Chapter 624: Chapter 624 – Bai An and Observations
In the early morning, a group of children was playing and practicing the fist techniques.
They were trying their best to move forward. Each of them looked very serious and did not relax at all. They were completely different from the other children around them.
However, even though they were trying their best, the progress of the individuals was still different.
In the crowd, some people’s movements were obviously slower, and their movements were stiff. They did not have the fluidity of flowing water. These were obviously the people who were lagging behind.
After a moment, the surroundings gradually became lively. These children had also finished their day of training and left directly, walking to the other side.
A young man walked out from within, striding back to his own residence. If one looked carefully, one could see that this young man was different.
The children practicing fist techniques in the surroundings were mostly not very old, and generally only looked to be a little over ten years old. The young man in front of him was obviously much more mature, and on the surface, he looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old.
His age was obviously much older than the children in the surroundings, but he still hung out with the children in the surroundings, practicing the most basic Body Tempering Fist Technique there.
From this point of view, the young man’s apt.i.tude was obviously very poor. Walking through the crowd, the young man walked straight into a house and began to prepare for the day’s offerings.
He first came to the shabby mourning hall, kowtowing earnestly in front of the memorial tablets one by one, wors.h.i.+ping, and then walked to the side.
The surroundings there were very empty. The only thing there was only a long sword.
The long sword looked very ancient. There were faint cracks on the surface of the sword, and there were traces of petrification. It looked like it had been many years, and it looked very ancient. It had been a long time.
The young man came in front of the ancient sword in front of him and earnestly wors.h.i.+pped it. Then, he carefully wiped the ancient sword and cleaned it up.
It could be seen that the young man was very concerned about the ancient sword in front of him. Every day, he would come to this place to pay his respects. After wiping the sword, the young man paid his respects and slowly left.
“Bai…”
In the distance, a shout could be heard echoing in all directions.
It was a burly man who was standing outside. At this moment, he looked at the young man’s actions with a playful look on his face. “You’re paying respects to your ancestor again?”
“Liu.”
Bai An was very respectful as he looked at the burly man. He bowed to him seriously and said, “Etiquette can not be wasted.
“One should pay respect day and night to show their sincerity.”
He looked at the burly man in the distance and said this. It seemed like he was prepared to say something else.
However, the burly man in front did not have the mood to listen. He only looked at the memorial tablets in front of him in boredom. Then, he shook his head speechlessly. “Forget it, forget it.
“If you like to wors.h.i.+p these things, then go ahead and wors.h.i.+p them.
“How boring.”
He looked at Bai An’s respectful and honest look and could not help but feel bored. He turned around and left.
Behind him, Bai An had a faint smile on his face. He still maintained his respectful look and did not change much.
Only after the burly man had left did he return to his usual appearance. He quietly turned around and returned to his previous place.
Bai An was a famous person of average size in the mountain city. He was famous not because of his outstanding talent or family background but because of his personality.
From a very young age, Bai An had been very courteous. He did not look like a cultivator but more like a well-read scholar.
Bai An came from the Bai Family, originally a very famous aristocratic family in the local area. However, after the demonic beast riot around the mountain city, the Bai Family suffered heavy casualties in that riot. Even the family leader, Bai An’s father, died in that riot.
The Bai Family also declined from then on. At that time, Bai An was only ten years old.
However, at that time, he made an astonis.h.i.+ng move.
The demonic beast riot affected the cultivators and many middle-cla.s.s families.
Those farmers and mortals suffered the heaviest losses. Some people came from small cultivator families who also suffered heavy losses.
For a time, the people’s hearts were shaken, and the land was filled with hunger. All kinds of tragic situations occurred.
When the young Bai An saw this, he had a heart of compa.s.sion different from that of ordinary people.
At that time, he used all the money of the Bai Family to provide relief to the disaster victims, allowing many people who should have died in the disaster to survive.
For this reason, not only did he exhaust his family’s wealth, but he also sold many of his family’s properties.
