2 Chapter 2. Departure
Xuo Mu was the son of Aunt Qing who is a widow. They stay across Fang Lin's house. He was precisely the kid who barged inside just now.
When Xuo Mu barged inside Fang Lin's house, Fang Lin immediately with a thought sent the Spatial stone inside his spiritual sea and got out of the bed. He saw Xuo Mu panting and even bursting with excitement.
When Xuo Mu saw Fang Lin, he immediately grabbed Fang Lin's shoulders with both his hands and said excitedly, "The Green Bamboo instructor has arrived and he wants to conduct a test in our village. Let us hurry, I really want to get selected in the trials and join a sect. It doesn't matter even if I'm a cook or cleaner. I must get into the sect anyway possible!"
Fang Lin gave him a look, which meant 'like you really know how to clean or cook'.
Suddenly Fang Lin's mind went into a deep thought and he thought about Uncle Wei's disappearance without a trace and he was gifted a precious stone which could store items inside came to his mind, for his birthday. He had a very big doubt that his Uncle Wei was not someone ordinary. The way he carved those enigmatic sculptures and how always the Pearl Trading organization pestered him about the sculptures. And an idea suddenly popped up. 'What does Uncle want me to do? Why did he leave me alone? Its my birthday today and he still left today without explaining anything to me directly and only leaving behind a Treasure stone and a letter. Why did he give me the Treasure stone and the sword? And that Jade slip, What is it exactly? I can only find the answer to all of this by becoming stronger.'
A new found determination awakened inside him.
He stopped wallowing in sadness about his Uncle's departure anymore, with a pure and gentle smile on his face said to Xuo Mu, "Lets go, to the village square."
Two kids ran out of the house racing towards the central village square.
Fang Lin was just a kid who had just been to the Town of Lunar Peak and nowhere else until now.
Xuo Mu and Fang Lin both came out of the house together and headed towards the center of the village.
Village head Ma Liang was all smiles and talking to a Grey robed man who looked around 30-35 years of age. Behind the village head Ma were a group of old men who respectfully stood behind him, occasionally praising the grey robed man. They held deep veneration on their faces.
The middle aged man from the Green Bamboo sect had a faint of smile on his face, "Village head Ma, let's not waste anymore time, please call all the youngsters of your village within 15 years of age. Let's start this year's assessment right away."
Village head Ma nodded his head and said, "Absolutely! I have already informed every one in the village, they will be here soon." Saying that, he looked at an old man behind him. The old man nodded his head and went in the front open field, and shouted, "The venerable Instructor from the Green Bamboo sect has arrived. The Instructor wishes that he could find appropriate candidates for the Green Bamboo sect. Anyone below the age of 15 years can come out to participate in this selections." Saying that, he went back to stand respectfully behind Ma Liang.
Soon people aged from 11-15 years, came out from all the sides and stood in the open field, Xuo Mu and Fang Lin also came and joined the crowd. Seeing Fang Lin join the crowd, village head Ma smiled happily.
The Green Bamboo instructor came forward and looked at the potential candidates. He nodded at the 23 people who had come forward to participate in this selections. He slowly looked at each of them and started speaking.
"Our Green Bamboo Sect is an illustrious sect that has stood tall for 2000 years. We come under the banner of the great Thousand Leaf Immortal Sect of the Demon Immortal continent. We are looking for young ones who are suitable to join our sect. Today, I will be testing you all." With a smile, the Green Ring on the middle finger of the Instructor glowed and a big transparent crystal the size of 1 cubic feet appeared in his hand. The instructor pushed the crystal and it floated 5 feet in front of him in the air.
Seeing the floating crystal, everyone's eyes lit up and all of them, started thinking in their own ways. In all the participants eyes there was a slight excitement.
The people nearby started talking to each other,
"Is that the style of an Immortal."
"Its super cool"
Some shouted,
"Lord Instructor, I'm 16 years old, is it not really possible to join the selection trial?"
"I wish I could turn back time...."
"Sigh...its good to be young. I wish I had a son or daughter less than 15 years old"
The Grey robed Instructor shouted "Quiet everyone." and only then did the people around stopped talking.
Fang Lin's observation power was very good and sharp. He saw the Green glow on the ring and thought to himself, 'Is that a spatial treasure like my Grey colored stone? But why couldn't he store the ring inside him?'
