1 The Awakening Ceremony

Late at night in one of the central courtyards of the Sheng Clan estate, a small figure of around 6 years is sitting cross-legged on a veranda, his piercing blue eyes calmly staring into the night sky, seemingly out of focus and lost in thought. His pitch black, medium-length hair and loosely fitted attire swaying in the night's wind as a few leaves from the nearby old olive tree land on the veranda, the boys lap and in the courtyards pond.

A middle-aged man with broad shoulders, long, yellowish brown hair and sharp blue eyes, akin to the young boys, approaches the boy from the side. He calmly stands at the boys side and stares into the sky, like the boy besides him does.

After a few minutes the boy takes his eyes off the sky and looks toward the middle-aged man, clearly startled by the figure who suddenly appeared by his side.

"Father! You surprised me... Since when were you standing there?"

"For a few minutes by now... you seemed so focused, father couldn't bear to disturb you, little Feilong." the middle-aged man replied with a light chuckle.

The boy, Sheng Feilong, obviously embarrassed and slightly blushing, grumbles.

"You could have just said something..."

Feilongs father looked at his son, amused by his embarrassment, and asks with a kind expression.

"Why are you still up so late at night, staring into the sky? Tomorrow is an important day, the day of the Awakening Ceremony. Don't tell me my, oh, so mature son is too agitated to sleep?"

"Of course not, father! I.. I was just... just..." Feilong stammered and lowers his head, even more embarrassed than before after being seen through by his father.

Sheng Lingtian, Feilongs father, chuckled again at his sons antics and ruffled his hair.

"Alright, alright, of course you're not that agitated, father was wrong. You will do just fine tomorrow and make father proud. Still, you should go to bed now. Its already so late. Surely you don't want to oversleep tomorrow, right?"

"But...before that, can we... talk a bit, again?" Feilong asks with a meek voice.

"Sure..." Sheng Lingtian takes a seat beside his son and similarly sits cross-legged on the veranda.

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

The both of them continue talking about all kinds of stuff. At some point Sheng Feilong asks about the Awakening Ceremony that will take place the next day and his father kindly explains the ceremony's history to him.

Every human has some type of Spirit Essence lying dormant within themselves. The Awakening Ceremony is, as the name implies, a ceremony to awaken ones Spirit Essence. Depending on what kind of Spirit Essence it is, one may be able to become a Soul Master. In general, a Spirit Essence defines the speciality of a person. Someone who awakened an Axe Spirit, for example, will generally be better at cutting wood that someone who awakened a Shovel Spirit.

The Awakening Ceremony itself is a ritual that dates back to more than 20.000 years ago. Soul Masters who at least reached Rank 20 would help children awaken their Spirit Essences before measuring their Innate Soul Power.

In recent times, most people would make an appointment with the Spirit Pagoda to have their children's Spirit Essence awakened. In Clans like the Sheng Clan, an elder of the Family would usually take charge of the Ceremony.

"Alright, that's really enough now. It's already way too late. Come, go to bed." Sheng Lingtian said with his hand on Sheng Feilongs shoulder. "Let me bring you to your room, Feilong."

"Yes, father..." Sheng Feilong answers with half opened eyes, by now clearly tired, and follows his father, stumbling back to his room to go to sleep.

The night passes quietly and Sheng Feilong slowly regains his senses, as the rays of the sun shine into his room. Quite a bit of bustling is going on outside the room, quite loud voices, as if he was at the edge of a marketplace, shortly after, he hears a loud and seemingly angry knocking on his door which eventually forces Sheng Feilong to wake up completely.

"So noisy, what time is it..?" Sheng Feilong questions, still in his half asleep stupor. Taking a quick look at the clock, he immediately understands what the rude knocking is about. He overslept. At the day of the Awakening Ceremony. His father is going to be furious...

Just as he thought that, an obviously angered but familiar voice sounds through the whole room

"Sheng Feilong, wake up immediately! You overslept, you little brat!"

Sheng Feilong jumps to his feet and opens the door, where the huge figure of an over two meters tall, middle-aged man with the same yellowish brown hair as his fathers and a greenish blue vein pulsing on his forehead awaits him.

"Uncle Fengtian, I-"

"Keep the excuses for later, the family has already assembled! Change your cloths and come with me. Now!"

