Inside a modest house in the middle of the Gu Xing village Tian Liu was asleep.
As it was getting a little bit later in the morning Tian Liu woke up from his trance.
'I'm finally back.'
Tian Liu felt weaker as his qi core and physique aren't as strong. But everything else was on a whole nother level. He got out of bed and went to the family's living room to check the calendar. He was 15 years old recently, and it was a very important day.
He remembered this day very well. It was the very day his life changed.
Tian Liu went outside for a walk. The village was empty and you could still see the dew on the plants. It was still very early in the morning and Tian Liu had to get acclimated back to the conditions of the village. It felt nice to be outside after being inside for so long, it made Tian Liu forget how beautiful nature was.
But that didn't really matter. Tian Liu still had some training to do.
Tian Liu walked up the mountain and to the forest where he was killed. It was a tiring journey for Tian Liu's now untrained body but he had to get used to it, as that secluded part of the mountain was his new training grounds.
Tian Liu started running circles around the empty part of the forest and even started running down the bottom of the mountain and going back up. He did this until the sun was rising and people were coming out of their houses.
He was drenched in sweat and quietly reentered his house.
But when he went back in he noticed footsteps creaking the wooden floor and coming closer and closer with every breath.
"Tian Liu?" the housekeeper said. "What are you doing so early in the morning?"
"I couldn't sleep so I went for a run."
"Well you better get washed up, you can't go to the purity test looking like that."
Tian Liu went to take a bath and finished fast. He had a few hours left until he had to go to the purity test so he spent his time cultivating. Tian Liu knew it was going to take a while for him to cultivate to a sufficient level so he decided to start early.
"Lets go Tian Liu, we have the purity test today," Gao Wan knocked on Tian Liu's door. Tian Liu, still cultivating, decided to stop and headed out with his brother.
"What do you think your purity is going to be?" Gao Wan asked.
"Not sure."
"Hopefully we both get a high level."
Tian Liu knew this was going to be the last good conversation he was going to have with his brother. In his previous life this was the event that changed it all.
For the purity test all you had to do was go under water in the holy waterfall. The longer you last inside the higher your qi purity is. The water in the holy waterfall is infused with qi which calculates your qi purity and the clan leaders have some sort of system to figure the cultivators qi purity.
The water was reflecting off a fresh glimmer of light. There were already some prospective cultivators their age under the waterfall and it was about to be Tian Liu and Gao Wan's turn.
Both of them walked under the waterfall and while Tian Liu achieved a measly 15 percent qi purity Gao Wan achieved a 90 percent qi purity. Talent like this only comes once a decade, sometimes not even.
There were also a few other notable talents in this year's group. Wei Lang, the heir of the Wei family who is known for their sponsorships to the Gu Xing clan and Hao Zhao who is part of some outside low class family. Wei Lang achieved 80 percent qi purity while Hao Zhao achieved 75 percent.
Gao Wan was ecstatic. He started bragging to everyone there and all eyes were on him.
'Pride comes before the fall,' Tian Liu said. 'Though it will be a while until you fall.'
When they got home Gao Wan started telling his parents that he got 90 percent qi purity and they asked Tian Liu if he actually did, and he did. Though this was a normal thing to do it pissed Tian Liu off. How could one who did nothing special have this god given gift? Maybe Gao Wan was a saint in his past life but he was a devil from the underworld in this one. Though that didn't scare Tian Liu this time around.
The Gao family, including the dad, mom, Gao Wan and his sister were all celebrating for him.
Hearing the commotion, the housekeeper and her daughter paused the housework and came out.
"I got 90 percent qi purity!" Gao Wan repeatedly shouted. "I got 90 percent qi purity!"
Now the whole house was celebrating and clapping for Gao Wan. This talent was going to change the family's lives.
But the housekeeper's daughter didn't really care. "What did Tian Liu get?" Yang Mei the housekeeper's daughter asked.
"15 percent," Gao Wan replied with a smug look.
The room went silent. Everyone knew it was disrespectful to celebrate Gao Wan's talent when Tian Liu had no talent.
"It's fine you guys can keep on celebrating," Tian Liu said.
"You guys heard him, we can keep on celebrating," Gao Wan shouted.
Tian Liu walked to his room and began cultivating. The situation didn't really affect him much as he already experienced it before. He only had two choices, to lose passion for cultivation like he did in his past life, or to get stronger. Of course he chose the latter.
It didn't matter what percent qi purity you had if you were still a rank 1. It didn't matter what percent qi purity you had if you didn't have a strong enough body to support it. And Tian Liu knew that but Gao Wan didn't.
During his cultivation Tian Liu found it hard to focus. The walls in his room were thin and he could still hear the celebration outside. He decided that it was going to be better to go outside and cultivate in nature.
"Tian Liu would you like some tea," Yang Mei knocked on Tian Liu's door and asked. She had a chinese bun with her long hair flowing down. She was one year younger than Tian Liu and was a nice girl.
"No," Tian Liu said while walking out of his room and the house.
"Where are you going?" Yang Mei pulled on Tian Liu's robe
Tian Liu pondered on whether to tell the truth or not. He came to the conclusion that it didn't really matter.
Tian Liu bent over and whispered to Yang Mei's left ear, "The mountains." And then he left.
It was late in the morning and Tian Liu had nothing else to do. So he started training