Meng Li.

Body refining had nine levels. It would generally take average talents three years to complete it. They would then wait till fifteen for their meridians to awaken before beginning Qi cultivation.

Time passed.

Ling Jun had just turned fifteen. Tomorrow would be the meridian awakening ceremony. The disciples who had reached fifteen this year would all take part to judge the width of their meridians.

This was also an important moment as someone with amazing talent could have meridians that were closed, leading him to him being crippled although this was not likely.

Conversely, someone with average talent could have extremely wide meridians and be on par with some geniuses.

Over this year, the family had given him some resources leading to him reaching the ninth level of body refining a few days ago.

That was what they thought of course.

His actual level was much better than those of the same generation. He had continuously refined his body by speeding up recovery and compressing muscles to make them more explosive.

Normally impurities would be expelled only after reaching first level of Qi condensation.

However, Ling Jun had continuously expelled impurities out of his body such that there were very few remaining.

Ling Jun was also already aware of his meridians width. He had awakened his meridians a year ago.

In actual fact, meridians were hidden in the body and only appeared at fifteen, yet with his grasp over space in his body he was easily able to find them and enlarge them to a ridiculous degree.

He had researched the average width of meridians and controlled the width of his own to slightly above average in preparation for tomorrow.

He wanted to simply fade into his brothers shadow.

For that to work, his brothers meridians had to be extremely wide. Under the guise of practice he had secretly checked his brothers meridians and found that they were quite wide. He also helped enlarge them some more although it was much harder than enlarging his own.

The next morning the clan was assembled in the awakening plaza. It was square shaped with chairs lining three directions and a podium lining the fourth wall. The chairs were at a higher elevation in the back and lowered with each row forward so everyone could see everything clearly.

When Ling Jun arrived he instantly became the center of attention. He had the highest status out of all the disciples present. Ling Ji was still fourteen and Ling Su, son of the clan master was also fourteen.

The awakening ceremony went without a hitch. Everyone wasn't too shocked at his result as it was slightly above average. The widest meridians were those of the son of the third elder, Ling Hao. His results drew a couple of shocked gasps.

He had been extremely proud of his results as he was also a mortal rank four albeit with affinity to fire. A bit better than Ling Jun he mused contentedly.

He looked over at Ling Jun and noted the slightly apprehensive look on his face with joy. Yet he knew that Ling Jun's status was slightly higher than his so there was no benefit in provoking him. He clasped his hands in the form of a greeting before leaving.

A year passed. Within this year, Ling Jun had reached third level of Qi condensation whilst Ling Hao had just broken through to fourth level. However, Ling Jun had used the lightning incantation which meant that even though he wouldn't win against Ling Hao, he could still put up a decent fight.

In actuality though, Ling Jun had reached peak sixth level of Qi condensation already. Had his talent been the same as his brothers, he may have been able to reach ninth level.

Even still, he had compressed his Qi to solid state so he was strong enough to fight those of the ninth level of Qi condensation.

Today was the meridian awakening ceremony for fifteen year olds. This was the most anticipated ceremony in many years. After all, the two best talents of recent years would be participating. Ling Ji and Ling Su who was also mortal rank six and had affinity to lightning.

Ling Jun got ready and headed over to the awakening plaza. The path was jam packed with Ling clansmen young and old. When he finally entered he noticed eleven youths standing in front of the podium.

After the opening speech and formalities, names were called one by one and the results were revealed. Most had average results except for Ling Jiao who happened to be a trusted lackey of Ling Ji. His meridians were above average and with rank three affinity and earth affinity he was almost on par with Ling Jun.

Finally it was Ling Ji's turn. He stole a quick glance at the calm Ling Su, before proceeding to the podium.

The elder sent some of his Qi in through the wrist before heaving a sharp intake of breath.

"Ji'er has the widest meridians out of all talents in recent years!" He exclaimed in shock.

"What! Widest out of all talents? As expected of the son of the first elder."

"He will definitely lead the clan to new heights!"

Various praises were sung as Ling Ji heaved a sigh of relief. He had been quite nervous yet the results had surprised even himself.

He looked over at Ling Su who had lost that calm look from earlier. He now seemed nervous yet a flash of anticipation could also be seen in his eyes.

Ling Su walked over to the podium and stretched his arm out for the elder. A few moments later the elder said in an indifferent voice.

"Average width."

Silence reigned over the plaza. A few moments later...

"Only average? What a shame, what a shame..."

Ling Su was visibly disappointed yet he held it all in.

Inwardly, Ling Ji was elated. With this, his place as the next clan head was almost guaranteed. Outwardly, though he clasped his hands towards Ling Su whilst superficially comforting him.

