Chapter 3: 2: So It Begins
He didn't want his parents to have suspicions on their 4 year old son, so he deliberately acted his physical age. One nighttime, however, when his parents are in deep sleep, he snuck up on his younger brother and opened his meridians. All of it. He needed smokescreens for all the things he would do in the future and this will be one of them.
How significant is the opening of meridians? Well, in the Turbulent Tornado Continent, the Meridian Unlocking Stage in the Physique Molding Realm is a legend for the masses, a dream for the competent, and only attainable by those destined for greatness, granted they are already involved with the continent's strongest powers. After all, the stronger and more complete one's set of meridians are, the better the chances they have in going farther in the long path of cultivation.
Simply put, the Fiery Mountain Region of the southwest, ranked 8th out of 11 regions and considered as a backwater place, might not have even heard of it.
Done with the deed, Fendou Yi began thinking up grand machinations that will bring fulfilling entertainment to him to stave off the encroaching insanity in his mind.
He had long accepted the fact that he will be brought back here everytime he passes, the predictability of the situations and complete knowledge of all events that happened, is happening, and yet to happen . . . at this moment, he just wanted his mind to go blank, but during one lifetime, he already did that and it gave a hollowing feeling, so he'd rather act beyond everything's expectation and do things that would satisfy his human side, a side of himself he abandoned while living through his existence in his attempts to end the loop, but to no avail.
This month, all the younger generation have started their cultivation. Except for Fendou Yi, children all around the clan are being taught the fundamentals and lectured about how important cultivation is. Individual differences would also show during this time. Others get the hang of it quickly, while some are still wondering what in the heavens they are told about. But, you cannot expect children to immediately mature and have them find cultivation appealing in a short amount of time.
At its earliest phases, cultivation is linear, thus in order to advance quickly, one must have devotion and focus; qualities that children would seldom have early on. As such, after each lecture, they would go out to play. Those who continued cultivating can be counted on one hand.
3 months have passed, and it was now Fendou Yi's birthday. His father gave him, as he expected, an exquisite wooden sword made out of Raran, a type of hardwood capable of withstanding blunt force, but weak to sharpness. It has a peculiar trait in that even if one using it hacked with great force, so long as it doesn't reach a certain threshold, it bounces off both hard and soft surfaces while retaining its shape and durability, making it safe for children's use.
He calmly received it, nodded his head, and thanked his father. His actions, unusual for a child his age, amused his parents.
He stroked its blade's smooth surface, evoking the memory of when he received it in his first lifetime. Back then, his innocence and naivete were still intact, and he thought that wielding this wooden sword would grant him great strength and allow him to conquer the world.
As he reminisced, a slight smile played on his lips. Of course, on his 348th lifetime, he allowed it to become his Life Weapon and conquered not just Turbulent Tornado Continent, but also the entire Fearless Qilin Planet, his homeworld.
As for his younger brother, curiosity was brimming in his eyes, as he instinctively went closer to his brother and reach out for the wooden sword.
'I shouldn't revel in the past too much,' thought Fendou Yi. Knowing his younger brother coming, he turned around to face him with a cute, wide smile and said in a childish voice, "Here, have fun."
With eyes widening and sparkling pupils, Fendou Huo shuddered in excitement, took the sword by the handle with both hands, and raised it above his head in a triumphant pose, shouting "Yaaaaah~" in the process. He then waved the wooden sword around while mumbling "whoosh" sound effects, like he guides the wind with every swing.
In Fendou Huo's thoughts, he acted like the victorious general their mother told them about in a bedtime story. However, his appearance of wearing swaddling clothes greatly contradicted with the overbearing, armored image in his mind. Seeing his brother act like this while reading his brother's mind, once again in his almost 100,000 lifetimes, he giggled like his current physical age. His parents also laughed at the sight of their child's adorable antics.
After giggling, Fendou Yi stared at his brother, one that shows pride in him, as he muttered in his heart, 'I will always be proud of you, Little General.'
Five years passed in a blink of an eye for Fendou Yi. A competition in the clan for the young blood was being organized. The competition takes place every five years. His younger brother, with all of his meridians opened, already reached the Bone Strengthening Stage, far surpassing Fendou Xiaodao who's only currently at the Muscle Building Stage. As for the others, they were only at the Skin Hardening Stage.
It was an unprecedented speed of cultivation age-wise within the Fendou clan, shocking everyone with one exception.
It's now the afternoon a week before the clan competition. The adults are busy with preparations while they chided their children to practice seriously.
Fendou Yi didn't want to participate in the clan competition. Thus, he went to inform his father with his intention. Fendou Sheng then made a grave frown, before closing his eyes and doing a deep sigh, then reluctantly nodding his head. He thought that Fendou Yi felt discouraged about joining to compete because of his "low" potential.
As for the person who received the approval, he was heartily laughing in his mind. During the past few years, he had been sneakily leaving the Fendou clan manor to collect Honey Dew Flowers and Ardent Glow Grasses all around the continent. He would be using it as ingredients for a product that he knew would sell very well.
Leaving his father's study, as Fendou Yi was walking along a hallway, then turned left to proceed on a cobblestone path, he saw his brother Fendou Huo, wearing a white, dusty training robe, his dark brown hair scraggly, sweating while practicing his martial art skills on a training field within the courtyard.
If he were just sensing his brother's presence, it would've been fine. But, seeing his brother practice the Iron Breaker Fist Art with movements full of mistakes, it irked him very badly. The longer he watched, the worse his facial expression became.
Having experienced hardships so challenging that he needed foresight and precision up to the 9th decimal or higher to even surpass, he inadvertently became a subconscious perfectionist.
