In a dark room, lit room with blue spirit candles that gave off a soft light that caressed the sharp jagged features of the room into softer calmer ones. The space was cramped, filled with walls that took sharp turns every few paces, creating two parallel zigzag walls, joined by one straight wall in the front. The candlelight couldn't reach some of the corners.
"Not this again, " Feng Li's voice resounded throughout the cramped room, but no one reacted.
Dirt smudged the once-upon-on-a-time pure white tiles that stretched from wall to wall on the floor. Various types of scrolls littered the floor, depicting various surgical procedures and cultivation techniques that could aid in such. A large brick altar stood in the centre of the room. Thick hook-shaped runes glided on its surface. At odd intervals gold light surged, blinding the dark room in vivid angelic light. Thick callused hands feathered the cold surface of the brick altar, injecting pulses of quintessence into the hook-shaped runes. Quintessence was a form of Primordial Qi only accessible to beings that broke past the Immortal Realm and became gods, this energy was a few levels deeper and stronger than essence(Immortal Qi) and spirit qi (Mortal Qi).
"Uncle. Please. I'll be good. Please! Don't do this to me, " Feng Li screamed.
But his words went to deaf ears. The Dao Heart Trials often chose the most challenging aspect of a person's past that from a section of their souls. And weaved a scenario it believed was impossible for the trial taker to pass. Dong Meirong could interact with her environment because the Immortal Slaying Mirror thought that was the best way to ensure her failure. For Feng Li, the deep crushing feeling of powerlessness was the best possible way to break him. So it made certain to remove his ability to interact with his scenarios.
The alter thrummed once the level of quintessence in it was sufficient. The middle-aged-looking man stood back, watching the alter spasm before coming to a halt. He stroked his beard with a nod. Whether or not the procedure succeeded he knew his son's life was guaranteed. If it didn't succeed, he at least tried elevating his son's status to the next level within the Feng Clan.
Soft sobs and sniffing drowned the atmosphere. A baby, barely a year old was wrapped in golden chains that pulsed with little light and lay in a wooden cradle. The baby squirmed and pushed against the chains with its chubby limbs. Nothing happened. The struggle only caused it more pain. The golden chains squeezed tighter with every push and tug against them. Sobs evolved into panicked wails.
Feng Li gazed at his younger self. As someone born with a Samsara Bone, he gained the awareness of an adult by the time he hit three months old. He could walk, talk and comprehend scriptures at seven months. The amount of fear he felt at that time, knowing what was happening to him, exceeded anything he ever experienced for the next few years. No physical pain touched the amount of psychological pain he felt in those moments. A man he loved so dearly, just like his father dug out the core of his life.
He tasted the stomach-crunching fear drenched in his sobs for the first time. The primal urge to escape in each squirm. Yet he couldn't do anything. He could only watch from afar, as the little him was mutilated.
Totally powerless.
"Shoosh! Little Li'er, I'm only going to extract the Samsara bone and give it to your cousin alright? " the man's expression softened as he gazed at the baby.
He walked to the cradle and gently pinched the wailing baby's cheeks, and contorted his face into various 'funny' expressions to calm him.
"It won't take long. Just a quick cut to your sternum. And it's all done, " he giggled.
"Tian'er, lay down on the right side of that altar. Quick!" His face steeled in an instant as he pointed to the altar.
Feng Tian, the man's son, followed his instructions and went up to the altar. He dragged a stool next to the archaic shelves that stood tall on the right side of the shelf and pushed it against the altar. Stepping on it, he used it to add some height to reach the edges of the altar. He pulled himself up and lay on the right side, closing his eyes.
"Good."
The man carefully picked up Feng Li and placed him on the left side of the altar. He dusted off the dust and specks of ink that dribbled onto him. Clanking sounds resounded as the man shuffled to and fro, looking for a dagger. He could have done the process by constructing a dagger using his quintessence, but the ritual required a specific dagger.
He found it.
A crystal dagger with a drop of dragon essence inside of it. It had a red glow and occasionally hummed, declaring its kingliness.
He rushed to pick it up. He dropped it. Blood seeped out his palm, trickling down to the ground. Hissing, he channelled his quintessence. A red flame appeared in his hand. He pressed it onto his palm. It sizzled.
The wound healed.
He grabbed the dagger again, this time with a layer of blazing red quintessence covering his hands. The dagger felt so comfortable. He was only one cut away from turning his son into an unbeatable genius. His kid already had the Nine Revolving Heaven Eyes, all that was left was the Samsara Dao Bone to complete his set of talents, mixed with his Golden Roc-Phoenix bloodline, his talents will shock the Myriad Realms.
Without thinking too much, he thrust the dagger into Feng Li's sternum, slicing through the flesh cleanly. Flaming red blood filled with vitality oozed out of Feng Li's wound onto the altar. Feng Li howled. The pain was too much for his body. He lost consciousness immediately.
The man continued as if he didn't hear anything. He spread apart the warm flesh on Feng Li's chest and performed quick lacerations, cutting through the coastal cartilage that bound the sternum to the ribs. His actions were quick, professional and heartless. He lopped off the sternum and placed it in a stone bowl at the centre of the altar. He sighed. The easiest part of the procedure was done.
Dipping the knife in Feng Li's blood, he drew a few runes on Feng Li'a chest, arms and head. It didn't end there. He drew the same runes on the left side of the altar and ruled a line using the same blood across it, to the right side where his son lay.
He stepped back, closed his eyes and began chanting words in an archaic language a few Chaos Cycles old. Power whirred in the room as the ancient words drew energy from his quintessence.
Blue light streamed from the candles and whirled around him. He spat one last word and raised his hand into the air. The blue light danced around the tip of his finger. Red energy rose from Feng Li's body and dashed towards the blue light dancing around his fingers. He pointed a finger at the bone in the bowl. The blue light surrounded by red energy drilled into the bone.
Feng Li watched the scene occur in front of him in total horror. How could a family member be so heartless?
This was the moment he lost the one thing that should have propelled him to the top. His Samsara Bone. The source of a legendary Physique called the Lord Of Samsara Physique or Samsara Physique for short. Matured wielders of the Samsara Bone were monsters, ruling over the Concepts of Life And Rebirth once they reached the peak of the cultivation world. In its long history, it has only appeared once every Chaos Cycle, the amount of time it took for an omniverse to come into existence and then die. That amount of time was almost irrelevant, simply because it was only an inch away from infinite time.
He thought he got over it, especially with the aid of the Cascade Village Guardian's therapy sessions .
But it he was wrong.
This was the fifth time he tried breaking past it, but the emotions always got him. His heart pounded against his chest, his blood tore through his veins, and his mind screamed to him, yet he froze. He couldn't move. He could only watch.
And that tore him to pieces. Tears streamed down his eyes, looping over his chubby cheeks and met at his chin. He was forced to see the scene of his uncle taking out his Samsara Dao Bone and placing it into his older cousin. He couldn't fathom why a person that showed so much love to him could be heartless. He took the one thing that kept him alive then, not caring about what happened to him. His parents trusted the man. He trusted the man.
"Feng Li, never let emotions cloud your judgment. Your heart. Believe in it," the Village Guardian's voice rang through his mind.
The words were like a twenty-ton hammer slamming right at the centre of his psyche. Those words. He always heard them. He thought he understood them. Never was he so wrong.
His tears stopped immediately.