked the bell. There was a muffled doooong, barely loud enough to reach the edges of the courtyard. Then Brother Fu nodded at them and sent them to wait on the far side of the yard. The bell was covered with pictures of clouds with things that looked like a cross between a snake and a lizard poking in and out of them. The snakes had weird heads with long horns. Tian didn¡¯t know what they were supposed to be.


    Eventually it was Tian¡¯s turn. He had tried to be as unnoticable as possible, skulking along at the back of the line. Being alone in the middle of open space with all these eyes on him¡­ his body tightened up. His eyes darted from side to side as he tried to think which way to run if he needed to. The elderly cultivator who called himself Fu frowned briefly, but didn¡¯t say anything.


    Tian picked up the club. It felt solid. His hands couldn¡¯t grip well with only one good finger and thumb each, but a big heavy club was reassuring. He put his back into it, and swung at the bronze bell.


    AAANG! The bell shook, sounding like the cry of some ancient beast. Brother Fu¡¯s eyes shot open.


    ¡°The first in ten years to sound the Dragon Calling Bell. What¡¯s your name, child?¡±


    ¡°I am Tian Zihao.¡±


    The elder seemed to choke on that for a moment, then settled down. ¡°Your parents had a sense of humor. Well, maybe their good wishes worked. Come stand next to me. We still have to let the others ring the bell.¡±


    The rest of the children tried and failed. A few of them cried. All of them seemed to be glaring at Tian, either openly or secretly. Brother Fu sent them off with a few kind words and ushered Tian into a small hall. It was quite bare- polished wooden floors, warm wooden walls, and a single statue at one end. The statue was of a serene looking man with a long mustache extending one hand towards the viewer. He seemed stern, but welcoming.


    ¡°That is Elder Rui Yanzi, the current elder in charge of the Outer Court of Ancient Crane Mountain. We keep a statue up of the elder, just in case he visits and the current generation of Lay Brothers haven¡¯t been alive long enough to recognize him. Not that it¡¯s ever been needed, he comes by every decade or two. How much do you know about us? I know you aren¡¯t a local kid.¡± Brother Fu sat down on a little cushion, and gestured for Tian to do the same.


    ¡°Nothing at all.¡±


    ¡°Nothing?¡± Brother Fu¡¯s eyes opened in shock. ¡°We are the preeminent sect for at least fifty thousand miles in every direction! Two million miles if you are headed south!¡±


    ¡°I never knew my parents and grew up in the forest. Some wandering beggars and passing hermits taught me a few things and looked after me from time to time, but mostly I don¡¯t know anything about anything.¡± Tian repeated the story he and Grandpa had worked out. Tian felt that it was basically the truth anyhow.


    ¡°Good heavens.¡± Brother Fu looked away, lost in thought for a moment, before looking back quickly at Tian. ¡°They didn¡¯t¡­ do anything to you, did they? Because I can promise you, Ancient Crane Mountain will hunt them to the ends of the world if need be. You need never fear them! Ever!¡±


    ¡°No? I don¡¯t think so?¡± Tian shifted around. It didn¡¯t feel good, sitting and answering questions. He couldn¡¯t help but feel seen under Brother Fu¡¯s ancient eyes. ¡°There were some people who would see me and throw rocks and yell "Go Away.¡±¡±


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Good! That¡¯s good.¡± Brother Fu patted his chest. Then quickly corrected himself. ¡°Not good that they threw rocks. That¡¯s bad.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Rock Throwers are bad.¡± Tian thought of the horse being beaten, and how it screamed.


    Brother Fu seemed to hear something in Tian¡¯s voice because he quickly changed the topic. ¡°So¡­ We are a monastery which carries on the teachings of the Ancient Crane Immortal. What those teachings are, you would slowly learn while you study here. You don¡¯t have to join us just because you rang the Dragon Calling Bell, but you are very welcome if you do want to join. We would do some more testing to figure out your aptitude, but regardless, you would start here in the Outer Court and work your way up once you progress to the Heavenly Person realm.¡±


    Tian nodded. ¡°I want to join your Monastery.¡±


    Brother Fu chuckled. ¡°Welcome, then. I look forward to calling you Junior Brother Tian. It will take a few minutes to get the testing apparatus set up. In the meantime, enjoy.¡±


    He slapped his hand on the floor, and a hidden panel jumped two feet into the air. Brother Fu set it to one side, and pulled out a tea set. The tea was warm, and remarkably fragrant. Tian drank it gingerly, not noticing Brother Fu¡¯s thoughtful eyes.


    Tian didn¡¯t want to be tested. He didn¡¯t mind before, but now he could firmly say that he did not, in fact, want to be tested. He was fine being unknown potential. It seemed a relaxing thing to be.


    ¡°Now, I know the needles look intimidating, but don¡¯t worry! They are very sharp. Very, very sharp. Just¡­ unfathomably sharp. You won¡¯t feel a thing, as long as you don¡¯t wiggle. So don¡¯t wiggle, no matter what you feel. The needles breaking off inside of you would hurt a million times worse.¡± The lay brother in charge of the testing device smiled encouragingly.


    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t be intimidated. We have all been through this, and see- we all lived!¡± Senior Brother Fu smiled.


    ¡°Yes. Yes I¡­¡± Tian frowned. ¡°Did you just say that all the brothers here are the survivors of the test?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! Ha. Ha. Do it.¡± Brother Fu chopped his hand, and the brother in charge of the test slapped a talisman on the eight limbed brass and iron device. The limbs shot forward and down, like spider legs piercing a particularly small frog.


    Tian was staying very still. The eight limbs were tipped by long silver needles, and they were, in fact, quite painless going in. He was glad that he got naked for the test. He would hate for them to miss.


