"Young master, slow down" a gaggle of maids chased after a young three year old boy.
He was fair faced and adorable, a TIAN mark adorning his face, quietly adding to his adorableness cuteness. His eyes danced with liveliness and laughter as he ran from the chasing maid, not looking where he was going.
He weaved and dodged, laughing and as expected, he crashed straight into someone's arms.
"mother " the boy giggled, knowing her from her scent alone and burrowed deeper into her embrace.
"Tianer, aren't afraid you'll fall." She said as she lovingly stroked the boy's hair.
"No, I knew mom would catch me." The boy said adorably "and I missed you mum."
His mom laughed "but you just saw me this morning." She then turned to one of the maids
"Wei lin, Did Tianer finish his lessons?"
The maid bowed and with an apologetic face responded to the madam." Yes, Madam but the master said that the young master has a good foundation. His learning pace is really fast." The lady did not seem surprised with this news. She just lovingly looked at the boy in her embrace
"it seems that our Tianer is more of a genius that we thought." Even though this seemed to be a problem, this was precisely the kinds of problems she preferred to have.
The lady was the wife of the county lord of azure cloud county, one of the counties in the sky cloud kingdom. And the boy in her embrace was Wu Tian, the boy she had picked up and adopted.
She had named him Tian because of the mystical mark on his forehead and she loved him as if he were her own.
Now, it seemed as if she would have to discuss with her husband about introducing Tianer to cultivation, he was a bit young but she was more than aware that her Tianer wasn't an ordinary child.
He could speak at a couple months old and by the time he was one year old he could read and write. Now at just three years old, he had learnt from all the prominent mortal tutors from the county.
She knew that he definitely couldn't be an ordinary child and therefore couldn't be from an ordinary background, what she feared the most was someone powerful coming one day and claiming her son.
However those were worries for another day and what she now had to consider was what Tianer would do next. She knew that he was still young and she had sufficient time to think about it but it was a mother's priority to worry about her child.
As she started from her thoughts, Lin Qing discovered her son had fallen asleep.
She had noticed that he loved to fall asleep in her embrace. Even now that he had his own room.
He often came to her room, although sensibly enough he only did it on days that her and her husband weren't intimate, a fact she conveniently ignored as it meant her son was more mature than he let on and she preferred he be her adorable little Tianer for a little longer.
She handed Wu Tian to the Wei Lin so that they could take him to his room to sleep. Wei Lin cradled the young master gently and carrying him to his room she proceeded to gently lay him down on his bed.
She stood for a minute, gazing at him in adoration. She had been present since the young madam had picked up Wu Tian and had been the one to take care of him ever since thus she adored him just as much as the lady of the house did.
She looked at him for a while then departed, for the duties at a house as huge as the county lord's never ended.
As she left Wu Tian continued to sleep peacefully but after a while, he begun to have fits and his sleep seemed disturbed.
He tossed and turned, his little fists clenching tight. He seemed to be having unwelcome dreams therefore after a while his shut eyes snapped open.
His eyes were vast and unfeeling and were definitely not the eyes a child should have, they seemed to hold no emotion or regard and would probably watch the world burn with no changes whatsoever.
However, after a while Wu Tian seemed to remember something and as he came to himself the unfeeling gaze disappeared and the normal gaze of child reappeared.
Wu Tian hated sleeping by himself, for as long as he could remember he had had blurry dreams where he had overlooked a vast realm.
He had been as a human overlooking ants, observing coldly as mighty empires rose and fell as heroes rose and left. His only concern had been adjusting the rules of the realm so that it operated smoothly and eternally on.
Although the dreams were vague and blurry, Wu Tian still hated them because they reduced his feelings for his mom who he loved with all his heart, and his Dad and Wei Lin and Captain Qin hu and Grandpa Fu and the people he loved.
He didn't want to be that cold and unfeeling towards his relatives, moreover he had noticed that the dreams were becoming increasingly vivid as he grew older and their effects become heavier too.
The effects weren't all negative though, they also made him smarter and more mature. He could remember anything he learnt and draw conclusions from them and from vague things he remembered from his dreams extrapolate on them.
He also felt a vague connection with the world and was acutely aware of the environment around him; somehow knowing what was happening around him and even guessing what was likely to happen. This made him more mature and although still vague sometimes he had to block off this sense so that he wouldn't be overwhelmed
Wu Tian got up, banishing those thoughts from his mind and as they receded his active three year old mind took over.
He wanted someone to play with but with his vague sixth sense knew his mom was busy and so was Wei Lin.
he wanted to see Uncle Hu and so he zoomed towards a certain direction knowing he would be there.
He flew by startled maids and attendants, at full tilt and somehow never colliding with anyone, no one seemed surprised though as the young master had always seemed to have the agility of a cat.
He arrived at the training yard where uncle Hu was training alongside his men, seeing him he excitedly called out to him prompting Qin Hu to stop training and attend to the young master.
The young boy though was more interested in the movements the guards were making and hurried the captain.
"uncle Hu, show me ,show me, I want to do it."
The captain was hesitant but then the young master slyly turned on his charm. Holding his hand and fully widening his innocent eyes, uncle Hu had no choice but to let the young master join them, planning to keep a tight eye on the young master so he didn't hurt himself.
Wu Tian copied the movements of the men, observing then imitating as best as he could and his memory showed through only needing to observe one cycle before he could almost perfectly imitate their movements.
His short arms and stubby legs struggling to hold the postures and transition to new ones.it was however interesting to the young boy, so he bit his tongue and cheerfully imitated the adults, his young voice cutely sounding out amidst the rough shouts of the men .
He felt something was off though as he felt that his movements lacked something and didn't seem to match those off the adults.
So he concentrated on observing the adults and noticed that their breaths followed a certain rhythm and as they did certain movements giving these movements a certain charm. T
his charm was strongest on uncle Hu and he observed them and soon enough started imitating these breathing rhythm.
Meanwhile uncle Hu was amazed as he watched the young master. He had been there as the lady of the house found the boy, in fact he had been the one to discover him as he vigilantly watched the surroundings.
He had in fact notified the lady since she had just been in mourning herself, having lost her baby boy to unknown causes. It had not been known whether it had been a machination by their enemies or a disease as their boy had simply suddenly been extremely feverish and sickly.
Any attempts by doctors had been futile and by next light the baby had died. They had gone to the capital to bury him in the family tomb and in fact they had chanced upon Wu Tian on their way back to the county.
Captain Hu had hoped that saving the boy would dull the pain of loss but he had not expected the madam to adopt him, he had simply thought she would have him raised in the manor but no, she had clearly taken him as her son nursing him at her own teat and sleeping with him at her side.
The county lord of course had not been thrilled at this turn of events but feeling the loss and taking pity at his wife had allowed it.
Unsurprisingly, he had soon warmed up to the child although the sleepless nights that came with a child had sometimes left him as grumpy and as snappy as a turtle. captain Hu being a victim of these moods.
captain Hu snapped out of his trip through memory lane, once again getting amazed as he watched the young master make a perfect transition from the horse stance to the bull facing the heavens stance.
But then he was horrified as he noticed something, the young master was also imitating their breathing patterns.
As he sprang to stop him, he watched in fascinated terror as the young master stopped, groaned in pain and then collapsed. Qin Hu arrived just in time to catch him and as he did, cold sweat sprang up his brow. He knew the county lord would be mighty pissed at him. This time he would probably at least loose a layer of skin