Little Boy on a Prairie

Soft winds rolled across the luscious green fields, swaying side to side as if listening to a soft tune. Scanning over the grass one could see a small mop of black hair poking out of the green sea.

A little boy at 8 years old sat casually in the grass atop the highest hill in sight. The boy was by all means average, quite skinny but stood out with his bright brown eyes and plump cheeks that his relatives never got tired of pinching. Perhaps that was the reason they were so big, he would constantly question. What if they never stop growing and got all saggy like some old man? He would shudder every time he thought about it. If there was one thing the boy hated more than anything it was the thought of getting old. All the old people in the village never had any fun. They were all so boring, only thinking about cultivating and occasionally teaching the children of the village about cultivation.

Most of the young boys of his village ate up every word of these elders. They even committed to growing out their hair, all of them believing that it is what the ancient cultivators do and that they would have a better chance of following in the footsteps of such a character if they did.

The boy in the field was an outlier as he kept his hair short but unkempt, only really paying attention to it if it began to bother him. At the moment it seems it was manageable as the boy didn't react at all to it flailing around in the wind. He just continued to stare at the full moon shining in the sky.

The boy sat there in a daze, the gears in his head turning as he pondered the purpose of life, or perhaps he was just poking guesses at what he would be getting for his morning meal the next day. As he thought over these important questions he suddenly noticed movement cross over the moon.

It was as if the light from the moon was bending for a split second before promptly disappearing, yet as he scanned the sky he could not see anything but the stars and the moon gently staring back at him.

From the sky above an elderly man with piercing azure eyes looked down at the little boy frantically scanning the sky.

"Could he perhaps have seen me?" He thought as he intensively sized the youth up.

"I know I am barely using any effort to hide myself, however it should be more than enough for me to fly undetected by the inhabitants of this continent."

The old man continued to stare at the boy, and after a minute of watching him pitifully search the skies concluded there was indeed no trace of cultivation leaking from this child.

He was curious to find out if the boy had actually noticed him, or was it just by chance that he felt someone's gaze on him.

After thinking it over he decided to fly down behind the child before speaking.

"We're you looking for me little one?"

The boy quickly jumped to his feet and spun around, almost taking a tumble down the hill.

"Who are you grandpa?" He cautiously replied as he looked the old man up and down.

"Who I am is nothing important, I was just curious as to whether you saw me or not."

The boy looked the old man in the eyes before slowly replying, "I did see something fly past the moon really fast."

"If that was you what are you doing flying over my fields? Are you here to kill me? Or are you going to kidnap me?" He continued, suddenly turning defensive.

The old man ignored his questions and instead wanted to see if the boy possessed a unique set of eyes. He continued to stare into the little boy's eyes while releasing his divine senses. After quickly scanning he confirmed there really was nothing special about the boy's eyes. Perhaps it really was by luck the boy managed to catch a glimpse of him.

"I was merely doing a bit of sightseeing, also it looks like there is nothing special about your eyes and you indeed saw me out of chance." He calmly explained.

The boy's attitude immediately eased up. "Oh, well maybe my eyes are just really strong. I do eat a lot of carrots you know" he proudly declared.

The old man inwardly chuckled. "Carrots will only help fix your eyes if they are bad, they can't really make them better young one."

"Oh, ok." He simply replied.

The old man was slightly amused by his strait forwardness and quick acceptance of his answer.

"By the way boy, have you not practiced any cultivation yet?" He questioned after recalling he could not sense any from the boy earlier.

Even on this continent almost every human practiced some sort of cultivation technique, even if most of them never left the body strengthening realm.

"Cultivation is really stupid and boring. It's all old grandpas ever ramble on about." The boy replied dejectedly.

The old man almost coughed up blood hearing his reply. He could deal with the brat disrespectful attitude towards him, he truly was old and had long disregarded the ignorance of the youthful. But to disregard and even go as to call cultivation stupid? Does this brat not know that I could kill him without moving a muscle as a result of my years of cultivation? Or perhaps if I really tried I could sink this entire continent if I set my mind to it.

"Brat do you know how important and powerful one can become through cultivation? The respect that others will show you, the riches one could have."

"I'm sorry grandpa but I truly think that cultivation is boring, I'm quite happy with how things are right now. I get to play a lot you know, all the other boys and girls sit inside all day and night, it's such a shame."

The old man grew even more agitated after his casual reply.

"I've decided. I will spend 5 days with you to show you just how important cultivation is. In these 5 days you will skyrocket past your peers and I'll show you the 'fun' you can have with cultivation."

He had never heard of someone who would disregard cultivation like this. How would they even have a place in this world if they didn't have the strength to protect themselves? How could they hope to accomplish anything?

The boy just stared at the old man as he quietly thought it over in his head.

"No thanks" he finally responded. "It's almost bedtime so I have to get home soon."

The youth promptly started to make his way towards his home without another word. After a few strides he finally looked over his shoulder and yelled back to the old man.

"Grandpa you can come play with my sister and me tomorrow if you want. We are gonna play hide and seek!"

The old man just stood there dumbfounded as he watched the little boy run off.