weathering the years

Shen Jian felt the surrounding qi force it's way through as it directly entered his dantian. It felt like it was loosening some shackles, then everything went blank.

Mrs Ao was just on her way to give the children a few more drills when she sensed a pure stream of qi in the courtyard and immediately rushed over. When she made it there she saw Pei Yutian dusting himself, Shen Jian on the ground and the other three at one side.

''What happened here?'' She asked in a stern voice.

''Err we were playing, then Shen Jian stopped moving and suddenly the surrounding qi began moving toward him then it charged at him and he fainted.'' Ao Qing said and Pei Yutian bobbed his head.

''Ok, carry him in''. Mrs Ao said. 'It seems this boy has finally awakened his martial spirit, either ways I'm sure it would probably only be a regular profound ranked martial spirit. So he's still trash'.

Shen Jian found himself in a dark space, he was sitting in the center of a dark room. He couldn't read the passage of time, then all of a sudden he noticed tiny specks of light coming into being in the room. They were few at first, but they later began to increase at an astonishing rate. They were now so many that they filled the whole room, dancing and flashing as they moved haphazardly around.

Then the specks of light all froze mid-air, then they began rushing to the center of the room as they fused together and slowly formed a small white flame which flickered. The whole process was so mesmerising, Shen Jian was still staring at the flame with an amused expression when he felt everything go black again.

When Shen Jian woke up two whole days had passed, but he didn't know. He felt really hungry so he went to have a meal, even though they lived in the outer district they were doing fine because Mr Ao Ping always came to deliver resources for their survival. He was just walking around when he heard the two girls gossiping in their room. He didn't really mind their whispering and giggling until he heard the next sentence. ''My mother said she checked Shen Jian's martial spirit and that it was a small white flame that didn't even produce heat or have the aura of your profound level martial spirit, haha!''. Ao Qing laughed

''Trash will always be trash'' Lan Fei said.

Shen Jian was stunned for a moment then he remembered what happened to him. He ran to his room. On getting to the room that he shared with the other boys he went to his bed at the end of the room.

Shen Jian sat down cross legged on his bed- closed his eyes and tried to sense the energy in his dantian. He sensed a very weak aura coming from his dantian. He couldn't actually see or properly investigate it because he didn't have qi or divine senses, to get either one he needed to increase his level.

Shen Jian felt depressed, 'it took me so many years to awaken mine and yet its aura is not even as strong as Lan Fei's, haha'. Shen Jian thought as he laughed self mockingly.

As Shen Jian walked in the street's of the outer district of the city he felt really sad. The saddest part was that his childhood friend's were already ahead of him and now it seemed that his recently awakened martial spirit was crippled.

''Little Shen, why so gloomy'', one of the shop owners at the side of the street asked with a smile. He was a middle aged man who sold fruits and low-level spirit fruits at about rank one and rank two.

Spirit fruits were very rare and pricy. And they also had their own ranking system. Rank one spirit fruits were suitable for those below qi condensation realm. Rank two were for cultivators within qi condensation realm. All spirit fruits from rank two and above were further divided into; low grade middle grade and high grade, fitting into every three sublevels of cultivation.

''Don't bother me old man'' Shen Jian grunted.

''Who are you calling old, I'm barely even thirty one'' Ye Feng said with a face full of black lines as he tossed a regular apple at Shen Jian.

''Pa'' it made a sharp sound with Shen Jian's palm as he caught it firmly and took a bite. ''Thanks'' he said as he kept on walking.

''Hey, you better pay for that. Hey, hey!. Damn kid he's only eight and he's such a nuisance'' he murmured the last part to himself. 'If the other market women hear me they would scold me only because the kid has a cute face and eyes.' He thought as he looked around.

Shen Jian walked through the streets, still sulking. Although the five of them weren't the only children in this area of the outer district, the others were not as well known because nobody had caused as much trouble as Shen Jian in these parts. All the years he picked pockets and stole from shops he had become a well known face. The other four were always locked up cultivating the past three years so the only reason they were also known was that whenever they came out situations like, 'aren't those Shen Jian's siblings, lets grab them so that we can find him', sometimes happened.

He walked until he reached the slums which were beyond the outer district. As he looked around he noticed a ragged figure walk past him. 'Hmm, why is that figure somewhat familiar?' He mused as he kept walking.

''Hes the old man who gave me the body cultivation manual!'' Shen Jian remembered. 'I had only bought the first book then because I was hoping my martial spirit was maybe earth grade, hehe. Now that I know it's not, I can wholeheartedly buy the other half.'

Shen Jian ran and turned a few corners to find the old man.

''Hey old man do you still have the other manual.'' Shen Jian asked as he blocked the old man's way. The old man was like any other passer-by but his eyes were sharp and deep.