2 A Change in Lifestyle

This world was one with many wonders and marvels.

It was also a world where only a minority of the beings who lived there were able to experience many of these incredible marvels.

Cultivators. Regardless of race or gender only cultivators could see the wonders the Enlightened Realm contained, experience them and use them on their path to immortality. Many years ago anyone could cultivate, how far they could go and how strong they could get depended on many faactors but the most important were two things; Talent and Luck.

With great talent a person's cultivation would be smooth encountering little to no obstructions in the beginning stages of cultivation, and even in the later stages of cultivations they would encounter fewer problems than average people. Luck was arguably even more important. In the Enlightened Realm countless heavenly items existed, with great luck even a person with the most average of talents could become a dragon among men by acquiring a heavenly item. However with a lack of luck, or even worse, bad luck a person's end was sure to come very quick and be very grisly.

However all this changed when the Heavenly Laws ascended. The majority of cultivators found it improbable that the Heavenly Laws could ascend to the Celestial Realm perhaps because they were supposed to only be the embodiments of the forces of the world. In no way or form should they be able to gain sentience, never mind the possibility of ascension.

And yet they had.

Inexplicably every single Heavenly Law with no exception ascended leaving behind only echoes.

Finally after ten thousand years the new methods of cultivation have completely been put into place and four immortals have ascended to the Celestial Realm.

The biggest and most notable change since the "Golden Era" as it is now known is that only a miniscule percentage of mortals have the chance to cultivate and walk the path of immortality. For unknown reasons after the Golden Era only those chosen by the heavens could cultivate. The reasons and qualifications to be a cultivator are unclear, but every 10 years the great immortal sects and cults all go to every corner of the 6 mortal continents to conduct awakening ceremonies and recruit the chosen mortals.

This is all verified information from powerful cultivators.

Wei calmly closed the book. I must maintain my calm, I must maintain my calm.

Calm.

With his frail and sick body he couldn't get agitated easily or else he would only worsen his already poor condition. What else was I expecting? I mean sure its touted as the premier institution of knowledge in the city of Chen, but everyone who has at least a modicum of intelligence could tell that it was heavily filtered. Al l the knowledge therein had been made available only after vigorous checking by the enforcers of the royal family.

The royal family of Chen was the rulers of all the land surrounding the city of Chen for four thousand miles in all directions. They prized their prosperity and reputation above all else, anything that portrayed their rule in a negative light was immediately dealt with. Obviously this included the Chen Archive.

No matter what means they had to use to accomplish this, they were willing. A few of the city's poorest whispered in fear and slight disdain to any who would listen that the royal family of Chens motto was: 'controlling the image preserves prosperity.'

As soon as the royal family heard about this they knew that killing these poor wretches would show tyranny and that sparing them would show weakness. So instead of execution they framed them for theft and threw them in prison to rot.

Problem solved.

"I really overestimated the Chen Archive this time, not only do they not let any history books with negative facts about them exist they even remove all the juicy obscure knowledge too," he spoke to himself. Bracing himself on his walking stick he stood up. After straightening his robes and stretching he walked out of the archive suppressing the pain felt with every step.

I need to find reliable information about how to cure my illness. At first it seemed I would have a lot of time but now I may have only a couple of years.

Wei was originally a very unmotivated person. Putting it politely he was lazy, putting it rudely he was wasting his life. However this was fine with him, he had no interest in putting in any effort in anything and spent his days sleeping in the orphanage.

Sleeping was his favorite activity.

All the other kids knew that by sixteen they would be kicked out of the orphanage and would need to provide for themselves, so they made connections or learned a craft so they could have a decent life after leaving the orphanage. Wei on the other hand displayed no plans for the future , he passed his days and nights leisurely sleeping and when he could sleep no longer he would read and the cycle would repeat as it had for the past fourteen years.

Until one day while walking back to the orphanage from the local bookstore he coughed out a mouthful of blood and collapsed in the middle of a narrow street hitting his head hard on the ground. Nobody even gave him a passing glance avoiding him like they would a dying dog. The orphanage was very poor and was located in a very bad neighborhood ( which was the only property cheap enough for them to afford). And so he lay there barely alive in a pool of his own blood.

Ten minutes later Wei was found by the caretaker of the orphanage who quickly took him to the local doctor. Good news and bad news came hand in hand from the doctor.

Good news, he had sustained no additional damage from the collapse.

Bad news, his originally only frail and sickly body was now actually degrading ,in other words he was dying and the doctor couldn't tell him why.

That was the moment he had decided to take stop being lazy and do something, this concerned his life after all. From that moment Wei researched every day in all manner of ways for a possible cure to his illness. There was no cure, at least that he could find.

