Kapitel 5: Chapter 5 - Hometown
One month later
In the territory of the Profound Heaven Sect, two streams of light streaked through the skies.
They were Yu Weiyuan and the Grand Elder.
"We took a detour in case the Myriad Demon Temple decided to intercept us." Yu Weiyuan said, continuing to fly ahead, tearing through the air. "In consequence, it took more time to reach our destination, but we should arrive shortly."
The Grand Elder only nodded in response.
A few hours later, they caught sight of the outlines of a small town.
They accelerated for a while and landed in its central plaza under the stunned gazes of the residents.
"Immortals! They are Immortals!!!" An old man exclaimed, kneeling on the ground.
The other residents were too shocked to say anything so they only followed his gesture, bowing deeply to the exalted Immortals.
Yu Weiyuan's gaze traveled through the people, his golden eyes dazed in reminiscence.
'Ash Ground Town, a small mortal city without any cultivator. My birthplace...' He thought. 'I'm quite sure it bore such a name because of the grey colour of its soil...'
'It has been only sixteen years since I left.' He breathed a sigh. 'A cultivator's memory is enhanced by their spiritual cultivation thus, I remember each and every single one of these people. But no one remembered the little stinky beggar an Immortal took pity on.'
He smiled in derision, remembering from where he started from. He wasn't ashamed of his origins. They were part of him after all, Yu Weiyuan thought as he retrieved a jade pendant from his collar, a keepsake from his dead mother.
It had nothing special except a name engraved on it.
His, Yu Weiyuan.
---
Sixteen years in the past, Ash Ground Town
A small child, of about nine years of age ran through the streets of the city, holding a piece of bread tightly against his chest.
He looked really thin, but not malnourished. His disheveled streaks of ink-black hair stained his paper-white skin dirtied by the soil. He wore only rags for clothing.
But the most special thing about this child were his two golden eyes shining like suns. A look of urgency flashed in them as he continued to run, being agile enough to avoid the other passants.
"COME BACK HERE, LITTLE BEGGAR!!!" A booming voice came from behind the child.
A fat middle-aged man ran towards him, his belly bouncing with each steps, his gaze fierce.
"GIVE ME BACK MY BREAD!!!"
His strides were longer than the child's, but the fat man collided with the other people walking on the street, slowing down his pursuit.
Still, the distance between the two shrunk little by little.
'Will I really be caught this time?' The child thought distressedly. 'I thought I knew the trick to stealing after so many successes...'
After some times, only five steps separated them as they exited the street and arrived into the central plaza.
"I GOT YOU!!!" The middle-aged man shouted in glee, on the verge of grabbing the child's neck from behind.
BOOM!!!
A small explosion occured as something landed in the plaza, making a cloud of dust rise, obscuring the view of the residents and interrupting the fat man.
"Hahaha!!!" A laugh resounded from within the dust cloud as it slowly settled down.
Two people, a middle-aged man of indomitable temperament with sword eyebrows, sharp features and black hair tied into a high ponytail, wearing black robes embroidered with purple gold thread and an old man who was nothing but skin and bones, with long dust gray hair, were standing in the middle of the plaza.
"Immortals!" exclaimed a resident.
"They landed from the skies!"
The people of the plaza started to kneel out of awe, including the fat man. Legends of Immortals flying through the skies and plucking the stars had always been passed down, thus making the inhabitants learn to respect these legendary figures.
Only the child remained standing, his eyes transfixed on the two people, a hint of admiration appearing in his mind.
'I want to become just like them.' He thought, eyes shining.
"Sect Master Lu," sighed the Grand Elder, wearing a tired look upon his face. "You perfectly know there is no need for such a spectacle."
Lu Yingjie, the man with an indomitable temperament, answered lightly, a childish smile on his face: "If we find a potential seed in this place, wouldn't it be great to imprint his future Sect Master's handsome appearance in his mind?"
The Grand Elder sighed again. His Sect Master's antics had always tired him, more than anything else.
An old man walking with a crutch timidly approached the two.
"Why have you come to our humble town, exalted Immortals?" He said while bowing his head, his back trembling in fatigue, his cracked voice shaking. "Please tell us so we can complete your orders to the best of our ability."
Lu Yingjie glanced at the elder indifferently, discarding his childish appearance, gaining the aura of a person of exalted status. "I want all children whose ages range from 3 to 15 years old to be present on the plaza."
"You have six incense sticks worth of time."
The elder bowed with clasped hands before organizing the town people to gather the children.
Just as the time was about to pass, all children were present on the plaza, being approximatively a hundred in number.
The little beggar was among them; the fat man didn't dare to anger the two Immortals for this stinky orphan.
