*splash* *splash*
In a fairly large house, in a largely small bathroom, droplets of water surged up and down in a basin as a pair of hands scooped at them again and again.
*COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO*
*COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO*
The sounds of roosters crowing came from a distance not far away. The clouds were parting while the sun was rising, shining its light of dawn for all to see, illuminating the land.
In a fairly large yet small bathroom of a larger than medium size house, a candle flame was flickering gently in the darkness when the light of dawn gradually shone softly from the ventilation hole, illuminating the room.
In the large yet small bathroom was an old mirror shrouded in darkness, barely reflecting a figure. When the light of dawn gradually shone upon the land, it reflect on the old mirror, making the reflection of a figure shrouded in darkness became clearer and clearer, revealing the figure's identity. The figure belong to a youth with medium build, roughl a hundred and sixty nine centimeters of height.
It was a young man in his sixteen. He was neither too short nor too tall, neither too skinny nor muscular, his build was considered average. The young man possessed a pair of dark black eyes, high nose bridge, slightly flat cheek bones, smooth skins and dark, long hair that almost reach his shoulders.
These features when put together made him look quite remarkable.
He was quite a handsome young man, to say the least.
The young man continue to scooped out water to wash his face and rinse his mouth while he looked himself in the mirror.
'Today is the day...'
If one were to look closely at the reflection in the hazy mirror, they would notice that of all the things that together form this young man's face, the two eyes eyes were the most impressive feature.
They were deep dark black in color while possessing bright sparks of hope and excitement in them. Gradually, these 'sparks' disappear and the pair of eyes lost their color, becoming dull and lifeless, like a person who doesn't has the will to live.
In the next second, 'fire' rose up in the pair of eyes. It was burning brightly, and passionately. The 'fire' continued to burn and shine its light, dispel the dull and lifeless energy from the dark deep abyss known as the 'eyes'. The flame didn't seem to cease after it eradicate the dull and lifeless aura, it continued to burn and shine brightly, changing the 'abyss', showing its light for all to see.
The flame continued to burn unceasingly when suddenly, a wave of black came crashing down, pulling all the fire into the deep dark dept of the abyss. The fire resisted and was burning more fiercely, but the wave of black held on tight. It came crashing down unceasingly, dragging the fire into the deepest dept of the abyss.
The fire continued to resisted as it was burning more and more while the wave of black came crashing again and again. Then, the fire stopped in its intensity, it had stopped resisting, but it didn't stop burning.
Instead, it was the opposite. It burnt even more brightly and passionately than ever before. Although the fire continued to burnt with great heat and intensity, it didn't illuminated the darkness of the abyss nor was it attempting to invade the wave of black, it was instead, burning silently.
It was silently burning in place, by itself, for itself.
The wave of black seemed to have noticed the changes in the 'fire' as it approached and observe the 'fire', ready to strike and suppress the 'fire' at any moment.
After observing for a while, without any signs of aggression from the fire, the wave of black silently retreated far away as it flew up and spread throughout the abyss, giving it a pitch dark looks that no light can seem to penetrate.
The fire continued to burn silently in the darkest, deepest dept of the abyss. It generate heat and warm of life in this dark, desolate place, while the wave of black seemed to have found its space.
The abyss fueled the fire, the fire nourish the wave of black while the wave of black concealed and protected the abyss. This way, a balance was formed as all sides benefits from each other, creating a perfect harmony.
This 'abyss' was the youth's eyes, his life. The 'fire' was his goal, his ambitions, while the 'wave of black' was a mask, a veil he created to conceal and protect himself and his ambitions.
After looking at himself deeply for some time, the youth finally let out a turbid air that smelled like mint due to the toothpaste used.
"Life is such a curious thing, full of twists and turns..." The young man sighed softly before he started undressing and washing himself.
After he was done, the young man walked out of the bath half naked with only a single towel cover his lower half. He went back to his bedroom and was about put on his clothes when he headed a ruffling sound coming from the bed.
