Lost in his thoughts, Yu Huan was sitting on a rock with a cool breeze hitting him against his radiant face.
After having failed the entrance exam for apprentice blacksmith the 4th time, Yu Huan was dispirited and lost.
Blacksmiths were very valuable to Merchant Union. Due to the increasing demands for top quality weapons and shields, people with blacksmith skills were very much valued in the country. Yu Huan's dream was to become a full fledged blacksmith. As a mortal living in the world of cultivators if he could become a blacksmith, it would help him living a decent living.
Yu Huan was a very brilliant boy, who was taken care by Zang Zhe who found him one day drifting on a river nearby in a basket. When Zang Zhe found him, he was only a small baby. Zang Zhe took him in and treated him like his own son.
Despite being a bright kid, he had failed the exam for being an apprentice blacksmith four times. He had read all about blacksmiths and his knowledge and his competence in this field can even be said was more than any ordinary apprentice, but unfortunately for him, blacksmithing requires the person to have a strong body and to be a good blacksmith it requires one to be at least be at 2nd level of Body Strengthening. Yu Huan was born with a very weak body with every one of his meridians closed up from birth.
Yu Huan knew that he could never be a cultivator no matter what fortune he could get his hands on. But he still stubbornly wanted to be a blacksmith and carve his name in gold.
While sitting on that rock, he was sighing in his heart.
"Huan'er"
Zang Zhe was a man in his 30's with a handsome face and his black long hair drooped over his shoulders.
"Foster Father"
Yu Huan moved from the rock and stood in front Zang Zhe slightly bent in a respectful way.
"Huan'er I know you are a very hard working kid and very persistent. But pursuing something in which you can neither make progress nor be recognized seems to be not a wise decision my son."
Zang Zhe loved Yu Huan the most and it always pained him whenever Yu Huan failed again and again. He felt like someone was trampling his heart whenever his son was dispirited after every trial and he wanted to make his son happy but being of a humble background he couldn't help Yu Huan very much.
"Foster father. I want to become a blacksmith so that I can bring you to live a life of riches and prosperity. But it seems that my dreams are a bit out stretched." Yu Huan said with a pale smile.
"My son. Since the day I found you, I only wanted you to be happy and live your life freely. You shouldn't burden yourself for your old man. As long as you live happily, I will be happy with it."
Zang Zhe always felt guilty for Yu Huan as he couldn't do anything for Yu Huan except for keeping a roof over his head. But he also knew that Yu Huan was very grateful of him and wanted to do anything to make him lead a comfortable life.
Sighing in his heart Zang Zhe said "Huan'er, lets go for fishing. Maybe that will cheer up your mood."
"Okay" said Yu Huan with a smile.
Later that night...
Yu Huan came back to the same place as he was sitting earlier. It was his favorite place where he could look at the open sky with twinkling stars and those stars were being reflected on the clear stream of the river which flowed near to the place where he was.
As he was still gazing at those reflection and lost in his world, he suddenly discovered that those reflections were actually moving upstream!
"Huh?"
Yu Huan thought he was hallucinating. But when he focused he realized that they were really moving and now they were accelerating towards some place. Without thinking about it too much he dashed in that direction to see what was happening.
After about half an hour he reached at the foot of a hill from where the stream was passing by. He looked closely and searched for those reflections but everything was dark there.
'That's weird. Those reflections seemed to have disappeared all of a sudden' Yu Huan was bewildered by this. After searching for some time he finally gave up and was ready to go back.
Buzzzzzzzz...
Suddenly he heard a weird sound coming from the corner of the mountain's foot. Yu Huan went in to take a closer look from behind the bushes. His breathing was at the minimum as he was afraid of something would happen.
He saw a small cave with its opening the size of a raccoon's head. But that was now what he was worried about. The cave's entrance was glowing like starlight and its intensity was increasing at a steady rate.
"What's happening in there?" Yu Huan was totally taken back from what was happening. All that starlight was too blinding for him to see properly. He took a long breath and looked around to see if someone was around his area, then he silently approached the cave.
"How come this light is so intense? It's actually starting to burn my skin as if I am standing under the afternoon sun?" Yu Huan was very observing and he instantly made the connection of star lights to that of the sun.
As he was closely approaching the spot, it seemed like something is attracting him towards the cave more. He was about a meter away from the entrance now and suddenly the attraction seemed to increasing ten folds and sucked him directly inside the cave.
The cave became silent again and was shrouded in darkness again.
Yu Huan reached at some dark place where he couldn't even see his hands. The attraction was still there and it was sucking his body to some place deep inside the cave.
After about an hour or so, he stopped moving abruptly.
"What is this place? I can't even move my body. It seems like some suction force was dragging me but now it seemed to have stopped."
Bzzzzzzz....