The seemingly unassuming black ring on Lu Yingjie's pinky finger flashed and a transparent orb appeared in his hand.
The orb trapped an opaque white mist inside, which flowed within.
Lu Yingjie waved his hand and the orb floated in the air. "Each child will come touch the Root Assessment Orb one by one when I call for them."
He pointed at a child in silk clothing, son of a wealthy family of Ash Ground Town. He advanced timidly until he put his hand on the orb.
The white fog within the orb roiled and shifted but seemingly reacting to the boy's touch, until it stopped moving, keeping its milky white colour.
Lu Yingjie didn't even look at him as he declared: "Mortal Spiritual Root. Next."
About forty children touched the orb, still failing to make it react until a little girl of about six years of age approached it. She had pigtails hanging from the sides of her head and an egg-like face with soft skin and chubby cheeks, looking very cute.
When she touched the orb, the mist roiled longer, slowly amalgamating and condensing until it changed colours, taking a beautiful cyan hue that shined upon her innocent face.
Lu Yingjie's eyes brightened as he said happily: "Earth Spiritual Root!"
He looked at the Grand Elder: "This little girl will enter the Outer Sect, and if she cultivates well, she'll even have a chance to enter the Inner Sect!"
He turned his gaze towards the little girl and asked: "What's your name?"
"Jiang Luli, Mister." She replied timidly.
"Go stand next to the old guy there, little girl." Lu Yingjie said with a teasing tone, pointing at the Grand Elder, who only breathed a sigh in response.
After her, only another twelve years old boy named Li Enlai managed to change the mist's colour, changing it to a pure green glow, which corresponded to the Profound Spiritual Root, being one grade lesser than the Earth Spiritual Root.
After some time, only one child remained in the plaza apart from Jiang Luli and Li Enlai who stood next to the Grand Elder.
It was the little beggar. His golden eyes shined in anticipation. When Lu Yingjie called for him, he retained himself from running, yet still walked faster than usual.
'No fear? This kid is amusing.' Lu Yingjie quirked a brow in response. 'But that's of no concern if his talent is lacking.'
The dirty child slowly approached the orb with his bony hand, his anticipation burning more and more with every inch closer.
When he touched the orb, the reaction was immediate: cracks started to appear on the glass surface as the mist impacted it.
CRACK!
As it broke completely, the white mist converged in the air, shining above the boy, slowly changing colours, from white to green, green to cyan, cyan to red and red to gold.
Yet, the golden fog hadn't completed its transformation: with a rumbling sound, it gradually gained more colours, until the golden mist became covered in a mystical and mysterious rainbow-coloured glow, forming a nine-coloured golden cloud which drowned the surroundings in its iridescent light.
Lu Yingjie's eyes widened in shock as he spectated the scene.
"This... this is..." He muttered, his voice trembling in excitement.
The Grand Elder echoed his shock: "Immortal... Immortal Spiritual Root..."
"This is actually the Immortal Spiritual Root of legends..." His old voice nearly cracked in stupor.
After their shock came down, an incredibly loud laugh rang out.
"HAHAHAHA!!! THE HEAVENS ARE BLESSING MY PROFOUND HEAVEN SECT!!!"
He grabbed the little beggar by the shoulders, uncaring about the boy's unsightly appearance.
"Child! Do you want to become my disciple?" Lu Yingjie's eyes crossed with the boy's. "I will teach you, nurture you and make you the strongest cultivator between Heaven and Earth!!!"
The child eyes were dodging Lu Yingjie's. "Hum... If... If I become your disciple..."
"Can I fly in the skies?"
Lu Yingjie burst into a childlike smile: "Hahaha!!! Of course you can, no you will!!!"
"Now tell me, what is your name, child?"
The boy fidgeted, his golden eyes drooping. "I don't know..."
"You dont know?"
The boy's mood seemingly dropped as he lowered his head.
But a few moments later, his eyes brightened as if he had remembered something important. He reached for his rags and took out of them a jade pendant with three characters written on it.
"This pendant was with me since I was born... But I don't know how to read..."
Lu Yingjie smiled as he patted the child's head and took the pendant from his outstretched hands.
"Yu... Weiyuan."
"Surnamed Yu, meaning Jade, named Weiyuan, meaning preserving depth."
"Your parents probably hoped for you to be prudent in life."
Yu Weiyuan... This name resounded in the child's head. It was his own. His very own name.
In this very moment, as the boy and the man stood next to each other, the boy finally felt happiness for the first time.
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Fifth_Daoist
Fifth_Daoist Hello readers! Okay here's a clarification before we continue: 1 incense stick of time is equal to 5 minutes. Other than that, I'm not very satisfied with the chapter. I intended to give a little insight into our main character's past, and I think I did it well, but I could have done better.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
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Stein