His name was Shen Feilong, and his dream was to be the very best. Like no one ever was.
He wanted to surpass the greatest of cultivators, and step into the mythical tenth realm. He worked hard, trained his body, studied diligently, gathered like minded best friends, and watched reference videos of the mentality of the strong(such as cartoons), occasionally dressing as his favorite characters. He received full support from his family for his ambitions.
His efforts were not for nothing. He entered the body refining stage at 8, and entered an elite school. There he received top of the line grades and learned of his inherited lightning constitution, that allowed an affinity with lightning, a rare sub element of fire, which ran down his family. His constitution was even better than his brother's, to the joy of all his family. His future was bright like lightning in the clouds, fast and unstoppable. He would let no one impede his path to glory.
Then a girl transferred to his elite school, who was a year younger than him. Her name was Chen Ling. She immediately caught his attention. She was cute, smart, and talented; but she was poor. Her class was lower than the rest of them, so naturally they all thought themselves better than her, the students that is. But her results were good. Grades: top of the class. Talent: body refining realm at 8 years old, like him. Sports: not the best, but still pretty good. The students had no choice but to put her at their level.
But she was poor, and their pride would not allow them to get along with other kids who lived in small houses, had cheap, plain clothes, and ate scarcely.
Personally, he didn't bother with her, but his eyes would occasionally follow her graceful(on a child's standard), silent figure.
He decided to take her as his lackey, he convinced himself that it was the job of great men to make use of potential. He thought it would be an honor for her to serve a four king!
But she rejected him. After that, he tried various methods to get her attention, but it seemed to come off as bullying, and the searing scorn in her eyes made him give it up.
He wanted her attention, but he didn't know why. He convinced himself that he just didn't want to waste a talent. But every time he approached her, that scorching gaze of scorn and annoyance made him retreat every time.
Then one day, she brought a cat. It scared away some of the girls who were playing with her, and it's cuteness seemed to make her smile with joy. The cat got more people to talk to her too, and she bragged that the cat was strong, and it was destiny that brought it to her.
He felt kind of upset that the girl he always kept his eye on got so much a attention all of a sudden, and slightly irritated whenever she smiled at the people or the cat. He didn't know what these feelings were, but he felt stifled and eager to take action.
Then he had an idea. He could try and impress her with a stronger beast! If the one he brought could defeat the cat whose strength she acknowledged, then surely she would acknowledge him as well!
Thus he convinced his friends to help him impress her by showcasing their strength. They borrowed contract beasts from their older siblings or cousins, all at the soul refining realm, and challenged her. He put himself in the lead so she would know that among this strong group, he was the most capable.
Eventually she finally accepted their challenge after a round of pestering, which were his friends idea, who had mistaken his feeling toward her as hate, though he thought it was all in goodwill.
Their plan was to take turns pushing around the cat, and he would come in, and defeat it overwhelmingly. He had never considered a one on one, because he was taught to always seek approval and help whenever he took action. This was to prevent him from doing something stupid, but this was the result when the ones he consulted were just as stupid as him. At least they tried to raise him right.
Contrary to their plan, two of his friends had the floor sweeper with them. They also found out that she might be in qi refining realm. This intimidated him greatly. He felt farther from her than ever, especially when she requested her surrender. He felt like he was taken light of, that he was just a step on the road in her life, and he hated that. He felt that he wanted to become more to her.
Did he realize his feelings at that moment? Of course not. It doesn't work like that. He decided that this must be his destined rival, everyone in his shows had them. Someone who he would butt heads with for the rest of his life and spur each other's growth.
He then put all those thoughts of long winded and complicated friendship into his image of her, and directed all his anger and frustration to that arrogant cat.
It was strangely expressive, and would make these faces from time to time, like a person. Many times, he had a proud and smug look after being fed by the other students. Another time he had a look of pondering, with his paw on his cat chin as it seemed to be listening to the lecture. The only time it seemed like a normal cat(or unintelligent spirit beast) was when it was pampered by Chen Ling.
When Chen Ling accepted his challenge, he watched that cats reaction, and he found a disdainful sneer. It reminded him of his father punishing a subordinate. He found his irritating, like it didn't think much of them.
Then, when it beat up the River Splitting Earth Tortoise and the Snow Veil Mountain Tiger, it had an annoying smirk. It made him feel extremely frustrated just looking at it, like it was a matter of course they lost.
He was determined to teach it a lesson with Qinglong, who he borrowed from his older brother. He was the only one who called it Qinglong by the way.
He thought it would be simple. No one could dodge Qinglong's lightning in their mock battles! He thought lightning was the strongest element. He thought all could only let themselves be hit because there was no avoiding it.
He was fine just knocking the cat out, and show how merciful and kind he was. But when that cat laughed at him, he felt a little something snap in his head, and he was determined to fry it into a carnival snack.
When the cat was easily struck by the lightning, he let out a breath in relief, but it's was immediately sucked back in when the cat appeared to be unharmed.