Chapter 2

Ye Xiu started to slowly wake up after they both bade him farewell, collecting his thoughts to review what just happened, he immediately tried to enter the dimensional space to make sure it wasn’t just a dream. After successfully entering the space he ran towards the lake to take a bath to see what kind of benefits he could obtain. Taking off his clothes, he jumped in. As he bathed he could feel his body getting hot and thought that it must’ve been his imagination. What he didn’t know was that the liquid was slowly nourishing his muscles and bones to become perfectly suitable for the cultivation of martial techniques. After taking the bath he exited the space. Ye Xiu walked towards the dining to eat breakfast, he saw his father patiently waiting for him. As he was eating his father told him that today was the yearly clan gathering and that he should act appropriately. Walking with his father towards the ancestral gathering building, he spotted a huge number of kids his age waiting patiently to get their talents for martial cultivation to be tested. Ye Xiu walked towards the platform to watch the testing.

For martial talent, you would need to put your hand on a black pillar, every 0.5 meters which the black pillar is lit up is a level in talent. The black pillar was able to measure martial talent to grade ten, the highest martial talent that the country had in history was grade nine. The person holding that talent became a powerhouse in the two neighbouring countries. An average cultivator in the Xia Long country had a talent of grade two. The better your talent the more people would value you. Having grade nine talent was nothing special in the bigger empires and countries but in the Xia Long country it was extremely high.

Ye Xiu looked at the pillar and saw a girl walking towards it, putting her hand on it, the pillar started lighting up before stopping at three meters high. This was a martial talent of grade six, several adults started to look at the girl’s parents with envious eyes. This talent was enough for the clan to focus their resources on the girl. The elder in charge of the assessment called out the girl’s name, “Tian Bu Xing, Martial talent: Grade Six, Alchemic Talent: None.”

Ye Xiu was confused because he didn’t see the examination for alchemic talent anywhere, turning towards his father he asked, “Father, how do they measure alchemic talent?”

His father looked at him and kindly explained, “Ye Xiu, the method to measure alchemic talent is to look at the strength of a person’s soul, apart from that you also need to have the affinity of fire and nature. Soul strength for young kids such as you is measure from level one to level hundred. The basic requirement is to have a soul strength of at least twenty at the age of five whilst having the affinity of fire and wood is a must. This is because fire is needed for the alchemy processes to form pills and other such things. Wood is also required due to the fact that it is able to control the medicinal, healing and strengthening properties inside pills. Without both of them, it would be impossible to be an alchemist. Also due to the fact that such high requirements are needed to become an alchemist, there are very few alchemists. If you are an alchemist you would be treated extremely highly as long as you reach a good rank in the Alchemy Association. The reason why the requirement of having a soul strength of twenty at the age of five is due to the fact of that your soul needs to nurture your body for a long period of time. Without being able to nurture your body for a long period of time then you wouldn’t be able to form your inner flame. Your inner flame has to be formed before the age of thirteen otherwise the path of an alchemist is forever cut off from you. Forming an inner flame is not completely reliant on soul strength, it also requires luck and hard work. You have to constantly train your soul everyday or your chances of forming an inner flame in the future is lower.”

Ye Xiu’s eyes started to widen whilst listening to his father’s explanation, his breath was starting to get heavy. In his mind, Ye Xiu was excited that if he was able to become an alchemist then he would be treated with respect as long as he reaches a good rank in the future. Though at the same time he also knew that if he wasn’t able to have the prerequisites to become an alchemist and if he didn’t have enough luck to form his inner flame.

Whilst deep in his thoughts, Ye Qiu started to pull his son towards a small room where they tested alchemic talent. Once inside the room, an elder was sitting at a table waiting for them to sit down. Ye Qiu spoke to his son to try and shake him out of his thoughts.

Ye Xiu quickly took control of his senses to get back to what he was supposed to be doing. On the table in front of the man, there was an orb settled on top of a black hickory stand. Ye Xiu had the feeling that it had something to do with the alchemic talent test. Waiting for the Elder to speak, he quietly sat on a chair waiting for further instructions.

“Please put your hands on top of the orb so we can begin the test for alchemic talent.” The Elder spoke.

Resting his hands on top of the orb, the orb started to glow. Ye Xiu was currently seeing lots of red and green dots. He was able to perceive so many dots that his eyes were starting to blur. The Elder noticed that he was about to faint so he quickly took the orb away from the child’s hand before speaking.

“Congratulations Ye Qiu, your son, Ye Xiu has a soul strength of fifty at such a young age. He has both fire and wood affinity. It seems like your son is a genius, I will inform the other Clan Elders to provide more resources for your son to have a higher success of forming his inner flame. Please go towards the martial talent testing platform, due to the fact that your son has such a high soul strength at the age of three, we will keep the results of the tests a secret.” the Elder left right after he said that.

Ye Qiu pulled his son closer to him and spoke in a grave voice, “What happened today, keep it to yourself and never mention it to anyone. If people find out, they will take advantage of your young age and you will be captured and sold in the slave markets because of your high soul strength and affinity for fire and wood.”

“Yes father, I’ll make sure nobody knows about my Alchemic talent but I do have to ask, why do we test our Alchemic talent at such a young age?”

“That’s due to the fact that the ways to train your soul are usually only known by Alchemists. The earlier you test your talent, the earlier you can find an Alchemist to teach you. Now let’s stop talking about this matter, we’ll be going to the platform to test your Martial Talent. Just to let you know, having Alchemic Talent is much better than having a good Martial Talent. As long as your Martial Talent isn’t too bad then it can be made up with the Alchemic Talent. This is because you can personally refine pills for yourself which can make up for your talent.”

Ye Qiu stopped speaking with his son as they walked towards the platform.

By the time they reached the platform, the majority of the clan members had already one back to their homes. The Elder who was in charge of the testing nodded at the young lad’s father. His father pushed him towards the platform to take the test. Ye Xiu walked towards the Elder beside the pillar before placing his hands onto the pillar. The pillar started to light up, going up by 0.5 meters every time before the pillar stopped shining. The elder looked at the pillar before smiling at the young boy. Patting Ye Xiu on the shoulder to notify him that the test was over, the Elder spoke in a loud and clear voice so the people who had still remained in the hall could hear him, “Tian Ye Xiu, Martial Talent: Grade Eight, Alchemic Talent: None.”

The Elder spoke to Ye Qiu and Ye Xiu through Qi sense so nobody could hear the conversation between them, “We have hidden the Young master’s Alchemic Talent, as for his Martial Talent it will be kept a secret to outsiders however we have to notify the City Lord.”

Ye Qiu nodded at the Elder and gave his thanks. Ye Qiu picked up his son and put him on top of his shoulders to let him sit there because he was extremely happy with the results that his son gave him today. As he was wallowing in happiness, his son started to speak.

“Father, why did the Elder call me Young Master? I didn’t know who he was until today after all.”

“Ye Xiu, that’s because I am the person currently in charge of everything that occurs in the clan. Ye Xiu, listen carefully, from now on you mustn’t do anything foolish. I will personally oversee your education so that you can act appropriately according to the situation in the future. Overseeing your education naturally means that I”ll also be teaching you martial arts once you reach five years old. Also, every time that you go to bed instead of sleeping you will be meditation. Tonight I will teach you the basic breathing method and posture required to go into meditation. I will explain the reason why and the benefits for meditation later.”