In a small house in the village of Loran, in the country of Telon, Shang Xi was doing her household chores. She swept the floor, washed the dishes and started humming to herself. Today was a special day for her. Her father had granted her permission to check the bear traps he had set in the forests near the village. Thinking of the fresh and tender bear meat she would soon enjoy, saliva almost leaked out of her mouth.
Shang Xi looked at herself in the mirror. If placed in a city she would not be particularly good-looking, having a tanned face, small pointed ears and short brown hair. However, here in this remote countryside village, she was considered quite a beauty.
"Shang Xi, it is time!" a shout rang out from behind her. "Let's go. Father is waiting."
She turned to see her brother, Shang Cai, coming towards her. Similar to her, he had short brown hair and small pointed ears. However, he was more muscular than she was.
He said impatiently, "If we get enough meat, we can sell the rest for gold coins. Father will have enough bronze coins to finally buy the herbs you need to awaken your dantian. You will become a cultivator like me and father, able to hunt beasts alone in the forest. If your talent is good enough, you might get selected by the Kai Pai Martial School in the city of Famosa. The Kai Pai Martial School is funded by the He Sect, a sect that can be ranked in the top ten in the entire country of Telon! If you enter the He Sect, you will be able to upgrade our entire family's status and standard of living!"
Bronze coins were the currency of Telon, along with silver and gold coins. 100 bronze coins could be exchanged for 1 silver coin. 100 silver coins could be exchanged 1 gold coin. 1 gold coin was more than enough for an entire family to live on for an entire year!
"Don't be ridiculous," Shang Xi retorted. "Only the best of the best will be accepted into He Sect. Not even 1 out of 100 people might be selected to enter Kai Pai Martial School, and of those in the Martial School, not 1 out of 1000 will be allowed to enter He Sect. Even in our village, there are only 7 people who have entered Kai Pai Martial School in the entire history of our village and not one of those has been selected to enter He Sect. Of those 3 people, 6 were already long dead. One is still alive, however, and has successfully graduated from Tai Pai Martial School. He is a famous figure in the city of Famosa, rumoured to have reached the elusive Core Formation stage!"
"Pah, it is good to have dreams," Shang Cai countered. "You always ruin my moment, Shang Xi. Enough banter already, let's go."
The siblings joined with their father and headed into the forest.
There, they started inspecting the bear traps. The catch was good, with 3 bears being caught. Shang Xi's father killed them with a stick. Finally, there was one bear trap left to inspect.
"That bear trap was freshly dug by me the day before." Shang Xi's father, Shang Luo said, pointing in the direction of the bear trap. "I don't think there will be anything there. Shang Xi and Shang Cai, you run ahead and inspect it for me. I gotta return to the village with these bears. Be careful, though."
"Sure," Shang Xi enthusiastically agreed.
She quickly headed towards the final bear trap. The forest was peaceful and quiet, the morning air clean and fresh. Birds were chirping merrily in the forest.
"There," her brother pointed out. "That is a yellow-eyed eagle's egg on that tree above you. It is considered a delicacy and can be sold for over 10 bronze coins."
Shang Xi looked up. On the tree, a yellow-eyed egg was visible, sitting on top of a bird's nest.
"I'll get it," her brother said. "You watch out for the eagle in case it comes back to its nest."
He quickly grabbed a branch, hoisted himself up the tree and grabbed the egg, before climbing down.
"Got it," he declared proudly. "With the money from the sale of this egg along with the 3 bears we caught earlier there will definitely be enough to buy the herbs you need to become a cultivator and still have more than half left."
All of a sudden, a loud shriek of rage rang out. Shang Xi turned to see a massive bird with yellow eyes swooping at Shang Cai!
"Be careful!" she cried. "It's the yellow-eyed eagle. It's back!"
"No worries," Shang Cai said confidently. "If I was a mortal like you, I would be dead meat. However, I am a level two Foundation Building Stage Cultivator. The eagle is done for."
He struck at the eagle, letting out a flurry of punches. "Strike of the Monkey Beginner Art!" he roared.
His fists struck the eagle, letting out loud thumping noises as they struck the eagle's body. The eagle let out a pitiful cry before collapsing onto the ground and fainting.
"There," Shang Cai smirked at his sister before lifting his head up and spreading his arms wide open in what was supposed to be a cool pose.
Shang Xi rolled her eyes and looked away from her brother's embarrassing gesture. "You really feel no shame," she told her brother. "We wasted too much time collecting the eagle's egg and dealing with the eagle. We should quickly check the final bear trap before returning to the village to help father skin the bears."
They continued their journey, arriving at the location of the last bear trap. Shang Xi looked inside before screaming in shock.
A young boy lay in the trap. His face was covered in blood and grime. One of his legs hung at a funny angle. It seemed to be broken.
Shang Cai also looked inside. "Oh sh**, a human fell into our trap," he muttered. "Call father. We'll have to get him out of there quickly. Hopefully he is still alive."