บท 2: 2.The Cuckoo bird
A commotion could be heard in the otherwise calm Sootshacks village as a carriage rolled in. This carriage bore the insignia of the Namjin mountain sect. The villagers knew this could be the opportunity of a lifetime for their children. Pan Yimu walked out of the carriage and breathed in all the adoration and attention. He pretty much liked that being a member of the Namjin Mountain Sect brought him such respect. He flaunted his robes as often as he could.
He told the adults to gather up the children for testing. If the divination was right, There was a truly gifted child living in this village. Your average mid-sized sect like the Namjin mountain sect had four or five of these gifted youngsters at a time. They weren't too common, yet they weren't so rare that they couldn't be found anywhere either.
One by one, children of the village got tested. They put their hands on an oval stone to get the measly amount of internal energy judged. Without a cultivation technique, the qi the body gathered was minimal. The better the spiritual root, the more it would create high-quality abundant qi from the qi of heaven and earth. That would result in a brighter oval stone. The color of the stone determines which element was prominent in the qi content of the person.
Wang Ging's father had cut in line and put his sons up to be tested first. He was sure at least one of his children would be a gifted child.
Alas, destiny had other plans. none of his children showed any signs of spiritual qi. Eventually, it was Yao Lei's turn. He timidly put his hand forward. There was a soft white glow on the oval stone. Pan Yimu knitted his brows. This kid was an owner of a middling quality yin spiritual root. Normally, when it comes to other elements, the middle-quality spiritual root wasn't that great. It was the ten percent of the cultivators in the world. But when coupled with the Yin element the middling spiritual root was good enough. There were certain aspects of cultivation only yin element cultivators could handle, and if he was able to recruit this boy, this boy could be employed on behalf of the sect to do those things.
Pan Yimu gestured for Yao Lei to walk to the side. and continued to test children.
Yao Lei suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He looked around to see Wang Ging resentfully staring at him. It was as if he could read his mind. Wang Ging was going to kill his songbird to take revenge for the fact that Yao Lei dared to become a cultivator when Wang Ging couldn't. If he couldn't reach Yao Lei, He could reach his things!
Wang Ging darted toward the wood shack and Yao Lei darted behind him. Wang Ging made a crucial mistake this time. He was by himself. Which allowed Yao Lei to start a one-on-one confrontation.
Yao Lei caught Wang Ging by his shirt and pulled him into a brawl on the ground. The sound of flesh smacking flesh could be heard. Eventually, Yao Lei got off from mounting Wang Ging. Wang Ging was crying as hard as he could, snot coming out of his nose. He wobbled away somewhere, allowing Yao Lei to retrieve his little songbird.
Pan Yimu didn't care when Yao Lei darted away. He was a kid and he couldn't have been gone far. It was good to be lenient toward kids. Yao Chang, realizing his son was missing got angry. This was the opportunity he was waiting for. It was his son's chance to be somebody. It was the opportunity for him to be somebody by proxy.
After searching for a while, he found his son, with a black eye, petting a bird.
At the same time, Wang Ging found his father. His father, seeing his son was beaten black and blue, yelled:
"What happened to you?"
Wang Ging cried his eyes out and told his father everything. Unlike Yao Cheng, Wang Ging's father immediately moved to confront Yao Lei and his father. It was really important for him to make his son feel that he got his son's back.
When Wang Ging and his father showed up in front of Yao Lei and Yao Cheng, They got into a big argument. Yao Lei, however, was thinking about something else as his father argued with Wang Ging's father. He was thinking about the fact that Wanbg Ging's father took action immediately to protect his son. Yao Lei was seething with jealousy and envy. He never had a dad who protected him like that.
On the other hand, Yao Cheng was already riding a high horse.
" How dare your mere mortal son try to injure my immortal son's bird?"
Yao Cheng was beaming with glee. From now on, he was an immortal's father. No one could say anything to him anymore. Except maybe other fathers who might have a cultivator son. That however didn't subtract from the pride he has felt about the situation.
"Get away from me, your son is clearly in the wrong. He tried to break my son's belongings and got beaten up in response. He got his just punishment if you ask me."
Yao Lei felt his father's warm hand on his back. The hand of a father who looked out for him. He was yearning for that warmth for so long yet it never came until he became a cultivator. It was bittersweet love laced with conditionality. "If you weren't a cultivator, or something equally impressive, I would've never defended you." The experience was harrowing and heartbreaking for Yao Lei.
Yao Cheng chased Wang Ging's dad away and pulled Yao Lei aside.
"Look son, the Namjin mountain sect is a great opportunity for you. Don't miss out on it. You would regret it for the rest of your life."
Yao Lei knew his father and because he knew his father, he knew there was something else he wasn't telling him. Yao Wei surveyed his father's clothes with his eyes and noticed the brand-new pouch hanging from Yao Cheng's waist.
"How many taels of silver are in there?"
Yao Cheng's expression turned dark. His son was unnecessarily perceptive.
"Ten."
Yao Lei's eyes were listless. He expected the worst and he was right.
"That's good money. Spend it well."
Yao Cheng brought Yao Lei back to Pan Yimu. At that time, the Hao family found their son swimming in the sea, dried him, and brought him in front of the cultivator. As Hao Shun put his hand on the oval stone, it shone bright multicolor light.
When everyone else was looking at the stone, Yao Lei was looking at Pan Yimu's face. He caught Pan Yimu greedily licking his lips. This small gesture solidified Pan Yimu as someone untrustworthy in Yao Lei's eyes.
Pan Yimu was excited. He found the kid whom the divination was pointing to. A five-element-yang supreme spirit root! A powerful son of heaven! His path will be smooth as long as he cultivates diligently. It's the spiritual root that's the envy of cultivators everywhere.
Pan Yimu gestured for Hao Shun to stand to the side.
One by one, every child in the village has been tested. Three kids were standing near Pan Yimu. Other than the two boys, there was Xiao An, a little girl, who had a water element middle-grade spiritual root. Today's harvest was good. The sect was going to give him plenty of spirit stones for this. He needed as many spirit stones as he could before he attempted to build his foundation. Otherwise, he might fail in his bottleneck because he was short of qi.
Xiao An And Hao Shun cried as they said their goodbyes to their family. There was no such thing for Yao Lei. Yao Lei just stared at his father and mother. His mother just walked up to him, kissed him on the forehead, and said:
"Take care of yourself."
Then she went back. She didn't have anything else to say. Yao Lei looked a lot like his mother. They had the same slick black hair, beady and dead eyes, and prominent noses.
The kids brought together what little possessions they had and loaded them on the carriage. Among those possessions was a single songbird. The carriage left town soon after.
After a while, Pan Yimu's attention turned toward the little songbird.
"Is that a cuckoo bird?"
Yao Lei squinted his eyes. He didn't know about what that bird was.
"What's a cuckoo bird?"
Pan Yimu smiled. It was always a joy to teach a kid something new. Pan Yimu knew all about what cuckoo birds were and what they did.
"Cuckoo birds are birds that lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. After hatching a baby cuckoo bird throws the eggs off the nest so he can be the sole recipient of its adopted parent's attention. It's a parasite."
After hearing it, Yao Lei started crying.
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