In a small courtyard, a group of youths, both boys and girls, gathered together, laughing, chatting, and sparring playfully with one another. Unlike the usual awkward distance often found between boys and girls at their age, these youths shared a rare camaraderie. They were united in a common purpose.
Sitting a little apart from the group, atop a small hill overlooking the village, was a youth with black hair and unusually striking blue eyes. Unlike the others, he wasn't talking or laughing, he simply stared out over the village below, quiet and contemplative. His gaze carried a maturity well beyond his years.
This moment of solitude didn't last long.
"Brother Li Mo!" a cheerful voice called out behind him.
Li Mo turned slightly to see another youth approaching, a lively boy with a bright grin and boundless energy.
"You've been staring at the village like this almost every day since the village head began training us. Why don't you come down and join the rest of us? These breathing and stretching techniques are no joke. We've been at it all day! Still... we can't let the village head down after everything he's done for us."
Li Mo chuckled softly, shaking his head at the boy's enthusiasm.
"Brother Feng," he said with a calm smile, "since the village head arrived about two months ago, don't you think the village… somehow feels different?"
As Li Mo posed his question, Brother Feng looked at him in confusion. He turned his gaze to where Li Mo was staring but saw nothing unusual.
"What do you mean?" Feng asked. "What looks different? The houses are the same, the roads are the same. The only thing that changed in the past two months is the arrival of the village head and how he settled things with the farmers. But honestly, anyone could have done that, it's not like the farmers would dare rebel against the Royal Clan."
Li Mo chuckled softly. "Brother Feng, you're still too young."
Embarrassed by the teasing, Feng's face flushed with irritation. His pride stung.
"Too young? Li Mo, we're the same age! How can I be the young one and you the old one? Are you going mad?"
Li Mo didn't respond immediately. Instead, he turned his gaze back to the village, his eyes calm and clear as crystal. In that moment, Feng couldn't help but feel that Li Mo looked more like a wise sage than a youth of his own age.
After a moment of silence, Li Mo finally spoke again.
"You remember last year? You were always complaining about the smell of the roads… or that you were too hungry to think straight. Don't you notice the small changes?"
"Huh?" Feng blinked, caught off guard. He did remember saying those things, but why had Li Mo remembered such trivial complaints?
"You're acting strange. Has all this training messed with your head, Brother Li Mo?" Brother Feng now seemed genuinely concerned about Li Mo's state of mind.
He reached out and touched Li Mo's forehead, muttering, "Not hot..."
"Tsk." Annoyed by Feng's concern, Li Mo clicked his tongue and shot him a sharp glare. "I haven't gone mad. You're just too naive!" he said coldly.
But no matter what Li Mo said, Brother Feng only looked more worried. In his mind, Li Mo's strange behavior confirmed his fears. He muttered under his breath, "Maybe I should mention this to Sir Wu…"
Li Mo sighed in defeat. He knew there was no way to prove to Feng that he wasn't losing his mind. These changes he'd noticed, though clear to someone observant, were too subtle for the average person to notice.
Most people dismissed them, forgetting such details as unimportant. Only someone who seemed like a madman would fixate on them.
Then, with a sudden seriousness in his tone, Li Mo said, "Can't you see it? The village is slowly changing for the better."
Feng's eyes widened slightly, not with understanding, but with a strange mix of pity and fear.
"No one goes hungry anymore. Everyone has enough food to live and work. The once filthy paths are gradually becoming clean.And now, the youths nearing the age of testing are being supported by the village head. If even a few of us are blessed… this village might not stay a village for long."
As Li Mo spoke with unusual clarity, Brother Feng suddenly felt something shift inside him. It was as if a fog that had been clouding his vision began to lift, if only just a little.
"You… you're saying the village might actually become a place cultivators come from?" Brother Feng asked Li Mo, but Li Mo just shrugged off his shoulders.
"We're the first group to have the full support of the village head," Li Mo said calmly. "If we succeed, and many of us are blessed, the village will soar, maybe even become a recognized clan under the Royal Family, but if we fail... we'll stay here forever, just another nameless village."