"Ngmn~ It's morning already? ... Huh? Tian Tian, where are you? Oh, there you are... Good morning Tian Tian ~ *yawn* " A young girl slowly rose from under the sheet as she rubbed her eyes and yawned, feeling sleepy.
The young man turned his head and looked at the young girl on the bed, he unbeknowingly squinted as he muttered to himself softly:
"Shen Ai? Right... I'm really back. What a fasinating Meng, pity it can only be used once..."
At the thought of that, a smile creeped up his face.
'However, once is more than enough.'
"Ngnm... Hmm? Tian Tian, what's wrong?"
Noticing that he was in fact, squinting while looking at her with a serious face, he quickly fixed his facial expression and explained.
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just excited for the awakening ceremony, that's all."
"Awakening ceremony?"
Upon hearing about the awakening ceremony, Shen Ai's eyes lit up and she was no longer sleepy. She got out of bed in excitement and quickly took the towel, and ran off to her bathroom.
The young man, Shen Tian Yi, looked in her direction with a warm smile as she went through the bathroom door. Only after she went in and silence returned did he dropped his smile. He became expressionless, tranquil and calm.
Shen Tian silently find clothes that was prepared for him for the occasion beforehand and wore them. They were a pair of wide, white pants, short sleeves white shirt and a long sleeves cyan colour robe that flows down to his ankle, covering his wide pants. The robe was adorn with silver accessories on top of the shoulders, the end of the robe and the hem of the sleeves.
This combination made him looks like a youngmaster of a prestigious family.
Shen Tian double check himself and found that nothing was wrong with his attires. He went down to the living room where his family would usually receive guests.
He examined the foreign yet familiar room in front of him, it was exactly the same as in his memories.
It was a standard living room, the entrance was usually closed by a pair of curtains during the night and open during the day. In the center of the room was a small rectangular table, two large wooden sofa to each side with a small table of the same heigh in the middle of the two sofas for the guest to place their tea cups on, two wooden chair in the back and one small square table in between them.
The two chair at the back was for the master of the house while the sofas was for relatives and guests. All of which were made with delicate engraving full of flowery patterns.
In the back of the room was giant painting of beautiful scenery on the wall. It depicted a lush green mountain and tranquil rivers. There are tigers and beasts hiding in the mountain, fishes playing in the rivers and birds flying hight in the sky.
Above the clouds, there was a phrase 'Feng Yu mountain'. And above the picture was a symbol of a whirlpool and lumps of clouds, on it was the word 'Shen'.
Shen Tian stared at the picture deeply while lost in thoughts. He took a look around the room, touched a porcelain vase on the small table between the two sofas, then sat on a sofa to the right and cares the armrest gently.
'I stayed up all night to organize my memories and make plans for the future and yet I don't feel tired or sleepy at all, I felt like I could do this again three times more, what's the reason for this? Is it because of the Winter Spring butterfly? That Meng was very mysterious. Aside from the recipe and its supposed function, I know next to nothing about it... I'm too weak at the moment, I can't even research about it even if I want to, let alone solve it.'
'Hm... Since there's no abnormalities so far, I'll leave it for now.'
Shen Tian raised his head and looked at the back of the room where the word 'Shen' was.
'Shen clan... How long has it been? Five hundred years, eight hundreds? Probably a thousand and a few more...' As Shen Tian though about his birthclan, then about his circumstances, he couldn't help, but let out a chuckle as he 'watched' a lifetime of hardwork disappearing before his eyes.
In this 'new life', he has to start again from the very beginning with nothing to rely on but himself. His greatest treasures were not gold and gears, nor was the Meng and beasts he has tamed in the past, but his experience and wisdom he earned through a life of hardship and painful lessons paid in blood and tears.
'But so what? So what if I start again from zero? Even if I have to start again in worse condition, even if one day I wake up in a new body, even if I became a cripple, I will do it again!'
Shen Tian grinned and squeezed the armrest tightly. Who could understand his excitement? The feeling of escaping from death's claws, the chance to go back and start again, countless mistakes can be fix, countless opportunies for him to grasp, all depends on a tiny butterfly that could die from an adult's squeeze, and the succes rate was extremely low!
