Chapter 4 - White Flag
When Aiden gets back to the main entrance an old man stands stoically next to an energetic Du Jun who is performing air punches and kicks. This old man is the librarian that originally helped Aiden and Du Jun search the library before they split up.
”Brother Du! Looks like you found some interesting technique in the library.” Aiden shouts over at them eliciting a glare from the old librarian. The glare seems to melt away when he sees Aiden and a moment later Aiden doubts he ever saw the old librarian looking anything but pleased.
Du Jun stops after an awesome air kick and waves at Aiden. ”Brother Tian, you took so long and I could not wait to start practicing.”
”What technique is this? Is it part of the Flame Serpent's Path breathing technique you picked before?” Aiden asks.
”No, Librarian Jian helped me find an appropriate martial art manual to complement my cultivation technique. It is even a full martial art style with different kicks and punches and how to channel Qi into them. This martial manual will even let me shoot fire when I reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, how cool is that!” Du Jun almost screams with excitement.
”That is amazing, I can’t wait to see it” Aiden exclaims, being honestly impressed. He then turns around to the old librarian and says. ”Librarian Jian, thank you for your help today. We both appreciate your hard work.”
Aiden silently thanks Du Jun in his thoughts for giving him the name of the old librarian, he has been trying to remember it to politely dismiss the other party.
”42nd prince does not have to be so polite, it was my pleasure helping you both find your first step on your cultivation path.” The old librarian answers, make a small bow, and takes his leave. Aiden almost thinks he is genuine but the old librarian’s steps noticeably speed up when he is just a short distance away from the two boys.
Aiden and Du Jun leave shortly after. No one is allowed to remove any book from the Royal Library so they first have to get their previously picked techniques and manuals copied for them. The scribe who helps them looks confused when Aiden only brings out the Space Wind Mantra but fast and efficiently starts copying the boy's chosen books.
The scribe seems to be a pretty high-level cultivator considering how fast he copies the books. Just sitting there flipping through the books one by one, the scribe is not physically writing himself but with the control of his Qi, a feather quill types out exactly what he sees on the pages he flips through.
Just the fact that the scribe can control Qi outside of his body means he is in the Foundation Establishing Realm minimum.
Amongst the people in this world, most are mortal with no cultivation whatsoever. Maybe slightly above one percent of the world's population cultivate and as Aiden is thinking about this fact he realizes that Tian Yan did not know why. It has always just been evident that Tian Yan will cultivate and Aiden does not doubt it but does leave a huge gap in his knowledge of what keeps such a large part of the population from cultivating. Well, that is something he can investigate some other time.
For those who do manage to start the path of cultivation the first step is Qi Gathering. This realm barely qualifies one as a cultivator and could technically be traversed in a few days with sufficiently Qi rich treasures while cultivating. The Qi gathering stage is however a time to open your meridians and slowly expand your dantian so rushing it normally resulted in worse returns in higher realms.
A cultivator's meridians are points in their body where they can absorb and gather larger amounts of Qi. You can always just flood your body with Qi to improve your strength but that is inefficient and wastes a lot of energy. Why would you need to have super strong arms while running is a basic example.
The dantian is the energy center of a cultivator and is where all Qi is stored when not in use. It is located slightly below the navel but like the meridians seem to be more metaphorical than physical, Aiden had not been pre-med in college but he knew enough anatomy to know all this sounded like new-age bullshit.
Foundation Establishment is the second major step in cultivation and is like previously said when a cultivator can start to control Qi outside of their body. From what Tian Yan heard while growing up, there are a lot of small cultivation families with just one or two Foundation Establishing cultivators as their leaders while the rest of the family is stuck in Qi Gathering.
The third step is Core Formation and is honestly pretty boring. Nothing new or interesting, just a huge upgrade in the quality of the cultivator's Qi.
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Nascent Soul Realm is normally the minimum power of the elders of great sects in this world. It is not like there are no Core Formation elders in sects but those sects have often fallen on hard times. Nobody would take someone seriously if they tried to establish a sect while being below the Nascent Soul Realm. This also happens to be the realm where a cultivator's lifespan makes its first major leap up; this might have some connection to the sect establishing something but Aiden is not sure about it.
And speaking of Nascent Soul Realm, the scribe working on Aiden’s and Du Jun’s copies should probably be in this realm. It says a lot about the power of the Heavenly Court when a scribe working in the library could probably go and establish a sect of his if he so chose to.
Handing over the newly made copies the scribe smiles at the two boys. Aiden guesses that he can not be more than 40 years old even if it is not as easy to tell with a cultivator as with mortals.
Receiving their books, Aiden and Du Jun thank the scribe and take their leave.
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As the two boys leave the Royal Library the sun hangs low in the sky. This first day of living in a different world has been long and Aiden is tired, he did after all technically wake up before sunrise even if it was Tain Yan and not him, oh and he is in the body of a seven-year-old. Now when the crisis of finding a cultivation technique is at least temporarily fixed his mind starts wandering to his other major crisis.
Having opened that can of worms Aiden can not stop himself from thinking about his current self. Deciding that he is Aiden is not as easy as he tries to make it. When he calls himself Aiden in his head it is a good way to enforce his identity to himself but looking at the facts of the situation points to another contrary conclusion.