    ¡°Alright, testing starts now. And¡­ Tian?¡± The test operator caught his eyes.


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Remember that you won¡¯t die.¡±


    The needles seemed to be poked in at random points on his torso and head. He really had no idea what the fuss was about. Then he felt his organs convulse. Things were going on inside of him that he couldn¡¯t put words to. Burning, freezing, shredding, petrifying, even a sense that something was growing someplace there really wasn¡¯t room for anything to grow.


    ¡°Lungs- modest metal, minor wood presence. Liver- Powerful wood. Heart- modest fire. Stomach- Modest earth, minor wood. Kidneys- Oof! Powerful wood, significant water. Pineal gland and brain¡­ Excellent. Spine Bone Rating¡­ between High Tiger and Low Dragon! It seems we have a small dragon in our little pond.¡±


    The brother running the test sounded cheerful about it. Tian supposed that whatever a dragon was, it was a good thing.


    ¡°Good job holding still, Tian.¡± Brother Fu smiled. ¡°Now, I know this is the absolute last thing you want to do right now, but- you see that pinwheel coming down in front of your mouth? I need you to take the deepest breath you can through your nose then blow out through your mouth as long and hard as you can. There is a special prize if you can make it light up with your breath, so blow hard!¡±


    A pinwheel with a crystal in the middle of it extended down from the top of the machine. Tian did his best not to cry as he breathed in. It felt like his lungs were full of sharp metal splinters. He breathed in as much as he could, puckered his lips, and blew. The pinwheel spun, quickly picking up speed until it was an almost invisible whirr of blades. The crystal in the middle started gently glowing, with a faint picture of a lotus emerging on it.


    ¡°Inhale like a snake, exhale like an arrow, Lotus Breath throughout. Oh good job, little Brother! And not a hint of murderous aura. Which I would hope there wouldn¡¯t be, but there has been before. One last test. This won¡¯t hurt but it will feel¡­ odd. Don¡¯t wiggle.¡± The test operator smiled.


    There was the strangest sensation, as though a cold wind was blowing through his veins while tiny ants were crawling around inside of him. He barely controlled the flinch.


    The arms pulled up and away. ¡°And we are done!¡± The brother operating the device leaned over and conferred with Brother Fu. They then turned to Tian and smiled.


    ¡°Excellent news, Tian. Your body is very suitable for cultivation, particularly the wood and water elements. You seem to have some relation to lotuses, which is a fine thing, and your meridians are exceptionally pure and smooth. Provided you make good use of your opportunities, it is entirely possible for you to reach the Inner Court and be promoted to True Disciple by the time you are thirty!¡±


    The two saw how lost he looked, and laughed. They lead him outside. Strong looking Brothers wearing uniform blue robes and white trousers were drifting about, moving across the gravel and up over the walls like clouds.


    Many of the Lay Brothers were sparring, hands and feet moving like lightning, their clashes booming like thunder. Others were standing rigid, two fingers raised in front of their noses, commanding small swords to fly about. As they passed, everyone stopped and nodded politely. Some made meaningful eye contact with Brother Fu and the Brother who operated the testing device.


    ¡°Does thirty years old seem very far away? Are you perhaps wondering why we are all so friendly, despite how vicious you know people are?¡± Brother Fu asked.


    Tian nodded.


    ¡°Because everyone in this Temple, regardless of how old they look, is actually at least one hundred years old. Many of us are nearing our second century. I¡¯m the oldest, and I¡¯m a little more than two hundred. The last child who rang the Dragon Calling Bell was an utter genius and is already practicing in the Inner Court.¡±


    Brother Fu¡¯s smile was mild and benevolent. The brother who ran the testing machine was showing a much less enlightened leer of satisfaction.


    ¡°He is earning us great merits as he wins tournaments, completes sect missions, and generally acts like a credit to Ancient Crane Mountain and our West Town Outer Court. Merits which directly improve the benefits we receive from the Monastery. And he was just the latest in a long, long line of disciples we managed to get promoted.¡± Brother Fu chuckled, stroking his long mustache.


    Tian nodded again, clearly bewildered. The brother who ran the machine butted in.


    ¡°We¡¯re farmers, little brother. And our best cash crop is promising juniors. Get ready, kiddo. You are going to be one hell of a cultivator!¡±

 Front page of Rising Stars in Six Days! So have evidence of my dark history...

    Last night before I went to bed, I saw we hit the front page Rising stars. That''s rising stars in six days. I can''t even... That''s mind-blowing to me. That''s just incredible. I want to thank you all so much for your continuing support, and I hope to have you as readers for a long time to come. Right now is the biggest growth period of the story, so anything you can do to spread the word and tell your friends is going to be a big help in making it a success. I really mean that. The fact that we have come so far so fast is really down to you. Let me give you an excellent example.


    My Patreons already know this, but for those of you who are new (heh. new. on a week old story.) my original cover was some particularly sloppy AI slop. My current cover was put together by one of my wonderful patreons, who whishes to remain nameless. BUT I KNOW WHO SHE IS! And she is awesome. But why did she feel so moved that she volunteered to make me a new cover?


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    She saw what I paid for. It turns out that I, unknowingly, offended some terrible cosmic power. My curse? An inability to make or buy good covers. Dear readers, wouldn''t you be moved to pity if you saw... THIS?!


    Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is a picture I paid an actual artist to make. Admittedly, I didn''t pay him much.


    And then a different Patreon hits me with this gem-


    I mean... Jesus. Yeah. That''s a bit better.


    Really. Thank you all so much for your support. It''s what makes the stories possible.


    Warby