1 Young Master Chen

It was only a few minutes until noon. A handsome youth in a loose navy blue brocade with silver embroidered azaleas was sitting next to a casement window, staring blankly at his textbook as the sunlight shined brightly on his porcelain skin. He then averted his gaze to the fallen blossoms that were dancing along the rhythm of the cold wind. As his brownish grey eyes meticulously followed one of the blossoms, thoughts long lost in the abyss came back into his mind. He realised just how much his life was similar to that dead little flower that rustled through the delicate breeze of autumn.

A flower blooms silently and it also dies silently but there are so many flowers in this godforsaken world so it doesn't matter when one dies, just like how it doesn't matter if he disappears because the world will still go on with or without that one particular fallen flower.

"Chen Jun Tian!" A voice called out to him, bringing him back into reality. Jun Tian looked around and realised that he was still in literature class after all. He quickly shifted his eyes to the source of the voice. It was none other than Grand Elder He, the headmistress of Yun Lin Academy. She had her arms crossed and looked at him with disappointed eyes as she began to scold him.

"I know this is only start of a new school year but please focus! You might think this is useless for now but it is rather important for your upcoming exams at the end of this school year." Jun Tian stayed quiet the whole time in order to not make things worse for himself while Grand Elder He continued to scold him.

"Anyhow..." Grand Elder He cleared her throat and gave him one last glance before going back to her lecture. "Though the book each of you will have to read for next week is merely a work of fiction, it contains a strong resonance of our kingdom's societal norms and traditions. Now young master Chen, would you care to answer my question?" The middle-aged woman looked in Jun Tian's direction once again with her sharp onyx eyes.

"Yes?" He replied monotonously.

"Since you've been paying attention in class, would you mind telling your fellow classmates what is the author's main philosophical idea?" She asked sarcastically since she thought that he couldn't answer her question.

"Throughout the book, the author used the notion of absurdity to describe the main character. Absurdity is humanity's futile attempt to find rational order in an irrational universe." Jun Tian answered without any stuttering. It was rather shameful of her to think that he wasn't well-versed on such easy subject. Though her question did well on bringing back the term "absurdity" into his mind. Human life is rather meaningless and purposeless.

All humans will eventually die one way or another, sooner or later. Death is inevitable after all. Thus, at the very bottom of life, there is only absurdity and nothing else but that was only his vision of this world that he is currently living in. Maybe it will change someday. Only time can tell the difference.

The bell then rang loudly marking the end of morning classes. Jun Tian quickly put his textbooks into his spatial ring but as soon as he was about to leave the classroom, he felt a hard impact on the back of his head. He turned around and looked at the object that was thrown at him lying on the ground. It was the book that Grand Elder He wanted them to read. How original...

"Oh my, would you mind picking it up for me? I accidentally dropped it." Said a familiar voice from across the classroom. Jun Tian knew exactly who this person was and "accidentally"? Oh please. More like purposely... "Don't just stand there, Chen Jun Tian. Be a good slave and fetch me the book."

"He Kai! What are you trying to do in my classroom?" Grand Elder He who was conversing with another student exclaimed loudly, anger written all over her face as soon as she saw what was going on.

"Don't get in my way, you old hag!" He Kai raised his voice at the headmistress while his gaze shot daggers at her before looking back at Jun Tian. "Pick up the book, you lowly scum."

"This is unacceptable!" Complained the middle aged woman as she walked towards He Kai but he didn't seem to be scared of her at all. The young man even rolled his eyes in annoyance. His father was He Cao, the Colonel of the City Gates so naturally, he dared to act arrogantly in front of others. In this kingdom where the upper echelon's elites are highly regarded, even headmistress He who is extremely powerful in terms of cultivation must pay them some respects.

"Unacceptable? Yeah, right. You know what's unacceptable?" He Kai stood up from his table and conjured up a fireball on the palm of his hand, aiming at Jun Tian. At that moment, the latter didn't know what to do at all. His body froze on its own accord as his eyes scanned everyone around him; they weren't fazed by the scene unfolding in front of them but this reaction was expected from them. This kind of things happened on a daily basis after all and who was he to even receive their help? In this land where family background represents everything, he was only an ant coming from an unknown clan.

"I don't care what you have to say but you'll have detention for causing a ruckus in my classroom." Grand Elder He snapped her fingers and the fireball extinguished as she gave He Kai a cold look. "As for you, young master Chen, I think it would be best if you leave now before things get out of hands again."

"Yes, headmistress He." Jun Tian bowed to her and began to take his leave but He Kai started to shout at again.

"Oi you disgusting bastard, you don't even deserve to be in this school!" Headmistress He snapped her fingers once more and He Kai's mouth was sealed by magic but in that instance, all the other students began to murmur.

"I can't believe Yun Lin Academy accepted someone of lowly birth like him." Jun Tian overheard a girl nearby saying that to her friends. His heart felt as if someone had stabbed it a million times. Lowly birth? They just couldn't stop insulting his family background, couldn't they?

"I heard that he was the illegitimate son of some third ranked official... Maybe he got in through bribery!" Said another student.

"Silence!" Exclaimed headmistress He as she gave Jun Tian an apologetic look and gestured him to leave the scene. He then ran off as quickly as he could as thoughts rushed in and out of his head and before he knew it, he was at Serene Moon courtyard, the academy's abandoned west courtyard.

Chen Jun Tian knew that he was different from these privileged children of high ranking officials and he has always felt this way ever since he came to realize that he didn't look, think or act like the other young masters or young ladies around him. They seemed to use labels such as weird, bastard and low birth among many others to put him into boxes, to devalue his worth and all of this happened because he was different. He was not someone from a prominent clan nor did he possess any powerful divine beast like them. However, it is an obvious fact that the world tends to see what is different as something ugly and wrong, as if anything deemed "abnormal" is something needed to be fixed. If he were to see himself through the eyes of the world, he would be frightened to look at himself in the mirror just because he was the son of the fallen and long forgotten Chen clan from the Central Plains.

As the sun shone brightly over the horizon, Jun Tian decided to lie on the lush rug-like grassy fields of the abandoned courtyard's garden as the wind rustles through the peach blossom trees. His porcelain skin glistened under the heat, revealing what seems to be traces of shiny scales. Sometimes, all you need is a simple moment like this when you can relieve all your stress, he thought. It was suffocating being pressured by the way people reacted towards him and by his own feelings but it is endurable because if he could go through yesterday then he could also make it through today.

"I can't believe you said that!" He suddenly heard a quite familiar voice, followed by the sound of light footsteps so he instinctively hid behind a bush, fearing that the person was one of He Kai's partners in crime. He then heard another set of footsteps coming towards his direction so his heartbeat subsequently raced in fear.