A lazy boy.

Lingyun sat under a tree. This was his favourite. His general philosophy was to do as little as possible and let his life take him where it would. He came from the Ling family of martial artists. Their primary goal was to fight fate and the heavens in defiance of their small nature to achieve great things.

Other boys his age were just beginning to cultivate using the family's secret arts but to Lingyun this all meant a little more peace and quiet around him. He had made his intentions clear to his father that would strive for mortal life but his father had assumed that this was just childhood fancies.

He had seen cousins and elders who had gone on missions and war and never come back. They lived in a world where the strongest survived and the weak died. His family was one of the five strongest in the entire city which meant he was treated as a young master anywhere he went.

He heard footsteps coming up behind him and he opened his eyes and turned his head. His cousin Linghua was sneaking up on him trying to do some mischief.

"What are you trying now?" Lingyun asked.

"How?..." Linghua said surprised that he had been noticed.

"No matter how differently you try to walk, your footsteps sound exactly the same to me," he said. His cousin cocked his head and looked at him frowning.

"Father and the third elder taught me this footwork technique but you still knew it was me, are you sure you don't want to practice martial arts? With your talents, I am sure you would be better than everyone in the class."

The Ling family had their own school where all the younger generations were taught the exclusive martial arts of the family in hopes that they would bring the family greater honour when they joined the major sects in the country. Lingyun shook his head and closed his eyes. The sun had touched his skin at just the right angle. Linghua sat down next to him and closed his eyes. Their fathers were brothers and this made the two boys closer than brothers.

In the elder's hall, two middle-aged men were looking over a map. They wore displeased looks on their faces. One part labelled in red ink read Beast forest. These two men were the fathers of the two boys who were sleeping under a tree as their agemates attended school.

"Brother, do we have to go so far?" the older-looking one asked.

"One, says that he will live a mortal life and the other shows a slight interest in martial arts as long as he can pull a prank on the other." he said pointing at the map, " we should drop them here and let them fend for themselves for a while, that should be motivation enough."

"I am sceptical about your plan brother, they have no training at all." Lingfeng, the older of the two said.

"Relax brother, we shall be watching them in case anything happens, which it won't because this is the least dangerous part of the forest. For the last few months, the creatures seem to have moved away from this place."

"What if there is something dangerous that chased them away?" Lingfeng asked

"This beast forest might as well be our backyard, there is nothing strong enough that you and I didn't detect."

Lingyun and Linghua were walking towards the third elder's house to avoid their parents. The third elder was a kind middle-aged woman who always spoiled and indulged them. They knew that there were going to be some sweet treats at her house at this time of the day. She was strong since all other elders bowed to her when they met her and she told them to leave her two nephews alone. She was probably old enough to be their great-great-grandmother but she preferred to be called aunt.

They found her outside with a small table on which sweet treats were placed. She welcomed them as usual and Linghua poured for her some of the tea she had been brewing and passed the pot to Lingyun who poured for himself and his cousin.

They sat down enjoying the treat and were so full after a few minutes that they fell right asleep.

Matriach Ling watched as the two boys slept outside her small cottage then snapped her fingers. The air shimmered revealing the two men who were precisely the fathers of the sleeping boys.

"Thank you matriarch for your help these past years," Lingfeng said clasping his hands.

"The rest is up to you boys," she said as she walked into her bamboo hut.

Lingfeng and Lingman watched as the two boys slept carefreely. This was probably the last time they could sleep so carefree for some time. Each picked up one boy and placed him over his shoulder and leapt into the air towards the forest. For people at their level of power, they would take about an hour to get to the beast forest.

Lingyun woke up feeling refreshed. This was the best he had ever slept. He didn't know how long he had slept but it was dark when he woke up. He turned his head and noticed that he was no longer near the third elder's house. He poked at Linghua who was still snoring nearby. The latter woke up and stretched.

Suddenly a great fear overcame him and crept deep into his bone. What was going on? Ahead of him, he thought he saw a pair of red eyes in the foliage. There was a beast nearby? Where was he? It seemed as if Linghua had felt it too since he turned sharply and almost screamed. Lingyun was quick enough to cover his mouth before a sound was heard.

Just as quickly as the pressure had appeared it was gone and the chill he felt in his bones disappeared.

"In front of you is a selection of mortal weapons," he heard his father's voice in his head, "pick one to survive for a month. I will come and get you at that time and we shall see if you choose to practice martial arts or not."

Linghua turned around to look at him and then looked at the weapons that were arrayed before them. He had also heard the voice of his own father. Lingyun was seething inside, he was so angry that he couldn't remember whether he had ever been angry before.

Up in the sky, three figures stood on flying swords looking at an image of the two boys. They were Lingfeng, the Ling family matriarch and Lingman.

"They do not seem happy," Lingman the older of the two said.

"They are going to need that anger to survive this trial," the matriarch said and Lingfeng nodded in agreement.

"Rarely have we seen children born with their compositions and what they don't want to cultivate," the Ling matriarch said.

She pulled out a mat, a pot and some cups and sat down in the air to brew some tea. The two brothers joined her sitting on the mat and observing the two boys who were having a conversation.