2 The Forest Boy

The yellow sun rose out from behind the curtain of night, though slightly eclipsed by the snowy mountain crest. Yellow rays of warm light gleamed onto the mountain's surface, vaporizing the thick layers of powdery water.

Whichever stray light shafts did successfully bypass the mountain, would then beam down through the colorful forest treetops, to the vibrant vegetation below.

The forest was diverse in its composition. There were beautiful pink leaved spring trees with white papery bark, but there was also the green trees that had brown callous bark. Scattered all about were many numerous frog ponds, encircled by sagebrush and topped with profuse sprinklings of Lilly pads.

The forest birds sang their morning songs, awaking the diurnal fauna as well as the terrifying demon beasts. Their waking yawns and powerful roars echoed throughout the entire valley.

Morning precipitation left the grass wet and dewy. Of course, it would soon evaporate and reenter the wooly white nimbuses scattered sparsely within the azure sky.

Not too far off in the distance, placed within a clearing of the trees, was the Wu family's farming estate. The Wu family was a poor branch family to the Zhao family (An Arguably far superior family).

The estate was built in a tricky location for farming because most of the surrounding terrain was steep hilly grass fields. Truly a breathtaking sight to behold, but also an unsuitable terrain for efficient rice farming. Fortunately for the Wu family, their predecessors had flattened the lands enough to make their agriculture sufficient.

The Wu family was primarily composed of farmers who lived humble lives on meager expenses. That, of course, meant that they had little time to spend on costly pursuits like martial arts and cultivation.

Somewhere a ways away from the Wu family's estate, atop of a particularly large mossy boulder surrounded by trees, lay a buff looking 12-year-old boy on his chest. The boy had been sleeping atop of the boulder, throughout the entirety of last night.

Just a day prior, he had been hard at work, trying to cultivate a type of qi energy called "Monkey King qi". That is also why he had climbed to the top of the large boulder. From what he had learned from his research, cultivation becomes quicker; the closer a practitioner is to the sun and moon.

The sun and moon emit, and are, the sources of all Yin-Yang energy, which is an essential component in cultivating. It is what practitioners absorb from out of the atmosphere and then cultivate it into what is commonly known as qi.

Qi is vital in the world of martial arts, and the boy would need it if he were going to become a successful practitioner one day.

Though there is potentially an uncountable quantity of different types of qi, they are all integral for practitioners to cultivate because they are the lifeforce of every living thing. So, to have more qi would directly translate to the cultivator having a longer lifespan and more stamina. In addition to this, they would also have a special ability corresponding to the type of qi they cultivate.

There are many qis with various practical and impractical abilities, and new qis are devised by masters every day. That being the case, it isn't too infrequent that a type of qi becomes obsoleted by a superior one. That applies to both combat-based qis and everyday qis.

Qi is a convenient tool for everyday life in the case of many people, whether they are fighters or not. Though there are more combat-oriented qis like "Fireball qi" (a fairly common qi within the martial world), there is also qis like "Aging Turnip qi" (a qi specifically designed to speed up the growth of turnips).

The boy was infatuated in the world of martial arts and the powers of nature residing in it.

The boy's face was revealed after having rolled onto his back. It was a youthful face, but pretty homely by local beauty standards. He was also rather short and stubby. His shaven bald head gave one the sense that he was an aspiring ascetic. He wore light fitting orange robes that lacked any coverage of his right arm and overly baggy orange harem pants that tightened around his ankles. His exposed arms were very bulky, unnaturally so for a kid at his age. It was the result of the boy's intensive workout regimen.

Without body tempering pills, the only way that a practitioner can enhance their body tempering is through grueling physical training. It was something that to someone as infatuated as him, was worth every minute of.

A practitioner's body tempering is a vital component in their cultivation. Not only does it increase the speed at which one can cultivate qi, but it also increases the practitioner's physical capabilities and the structural integrity of their body.

Body tempering works by breaking the body part and then reforming itself to become more condensed structurally and more open to the flow of "Yin-Yang" energy. Eventually, as one uses their body, the empty spaces are filled back up through natural cell growth and such.

"I am Wu Niu. I'm here to save the princess.", mumbled Wu Niu in his sleep while drooling out from his stupid smile.

Rolling once again, his body positioned his face directly toward the sun's light.

The light penetrated through Wu Niu eyelids, causing him stirring discomfort. Opening his eyelids, a pair of heterochromatic eyes revealed themselves. His right eye was blue while the left was brown. They were visibly dilating from the sudden exposure to irritating light.

Lifting a hand, Wu Niu shielded his aching eyes away from the harmful light rays.

Wu Niu sat up and let out a large gaping yawn. Breathing in, he could smell the fresh morning scent of forestry. To him, it was a deeply nostalgic scent.

-Time for my morning workout.