It was once foretold that this realm was built by the 4 embodiments of nature.
Baihu the White Tiger
Xuanwu the Black tortoise
Zhuque the Vermilion Bird
And,
Qing long the Azure dragon
The 4 Beast Kings coexisted with each other ruled over various subjects of their land forming a delicate balance.
One day,this delicate balance broke
A thunderous roar sounded throughout the whole plane catching the attention of everyone,golden lights starts to spill out from the skies blinding everyone.
After recovering their sight,they all could see a silhouette of a dragon that is 50 kilometers long.The silhouette starts to look around at his eviroment seemingly not being to find what it is looking for,releasing another irritated roar,he sped off through the distance at light speed.
However,wherever it goes chaos follows,the dragon seems to be able alter any element at will.
Volcanoes rise,lava starts pouring down releasing toxic smog to the eviroment,Ice spikes rise in masses,hail starts falling,trees starts growing exponentially until their trunk reached a diameter of 15 meters and a height of 1500 meters and different coloured metal spires are formed using materials such as diamonds, amethyst,emerald etc.
The golden dragon wrecked so much havoc that the plane is starting to destabilize.
Looking at such destruction,the four beasts could not stand it and started to cooperate with each other to kill that golden dragon.
They flew towards the center of the plane with resolve in their hearts to die for their people.
The fight lasted for 3 years,the 4 embodiments of nature survived a hard fought fight tapping into their life force for that last bit of strength to finally kill that dragon.
But they start looking at their surroundings,they cried in lament.
The battlefield filled with metal spikes deeply embedded into the ground,meteors filled with molten lava creating large craters,wood shavings being everywhere and an ocean being completely dried of water.
They won the fight but what did it cost them?
Everything
The four beasts returned to their respective area but sadly they could not recover their lost life force,then they finally breathe their last breath.
Their corpses started to disintegrate slowing forming four scrolls which are the White Tiger Codex,Black Tortoise Codex, Vermillion Bird Codex and the Azure Dragon Codex.
After their death,the realm has reached it's tipping point,the realm started to crack.
Crack!
It was broken off into 4 pieces with north mostly consisting of ice,south fire,west metal and east wood.
However,the dragon corpse has disappeared.Now in the middle of the 4 planes lies a small landmass surrounded by a huge ocean with fog constantly blocking the vision of any trespassers for them to be never be able to be seen again.
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In the metal plane,lies a modern empire. skyscrapers seems to be growing out of the ground with more coming soon.With construction going at a fast pace with workers working together to levitate metal beams for the base of a new skyscraper.
In the imperial hospital,cries of a baby can be heard throughout the operating theater.
"Mew!Mew!"
"Congratulations!Madam Teah."said by the doctors and the nurses in the operating room.
Eventhough,everyone was saying joyous words to the madam their eyes betrayed their thoughts.Their yellow eyes showed trace of fear but majority pity.
"Madame Teah,may we push you to your ward now?"said the head surgeon
Madame Teah however was distracted by the precious gem being held near her chest.In her arms is a cute little baby with a head of white hair with yellow eyes and four tiny canines.
After a few minutes of staring at her baby,senses finally came back to her and she nodded while smiling.
"Michelle,please push Madame Teah out to the V.I.P ward."said the head surgeon
"What a pity"said by the head surgeon while shaking his head after Madame Teah was pushed out.
"She would have lived if she had decided to abort it but now...ah what a pity what a pity."while shaking his head.
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In the V.I.P ward,there is only Madame Teah on the bed with her husband General Teah Kuang and their Butler Robert standing at the side with the baby in her arms.
"Wh..y?"said the general in a hoarse voice while holding his wife's hand tightly with his shivering hand.
"hmm why?I knew I have not much time left and I know you will not be remarrying thus will live a life of loneliness so why not have something for you to invest your feelings into"said by Madame Teah with a gentle smile on her face.
"Now,now,don't be sad.Why don't you think of a name for our child?"asked Madame Teah
"I went to the temple before you went into labor.The monks told me that Tate would be a good name for our child as it symbolises the peace and order I want to fill his life with."said the general
"Oh Teah Tate?Very nice name.Hello baby Tate."said Madame Teah while shaking Tate's hand.
Madame Teah suddenly strengthen her grip causing the general to raise his head to stare at her with his misty yellow eyes while she stares back.
Madame Teah suddenly changed her expression into a solemn one
"Promise me that you will take care of Tate"
"I promise you,my wife."
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On top of a hill,there is an old tree that is three metres tall with a trunk that requires two grown men to link hands to wrap it that is bare of leaves.
Below the tree shows a tombstone with the name Teah Lin engraved on it.In front of the tombstone,General Teah Kuang is standing quietly with the wind blowing against his face while shielding Tate from the wind in his arms.His eyes shows indecisiveness until they gradually turn sharp and determined.
"Lin,don't wait for me too long I will join you after Tate has grown up into a good young man then I will be with you forever"mumbled general
"Robert!"
