Mortal Realm, Capital Planet of the Hoborg Empire, the ****** **** mansion in Cloudmount City.
Looking at the two, Guang Hua said with a smile. ”I have to say, the two of you are much better when you're young looking brother Marc and sister Illia.” That made the two laugh and Illia replied. “Thanks to Lady Bai who gave us better cultivation scriptures, and unlike what we had, those were complete, so we succeeded in breaking through the bottleneck to reach the Early Level 8. That means that we ended up having 10,000 more years of lifespan, which obviously revitalized our lifeforce. That's why we look as young as a twenty-ish years old. I have to admit that I also prefer how I look now. Although it's probably my vanity talking.” She finished with a small laugh.
From early in the morning to noon they stayed together, talking merrily while enjoying the different dishes on the table. The were all waiting for Bai Yue and Guang Yang to finish what they were doing and meet them outside.
***************
A few hours earlier, when the two previously mentioned arrived in the pavilion.
Bai Yue with a small smile on her face was looking at the cute face of Guang Yang who looked like he was three years old instead of his actual one year of age. Thanks to his special bloodline, his increase in cultivation and his link to Bai Yue thanks to the Seal inside of him, his body and intelligence grew very quickly, which allowed him to be able to cultivate earlier than most children. As although anyone could physically cultivate at any age, as long as one's mana channel were in a good state, one needed to comprehend how to cultivate by absorbing the mana into one's mana channels and store it into the dantian. [A/N: It's a small space below one's navel inside the body. You can google it if you want more info] One also needed to comprehend the Laws. All in all, it was almost impossible for children under the age of five to start cultivating as they did not even comprehend the concept of it and risked hurting their mana channels.
However, unlike most children, at least in the Mortal Realm, one could notice an intelligence and maturity far superior to his peers in the boy's deep and pure golden eyes. His shoulder-length straight golden hair waving around because of his excitement added to his nervousness which made him look around the pavilion, excited at the idea of what he was about to do.
Looking at his behavior made her laugh slightly, which was felt by the boy through their seals' connection. He then looked at her with stars his eyes, bouncing around and asked with a big smile on his face. “Teacher Bai! Teacher Bai! Is it time? Can I start now?” Despite finding his eagerness funny, she reminded him with a serious tone. “You can, but let me remind you about some important things before you start. First, it will be a lot less dangerous to start your cultivation than other children, since that, thanks to your bloodline, you unwittingly reached Early Level 2 without even cultivating. That means that you won't have to open your mana channels and risk hurting them. However, you still have to be careful. Second, we reviewed together the Heaven Yang scripture that I taught you, so you should follow the instruction in it relative to how you should move the mana in your body. Third and last, you will cultivate for a few hours until noon. That way, you will have the afternoon for Law Comprehension and other activities. Did you understand everything?”
Seeing his teacher serious face and wanting to impress her, he nodded with his serious face, which, because of his young age, looked more adorable than adult-like. “Yes teacher! I will follow the scripture's instruction and only cultivate until noon.” She added. “After each cycle, you can check on your holo-bracelet for the time. Now go sit in the meditation position on the meditation cushion in the middle of the room.”
When he heard the woman's command, he immediately obeyed her and walked towards the cushion where he sat in the meditation position. Because it was the first time he sat in this way, he felt a bit uncomfortable until his teacher told him to stop squirming around and start his cultivation session. He then stopped moving, closed his eyes and started to match his breathing to the breathing pattern in the scripture. After a few minutes of deep breathing, he started to feel for the mana touching his body. Indeed, since he had not reached the rank 2, he could not use Divine sense and instead had to use his skin to feel around.
Because he already had mana in his dantian, it only took him a few minutes to feel the mana touching his skin pores. Once he was done with that part, he started to attract the mana to enter his body, travel through his mana channels as many times as it needed to be purified until it was as pure as it could be. After that the pure mana was sent to his dantian where it would be added to his already existent stock. That part took a bit more time than the previous one, however it was only a matter of a few minutes more. Once that was done he moved the pure mana from his dantian with his internal sense to strengthen his body and soul until the three were in complete balance. Despite a few mistakes made due to his lacking experience which wasted around half an hour, two hours later, he finished a complete cultivation cycle and opened his eyes, full of joy from the slight increase of his strength that he could feel. He then turned to his teacher and said with excitement in his voice. “Teacher! I did it! I finished a full big cycle!” To which she replied with a small smile. “Good. Go back to it, then.” A faint sigh escaped her that was too low to be noticed by the boy, as if having a weight off her chest.
