1 The Awakening Ceremony

It's early morning and I'm too lazy to even open my eyes. I feel like I'm forgetting something but I can't remember and I can't bother remembering. I suddenly hear a voice calling me.

"Tianzun, are you still sleeping?! WAKE UP! Today is the day you awaken your Soul Beast!" It was my father's voice.

I suddenly began screaming in my mind.

'OH NO, TODAY IS THE DAY I AWAKEN MY SOUL BEAST, AND I'M STILL IN BED!!!'

I begin running to the shower and come back in 5 minutes and put on some random clothes. I quickly run out of my room and go down the stairs to meet my Father. I checked the time and it was still 7 am, 8 hours before the Awakening ceremony should have started. I looked for my father, the one who tricked me. I look to my left and see a tall man with a little long black hair with brown eyes. It was my father, and he was LAUGHING.

"Hahah, Tianzun, did you really think that it was time for the Awakening, haha, I would have woken you up then, do you think I'm that bad of a Father.

"No, Father, I would never think of you as a bad Father!" I quickly said.

This young man was Yi Tianzun, the son of a Grand elder named Yi Jiang and a Woman from a small clan named Fan Xia but after her marriage, she was Yi Xia. Yi Tianzun's Father is a Grand Elder in a major clan named the Yi Clan of a Medium Sized Kingdom called Sky Wind Kingdom in the Spirit Cloud continent. Yi Tianzun was the heir of the clan even though he wasn't the Patriach's son because the clan always valued strength and Yi Tianzun was better in the way of swords than the Patriarch's son. Yi Tianzun was also a 10 year old Teen that was handsome with brown hair with a little of Light brown and he had Golden eyes.

Within the world, Everyone at the age of 10 can awaken their Soul Beasts. Soul Beasts are a Mysterious Force within your body that you can cultivate to become stronger. To why you awaken at 10 is because that's when your body is ready to handle the Soul Beast and Qi that you will cultivate with. Soul Beasts are classified within 6 ranks and 6 Stages within ranks The 6 Ranks are Low, Medium, High, Earth, Heaven and Legendary. The 6 stages are Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3 and so on. The higher the rank, the higher your talent is to cultivate.

Anyway, today was a special day, the day of the Awakening ceremony which is an event that awakens your Soul Beast. It takes place on December 31st each year because that's when everyone is actually 10. To awaken your Soul Beast a Cultivator needs to pour Qi into your body to forcibly awaken it. To go into detail, A person uses their Qi and pours it into your body to make your Soul Beast devour the Qi and awaken. Sometimes in major clans or even anyone, if the Soul Beasts Rank is too high, a person at a stronger Cultivator might need to awaken it.

Going back to Yi Tianzun, he was currently eating breakfast with his Father and Mother.

"Father, do you think I will awaken a strong Soul Beast?" I asked nervously.

"Of course, whose son do you think you are." Father said smiling.

"And even if you get a weak Soul Beast, you will always be our son." Mother added in.

Yi Tianzun was so happy because of those words his parents said. He was joyfully eating a lot of food.

After eating he went to the training grounds because he thought he could practice Swords because there were 5 hours left before the awakening ceremony. He went to the practice grounds and saw a black haired young man.

"Hi, Kang ge ge! Are you ready to awaken your spirit today!" Tianzun said to the black haired young man. (ge ge means big/older brother)

"Oh, it's you Tianzun." Yi Kang replied.

Yi Kang was Yi Tianzun's the Patriach's son. Since Yi Tianzun was better than him in the way of swords, Yi Kang always had envy for him and always had a shred of hatred no, he had a lot of hatred for him.

"Tianzun, do you want to have a bet with me?" Yi Kang asked?

"What kind of bet is it Kang ge ge?"

"Oh, it's nothing just that do you want to have a bet to see who has a better Soul Beast." He said with a little maliciousness.

"So it's that kind of bet, then what will happen if someone has the better Soul Beast?"

"How about….giving your position of the Clan Heir to me?" He said with a smile.

Yi Tianzun was shocked by this and was thinking about his decision but Yi Kang interrupted his thinking.

"Either way since I'm the next in line to be the heir after you and if you get a trash Soul Beast it would automatically give me the position. Yi Kang emphasized 'Trash Soul Beast'.

"Then what would you do if I get better Soul Beast than you?" Yi Tianzun asked.

"Than I would give you 2x the resources you would normally get and I would give 2x the amount your father and mother would get to them." He said.

