Upon arriving to the small wooden cottage, he couldn't help but look around as he was surprised by the absence of his grandfather. He couldn't help but ask himself where Sheng Wang had departed as the old man's few moments outside of the house were mostly spent in his courtyard.
The reincarnated man looked around with a pensive look on his face. Despite having grown and trained a lot when it came to the physical department, his body was still endowed with chubby features especially when it came to the shape of his head. His face flashed with seriousness before returning to normal when he arrived to the conclusion that his grandfather might have gone to look for him.
He grabbed something to fill his stomach before going back to the wooden door of the warm cottage. He sat in front of the entrance of the house, filling his mouth with some bread and gorging his throat with fresh water. He sighed in satisfaction and enjoyed the calm nightly breeze before looking around, appreciating the soft change that happened to the flowers surrounding him in the night.
"It had been quite a long time that I've come to sit here…" he mumbled softly as he remembered the first two years where Sheng Wang was having trouble recovering from his injuries. He couldn't help but regret the time where he was unable to help the old man who was taking care of him. He hated that sensation as it made him feel useless during the entirety of Sheng Wang's recovering period.
Although his mind tried to avoid this kind of problematic train of thoughts, the reincarnated man was far too sensible to those close to him. The reason for his fallout back on Earth was partially due to his inability to move on and deal with these issues. The man might have been talented when it came to using his hands and was the kind of person who shone through the application of art, his heart and mind were still flawed when it came to the management of his internal demons.
If it wasn't for the soft embrace of the moonlight that stopped him and forced his mind to enter a strange meditative trance, he would definitely have fallen back to his old habits as deep down he wasn't able to abandon that part of him. It was a strange twisted attraction he had developed, he didn't know if it was due to his sensibility toward the world or simply a morbid attraction to this kind of sorrowful state.
He shook his head after a few seconds, and couldn't help but look at the sky. To his deception the milky clouds that were sitting on top of the village didn't disperse and on the contrary had further expanded. Their large size hid the rest of the nightly canvas from the young man's mind.
He couldn't help but look around, his gaze searching for the moon. Sadly, his eyes didn't catch the hue of the bright celestial object even after looking for more than dozens of minutes, but even then, that didn't stop his gaze from hanging on the dim sky.
Before he came to notice anything, he fell in a daze and lost himself in a strange mindless trance. His perception of his surroundings warped, he couldn't help but feel that his senses were suppressing and ignoring the small cottage and green foliage of the village. It was as though his entire spirit was taken out of his body, absorbed by the image of the starry canvas he was watching.
At some point his eyes simply closed on their own as he fell asleep. The intensity of the image filling his mind was such that even in his dream the young boy was facing the large starry sky. The dream was vivid to the point where he didn't react at all when Sheng Wang came back and moved his small body to his comfortable bed. The light coming from the stars that appeared in his dream left his soul smitten and gave himself the impression he was facing nature's own magnum opus.
The strange stance only stopped when the first light of the next day shone brightly on the village, the young boy awoke in a daze as though he had been spinning inside a huge wheel. He couldn't help but feel confused, he laughed dryly as it had been quite a few years since he fell asleep like that with his grandfather moving him to a better spot for him to rest.
He lifted himself from the bed and rose to his feet, moving his limbs to stretch them and felt that they were a little bit sore. After moving around a little, he once again moved to his bed and sat before closing his eyes.
His dazed spirit didn't have much difficulty calming down, his eyes turned into small slits as he straightened his posture before focusing on his breathing. Strangely, even though the cloudy veil was still hooked tightly on his mind, he could feel that his perturbed mind didn't have any difficulty entering a meditative state.
An hour passed quietly, Sheng Hao's face didn't show any intention of stopping what he was doing. If it wasn't for his regular deep breathing that was different from the way he breathed when he was asleep, one could easily confuse his state with a strange nap where he was sitting instead of lying on his back. Sheng Hao's mind was completely focused on his own inner universe, his consciousness seemed to have awakened a strange ability to focus on the entirety of his body as a whole.
Although he wasn't absorbing any energy, he soon started feeling the minute amount of spiritual energy his body had amassed through his years of existence. Even though that power wasn't enough to influence his strength and was purely the fruit of his developing spiritual soul. The small specks of energy would sometimes turn into gigantic stars that were traveling between his mind and navel. The cycle was excruciatingly slow but Sheng Hao nonetheless managed to perceive the direction his energy was taking.
He couldn't help but feel that the scenery inside of his body was akin to the starry sky he had been looking the night before. Although his inner vision was limited due to his lack of practice with his senses, the fact that he was able to sense the energy developing inside him wasn't something he was able to replicate on will.