The more Li Mo spoke, the more uneasy Brother Feng felt. A heavy pressure settled on his shoulders, and a chill ran down his spine.
For the first time, he saw the weight of what was happening, how far reaching it could be. This wasn't just about training. It was about changing their fate.
His eyes widened with newfound understanding, just as Li Mo finished his thought.
"Today might be the last day we see the village as it is. Tomorrow... it may be something entirely different."
After that, silence fell between them. Brother Feng, now thoughtful and solemn, quietly sat down beside Li Mo. Like him, he stared out at the village, taking in its familiar streets and humble homes, aware that everything might soon change.
At the same time, in a small office room, a youth only slightly older than Li Mo and Brother Feng sat alone. This youth was Ling Ye.
His eyes had grown darker, the circles beneath them deeper. His once shoulder length black hair now reached the middle of his back, slightly unkempt from long nights without rest.
Ling Ye sat in silence. His eyes were heavy, but his thoughts sharp. A single decision weighed on him, one that would shape not only his future, but the fate of the entire village.
"What should I do?" he murmured to himself, closing his tired eyes. Despite his exhaustion, his mind remained calm and focused.
"Should I focus on the village as a whole, or concentrate on the current generation of mortals?" These were the two paths before him.
"If I choose to focus on the village," he continued to reason, "I'll build a stronger foundation. Over time, more cultivators will emerge, and the village will prosper in the long term. But it won't help me now. The present would be sacrificed for the future."
He shifted his thoughts to the other option.
"But if I dedicate myself to training the current youths, I may see results quickly. If even three of them become blessed, I'll gain political influence. With their help as cultivators, my plans could advance much faster... But if none of them are blessed, everything I invested, time, energy, resources, will be wasted."
But as his thoughts about the mortals settled, Ling Ye smiled coldly. A low chuckle escaped his lips.
"In the end," he murmured, "it all comes down to this, do I gamble, or do I wait for success?"
Gamble or wait. Those were the only two choices before him. Yet, once he framed the decision that way, the answer seemed almost obvious.
With a cold, resolute smile, Ling Ye nodded to himself. There was no more hesitation.
"Mortals it is."
The decision made, he opened his eyes. They were sharper now, cold and unwavering, no longer reflecting the youth he once was.
"If I had the time of a cultivator, I might have waited." he thought, "but as a mortal, time's a luxury I can't afford to waste. Waiting costs too much for me and although waiting doesn't cost a cultivator much, but for someone like me? It's a price I can't afford. So why hesitate?"
With that, his resolve solidified.
"I may not be able to cultivate, but I will make atleast the lowest cultivators bow their heads before me, within the span of this short, mortal life of mine. That is my small, humble goal."
As Ling Ye spoke those words, his eyes cleared with renewed purpose. Though dark circles still hung beneath them, his gaze was sharp, and his mind was focused, he now saw a path he could truly walk, a future he could reach.
"Heh." A few minutes passed in silence before Ling Ye chuckled, the sound edged with pride and a hint of arrogance. He reached for one of the marked books on his desk, a progress report on the youths currently undergoing his training plan.
After reading it through carefully, he closed the book with a soft thud, a faint, proud smile tugging at his lips. His eyes gleamed with a quiet satisfaction.
"It works," Ling Ye murmured with pride. "I wasn't entirely sure, but now... it's clear, the book about the Mortal Ancestor was telling the truth."
Even as pride swelled in his chest, a wave of confusion and envy, followed close behind.
"Why doesn't the Ling Clan use this method already?" he muttered to himself. "The Mortal Ancestor was once a renowned figure of the Ling Clan. I don't know exactly how powerful he became, but he must've been at least equal to my father... maybe even stronger."
As Ling Ye pondered this, no clear answer came to him. And in that uncertainty, both excitement and unease stirred within him.
"If the clan has abandoned this path, thinking it's useless or forgotten..." he thought, "then if I succeed, truly succeed, my achievements could shake the foundation of the clan."
A fierce light sparked in his eyes.
"Maybe... just maybe... I'll earn the right to be called a Young Master of the Ling Clan once more."