With a clearly paled face, Sheng Feilong rushes back into his room, changes his clothes in record speed and reopened the door after what felt like less than 10 seconds, leaving even his uncle, Sheng Fengtian, the fourth Elder of the Sheng Clan, speechless for a few seconds. Regaining his composure, Sheng Fengtian now lets loose a short laugh and grins at Sheng Feilong.

"So you can hurry when there's a bit of pressure on you, haha. The Ceremony starts in a bit over an hour, so there's enough time for breakfast. Come on."

This time, it was Sheng Feilongs turn to be rendered speechless.

'I haven't overslept? But, what about my clock? Who tinkered with it?!'

Hurriedly following his uncle to the dining room, Sheng Feilong sees his father and his uncle's daughter, Sheng Lijing, along with his aunt, Luo Mei, already waiting for the two of them. A high-pitched chuckle escaped Sheng Lijing as she's musing over Sheng Feilongs misfortune.

"Father, that shout earlier came from you, didn't it? You're bullying Feifei again!"

Sheng Feilongs countenance visibly darkens, clearly displeased by the nickname "Feifei", though before he could say something, his Sheng Fengtian takes the lead.

"Come on, Jing'er, I'm not bullying the little brat. The order to wake him up clearly came from his father, isn't that right, my beloved brother Lingtian?"

This time Sheng Lingtians countenance changes, warping into a mixture of disgust and faked anger.

"Just sit down and eat breakfast, brother. We don't have all day. Or do I have to ask sister Mei to help me out here?"

Sheng Fengtian throws his arms to the air in defeat while shaking his head, whereas Sheng Feilong simply takes a seat next to his father, glancing at the laughing expression of his aunt, who just handed him a bowl of rice. Truly, families are something else, all right.

The five of them finish their breakfast in peace and slowly make their way to the Sheng Estates Main Plaza, where a crowd of dozens of people has already gathered.

Elevated on a few feet high platform in the middle of the Plaza stands a kind of an altar-like obelisk with a transparent crystal ball on the top. Besides this obelisk stands the Grand Elder of the Sheng Clan, Sheng Yuntian, with his usual aged, but stoic expression, and lion-mane like yellowish brown hair and full beard, clothed in a formal, dark-grey attire and his hands clasped behind his back. About a dozen or so children, all of them around 6 years old, are standing on the platform below the obelisk, all of them quite fidgety and nervous.

Sheng Feilong and Sheng Lijing ascend the platform and stand beside the other children.

A few minutes later, the high-pitched voice of a eunuch was heard and the square quickly quieted down.

"The Patriarch has arrived!"

A moment later, the Sheng Clans Patriarch, Sheng Hentian, arrived, closely followed by a young boy, who closely resembled the former. He ascends the platform, heading to the side of the obelisk, opposite of Grand Elder Sheng Yuntian, waiting for everyone to quite down, while his son waited with the other children. Being the Patriarch of the Clan is not just a position of honour. It is a position of respect, only given to the mightiest warrior of the clans generation. Sheng Hentian is at the level of a Spirit King, a cultivator of level 50 or above. With his tall figure, in a tightly fitted formal attire and his, for the Sheng Clan common, yellowish brown hair combed back and beard neatly cut, he truly commands the authority the Clans mightiest warrior should have. For him to hold the Awakening Ceremony himself, the excitement of the youngsters can be imagined.

Taking a step forward, Sheng Hentian fueled his voice with Soul Power, making sure it's delivered to anyone in the Plaza.

"As all of you know, today we've assembled here to proceed with this years Awakening Ceremony. Todays youngsters hold the future of the Sheng Clan. I'm sure all of you will bring pride to your parents and the Clan. Well, enough of these empty words, let us proceed with the Ceremony! Sheng Liwu, you shall be the first. Step forth."

Responding to the call is a boy in plain clothing, with short brown hair, a calm face and a unexpectedly big nose, which doesn't really fit in with his face. Stepping up to the obelisk, where Grand Elder Sheng Yuntian was already waiting for him, Sheng Liwu stood there facing the crowd as the Grand Elder put his hand on the child's back, channelling his Soul Power into the childs body. Sheng Liwu closed his eyes and shortly after a lions mighty roar was audible in the whole Plaza as the distinct image of a black maned, 4 meters tall lion appeared above Sheng Liwu's head, letting out another roar before slowly disappearing into the childs body, afterward he goes up to the crystal ball, putting his hand on it and channelling his Soul Power into it. A moment later, the crystal ball lightly lights up.

