Bei Xing and his father get through the crowd with the help of their bodyguards and then begin walking home.

Unlike most other noble lords Lao Xing does not live in a large fancy mansion, instead his family inhabits a house just large enough to fit them that sits on the edge of town.

It takes the father and son duo around ten minutes to walk from the town center to their home. As they approach the grounds some of the building can be seen, but most of it is blocked from view by a white wall standing around two and a half meters tall. The wall surrounds the noble family’s home which allows them to maintain privacy, but it was the villagers who wanted to give it to Lao Xing as a gift for his good graces.

Their guards stop at the gate and hand off the duties of guarding the noble lord and his son to the sentries who are posted there. Those two original guards then return to their posts back at the town center.

The large wooden gate opens up for Lao Xing and his son allowing them to walk into the grounds. Now the entire house and its surroundings can be viewed properly.

For a noble’s home it is quite basic, but still nicer than a commoner’s. It has an ancient chinese style with both light and dark brown finishes that compliment the creamy white coloring of the house itself. There are two floors with multiple windows that allow those inside to view the nice courtyard in the front of the house and the area which surrounds the grounds. The courtyard is nothing too crazy; a dirt path leads from the gate to the steps of the home while symmetrical flower gardens follow along. To one side is also a dirt patch with a standing hay dummy that Bei Xing uses to train with.

Lao Xing leads his son down the dirt path and as they step onto the front steps of their home he begins speaking to Bei Xing.

“Standing up for yourself like that is very noble. You must remember never to let others walk all over you and turn you into a door mat.”

Bei Xing’s face lights up and he crosses his arms in a prideful manner.

“Of course father, a man must not let anyone look down upon him. Uncle She had it coming.”

Lao Xing corrects his son with somewhat of a laugh.

“That is true, but you must remember not to let your pride get the best of you. Otherwise you become just as evil as those who seek to control you.”

With that remark the two step into their home and are greeted by Bei Xing’s younger sister Wei Xing who leaps forward and hugs her elder brother.

“Brother you’re home!”

Wei Xing embraces her brother with a bear hug. Despite being only ten she has a bit of strength to her grip. As she sits in her brother’s arms her long black hair dangles below her shoulders in a ponytail, allowing her eyes to be visible. Despite having black hair Wei Xing was born with blue eyes, which is a very rare combination to have. She also wears a pink dress with a white floral pattern on it which was a gift from her father.

“Yes Wei Wei (nickname), we’ve arrived home. And guess what? Something special happened today!”

“Oh really? What happened? Tell me! Tell me!”

Wei Xing’s excitable nature takes over so Bei Xing lets go of her and gets on one knee.

“The royal envoy came from the capital today. He said that I can go the Silver Peak Academy. You remember what that is right?”

“Of course big brother Bei! That’s the place practitioners go to learn the mystic arts! There’s lots of super strong teachers and students there. Are you really going to study there? That’d be so cool!”

Despite being young Wei Xing’s vocabulary is very advanced thanks to her private lessons with her teacher, and her knowledge of the world is already as good or better than that of her brother’s.

Bei Xing shakes his head and scratches his neck.

“Well...not entirely…”

“What do you mean not entirely?”

Bei Xing is cut off by a beautiful woman wearing the same color blue as his father, but on a long, silky dress. Her dark hair hangs to the middle of her back and her eyes sparkle like a star. The relaxed, peaceful tone which she speaks in instantly soothes anyone listening to her words.

“Mother - I didn’t see you there!”

Bei Xing sits up and turns around to bow for his mother out of respect, her name is Meili Xing.

“Of course you didn’t my little Bei. Now come give your mother a hug and get ready to eat dinner. You can discuss this topic with me and your sister at the table.”

Bei Xing smiles at his mom and walks over to her to give her a long hug. After a few seconds they let go of each other and his mother adverts her gaze to her husband.

“You’re late Lao Xing.”