He heard some buzzing which alerted him. His forehead was full of cold sweat as he was afraid of dying in this unknown place. After all, for a simple mortal like him, it was too much to take in.
At some distance he could see a strange light. The suction force was activated again and he was slowly being dragged to that strange light.
From a closer look, it was deep azure with blood red hue to it. That strange light didn't illuminate the surrounding but its radiance was captivating. It was strangely contracting and expanding as if it's breathing.
"What the hell is that light? It looks so bizarre!"
That strange azure light seemed to sense Yu Huan's presence and it started wiggling in its place uncontrollably. Suddenly that light shot itself just below Yu Huan's stomach where his shriveled and useless dantian was present.
As soon as the light went inside his dantian, they were all destroyed by that azure light and completely crippled him permanently. It was said that a mortal even if is unable to store the energy of heaven and earth in his dantian but a long as they are present in his body they can help him to use the energies of heaven and earth to do some tasks.
But now his dantian have been destroyed completely and not even a shred of it was remaining. Yu Huan was under a terrible pain as the destruction of his dantian was a very painful thing.
"My-my dantian is gone? Vanished?"
Yu Huan was grieved at this. The hopes of being a blacksmith was utterly destroyed now. He knew he couldn't cultivate but even with his shriveled dantian he could at least pursue his dreams of being a blacksmith.
"It's all over now. My dream is all gone." Yu Huan was already a weak kid but now with his dantian gone he was worse than weak.
While he was grieving over his terrible misfortune, what he didn't notice was that the strange azure light which has replaced the space of his dantian is now motionless as if it was some ten thousand year old rock which can't be moved.
While being zoned out, Yu Huan suddenly felt an excruciating pain from his abdomen. His body was burning from the inside as the strange azure light was modifying his body further. This kind of intense pain was not something that an ordinary human could handle. While his body was under a torment of being ripped apart, his closed eyes suddenly opened. In the darkness his eyes were glowing with azure light with blood red hue to it, the same as that light from earlier.
His mind was fading and his soul was about to vanquish. Yu Huan was about to die and at the moment he felt powerless and hopeless. As a young kid he always wanted to be a blacksmith and provide a comfortable life to his foster father and repay his kindness. But now he was about to die an agonizing death.
As he was falling unconscious, the light inside his abdomen suddenly glowed to its maximum intensity.
"Boy... Do you desire power?"
A hoarse and ancient voice was heard. It felt so ancient that even the universe felt like a baby in front of that voice.
"Do you... desire strength? "
"Do you... hate yourself for not being able to achieve your goals?"
Yu Huan was still falling unconscious, he suddenly heard this voice.
"Wh-who are you? What have you done to me?"
"Boy, I am someone who can change your destiny forever"
The ancient voice reverberated in his mind like needles were piercing in his mind.
"Senior. I am but a humble mortal. Why are you torturing me so much."
Even in the perilous situation, Yu Huan didn't panic nor showed any fear to the void as he knew no matter what he did he was about to die.
"Boy, be it a coincidence or fate. You have been chosen by the sentient."
"Sentient?"
"The light that just entered in your body is no ordinary being"
"It was the broken dantian of a sentient. The oldest of being to have existed in the universe. The progenitors of all living beings"
"It chose you for some reason and chose to be inside you."
"So, what senior is saying is that sentient has just destroyed my dantian?"
Yu Huan didn't know what was happening but he was sure that that's what happened to him.
"You didn't hear me well kid. The sentient have chosen you to be their successor and that is why your dantian was destroyed."
"Senior... you mean to say is that..."
"See it yourself and you will know"
As soon as the ancient voice said that, Yu Huan was transported magically to a place. This place was an empty chamber, but a strange azure light was floating in the middle of it.
"This...?"
"This is the place where your ordinary crippled dantian was present. Now the sentient is going to occupy this place for its own"
"Senior. Am I going to die?"
"Hmm? Die? What do you mean?"
"I am just a simple mortal. So there is no way I can fight against such an ancient being invading my body."
Yu Huan looked glum and felt more helpless in this situation.
"Hahahahahahaha"
"Boy, you misunderstood the sentient's will. It is not invading your body but is giving you a new chance at life. Just see for a moment and you'll understand"
Yu Huan eyes which were previously dull, lighted up with anticipation.
The strange azure light suddenly started to diffuse and a weird tentacle like thing emerged out of it and it started to expand slowly and occupied the whole space. It looked like a network of vessels connected to each part of his body.
"Now do you understand?"
"Is that a dantian?"
Yu Huan was shocked to his core.
"Not just any dantian, kid. You now have the inheritance of the last and the most powerful of the sentient"
"I can't tell you anything more about that sentient."
"I hope to meet you soon boy. Don't disappoint me."
With those words the ancient voice faded away.