If any other person saw his younger brother practice, they'd think that he is very fierce and really proficient in combat with his current performance. But, the way Fendou Yi sees it, it's just a sloppy execution of a combination of flamboyant, but rigid and flawed moves.
Feeling his blood boil in a negative way as he watched his brother practice, he could take it no longer, prompting him to approach.
"Big Brother Yi, hello!" yelled Fendou Huo as he smiled, stopped his practice and waved his arms cheerily upon seeing his brother approach. He experienced and received many good things from his older brother when they bonded, many of which he was told to be their "little sibling secrets" and not share it even to their parents, thus he loved and trusted him unconditionally.
"Listen here, ya little runt! You don't go about randomly flailing your body mindlessly because of what you've read on some parchments! They are only a basis for what you can incorporate in your martial dao! Look here, I'll show you how it's done. Come, fight me!" exclaimed Fendou Yi.
He stood 5 meters apart from Fendou Huo, made a funny-looking, arrogant expression and extended his left hand forward to tauntingly beckon his brother to approach.
Seeing this, Fendou Huo chuckled. He admires his brother, but finds his actions weird, unpredictable, and funny. He also doesn't believe that his brother is weak or useless as some of his playmates or other people within the clan say. After all, not even once has he won against his brother in any kind of matter.
Back then, his brother mysteriously appears out of nowhere randomly, he always seems to know what would happen, and he speaks "grown-up" words all the time.
Last year, while he was running after his brother through the manor to ask him that they play together, he accidentally bumped into a tall jar with water by a low pedestal.
With his open meridians completed, his strength was comparable to a common adult. The tall jar can only take a loss.
It flew forward and went into the direction of tiled pavement, upon which would break it if contact was made. In shock of what's about to happen, he stood in place, frozen by what he had done. Yet, moments before collision, a hand stretched out to catch it. Breaking its fall, not even a drop of water spilled.
Looking at his brother, who appeared like a ghost, he wasn't surprised by his sudden appearance; it was his seemingly effortless act of keeping the tall jar off the ground that made him stare with wide eyes.
Looking at the surreal scene of a boy holding up a jar a few inches off the ground, which was two heads taller than him at the time, with one hand at that, made for an intriguing view. He made it seem like it's a vase that can be handheld.
Suspending his disbelief, he went up to Fendou Yi excitedly, who was returning the tall jar back in place, and asked, "How did you do it, Big Brother?" to which he received the reply, "Do you want to be able to do it, too?"
Nodding his head furiously like a hungry chicken, Fendou Yi smiled mischievously and said, "Alright, I can teach you, at a price . . ."
Thus, since then, he did all kinds of odd, incomprehensible deeds for his brother, seemingly for no rhyme or reason, but none of it were bad or brought harm, and in return, he had a lot of fun and either received bizarre delicious food, been told ridiculously amazing stories, or learned interesting martial pointers, like in the present scene.
At this moment, Fendou Huo complied with his brother's command. He dashed forward as he brandished the Iron Breaker Fist Art he was practicing earlier. He brought a light gale as he moved. His confidence in his brother made him go all out.
Seeing his younger brother approach, Fendou Yi utilized the same speed, but only took a single step with his left leg forward to bridge the gap between them, took an additional half a diagonal step to his right-hand side with his right leg, then chopped at his younger brother's forehead with his right arm.
Fendou Huo was able to react, but at this point of time in the spar, only his lower body was able to move accordingly. All he'll need is another half a second to re-adjust his upper body, but this window of opportunity was more than enough to be exploited by the former Godly Paragon.
A "plap" sound was heard, followed by a "plop" as Fendou Huo fell on his butt while clutching his forehead with both hands. He couldn't help but feel slightly aggrieved by the stinging pain on his forehead, but it went away shortly after; his admiration for his brother increasing again. He was always fascinated by his brother's level of skill and longed to achieve it as well.
"The Iron Breaker Fist Art capitalizes on hardening one's muscles to increase one's attack power, but that doesn't mean you have to keep it that way throughout the duration of its execution. Doing so would only make your body unnecessarily tense, thus decreasing your overall combat efficiency. You only clench before it hits. Clench before hit!" explained Fendou Yi in a simplified, goofy manner, with wiggly hand gestures and all; then he properly demonstrated the Iron Breaker Fist Art with great finesse before his brother. He turned to his left side, took a boxing stance, and threw his right fist. Strong winds blew as he completed executing the clan's Intermediate Tier, Bronze Class fist art. Starting from the wind-up of the punch, then all the way until the follow-through, there were no excess movements and the performance was so fluid that it was very pleasing to the eye. Fendou Huo always enjoyed watching his brother because of his otherworldly prowess.
If given a choice, he'd rather learn martial arts from his older brother over his father. The strict way his father teaches puts pressure on him, while his brother's lessons were always cheery and light-hearted. He also finds his unorthodox methods of teaching weirdly entertaining.
There were times when he questioned his brother about how he became as skilled as he was, but the only answer he ever received was, "'Cuz I'm a Battle Emperor, yo!" while his brother posed in a funky manner. Though, he didn't doubt his brother's statement.
"So, did you get the idea I am conveying?" said Fendou Yi as he dropped his stance.
"Yes! Thank you, Big Brother Yi!"
"Good. Don't forget to take a break when necessary, okay?"
Fendou Yi smiled, and patted his brother's shoulder, before pointing in their courtyard's direction and saying, "Look, mom brought snacks."
Fendou Yi promptly looked over, and as his brother said, their mother was approaching, carrying a tray with baked cookies, a teapot and a cup, and a towel.
"Let's eat, Big Bro-"
As he saw their mother, he glanced back in his brother's direction, only to see that he was gone. He can only scratch his head in confusion at his brother's sudden disappearance.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone