Tian Shen Ji observed his new existence with cold fascination, a living contradiction that perplexed the Xiao Tian Village. By the time he reached the age of four, he was physically ahead of every child double or even triple his age. He possessed dark, sharp eyes, a copy of his father's, and paired with mother's unsettlingly graceful features.
Yet, the boy was unnaturally skinny, his ribs faintly visible beneath taut skin, giving him the appearance of a child on the brink of malnourishment. This was deeply unsettling to the neighbors, as his father, Tian Xin, was one of the most successful hunters in the Black Crescent Mountains Range; he would never allow his only son to go hungry.
Only Tian Xin and Shu Yan knew the hidden truth: internally, their son was as healthy as a young bull. He ate as much as his father, a grown man and martial artist, yet all the sustenance seemed to vanish into a void.
As he quickly grew out of the deathly pallor of his birth, they attributed the baffling energy drain to the powerful essence of the Heavenly Treasure Fruit Shu Yan had consumed during her pregnancy.
Tian Xin had risked his life by adventuring deep into the Black Crescent Mountains Range for medicines to strengthen Shu Yan's frail constitution. There, he managed to snatch a mysterious fruit from the aftermath of a battle between two terrifying beasts.
It was undoubtedly a Heavenly Treasure; just by holding it, Tian Xin had felt his own debilitating limp improve. Confirming its legendary status. He had given this treasure to his pregnant wife.
Despite his outer frailty, Tian Shen Ji was happy the immediate crisis of survival had passed. The frantic energy of the Innate Treasure had settled, becoming a faint, rhythmic pulse deep within his spirit, a silent partner in his continued existence. His primary concern was the strange, all-enconsuming emotion directed at him: Love.
It was an overwhelming paternal love, a love he struggled to categorize. His father, Tian Xin, was a tireless source of physical warmth and devotion. Tian Shen Ji could feel the muscle beneath the man's rough clothes, a testament to a life spent wrestling the hard terrain of the Black Crescent Mountains Range.
Tian Xin would spend hours holding him, the scent of woodsmoke and clean sweat a constant comfort. For him, who had died alone and regretted a life built on transactions, this fierce, unconditional affection was utterly bewildering.
I am a commodity. I am an opportunity. He would silently rationalize, searching for the catch.
But no catch ever came. When Tian Xin gently stroked his head, there was no request, or expectation, only relief and pride. When the baby cried, the father did not sigh with annoyance, but with unfamiliar sorrow that his child was distressed.
Tian Shen Ji slowly, and quite reluctantly, realized this was not a transaction; this was paternal love, a pure, terrifyingly vulnerable emotion his past life had never known.
His mother, Shu Yan, was a serene but weak presence. She was marked by dark hair, darker eyes, her beauty amplified by her pale skin and naturally red lips. Her quiet grace was otherworldly, a fragile beauty that seemed too delicate for the hunter's house.
For five years, Tian Shen Ji absorbed this love, recognizing it as the most precious, and vulnerable, thing he had ever possessed. She would sing him strange, soft lullabies not common folk songs, but rhythmic chants in a language he did not recognize.
It was this combination of the father's robust, simple affection and the mother's ethereal devotion that broke through the steel of his soul.
They were genuinely good and kind people, a fact the entire village agreed upon. They were the benchmark of benevolence in this small community.
One evening, after Tian Xin returned from a successful hunt, Tian Shen Ji watched his father slice meat and asked, "Why do we hunt so much? We already have enough to eat."
Tian Xin knelt by the small fire and wiped his hands on his trousers. He offered a tired but gentle smile. "We have enough, but others do not. The solitary widow by the North path has a boy with a fever. The meat we leave at her door is the tax we pay to the village for the safety it gives us."
"What if they don't give anything back?" Tian Shen Ji countered out of habit.
Tian Xin looked his son in the eye. "We don't do it for payment, Shen Ji. We do it because we can. If you have the strength, and you see someone who needs help, you help them."
He pressed a piece of cooked meat into the boy's hand. "It's the right thing to do, Son. Always help people if you can. Power is useless if you don't know when to use it."
One cold afternoon, Shu Yan called Shen Ji to her side while Tian Xin watched with a tense quietness. Between the parents lay two antique scrolls. One was dark and deep green, engraved with ancient turtles. The other was dark-gold and red, marked with majestic phoenixes.
Shu Yan looked particularly frail that day, but she smiled at her son regardless. "Shen Ji, come sit beside me.I have something very important to tell you. Do you know what Immortal cultivation means?"
Tian Shen Ji looked a little perplexed but still replied. "No, I don't . Please tell me, Mother." He had actually heard the villagers whisper about immortals and immortal cultivation but the concept remained vague."
"It is a process of self-improvement," she explained. "By strengthening both body and spirit with the help of spiritual energy, one achieves a longer lifespan and incredible power. The ultimate goal is to become an Immortal."
For the first time in a long time Tian Shen Ji's heart has skipped a bit. A longer lifespan? Incredible Power? Could she be talking about a way to become like the giants he had seen in the Netherworld?
"Can everyone cultivate?" he asked.
"No. Only those lucky enough to be born with spiritual roots," Shu Yan sighed. "Spiritual roots act like the roots of a tree; they draw spiritual energy from the world around you.
"Do I possess spiritual roots?" asked Tian Shen Ji with hope.
"Yes, you possess them, though I don't know their exact type or quality."
"Type and quality?"
She chuckled at his sudden intensity. "I have never seen you so curious about anything! Like there are different trees with different roots there are also different humans with different spiritual roots."
"Spiritual roots usually manifest in five elements: Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, and Metal. Strangely, in cultivation, less is more. A Single Spiritual Root is the best talent, while Five Roots are considered the worst."
"I have Four Spiritual Roots and I may not know your spiritual roots but I suspect you have a better talent than me, so at the very least you should have three spiritual roots, perhaps even better Double Spiritual Roots.
How strange I could have bet that having more is better but it sensed in this case that quality is more important than quantity. "So how do I start?" Shen Ji asked, his eyes fixed on the scrolls.
"Well you need a cultivation technique. " as she said that, her hand moved towards the scroll marked with majestic phoenixes."