“NO! I won’t accept this.” Loud shouting was heard from the meeting hall deep in the Song family’s residence. 13 Men and 2 Women sat around a rectangular table made from dark brown wood that looked so heavy that not even 100 strong men would be able to lift it. All of them had serious looks on their faces as they discussed the distribution of the family's resources. “The kid is crippled just understand it already! My son has earned himself this opportunity! This is blatant disregard of our family's rules! Yimu has brought only shame upon my Song family. You people have thrown so much money at this kid just because his qi absorption rate is high. What does it even matter when he hasn't even reached the 5th stage of the human realm? My son is already at the late stages of the 8th stage of the human realm. If he can get this opportunity he might even achieve preliminary soul merging and enter the houtian stage before the next Solstice.”
A loud discussion broke out in the room and everyone started talking over each other.
Towards the end of the table on the left side a young man said: “Indeed young Zhenya has brought us a lot of glory and if he can actually reach the Houtian Realm he might even have a chance at the Dynasty Meeting.I think he should get this oppor-”
“Ha the young are truly foolish nowadays. As if reaching the Houtian Realm would be enough to win anything. The Xia clan has taken the top 5 places every time for the last 50 years now. He would be lucky to get into the top 10 with his fighting skill.” an old man with a long white beard and barely any hair left on his head interrupted.
“Pa. This still doesn't change that Yimu wouldn't even be able to get out of the preliminaries. Even with 10th place we would get more resources for the next decade.”
These and many other opinions were said when a loud chuckle was heard from the end of the table where an old man with a heavy aura of authority sat. Immediately everyone stopped talking.
“Hahaha! First you all should calm down a bit. Third Elder! I know why you think that way, but sending Yimu to attend the Twilight Forest cultivation ground has another reason besides increasing his cultivation. Grandmaster Zhu Bai will attend the event with his nephew and the First Elder wanted to use this opportunity to ask Grandmaster Zhu to create a Spirit Changing Medicine for Little Yimu.” This person was Song Peng, the current Patriarch of the Song family and the person with the last word over matters. He could only be overruled if all 12 Elders disagreed with his decision.
Third Elder frowned deeply.
‘If only the Patriarch wasn’t the grandfather of this damn Yimu then with all of these reccources my son could have reached Qi Refining 2 years ago. He might even be in the middle stages of Houtian by now.’
After a few moments of silence Third Elder decided to break all illusions of courtesy and announced:
“This can't continue like it is now! I know that we can’t change this decision because the first Elder and the seventh Elder will vote for their Son in this matter, but I want to at least show how many people are dissatisfied with this. Yimu has gotten so many resources in the last 14 years that could have all benefited other children who would have been able to make proper use of them. I Song Xieren third Elder of the Song Clan call for a Vote to overturn the Patriarchs decision.”
“Third elder this vote is not necessary.”, Patricharch Song declared. “I have made the decision that no matter the outcome this will be Yimu’s last special resource. Of course he will still receive his monthly share of resources and be able to earn extra with contribution points. Anything beyond that First Elder will have to pay for himself. Revoking this decision will need a majority vote.” After saying so the Patriarch stood up and left the room.
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Everyone was stunned. For 14 years the Patriarch supported his grandchild with everything that he could yet now before even knowing if the Spirit Changing medicine would work he decided to Revoke rights to all special reccourses? Had the Patriarch already given up on his grandchild and decided to give him one last chance? Many Elders were dumbfounded yet only the 1st and 7th Elder who were Song Yimu’s Parents were unhappy with this. After all, every Elder wanted their own children to get a bigger piece of the pie.
After a solid minute of silence standing to the side of the table a young girl barely reaching the table's height with her chin said “Well then this should be enough for today. We will continue the allocation of resources for the senior members tomorrow at the same time.” and then waved her hand upon which all People on the table were Forced to stand up by a heavy wind current.
This young girl, a spirit servant owned by the patriarch, alone was stronger than all of the elders combined. The power difference between him and his elders was apparent. In this world strength trumped all else. If the Patriarch wanted not even a majority vote against his decision would count anything against his command. Song Peng however was a fair Patriarch. In 60 Years of Ruling, the Clan had never used his power to overturn a decision made by the elders of the Song Clan.
***
“Ha!”
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
Sounds of fierce fighting sounded from the Song clan's training field. Countless heroic youths went to this field every single day to increase their combat prowess.
Recently the training field is always filled to the brim leading some of these youths to train in the nearby forest where wild animals and Tier 1 Vicious beasts with the occasional Tier 2 beast lived. Some would call these people foolish to risk their life in this kind of way and they would be right. If one of these youths were to meet a Tier 1 Vicious beast they would either have to be blessed by the heavens to survive without crippling injuries, or be one of the most outstanding youths in their generation, while meeting a Tier 2 Beast would mean certain death. Still to these youths the chance to participate in the Twilight Forest Trial was worth the risk of dying. Fighting wild animals is superior to sparring with your peers in a single aspect: The Risk of Death. In a sparr you can just give up and the fight ends, but when fighting these animals the fight only ends with death.
Yours or theirs.
This way of training helps one to utilise 100% of one's skill and strength and can even help you uncover hidden potential.
While these brave disciples risk their life for a chance to participate in the Twilight Forest Trial where every clan would nominate a single participant for each age group to compete for an early acceptance into the Twilight Forest Academy, precious herbs and most importantly guidance in cultivation by real experts. Unbeknownst to them, the 14 year old Song Yimu had already obtained this spot without lifting a single finger. This kind of treatment wasn’t uncommon in most families as the Patriarch would always favour their own grandchild and even if they weren't the best choice they wouldn't be too far off either. In this case however the difference was that Yimu was far from being the best. In fact he would be considered average even among his juniors.
At this moment in a small courtyard inside the Song family’s domain a young boy barely looking 7 years old sat there reading a book. To the casual eye it would look like the boy was asleep, yet every 30 minutes you could hear the sound of a page turning. This young boy’s name is Song Yimu the 14 year old grandson of the Song family’s Patriarch. At the age of 6 years, when the young Yimu first started cultivating, a mysterious and unexplainable accident happened and he wasn't the same ever since. Since then he could only do things very slowly. Literally! He could only move in slow motion and when others moved his body he would easily be injured or have to vomit. In the first year after the incident he seemed as if paralysed not responding to anything and speaking only gibberish. Because of this most people gave up on him ever being useful to the clan, yet his father, being an elder with a lot of power, searched wide and far for a cure. He brought countless experts to see his son and used priceless treasures to try and cure his son. Now 8 years later while he was still very slow he could talk to you if you had patience and despite moving very slowly he trained his martial arts daily. In these 8 years his cultivation had progressed to the 5th stage of first realm in this time, an achievement that would take the geniuses in his family only 3 years and the top geniuses in this country could even achieve this in less than 2 years.
Still oblivious to the fact that he would have to attend the Trial at the Twilight Forest cultivation ground, he sat there slowly reading a book about The Art of War. What should be mentioned is that the Twilight Forest Trial wasn't called Trial for no reason. One could gain great benefits there but all opportunities in life come with obstacles, but with his cultivation and his sickness he, who some might even call disabled or a waste, would have about the same chance of surviving this unharmed as a fly killing a dragon. Despite this, the chance of finding someone who would say no to odds like these is even smaller. Power heils over everything; for this reason most people would rather die than not be able to cultivate and Song Yimu could be described as “in spitting distance of being disabled“.