- Five years later -
A light shower of rain fell down upon the city, covering the blooming cherry blossoms with a thin veil of dew. In the Long clan, underneath a gazebo atop a small lake, a small little boy sat on the lap of a female teenager.
The female teenager held an old scroll in her hands. She held it out in front of her, "Long Yang, you already know of the importance of Spirit souls right?" The boy in her arms nodded.
"Good, but do you know how or why we have Spirit souls?" Long Yang shook his head, "I don't, why do we have Spirit souls big sister Hong?"
Xiao Hong gently smiled, "this is a tale of old passed from generation to generation, so as to prevent the legend from fading."
She turned to the scroll in her hands, "In a time long, long ago, we humans were oppressed. We were born to be oppressed, doomed to be forever weaker than the spirit beasts that roamed the land. We, humans, were born with the ability to cultivate, but we could only cultivate up to the Nascent Soul stage. Even the most talented were stuck at the peak, and at the peak, we still had to look up to the spirit beasts.
Spirit beasts were born stronger than humans, and their natural capabilities were even higher. For humans, the Nascent Soul stage was the fourth and final stage of cultivation they could reach. But for Spirit beasts, they can cultivate up to six different stages. The strongest human will always be two whole realms below that of the strongest Spirit Beasts.
Humans were doomed to be suppressed by the Spirit Beasts. Humans were always on the run, always hiding in fear that they would not see the light of tomorrow. The world was ruled by the Spirit Beasts.
That was until one day, a young man by the name of Ying Chen encountered an injured Spirit beast, the winged horse, Pegasus. Any normal human would have taken the chance to kill off the injured beast, but Ying Chen didn't. He took Pegasus to a hidden hideout of his, a cave and attempted to nurse it back to health.
While the care Ying Chen provided Pegasus did help, it had suffered serious internal injuries and all Ying Chen could do was prolong it. Over time, the man and horse bonded, they grew closer to each other.
Ying Chen would visit Pegasus daily, his interaction with the horse was his only light in this bleak life where he could lose his life to a Spirit beast any day.
One day, during his daily visits, he was found and attacked by a Spirit beast of core strengthening stage. Ying Chen was a fairly talented youth, reaching the Foundation Building stage at the age of twenty, but he was no match against the beast two realms above him.
As he was about to die, he was saved by the Pegasus. At the cost of agitating its internal injuries, it saved Ying Chen from the beast but its injuries flared up. It didn't have much time left to live.
It walked over to Ying Chen and made its decision. The Pegasus offered up its soul in a soul contract, the first ever in history. The act of doing so was taboo amongst the Spirit beast but the Pegasus cared not as it didn't have much longer to live.
This was the birth of the first-ever Spirit soul as well as the first even Heaven graded Spirit soul. With his companion bounded to his soul, Ying Chen found a new direction, a way to clear the clouds at the peak, to make way for a bigger mountain.
Along with Pegasus, Ying Chen cultivated, fought, and grew. Until one day, he reached the ultimate stage, the Soul Possession stage. With the power of two as one, Ying Chen fought against the upper echelons of the Spirit Beasts.
He dueled against the Beast King and his two sages and bested the three granting humans respite. Ying Chen was at the peak, but he was alone. He knew that once he returned to the earth, humans would be oppressed once again.
So he used his strength and forced the Beast king to sign a contract. A soul binding contract that extended to all and every Spirit beast. In death, the Spirit beasts would serve as Spirit souls for humans.
Twelve years after the contract was made, the first 'natural' Spirit soul was born. And then another, and then another until Spirit souls were widespread. Thus the age of Spirit beasts came to an end. Ying Chen had ushered in a new era for humans as the ones on top."
The rain had long since stopped, Xiao Hong took a deep breath and looked down at Long Yang. He was fast asleep. She shook her head and placed the scroll on the table in front of her. Holding onto him, she got up and walked out from under the gazebo. She steadily made her way to Long Yang's room and placed him down gently on his bed. She gave him one last look and smile before leaving the room.