Chapter 342: Tong - 342
In the depths of a small cave, a group of bears that seemed exactly like the brown bears from earth surrounded a bear that was laying down on a bed.
In her paws was a weird looking creature. Although one would not know it if they were not present, that creature had just been born from the female bear.
Each of the bears in the cave were at the core formation realm, and boasted an intelligence similar to that of a mortal human.
They were all scratching their heads as they looked at the newborn child.
Unlike the surrounding bears, the newborn had white skin with only a few patches of fur in random areas.
Although they had never seen a human before, the newborn bear was undoubtedly a humanoid creature.
"Is this some sort of deformity?" One of the bears asked after a moment.
"How dare you speak of my child like that!" The mother bear screamed at the bear that had spoken. "He is just special. A little different from us."
"Uhhh. Whatever you say, sister." The bear responded.
At this time, Ying Xiong silently and invisibly arrived above their cave. He had felt an unnatural disturbance on the planet while cultivating, leading to him going towards the planet.
As he looked at the scene and observed the planet, he was shocked. The boy just born seemed to be the first humanoid creature ever born on the planet, a sign of a great evolution.
Despite that, Ying XIong felt slightly worried. He could feel what the bears could not, and that was a vile and dark aura within the child, although he seemed to be an innocent kid for the moment.
Since he had spare time, he decided to wait a few years and watch the child grow. He would only make his decision at that time.
Eventually, the child was given a simple name, Tong.
Despite the bears being animals, they were one of the most naturally intelligent races on the planet. They had almost perfectly imitated a human society, with houses, schools, restaurants, and such.
As expected, the child, Tong, grew up while being treated differently from other children.
Although some children would occasionally pick on him or call him names, the worst came from some adults.
When he was alone, they would often throw things at him or call him horrible things. As he grew older, the child began to only feel a connection to his mother, the only person that seemed to love him. Even his father only acted.
At the age of 7, he finally began to go to a school, but not a normal school. It was a martial arts and cultivation school.
Unsurprisingly, his life got even worse. At the martial arts school, fighting was not forbidden and even encouraged. The child did not show any promising talent, and was in the bottom 10% of the entire school.
Only getting beat up 5 times in a day was considered lucky.
Still, despite feeling rage, humiliation, and loneliness, the child remembered his mothers words.
As long as he was kind, he would be the happiest one in the end.
He could only painfully wait for that day.
Then, a few days after his 11th birthday, he received a letter from his father. His mother had been killed as a bystander in a robbery.
He stayed in his room, a room for four bears, but with only one person living in it due to his weirdness.
Only after a week did he step out again. Not a single person had checked in on him in all of that time.
Only a few moments after he left his room, a common face appeared in front of him, followed by a bunch of his lackeys.
"Hello Tong. It's so good to see you again. For our reunion, why don't we have a little spar?" The boy, Jared, asked.
For the first time since he entered the martial arts academy, Tong ignored the boy. He attempted to walk past him while muttering his mothers words, but a hand reached out and pushed him to the ground.
"You think you can ignore me?" Jared said as he watched Tong stand up.
"I heard your mother died. Thank god she didn't give birth to another you before she did. Isn't that just a miracle?" Jared taunted.
Ying Xiong, silently and invisibly floating above, finally began to pay attention again. He could feel a faint movement within the boy's body.
Standing across from Jared, Tong clenched his fists, but he remained silent.
"Since you don't want to fight here, why don't you come with us. We can go to your mothers grave, and we can fight there. Wouldn't that be fun?" Jared asked.
Tong's anger continued to build. He was about to make a decision, but he suddenly heard a voice in his head.
"Release me now!" The voice screamed. causing Tong to crouch to the ground while covering his ears.
"How dare they talk to us like that! Why are you cowering you pathetic fool! Kill them!" The voice screamed in a rage, but nobody besides Tong, and Ying Xiong who was spying on his mind could hear.
'Where is this voice coming from? Is it inside? An innate talent?' Ying Xiong asked himself.
Jared continued to blaber on, insulting Tong and his mother over and over again, until the voice inside Tong's head finally exploded.
"Fine then! I'll take care of this myself!" It screamed.
Suddenly, Tong felt like his body was not his anymore. He felt like his soul was disconnected, and he was merely watching from the side.
Tong's body stood up.
"Finally decided to do something? What will it be?" He taunted.
Tong's body raised his hand up and punched down at the ground. Surprisingly, nothing happened. Even if he was only at the foundation establishment realm, something should have happened.
Just as Jared was about to taunt him again, the ground began to shake, and then break apart.
Not just the surrounding people, but the entire martial arts school and everyone in it was forcefully pulled underground and buried by the sudden earthquake.
When Tong felt like his body was his own again, he could see nothing around him but cracked ground.
Chapter 343: Master Iroh - 343
Just a few moments after finally regaining control over his body, Tong passed out and fell to the ground. Above him, Ying Xiong was stunned.
If he had a beard, he would be stroking it.
"This boy's talent is nearly comparable to mine. And his divine physique, truly mysterious." He said to himself.
