Begin!

Beneath the scorching heat of the sun, flew a little black crow. Compared to normal crows it may have a tad too big, this, however, was not seen by the common Huang family members, as most of them had seen vicious beasts or martial spirits with a beast form.

The crow looked down at the ground, where a little human lay spread out across a training field. Sweat fell from every inch of his body, as he tried to take in as much air as possible. Beside him was a sword, almost as big as himself, giving off a bronze color.

A young man with grey temples looked at the boy with an awkward smile. In his hand was a wooden sword, commonly used for practice. For some reason, the boy used a real sword when simply training, yet the man held back with nothing more than wood.

The crow dived, landing on the little boy's chest while giving the young-looking man a mean look, acting as though it had a human mind.

The boy raised his head to look at the crow. He gently ran his hand along its feathers. "I'm okay Xiaotian", said the boy with a wry smile, slowly moving his eyes towards the young man.

The young boy was of course Huang Yang, who was training with his uncle Pen Min. Ever since he had broken through to the second level of the opening realm, he had gotten permission to use his sword when training.

Normally both participants of a spar would only use wooden swords, but since he used the Scorched Steel sword art. He had to make use of a real sword when training. The first true stage required him to interact with the metal elements within the blade, using his qi. This would make him faster and stronger than what was natural for his body.

"Sword mastery takes far more time than simply learning a qi technique... For a six-year-old, to be at the basic level is already unfathomable, so don't rush ahead unknowingly", Said Pen Min.

Huang Yang had heard this too many times by now. There is the amateur level after which comes the basic level. He should be too young to even reach this stage, yet his mind was beyond that of a normal child. He, however, also knew that a person shouldn't rush.

After the basic level, a person could reach intermediary following advanced. Huang Yang had a feeling, that this uncle of his had actually reached beyond this, but didn't have enough understanding to prove it.

Huang Yang felt his body, before groaning in pain. He began to hate his superior body, it gave him the opportunity to train harder, making him break down every day, only to wake up fine the next day.

Xiaotian said a quick "kraa", before taking off into the air again. With slow but steady movements, Huang Yang got back up, clearly dreading what was to come.

"There is only a couple of days to the fight will begin, better use them", Pen Min said with a teasing smile. His face soon turned serious as he looked at Huang Yang, "Come!".

Huang Yang charged forth, breaking some stones beneath his feet as he hurriedly arrived in front of Pen Min. In the beginning, he would make a war cry, yet his father and Pen Min had beaten this habit out of him in no time, even calling him an idiot at times.

He used both of his hands to tightly hold the sword over his right shoulder. He twisted his hips to the left while using the momentum to make a diagonal crescent swing with the greatsword.

Within his body, he drove his now more abundant qi towards his sword. He felt the metal elements littered across and within the blade, as he tried to communicate with them.

While not much seemed to happen, the sword actually increased its speed, towards the chest of Pen MIn, who with a quick move diverted the direction of the blade, easily avoiding it.

Huang Yang lost his balance due to the weight of the blade. Luckily he had tried this before, giving him enough experience to move his feet.

Instead of stopping, he continued to twist his hip to the left, while this time letting his right foot follow. This fluid movement allowed him to turn around while keeping a tight hold of the power still within his blade.

He allowed the momentum of the blade to spin his body and once again took a strike at Pen Min. Due to this excessive movement, the power of the swing had actually increased, even bringing with it some pressure.

Pen Min's eyes lit up in surprise. It looked like this kid was beginning to learn something. He felt that this kid had gotten a better hang on the momentum his sword could carry and, therefore, chose to dodge the blade, letting it break the floor of the training field.

Huang Yang felt the sudden vibration through the sword, as it met the ground. His hands felt numb, yet he did slow down, as he felt the aura of his uncle's sword right behind him. He knew far too well how this uncle could strike him with that piece of wood. While Pen Min hadn't broken his bones as of yet, he had come far too close.

In a quick movement, Huang Yang bent his knees and took off from the ground. He made a flip over the sword, while his hands were still gripping it. This allowed him to still hold the sword when he landed and letting him lift it, to once again place it over his right shoulder.

The two looked at each other in silence. Huang Yang took in a couple of deep breaths, while Pan Min hardly seemed to have moved, as he breathed steadily. There was, however, a glint in his eyes, like he was looking at a treasure.

Huang Yang honestly already felt happy regarding his performance, since he hadn't fallen on his butt this time. He did, however, not enjoy Pen Min's next words, "Again". And so Huang Yang suffered for the rest of the day...

.....

Today the courtyard held quite a few family members at once. It was however only the core members, and no hired soldiers or servants. The wives or husbands of the Huang children also had to stay away.

Huang Canfeng really didn't want others to see his genius little grandson, and even made the members of the family promise not to tell their other halves, which he likely knew they couldn't help but do.

The patriarch and his two siblings each had a chair, which was placed in front of the family hall. The others needed to stand up.

Huang Yang stood by his father and uncle Hao, along with Huang Mei. He couldn't help but take a look at the people who came to watch the fight, the children and grandchildren of all the elders seemed to be here. Even Huang Qiang and his son Huang Long.

He could clearly tell who was routing for whom. The patriarch's younger brother, Huang Hong, obviously hoped that Huang Zhilan would win, as all grandfathers would.

The patriarch's sister, Huang Ran, would be nice too most from the younger generation, yet she and her son Huang Wei would still vote for him, seeing as Huang Yang wasn't as arrogant as Huang Zhilan.

As Huang Yang was the grandson of the patriarch, the old man couldn't help but choose a side, yet he had to act neutral. This killed his heart as he wanted to cheer for his little Yang'er.

Huang Yang looked at his opponent Huang Zhilan with a serious face. Or as serious a face, as a young boy his age could make.

By Huang Zhilan's side was a girl, who seemed to gently encourage him. This was the daughter of his aunt and was named Huang Yao. She looked like her mother Huang Rou, who had basic brown hair and eyes. She had a prideful look in her eyes, which she had likely gotten after knowing she had a bit of talent. She should currently be in the third stage of the opening realm.

Huang Yang had come to know that resources meant a lot. Had she been born in a bigger family, she could have been a couple of realms ahead. This even counted for Huang Yang, who could progress faster than anyone.

"Yang, Zhilan, go to the stage", said Canfeng with a stone-cold voice, bringing an end to the small talk.

The two boys quickly walked up to the stage in the middle of the courtyard. They hardly looked at each other before turning to the patriarch, who looked back.

Huang Yang had a small and short frame, due to his age, yet compared to other kids at six, he should actually be a bit taller. His hair had grown a bit longer, but still looked short and messy, while his brown eyes almost looked black due to its dark tone.

Huang Zhilan didn't look all too different, he had a bigger frame with longer hair. His brown eyes and hair had a slightly lighter tone, yet rage seemed to live within his eyes.

While Huang Yang generally wore white and black clothes, Huang Zhilan enjoyed a bit of red.

With a sigh, Huang Canfeng said, "Let the match begin!"