If he failed then all his achievement, all his ideas and ambition, all his precious memories and knowledge, they would disappear into the wind. Like a pile of shit on the ground that no one care for. If he die, his life would be meaningless, it was an extremely risky gamble.
And he won that gamble!
He won a one in a hundred chance while betting with his life!
The excitement and joy was enough to make him laugh like a lunatic in the middle of the night with not a care in the world. Even if someone found him suspicious or weird, he didn't care, for his joy was too great to contain.
"Tian Tian, Tian Tian? Oh, there you are!"
A sound from outside brought him out from his stupor, he turned around and smiled warmly at the young girl who was walking cheerfully towards him.
"You look beautiful, Ai Ai."
Shen Ai stopped in her track and looked at Shen Tian in surprise. She wore a similar long sleeves roe as Shen Tian with matching color scheme, the only difference was that the color of their outer and inner garments are reversed.
It was a simple attires that wasn't too over the the top, just some silver accessories here and there. However, if one look a bit closer, they will realize that these accessories were very delicately made and were not put on these clothes randomly.
Perhaps it was because she wore a short breasted shirt and long light skirt that she doesn't usually wore that made him fluster?
Normally, he would just look at her briefly and change the subject or rush her to go practice and the likes. At best he would just blush and nod at her then walk away to practice or do something else that kids their age wouldn't normally do such as cleaning their bedroom and organizing books.
The Only times he compliment her was when they were playing together when his parents were alive and the other time was when she was dressed from top to bottom for the clan's thousand years anniversary ceremony. The first was out of politeness, the second was just a slip of tongue, neither of them was sincere honest compliments.
She thought it was quite cute that he was being shy, maybe one day he might be honest with himself and admit that she was beautiful, that he likes her or something.
"Was everyone ready?" Shen Tian stood up and asked Shen Ai.
Shen Ai knew he wasd talking about the servants, so she replied, "Y-yeah, they'll ready."
"Then let us go." Shen Tian walked out of the house calmly while Shen Ai followed suit, behind them were a dozen of servants who followed along, ready to tend to their every needs.
Outside on the street was full of people. They were mostly youths at about the same age as Shen Tian and Shen Ai.
Just like the two, the other youths had a group of servants following them. Some large, some small. Some old, some young.
Unlike Shen Tian and Shen Ai, most of the youths each had one or two elders accompanying them. They were the youths' parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle, and other seniors in their family who happened to have free time to come cheer them on.
This made them stood out a bit with their fairly large group of servants and two youths with no elders. Many people instantly recognized the two.
"Hey, isn't that our clan's current generation geniuses, Shen Tian and Shen Ai? Why are they all alone?" A middle age man called out in surprised.
"You didn't know? I heard Elder Shen Jin and Shen An were sent on an important mission. As for what mission it is, I have no idea." A man around the same age beside the first man spoke.
"A mission required of not one, but two Elders, it's normal that you wouldn't know about the specifics since you guys are just ordinary hunting team members. I work at the logistics department and have heard a few things. They say it's related to the recent years' beast tide peculiarity." Another middle age man walked up from the back and joined the conversation.
"Oh, is that so? Well, the higher-ups should be able to deal with them. Say, are you guys up for a drink today, my treat." The second man suggested.
"Oh, what's the occasion?" Both the first and the third man asked simultaneously.
The second man raise his chin a little, and replied smugly:
"Of course, it's to celebrate my son's awakening second grade talent."
The first man and the third man looked at each other for a second, then bursted out laughing.
"Your son? Second grade talent? The ceremony hasn't even started and you're already bragging? My son, more like it."
"Hahaha, your sons? Please, we all know it's my daughter who's most likely to awaken second grade talent."
This time, it was the the second man and third man to look at each other's faces and sighed.
"True..." They both said at the same time.
Unbeknownst to them, someone was paying attention to every words of their conversation.
"Shen Bo, Shen Gui Cheng and Shen Caiji..." Shen Tian muttered softly under his breath.