When this matter came out, many people regarded him as a fool. Bai immediately became a laughing stock in the vicinity.
Although the head of the Bai Family had fallen, as a cultivator, his cultivation method was also extraordinary, attracting the covetous eyes of many people.
However, gradually, everyone was disappointed to discover that the cultivation method of the Bai Family seemed to have been lost along with the death of the previous family leader.
As the son of the previous family head, Bai An was still cultivating a simple Body Tempering Technique.
This Body Tempering Technique was only a basic technique. Besides the initial cultivation, it would only be a waste of time cultivating this fist technique.
Bai An cultivated it for five to six years. Had he cultivated other profound techniques, he would have been more successful.
During this period of time, he also tried his best to become a disciple of various cultivators.
However, he didn’t have any peerless talent, and the Bai Family had long since declined. He didn’t have much money left, so he couldn’t convince these great cultivators to take him in.
Therefore, his actions were destined to be a matter of time-wasting.
On the other hand, no matter who Bai An faced, he always had a graceful and courteous appearance. He didn’t look like a cultivator but more like a scholar. However, he was terrible at studying.
The current Bai Family had long lost the demeanor of a cultivator and had declined beyond recognition. Bai An gradually became a laughingstock in the mountain city and was not taken seriously.
His temper was good, and even if people often mocked him in front of him, he didn’t care. He just smiled and pa.s.sed.
Standing in his original spot, he looked at the burly man who had left in the distance. Bai An smiled, then turned around and went to the side.
Soon, he came to another room and opened a pa.s.sage in it. Then, the pa.s.sage opened, revealing another part of the world.
It was a s.p.a.cious training field. There were many training instruments, and there was even a complete array set up. It is still operating at the moment.
Bai An walked in. Although his expression did not change, his temperament gradually changed.
He was like a dragon in the abyss, like the sun’s surface. An inexplicable domineering aura appeared on Bai An’s body with a single move. If the others around him saw Bai An, they would be shocked and feel that he was a completely different person.
After arriving at this training ground, he pondered for a moment before starting today’s training.
On this training ground, he casually stretched out his hand. Large amounts of runes surged out and transformed into a huge dark hand that grabbed forward heavily.
Following that, there was a series of banging sounds. The armored body in front of him directly cracked. A huge force erupted from within and directly exploded, blasting it into pieces.
Then, the Gen Qi in the sky surged and merged with Bai An’s body, expanding his aura and becoming powerful and terrifying. He was as high and mighty as a king, making people revere him.
Judging from his aura, he was not a mortal who had not entered the sect yet. He had completed and reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage. He was only one step away from the Spirit Transformation Stage.
At this cultivation level, not to mention ordinary mortals, even the cultivators in the mountain city couldn’t compare to him.
Even the famous great cultivators in the mountain city were only at the Spirit Transformation Stage. They were only one step away from the current Bai An. And with Bai An’s age, it was only a matter of time before he advanced to the Spirit Transformation Stage.
A character of this level could be considered a Heavenly Gifted Individual anywhere. It was enough to make tens of thousands of people admire and revere him.
He strode forward on this s.p.a.cious training ground like a dragon, like a tiger. Although his eyes were calm, they seemed to glow with light. Gen Qi circulated within them, transforming into various runic intents. It was as if he was about to rush out.
It was terrifying.
“It’s a pity… . .”
Standing on the spot, Bai An sighed and said regretfully, “My acc.u.mulation isn’t enough. In the end, I’m still lacking…
“My family’s acc.u.mulation is still lacking a lot of things. Otherwise, I would have been able to advance to the Spirit Transformation Stage faster.”
He stood there, muttering to himself with some regret.
“But even so, it should have only been two years… .”
He stood there, looking forward. He seemed to have thought of something, and his eyes lit up. “Only by reaching the Spirit Transformation Stage can I try to activate my family’s Heavenly Weapon and investigate what happened back then… .”
