A small flag and a violent storm changed the course of my destiny...
After I screamed out a thunderous shout to the heavens, the storm quickly subsided. When I came to my senses, I found myself surrounded by the villagers of Jiusi Zhang.
"San Tong, did you hear that dragon's roar just now?"
"...Yeah, the sound came from here. Did you see something?"
"..."
The villagers of Jiusi Zhang probably thought I was standing there because I had discovered something. But in reality, I only screamed out in frustration, venting my inner turmoil. As for seeing anything, the only thing I saw was the small flag flying. It truly seemed to have the power to ward off storms, just as the legends claimed. But would the villagers believe me? I opened my mouth, hesitated, and said nothing.
When I thought of the small flag, I suddenly realized it was back in my hand, though I had no memory of when it returned.
My father, noticing the blood on my face, hurriedly asked what had happened. I smiled faintly and attempted to walk over to reassure him that nothing had happened. But I couldn't move. My body felt weak, and I collapsed to the ground.
After that storm, I fell seriously ill, feeling drained with no idea where the problem lay. The barefoot doctor in Jiusi Zhang was helpless, and my family sent me to the provincial hospital. The doctor diagnosed me with severe nutritional deficiencies, and after several IV drips, my condition still didn't improve. It wasn't until an elderly Chinese medicine Cultivator took one look at me and diagnosed severe vital energy depletion, prescribing a powerful tonic, that I slowly regained my strength.
But my illness was strange.
A few days after my body started to recover, I returned to my uncle's house in the provincial city. That night, I dreamed of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. The scene in my dream was almost identical to the storm I had witnessed. The dream made me feel terribly uncomfortable, but just as in reality, a Xuán Huáng Flag appeared and calmed everything down. I woke up with a sigh of relief, though I still felt weak—at least without the nosebleed this time.
This time, I didn't need to be hospitalized. My uncle gave me more tonic herbs prescribed by the old doctor, and after a few days, I gradually recovered.
Once I regained strength, I immediately checked under my pillow for the small flag. For several nights, I had been having the same dream. Aside from the initial storm, in the other dreams, only the flag appeared, and it felt strangely familiar—it looked exactly like the small flag that had been with me for over a year.
The odd thing was that the small flag was gone. I asked my uncle and aunt, as well as Zhang Fuhong, but none of them had seen anything under my pillow.
And so, the small flag disappeared, but it continued to appear in my dreams every night.
My health completely recovered. Zhang Fuhong, my cousin, jealously told me that I had grown taller. We were both around 1.7 meters before, but now I was half a head taller than him. When I measured, I had grown a full 8 centimeters. I was overjoyed to finally be taller than this kid.
In the following days, I went to the provincial city library to browse books and gather information, trying to figure out what had happened to me. Every night when I returned home and saw Zhang Fuhong, I noticed he looked full of energy, with a glowing complexion. But a few days later, Zhang Fuhong was rushed to the hospital with a nosebleed. The same old Chinese medicine Cultivator said it was because Zhang Fuhong's vital energy had been excessive. It turned out that this kid had secretly taken some of the tonic herbs I had been prescribed when I was sick, hoping to grow taller like me. Unfortunately, he didn't grow at all and caused quite a scare.
I spent many hours in the library of the provincial city, reading books on mysterious phenomena. In one book, The Decoding of Human Mysteries, I came across a passage that read:
"Humans are the spirits of the universe, carrying the entire holographic essence of the cosmos within them. Humans are composed of two aspects: the body and the soul, the material and the consciousness. If we regard a human being as a combination of material and spirit, then the material is the body, and the spirit is the consciousness. A person is, in essence, a microcosm."
Reading this passage, I struggled to explain my situation. I concluded that my microcosm had once been affected by wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, and that the small flag had probably entered my microcosm. The dreams I had were not just dreams, but a true reflection within my Sea of Consciousness.
But what exactly was the small flag? I had a bold idea: could it be a Magical Artifact, similar to the magical treasures in Chinese mythology? And if so, could it have been integrated into my body? After all, the small flag had entered my microcosm. Once this thought crossed my mind, I became excited. For that period, I was obsessed with reading countless mythological stories, qigong cultivation methods, and Buddhist and Taoist scriptures.
Every day in the library, I encountered a girl from my class, Wu Xiaoman. She was beautiful, with a clear, soft voice and a height of nearly 1.7 meters. She was our class's cultural committee member.
Every time I saw her, she would be holding different music books, softly singing under her breath. But when she passed by me and saw the books I was reading, she gave me a cold, dismissive glance.
I never initiated any conversation with her, as I didn't want to make things awkward. So what if my grades were poor?
I continued reading Chinese ancient mythological stories, occasionally laughing foolishly. I fantasized about my small flag really being a magical artifact, that I could summon wind and rain, and soar through the nine heavens...
My uncle thought I had become enlightened and realized the importance of studying hard. He decided to send Zhang Fuhong to the library with me. However, the lazy kid didn't want to go at first, but when he saw Wu Xiaoman at the library, he suddenly became eager to join. Every day, he started going to the library even more eagerly than I did. I, on the other hand, was content with my own path and didn't pay him much attention.
By the time the second year of high school was about to start, I had become obsessed, convinced that the small flag was a magical artifact. A year ago, when I first obtained it, I had bitten my lip, and my blood dripped onto the flag. According to the legend, magical artifacts were often refined with blood. I had held onto that small flag for a whole year, sometimes treating it as a companion. Over time, I unconsciously became more attuned to it, as if I was following the mythical method of refining magical artifacts. Then, during the summer vacation, the storm in Jiusi Zhang had activated the small flag...
Finally, I quietly decided to embark on the path of cultivation.
When the school year began, I found that my backpack was filled with books—Tao Te Ching, I Ching, Wuzhen Pian, Liexian Zhuan... In the study that my uncle had prepared for me, there were piles of books, including Baopuzi Neipian and Tongxuan Zhenjing...
I had searched through almost every bookstore in the provincial city and gathered hundreds of related books. No one taught me how to cultivate, so I had to rely on my own exploration. And thus, I began my journey on the path of cultivation.