Days passed quietly inside the Toe Village. Under the focused care of his grandfather, Sheng Hao found life in the village beyond peaceful. However one day, that peace turned into boredom but to the reincarnated man that had grown in the twenty-first century on Earth.
Even if the calm atmosphere here was helping him digest the past troubled years, he was having trouble doing nothing.
Despite the fact that his grandfather wasn't showing his inner feelings, the reincarnated man could still feel an intense trauma hidden in the depth of Sheng Wang's psyche.
Sadly apart from accompanying the old man through quiet days, Sheng Hao didn't find anything else to do. Even if he could speak, he wouldn't find it helpful to unearth the old man's trouble as it would be too awkward to get therapy from a growing one-year-old toddler.
Sometimes, it was better to let the passing days take care of your troubles. The reincarnated drunkard was very well aware of that fact, he deeply trusted that some matters simply couldn't be forced.
Thankfully, the world he had transmigrated in was far too peculiar and interesting for him. That factor helped him alleviate the boredom of living in a village filled with elders. Adding to that the fact that his mental age was closer to a thirty-year-old man, he didn't mind the slow and peaceful Toe Village.
His chubby face combined with his small body formed an adorable combination that made all the elders of the village dote on him. And even those that ignored him didn't seem to share harsh feeling to his regards and only gazed strangely at Sheng Wang.
The first elder Sheng Hao had come to truly appreciate ended up being the muscular Buckethead. That man's outgoing personality made him a very likable individual, with him sharing several meals throughout the week with the pair of grandfather and grandson. During one quiet afternoon, he had looked at Buckethead practicing in his courtyard. The view of his elusive yet strong and heavy movements left a clear image in the mind of the reincarnated man.
Sometimes he would meet Vitenka and the other elders while quietly traveling between the numerous paths existing inside the Toe Village.
With every week that passed, his body would grow stronger and nimbler. If at first, he found that controlling his small but developing physique to be quite the difficult task, he was now able to walk on both feet and was even able to run without falling every two steps.
He didn't know if it was due to the pure unpolluted air of the Toe Village or due to the fact that he was no longer in his old body, but he found joy and relish in all kinds of physical activity here.
His brain too seemed to be far sharper than during his past life. The reincarnated man theorized that it was due to his very young age, making it available for him to develop at a far faster speed than an adult.
His appetite seemed to be motivated by his newfound life too. His past habits of skipping meals and binging himself in obsessive and unhealthy drinks and drugs seemed to be over, a bitter page turning.
The best part of Tim's new life was found in this facet of life. Here he could feel that he was finally turning a page, one that needed him to go through soul transmigration before coming to a stop.
However even with the current state of his life in the Toe Village. He could sense in the back of his mind that his old habits weren't completely fixed, only suppressed and locked deep within his being.
Often in the night, that grating invisible itch would appear and torture his mind for dozens of minutes.
During these troubled hours, he would go out of his bed and sit in front of the bungalow's porch to enjoy the calm midnight breeze.
The intense lights coloring the starry night helped alleviate his mind, with the cold blinking light coming from the celestial stars and moon seemingly attracted to his being.
Although he wasn't able to detect nor circulate any type of the energies that existed in this world. The soft light coming from the crescent moon seemed to instinctively enter his small framed body, clearing his mind and physique in an instinctive and mysterious process.
The only thing he felt during these moments was a soothing clarity that basked his mind and helped him go through the obsessive feeling that assaulted his mind during the long night.
Sheng Wang had noticed the strange scenery take place several times throughout the months the pair of Sheng had spent inside the village. But he never stopped the growing toddler during his strange sessions, only looking at him with a curiosity lying in his gaze.
"Strange … he seems to be able to attract lunar energy. All on his own without the use of any technique…" thought Sheng Wang as he eyed a silent Sheng Hao from inside the small cottage.
"Is this some kind of natural talent…" he wondered as his senses spread outward, further encompassing the bungalow and the small child sitting quietly on the porch.
"I can't sense any spiritual energy forming in his meridian paths." He assessed swiftly before monitoring the small child for a few minutes.
Soon enough, his senses retracted to his body as Sheng Wang focused back on the recovery of his own physique. Although the Toe Village didn't contain a vast amount of spiritual energy, the concentration was sufficient when it came to the energetic needs of his recovery.
After spending dozens of months inside the peaceful village. He had recovered enough of his ability to use his spiritualist's soul without facing any backlash. Although, he still couldn't go overboard due to the fact that the injury he sustained inside the Jianshen Imperial Palace was supposed to be fatal.
If it wasn't for the absurd vitality that came with his high level of spiritual cultivation, he would have never survived the damage done to his meridians and spiritual soul.
Thankfully for him, one of the elders living here was very well knowledgeable on growing herbs and had managed to acquire a large collection of spiritual plants.
The herbal brews and pills concocted by the alchemist had made his recovery far smoother. He knew that he wouldn't recover his peak cultivation base, but he didn't mind as it was a well-known fact that heavy injuries at an old age would lead to a receding cultivation base.
It wasn't something that could be changed with the strength of will alone as everyone in this world was affected by the forever-moving river of time.