He looked forward and sensed the auras in all directions. He seemed to have thought of something at that moment, and his emotions surged. It was only after a long time that he calmed down. Then, he stabilized himself and stepped forward, leaving this place.
After he left, the spell formation in the training ground continued to operate. Soon, the aura in this place was covered up, and not a single trace of it leaked out.
Bai An also returned to his previous appearance. At this moment, he looked like an ordinary mortal.
No matter who saw his appearance, they could not help but have a good impression of him. They felt that he was a good person. However, Bai An did not know that people were already observing his every move in the dark.
Of course, that person couldn’t be considered a human, to be more precise. Chen Heng quietly sat on the ancient sword and looked at Bai An’s actions. He couldn’t help but smile.
“His talent is world-shocking, and his will is like divine iron… he’s not bad…”
Watching Bai An’s actions from the beginning to the end, Chen Heng couldn’t help but smile. Even someone like him couldn’t help but admire Bai An when he saw him.
There were many people in this world. Among them were those with outstanding talent, tenacious willpower, and a firm Dao determination. However, there were very few people who could possess both.
Anyone who had both of the above could be called a Heavenly Gifted Individual, like Song Qingruo of the Qionghua Sword Sect in the past.
However, those who had the talent of a Heavenly Gifted Individual and those who were low-key, steady, not ostentatious, not cowardly, and also had superior intelligence were very rare.
With such talent and personality, there would not be many obvious flaws. In the future, as long as he did not die halfway, he would have great achievements.
Of course, there was also the possibility of dying young. In this world, if one wants to achieve great things, sometimes the most important thing is not oneself but the time.
Like Xiao Han in the past, even if his talent was low, his willpower was not very strong, and his personality was full of flaws. However, with his exuberant Destiny, he could still achieve great achievements. He even surpa.s.sed many other Heavenly Gifted Individuals.
And in this aspect, was Bai An lacking?
He was not lacking either.
At this moment, Chen Heng’s gaze was focused on Bai in front of him. The Mark of Destiny was circulating, and then on Bai An’s body, a scene that ordinary people could not see began to appear.
A pale golden Destiny will rise, condensing into a dragon and a phoenix in mid-air. It converged into a canopy that covered all directions, illuminating Bai An’s entire body with a bright and resplendent light. This was truly a sign of Destiny, and it was not an ordinary Destiny.
Although the Destiny on Bai An could not be said to be the strongest that Chen Heng had ever seen, it could still be considered top-notch. It could be compared to Xiao Han from five hundred years ago.
“Impressive.”
Looking at the Destiny on Bai An’s body, Chen Heng smiled. Talent, temperament, and even Destiny, were all not lacking. If nothing unexpected happened, Bai An’s future was destined to be glorious. He would most likely have great achievements in the future.
Recently, Bai An’s destiny had been fluctuating. From the looks, he should be on his way to rising soon.
Chen Heng had been observing Bai An for a long time. He had woken up decades ago before Bai An was born.
The reason why Chen Heng was here was because of Bai An’s ancestor. An unknown cultivator found Chen Heng in the mountain and treated him as a treasure. He brought him to the Bai Family and pa.s.sed him down as a legacy treasure.
However, as time pa.s.sed, the Bai Family found that although Chen Heng’s body was extremely tough and could not be damaged by any means, he did not have any divine power and did not have the aura of a Heavenly Weapon.
Moreover, no matter how much he used his magic power to refine and nourish it with various natural treasures, the ancient sword that Chen Heng transformed into did not have much of a reaction. It was as if a stone had sunk into the ocean.
As time pa.s.sed, the ancestors of the Bai Family gave up on the ancient sword. They only pa.s.sed it down as a legacy treasure until now.
Therefore, to a certain extent, Chen Heng could be considered to have watched Bai An grow up.
He had watched the Bai Family grow from prosperity to decline. He had also watched the young Bai give up most of the Bai Family’s floating wealth to protect himself. In addition to buying the people’s hearts, he had also secretly hidden the truly priceless cultivation resources.