Chapter 1 – The Boy from Starfall Village
The village of Starfall was nothing more than a cluster of wooden houses tucked between rolling hills and a silver river that cut through the land like a blade. Life here was simple. Farmers rose with the dawn, children chased each other barefoot in the fields, and at night the villagers looked up at the endless sky, whispering prayers to the stars that watched over them even when they knew no one will answer them.
Among those children was a boy named Xing Yun.
He wasn't the strongest or the fastest, When the elders of the village tested the children for spiritual roots, the crystal stone glowed faintly in his hands before turning dark again, Some laughed, calling him talentless. Others shook their heads with pity, In a world where cultivation meant everything, to be born without it was almost the same as being not born because nobody will protect if you don't have a powerful background you will have to protect yourself.
Yet Xing Yun didn't seem to mind, He carried buckets of water from the well for the elderly, helped his mother grind herbs for medicine, play with other children in the field and often sneaked into the hills just to lie in the grass and stare at the sky gazing at its beauty and feeling like the starts are living but fuck that who cares.
"Why do you always look up there?" his friend Liang once asked, kicking a pebble at him.
"Because," Xing Yun answered with a smile, "its beautiful and keeps my heart at peace and I feel like they are calling out to me but who knows, Maybe one day they'll answer back."
Liang laughed, thinking it was nonsense. But Xing Yun's eyes never left the heavens. There was a quiet stubbornness in his gaze, as though he already knew that the sky held more than anyone in their little village could imagine.
One evening, as the sun dipped below the hills and shadows stretched long across the fields, when everyone was still busy with their day work the village scout came back breathing heavily as a group of wandering bandits rode into Starfall. Their eyes were sharp, their blades sharper, and they had no time for mercy. The villagers scattered running for their life, but Xing Yun froze when one of the men cornered him against a wall.
"Pretty boy," the bandit sneered, raising his sword, "let's see how long you can smile."
Xing Yun's legs shook. He had no weapon, no strength, but his will to survive was very strong. His chest burned as he searched for his mother with his eyes but couldn't find her then he grew angry and as if something responded to his anger, something snapped in him as if something deep within him was stirring yet he didn't understand what it was.
Just as the blade came down, the ground beneath his feet rippled faintly. A light, soft and silver like starlight, spread in a circle around him. The bandit's sword struck the light and shattered, fragments flying back into his own face.
The man howled, blood streaming from his cheek. Xing Yun stumbled back, staring at the faint glow fading into the earth.
No one else noticed. The villagers only saw the bandit fall, clutching his broken weapon. They thought it luck. They thought the boy had been spared by chance.
But Xing Yun knew better. Something or someone had protected him.
And though he didn't know it, far beyond the hills and rivers of the mortal world, eyes that burned brighter than suns were watching.