Nui Dan was a moderately sized town with all the basic needs of the common cultivator. There were no exceptionally bountiful places for cultivation, but there was a general sense of peace among the populace that made it a lovely place for settling down.

Despite cultivation being the key goal of every individual in the Four Worlds, about 60% of the population never made it past the Foundation Realm. An additional 15% never made it past the Profound Realm. Twenty-five percent made it into the Earth Realm, but only 10% into the Heaven Realm. Only 4.9% of the population made it to the Divine Realm, the Immortal Realm that followed made up the majority of the remaining population, and was the highest point of Cultivation with the exception of the Godly Ascension Realm. But that was known to only 10 or so individuals every century.

Nui Dan was no place for a future God to grow up. Rather, it was not a place anyone would expect a future god to grow up.

Shan Wu Lan and his wife Bei Ning Wei, were both individuals who had had reached the latter parts of the Foundational Stage. Wu Lan was on the 9th step, stuck a half-step into the Profound Stage. Ning Wei was on the 7th step. The two had met in high school, and a relationship that had begun as a friendship had later blossomed into more. The two had great respect for one another, and were comfortable with their lot in life.

Wu Lan’s family ran an herbal farm. It was a job he had taken over from his parents after their passing, and he took great pride in the three greenhouses his family owned and cultivated their herbs in. Ning Wei’s major in university had been potion making. If her cultivation had been higher, she would have had the makings of a true alchemist, but alas, fate was not on her side. An Alchemist could forge pills, but the cultivation needed to sustain the alchemy flames were much higher than what Ning Wei was capable of producing. Her potions, though weaker in potency than the pills, were still capable remedies that had earned her the respect of the community.

The two were only young, just 28 and 26 respectively, when they had their first and only son, Kai Lan.

He was their pride and joy, and everyone who came by to congratulate them remarked about how cute he was. Wu Lan and Ning Wei did not have truly exceptional looks themselves. Above average perhaps, but nothing particularly eye catching. Yet Kai Lan seemed to be blessed with the best parts of both of his parents. A blessed child indeed!

Kai Lan was a rather quiet baby. His eyes were always inquisitive and curious, bright and intelligent. He learned quickly how to ask for things, crying only when his frustration got the better of him and his parents didn’t understand. Kai Lan was quite the escape artist as well, often finding a way out of his crib or carrier in order to explore the lands on which his family lived.

The two-storey house that his parents used as both their living quarters and a store for the herbs and Ning Wei’s potions, dominated the front of their plot of land with a driveway that was just long and wide enough to fit three parking spaces in. There was also a small but well-kept garden and two small tea tables for those who wanted to enjoy a morning or afternoon with some herbal tea and small herbal snacks. At the rear of the house was a yard with a gardening shed for tools and supplies, and a small cultivation garden. Most houses or parks had these, with the plants, rocks small ponds or trickles of water set up precisely to enhance one’s connection to the spiritual plain.

Behind these two were 3 large greenhouses that dominated the majority of their land. In the easternmost greenhouse were those plants that were more inclined to the Yin and cooler climates, in the westernmost greenhouse were those of the opposite Yang and warmer climates. In the centre greenhouse were more common plants that were more forgiving in their natures or resilient no matter the season or weather.

Kai Lan learnt all of this in his first few weeks, his parents taking him around to look at the plants and see how the shop worked.

It was on one morning when his mother was serving herbal tea to an elderly couple in the early morning that Kai Lan ventured out on his chubby arms and legs and spotted his father in the Cultivation Garden.

Kai Lan approached the garden, intrigued by the wisps of energy that seemed to surround his father as Wu Lan attempted to draw them towards his golden core. Kai Lan sat up, eyes observant and curious as he watched this process, only for the wisp of energy to rebound off of his father’s core and re-join its brethren. His father sighed, a deep frown on his face as he released another breath and banished his core back within himself. His eyes fluttered open, a deep sadness there before his eyes came to rest on his son sitting a few metres before him and watching on silently.

Wu Lan smiled, “Does your mother know that you’ve made another grand escape?”

Kai Lan looked away, avoiding his father’s inquisitive brow.

He leaned forward to crawl once more on all fours before his father moved forward, scooping him off the ground.

“Oh no, I think not,” said Wu Lan, bringing his son into his embrace, “Come, your mother will have breakfast ready by now, and we’ll need to wash those hands and brush your knees of the evidence before she sees you”.

“Kai Lan?!”

Wu Lan grimaced, “Oh, too late, I cannot save you now, my dear son”.

Kai Lan frowned at his father’s easy surrender. He was not so easily swayed-

Kai Lan’s gaze met his angry mother’s and he ducked his head into his father’s neck, clinging to Wu Lan with his chubby hands.

“Oh, you cheeky little boy, why do you worry me so?” asked Ning Wei as she approached, taking Kai Lan from his father.

Wu Lan smiled affectionately, “He’s alright, Ning-ah. He was just watching me Cultivate”.

“Watching you Cultivate?” asked Ning Wei, “It is a little soon for that, no? The age for one to forge a Golden Core has always been five, the same time they are to start school”.

“Ah, he is a baby,” said Wu Lan, “Besides, that age isn’t set in stone, you hear of plenty of children who forge theirs earlier”.

“Yes, extraordinary geniuses from well-known cultivation families and sects,” Ning Wei reasoned, “Attempting to forge a Golden Core before one is ready is tantamount to suicide. He’s barely old enough to crawl, let alone cultivate”.

“He only needs to sit to cultivate,” mumbled Wu Lan.

Ning Wei sent a look to her husband over her shoulder and Wu Lan held up his hands in surrender, “Yes dear, whatever you say”.

But contrary to Ning Wei’s opinion, Kai Lan had grasped something that very few ever did in their lifetimes. The wisps of energy he witnessed, the spiritual forces of the worlds, they were not visible to anyone unless they had extremely high cultivation, or they had been blessed with the ability to perceive the spiritual fabric of the worlds.

One’s Golden Core, the centre of their cultivation and source of the power, was usually only felt. To actually see it was another thing entirely, and to materialise it required heavy concentration. To forge it, one had to feel the distinct differences between the elements and one’s soul before drawing them into harmony with one another. It was a gruelling and often painful process that many had to complete in steps.

What Kai Lan had witnessed was his father’s soul attempting to draw in the elements of earth and wood. Both were what his father had forged his Golden Core with, and were where he had placed himself in the spiritual world. Thanks to that, his father could only cultivate using the energies of those two elements.

As Kai Lan would later learn, his mother’s elements were light, water and wood. Healing and purifying elements that had made her a natural in potion making. Despite having access to three elements though, her access was not as clear nor open as his father’s was to his two elements.

As time passed, Kai Lan began to perceive their connections to elements without them having to be cultivating. A small inkling of their spiritual force here and there and Kai Lan could see their connections to their elements. It was a brilliant realm of colour and spiritual power that he longed to feel connected to the more he saw the connections of others.