Ling Su clasped his hands back before leaving dejectedly.

There was no sense in creating conflict. After all, Ling Su was the son of the clan master and would still be a strong opponent in the future, so it was best to remain on good terms.

Also one could never tell what would happen in the future so it was best to remain cautious.

Ling Jun had only been paying slight attention to the ceremony. He had been distracted by something else.

Over the past three years he had sometimes seen the strings move slightly. However today one of the strings had moved from the direction of the Meng clan compound ninety degrees to the direction of the Beastwood forest over the course of half a day.

He realised that either the something at the end of the string had either been moving extremely fast at a distance far from here, or moved at average speed yet was close.

He was more inclined to believe the latter.

He decided to take a horse from the stables and ride over to the Beastwood forest. He had let his parents know he was going to get combat experience for a week.

He set out at evening and the sun was just rising by the time he had arrived. He swallowed nervously. Even though he knew he was strong enough that a single punch from him would decimate most beasts in the outer forest, he had never actually been in a fight before.

Over the journey he had noticed from the movement of the string that he was definitely getting closer to the end of it.

He got off the horse and cautiously made his way into the forest. He followed the string for a couple of kilometres before the string started to move much faster.

Ling Jun picked up the pace and judged the direction and speed that the string was moving so he could run to intercept the other end.

Unfortunately he was held up by a couple of beasts that had attacked him. The first time, he had remained calm and quickly dodged the beasts attack before punching out. His physical power combined with his Qi burst the wolf's head open instantly.

With that experience under his belt, he had grown more confident. Every beast he ran into was destroyed in a single hit and he began to pick up the pace even more.

All of a sudden he had a thought. What if he could sense everything in the space around him by manipulating the motes of space. It would be like the divine sense which was awakened in the soul realm.

After Qi condensation was the spiritual realm, and then soul realm. If he could do as he thought, he would have an ability similar to that of soul realm whilst only at Qi condensation.

He sent his Qi outwards and instead of trying to manipulate the motes of space, he simply allowed his Qi to sink into them. A few moments later an image had formed in his mind.

He was able to see everything for five hundred meters around him clearly. However it wasn't as good as natural divine sense because he couldn't hear anything, just see.

Elated by this discovery, he kept it on so he could avoid beasts in the forest and make his way more efficiently.

Ling Jun was now travelling at full speed and ten minutes later he could see a young girl about sixteen years of age being chased by a burly man who had no equipment on him.

He must be strong to come to the forest empty handed thought Ling Jun apprehensively.

The girl was extremely pretty and cute and invoked the feeling that she should be protected. She had long brown hair curling around her pretty face before dropping below her shoulders and delicate features set in her pale and smooth face.

Is that man lusting after the girl? Ling Jun thought back to the novels he had read in his past life. This was a typical scene where the main character would then intervene to save the beauty.

Ling Jun would've gotten out of there instantly if not for the fact that he could see that the golden string was attached to her. Just like him, she also had six strings coming out of her dantian region.

She also had two sword sheaths attached to her waist, the swords crossed behind her waist. There was also two daggers sheathed at her sides, resting on top of the sword sheaths. She had a bow slung across her back and a quiver with many arrows in it.

There was also a sickle and an axe on the sides of the bow and quiver. Her left fist was covered in a retractable gauntlet and in her right hand she held a black spear obviously of great quality.

Ling Jun was shocked at the amount of equipment she held.

He decided to get closer so he could judge the cultivation level of the man before making a move. Eventually he reached a distance where he could see that the burly man was only in the second level of Qi condensation and he wasn't hiding his cultivation base at all.

He came to the Beastwood forest unarmed with such a low cultivation base. Wasn't he just asking for death?

The strange thing was that the girl was clearly in the seventh level of Qi condensation. So why was she running? Ling Jun realised that something must be strange. Perhaps the man was stronger than he looked.

The girl realised from the string that Ling Jun was extremely close, so she changed directions and headed towards him before stopping.

"Brother, please help me! This man keeps accusing me of stealing from him!"

"YOU STOLE EVERYTHING FROM ME, YOU HEARTLESS BITCH! GIVE ME BACK MY AXE AND AND MY BEAST CORES DAMNITTT!!" The man screamed in intense anger. He looked like he wanted to eat the girl alive.

"What are you talking about, I found all of these things whilst you were sleeping. I was even willing to split half of the loot with you when you woke up, yet you attacked me you ungrateful bastard."

"YOU TOOK THAT FUCKING AXE OFF MY BODY AND THE CORES WERE IN MY POUCH BY MY SIDE. THAT POUCH STILL HAS MY FUCKING NAME ON IT!"

