Against The Heavens

Of course, before anything else, they would have to absorb some Qi to open their dantian. Only once their dantian was open could they start engraving runes and harness their power.

After the ceremony ended, Li Yang returned to the same tree where he had rested earlier. He sat down in a cross-legged position and calmed down his breathing. To absorb the surrounding Qi, one would first have to empty their mind and allow themselves to sense the existence of the Qi.

This first step of sensing the surrounding Qi could cause some people to be stuck at their current stage for years. But it was not a problem for Li Yang, as he had been able to sense the existence of Qi ever since he had first been born into this world.

He could sense the surrounding Qi at all times, but he preferred to sit down with his legs crossed and calm his breathing before interacting with the surrounding Qi. When he sat down and calmed his breathing, every breath of his would drag in the surrounding Qi, pulling it into his body.

Some people struggled to control the surrounding Qi, as it was not their own Qi. But Li Yang had never had a problem with this, whenever he interacted with the surrounding Qi, it was like soldiers following the orders of their general.

Li Yang continued to sit with his legs crossed, calmly breathing in the surrounding Qi, for the rest of the day. Even as the sun set, he did not stop his tedious cultivating. Ever since he was born, he had found that he quite enjoyed spending his time like this, just peacefully cultivating.

Despite spending half the day and the entire night cultivating, there was not a single change in his dantian. The Qi entering his body felt like a drop of water entering the ocean. He had long realized that he would need a truly ma.s.sive amount of Qi to progress his cultivation, so he was not surprised.

"Brother Yang. My father told me to bring the two of you to the weapon storehouse so that you can choose a weapon before you enter the wilderness."

When the sun started rising, Li Yang"s quiet cultivation was interrupted by Liang Zhou and Liang Xinyi. Liang Xinyi was slightly surprised that Li Yang was sitting under this tree instead of at his house, but Liang Zhou was already used to it.

Li Yang had a house of his own, the house that his parents had left for him when they died. But he had always preferred sitting under this tree, so almost everyone in the village knew that it was better to look for Li Yang by this tree, rather than at his house.

"Good morning Big Brother Zhou, Sister Xinyi."

Li Yang stopped his cultivation and stood up, stretching his body and enjoying the sound of his joints popping. After stretching his body, he gave the two of them a polite greeting, a slight smile on his face.

Liang Zhou was clad in a gray linen robe that seemed to be a slight bit too large for him. This robe could only be worn by the leader of the Liang tribe or the person who was to be the next leader of the Liang Tribe.

Liang Xinyi was clad in the same white cotton robe that she had worn at the affinity ceremony. Her raven black hair hung down past her shoulders, and her blue eyes looked at Li Yang with a curious gaze. She was slightly thin, but Li Yang noticed that she was not as thin as yesterday. It was clear that the Liang tribe had given her plenty of food after the affinity ceremony.

"The tribe has a weapon storehouse?"

After greeting them, Li Yang turned towards Liang Zhou, raising his eyebrow as he asked. He had never heard about the tribe having a weapon storehouse, nor had he heard about them handing out weapons to the children who enter the wilderness.

"The weapon storehouse is typically only open for people who help the tribe, or during times of war. But father is worried that something might happen to you if you enter the wilderness without a weapon, so he has made an exception for you."

Liang Zhou had a wide smile as he spoke, grabbing Li Yang"s arm and dragging him into the village. While some elders were slightly disgruntled about Liang Zhu"s choice, Liang Zhou completely agreed with his father. Li Yang was much calmer and smarter than most children, but there was no telling what could go wrong when he entered an unfamiliar wilderness.

Liang Zhou dragged the Liang Xinyi and Li Yang to the center of the village, bringing them into the largest building in the village. This was the only building in the village that was constructed using only food, and it was also the only building that was taller than one floor.

This building was where the elders of the Liang tribe lived, and it was also where the Liang tribe stored their wealth. After entering the building, Liang Zhou stopped dragging them, instead walking a little bit ahead of them and leading them around the building.

"This floor was built by the first leader of the Liang tribe. Only elders and people with special rights are allowed to enter it."

Liang Zhou brought them to a hatch in the floor that led to a secret underground floor. After entering the underground floor, he lit up a torch and used it to light up the path for them. A few more minutes of walking lead the group to a locked wooden door.

"This is the weapon storehouse. Father said that you can both choose one weapon."

Liang Zhou unlocked the wooden door and lead Liang Xinyi and Li Yang into a dark room. Li Yang could not see anything in the room, but he could still smell the scent of metal when Liang Zhou opened the door.

Liang Zhou entered the room, using his torch to provide light for Liang Xinyi and Li Yang. The walls of the room were lined with weapons made out of bone or metal. Swords, hammers, spears, bow, sabers. All kinds of weapons were kept in the room. After seeing the room, Liang Xinyi could not help but let out a small gasp. For someone who was only used to seeing things made out of wood and dirt, seeing so much bone and metal was a completely new experience.

After entering the room, Liang Xinyi started walking from weapon to weapon, touching and slowly examining each and every single one. Li Yang, however, immediately walked over to where all the swords were placed. He could not quite tell why, but he could feel that he had an affinity with swords. He mused that it was probably something from his past life.

After walking over to the section that contained the swords, his eyes were immediately attracted by one of the swords. It was a standard Jian sword, it"s handle fitting perfectly in his hand, with a blade of 70 centimeters. The sword was completely unadorned and made out of completely normal metal.

But Li Yang quite liked this sword. It fit perfectly in his hand, it was not too light, nor too heavy. It was made out of completely normal metal and looked plain, but the blade focused on hardness as well as sharpness.

"Do you like this sword, Brother Yang?"

Seeing Li Yang caress the sword, Liang Zhou walked over and commented. The sword in Li Yang"s hands was made out of normal metal, so it was not very important to the tribe. Even if Li Yang took this sword, the elders would not complain.

"Indeed. I will take this sword."

Li Yang nodded his head and took the sheath of the sword down from the wall. He fastened the sheath at his waist and sheathed the sword. Since Liang Zhou had said that they could take one weapon each, there was no need to ask before taking it."

"I want this one, Big Brother Zhou."

After Li Yang took the sword, Liang Xinyi spent a bit more time choosing her weapon. She eventually settled on a short bow made out of some type of black wood. So that she would not have to spend time preparing her own arrows, she was given a quiver as well as some arrows.

"Excellent. The two of you should head home and prepare, in two days, you will have to enter the wilderness to try and tame a Demonic beast."

After the two chose a weapon, Liang Zhou brought them out of the weapon storehouse and they returned to the village square. Liang Zhou was going to bring Liang Xinyi to her home and help her prepare, so the words were only spoken for Li Yang to be able to prepare. Li Yang gave a quick nod of his head before he returned to the tree at the edge of the village.