Humanity was weak. Or at least that is what Ao Ruang was always taught when he attended lectures with the rest of the children in his village. The patriarchs of the clan always told him “In this world the strong rule over the weak and so it is our duty to prepare you to defend this place with your lives!”

This was a fact of life in this world. Humanity was said to be the weakest of the sentient races. Something his mother had told him from a young age was that despites humanity driving back the dark races in the dark corners of all the continents some of them still lurk in the shadows. Whenever Ao Ruang asked more questions his mother would simply shrug her shoulders. The dark races had been driven into the dark tens of thousands of years prior no one alive remembered it. Only the most powerful cultivators could be within a generation of the conflict, but only a generation in cultivator years.

There was only one advantage that humanity numbers and it was using that plus the fact humanity has been unified in their oppression against the dark races while they themselves were fractured.. The dark races would often say humans breed like rats and because of this there were more opportunities for high level cultivators to rise from their ranks.

Ao Ruang felt it was more likely due to hubris than anything humanity had done.The Era of humanity had arrived and by all accounts it was unlikely to be unseated anytime soon.

Ao Ruang lived in a small town on a small continent nestled in the Mountains of Mist was a town called YinWu; it was a small town of no more than 15,000 humans. The town itself is controlled by two major clans. The Yang and Wen clans while it was located deep in the mountains far away from any of the human nations who would claim sovereignty over it. YinWu is only known by traveling merchants who sought to buy some uncommon resources produced in the mountain depths or hunters who sought to hunt down savage beasts.

The Mountains were named such due to the nearly constant thick mist that would engulf them most of the year making it quite dangerous to travel through should you lose your way. However, the benefit of the town's location was that it was surrounded by major human powers that kept the mountains as neutral space between the various Kingdoms and Empires that dotted the regions around the mountains. Making the town relatively peaceful from outside conflict.

Ao Ruang sat cross legged on his bed silently circulating his inner Ki as he attempted to break through to the first realm on the path of cultivation. Ao Ruang let the faint Ki in the surroundings enter his dantain and enrich his body, but despite hours of attempts he couldn't make much progress.

A loud rumbling sound came croaking out of his stomach like a frog during the late spring season which snapped him out of his meditative state.

'Failure again' Ao Ruang thought to himself as he got up from his meditative position.

Why couldn't he break through almost all the other children his age had broken into the first realm known as the Iron warrior realm a year prior. When a child was born in the world they would be immediately tested for their innate talent and what the nature of the Ki they produced would be. If someone was born weak with no nature to their Ki that person would be considered low class Ki users.

When Ao Ruang was born he had barely registered as having the ability to absorb Ki and on top of it no special nature to the Ki he produced. So the people of YinWu held no respect for Ao Ruang and he was often verbally and at times physically bullied by his fellow citizens of the town. After all a youth with the lowest of cultivation talent was doomed to be trounced on by the strong their entire life.

When he failed to condense his Ki into his bones again he felt dejected. Though it was common for people to be unable to cultivate it, they would always be disappointed when they discovered they had such horrible talent for it.

'Why can't I break into it!' Ao Ruang screamed in his heart, clenching his fists; he beat his chest three times to let loose his frustration so as not to disturb his mother.

Exiting his room he saw a familiar sight his mother was standing next to a wood furnace making a stew of some sort.

Ao Ju was not his mother's original name, but she had adopted the Ao family surname when his father had died defending the town from a 3rd class savage beast.

Ru'er it is nice to finally see you come from your room. How was your cultivation?" his mother said, turning to him with a bright smile on her face. She had always encouraged him despite his lack of talent which was one of the reasons he worked so hard to become stronger despite his lack of talent.

"It was fine. Nothing major has changed, but I feel like it won't be long before I break through."

"That is good, but don't feel like you must do that. The Ao family already said they would allow you to apprentice underneath the blacksmith or alchemist of the family. There is no shame in not pursuing the Martial path."

