Chapter 2 - Duckweed Courtyard

Amongst the hidden courtyards in the Heavenly Court Palace, the Duckweed Courtyard does not rank high. It is small, yet well kept, and even though the name does not imply much grandeur it refers to the pond where some of the court’s precious ducks used to live. These ducks, Tian Yan chased as he was growing up, to the point that they now reside in one of the ponds in the palace garden instead. Even without any waterfowl, Duckweed Courtyard is a beautiful place with the main house right in front of the pond and a bridge over it to help access the courtyard's main entrance.

As Aiden and his new mother cross the bridge, a kid the same age as Tian Yan shoots out the door of the main house, the serene mood is interrupted with a: ”Brother Tian, you are back!”

Trying to remain dignified since he is not a little kid, Aiden keeps the same pace as his mother in no rush to meet the screaming kid but a smile breaks through on his lips as he answers. ”Brother Du, were you not supposed to go to the royal library this morning to choose your first cultivation technique?”

”I was waiting for you! I have to know how to best be able to support you before I make my choice.” The bubbly kid says as he follows Aiden back, the same way he just rushed in from.

Du Jun was dropped outside the main house, three years ago. It is common practice for influential children in society to have playmates that also double as servants. For the children of the royal court that means their playmates are taken from some of the branch family’s with great aptitude in cultivation. Du Jun was one such kid from a small branch of the Tian Dynasty, some great-great-uncle of Tian Yan was not killed when his brother ascended the throne but his children were not allowed to carry down the Tian name.

Without having any other children his age around while growing up, Tian Yan and Du Jun have become thick as thieves faster than ducks run from toddlers. They both already have plans of Tian Yan’s rule of the Heavenly Court with Du Jun as his right hand.

As the three of them enter the house, which could be described as a manor, a young woman already stands ready to the side to receive them.

”Mistress, Young master, welcome back. Would you like to have some breakfast on the porch as usual or does this occasion require the dining room?” Say the young woman.

”No thank you, Cui Zhong, I am going to my room. Please bring something there” Aiden answers.

”Me and Brother Tian are going to plan our conquest of the court now that we are old enough to cultivate.” Du Jun adds.

”I must wish for your good luck then, I will prepare breakfast on the porch as usual for Mistress then.” Cui Zhong continues as she bows.

Aiden was about to say he wanted to be alone but he hesitates. He planned to go by himself to make the ”How not to die in this shitty royal court” plan but Du Jun normally accompanied him everywhere, so it would be weird if he objected and stay quiet.

-

The house is divided into a main, east, and west wing with the whole east wing being dedicated to Tian Yan and Du Jun. Originally Du Jun’s bed was in one of the smaller rooms in the wing but since the boys kept pushing his bed into Tian Yan’s room over and over the maids had stopped taking it back.

Other than the beds next to each other at the far end of the room, there is also a study bench with a small but filled bookcase, a closet, and a round dining table with four chairs.

As Aiden sits down on his bed, Du Jun asks. ”So what was the ritual like? Do you have a bunch of amazing techniques and mysterious means now?”

”Of course, I have mysterious means…” Aiden answers with some hesitation.

During his walk back to the house Aiden had time to think things through. Those words his father spoke after the ritual was clear enough. There had been a considerable investment in Tian Yan over the years and if he ends up showing no promise now that the time for him to start cultivating has come, he might be discarded before the true battle for the Heavenly Court even starts.

”Maybe I could tell Du Jun,” Aiden thinks to himself, but in the end ”what if he tells someone, he is just a little kid after all.”

”… you will just have to see in the future how great I become.” Aiden continues after a long dramatic pause. ”We should go to the royal library together to pick up a cultivation technique for you. I will accompany you for support of course.”

Since Aiden has to find a cultivation technique on his own, the best opportunity to do so will be to go along with Du Jun. The Tian Dynasty Royal Library has the greatest collection of cultivation and martial arts manuals in the world. If it wasn’t for his brothers all getting stupid cheats Aiden would be ecstatic to pick techniques from there.

”That is great, let’s go this afternoon. But before that, we should test our affinity, or did you already learn yours from the ritual? Du Jun asks.

A cultivator's affinity is the connection they have to the elements. Some cultivation techniques and martial arts require or work better with a certain affinity and the higher your affinity the better the results. Affinity could be influenced by either your soul or your physical body and sometimes both.

”It was not certain from the memories I received so I think a confirmation could be useful.” Aiden half lies as Du Jun stands up and rushes out the door.

Du Jan is back after just a minute with a small glass ball in his hand. Affinity Crystals are common enough that most towns have one to test their promising young people with but most villages have to send their kids away to get tested for their affinity. This one Du Jun just brought back, Tian Yan’s mother usually uses as a paperweight in her study.

”Do you want to go first?” Du Jun offers Aiden as he sits down in front of him again, his hand stretched out with the glass ball and a huge grin on his face.