Even the oldest spiritual beasts would start deteriorating after attaining their cultivation peak. With only a few, mythical creatures with specific lineage and bloodlines were able to age to the point where they were as old as the Portalia Continent itself.
And even then most of these creatures spent the majority of their time in deep hibernation, rarely waking up from their godly peaceful sleep.
Legend and myths were the only source related to these million-year-old creatures. In some of these stories, it was even said that the end of the world would be triggered by their awakening.
The moment these titanic behemoths left their endless dream were vowed to let mark on the entirety of the world where the Portalia Continent could be found.
Some madmen and crazy adventurer had gone through thousands of expeditions, looking out for clues to validate the legends. But those that dared to venture deep in the supposed lair of those godly beasts and returned alive never came back with any piece of conclusive fact.
Sheng Hao had come to learn these facts through a few books that he found in the bungalow they were using. Although he wasn't yet able to read the strange characters they were written in, he could still decipher some of the images to understand the content of the stories.
The realistic drawing that accompanied the mystical scripture showed dozens of beasts, each fiercer and grander than the other. Strangely even if fear appeared in his heart and mind when he looked through the books, it only triggered his blood and made his adventurous heart boil.
He couldn't name any of the creatures in the books but he still recognized some characteristic due to their physical appearance. Some looked like phoenix, others like dragons, some were even chimeras of several creatures. As if nature itself had ended up producing strange creatures through the eons of evolution life had gone through.
The reincarnated drunkard was well aware that the drawings didn't hold any scientific value but it still made him dream of the world he was now living in. These legends and myths made him sure of one thing, that the Portalia Continent was a dangerous world of magic.
That knowledge made him want to tour the world, discovering the strange and peculiar creatures that lived in it and peering at the magical views that were hidden among the wilderness.
The lack of information only added to the mystery of the extraordinary world he was now part of, making him gaze at the area outside of the village with a peculiar gaze that didn't hide his nascent adventurous spirit.
Through the week, his grandfather couldn't help but feel that Sheng Hao was definitely a child from his bloodline. He couldn't help but remember the age at which, he too, had gazed at the distant land with the same look plastered on his face.
The same sense of adventure that had once basked his entire being was now taking home inside the heart and mind of his grandson. Sadly, it was also something that made him afraid as he was aware of the atrocities that could happen in the wilderness.
Thankfully, Sheng Wang didn't need to explain anything to Hao. It was as if the toddler was conscientious enough to know that it was far too soon for him to leave the village.
The trip through the wilderness had shown the youngster that this world wasn't as safe as his past life on Earth.
In the end, Sheng Hao had just celebrated his two-year-old birthday. Although still young, he was now able to move by himself and aid his grandfather a little during their daily life. The strange scene of a small toddler helping clear out the table was now a recurrent scene.
Sheng Wang even came to appreciate the view of his grandson preparing tea, happy to have someone to take care of his old bones.
He only found pride and happiness in the growth of the sole other living member of the ruined Sheng Clan. Never suspecting the strangeness of the events Hao would find himself into. Although a few seniors from the group of elders had found him very perceptive and astute for his age, none of them suspected anything and only complimented him.
A few discreet elders still gazed at him with an odd look. Either wanting to help in his development or study him, but the grandfather's dry grunt dissuaded the odd elders from doing anything.
Life in the Toe Village was peaceful, with every elder having developed their habits throughout their years here. Some enjoyed their days with their own research, others like Vitenka didn't seem to do anything else apart from silently cultivating.
Her house was placed in the center-most areas of the Toe Village, apart from meditating she spent her focus on monitoring the formation that was deployed around the village to hide it from the rest of the Wilderness.
Through the past two years, Sheng Hao had come to meet a few of the less secretive elders. On one occasion, his gaze had landed on a grim-looking female spiritualist that had the appearance of a forest witch.
Contrary to her appearance, and despite speaking in a shrill tone, the child still sensed an intense kindness coming from the old lady.
He couldn't help but smile every time she would drop by their house to give his grandfather some herbal concoction. Although Sheng Hao rarely spoke to avoid showing the odd nature of his existence, he still felt that the old witch was someone he could trust. Thus, it didn't take long for him to start sweetly treating her like his own grand auntie, quickly developing the relation with her too.
The tone he used when addressing her came out as crooked gibberish, but the old lady's eyes would still turn into crescent moon that shone with kindness and love.
The reincarnated drunkard would lie if he said that he didn't like the way the old witch rubbed his hair.
Little by little, he found himself getting used to the presence of the elders. The opposite could also be said to be true. As little by little, the elders too, find themselves enjoying the presence of the growing child.
In their view, with every seclusion they went through, Hao would produce astonishing growth that left them doubting whether he was a real child and not a construct of their own delusions.
Today, Sheng Hao was making his way through the small paths of the Toe Village, the direction his steps were directed to the house of the old witch. Over the course of the past weeks, he had often come here to get his grandfather's medicinal plants. Although he knew that his grandfather's relation with the old witch wasn't exactly a bad one, he could still feel some tension in his grandfather's face when elders were present in their small home.
Running errands wasn't really something that bothered him too, plus it helped him kill the boredom that was starting to engrain itself as part of his daily life.