In the year 4440 of the Shen State, under great governance, the fervor for cultivation was on the rise.
The Dawn Sun Sect resided in the heart of Qi State, within the Dawn Sun mountain range.
Nestled at the foot of the mountain range where the Dawn Sun Sect located were dozens of big and small mountain villages, one of which was named Xiao Village.
Rural villagers mostly depended on rice farming, chopping firewood, and cattle tending for their livelihood, and the villagers of Xiao village were no exception.
At this moment, it was nearing dusk. Under the dim sky, a buffalo was munching on grass in the open field.
Sitting on the grassland and leaning against a tree stump was a somewhat foolish-looking teenager, roughly sixteen-years-old, who was lost in his peculiar thoughts as he gazed the dim sky.
Little did outsiders know, beneath the foolish exterior of the young boy, housed a heart that yearned for an extraordinary life.
This young boy's name was Xiao Leng, an ordinary villager of Xiao Village.
His parents had passed away when he was young, and he was raised by a best friend of his parents, Xiao Changfeng.
Like most children his age in the village, they either went to the mountains to chop wood or worked in the fields.
Only Xiao Changfeng, who had always treated Xiao Leng as his own son, was reluctant to let him work in the fields or go to the mountains to chop wood. He just assigned him to tend the cattle.
Xiao Leng gazed at the dimming sky before it dawned on him. He sighed helplessly, "What really exists up in the sky, gods perhaps?"
"Am I going to end up like the other villagers – working from sunrise to sunset, marrying and bearing children, and spending an entire life in mediocrity?"
Soon, Xiao Leng forced a bitter smile. Even if he wasn't resigned to his fate, he was nothing more than an ordinary cattle-tending youth.
Glancing at the darkening sky, Xiao Leng estimated that dinner time was about an hour away and stopped daydreaming, afraid of making his foster father worry and come to look for him if he missed the meal.
Grazing cattle is a laid back task, but it's unfortunately too tedious. If there was someone to share the experience, it would be better just to have a chatting companion. Sadly, Xiao Leng is all on his own.
With nothing else to do, Xiao Leng picks up small stones off the ground and aimlessly tosses them at a nearby tree to pass the time.
"Hit it…"
"Missed…"
"Hit it…"
"Hit it…"
Bored, Xiao Leng continued to lazily throw stones, taking aim, and flinging them hard…
Suddenly, as he picked up the next stone, warmth spread through his palm. It was as if the stone had a will of its own, darting from his palms into his arm before disappearing inside his body.
Startled, Xiao Leng jumped up and examined his palms, running his other hand over his arms and the rest of his body. Only when he found nothing unusual did he feel slightly reassured.
But the incident was too strange. A stone entering one’s body on its own? No one would believe it if he were to tell people about it.
"Hallucination! It must be a hallucination!"
Although Xiao Leng didn't believe this was a hallucination, he could only use this excuse to console himself at the moment.
Xiao Leng felt a chill towards this area, quickly leading the old yellow ox away and heading towards the village.
It was only when he came to the entrance of the village without noticing any abnormalities that he breathed a sigh of relief.
Xiao’s village was a small village with around a hundred families. Only a handful were relatively affluent.
The rest could only rely on chopping wood and planting rice for a living, and Xiao Leng's adoptive father, Xiao Changfeng, had a middle-class situation.
Suddenly, a teenager who was not much older than Xiao Leng walked out from the side. Seeing Xiao Leng leading a bull, he couldn't help but reveal a contemptuous look.
"You naïve boy, it's not even completely dark yet, and you gave up because you couldn't handle the hardship?"
The youngster scoffed dismissively.
Xiao Leng looked at the boy coldly and did not pay any attention, heading straight towards his home.
Xiao Leng knew that the youngster's name was Xiao Buqun, the wealthiest family in the village, managing the family business left by his ancestors, his status was equivalent to a local tycoon in the village.
These "young masters" look down on the poor villagers, often making fun of the children from poor families for jest.