Perhaps a normal cultivator could not understand the boy's talent, even a lesser dao creation realm cultivator may not.
But Ying Xiong was not only in the inner world realm, but also had nearly unparalleled talent.
He could just barely understand everything about the boy.
"It truly is a pity. If your meridians weren't so blocked up by impurities, then you may not have suffered this much." Ying Xiong sighed.
He then began to think of what he should do.
"This boy has a great darkness within him in the form of his divine physique. It is as if he has two souls in his body. He also had a great connection to Earth Qi." Ying Xiong said to himself while thinking.
"Alright. I shall accept this boy as my disciple, even if just for the sake of stopping him from causing destruction." Ying Xiong said with resolve.
He looked around at the destruction around him, and then at the cultivators flying towards him in the distance.
Although martial arts academy taught future cultivators, the strongest among them had only been at the nascent soul realm.
Even among the entire bear race, the strongest was only at the peak of the soul formation realm. And they were one of the peak race's on the planet.
Still, it was amazing that the foundation establishment child was able to do such damage. He was truly too talented.
Ying Xiong scooped up the boy from the ground and took him to a cave far away.
When the child woke up, he saw a bearded and wise looking man not too far from him sitting cross legged.
It was naturally Ying Xiong in disguise. For fun, he had decided to take the wise old master approach.
"Good morning young child." He said in a wise and calming voice.
The child was confused seeing him, a combination of Ying Xiongs unnatural looks and the situation that had happened before.
"Ummm. Who are you? Where am I?" THe boy asked.
"Please. Calm down child. Here, have some tea." Ying Xiong said as he pulled a teapot and a cup out from behind him.
The boy, confused as to what tea was and what cups were, silently listened.
He found the old man's voice unnaturally calming. Ying Xiong guided the child, showing him how to drink tea.
Soon, the boy calmed down.
"Now we can begin. I am a wandering master traveling the cosmos. You can call me…. ummmm…. Iroh!" Ying Xiong said.
"Iroh? Alright." The boy responded.
"I have sensed great talent within you, but there is also great darkness." Ying Xiong, or Iroh, said.
"Talent? You must have the wrong person. I am not talented." The boy responded sadly.
"But you are, child. You have simply been unlucky and are following the wrong path." Iroh said.
"What do you mean sir?" The boy asked curiously.
"It seems that you were born with many impurities. They have blocked your meridians, not allowing you to display even 10% of your cultivation talent. In addition, you are trying to cultivate like a beast, but you are a humanoid creature." Iroh explained. "These have caused your cultivation to be horrifyingly slow. It is amazing that you have even come this far."
"Really! Can you help me!?" The boy shouted in excitement.
"I can clear your meridians, but the rest can be fixed by you." Iroh said.
Ying Xiong waved his hand and cleared the impurities from the child's body.
"There. Now, the rest is up to you. Before that, I would like to ask you, would you accept me as your teacher?" Iroh asked.
"If you are as powerful as you say, it would be my honor." The boy said.
"Good." Iroh smiled.
"Please! Help me understand, Master Iroh." The boy bowed.
"Of course. Sit and cross your legs." Iroh said.
The boy followed as told.
"You have followed the ways you have been taught, but they were never meant for you. Look deep within yourself. Only there will you find the answer you seek." Master Iroh explained.
The boy meditated and looked into his mind. It only took moments for the humanoid cultivation technique to appear in his head.
"I've got it, Master Iroh!" The boy exclaimed in excitement.
"Good good. Have some tea to celebrate." Master Iroh said as he poured more tea that seemed to come from nowhere.
The boy didn't question it and gulped the tea in an instant.
After jumping around in excitement for a while, he seemed to remember something and his happiness turned into sadness.
"What is wrong young Tong?" Master Iroh asked.
"My mother. She died. I nearly forgot after meeting you, but the only person who had ever cared about me is gone." Tong cried.
"Tong. Take a seat." Master Iroh said.
Although tears were pouring from Tong's eyes, he followed his instructions.
"Master, can you revive her?" Tong asked with hope.
Master Iroh revealed a sad expression and sighed.
"I'm afraid that I cannot. I, and perhaps the whole universe, am not capable of that."
Tong heard him and seemed to become even sadder.
"Do not sulk, young Tong. Life is long and full of possibilities. We must cherish it." Master Iroh said wisely.
"There is nothing to cherish. My mother is gone! Everyone who had taunted and hated me is still out there, completely fine!" Tong shouted.
"Tong. Life is much like a tree. When leaves fall, they cannot be reconnected. Yet still, they are the most beautiful when they do so. You must thank and appreciate your mother, and then you must move on. Your hatred is not worth holding." Master Iroh said.
"I don't know if I can do such a thing, Master Iroh. All I feel is hatred right now." Tong said.
"There is no wound that cannot be healed. We will work on it together. You will grow stronger, wiser, and you will learn to spread love and forgiveness among the world." Master Iroh said, causing Tong to finally calm down.
"Come, Tong. Let us begin your training." Master Iroh exclaimed.
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