The evening sunlight washed over Yellow City making it look like it was on fire. In the orange after glow, the dancing shadows the trees cast seem to make the walls look like dancing flames.
In one corner of the city, there was a large mansion. The mansion existed outside the city, and on the slopes of the Blue Moon mountain range. In a corner of the mansion, a teenage boy was lying peacefully on a bed in a simple unadorned room. He wasn't particularly handsome. It was the kind of face that if you saw in a crowd you would simply pass your glance by. Yet if you were to look at him again, you could see that his sharp features had a kind of charm that could hold your eyes in place. A middle aged lady was sitting next to him on the bed stroking his cheeks with tears in her eyes. A middle aged man was standing next to the two of them with a complex look in his eyes.
"Let him rest. Come, let us go." He said to the woman.
"But look at him. What if he needs us." She replied.
"There is nothing we can do. You know his situation as well as I do. Even though he is now fourteen years old, his mind is barely that of a four year old. We know that he is often muddle headed on top of that. It is not a big surprise that he fainted."
"But why was he in the clan garden? He is very obedient. He knows not to wander about without us. He never goes outside and always spends his time here. What if someone did this to him? What if he fainted because someone attacked him?" The woman was hysterical. She could barely keep her tears from flowing.
The man chucked sadly. "Attack him. Why would anybody attack a mentally deranged child like him."
The sadness in his eyes was apparent for anyone to see. If anyone who had seen the Iron Tiger Bai Mu saw him like this, no one would be able to associate that fearsome figure with this frail man.
The woman took one last look at the young man and got up tearfully. "I am just worried about him," she said.
"Don't worry. With my resources and prestige, we can make sure that he lives an entire life without worries." The man replied with an iron voice.
Suddenly the door opened and an old man in a long tattered robe walked in. Behind him walked a young man in a similar white robe holding a large suitcase. From the look of the frail body of the young man, it almost seemed as if he wouldn't be able to lift the suitcase that was larger than him by two sizes, but he managed to do so easily. And along with the two of them came a thick scent of medicinal ingredients.
The couple quickly stood up. "Doctor Mu, thank you for coming. There seems to be something wrong with Xiao Yun's body." The middle aged man stood up and said respectfully.
The old man, doctor Mu, sighed as he looked at the couple. As the head doctor for the Bai clan and the best doctor in the entire Yellow City, he had looked after the child for years. He knew exactly how much the couple cared for their child and just how bad his situation was. When the child didn't grow up and behave like other children of his age it was he who had diagnosed the toddler with having a damaged soul and informed the couple. He remembered the lost and despairing look on their faces like yesterday. He also remembered that when he went to look for them the next day, the young and lively Xiao Mei-er had the very first wrinkle on the edge of her eyes, and the imposing Iron Tiger had his first grey hair.
Then the two of them had said that they would have no other children and if necessary would spend the rest of their lives taking care of their child.
The old man sighed and took the teenager's hand into his. He could feel the weak but vibrant life force in that body. He once again lamented that such a perfect physique suitable for cultivation was the body of such a mentally challenged boy. If not for that, this child might even become the most talented of all the younger generation in the Bai clan, no the entire Yellow City.
"Xiao Shi why are you lunging around such a large suitcase, don't you have a space ring?" The middle aged woman asked the young man. He was Doctor Mu's apprentice. Doctor Mu had a high requirement for his apprentices. He had only taken three in his entire life. Not only did he require an adequate power of soul or spiritual force, but he also required him to have a good heart.
"No Madam Bai. Only master has one. Besides master says that the reason he wants me to carry it is for training." The young man replied.
"Training?" they asked confused.
"Master says that in case of an emergency, it is not always possible to use one's eyes. Sometimes when we are doing a procedure our eyes as well as the spiritual force would have to be focused on the patient. We may not have any way to figure out which medicinal ingredient is which and where it is because of this, and may also be lacking any assistants. Thus he wants me to figure out the medicinal ingredients and pills by smell alone, so that I can quickly react in an emergency."
Understanding quickly appeared in the couple's eyes. Then they turned towards Doctor Mu with worry.
For a short while longer doctor Mu sat down and probed the child with his spiritual sense. Then he let go of the teenager's hand and stood up with a sigh.
"There is no need to worry too much. His body is fine. His damaged soul, on the other hand, seems to be fluctuating."
"Wha-what should we do." The middle aged man blurted out, worry obvious in his words.