Nonetheless he maintained a focused spirit until his will couldn't hold itself in a meditative state. His concentration broke and he awoke with large beds of sweats rolling all over his body.
When Sheng Hao came out of his meditation, a large smile instantly flashed on his face as he couldn't help but look around him. In his vision he noticed a clear change that nearly made him jump out of his bed, his smile turning even larger before freezing on his face.
"I am able to see spiritual energy?!" he exclaimed out loud in haste as he looked around him with clear joy in his eyes. If he was able to look at himself, he would have noticed that his large watery eyes were brighter than usual, nearly glowing up with a strange bluish hue.
He couldn't help but fail at washing his huge smile ever since he awoke from his meditation session, the happiness coming from his progress made his release a strong pulse of dopamine that washed his entire being. Sadly just as he started looking at the small specks of energy that were dancing in his room, his clear mind disappeared and dimmed as he left his focused state of mind.
"Damn…" he mumbled lowly in a grumbling manner.
"Guess this isn't the kind of sixth sense one can acquire overnight…" he added while rubbing the back of his hair. Feeling that he had already meditated enough, he reminded himself not to chew more than what he could digest and left his room in haste. His small frame was immediately shadowed by a large body the moment he opened the wooden door of his room.
He wasn't surprised by his grandfather's large stature and instantly told him the results of his progress.
"I am able to somewhat sense my own energy and the spiritual energy that exist in the outside world." He exclaimed loudly not able to contain the excitement that was coursing through his veins.
"Does it mean my spiritual soul will awaken soon!?" he couldn't stop himself from speaking once again, cutting Sheng Wang who had just opened his mouth to answer him.
"Although it seems that I can only attain that level of focus when I am meditating…" he finished with a sigh before shaking his head.
Sheng Wang couldn't help but release a dry grin before exclaiming with a small shake.
"Looks like you are quite energetic this morning. Maybe I need to let you sleep outside more often…" He mumbled while ignoring Sheng Hao and acted as though he was only speaking to himself.
"Who taught you how to meditate Hao?" he added with a question that took the young boy by surprise. The reincarnated man didn't expect that question at all and nearly froze on the spot as he tried coming up with an answer to the sudden problem.
"I've met Vitenka a few times when I was playing in the forest. She taught me how to meditate but didn't teach me any other matter related to cultivating spiritual energy…" his eyes couldn't help but shine lightly as he tried to turn the situation to his advantage with an honest response.
Sheng Wang froze a little bit with his feet seemingly taking root on the same spot, his eyes had a strange glean in them and he took a long minute to think before turning around.
"Follow me! We will talk while eating." His answer didn't contain the somber tone the young boy expected, he started following his grandfather as he released a silent sigh that relaxed his tension.
"I've prepared some food. Eating proper meals is one of the ways you can use to raise your spiritual power." Not bothering to explain that the information was only true when the food was cooked with ingredients that had developed spiritual nature. Thankfully for the young boy, his grandfather didn't go out for nothing last night as he had come back with large pieces of meat.
The meat shone brightly with a pinkish color and had a vivid color that showed its freshness despite being just cooked. The young boy's lips opened the moment the table entered his eyes, a loud grumble rumbled out of his stomach and reverberated throughout their surroundings.
Sheng Hao's face instantly turned red as he couldn't help but feel ashamed. Sheng Wang chuckled in response and couldn't help but rub the young boy's hair. His large palm pushed Sheng Hao's small back, telling him to dig in the still hot meal.
"You have managed to develop a feel of the ambient spiritual energy?" Asked the old man while serving his grandchildren a large bowl of porridge with chopped pieces of the rosy meat. When he was finished the quick service, he sat down and picked up his own chopsticks before adding.
"Guess we are going to start preparing your spiritual training…" said the old man in a matter-of-fact tone before continuing. "Vitenka is a strong spiritualist that I've known for years, she won't lie during her teachings. If she wants to impart her knowledge on you, do your best to listen and learn as much you can from her." After finishing his sentence, Sheng Wang couldn't help but feel that the young boy in front of him was aware of what he was saying.
He released a long sigh, feeling that he was losing control on the directive of the young boy's education. The eyes that gazed at Sheng Hao felt that the young boy in front of him had grown far too quickly for him.
The precociousness he was showing in his first few years of existence was nothing compared to how the young boy was acting now. If it wasn't for his little physique, he would already consider him as a grown-up and would have even taken him as his own apprentice.
Sadly, he could feel that a strange change was happening between them. If their relation continued developing in this direction. The bigger the probability he would one day tell him everything about the tragedy of the Sheng Clan. Although he didn't want to impart that pain on Sheng Hao, he was also aware that he wouldn't be able to forever shield him from the truth.