The World of Tang Jian

After some time the Skyfire lion began to dissipate from the world, as the temperature fell once again in a hurry. It hadn't been long, but this mutated martial spirit had left a mark within his soul.

"Of course, not all spirits follow the path of blood, some represent the soul of a cultivator and so on, this is after all a huge world, so we cannot know everything", Huang Shi said with a faint smile showing across his libs.

"Moving on we have the Spirit core realm, split up into early, mid, late, and the almost unattainable peak. Here the martial spirit will have a physical form, like your grandfather's who is at the early stage", he said.

This made Huang Yang realize that it indeed is so, his father's martial spirit was a bit transparent, yet he would not have noticed this, had it not been for his father pointing it out. Perhaps his father had reached the end of the awakening realm. Besides this, he also had another question.

"Why is the peak core unattainable, there should be realms beyond, right?", he asked with raised eyebrows. Knowing the question would come, Huang Shi continued with his explanation.

"The peak stage core is said to be unique and can, therefore, not be taught to others, which is why it is unattainable unless a mad genius has the brains to figure it out one day", he said before giving a quick wink to Huang Yang, making his son laugh.

"There is naturally a realm beyond, which goes by the name Soul-Spirit realm, while non of our family members have reached this stage, we know the theory. The core will be destroyed and a person's martial spirit will become their true soul... it is said that a person can live without a body", he said with a sigh, "Only the sect leaders have reached this stage, luckily we have access to the sect exam of the Radiant Sword Sect, which you will join one day with your future wife".

Huang Yang became mute for a second, before remembering that he had gotten enough recognition for him to marry this daughter of heaven, as they had called her. His curiosity peaked, yet it was quickly shot down by his father.

"You will learn of this when you come of age, at your age you shouldn't think about women, we will now move on to pills. We here have mortal and martial pills. Each has five levels, low, average, high, grand, and in the end perfect". Huang Shi explained, yet clearly felt the boredom of his son.

"It may bore you a bit, little Yang, but a good pill can help you cultivate, maybe even save your life, while a bad one may get you killed", said Huang Canfeng standing by the side. Huang Yang quickly apologized, saying that he would learn from his mistakes

"You must always listen, my son, luckily we are moving on to more interesting concepts, first, we have beasts, a vicious beast is like an opening realm martial artist. Their levels match ours. A ferocious beast is comparable to an awakened martial artist. A martial beast matches a Core realm martial artist and in the end, a spirit beast matches a soul spirit martial artist. They do however have stronger bodies.", Huang Shi quickly explained, forcing Huang Yang to frantically memories every word.

"HAHA, now we've arrived at the point of interest, weapons and martial arts", he said with a big smile. Following him, Huang Yang and Canfeng also brightly smiled. Which cultivator didn't love this subject?

"First of all, we have the human tier manuals and weapons, normally ranging between mortals and opening realm cultivators. After this we have Spirit tier, some talented opening realm cultivators may use this, yet it's far easier for an awakening realm master. At last, we have the profound tier of manuals and weapons, which can only be used at the core and soul realm.", he said with eyes clearly showing excitement.

"The surprise for you is that we will later find you a weapon and manual so that your training can truly begin. But first, we will look at the sects and rulers of the world", he said with a deep voice before finding a map.

Huang Yang sharply focused on the map, reading about the different sects along with the clans and families. 'Turns out my world is called Tang Jian, ruled by the Tang dynasty', he thought to himself. The main supporter of the Radiant Sword Sect turned out to be the Yan family, where his future wife should be from.

'Everything is connected', he is born at the bottom of the pyramid, while the Tang dynasty is at the top along with the sect they rule, 'Sword Severing sect'. From there on a person could find the three clans, Jin, Ning, and Han, followed by two sects, The Blazing Blade sect, and the Tranquil Spirit sect. Only beneath these two sects could the Radiant sword sect be found. Five other sects had the same standing as it, each supported by a family. A small family like his could not be seen, yet he was not dispirited, he would take those he loved with him, creating a legend.

In some ways, he felt energized, as he wouldn't suddenly be annoyed about always meeting stronger people, as he now knew what to expect.

"The higher clans and sects hold the key to higher realms, along with a bunch of pills and resources that we cannot even dream of... one day you will have to advance without our help, I even believe that you will leave us in the dust", his father said with a heavy sigh.

"But I can bring the family with me", Huang Yang said with a smile, before jumping up. His teeth slowly revealed themselves as he broke into a grin, "Let take a look at some weapons".

Regaining his former happiness, Huang Shi nodded to his son. He and Huang Canfeng both began showing him the way, "We will first find you a suitable weapon, as this will likely determine the manual you'll choose afterward", said Huang Canfeng.

They had to admit that they had felt quite curious, as to what weapon and manual this little genius would pick. They would of course guide him as much as possible, seeing as this was a big decision.

Along the road towards the armory, they ran into Huang Hao, his wife, Mo Lin, and their daughter Huang Mei. The groups quickly came together and began chatting. Huang Yang clearly saw the similarities between the mother and daughter couple, as they both had very light brown hair and green eyes.

Huang Yang and Huang Mei locked eyes, bringing a red color to the girl's face. As if frightened she hid behind her mother who quietly laughed while patting Huang Mei's head, "Now, now, don't be shy, haven't you two played together since you were young, why hide know?", Mo Lin asked with a teasing smile.

"... Hey brother Yang", said Huang Mei with difficulty, seemingly afraid of being bullied more by her mother.

"Hey sister Mei", Huang Yang responded with a warm smile, which apparently scared her as she once again hid her face behind her mother, who couldn't stop laughing.

Huang Yang turned to face the others, who seemed to hold back their laughter. He didn't really understand the situation, thinking that it was some grown-up stuff. He turned his face towards his father and asked, "Which manual did you start off with dad?".

The three men looked at each other with hesitation, before Huang Shi answered, "In reality, we all chose the same sword art, due to us having almost identical martial spirits... It's called The Basic Roaring Flame Sword art, which is almost tailor-made for the Flame Lion spirit".

They then began explaining the sword art. It was divided into basic for the opening realm, intermediary for the awakening realm, and advance for the Spirit Core realm. The goal was to enrich the sword with the martial spirit of a roaring beast with every slash. This would create an overwhelming amount of flames and might with each swing of the sword. The problem lay in Huang Yang's unknown martial spirit, as he may not possess a fire beast spirit.

They did, however, hope for a flame related spirit. They had been known for their flame spirit through the ages, leading to them receiving a fire elemental stone, which could test a person's affinity. They didn't possess that many manuals related to other elements, giving them a cause to sweat, "if he doesn't have fire affinity we really can't help him... we don't want to disappoint the boy", they all thought.

Their walk resumed until a black brick building, proudly displaying the word 'armory'. With a nudge, Huang Shi diverted Huang Yang's gaze towards a tall tower, with the sign saying martial arts library.

"First you pick a weapon, then we are going to get you a manual, you better be excited", his father said before laughing. The next second, however, the world seemed to shake. Screams sounded out from far off in the distance.

"Patriarch, young masters, the demons are attacking from the west, we need assistance", said a soldier not far from them.

"They dare disturb my time with little Yang, bastards!", Huang Canfeng said with an ugly expression, "little Hao, little Shi, come with me... Sorry little Yang, you need to do this on your own".