Lao Xing corrects his posture and gives a nervous smile back to his wife.

“Yes honey I know, but as you heard from our son the royal envoy came to town bearing a message from the emperor.”

“Is the emperor more important than your wife?”

“Do not say such words of course not! But be careful, in the wrong ears those words can be heard as treason.”

“Yes dear, now come. Dinner is ready and we are already starved half to death.”

The Xing family then walks from their entry area to the dining room and sits at the table.

Meili has prepared a soup bowl with pork and rice for her family. Both the kids and their father begin salivating at the sight of the food before them. Lao Xing sits at the head of the table and is followed by the rest of his family. They say a prayer to the Gods and then begin eating.

“So the two of you mentioned the royal envoy. What happened?”

Bei Xing’s mom is curious as to what made them late for dinner, and he can sense the urgency from her tone.

“We did meet the royal envoy, yes. Otherwise we would’ve been home on time for this wonderful meal you prepared for us.”

Meili Xing smiles and responds.

“Nice save son.”

“As I was saying earlier, the royal envoy came bearing the message that the emperor wants to invite one youth from our village to attend the Silver Peak Academy.”

“That is wonderful news little Bei, but what does this have to do with you? Since you were little you have not had any skill with any of the mystic arts. Sending you there would be like sending you to your grave.”

“Of course mother, but uncle She Xing embarrassed father in front of the envoy. It infuriated me so I challenged Duan Xing to a one-on-one match a month from now to see who would get the spot at the academy. I had no other choice!”

Meili could sense the sincerness in her son’s voice and closed her eyes before letting out a small sigh.

“You know you get that sense of courage and noble behavior from your father.”

Lao Xing laughs and nods at his wife.

“She speaks the truth, afterall I do set quite a good example for you.”

“Do not get ahead of yourself my husband.”

“Of course dear…”

The teasing back and forth between Bei Xing’s parents ends and his mother returns her attention to him.

“Despite your courage, which I truly admire, this challenge is too dangerous to follow through with. I care about my son and will not watch him be beaten up in front of the entire village.”

“But mother you must understand. I will train my hardest over the next month and do anything in my power to defeat my cousin. Uncle She Xing must learn that his actions have consequences!”

“Ah, my son. Do not let hate cloud your judgement.”

Meili Xing sturs her tea and takes a sip.

“Fine. If you are so dead set on participating in this challenge then there is nothing I can do. Just please, for the sake of your family, win it.”

“It shall be done mother. I will never bring shame upon our family name.”

Happy with her son’s determination and resolve Meili Xing decides to let the case rest. For the rest of dinner Wei Xing lets out a barrage of questions about the Silver Peak Academy and what’s in store for her brother. The Xing family has a good time discussing the topic and spending time with one another.

After dinner Bei Xing goes to bed in order to wake up early the next day and go to the mine in order to train for the challenge.

Now laying in his bed Bei Xing is unable to sleep, his mind is too busy thinking about his careless actions earlier that day.

“What was I thinking!? I’m just a cripple! Making that challenge is going to be the death of me.”

He rolls over and lets go of a deep breath.

“It’s hopeless…”

Just as his thoughts of sadness begin taking over Bei Xing shakes his head in disappointment.

“No...I can’t let that attitude get the best of me. Father would not want it. I told my family that I would win for them. Losing isn’t even an option."

Bei Xing then shoots up out of bed and looks out his window.

“No matter what I cannot lose to Duan Xing. Winning the challenge is just as important to me as it is my family. But what will I do in order to beat my cousin?”

He begins pacing around his room thinking of what to do next. After a few minutes of drawing blanks he falls back on his bed and sighs to himself.

“Ugh, this is hard. I can’t think of a method to beat my cousin.”

Bei Xing begins fiddling with his fingers before an idea shoots into his head.

“Maybe some training in the hidden cave will clear my mind. After training I should be able to come up with a solution to my problem and sleep properly. Waiting until tomorrow will do me no good.”