Tianzun was thinking about what to do. If he rejects then he and his Father and Mother would lose the opportunity to get more resources but if he accepts then he would still have the chance to get more resources for himself and his parents but he still has a chance of losing and that would bring his family a lot of shame. After a few minutes of thinking, he decided he would accept it.

"I accept, Kang ge ge." Tianzun said with a lot of confidence but with a bit of nervousness.

"Then it's final, a deal is a deal". Yi Kang said that and left.

Yi Tianzun practiced for a few hours very hard and went back to his house to get himself clean before the Awakening Ceremony. After he was done he went with his father and mother to the Awakening Ceremony.

"Father, Mother, I have something to say." Tianzun took a pause and said, "I made a bet with Kang ge ge, It's about who can get a better Soul Beast. He said if I won all of us can get double the resources we would usually get and if I lose..... I need to give my position as the heir of the clan to Kang ge ge." Tianzun waited to see his parents' reaction to this bet.

But despite what Tianzun thought his Father would say his Father said something entirely different.

"Then don't you just need to win." Father said while looking at me with a smile.

"Like what your father said, you just need to win and everything would be good" Mother said.

"Ok, I'll win." Tianzun said.

"Now let's go to the awakening ceremony." Father said.

They left and in a few minutes they entered a hall named 'The Awakening Hall'. It was a big hall with a red carpet leading to a stage. It had a big chandelier on the ceiling and some lights on the side of the halls. There are viewing platforms where a few hundred people can be all together. There are guards beside the front of the door to the hall. There are also 8 people on the stage. 1 was the Clan Leader, the other 4 are the Grand Elders where Father will join soon, and the other 3 people are Cultivators who were going to awaken our Soul Beasts.

Soon, Father went to the stage and joined the Grand Elders and the Clan Leader. After about half an hour, everyone came and the Cultivators began awakening our Soul Beasts. Most were common Soul Beasts like Low Rank Stage 1-3 and some were even Low rank 4-6 however some people even got rare Soul Beasts like Medium Rank Stage 1-4.

Soon it was Yi Kang's turn and he walked to the stage and when he let the Cultivator pour Qi into his body, everyone saw a strong Lizard type Soul Beast Awaken. It was a Wind Snake. Everyone was surprised, but then when the Cultivator checked the Rank and Stage, it was a High Level Stage 2 Wind Snake. Everyone present was shocked including the Clan leader, all the Grand elders and even Yi Kang himself. Yi Kang was now full of confidence that he would win the bet because now he had the highest rank Soul Beast in his clan, even the Clan leader, the former person with the highest Soul Beast, had a Medium Rank Stage 5.

Meanwhile, Tianzun lost a lot of confidence he had before. He never thought Yi Kang would have such a high level Spirit.

"Yi Kang, Wind Snake, High Rank Stage 2." The Cultivator said a little trembling saying those words. A High Rank Soul Beast would appear once in a thousand years in the Tianyan Kingdom.

After everyone was done being shocked, The cultivator called out the next person, Yi Tianzun. Yi Tianzun walked to the Stage anxiously and the Cultivator was going to pour Qi to his body. A Lizard type Soul Beast Awakened, It seemed like it had A Rainbow Aura which was rare so people thought Tianzun would awaken a good rank but not as good as Yi Kangs'. The Cultivator said it was a Rainbow Draco lizard. People were surprised but only for a bit, It wasn't as rare as a Silverwind Eagle but it was still a good Soul Beast. The Cultivator was going to check the Rank of the Soul Beast but when he checked the rank, he frowned. The Cultivator then said the Rank.

"Yi Tianzun, Rainbow Draco Lizard,.....Low Rank Stage 2."

Tianzun was shocked and saddened by this revelation, He had a bad Soul Beast and failed the bet. His parents were saddened by this but they were only sad because their son will be sad about how his Soul Beast is weak. They wanted to cheer him up somehow.

Everyone was disappointed and Yi Kang was sneering at him. Tianzun left the hall and his parents came back shortly after.

"Tianzun, remember what I said, no matter how bad your Soul Beast is, you will always be our son." Yi Xia was trying to cheer him up.

"Tianzun, don't worry, even if your Soul Beast is bad you can still cultivate. Even if it is 10x worse than Yi Kangs' you just need to cultivate 10x harder." Yi Jiang was trying to cheer Tianzun up and make him regain his spirit.

"That's Right! If I am 10x worse then I just need to try 10x as hard as they do!" Yi Tianzun regained his Spirit and Confidence.