Liang family mansion
Inside a small room, an old man was sitting on a small chair, his eyes were fixated on the paper in front of him. The paper was filled with a series of confusing and complex lines; these lines seemed to have the strange power to calm the people that looked at them. However, if a common man tried to study them, he would immediately feel dizzy and faint.
But the old man was no ordinary man, and the lines themselves did not trouble him. What troubled him was who had drawn them.
After a long silence, he finally spoke. His voice was calm but an hint of could be heard in it.
"Young master... did you really draw this?"
As he asked, he studied the child standing before him. This child was the young master of the Liang family, the current warlord of the southern region.
"Yes, Mister Lu" the child replied calmly.
The old man narrowed his eyes slightly. There was no sign of lying, yet he couldn't bring himself to believe him. He interrogated him again, his heightened senses looking for any trace of hesitation and dishonesty in the young child.
"So, what's the meaning of this symbol?"
While asking, he pointed at a seemingly unimportant symbol at the edge of the paper that was now resting on the table. The child looked at the paper again, seemingly unfazed by the confusing lines. Then, with calm and indifferent tone, he responded:
"Calm. This symbol is the word Calm."
The old man glanced again at the child, then walked out of the room without saying anything. He still looked like an old and wise sage, seemingly unfazed and indifferent to the world that surrounded him; but inwardly, he was shocked. He didn't bother to hear the servant's questions, and he didn't mind the disciples bowing to him on his way out.
The old man felt troubled; a five-year-old child had successfully drawn his first rune, and he had officially become an Array Master.
Once outside, the old man sighed. The memories of his past struggles and study resurfaced in his mind. It had taken him five years of bitter study and practice to draw his first Array and become an Array Master. At that time, he was considered a genius of a generation; but now a child had surpassed his past achievement.
As he walked, lost in thought, he couldn't help but murmur:
"Heaven is unfair."
Unknown Canyon – Wester Coalition
In an unknown valley, a man and a child sat cross-legged. Both were dressed in identical blue robes, signifying their belonging to the same sect. The child wore a serious expression as he listened intently to his master's instructions.
"The first step in your cultivation journey is to open your dantian," the master began. "This process can be broken down into two steps. First, you need to sense the Qi in your surroundings. Once you can sense the Qi around you, you must absorb it using your spiritual root. Understood?"
The child raised his hand and asked curiously, "How much Qi should I absorb? Why can mortals feel Qi but not become cultivators? And how long will it take for me to become a cultivator?"
"Let's start with the first question," the master replied patiently. "You should absorb enough Qi to fill your dantian." Seeing the confused look on the child's face, he elaborated, "As I explained before, the dantian is the place where you store your cultivation. It's located in the lower part of your belly."
"The spiritual root is a cultivator's lifeline. It's what allows you to transfer Qi from the environment into your dantian. This is why mortals can't cultivate; they lack a spiritual root, so they cannot gather Qi into their dantian and start their cultivation."
"As for how long it takes to become a cultivator, that depends on your spiritual root and the environment that surrounds you. Generally speaking, someone with a superior-grade spiritual root can become a cultivator in a week or two, even in poor conditions. So, it won't take you long to become a cultivator. Now, get ready and try to sense the Qi in the surroundings."
"Yes, Master."
The man looked at his newly acquired disciple. His name was Jonas; a 7-year-old that he had taken in out of pity. He never had high expectations for the child, since he had taken him on a whim without even testing his talent.
However, Jonas had given him an unexpected surprise—becoming a cultivator in less than ten minutes. This was something shocking, since his disciple had just broken a world record. A record established by the legendary Gardening Sage from the past, nonetheless. This meant that his disciple's potential was equal to or higher than that of the legendary Sage!
The elder looked again at his disciple and couldn't help but lament:
"Heaven is unfair."
Similar scenes were unfolding in the rest of the continent as more and more talented people appeared like mushrooms. Due to this cultivators both novice and expert couldn't help but lament the unfairness of heaven; However, someone didn't have the same opinion...
Elder Shuming was climbing a mountain while complaining in his mind. He was panting heavily, and his breathing was irregular. He didn't know why the sect master insisted on living on the peak of this mountain.
Normally this wouldn't be a big deal since even a low rank cultivator could easily climb a tall mountain, but this mountain had a spirit suppressing Array on its top which would suppress everyone's cultivation to zero. So, for cultivators like Shuming, that specialized in speed and had low strength this was extremely exhausting.
However, when Shuming was close to the peak he suppressed his emotions and put on a calm expression, he couldn't show any disrespect to the sect Master.
When Shuming reached the peak, he found the Sect Master gazing up at the stars. He wanted to ask if the sect master had seen the future, but he refrained from asking he hadn't climbed the mountain for this. So after bowing to the master he reported
"The yearly recruitment exam concluded today. A total of 300 people joined the sect: 100 possess mid-grade spiritual roots, and 200 have high-grade spiritual roots. Moreover, 10 individuals with special talents were accepted as personal disciples by the elders."
The sect master continued to stare at the starry sky, seemingly not minding his subordinate's words. After a few minutes of silence, he answered with a question.
"What's on your mind? You seem excited"
"I'm just excited to see the golden age of Cultivation" Shuming didn't even try to hide the excitement in his voice
The Sect master sneered "Golden Age? I don't think so"
Shuming was surprised by this. Their sect had recruited an ungodly amount of talented people in the past few years; and talented individuals appeared everywhere in the continent. Wasn't this the definition of a golden age? An era where talent is everywhere and everyone rises to the top?
"My Lord what do you mean by this?"
The sect master sighed then slowly turned; Shuming could now clearly see that there was no trace of joy on the master's old face, only a serious expression.
"Heaven follows the rule of equal exchange, if it gives something to you then you must pay the price"
"The birth of talents could only mean one thing; a crisis is coming. A crisis that will need a lot of powerful and talented cultivators to resolve it."