He suddenly thought about Uncle Wei's warning and that if the Spatial Stone was exposed, or if others came to know that he had a treasure on him which can be stored inside of a them, someone will then definitely attack him regardless of their age or anything. He then decided that in the future he should also buy a spatial ring to put on a show at least in case he wish to use the stone during someone's presence.
While the people and the young ones was thinking what would happen next, the Green Bamboo instructor who saw everyone's expression became a little bit proud of himself. He walked near the stone and said, "All the candidates will come in front of the stone one by one, stand inside the ring and place their hand on the crystal." Saying that, he took out a scroll and injected his Qi into the scroll, and the scroll glowed brightly and formed a Yellow color ring the size of 2 feet and he carefully placed the ring in front of the crystal on the ground.
"Now come over one by one and place your hand on the crystal."
The first person in the front, hurriedly, but nervously went and stood in the ring and placed his hand on the crystal. The crystal glowed brightly and came back to normal again.
The instructor expressionless said, "Not qualified, next."
The first candidate had a dejected look on his face and went back to the same position he was standing in and the person behind him went and stood inside the Yellow ring.
She was a girl of 11 year old and when she touched the crystal, it glowed brightly and a tinge of Green color appeared inside the crystal.
The Green Bamboo Sect Instructor was clearly happy, with a faint smile, he asked "Level 3 wind attribute, not bad, What is your name, little girl?"
Seeing that the Instructor was happy, the girl answered in a crisp and tender voice, "My name is Xue Ji....Instructor"
Instructor nodded his head, pointed next to him and said, "Xue Ji, come and stand to this side."
Xue Ji happily came and stood beside the Instructor.
Xue Ji family was extremely happy and her mom had tears in her eyes. Her father then held Xue Ji's mother hands and had a proud expression on his face.
The next person soon came up and behind him, even more,
"Not qualified"
"Not qualified"
"Lvl 1 fire atrribute, come here"
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After that 4 people were selected and then it was Xuo Mu's turn.
Xuo Mu excitedly came and pressed his hand on the crystal. The crystal glowed brightly and a pale yellow color appeared on the crystal.
"Lvl 1 Earth attribute, come to this side.", the instructor said expression less.
Xuo Mu was so happy that there was tears in his eyes, nodded twice and went.
Finally Fang Lin was the twenty third candidate. Fang Lin took a deep breath and went inside the ring and touched the crystal.
The crystal glowed brightly and when the brightness came down, one can see 3 colors, White, Black and Green.
The instructor saw this and was dumbfounded, he muttered in a low voice no one could hear, "Level 5 light, Level 5 dark and Level 4 Wind. Is he a kid or a monster?"
Fang Lin saw the 3 colors and was somewhat intrigued, he suddenly injected his spiritual sense inside the crystal and what he saw suddenly shocked him.
Top half of the crystal was completely white and bottom part was completely Black. In between the black and white was a light green and inside the light green there was a sparkling grey color wink. They grey color wink was very sparkling to look at. He immediately withdrew the spiritual sense after seeing this so that nobody would know what we was doing. Nobody saw that grey sparkle inside the crystal ball except Fang Lin.
The instructor was still dumbfounded already and didn't know what had happened, he said, "What is your name kid?"
"Fang Lin"
"Fang Lin....alright come to this side."
Fang Lin was still puzzled as what he saw inside and was still thinking what it might be. He slowly walked and stood to the side.
Ma Liang who was seeing everything from behind, went hastily in front of the instructor as he was curious about Fang Lin. The instructor didn't tell any attribute and by noticing the expression of the Instructor, he suddenly came to know that Fang Lin was very special.
Ma Liang asked, "Uh.... instructor, Lin'er attribute..."
Without continuing to ask, The Instructor suddenly cut off the village heads words saying, "Level 4 wind attribute, indeed rare."
Village head Ma suddenly swallowed the words that had come near his throat and came to understand that this instructor didn't want to speak about this anymore and so he shut his mouth.
The instructor turned his head around, looked at all the selected kids and when his eyes stopped on Fang Lin, it revealed a rare glint like he was seeing a treasure.
"We will depart at the night. Say your goodbye to your families and be ready." With that, he waved his sleeve, and the crystal came back to his hands and disappeared and the black ring dissipated.
Xuo Mu and Fang Lin came back to their houses, Xuo Mu hastily said, "I will go inform my mother" and ran towards his home while Fang Lin came back to his house.
He sat on the bed, held the letter in his hands, reminiscing about the time he stayed with his uncle. He thought about how his uncle cooked for him. The stories he was telling about and the jokes he used to make. He became sad once more. But after a period of time, there was a look of determination in his eyes.
