The Sandflame city was located near the border between the Empire of Flame and the Taiji Empire, it was a city located in a deserted area and there were very few wild beast attacks due to the advantageous location. The desert was made up of reddish orange sand and the temperatures here reached terrifying amounts at peak day, the importation of water was a must here in the Sandflame city.
The richer areas of the city were lush and green and it was hard to believe that a thousand kilometers away there was a desert surrounding this area. Within the inner city, a 12 year old child was sitting down on the floor with a man in dark robes standing behind his back and his hands hovering over his head.
This child was surrounded by a holy aura, but one could slightly perceive a devilish charm around his being, one half of his hair was colored light gold and another half dark gold. He kept quiet as the man placed his hands over his head and used his essence to 'cleanse' the hair, slowly turning the hair an even gold. An Tongyi had already gotten used to this process ever since he was born, but still never knew the reason, thus he couldn't help but ask.
"Elder, I am 12 years old now and no longer the little kid from before, what is the real reason behind you dyeing my hair?" An Tongyi asked, he had just turned 12 and this was the official age for the beginning of cultivation in the city. "I refuse to believe this is a normal 'cleanse' as you say."
The man looked down at him, smiled and said "Your hair is too beautiful, I'm afraid everyone would die of jealousy if they saw your real hair."
"Hmph, I already know what a dual hair color means, light gold and brown, this signifies that I could be a dual cultivator of both light and earth." An Tongyi replied, as a child he was naturally very curious and had done deep research into the meaning behind his hair.
Hair color normally signified the elemental attribute and the hair continued to change according to the cultivation level of the bearer. Once a person had passed the Link stage, the hair would even begin to showcase various phenomena, like blue hair giving the illusion of flowing once a water cultivator had connected with their water God.
Those who had dual hair color were extremely rare, rare to the point they had become a myth in several areas, being able to have two Gods be willing to share you was something that was hard to imagine for regular people.
The man chuckled, this boy was way too proud, if others heard him claiming to be a dual cultivator, they may even ignore the status of his mother and help discipline this boastful kid.
"What makes you think that your hair is actually gold and brown? It just hasn't progressed to it's true color."
"True color? what could be the true color?!" An Tongyi asked with an excited look on his face, could it be, it wasn't brown, but it was 'that' color, the same as his father?
"The true color? Well you'd find out eventually once you reach the Link stage, and you're already 12 right? Well I think it's time you enter the essence gathering stage." The man said with a light smile on his face.
"Elder do you really mean I can start cultivating now?" An Tongyi had been anticipating this for a very long time.
"Feel free to visit the Church of light and begin, I have taught you all you need to jump from the first stage of the Essence gathering to the peak in less than a week, it's best you get as strong as you can as fast as possible lest you be consumed by the oncoming tribulations." He said, this world was headed towards collapse and the signs were all over.
"Elder why do you say this?" An Tongyi asked, he had been harping about this for a long time.
"Ahh, I haven't told you the legend of the God of balance?" The man replied.
"The Greater God of the Taiji empire?" An Tongyi asked, the Taiji empire and their flame empire were constantly at war, it was said that a dispute occurred between the two Gods in the high heavens, and they fought their battles in the earth below.
The Taiji God believed in balance and condoned devil cultivators in his empire, the empire could not be declared as either righteous or evil, an anomaly. One would expect such a kingdom to have no enemies as it seemed neutral, but what occurred was the opposite.
The man looked at the child and sighed, the world was so illogical. "A couple millennia ago, a mortal above all other mortals rose up from a world of devils, this mortal wielded the powers of light and darkness, his face masked, his dual colored hair flowed in air, and his undying apparition in the shape of the Taiji symbol stood behind him; a drop of light in darkness, and a drop of darkness in light, he stood at the peak of the world and everyone looked upon him, would he ascend to the realm of Gods, or fall into the realm of devils? But where light shineth, the darkness cowers and this began the rise of the greater God Taiji!"
An Tongyi was slightly intrigued, he wished he could also ascend into the realm of Gods and see truly if that was the peak of all, but sadly this was too far from him. He looked at the man who had been watching him ever since he was born, and smiled.
"Elder, I'll head to the church now!"
.
An Tongyi hurriedly stepped out, looking around, the streets were calm and the occasional beast pulled carriage could be seen along the streets. He took in a deep breath and tried hiding the excitement bursting out of his body, Finally! He could finally begin his journey to wield the powers of the Gods!
As he was headed to the church, people along the way greeted him.
