The Cerulean Empire.
North Green Region, Pingxi Town, Anhe Estate.
The sky was just turning bright. The sun rose from the horizon, and the edge of the sky became golden-orange.
Mo Xiaobai was in his room. He was facing the sun with a weird posture and breathing in a strange rhythm.
Time passed slowly. Mo Xiaobai's face started turning red. His breathing got faster, and sweat started appearing on his body.
After the sun rose completely, he sat down on the floor with an exhausted expression. He leaned against the end of his bed and panted continuously.
He took a small breath, and a hint of happiness flashed past his eyes.
"Peak of Body Tempering…"
The living creatures on Cerulean Star absorbed the force of the universe by opening their force acupuncture points. This would allow them to increase their power and raise their lives to a higher level. Living creatures who had their force acupuncture points opened were known as Force Warriors. However, before the force acupuncture points could be opened, the living creatures had to train their physique and mentality first so that they reached the relevant requirements. This stage was known as a breakthrough.
"I will tell Dad that we can buy Refined Force Techniques now."
Mo Xiaobai leaned against the bed and looked at the golden-orange sun outside his window. The sunlight penetrated the window and shone on his face. He was as handsome as a painting.
He furrowed his brows slightly and revealed a tinge of frustration.
There was a month until his university entrance exam. His goal was Moon Crease Institution.
Moon Crease Institution was the closest of the top 100 universities around Pingxi Town. It was ranked 88th.
He did have some chances of entering the university since he was at the peak of Body Tempering, but the chances were too low. He could only confirm his entrance into the institution if he achieved a breakthrough and became a Force Warrior.
Sensing the force points needed time, and opening the force points needed time too. Mo Xiaobai wondered if one month was enough for him to become a Force Warrior.
Mo Xiaobai felt stressed.
"I hope that everything will go smoothly."
His stamina had almost recovered completely, so Mo Xiaobai stopped thinking too much. He stood up and stretched his back.
"Xiaobai, breakfast is ready!"
At this moment, a loud and clear shout was heard outside the door.
"Coming!" Mo Xiaobai replied. Then, he turned and walked towards the door.
He opened the door. A pair of icy cold blood-red eyes entered his vision.
They were the eyes of a huge python.
The python was entirely red as if it was carved out of ruby. It straightened the top half of its body, but it was already 1.8 meters tall. It was almost as tall as Mo Xiaobai.
At this moment, that huge python was staring at him intently with its cold gaze. It was sticking its forked tongue out at him too.
The human and the python stared at each other. Then, Mo Xiaobai lifted his hand and pressed it on the huge python's head. He moved the python's head to the side.
The scales of the blood-red python were warm, and felt extremely comfortable to touch. Mo Xiaobai couldn't help but touch it for a while longer.
He walked past the huge python while muttering, "Little Red, don't block the path. You need to lose weight. You've grown fatter!"
The blood-red python stuck its tongue out at Mo Xiaobai unhappily when it heard what he said. It pushed Mo Xiaobai's hand with its head, and then turned to give way to him.
Mo Xiaobai ignored Little Red's tantrum, and went into the bathroom.
Fiery red blood python, Little Red, was his mother's pact force beast. It grew up with him, and they were used to playing together.
***
Mo Xiaobai entered the bathroom and closed the door. Suddenly, an excruciating pain exploded in his head. It felt as though someone stabbed a wooden rod into his head and kept stirring his brain with it.
His vision turned black, and he quickly held onto the wall so that he wouldn't fall.
Mo Xiaobai looked at his face in the mirror. The handsome face was extremely pale now. Cold sweat kept pouring down his head, and his black hair was drenched. It stuck to his forehead. His black eyes were filled with agony.
Here it comes again!
He clutched his head with his right hand and gritted his teeth. He didn't dare to make any sounds.
Ever since he was 10 years old, he would get headaches occasionally. At the start, the symptoms were mild, and it only lasted for a short time.
Mo You and Mu Yuzhu accompanied Mo Xiaobai to the doctor, and even went to look for a Force Warrior that had healing ability. In the end, they all said that Mo Xiaobai was healthy, and there was nothing wrong with him.
However, as he grew older, the frequency of headaches got higher, and they lasted longer too.
Recently, Mo Xiaobai was starting to suspect if he would die from the pain.
That was because he started to get hallucinations when he felt the pain several times. He realized that when the headache happened, he was able to see weird lines of light in the air.
Those lines of light came in many different colors. There were white, red, gray, and black, and they were very faint. After his pain disappeared, the lines of light disappeared too.
This time, the pain was worse than during any other instance. Mo Xiaobai started to feel fearful.
Would he die of pain?
Mo Xiaobai slowly started to lose strength in his body. His vision started to get blurry too.
However, the faint lines of light were gradually turning clear.