"Yes, general"seemingly out of nowhere Robert replied
"Commence the training for my son call my old friend Lu Sun"
"Yes, general"
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Seven years later,in a garden shows an old man with a benign smile on his face who is 1.9 metres tall with seemingly robust physique that does not fit the scholarly robes that he is wearing,lecturing about something with a young boy sitting in front of him earnestly jotting down whatever the man said down in his notepad.
"The basic rule of this plane is that we must respect the White Tiger.Without the White tiger,we would have no powers to control our abilities in our bloodline.That is why we must work hard to purify our bloodline through the White Tiger Codex,not only we will obtain deeper insight into our metal control,we will also have our physique be closer to our ancestor.We can be stronger,faster,more agile and have sharp instinct like a tiger would have.Would you like me to show you?Young master Tate."
Tate nodded his head excitedly like a bobbing chicken
"Please do,Mr.lu"
Mr.lu nodded then he took out a piece of black cloth to cover his eyes.He then proceeds to change his stance into a stance that looks like a tiger is about to pounce on it's prey with his back hunched.Suddenly,he released a formless pressure,white fur starts to grow on his back and arms with two black lines crossing over his shoulder,his hands turn into padded paws with four sharp claws extending out that shines like polish jade if you would shine a light on it.The suprising thing is that the claws seems to be absorbing metal from the ground making it sharper and longer.
Mr.lu then releases a thundering roar that seems to be a signal of sorts.Rocks start hurling from the skies from afar with a speed of 60km/h that would normally smash a normal human to pulp if hit.
Mr.lu then starts to pounce towards the hurling rocks.He then starts to wave at each rocks flying towards him while dodging the ones could not be avoided by twisting his body nimbly like a gymnastics Olympic champion.
After passing through the walls of rocks,the rocks that he waved suddenly split into 5 section with a smooth cut surface.
Mr.lu stood up then his fur and black lines started receding back into his body,his claws turned normal while bits of metal are dropping from his hands.
Mr.lu said with pride with a slight hint of exhaustion"Do you see that?This ability is called beast transformation,it is a hidden ability present in everyone's bloodline but one must train in the White Tiger codex until initial 2nd stage first before transforming,without having sufficient strength it will only endanger your life by absorbing your life force rapidly increasing the rate of aging.The higher the stages in cultivation goes the longer you can stay in that form and the amount of metal you control grows as well.This is also the ability that allow our Bai Empire to grow into the largest empire in the metal plane even the smaller kingdoms surrounding us wouldn't let out a pep when we pass by.Everyone that has shown talent in cultivation is scouted by the White tiger regiment to be a soldier.Being a soldier also meant obtaining high prestige among the people and would obtain a salary higher than the average men which is provided by the king.The minimum level cultivation of the soldiers are initial 2nd stage while the maximum level is peak 3rd stage which includes your father, General Teah Kuang."
"Wah!Father is so cool.I want to be like him when I grow up"said by Tate with hope in his voice
"Haha,you are very well on the way being there,young master Tate.Reaching peak 1st stage at the age of seven is a speed even your father can't reach"said by Mr.lu with envy
"I will work harder to earn the praises from father."thought Tate
"Young master Tate,dinner is ready please come with this old man to the dining room"said Butler Robert
Tate waved goodbye to Mr.lu and followed Butler Robert to the dining room leaving Mr.lu behind that still has a benign smile on his face.
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In the dining room,there is a 5 metre long table with various amount of food on it mostly consisting of meat.
At the end of the table sat Tate eating his fill while frequently glancing at the opposite side of the table.On the opposite side of the table sat a middle-aged man with clean-cut hair with a normal physique showing no expression slowing slicing the meat with a knife.However,one should never underestimate the man as not only is he one of the highest ranking general in the army but also yield a large amount of authority in the court that can sway the courts judgement with a word.
"Father,I have finished my training.What should I do now?"said Tate after muling over how to start a conversation with his father.
The general suddenly stop slicing the meat then looked at him and said one word.
"Train."
"Yes, father."said by Tate with disappoinment as he did not obtain any praises yet again.He then just continued looking down and eating.
Hearing the sense of disappointment from Tate,the general looked up with his lips quivering seemingly trying to say something but stopped himself from continuing.
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Few months later,while Tate was walking back to his room after a shower while holding a glass of milk in his hands.He passed by his father's study seeing that the light is still on he decides to say good night to father.
Just as he was about to knock on the door,he heard his father was talking to someone in the study.The person talking to his father seems to be Mr.lu,being a curious child he decides to listen in by pressing his ear flat on the door.
"Why do you want to abandon your son?"said Mr.lu angrily
"hmph,my son?He is not worthy to be called my son after what he did.I will kick him out after he turns ten."general rebutted
Tate who is outside listening shocked,his eyes lose focus.He then dropped the glass of milk to the ground.
Crack
Tate ran quickly as fast as possible to his room.