These three names stirred quite the emotion in Shen Tian, they left a complicated impression on him.
From his memories, they were both friends and enemies.
'At this point in time, our relationships are just a little bit above average...'
Shen Tian thought to himself and kept moving.
After walking for a while, more and more people came out of their house with their family and servants.
Most are youngsters around the same age as Shen Tian, some looks a little bit older while some looks a little bit younger, but not by much. They were glancing and looking around, whispering amongst themselves.
Two boys talked amongst themselves without care if other people could hear them or not
"Look, isn't that Shen Caiji? Why is she with that brute Shen Bo? Wait, is that... boss Gui Cheng? What's going on here?"
"You didn't know? Your boss Gui Cheng, Shen Bo and Shen Caiji are childhood friends. I heard they had a big fight on the last day of school, they never talk to each other again after that."
"Isn't that because of the gap year?"
"Perhaps?" The boy shrugged, indicating that he didn't care and wasn't interested much in discussing this matter.
'The Shen twins, Shen Wu and Shen Liu...'
Shen Tian who was eavesdropping on the twins' conversation stopped and look to his side. Henoticed that Shen Ai was looking, glancing around. Though she restrained herself and tried not make it seems intentional, she was seen through instantly by Shen Tian and the many adults present.
'She seems rather nervous. According to my memories, she should be chating with me or her other friends by now. That's understandable, afterall, this is the Clan's annual awakening ceremony, mortals hold great importance to to it...'
Thinking so, Shen Tian glanced around subtly using on his eyes. First he only used his eyes, later he started to turn his head a little, then he twisted his waist a little 'so he can have a better view' of people around him.
This act didn't went by unnoticed by Shen Ai and those around him. Shen Ai smiled and giggled as the servants followed suit. Those servants who are slightly younger or at the same age as Shen Ai and Shen Tian giggled while those older servants smiled lightly.
The other adults who came to accompanied their juniors of the house has been paying attention to Shen Tian.
Upon seeing Shen Tian recent behavior, some of those adults smiled, some nodded slightly, not saying anything.
This strange behavior made the youngsters by their side a little startled and curious. Afterall, these are elders of their respective houses. Some of these adults are their aunts or uncle, some are grandparents, some even these youngster's great grandparents!
In the youngster's mind, some of these elders don't smiled or nodded for no reason, something good must have happened.
The youths asked casually, but the adults didn't reply.
The youths didn't think of it too much, they just continued walking and talking amongst themselves.
Shen Tian who has been secretly gauging their reactions from his earlier "performance" smiled slightly as he thought to himself:
'This should let down their guard somewhat, it can also helped reduce their hostility later. Afterall, the seed has already been planted.'
The reason why most of these adults are on guard against him and some even held slight hostility was because of Shen Tian's past performances.
In his past life, the young Shen Tian got full marks in every exams he took even before he was admitted to school. He only spent his time reading books, some of those books are advanced knowledge of Meng cultivations accessible only to rank two Meng cultivator and above.
Shen Tian wasn't born with any talents and his physical abilities are just average, but he was a fast learner and always eager to learn more. He trained his body hard every day.
Many people speculated that if it wasn't for Shen Ai taking him out to play everyday, Shen Tian might have spent all his time reading and training aside from sleeping and eating.
These fame and reputations are the things Shen Tian deliberately and painstakingly build with over ten years of efforts.
His hard works has paid off and he was secretly recognize as the most talented youngster the clan has produced this generation alongside Shen Ai.
Below them are people like Shen Bo, Shen Gui Cheng, Shen Caiji, Shen Wu, Shen Liu and three others.
Their talents are remarkable, but their mindset and thinking process are of normal youngsters, while Shen Tian has showcased excellent comprehension and thinking capabilities.
He was mature beyond his age, most of the adults who has interacted with him has to treated him like their equal and remind themselves that Shen Tian was not actually an adult yet.
This has earned Shen Tian a high evaluation from the elders secretly, at the same time it also earned him cautions and hostility from many parents of kids his age.
Afterall, the Clan's resources are limited, they cannot nurture everyone and have to chose the most talented juniors to focus on.
