I step up fully expecting my little talent to be revealed
The clan leader hands me a tiny amount of Qu
The Qu dances on my palms
Wait! Why is it not hurting? I remembered I was in agony as soon as I made contact with it. Somethings off
I let go of the Qu as the damage on my soul starts to pile up
"41 beats, good talent"
I smile hysterically. Good talent? This is gonna help my cultivation so bad
I step down and Song Cao greets me
"You did a good job there"
I respond with a simple smile
Something is really off. Why is she greeting me?
My parents come to me with a warm embrace and try to deceive me
"We're so proud of you. We always knew you had good talent"
They kiss me on the cheek
I've dealt with this in all of my lives. Greedy vultures coming to you when you succeed, but as soon as you fall down to grace they'll devour you whole.
The ceremony continues until there is just one left, Song Cao.
"Song Cao, you're the last one"
She walks up and I can tell something is wrong with her. Her movements aren't as graceful as I before. She hides it well, but her steps have a hint of hesitation.
"Do well"
She holds the Qu and it seems as if she isn't struggle, but on the last 3 beats. She writhes in pain
"51 beats, good talent"
She walks down and I can feel her brush against me as she heads home. She walks at a pace of 1.5 meters per second
This clan territory is around 1 kilometer and for a person to be late to the ceremony walking at that speed. Something's fishy with her
Oh, I see what's happening
Gao Ye asks me
"Why are you staring so intensely at her?"
I chuckle
She's just so beautiful
The clan leader states
"Cultivation class starts tomorrow"
I see kids crying when they realized they had little or no talent, some get disowned on the spot. Some parents are content with their kid's average talent.
My parents lock arms with me and guide me home saying
"We'll treat you to some pork buns"
Gao Ye smiles at me as I leave
Me and my parents pass by some street vendors selling pork puns and they ask me
"How many do you want?"
Just 1 will be fine
The street vendor exclaims
"That'll be 10 bronze coins"
My parents rummage through their pockets to get the coins
In this world, 1 bronze coin is worth 1 Yuan, a silver coin is worth 100 Yuan, a gold coin is worth 100,000 Yuan, and finally there is the Qu coin which has tiers. A green one is worth 10,000,000, Orange is worth 30,000,000, Red is worth 300,000,000, and then there is the blue one which is so rare I've never seen or heard of anyone who has seen one. The Qu coins come to be when a cultivator manifests their Qu into a ball that can be used to digest into other people to add onto their own core, and the reason why the blue is so sought after is because it can only be harvested from rank 9s.
The street vendor hands me the pork bun, and it looks absolutely delectable.
My small mouth wraps against the bun as I chew down on it
My parents ask
"Is it good?"
Yes, it's really good
They smile at me and I smile back
I get home and hurry to my bed where I soon doze off