As he walked down the street adjacent to the Archive he looked around at the bustling crowds of people and the huge buildings in the city and reaffirmed his decision to find a cure.

In this huge city with all these millions of people I don't believe there's not one thing or person out there that can help me cure my illness.

"I WILL FIND A CURE," he shouted as hard as he could in the middle of the bustling street. In this one moment as he yelled he truly felt that he could do it, and easily too. In fact he felt so sure that he started to yell once more "I WILL FI - ," he stopped at once feeling a cough coming and trying to suppress it, but to no avail. He started coughing.. hard, so hard he almost fell down, his feeble body failing him. Luckily he had his walking stick and quickly steadied himself with it. Two minutes later he was feeling much better, only then did he remember that he was in the middle of a crowded street.

No matter what he did in this area no one would bat an eye as long as it didn't personally concern them. So with a final glance at his surroundings he headed towards the orphanage whistling a tune to the beat set by his walking stick.

After walking for half an hour he finally reached the entrance of the orphanage. Wiping the sweat from his brow he entered the dilapidated compound that was his home. The orphanage was rundown and very old having been a temple many years ago, the only good thing about it was its size.

It was huge enough to contain all the children who lived there and the several adults who helped care for them. As he walked through the orphanage the majority of the adults and children ignored him. In the beginning they had tried to interact with him but after seeing his disinterest in them they had taken to pretending he didn't exist.

A couple of kids ran past him paying him no mind and he continued walking past towards the small house that the caretaker Madam Song owned.

Resting his weight on the walking stick Wei rapidly knocked on the door.

"Madam Song, it's me Wei, Open up!" he said.

Moments later soft footsteps could be heard coming from inside the house and Madam Song appeared at the door. "Wei, hurry up and come in I have a lot to talk to you about," she said smiling while holding the door open for him.

As soon as he saw Madam Song's smiling face he knew she was happy that he had started going to the archive more often. Madam Song was a middle aged woman who was kind to all and had left her rich family to start an orphanage. The story was famous in this poor part of the city and even in the slums. In the past many had said that she was just a rich lady who had run away from home and who would be gone in a couple of days. But she had proven them wrong using all of her savings to buy the old temple and turning it into an orphanage.

In doing so she had earned herself a very good reputation and even the gangs in the area charged her less protection fees then was usual.

She was the only person Wei really liked.

She had saved his life when he was a baby, named him and raised him and for that he was eternally grateful.

Once, many years ago he had asked her why all the other orphans had a last name and he didn't.

"I named you Wei for a reason, one day you will be great enough to choose your own last name," she had replied.

"So how was your visit to the archives today? Did you find anything useful?" She asked him as he sat down in a nearby chair.

"No, I looked through almost all the books regarding illnesses and there are none on record, I even looked into a book on cultivators but it was useless," he replied disappointedly.

"Cheer up, with you now focusing on it I believe you will find a solution soon," Madam Song said warmly. Wei could hear the same certainty he heard in his own voice and knew that she sincerely believed in him.

"Wait hear in the living room while I make some tea," she said getting up and heading to the kitchen.

"Okay I'll wait," he replied looking around the room absentmindedly fidgeting with his walking stick. As he looked around the living room he noticed a beautiful painting of a mountain and a river hanging right next to one of the shelves in the room. It seemed to embody the very same feeling evoked when looking at a majestic mountain or a raging river. On the bottom left corner of the painting written in small script was the word SONG.

It hadn't been there when he had visited two days ago of that he was sure.

"I didn't know Madam Song could paint such exquisite paintings, with paintings like this one why would she boast about her knitting skills when we brag," he whispered to himself. Such a funny lady she is and also very multi- talented too apparently .I really need to get out of the habit of gossiping I've started enjoying it way too much. I knew she was trying to distract me from my illness but I am seriously going to become a big gossiper at this rate.

As he thought fondly on his induction into smack talking people with his favorite person Wei suddenly felt an extreme chill run down his spine as if he was naked during the winter .

It felt like he had been dowsed in cold water.

Looking around wildly he hefted his stick up as if to attack someone, but the feeling quickly subsided . Still he swept the room with his sharp gaze his grey eyes seeming to see through everything in the tiny room .However after a thorough inspection he confirmed that there was nothing in the living room except for him.

He still didn't relax though, clutching his walking stick in one hand while the other strayed to his side where he kept his knife under his long white robes. As soon as he felt the scabbard of his knife he grabbed it and started drawing it. Knife in hand he calmed down.

He outwardly relaxed but inwardly he was still very wary.