Red, white, black… The colors kept changing, and they changed faster and faster.
… Am I going to die?
Am I going to die in the bathroom? Isn't that a little absurd?
He wanted to force a smile on his face to mock himself, but he realized that the muscles on his face were extremely tense. He seemed to have lost his ability to move.
Boom!
Just as Mo Xiaobai was about to lose consciousness, an ear-shattering explosion sounded in his brain. It felt as though the sky had cracked.
He felt invigorated. It felt as though a stream of clear spring water was flowing into a piece of land that had been dried for many years. His consciousness, which was starting to float away, returned to his body.
Mo Xiaobai's vision turned pure white. However, this whiteness only lasted for a split second before it disappeared. His vision returned.
… I'm alive?
Mo Xiaobai used much of his strength to raise his head, and looked in the mirror. His face was as white as paper, and his hair and clothes were all wet. There was blankness in his gaze.
He lifted the corners of his lips. In the mirror, he smiled bitterly.
… I'm really alive!
The pain subsided like the waves of a sea. His strength returned, and Mo Xiaobai relaxed.
It felt good to be alive…
But, what happened just now?
Mo Xiaobai recalled the earth-shattering explosion in his mind just now. He was puzzled.
He felt that there was something different about him.
At this moment, he realized that there were changes to his vision.
There were lines of white light hovering in the air around him.
The lines of light looked disorderly. They floated in the air quietly, and seemed to be surrounding him.
Mo Xiaobai's eyes turned wide open. He looked at the white light, and his heart palpitated furiously.
This light!
He swallowed his saliva. He felt that his heart was almost going to jump out of his throat.
This light!
Wasn't this the light he always saw when he had the headache?!
He clearly remembered that when his head was hurting, he saw many different colors of light. One of the colors was white!
But, his headache just ended, right?!
Why was he still able to see the white light?
Mo Xiaobai looked at the white lines. He remained silent for a moment, and slowly stretched out his hand. He carefully touched one of the lines with his forefinger.
His forefinger didn't touch anything. It just passed through the white line of light.
He couldn't touch it?
Mo Xiaobai blinked. He didn't give up, and lifted his hand to touch the white light again. It still felt like air.
What on earth was this?
Mo Xiaobai was slightly stunned.
"Mo Xiaobai? What are you doing in the bathroom? Why are you taking so long to bathe? Breakfast is getting cold!"
While Mo Xiaobai was in a daze, a loud shout was heard outside. It helped Mo Xiaobai to regain his senses.
Mo Xiaobai hurriedly shouted, "I'm almost done! You can eat first!"
He glanced at the lines of white lights. Then, he walked to the shower. Surprisingly, the lines of white lights started moving as he walked. They seemed to be circling around him.
"…" Mo Xiaobai.
He raised his hand and swept the white lights. It was still useless. He couldn't touch anything.
Could it be a hallucination?
Mo Xiaobai went deep in thought. Was this an illusion left by the headache just now?
As for other possibilities, Mo Xiaobai didn't dare to think about them.
What if this was a curse given to him by some devil or evil god? He would cry to death.
But, after thinking carefully, Mo Xiaobai felt that the possibility of this wasn't high. After all, he had never offended a devil or an evil god.
From the looks of it now, these lights didn't seem to have any influence on him. Mo Xiaobai started to ignore them.
Maybe they would disappear after some time, just like how they appeared suddenly.
He didn't think about it anymore. He took off his shirt that was drenched with perspiration and washed quickly. He changed into his black slim cut school uniform, and rushed out of the bathroom.
A man and a woman were already sitting at the dining table.
The man was Mo Xiaobai's father, Mo You.
Mo You looked handsome and righteous. His features were deep and angular. However, the three thin scars on the left side of his forehead affected his handsomeness slightly.
Based on what Mo You said, when he was still studying in university, he went on an expedition to the hollow realm. In order to protect his wife, who was Mo Xiaobai's mother, Mu Yuzhu, he got scratched by an iron claw cat. He missed the prime recovery period, so he had some scars left behind.
However, Mo You would shamelessly say that scars were the emblems of a man. He felt that they gave him a manly look.
As for the lady, it was naturally Mo Xiaobai's mother, Mu Yuzhu.
Mu Yuzhu was tall and slender. Her hair was beautiful. It was long, black, and smooth. Her eyes were blood-red as though there were flames burning in them. She was extremely beautiful.
When Mu Yuzhu was still studying, she was known as a genius and the campus belle. She even had great affinity with fire. Mo You said that Mu Yuzhu had had many suitors. There had been many men who were more outstanding than him among them. However, he was able to get together with Mu Yuzhu because of that expedition to the hollow realm.
Maybe it was because they went through hardships together, but they were always very lovey-dovey.
Yes… Mo Xiaobai was forced to watch their mushy expressions of love for each other while he was growing up.