"Little Yi, are you headed to the church? Send my greetings to the priestess!"
"Sure thing Old man Shi!" As he kept walking along the way he bumped into a familiar face.
"Shui Lan!" An Tongyi called out with an excited look on his face, a tall lean boy of around 14, his hair was deep blue like the ocean, his temperance had calmness written all over it. The boy turned around and looked at who was calling him, seeing the golden haired boy, he let out a light smile.
"Oh it's Yi? Where are you headed to?"
"To the church, my cultivation begins today and very soon I would be able to follow you out the city!" An Tongyi replied with a bright smile, his brown eyes beaming with joy.
"Ah what a pity, you just turned 12 but in a few months you'd come to realise you will desperately wish to be forever 11." Shui Lan said as he deeply felt sorry for him.
"Aren't you being too extra?" An Tongyi grew up with Shui Lan and saw him as a brother figure, and he had slowly gotten used to his extremely lazy attitude.
"Yi, have you ever wondered why even supreme immortals still need to sleep? you'd think that at their stage they would have found a way to bypass the urge to sleep." He said. He looked up at the blue sky and sighed "It's simple, sleep is one of the most important things to all higher intellectual beings, without sleep how would they be able to perceive higher laws? Their brains would be too cluttered and only sleep will free their mind."
An Tongyi's jaw dropped. How. Just how could one justify laziness in such a way. But he couldn't disprove Shui Lan, because what else could you say when his cultivation already spoke volumes, in a few months he may already be nearing the peak of the third stage and at such a young age. Tsk it is true that the heavens are blind. Several academies from other cities had already sent invitations, they all believed he had the ability to enter the fifth stage!
An Tongyi shook his head and just said, "You win." and continued along to the church. In the church was a chamber filled with the element of light, this would hastily speed up the time taken to complete the energy gathering stage, without such a chamber it would normally take a person two years or more to finish the first stage. But other factors were also involved in the needed to complete it, like a body's potential; most people could only stay in the chamber for only a couple of hours a day, but some geniuses could stay in there for a whole day, rapidly tempering their body and not giving it any time to develop resistance, this way their bodies could achieve a way stronger foundation, giving them a boost amongst all their peers.
As he stepped into the church, the premises of the church was massive! In this city with a population of 100,000, the church could easily fit in at least 5,000. Several priests and many more believers could be seen walking around, he greeted some of the priests he was familiar with and continued along to the area meant for new disciples. Behind him some of the priests who had watched him pass started murmuring.
"It seems he wants to begin his cultivation"
"Ah that's true, he is 12 right?"
"Well when she brought him back, they did say he was 6?"
"And 6 years have passed so he is 12 now."
"I wonder how long it would take for him to enter the energy materialization stage?"
"Well his mother completed it in less than 4 weeks and his Grand father in a similar time, so I do believe it would take him around 4 weeks."
"Hmph, have you forgotten the blood that flows through his veins? With a clash like such, he may never be able to complete that stage!"
"Ah! I did forget about that matter..."
The priest looked at the youth walking away and there was a trace of sadness on his face.
"If only the young lady wasn't so stubborn back then..."
"Who would have expected her to disappear and go get married to that guy."
.
An Tongyi greeted the elders guarding the cultivation chamber and stepped in, there were several other children who had also turned 12 entering their respective abodes.
"My name is An Tongyi, I am also 12." He stated his name as he waited to be assigned his abode.
"Oh, its 'Zao' Tongyi? You can head over to A1" The priest in charge of the abode said, Zao was An Tongyi's mothers maiden name and many people in this city decided to refer to him by that.
An Tongyi frowned slightly when he heard that, he turned and left to his abode. The abode was infused with syrup vapor which enabled the cultivator to stay in closed door cultivation without worrying for basic nutrition, just by slowly taking in air, they'd have enough calories to function. An Tongyi looked around the abode, it was lined with Gold and white tiles, much like the Church itself, on the wall, one could see a figure of a cultivator showing the proper way to absorb the light elemental energy to temper the body. He had already learnt the proper methods from the elder who watched over him, and he even found the methods on the wall very lacking.
"Tsk if you start from your outer layer it'd prevent elemental particles from properly entering your core, even though you'd see gains in strength quicker your foundation would still be lacking." He shook his head and sat down. he started perceiving the energy around, and shockingly, there was a 99% concentration of light energy. This could be considered exceedingly high! He started guiding the light to his core and this could be considered the start of his cultivation journey!