"Mother, I cannot allow my father's memory to be shamed by his weak son. I will continue to strive to become strong like him." Ao Ruang said quickly, cutting her off from going on another talk about his future.

"Okay, Okay dear I understand. I will not force you, but you must make some sort of significant progress in 1 years time or I will have to make an executive decision." His mother said with a hint of pity flashing in her eyes as she looked at her unlucky son.

"I...I understand mother." Ao Ruang said a small spark lit in his eyes as he looked up with determination. This was his last chance at overcoming mediocrity and a life of being crushed underneath by the powerful.

…

Ao Ruang left his home after he finished his breakfast. It wasn't long before the town's school started teaching and training the children on the martial path. It was important for the whole town to train up the youth in whatever way they could.

As he entered the square courtyard where all the students would meet a familiar voice came from behind.

"Look who it is! If it isn't the town's biggest embarrassment!"

Ao Ruang didn't turn around and chose to ignore the taunt. It was one of the Yang clan youth called Yang Tian who was the same age as Ao Ruang and never treated him well since they both started classes at the school. Plus with him being the son of the Patriarch of the Yang clan he had a lot of pull and weight to throw around.

"What a block head" Ao Ruang said out loud to himself under his breath.

Yang Tian's face turned red as a beet when he overheard that.

"You're gonna regret saying that."

Preparing for the worst, Ao Ruang backed up as much as he could knowing the beating would be worse if he said anything more.

…

Ao Ruang stared into space as he watched fists crashing down onto his fragile body. Each blow bruised him down to the bone. The beating was much more severe than normal, probably because Ao Ruang was not making any reactions to the beating like he normally would. One thing Ao Ruang could tell was that he would be feeling this for many days after today.

The Yang family was actually closely related to the Ao family as they had several marriage bonds between several generations so most of the kids who followed Yang Tian and watched as he beat him were what one would call extended family.

Why those who called themselves extended relatives continued to watch and do nothing to help him was beyond what he could comprehend, but Ao Ruang didn't have much hope of getting in their good graces. The Yang family and really any family valued strength over blood in many cases.

While the fists continued to rain down on his body Ao Ruang reflected on his attitude which had gotten into trouble more times than he could remember.

As a final kick to the stomach sent himself rolling away. "What is going on here!" a thunderous voice broke through the taunts and jeers of the onlookers of Ao Ruang's beating.

The group faking a bit of guilt turned to the voice. Ao Ruang clearly saw it was the Yang Clan's patriarch. In YinWu he was the ultimate existence. Except perhaps the Wen clan's patriarch. He was at the peak of the Golden Warrior realm and a half-step from the black gold realm.

"Do you feel no shame Yang Tian? Beating on our long time supports the Ao family? They are like relatives to us and this will only bring shame to the Yang family name!" he barked loudly chastising Yang Tian."

Turning to the bruised Ao Ruang he tossed a medical healing pill to Ao Ruang with a look of displeasure as he saw the state the young boy before him was in.

"Take the pill boy and go quickly back to your family for the day."

Ao Ruang quickly flicked the pill into his mouth and swallowed it. Almost instantly he could feel a cool sensation spread across his body that instantly began to sooth his body all the way to his bones.

Getting up, Ao Ruang bowed swiftly to the Patriarch "Thank you Patriarch Yang."

"No thanks is necessary. Now go I have no more time to deal with these youngsters here."

Patriarch Yang didn't bother responding in length as he hurried Ao Ruang off. Pity was in his eyes as Ao Ruang ran from sight . The boy's mother was a well known beauty whose husband had saved his own life. While he couldn't overtly support the child and mother of his savior he would do his best to stop major abuses from happening to them.

"Now…" his eyes looked at all the onlookers and Yang Tian in particular. "Come with me, children. I think it is time for your lesson…" As he said this a shiver could be seen going down all the children's backs.