Focusing on his breathing to calm himself down, Guang Yang then refocused on his cultivation session. He proceeded with the first small cycle that lasted around thirty minutes then carry on to the other two small cycles, which was a full big cycle, lasting around ninety minutes. No one understood why, but the numbers three, six and none had a huge importance in the Wanderer's Realm. For example, each rank had three levels and there were three ranks and nine levels for Mortal Cultivators. Only by transcending the ninth Level can you reach the first level of something greater, which was the Immortal Level in this case. It was the same case for the cycles in cultivation. Although one can stop during a cycle, it was very risky as the mana could run wild in one's mana channels. It could even destroy one's channels if one was attacked at that moment.
Of course, there was virtually no risk the for the cute child currently cultivating, as he was protected by the strongest being in the Mortal Realm, who could even obliterate the second strongest, as if stomping on an insect. Knowing that, the woman was not particularly worried about external threat, however she could not help having a small worry before he succeeded in finishing his first big cycle. After all, she has been at his side since he was only a bit more than a baby. To her, he was someone precious who needed her protection. Nonetheless, she knew that she would not be able to protect him forever, as she was not an omnipotent God. [A/N: I use the term God in this novel not as a specific level, but as someone who was so powerful that it's incomprehensible to one using the word God. So a Level 9 Mortal can be considered a god by a Level 4 Mortal. Just a matter of perspective.] Because of her excruciatingly hard life experience, she knew that the only person one could always rely on was oneself. And that also went for power.
Only by increasing his power could he be safe from harm. “Well, power and experience. After all, if he doesn't know how to use his power, then it would still be dangerous. Especially if he had to deal with similar level enemies. But if I follow my plan, he will be fine.” While the boy was cultivating, Bai Yue was lost in her thoughts, thinking about the future and planning as best as she could little Yang's cultivation path.
After every big cycle, Guang Yang checked the time to make sure that he was not late. What was exhilarating was the feeling of himself growing stronger just by cultivating. Of course, he was aware that he was privileged compared to other cultivators. His teacher drilled that idea in his head to avoid him being complacent. Indeed, his advantages went from Peak Divine cultivation scriptures, a very powerful teacher who could guide him, mana gathering formation, mana stones in abundance, etc. What he was not aware was that even cultivators from Peak organizations would go to war to have only a tenth of what he had.
The mana gathering formation, for example, was not like the one found in the Mortal Realm, as it not only attracted a colossal amount of mana to the property, which bathed everyone living there in it, but also purified the mana, which made it a lot easier to absorb and integrate in oneself. Also, coupled with the Law Displaying formation that only existed in the higher Realms, it gave the ones cultivating in the property a state similar to one consuming mana pills such as the Increasing Mana Pill, the Law Mana Pill, etc. constantly, but without the side effects and since it was not ingested, it was adapted to every Level.
All in all, it made for a fantastic cultivation environment which will definitely help him increase his level quickly.
A bit after the hour of noon passed, the boy woke up from his cultivation with a feeling of energy coursing everywhere in his body. In fact, despite being an Early Level 2 being, he was not able to control his powers previously, since he did not consciously grow them. However, now that he practiced moving the mana around his body for a few hours while consciously strengthening himself, he felt like he made those unruly powers, his.
A smile appeared on his face at those thoughts and he then turned to his beautiful teacher and said. “Teacher, I'm done.” To which she replied, this time losing her serious face in favor a relaxed smile. “Since you're done, then I'll let everyone come in. They're probably wondering how it went. And since it's past noon, we'll also eat lunch.” While rank 3 Being did not need to eat at all, as their body can sustain themselves with the ambient mana coupled with the mana they stocked in their body, it did not deter them from enjoying good food and drinks. After all, ingredients are similar to cultivators in the sense that the higher their rank, the more 'perfect' it became. Which meant, for example, that the best wines made in the Mortal Realm are made from Peak rank 3 ingredients, which only rank 3 Beings could consume, since it would make the weaker beings explode from the overload of energy.
Of course, aside from the fact the family liked eating delicacies, it was mostly because little Yang had to eat to avoid starving, since his body had not reached a high enough level.
After Bai Yue used her Divine sense to allow everyone in, the door to the pavilion creaked open and a few people came in. While most of the group were walking normally, a white streak of light appeared in front of Guang Yang and turned into his beloved mother. She held his shoulders and scan his body with her Divine sense to check if there was any injuries and sighed in relief when she found none. She then smiled warmly at her cute son and asked him. “So, how did it go Yang'er? Mom wants to know!” Because of his low level, he could not feel her scan his body, so he assumed she did not know and proceeded to tell her everything with delight.
Behind the two, the others were listening with a smile on their face, looking at the little boy with fondness in their eyes. Indeed, after one year of living together with little yang, they were all defeated by his warm smiles and his calling them “Uncle Laeroth” “Uncle Marc” and “Aunty Illia” with his big pure golden eyes. One could see with how they were acting towards him that the little boy had a big place in their heart, despite their lack of blood ties.