Happy with this idea he stands up and gets dressed in his training gi. The gi is all black and has a white dragon design across the back.

In order to sneak past the guards outside Bei Xing tip toes out into the courtyard and hops over the back wall using a vine.

Now in the clear he runs to the mines just south of the village in order to begin training for the fight against Duan Xing.

Once at the mines Bei Xing has to take a complex path to get to his hidden cave which he uses for training and hiding from his mother. The hidden cave is on the lowest levels of the mines and technically speaking he is not allowed down there, but thanks to the complex path required to get to the hidden cave no one is able to bother him.

Despite his father not wanting him to be a miner Bei Xing has explored the mines more than anyone else in the village. Hence his knowledge about the layout of the mine is second to none. In fact he knows every tunnel, cave, and cavern within the entire mine so well that he's able to traverse the dark path with only a single torch.

Bei Xing arrives at his hidden cave and begins practicing his punches and kicks for about an hour before leaning against the wall of the cave to catch his breath.

“Sheeeeesh! What a work out.”

He wipes away the river of sweat leaking from his forehead.

“At this rate I’ll never beat Duan Xing in that challenge a month from now.”

He then falls back and lands on the ground which causes the dirt below him to give away, resulting in him tumbling down a small incline into a new cavern that even he did not know about.

Inside the cavern there is no light so Bei Xing panics at first, but after relaxing and gathering his composure he begins searching for an exit.

In the midst of his search Bei Xing comes across an amulet sitting on the ground. As he grabs the amulet the walls of the cave light up, unveiling a series of paintings which depict the Great Darkness that occurred thousands of years ago.

Bei Xing studies the stories but is unable to comprehend them well enough to understand the meaning behind them.

Thankfully though the amulet emits a red light which gives Bei Xing just enough lighting to find the incline he stumbled down and climb out of the cavern.

Once back in his hidden cave he checks the ground for hollow points before sitting down again and letting out a sigh of relief.

“That was a close one. If it weren’t for this amulet I would’ve never gotten out of that cavern.”

Bei Xing lifts the amulet up and inspects it.

The amulet has a silver chain which reflects the light of his torch, and attached to that chain is an oddly shaped red stone covered in engravings. The stone is emitting a pulsing red light, almost like a heartbeat.

“What a strange necklace. I wonder what it was doing down there…”

Just as he finishes his thought Bei Xing’s eyes are blinded by a bright red light which spreads throughout the cave. As his eyes regain sight there is a mysterious man standing before him.

“Hello boy, are you the one who released the seal on that amulet?”

“Um, yes?”

Bei Xing stares at the man in disbelief. He has short blonde hair and golden eyes that rival the sun. The man also has on black pants and an untied robe with no undershirt on which exposes his abs. The golden robe that sits upon his shoulders has red accents and patterns on it making him look like royalty.

“Apologies, where are my manners? My name is Siwang, God of Gods.”

As if the shock of a man appearing out of an amulet wasn’t enough, that same man was now claiming to be one of the Gods from legend.

Somehow Bei Xing is able to let out a response despite the craziness unfolding before him.

"Uhhh, hello. My name is Bei Xing."

"That's a nice name boy, where are we now and what empire is this?"

"We're within the mines my village owns and this is the Silver Empire."

"The Silver Empire? They were a small faction the last time I heard about them. Who knew they'd become so prosperous?"

Just then Bei Xing regains his self control and raises an eyebrow to the man standing in front of him.

“Wait a minute, I thought Siwang was the Dark God?”

“Excuse me? Dark God? What do you mean?”

“Well according to the legend Siwang is the God of Darkness who murdered Qing Shen, the God of Gods. He wasn’t the God of Gods himself."

“That bastard!”

The man becomes visibly angered and clenches his fist.

“Qing Shen is a lying, manipulative piece of shit. That story is not true.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’m Siwang, the real God of Gods.”

Chapter End.