Trash? Says who? Lemme Kick that Donkey in the Head!
Qing Wu You is the sole heir of the Second Imperial Prince, Qing Zhuang Xiang, known as the military's Blood Commandant, and Fairy Ling Lan, the proud Saintess of her generation under the tutelage of the Nine Cauldron Sect. His Lord Father was a fearsome cultivator and a renowned protector of humankind, while his Lady Mother was a genius of one of the best refiner forces within the Qing Blessed Lands.
As the saying goes, a tiger father will not beget a dog son. (1)
Since young, Qing Wu You had been a favored son of the heavens. Not only was he part of royalty, but he was an acclaimed genius himself, able to awe the royal tutors teaching him the art of war, ancient history and cultivation theories, among many others.
With his Lord Father and Lady Mother being the embodiment of 'proud as a phoenix and mighty as a dragon', and as a direct descendant of the Qings, the most powerful clan of cultivators that is governing its own empire, for as early as he could remember, Qing Wu You had carried the world on his young shoulders. He could not afford to be simply outstanding; he had to be someone outstanding in an already standing crowd.
His Awakening ceremony was supposed to be the greatest day of his life, where he would begin to shed his mortal self and ascend into becoming a true dragon!
His Majesty the Qing Emperor, his parents, the Imperial Household, the Nine Cauldron Sect, each and everyone of them had high expectations for his future.
So imagine how this eight-year-old boy had fared after knowing that he was in fact a cultivation cripple?
That he could never ever soar proudly into the sky?
That he was bound to never be able to take even a single step in the path of immortality?
How heavy was the weight of suffocating disappointment?
From heaven to the deepest pit of hell!
That painful day happened two years ago, yet it still felt like last night's nightmare to the boy who was abandoned by the people who once doted on him for being trash. It was a serrated knife twisting inside his chest constantly. Each day, each night, and every single waking moment of his life...
And now… Qing Wu You was going to re-experience that day once more!
The pain!
The horror!
The hatred!
Qing Wu You felt a deep rush of depression that had rooted him into the ground, and he could not pull himself out from the quagmire. His breaths were short and shallow. Cold sweat was rolling down from his temple. He wanted to close his eyes, to cover his ears—no, he wanted to dig them out and tear them off and perhaps die from the blood loss and humiliation!
The following scenes flashed across his wet eyes in a blur. The next thing he knew, his right hand had already been placed on top of the Awakening artifact… and it failed to respond.
Puzzled voices filled the hall.
"W-What is happening?"
"Why is the artifact not responding?"
"Maybe it is broken?"
"Or could it be His Highness Qing Wu You has no Spiritual Bone?"
The Awakening artifact came in the form of a delicate rune array, which would absorb a person's drop of blood and in turn, feedback spiritual energy through the wound on the fingertip. Within three seconds, it would emit dazzling lights of various colors depending on how compatible a person's body is to the spiritual energy. One's potential could be judged depending on how much light it would emit and what colors it would show.
For the most ordinary humans, a five elemental Spirit Bone exists within their bodies. It was the most common type of Spiritual Bone and the Awakening artifact would emit five-colored light if such Spiritual Bone was detected.
On average, cultivators with this type of Spiritual Bone would never step beyond the third stage of the first realm of cultivation, the Body Washing Realm. One had to know that the Body Washing Realm had 9 stages.
For the members of the Qing Imperial Family, most of them were two elemental Spirit Bones. In the last hundred years, the Green Qing Spirit Bone, a single elemental Spirit Bone which signifies 'wood', was the lowest threshold ever recorded in their family history. Majority of the Qings bear Spiritual Bodies instead, which meant that their bodies were more intimate with the Dao.
His Lord Father and his grandfather, His Majesty the Qing Emperor, both had pure 'wood'-aligned Spiritual Bodies!
But he, the favorite grandson of the Qing emperor, not only does not have a Spiritual Body, he doesn't even have a Spiritual Bone!
His Highness Qing Wu You is a cultivation cripple!
He was worse than even an ordinary human!
Just like in his nightmares, his parents paled and his Lady Mother even fainted at the discovery. His own grandfather, His Majesty the Qing Emperor, stared at him with visible disappointment before turning his head away, as if he could not bear to look at him any longer.
Sneers and frowns could be seen on everyone's faces. The scandalized murmurs around Qing Wu You turned deafening.
"This boy cannot cultivate?"
"What are we even here for? Damn, we even brought expensive gifts!"
"What a disgrace!"
"Hah! A waste of time!"
"Trash!"
And just like in his nightmares, Qing Wu You gritted his teeth throughout the ordeal, forcing himself to act with grace and propriety befitting the Qing Imperial Family despite the disdain and disappointment on everyone's faces.
'I need to go.'
Before he could open his mouth to excuse himself from the Great Hall, someone beat him to it.
"Tut tut, what ignorant ants. Trash? Says who? Lemme kick that donkey in the head! If this kiddo is trash, then no one in this place can claim to be a genius...well, except for me, of course!"
The last sweet voice with a lilt seemingly came from no specific direction, like it existed together with the Dao.
Qing Wu You's eyes widened, and he looked around haste. That voice didn't exist in his memory… at least, it shouldn't exist within this particular memory…
Then, he suddenly remembered what had happened to him.
Didn't he enter an illusion array while he was staying with the Ye Sect?
His gaze found the intruder to his nightmare standing near the throne. Her arms akimbo, a certain young girl in pink embroidered robe could be seen scoffing. But because of her dumpling-like face, her expression was adorably hilarious.
Qing Wu You had to blink twice to make sure she was real. "Y-Young Miss Yin?"
'She has entered my memory?'
Hearing his surprise, the young girl let out a hearty laugh that reeked too much of a female hooligan. It gave him the feeling like she's about to unleash insurmountable evil in all the lands.
"Hey, brat! Call me boss! Come follow me and I will teach you the best way to land a solid smack on the people who called you trash. I assure you, the smack will be so painful they will not dare raise their faces in front of you again!"
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(1) A tiger father will not beget a dog son (hǔ fù wú quǎn zǐ), meaning a great or powerful father will not raise a worthless son (typically said as a compliment)