Starry Sky Part Two

However from the words spoken by Flamelle, he could sense that she had prepared some sort of plan for him to follow in the future. Apart from her extensive skill in Alchemy and Rune Enchanting, she was also an esteemed spiritualist with a cultivation base sitting in the upper bracket of the rank 79 of spiritual cultivation.

Even though she only lacked a single small step to break through to the next level, she had lost her prime opportunity while researching far too many mystic practices. She knew very well that one could get lost and stray from a spiritualist's journey. However she had come to accept those tendencies as being part of human nature.

The further one climbed the path of cultivating his spiritual soul, the further one would be faced with harder bottlenecks that would seem unbreakable. Taking their mind from cultivation could fix those issues, but that wouldn't always work for everyone.

Sadly, even though a spiritualist's life force would be more vibrant as their cultivation grew. A rise in their lifespan was only true for those that cultivated beyond the legendary rank 90 and above.

The old witch Flamelle kindly looked at Sheng Hao, finding him more pleasing to the eye after their talk. She couldn't help but feel that after all these years of rejecting disciples, it was finally time for her to pass on her precious lineage.

"I have some contacts throughout the continent. But I would cross the majorities out of these from your potential lists as they could represent some dangerous factors due to the difference of mentalities in those empires." She spoke in a counseling tone with a matter-of-fact manner.

"If you are looking for something close, then I have the perfect location for you." She added without any pause. "We will talk about it later when you feel that you are ready to leave our village." The tone in her voice had changed slightly, there was a hint of familiarity when she now spoke to the young boy.

Sheng Hao nodded silently. He noted this moment in his heart and promised himself to always help the Toe Village if it needed his presence. Although he had only spent time with a few members of the Toe Village's elderly community, he still felt that the rest would have similar mentalities or life philosophy as they were all able to live together in a peaceful harmony.

"I will go tell the news to Grandpa Wang!" He said while taking the direction of the door. He couldn't help but stop in his track, rubbing Little Black's dark colored fur. The small feline creature couldn't help but purr loudly while rubbing himself all over the young boy's hand and legs.

"Take care of yourself Grandma Melle." He finished before departing from the old witch's house. His legs took the direction the cottage used by the pair of Sheng grandfather and grandson. His steady walk soon turning into a light jog as he couldn't help but gaze at the herbs and trees that grew along the path, appreciate their lushness.

"I am going to miss this place." He thought in sincerity with his mind projecting himself to the day he would leave the calm atmosphere of the quiet secluded village.

Lost in thought, he arrived to their inhabitation and entered the house with light steps. He took the direction of the kitchen where he found a few meat buns that he wolfed down in a few bites before going to his bed.

As soon as he sat on the firm fabric of his bed, he closed his eyes and started shuffling his thoughts in his mind. He continued thinking about his past discussion with Flamelle, before long his thought process delved deeper in his memory as he lingered on the few long discussions he had with Sheng Wang.

At some point he sighed before turning his train of thought into a permanent void. His large eyes were nearly shut with only a small slit remaining open. The light coming from his gaze had retracted to the point where the young boy had a mindless albeit nonexistent, look on his face. He only focused on sitting comfortably in a straight posture and breathed in and out deep cycles.

All the rest was swiftly thrown out in the back of his head. A few minutes passed where he maintained the same position, his shoulder were relaxed and rested quietly on his trunk. His posture, although not perfect, seemed to have achieved some optimization to the point where he felt he could maintain the same position for more than an hour.

Soon his mind drifted away from his breathing. His lungs and diaphragms, however, maintained the same breathing frequency without any attention or focus from him.

In a seamless unconscious manner, his entire being started focusing on the energy coursing through his body. Although he could nearly hear his blood coursing through his veins thanks to his focused state of mind, he wasn't yet able to sense the spiritual power contained in his small physique.

That fact didn't make him lose hope, Sheng Hao continued despite the hundreds of failures, knowing very well that frustration would just break his meditation and further irritate him.

He didn't desperate and continued, strangely even though the feeling of sensing his energy was akin to searching through a vast cave system without being able to light a torch.

He didn't mind, the feedback of energy sensed by his mind was nearly imperceptible but he continued looking in the dark until his mind could no longer focus on the difficult task before coming to a stop.

"Vitenka told me the truth! Sensing energy isn't something that can be easily done without awakening my spiritual soul." He thought but the determination in his eyes didn't lessen and even rose when facing the harsh difficulty.

Although his obsessive nature had made him push himself in dark paths, it was still one of his strongest assets when it was triggered by productive work.

"I don't mind skipping some hours of sleep to meditate more!" he said calmly as he knew that his body couldn't meditate through an entire night.

"This village had treated me like their own kin. Ever since I was a baby, they helped grandfather take care of me without any hesitation."

"I can't let them feel disappointed by my failures!" he thought with Buckethead and Flamelle entering his mind.