Wei had one thing he was most proud of and that was his intuition. Wei resumed looking around the room but this time he casually

Someone is watching me, but who? And why? I've never done anything worth taking note of. I don't think it's me.

If it isn't me, its most likely Madam Song either way I have to be vigilant.

Looking out the window it seemed to be getting late. What's taking her so long, could something have happened already .If she hasn't returned in two minutes I'll go to check.

*Clang*

Hearing a ruckus in the kitchen along with Madam Song's humming finally set him at ease.

"If they had already captured Madam Song and were trying to mask their business they wouldn't let me hear anything," he whispered to himself relaxing his hold on his knife . His only method of self defense was knife throwing and he made sure he was very proficient at it. Wei slowly held the tip his knife in preparation

He was very weak in body however this was offset by his great intelligence. But in the Enlightened Realm intelligence without power was almost useless, especially in the mortal continents.

Might was right and everyone knew this from the mightiest king to the lowliest commoner.

The one thing that separated him from countless smart people was his intuition. Wei's intuition was as sharp as a blade, able to distinguish between truth and lies and extremely sensitive to danger.

It was very accurate.

And it was telling him that the watcher in the shadow had just turned very, very hostile.

In some of the situations he had been in, no amount of intelligence could have saved his life but due to his intuition he had survived in this horrible area of Chen City. Without his intuition, considering how slow he was in running due to his illness he definitely would gotten very injured or killed. All poor parts of Chen were referred to collectively as 'The Slums'. In the slums the first solution to any confrontation was running, the second was begging and the last was fighting.

Majority of the gang members of the Slums were very proficient in street fighting and if they confronted you the best method to survival was following the run, beg and fight rule. Wei himself had succeeded in always keeping out of trouble and so he was on very good term with the closest gang to the orphanage, The Vicious Dragon gang. A seemingly arrogant name for a small gang they had proven themselves deserving of their name many times. The most famous was when a passing martial artist refused to pay their tithe after taking large amounts of goods through their territory without paying.

They had restrained him, taken his belongings and cut off both his hands before letting him go to spread the word. Seeing the originally powerful martial artist laid low had proven the lengths they were willing to go to and had spread their fame to all.

Wei had met the leader of the Vicious Dragon gang who was very fittingly and somewhat redundantly called Vicious Dragon. Until today he had never forgotten the hostile nature that told him that this man had killed before and would kill him if given the slightest reason.

Later he had found out that it was called Killing Intent.

The willingness and desire to kill so deep it could manifest as a physical sensation. Some killers had such deep killing intent that the very air around them seemed to become colder.

His intuition was telling him that the watcher was going to kill him if he didn't move.

"If I'm going to die at least it won't be to this fucking disease," he muttered . I may as well see my killer.

Looking towards the small cupboard across the room he steeled himself. "Come out," he coldly said.

The door to the cupboard slowly swung open with an annoying squeaking sound. Wei fingered the tip of his knife, knowing such a person would not be defeated by his meager skills but still unwilling to die without doing anything.

A sharp cackling echoed out from the cupboard. Then came a voice speaking in a hushed tone.

"You're not bad kiddo, you're sick as an old dog but I'll take you on as my helper. "

Wei was inwardly shocked but concealed his surprise, as an old lady in a black cloak stepped right up to him looking him up and down like he was an interesting animal she had never seen before.

I should try my best not to aggravate this old lady .

"What do you want?" He asked the old lady politely.

"You're going to my helper, well, what are you waiting for?" she said plainly.

"Let's go!"

"And put that knife away, it will take more than that to deal with me" she said dismissively.

Wei carefully considered what to do.

One young man and one old lady looked at another, one in consideration and one in slight interest.

"Who are you?" he asked her.

From her answer I'll know whether she's truthful or a liar.

"I'm a seer," she replied easily.

A seer what the fuck is a seer, well she was telling the truth at least.

"What do you do ?" he asked her wanting to test her again.

"I con people," she replied with a tinge of pride visible in her eye.

What, an old lady that's a con artist. Only in the slums he thought in amusement.

"I'm here because Song told me you're a lazy little boy whose sick and has no interest in anything, Originally I didn't give a shit but now I need a helper and so here we are," she gestured between them.

Just as Wei was about to reply Madam Song entered with the tea, only to find Wei and the old lady engaged in a stare down.

"Wei, Lady Seer please sit down and drink some tea then we can discuss the future," she spoke gesturing to the small table in the middle of the room.

"All right but we better make this quick I've got money to make," said Lady seer gleefully while already sipping her tea.

"Okay," Wei agreed grabbing a cup and taking a seat.

He looked at the both of them and said" Well, I'm listening talk."