There were footsteps coming from outside and when the door opened, it was village head Ma.
"Fang Lin ah Fang Lin, where has your uncle ran off to, when it's time to celebrate." Fang Lin slowly came out and looked sad and lowered his head.
Ma Liang came across Fang Lin and patted his shoulder, "Alright kid, you don't have to be this dejected. Let's go to my house, aunty Ma has prepared a meal for you. You will be leaving in a few hours and even I will not know when we will be seeing each other again."
Fang Lin nodded and walked with him.
When they came to village head Ma's house, Fang Lin saw aunty Ma and she was really happy. Aunty Ma was a middle aged woman, she had a grace to her that makes anyone see this woman think that she has a very mild temper. Aunty Ma saw Fang Lin and there was a smile on her face. She really was happy from the bottom of her heart. She really treated Fang Lin like her own child since she didn't have any children.
Uncle Wei and Fang Lin used to visit village head Ma's once in a while and enjoyed wine and food.
And aunty Ma used to dote very much on Fang Lin and treat him like her own child. Fang Lin was also very happy when he saw aunty Ma, her doting and care she showed on him, he felt very happy and sometimes would think about his parents whether even they would care like them if they were with me?
Aunty Ma came next to Fang Lin and tousled his hair, "Lin'er, now you have even got selected into the Green Bamboo sect, you will have gone for a long time. We don't even know when you will come back. You should make sure that you will come back once in a while too meet you aunty." Saying this, there was a tear in her eye which slowly fell down.
Village head Ma saw this and sighed, he came next to her, " Your aunty Ma loves you a lot, even if not for this old Man, you should come back too meet your Aunt."
With that, the curtains fell down and they went inside to have dinner.
Aunty Ma had prepared lots of food which Fang Lin liked, and even Fang Lin ate like a hungry wolf. Since yesterday night, he awakened his spiritual sense, he hadn't ate any food and wolfed everything. Seeing this Aunty Ma had a smile on her face. When it was about time to leave, village head Ma went inside the room and came back with a package. He kept the package in Fang Lin's hand and said, "keep this with you, don't reject it. This will be of some help to you. If you reject it, your Aunty Ma will feel bad."
Fang Lin kept the package in his hands and saw inside the crystal, there was a blue color stone about one inch and 2-3 pieces of gold.
He took the package, bid farewell to them and left their house, aunty Ma couldn't control herself anymore and tear drops fell on the floor. Village head Ma gently hugged her and muttered, "He will be back....he will be back..."
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Fang Lin came back to his house and packed his bag. Even though he had the spatial stone, he still packed everything in to his bag and went out of the house towards the village square.
He saw that the Green Bamboo instructor already stood in the middle of the square with the selected ones waiting for the remaining people to come so that they would return to the sect for further trial.
Fang Lin saw village head Ma, aunty Ma, all the villagers had come to see this once in a while scene which had not took place for so many years.
He came stood next to the instructor and suddenly in a distance he heard a child a mother bawling their tears out and come very slowly towards them.
Xuo Mu and his mother were crying a lot that they caught the attention of every villagers eyes.
Mother and son duo came towards the instructor and finally when mother saw the instructor, she let go of her son and Xuo Mu came and stood next to Fang Lin.
Xuo Mu's mother then said, "Mu Mu, you have to come back to see your mother at least once in a month other wise mother won't be able to sleep at night."
Xuo Mu bawled out his tears once again and said, "You don't worry mother, Mu Mu will become very rich and come back again to take you back with me."
Fang Lin saw this and couldn't help but turn towards Aunt Ma, who treated him like a mother would and she too saw Fang Lin and started tearing up.
The instructor heard this and shook his head. He couldn't see the mother duo pair anymore and said, "Alright, we shall set out then, it's already late now, we have a long way to go" With that, he looked up at the sky, and a giant Silver eagle came down and sat on the ground. Its each wing were 50 feet wide and it was a very huge eagle. The instructor waved his sleeve and a gentle Qi wrapped around all the 6 selected kids and they got on the eagle. Then the instructor flew to the eagle's head and sat down.
All the family members and villagers bade their well wishes to their kids and Aunty Ma was looking at Fang Lin with gaze that was reluctance to part with each other. Fang Lin saw them and smiled at them. It was a smile that hadn't come since Uncle Wei had departed.
And then with a pat from the instructor on the eagle head, it flew towards the sky.