If the clan focused all their resources, on Shen Tian and Shen Ai, doesn't that means their children won't get any?
The best way to combat this is to compete directly, let their children showcased their talents and abilities.
However, many parents can only looked at their children and sight. The matter of talent cannot be forced, there was no way to compete. They can only hope that after the awakening ceremony, their children will get decent aptitude, therefore, get more resources from the clan.
After that, it was a matter of one's fate and hardwork.
Thus, after seeing Shen Tian's earlier 'childish' behavior of curiosity, glancing and looking around, the spectating adults was relief that Shen Tian was not that big of a monster afterall.
They still viewed and treated him like a monster, but knowing that Shen Tian still has childish side to him has eased their anxious hearts.
'At least our children are not competing with complete monster like that Qiao Cheng from Qiao clan...'
Almost all the adults present seems to have this thought as goosebumps rose on their bodies.
'Fuck, Qiao Cheng, that monster...'
'Is he still a human? How can someone his age be that strong?'
'How did Qiao clan produced such a monster, how did they raised him?'
At once, many adults face turned unsightly at the thoughts of Qiao Cheng. His talents and achievements were just too terrifying!
He's only eighteen but already reached rank three, with a terrifying record of killing rank four Meng cultivator!
Many people in Shen clans has suffered and died at his hands, fear and terror of him have already began to shroud their heart already.
Worst of all, they can do nothing about it!
Although Shen clan has many elders, they are mostly rank three and cannot do anything to him.
Shen clan was not weak.They do have some rank four elders. In fact, they even had rank five Meng cultivator in history, and their current clan leader was rank five!
However, these people cannot make a move against Qiao Cheng.
Setting aside his personal strength, Qiao Cheng himself has high reputation and was supported by the entire clan. Most crucial of all, he was the Qiao Clan's current clan leader's one and only son!
If Shen clan's higher-ups really made a move against Qiao Cheng, Qiao clan won't take it lying down and it will turn into an all-out war between the two clan.
That was not something Shen clan wanted to see, and neither was Qiao clan.
Why?
Because in this mountain range, there are two other clan watching, waiting for a chance to strike. The weaker Shen clan and Qiao clan got, the better it is for them.
Thinking of this, many adults gaze turned softer when looking at Shen Tian.
'So what if Qiao clan has Qiao Cheng? Our clan has our talents too!'
'Shen Tian and Shen AI's achievements so far surpassed Qiao Cheng from miles away, we still has a chance.'
'Shen Tian, Shen Ai, you two are the Clan's hope, grow up quickly and suppress Qiao Cheng for us!'
'Huh, what's happening...' Shen Tian noticed that along the way, people's gaze were always on him and the way they looked at him has changed.
If the looks they gave him before were of caution, hostility and indifference, they are now full of hope and anticipation.
Not just that, but wherever he and his group went, people would gave way. He even 'accidentally' stepped on some people's foot, but they didn't get angry in the slightest and reassured him that it was nothing, saying it was their fault for standing in the way.
The group in the front even slowed down and let them take the lead.
Just like that, some time passed, Shen Tian and Shen AI's group was now in the front and became the leading group of this little walking ceremony.
'Qiao Cheng huh...'
Shen Tian looked around a little, closed his eyes and shook his head with a smile. He has figured the reason for their strange behavior some time already.
But so what?Why must he care about their gaze? What does these people's expectation has anything to do with him?
'Perhaps if I was truly sixteen, I would have felt great pressure, but I unfortunately, I am no longer young...'
As his thoughts flowed by, Shen Tian raised his head and opened his eyes. His pair of deep dark eyes are full determination and hopes for the future.
What greeted him was a gigantic hall almost fifty story high, a signboard with the words "Ancestral hall" inscribed on it was hanged on the gate. The hall stood majestically, giving the people a sense of awe and reverence.
Undoubtedly, this was the biggest, tallest, most luxurious building in Shen clan.
' Ancestral hall... '
Shen Tian smirked slightly and took a step towards the hall.
'I am back.'