Book 1: The advent of sages

Northern God Continent; Azure Ridge

A young boy was lying in the bed sleeping; the light from the sun was shining on his face. He had pale skin as if suffering from leukemia and his hair was brownish-black, looking at him sleeping anyone will think he has an extremely ordinary appearance one that will be unnoticed in a crowd. His eyelids seemed to be moving rapidly as though he was having a nightmare and suddenly, he opened his eyes wide open.

His eyes were dark, as dark as the void. If you stared too long into it, you’d have the illusion of getting sucked into the abyss itself.

“What was that dream?” Li Yan whispered to himself. He was perspiring all over as if awaken from a terrible fantasy. Li Yan looked around himself, an unfamiliar place, the windows of the room were broken, the ceilings had cracks, and the hut he was staying in was extremely dilapidated. Seeing all these he had a sense of déjà vu.

“Where am I?” he asked himself. He was stunned for a moment and suddenly some memory started flooding his brain. He grunted in a low voice while having his expression distort. The pain came and went in a flash like an illusion, but the memory seemed to be real.

The memory belonged to the previous host of the body. His name was also Li Yan. He was an orphan; the villagers had found him below the ridge floating by the river unconscious. When the villagers found him he was covered in blood and by the look of things saving him was difficult, but strangely although he was injured the majority of the blood didn’t belong to him. Though he was saved, his soul was badly damaged nearly crippling him.

The villagers took him in and though he was a bit dumb they provided all the basic necessities for him to survive on his own. He was 16-year-old this year. Yesterday was his birthday so the villagers had gathered to congratulate him as becoming 16-year-old symbolizes that one is no longer a child and is treated as an adult.

He had a few rounds of drink with the villagers. He remembered getting too drunk to even stand as it was his first-time drinking alcohol and he had passed out right after midnight.

After waking up, though the body seems to be the same, the mind had memories of two different timelines. Li Yan shook his head a bit to organize his thought. The memory of his first timeline is that of Earth where he lived till the old age of 99 as a researcher and even though he has transmigrated he remembers the happenings just like yesterday. As for his current timeline, he only has a memory of the second half of his life; the memories of his childhood seem to be strangely missing.

“Sign! To think there are such ups and downs in life. Since I have taken over this body, rest assured that I won’t bring shame to you or your ancestors”, Li Yan said out loud to control his emotions.

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As Li Yan was contemplating, he heard some voice coming from outside. The door of his room opened revealing an old lady. The lady had hair as white as snow, she had a hunched back probably due to her old age, but her eyes were deep revealing some strange luster in them. By seeing her eyes Li Yan knew instinctively that though she may be old, her spirit is indomitable.

“Good Morning! Granny Ming”, Li Yan greeted her gently but with a straight face so as to not reveal his emotions. The former owner of the body had good relations with her. She was one of the few villagers who had found him in the river that day. She had saved his life and helped in his upbringing, so Li Yan treated her as his own grandmother.

“Morning Monkey! Why are you still sitting on your bed with that vacant look? Had another of that empty dream? I have told you before, stop obsessing over it. Focus on the present, the past has gone but the future is always there”, said granny Ming with a warm smile on her face.

“Yes. Granny”, replied Li Yan as he mushed over her words. He could still vaguely remember the nightmare he was having before he woke up, but many things have changed after waking up, so the nightmare didn’t bother him that much now.

“Hmn! You are strangely modest today. Any other day and you would have kept nagging me about your stupid dream. Maybe becoming an adult has changed you. How about I arrange for one of my granddaughters to marry you and then maybe you can forget about everything and live a happy life”, Granny Ming jested maybe to cheer Li Yan up as he knew that Granny Ming does not any blood relations in the village but she always says that she has family outside.

“I’m fine Granny. I am still young, so I still have time. By the way granny why are you here so early in the morning? If my guess is correct the sun should have just risen”, said Li Yan.

“Well, you are an adult now so you should find a proper job rather than lazing about all day long. I have talked with the village priest to see what he can do for you, so you should pay him a visit today and you should go fast as early birds get the freshest worm”, replied Granny Ming as she turned around to leave the room leaving Li Yan alone.

Li Yan got up from the bed and start preparing for the long day. He didn’t have much to do as his hut was primarily empty. So, he simply made his bed and packed some dry rations for lunch.

Li Yan got out of the room and looked at the village from above. According to the old beggar in the Temple, there are about 300 families in the village, but almost everyone in the village is elderly and only a few of them have children. Previous Li Yan didn’t think much of it as he was just a child with no worldly experience but the current Li Yan knew that some think was definitely fishy about this whole situation.

As he started walking down the village he started ruminating on many things. He once saw Granny Ming make a rope out of hays in a few minutes, the speed on which she was operating was too fast and the rope she made of hay could support weight up to several tons, or once the old beggar in the temple who is blind claimed that he can see everything below heaven and said that there will be flocks of birds flying in the sky and later that day 1000’s of birds were seen migrated into the valley.

Once or twice things may be coincidental but if coincidence repeats itself then it is no longer a coincidence.

As he approached the temple he saw the old beggar sitting in the Bodhi tree beneath the temple in his favorite spot. Li Yan ignored the old beggar and started walking towards the temple.