"Black Maned Mountain Lion, a upper-middle tier hereditary Spirit Essence with an Innate Soul Power of level 3. Sheng Liwu, you will surely bring pride to your parents in the future. Be sure to cultivate faithfully to become a powerful Soul Master in the future." Grand Elder Sheng Yuntian said with a satisfied expression while stroking his beard.

"Very good. Sheng Liwu, return to the other children's side. Next up will be Sheng Ning'er." Patriarch Sheng Hentian said with a similarly satisfied expression.

Acknowledging the Elders responses, Sheng Liwu bowed and return, before a young girl, namely Sheng Ning'er, ascended. Goind through the same procedure of awakening her Spirit Essence, earning herself a similar satisfied expression and responses from the Elders.

Only after around half a dozen children went through the procedure did something unexpected happen. When Sheng Lijing went up to awaken her Spirit Essence, she actually awakened the Two-Tailed Mountain Lion, a variant Spirit Essence of the relatively common Fierce Mountain Lion. Moreover, she had an Innate Soul Power of level 6, the same level the Patriarch awakened with in his time, earning her sky-high praises from the Elders and Patriarch.

Afterwards nothing mayor occurred until only two children remained, waiting for their Spirit Essences to be awakened – Sheng Feilong and Sheng Henjian, the Patriarch son. Both of them looked at each other before Sheng Henjian gestured for Sheng Feilong to go first.

Sheng Feilong steps up to the obelisk, bowing to the Grand Elder and Patriarch before turning to the crowd, fidgeting around from nervousness, meeting his fathers reassuring gaze, he takes a deep breath and calms down. Seeing this, the Patriarch mentions to Grand Elder Sheng Yuntian to begin, as the latter puts his hand on Sheng Feilongs back and channels his Soul Power into the childs body.

Feeling the warm current of Soul Power flowing inside his body, Sheng Feilong closes his eyes and focusses on sensing his Spirit Essence, however even after tens of seconds, nothing happened.

Feeling his Soul Power having no effect, Grand Elder Sheng Yuntian increases the output and pours more and more Soul Power into Sheng Feilongs body.

A few seconds later, a series of headaches assaults Sheng Feilong, while his eyes begin to burn as if sthey were on fire, nearly causing him to lose consciousness. Sheng Feilong abruptly opens his eyes and takes a step forward, suprising the Grand Elder and Patriarch. Turning around and looking questioningly looking at the Grand Elder, he sees the shock in the latter and hears him exclaim.

"Spirit Eyes..?"

"It's not our Clans Mountain Lion?" Patriarch Sheng Hentian chirms in, lightly frowning.

Sheng Feilong hurriedly turns around again, looking at his father, only to see him too shocked and speechless, like the Grand Elder before him.

The Sheng Clan's crowd, seeing and hearing the reaction of the Patriarch and Grand Elder, as well as seeing Sheng Feilongs eyes begin whispering among themselves.

"That's the Spirit Eyes?"

"He is an Elder's son... how can he not have inherited our Clans Mountain Lion Spirit?"

"He couldn't possibly be an illegitimate child? How shameful."

"The Sixth Elder's position in the Clan is likely to fall given this situation..."

"Enough!" the Soul Power fueled, angry shout of the Patriarch immediately shuts the crowd up. Taking a deep breath, Sheng Hentian speaks in a voice, even deeper than usual.

"No matter what Spirit Essence he has awakened, he is the son of our Clans Sixth Elder. Show some respect. Now, Feilong, come up here to test your Innate Soul Power."

Sheng Feilong, still despirited and confused by his own Spirit Essence, mindlessly puts his hand on the crystal ball, which suddenly starts shining more and more brightly like never before, the white light turning a light blue than a deeper blue as it continues to shine, forcing Sheng Feilong to close his eyes, as he takes a step back, clearly taken by suprise. When his hand let go of the crystal ball, the light fades, leaving behind a stupefied crowd, Grand Elder and even Patriarch, who unknowingly exclaims in a shaky voice.

"Heavens... Innate... Innate Full Soul Power...!"