Chapter II: The Heaven Sect

Shoneyi was found by some mortal villagers with a fixed smile on his face that no one could understand. Everyone knew how tragic it was to be attacked by a magical beast. Many of them had been victims; some were missing an arm or a leg due to previous attacks. Losing a loved one, while not common, did occasionally happen. Praying to the gods was the only viable option for them.

The boy began to develop a phobia of blood after witnessing his parents' blood, being drenched in the beast's, and losing a lot of his own. Shoneyi was angry at the Immortal who helped him for his tardiness. If he had arrived one or two minutes sooner, they would have been saved, he thought.

“I hate you, Yi Jui,” he muttered softly to himself while reading the name carved on his left leg.

Over the next few years, the young orphan ran into trouble and encountered some bullies, but no matter how much he was beaten or defended himself, everything stopped once he or his opponents started bleeding.

Shoneyi was somewhat malnourished after years without a permanent home. It was also compounded by the fact that he couldn't hunt, as he couldn't kill his prey and watch the blood run over his hands. The warm liquid made his body tremble, so he decided to become a vegetarian, if it was up to him to prepare his meal. He would only eat meat if someone else prepared the animal.

Touching his stomach, he realized that only months remained until the deadline the Immortal Yi had mentioned. Almost four years since my parents died… It’s time, he told himself. He gathered all his belongings into a small bag and left the city that had watched him grow up. At almost fifteen years old, the boy set out to traverse the world towards the highest mountains in the kingdom.

The boy didn't know where he was going, but every time he read his left leg, something guided him in a specific direction; it was a mystical, almost spiritual force. After months and months of walking from place to place, Shoneyi often had to defend himself against low-level magical beasts and dodge local bandits.

Following months of walking, running, climbing, and enduring situations no one could imagine, he arrived at a small guard post. It was simple; the bamboo that ran through the construction resembled a small wall, but not high enough to prevent someone from jumping over it—rather, it served to make any entity understand that this was part of the Heaven Sect.

A half-asleep guard was in the security hut, who, upon sensing the presence of another person, sharpened his senses and raised his spirit. With a great clatter, he shouted, “Announce yourself! Who are you and what do you want with the great Heaven Sect?” As he spoke, the sound of a sword sliding from its sheath, the clank of a shield, and ragged breathing could be heard.

After a few seconds, the guard inspected the malnourished and exhausted boy with his gaze. “A mortal!” Very surprised, he rushed to his aid and recalled the teachings of the Book of Heaven:

"If a mortal should arrive, help you must give. A slave of the earth he shall be, and thus he may rise to his rightful place."

Seeing the boy fall to the ground after hearing a faint plea, the guard decided to put away his sword and sling his shield onto his back. He took a few breaths to calm down and control his inner spirit.

“I can’t believe a mortal made it this far on his own.”

The guard hoisted the young man onto his shoulder and roughly dropped him onto the floor of the security hut. “I need to report this to Chief Yun, but how the hell do I explain what just happened?”

While the guard looked Shoneyi up and down, observing him suffering and writhing from hunger, he noticed something strange on his left leg. “It can’t be!” He shouted, clutching his head with his hands. “Why does he have the Second Master’s name written in blood on his leg?” The guard paced back and forth, worried, and decided that the best thing for the moment was to follow the orders of the sacred scriptures in the Book of Heavens and feed the boy. Reporting to the higher-ups was his next priority.

A few days later, the boy weakly awoke, but saw a menu fit for nobles in front of him: three pieces of bread and some protein. His eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing; taking bite after bite and with his mouth full, he asked, "Who are you and where am I?"

As the guard watched with contempt and a bit of disgust as the beggar boy shoved the food into his mouth, he replied, “I am the guard at the entrance of the Heaven Sect. My name is—” The boy erupted in emotion and lunged at the guard, hugging him and excitedly shouting that he had done it, that after so much work and suffering, everything was real. He explained how he had traveled to their location and the arduous nature of his journey—how he had to flee from bandits multiple times, escape beasts, and survive on plants and berries.

“My name is Shoneyi Wen, I’m an orphan, and I'm here for Yi Jui.”

With a world-lifting smile, the boy put all his effort into appearing trustworthy, but his appearance said otherwise.

The guard, startled by what he had just heard, with a broken voice and pointing towards the mountain peak behind them, began to explain the basic workings of the sect, the political divisions, and what it meant to embark on the path of an Immortal being.