Ling Jun looked at the pouch hanging of the girls side and saw that it had the name Bai Long written on it. He was pretty sure it was a mans name.

The girl sheepishly turned the pouch around so that the name was covered.

Ling Jun was speechless. So that's why a second level Qi condensation cultivator was unarmed this deep in the forest he thought. He was amused by the situation.

He couldn't care less that the girl had stolen. He just wanted to know why she had a string that was connected to him.

"Why haven't you just killed him?" Ling Jun asked the girl curiously.

"Well... I actually did steal from him." She whispered in his ear.

"So what?"

"I'm... I'm in the wrong, so how can I just kill him like that? I was just planning on losing him in the forest to be honest." She said with a guilty smile.

"Oh... here let me help you then." Ling Jun abruptly moved in front of the burly man, before punching out. The man didn't even have a chance to scream before he died.

"Wai-" the girl tried to stop him but she was too late. She looked extremely conflicted at the moment.

"You... you shouldn't have killed him."

"You shouldn't have robbed him." Ling Jun replied nonchalantly, blood still dripping off his hands.

The girl was still conflicted yet she decided that she shouldn't judge him as she also wasn't a good person herself.

Ling Jun decided to get to the main topic at hand.

"You can see the strings right?"

"Yes. I was hoping you would know something about them?"

"I was going to ask the same question." Said Ling Jun exasperatedly.

"It looks like we will have to look for the other ends of the remaining strings."

They both compared the strings to check the approximate distance between each end. They found that the closest one was still some distance away.

Ling Jun decided to find out a bit more about the girl. After some conversing he found out that she was the chosen of the Meng clan from Xin city.

Surprisingly she had rank six mortal talent with wind affinity and extremely wide meridians. Her name was Meng Li.

At the current moment Meng Li was conflicted internally. She didn't know why she felt such affection for this person she had just met. Perhaps it had something to do with the string? It wasn't a romantic affection as such. It was more one of extremely close friends.

In fact at the current moment she was holding back tears. It felt as though she had met a close friend who she had not seen in countless years.

Ling Jun was feeling the same thing, though he tried his best to suppress it. He was extremely confused as to why this was happening.

Meng Li hesitantly looked up at him before tentatively speaking out.

"Do...do you also feel what I'm feeling?"

"I feel like I've just met a close friend after countless years." replied Ling Jun. There was no harm in letting her know the truth.

"Right, right! I feel like we are so close that I would even die for you!" She exclaimed excitedly.

Ling Jun nodded. He also felt the same thing.

Why was this happening? It was extremely strange for him as he had never felt close to anyone for countless years and even in his previous life so he was even more conflicted.

He didn't like this sort of thing. It felt like he could risk everything for this person in front of him and that didn't fit in well with his cautious and patient personality.

"I.. I don't know why I feel this way. I can't just trust someone who I've just met, yet I also can't ignore this feeling so how about we become sworn brother and sister?"

Ling Jun had learned about this tradition whilst in the Ling clan. It meant that the involved parties would be unable to betray each other but also willingly help each other out no matter what. It could be sworn with heaven as witness or sworn on ones cultivation base.

"I think that's the best idea for now. I also promise that I won't judge you on your morals as long as you don't try to change mine." Said Meng Li with a small smile.

She had decided that she would ignore any evil deeds that Ling Jun would commit unless extremely depraved. She just hoped he wouldn't try to make her become like him though. After all, how could she judge anyone, when her favourite hobby was stealing!

"That's perfectly alright with me!" Ling Jun said with a smile. In fact, this was what he was most worried about. He didn't want to be hindered by someone else's morals.

"I Meng Li hereby swear on my cultivation base, that I will become the sworn sister of Ling Jun, to always help him in his times of need, and to never to betray him. May my life be forfeit if I break my oath." Meng Li said solemnly, her left hand held over her heart.

She slashed her finger before pulling out a bottle of wine and pouring blood into the wine.

"I Ling Jun hereby swear on my cultivation base, that I will become the sworn brother of Meng Li, to always help her in her times of need, and to never to betray her. May my life be forfeit if I break my oath." Ling Jun also held his left hand over his heart.

A golden glow enveloped the both of them, proving their names were both true and the oath was valid. A few seconds later the glow vanished and Ling Jun also slashed a finger, pouring blood into the wine.

Meng Li put the cork in the bottle and shook it a bit before taking out two expensive looking cups.

"You steal these?" asked Ling Jun wryly.

"Yeah." Meng Li looked a bit embarassed.

They both looked at each other and burst out laughing. A moment later, Meng Li pulled out the cork and poured equal amounts into both cups.

They clinked cups before downing the contents in one gulp.