”Sure why not” Aiden answers as he accepts the glass ball. He reaches over for a knife on the bed table and pricks his index finger with it.

Aiden lets a drop of blood drip from his finger onto the glass ball, the drop seeps into the glass ball and sinks like it is submerged in liquid.

Gradually almost half of the blood separates from the rest of it and starts to swirl in an irregular pattern. One-third of the remaining blood gathers together and a chaotic flame pattern forms. What remains of the drop slowly settles in at the bottom of the glass ball as all of the blood slowly dissipates.

”So Brother Tian has both wind and Fire affinity with the Wind being the stronger” Du Jun says, now standing up, unable to contain himself.

”Not very unexpected, his mother has a strong wind affinity.” Aiden says as he hands Du Jun the glass ball.

What surprised Aiden is that his fire affinity is so much weaker than his wind affinity. The Tian Dynasty has a lot of cultivators with different affinities but they are most known for fire arts since it is very strong in the bloodline.

Unable to contain himself any further, Du Jun pricks his finger and lets a drop of blood drip on the glass ball.

Just like when Aiden did so, the drop sink into the glass ball and then most of it separated into the form of a flame but nothing else. However, compared to Aiden, there is very little of the blood drop left that sinks to the bottom of the glass ball, around one-tenth only.

Blood in the bottom of the glass ball represents affinity for various other elements that are too low to register. The Affinity Crystal only shows a comparison of all the affinities of the body and not the aptitude but when almost all of the blood turns into a flame it represents a very pure fire affinity.

Aiden had thought his result with two-thirds of his affinity being divided between two elements was good but Du Jun’s with 90 percent fire affinity is great even for a child of the Tian Dynasty. Even his best friend gets a better start Aiden laments to himself.

Aiden has a sneaking suspicion that there might be a connection to an event in Du Jun’s past but before he can ask about it Cui Zhong walks in with a tray.

“Sorry it took so long, An Yu wanted to make the rice special for the young master.” She says and puts down the tray on the dining table.

“No problem, we just finished with checking our affinity” Aiden says as both boys sit down at the table.

“Ohh, how exciting. Mind telling me the result or is it a secret?” Cui Zhong inquires while unloading the dishes in front of the boys.

There is a variety to choose from like eggs, fruits from the palace garden, grain porridge, pork, and fowl. Both boys receive a bowl of rice but the one in front of Aiden is noticeably decorated. There is a pattern of pink flower petals from a spiritual flower that can be found in the garden arranged on top of the rice.

Aiden notices Du Jun glancing over at his bowl, the other boy has a strained look on his face.

“I have a wind affinity and a minor fire one but Brother Du has a very pure Fire affinity.” Aiden says and smiles at Du Jun.

Startled for just a moment, Du Jun smiles and says. “Hopefully it will be enough to keep up with Brother Tian.”

Both boys grin at each other and attack their breakfast with great enthusiasm.

The food is delicious and it is not just the decorative flowers in Aidens rice that have a spiritual quality. Everything that is part of their breakfast helps enhance their bodies. Even the common rice in the court would in any other place in the world be considered a precious delicacy.

Devouring the breakfast as only young boys can, Aiden admits to himself he is vexed by his apparent inadequacy. What concerns him more however is that Aiden usually doesn’t have a problem with being average, hell, his current living standard is clearly part of the 1 percent so average doesn’t even apply. He wants to be the ruler of the world.

This feeling is obviously something that was deeply ingrained in Tian Yan before Aidens memories awoke and if he let it control him, who knows what terrible things might happen. He will just have to remember that he is an average college student and not some silly princeling from an ancient spiritual culture.

Yes, he is Aiden, if he is careful and thinks things through he will be able to cultivate in peace for a few years and then maybe just disappear somewhere and become some sort of hidden expert, completely skipping the silly succession battle.

The succession battle isn’t an actual battle but years of backstabbing, scheming, vying for alliances and to be fair, some actual battles towards the end. When his father decides to ascend to a higher realm the final struggle will commence and usually within a year from then one of his brothers will stand above the rest. This all seems very risky to Aiden and his ”How not to die in the shitty royal court” plan, at the moment, basically boil down to ”Don’t be around when daddy goes to heaven”.

-

Having finished his breakfast and his plan, that obviously only a person who has pursued higher learning could think of, Aiden accompanied by Du Jun finds themself in the garden behind the house. This is the spot where Tian Yan and Du Jun usually pursue the most noble sport for young boys, waving pointy sticks at each other.

Since this is something Tian Yan used to do with Du Jan regularly Aiden thought it was best to keep up the charade. It is not like he just had a life changing experience that could change his behavior and he definitely did not just want to play sword fighting.

Aiden and Du Jun run around and play together until lunch. With the laughter and shouts coming from them they could not have been distinguished from any other 7 year old boys.