"Relax. Even though I have never come across someone who was born with a damaged soul like your son, I have indeed read about such cases before. They aren't unprecedented. In such cases, sometimes the soul might start to fluctuate randomly. This, while unusual, is nothing to be alarmed about. It should stabilize in one or two days and then he will wake up. We can start worrying if he sleeps for longer, though it shouldn't be the case."
The couple seemed to calm down with the old man's words. Even though this was a new phenomenon, with their child being born sick, they had been prepared to face many strange situations.
"Call me if his situation worsens or if he doesn't wake up in a few days. For now, just let him rest." The old man said as he stood up and left.
The couple watched him leave and then turned towards the teenager. Then they turned towards each other and then a look of determination appeared in their eyes.
As the two of them moved toward the door, they took one last look at the boy who seemed to be sleeping. After they left they took a look around them and saw a few servants who were standing around them. Among them stood a middle aged man in black cloth who looked to be their leader.
"Butler Fang, send all the people we have to buy any medicinal ingredient or pill that can help stabilize or heal the soul. Use all of our available resources." The middle aged man instructed.
The butler who heard this was startled. He had heard what Doctor Mu had said and was aware that the young master would wake up on his own.
"But sir, is that necessary." The butler said. "Doctor Mu has said that this is normal. More importantly, the Elders are quite dissatisfied with the way you have been spending all of the resources allotted to you on the young master, without using much for yourself. They are saying that these are to be used to raise your cultivation level, and not to be wasted on a cripple. If you were to do this they might react quite badly."
"Hmph, I will handle the elders. My son is a member of the younger generation too, but after Doctor Mu said that there is no known way to heal a naturally damaged soul, they lost all interest in him and haven't given him his share of the resources he deserves. I haven't talked to them about that yet. Besides, I am not using the clan's funds, just my private funds. I will spend it as I wish."
The butler could only nod.
"Just buy them all as soon as you can. Also, stay away from Yun-er's room. Let him rest for now." The couple said as they walked away with a heavy heart.
The servants looked at each other. They knew how much suffering their masters had gone through in the past years. Wordlessly they dispersed. Soon the area around the room quietened. All the servants had left. There was not the faintest sound, not even that of a cricket, in the surrounding area.
The shadows grew longer and they quickly covered the whole mansion. Due to the mansion being on the footholds of the Blue Moon mountains, the shadow of the mountain covered them long before the sunset. But soon the sun had also set. Even though the rest of the mansion was still in a hubbub, the area surrounding this room was in complete silence.
By now the moon had risen, but it was covered in clouds. An eerie feeling permeated throughout the land. Not just the Bai mansion, but the whole world was shrouded in a mysterious feeling. That night many people felt restless and quickly left their seclusion and looked at the stars. Some went and had drinks with their friends. Some fought. Some cried. Some held their loved ones close. All in all, it was a very eventful night.
But around that one room, it was as if all sound had disappeared. Even the trees outside the youngster's room rustled quietly as if they were afraid of waking him up. In the glow of the stars, a youth slept in a stillness resembling death.
Suddenly out of nowhere, a wind blew through the courtyard outside the mansion. As the wind blew, it made the trees wave gently, as if they were listening to a piece played by a master musician. The leaves seemed to sing along with the wind. But somehow, before the sounds of the leaves could near the window of the room, the playful wind took them away.
The wind resembled a naughty child. It seemed not to care about the thoughts of people. It moved to the left, then to the right. One moment it went up, then down. It frolicked in the air like a fish in the oceans, like a dragon in the clouds, like a child in the river.
It suddenly shot straight up. It seemed to run around the mountain peaks before it ran to clouds as if it needed a playmate to play with and tugged at the clouds covering the moon.
And with that, one cloud moved just a fraction. But this opened up a crack in the clouds. This crack seemed to be a crack in the sky, leading to a new world. Through this, a single ray of moonlight shot down.
This ray of moonlight passed the sky in an instant and approached the land. As it came close, the birds flying in the sky quickly got out of its way. The trees that were send swaying by the wind seemed to possess a mysterious rhythm. They seem to move randomly and yet they all moved out of the way of the ray of light as if subjects parting before their king. This ray of moonlight passed by them in an instant, and entered the room of the youth through his window.
And it gently fell upon his face as if it was afraid it would harm him.
And the youth's eyes flew open.