It is Tian Yan who lived in this world his entire life, it is Tian Yan who walked into the Soul Awakening Ritual and it was Tian Yan who then received memories of his soul’s previous life, that life being Aiden. All of this points to the fact that he is Tian Yan with Aidens memories and not the other way around like he keeps insisting to himself.
But Aiden does not want to accept this, he comes from a culture that experienced the Enlightenment and all those thinkers have shaped the society he grew up in. This world seems brutal in a way he can not accept and he does not want to. So he decides that he is Aiden and that is it. He will approach this world with his own ideals and even if he does not have the power to change this world he will not let it change him in turn.
Happy with his affirmation of himself, Aiden looks up to see two boys in their early teens walk in his and Du Jun’s direction. The boys walk side by side but one of them seems to walk slightly behind the other. The boy that is walking a step behind is quite tall and muscular but in that lean way boys who recently experienced a growth spurt look like. He is wearing only a vest, pants, and a confident sneer on his face giving Aiden the impression that this kid is really happy to show off his muscles.
The other boy is dressed up in an elegant white martial robe that flows behind him like some kind of flag in the wind. On his face, there is a happy approachable smile and his eyes seem to sparkle with mirth as they meet Aiden’s own. Something is spoken between them as they look at each other but Aiden feels like it is in a language he does not know.
”I heard that one of my little brothers left the crib so I came over to introduce myself. My name is Tian Feng.” The boy wearing what looks like a white flag says. He stops in front of Aiden but his clothes keep moving even with a complete lack of wind.
Somewhat flustered by the appearance of a brother he never met, Aiden gathers himself and puts on his best young master persona with a knowing smile. ”Yes, this one is Tian Yan. Nice to meet you… brother.”
Aiden is really happy with that pause, really conveying the image of a person with hidden depth. Truly the attitude of a young prince of the Tian Dynasty.
The tall boy chuckles and Tian Feng’s smile broadens even further.
”Do not be like that little brother, I know that we all will need to compete in the future but that is many years away and who says the competition can not be the friendly kind?” Tian Feng says as he steps forward and embraces Aiden in a hug.
Aiden just stands there in the embrace of his brother looking particularly stupid. ”What is going on here?” He thinks to himself.
The older boy lets go of Aiden after a nice hug but keep his hands on his shoulders looking him over. With a nod towards the tallboy, he says. ”This flagpole disguised as a person is my dear friend Xiao Long, who may little brother's friend be?”
Maybe having an adversarial attitude towards this brother from the start was a little excessive, Aiden admits to himself. Gathering his facilities, Aiden stops trying to act a role and genuinely reciprocates the smile he is being exposed to.
”This is Du Jun, he is my best friend and my most trusted confidant.” Aiden says as he flashes a grin at Du Jun who grins back at him.
”I see, it is good to have a close friend growing up here at court, not sure if I could have remained sane without Xiao Long here to support me. I assume you two were here to pick up a cultivation technique for little brother Du then? Did you find anything good?” Tien Feng says.
”Yes, brother Du took out a copy of Flame Serpent's Path to cultivate, he has a great affinity for fire.” Xiao Long perks up as Aiden says this and responds. ”So little brother Du is a Fire Cultivator, how interesting. Do you have any blood relation with the Tian family?”
Du Jun looks startled to be spoken to but responds ”No, just a very minor one, I am just a friend of Brother Tian.”
Tian Feng scrutinizes Du Jun as he says. ”It probably is not that distant a relationship if you have a strong enough fire affinity to cultivate Flame Serpent's Path, that cultivation technique has a harsh fire affinity requirement.”
Du Jun looks uncomfortable to be in the spotlight but musters a response. ”I am not that special, I only have a single fire affinity. Not like Brother Tian who has both a Fire and a Wind affinity.
Tian Feng looks genuinely impressed as he looks over at Aiden again.
”So little brother has a wind affinity, let me know if you want me to teach you a few tricks. I might even teach you my always flowing robe technique, it will work well with that mysterious master thing you try to pull off.” Tian Feng says with a smile as he lightly pats Aiden on the shoulder.
Trying to pretend that he does not feel like a total idiot for doing his stupid young master persona in front of this friendly older brother of his, Aiden responds with. ”I would very much appreciate any advice older brother could provide.”
”Of course, just let me know when you reach Foundation Establishing and I will teach you how to do it.” Tian Feng says with a huge grin on his face.
While in this jovial atmosphere Aiden notices Du Jun looking at the now setting sun. ”Older Brother, it was very nice to meet you but it is time for me and brother Du to go back home now. I hope we meet again soon.”
Tian Feng looks over at the setting sun, startled by how low it is. ”Ahh, sorry for keeping little brother, I think we definitely will meet again soon and I am very much looking forward to it.”
Giving a last pat on Aiden’s shoulder Tian Feng lets go of Aiden. They all take their leave and Aiden and Du Jun are again on their way back home to their courtyard.
Maybe Aiden was a little too pessimistic about his royal brothers. Looking back at it maybe he has been just a little bit pessimistic about this whole world. If all of his brothers are as approachable as Tian Feng then living in the Heavenly Court will probably even be a pleasant experience.