"You useless coward."
Xiao Buqun was somewhat irritated to see Xiao Leng ignore him.
No one in the village has dared to disrespect him like this. Seeing Xiao Leng walk away, he laughed mockingly with a loud enough voice for Xiao Leng to hear.
Xiao Leng inadvertently clenched his fist. He was not the kind of person to be treated like a pushover. Still, it's not worth dealing with a mad dog like Xiao Buqun, he thought as he walked away.
Xiao Leng walked around several stone houses, then stopped in front of a stone house built from mountain rocks.
Smoke was rising from the chimney on one side of the stone house. Upon seeing this, Xiao Leng revealed a warm smile. He then tied the bull to a tree beside the house and walked into the stone house.
"Adoptive father, I'm back!"
"Is Leng back?"
A middle-aged man with somewhat dark skin but a clearly candid demeanor pokes his head out from the kitchen to answer.
...
Seated at the table, Xiao Leng enjoys his meal with his stepfather, Xiao Changfeng.
"Eat up. From tomorrow on, we may not see each other very often," Xiao Changfeng says with a smile.
Xiao Leng is stunned, causing the food held in his chopsticks to fall onto the table.
Seeing this, Xiao Changfeng uses his own chopsticks to pick up the fallen food from the table, placing it to his own mouth, and smiles, "We shouldn't waste food like this." After this, he takes a big mouthful of rice.
"Wh-Why?"
Xiao Leng is extremely confused as to why Xiao Changfeng would say such a thing.
Setting down his chopsticks with a sigh, Xiao Changfeng says, "Tomorrow is the day the Chaoyang Sect opens its mountain gate, and I plan to let you join the sect."
"You mean the immortals in the mountains?"
On hearing this, a glimmer of expectation appears on Xiao Leng's face.
As a child, when his own mother passed away, a group of 'immortals' descended from the sky and had a lengthy conversation with Xiao Changfeng. That astounding scene has been something Xiao Leng could never forget for the rest of his life.
Seeing this, Xiao Changfeng smiles, "Indeed. But they are not immortals but cultivators from the Chaoyang Mountain Range."
He then assumes a serious tone and continues, "There are certain things I need to tell you now."
Xiao Leng was taken aback by what he heard.
Outside the window was pure darkness, except for a few old crows cawing non-stop from the tree branches in front of the house.
"Actually, your parents were cultivators too. I know you refuse to be ordinary, that's a trait you inherited from your parents, so I hope you can follow this path as well," Xiao Changfeng voiced out, breaking an otherwise peaceful silence.
Xiao Leng blinked in surprise, "You once said my parents were merchants who were killed by bandits while on their trade routes. Isn't that right, Father?"
Xiao Changfeng gave a bitter laugh, "Back then, you were still young, so I had to put it that way."
"Actually, not only were your parents cultivators, they were also elders of the Rising Sun Sect."
"Your father, like you, refused to be ordinary and chose to become a student of the mountain monastery. Once the cultivators in the monastery tested him, they found that your father was a genius and he was immediately accepted as a direct disciple by the sect leader. Later, he met your mother."
"Both of them were geniuses. Within a few short years, their strength had surpassed more than half of the disciples in the sect. Later, they made many outstanding contributions to the Rising Sun Sect, and the pair of them were promoted to the position of elders within the sect."
"Although the Rising Sun Sect has many elders, your parents were the first couple to both hold the position."
A warm smile naturally formed on Xiao Changfeng's face as if he was reminiscing about the past.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Leng couldn't help but feel a touch of pride. After all, having such parents was indeed something to be proud of.
Suddenly, Xiao Changfeng's face turned solemn, a trace of sorrow clouded his eyes, "Unfortunately, not long after your mother gave birth to you, someone approached your parents claiming to have discovered a celestial site, and wished to explore it with your parents."
Nervously, Xiao Leng's heart skipped a beat, he had a feeling that the worst part of the story was yet to unravel.