The quiet and cold Vitenka too turned into a small boost of energy as he felt that Sheng Wang and her had somewhat put their past behind them. They only needed to move on, construct a present history but that act wasn't anything easy to do for the pair of elders.

Without anyone from the village putting weights on his shoulders, the reincarnate man couldn't help but throw his entire being in the opportunity he was given. He didn't know if it was the correct path in solving the problem that existed within him.

Little by little, the life in the Toe Village had made him turn a page over his past life. Someday it was even possible that the memories from Earth would become distant and faint, just a faint dream that would resurface from time to time.

Part of him was afraid of what he could become if he left his past-self influence his current grow. He already felt that he had tainted his past life far too much, and was afraid to reproduce them once again in this world.

He could still remember brightly how he had cut his relation with his closest friends and family before fleeing far away from his responsibilities, he didn't forget the way he had sabotaged his own passion and lost himself to several addictions.

He didn't choose to think about the way he had slowly left himself accept death. It wasn't the kind of event one could forget even after his soul went through an undetermined sleep and arrived to this world.

The gift of receiving a second life and the acquisition of a fresh body made him acceptant to everything that was coming his way.

In this life, he didn't want to run away from anything. The least he deserved here was to be true with himself and with those around him. He wasn't afraid of trying his best and was ready to face failures, he truly believed that he would only face a real loss when he would fall back to his dark habits.

As long as he kept going with the current flow with a clear perception that wasn't influenced by his disturbed psyche, then he could see the road ahead of him with a calm and confident gaze.

"Time to move this stiff body a little." He mumbled as his eyes opened up fully, blinking around a few times as he got used to the dim light in the room.

"Sitting like this is really taxing on the joints of the body." His moved his limbs around and popping sound resounded through the corners of the small room. "Thankfully this young body doesn't seem to have any difficulty in adapting to what I'm doing."

Although his muscle training, stretching and the time he spent meditating was taxing for the body. He could feel himself constantly progressing, day by day and month over month.

Even when his advancements were little and minute he still took pride in them, he was genuinely happy as long as he was moving forward and wasn't regressing.

He took a few breaths before moving to the courtyard, trying to maintain the same state of mind until he arrived to his training tools.

When he arrived, he noticed that Sheng Wang was sitting in the courtyard. His posture was straight and stable, even when he was sitting in a meditative stance for several hours.

Sheng Hao didn't bother his grandfather, he started his weight training session as soon as he assembled the wooden weights. Currently, he was using the heaviest set of weights, and his movement showed that he had already grown accustomed to the weights. He was even forced into changing the forms of his exercises in order to challenge his muscles.

He coursed through the entire session in a little less than fifty minutes. After he finished he sat on the ground and forced his breathing to calm down. His limbs stretched in different directions, executing basic stretch that he accompanied with deep meditative breath. After a few movements, he felt a light sting in his muscles with the heavy soreness dissipating.

By the time he finished, his entire body was feeling light and relaxed as though he didn't go through his usual workout at all. He looked at the weights for a few seconds before turning his eyes from them, knowing very well that he shouldn't push his body too far. In the end, he was still young and an injury would end up leaving repercussions on his future growth. And that wasn't anything he wanted to go through.

Although physical injuries could be completely healed by some spiritualists with Alchemist's pellet being also able to help the body in its recovery. Major injuries to the brain or to the spine were still difficult to treat, he didn't want to waste a few years or even his future due to a lack in his discipline.

He contemplated the courtyard, hesitating on taking a shower before going on a walk around the village. The rigid figure of his grandfather made him stay, he knew that Sheng Wang didn't touch the furnace yet and that information made Sheng Hao decide to stay and wait for the old man to awaken from his meditation.

Sheng Hao looked around for a few seconds, feeling slightly bored before resigning himself to sitting down. He tried to meditate but it was to no avail, his spirit seemed to be inclined on working and he even came to regret not having taken a book to read in moments like these.

After several attempts at trying to enjoy the calm atmosphere in the courtyard, time passed and before long his grandfather moved. It took Sheng Wang an hour to leave his immobile state, his body released muffled pops when he rose to his feet.

Sheng Hao didn't immediately press him. Ever since he had been able to use the anvil, he couldn't help but look forward to this specific time. Sadly, Sheng Wang didn't agree on letting him use the forge by himself. Despite trying his best, Sheng Hao didn't manage to make him change his mind.

"Prepare yourself to smelt some ore. I am going to give you pointers on what you already started learning."

"If you are successful in learning how to properly smelt this iron ore by the time you awaken your spiritual soul. I will teach you everything that is required to turn you into a real Blacksmith that is able to spirit smelt ores, alloys and thousands of different precious metals." Sheng Hao's heart couldn't help but pound at a faster rate when he heard these words.

He could sense in Sheng Wang's tone that his old man was serious. The reincarnated man didn't know if Sheng Wang was aware of his master-disciple relation with the Old Witch, but he could sense that the old man was changing their past years' routine.