After a few minutes of explanation and a lot of funny changing expressions, Guang Yang finished his story and said. “Mom, I'm very hungry and thirsty. Can we go eat lunch?” She picked him up from the floor and replied. “Alright, but what do you want to eat?” Hearing her question, he mumbled. “What do I want to eat?... So much choices... It's too hard to choose...” He then put his hand on his face, as if to show the difficulty of choosing what to eat. Seeing the comical scene, everyone burst laughing, with the exception of Bai Yue, who was more discreet. Laeroth then asked him. “Why don't you let your favorite uncle make you your favorite dishes?” Seeing Laeroth 's shamelessness at calling himself 'favorite uncle' made the women rolled their eyes and Hei Qiang looked at the scene wishing he had some snacks to enjoy the oncoming fight.
Indeed, when Mark heard his remark, he immediately retorted. “Pah! Who said you were the favorite?!” To which Laeroth replied in an amused voice. “Well, if you don't agree, why don't we spar a bit at the training arena?” Knowing that he was weaker due to his low cultivation, he did not dare agree. However, he replied. “Once I breakthrough to Level 9, I'll make sure that we spar plenty.” The other knowing that he would be beaten up if the two were at the same level, due to the other's fighting talent, was this time the one who evaded the challenge. “Whatever.” He rolled his eyes and then ignored him.
To talk about talent, one had to talk about the Laws and their usage. Take for example the Law of Fire. One can use it burn everything, which would make it a weapon. However, it can also be used to forge weapons and armors. Another use can be in the medical sector, as it can be used to burn poisons ravaging a body, etc. The only limit to a Law is one's imagination. That being said, there are some Laws that are better suited to certain things, like the Law of earth to build buildings, the Law of Wood to heal and help the growth of living beings, etc. Also, Laws can be combined together to get a result even better than the sum of its parts. For example, if you wish to build a house, you might need the Law of Earth to build the walls, the Law of wood to create the frame, doors and windows, the Law of Fire to transformed the silica sand into glass for the windows, etc. There were no limits.
Back to the so called 'fighting talent'. It was not an official name, but more like something cultivators used to identify the difference between how cultivators used their Laws. There were fighting, craftsman, etc. Laeroth was a mix between a craftsman and an intelligence officer, which gave him a wide variety of skills. However, Marc mostly focused his energy on understanding way to fight and kill. Definitely a warrior type. All of that means that, at the same level in cultivation and Law Comprehension, Marc had a overwhelming chance of winning against Laeroth, unless the latter start focusing on fighting himself. One's time and energy being limited, there was a low chance of that.
Back to the scene, Bai Yue could see the glint of amusement in the little boy's eyes, which betrayed his seemingly innocent face. “Uncle Laeroth and Uncle Marc, you should stop fighting. Otherwise, we won't get to eat and I'm really hungry.” When they heard his remark, they immediately stopped bickering and turned towards him with a forced smile and Laeroth asked. “ So, did you choose what you wanted?” To which the boy answered with a seemingly innocent smile. “Uncle Laeroth should choose for me, since it's too hard to choose.” He then added as if an afterthought. “Of course, it has to be really good just like you promised. Otherwise, I might forget that I have two uncles.”
Laeroth then acted panicky and said in a fake solemn tone. “You can count on me! It will be delicious!” After which, he dashed to the kitchen in the pavilion and started to cook frantically. [A/N: The pavilion looks a bit like those two mixed. (https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2DBWTT1/the-chinese-pavilion-at-side-of-west-lake-in-hangzhou-china-2DBWTT1.jpg) (https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/traditional-chinese-pavilion-over-water-at-west-lake-hangzhou-china-picture-id1088060740)]
When Guang Yang saw that his plan for more food worked, he began to laugh with glee. However, when his dad saw the situation, he narrowed his eyes and took a few steps towards the laughing boy, to the puzzlement of his wife. After reaching him, he took the boy in his arms, looked at him in his eyes and said in a fake serious tone. “You dare to play with your uncle's feelings, little brat. It seems a punishment is in order.” Hearing those words made the boy choke on his laughter and panic appeared in his eyes, while he started to frantically look around for someone to save him. When he looked at his mother and teacher he started pleading. “Mom and teacher, save m...” That's when his father began his sudden attack on his sides which consisted in merciless tickles, that would only stop with the boy's repentance.
Guang Yang was now laughing like a madman, trying to wiggle out of his dad's relentless tickling hands and begging for his forgiveness. “D-da-dd pl-ease-se sto-op! I-I-I was wr-wrong!” However, his dad kept tickling him, as if he did not hear the pleas of his son. He only stopped when the boy was panting for air, clearly worn out form the fight. A smile appeared on Hei Qiang's face when he said. “Next time, you'll behave.”