One week after little-Lao's third birthday it became Moon's turn to be in the center of the limelight and the focus of the whole village’s attention! the tigress delivered four healthy cubs successfully and once that happened the members of the village became antsy and anxious because of a single thought which filled their brains. 'Who’s going to be the lucky bastard?'

Lin and Lily are a walking example of how good is it to receive a beast-companion! and despite their young age the twins are capable of handling a whole team of veterans from the village if either of the two had the assistance of their tiger. Especially after Sun undergone his latest evolution when he ate the small ball of the black and grey colors which Lin extracted from the head of the mammoth and now after a few months of digesting the benefits from that "thing" the male tiger -and father of these four cubs- can run-amok in the midst of the strongest of this village even if they were armed with their armors and weapons! only one person in this small community had the confidence to stop the beast with his abilities but he also had no confidence in beating the male tiger into submission and all he can do is chase it away if it happens to pick-up some crazy illness in the head and try and harm his loved ones. That man is the father of twins.

The village members waited for Lin and Lily to speak after the four tiger cubs were born successfully but not a word was said from these two kids during their work on cleaning the cubs but most of the eyes of the awaiting crowd fell on the youngest family in the village! this family had a father and mother of one biological son and a few adopted kids of mixed gender and various ages. Yet the parents were only teenagers from the look of it these two were no older than sixteen of age or so.

The teenager couple were called Chen and Yue. They’re the closest to Lin and Lily in the community lately because they're tasked with responsibility of taking care of the "lifeline" of the whole village "the younger-generation". Yes they're the same two who arrived with old Ba and later Lin made them take care of all the kids who had no family. Voluptuous-lady "Bai" who became the closest friend of Lin’s mother and is treated no different from a sister by the beauty of this community. Lady Bai's husband is the man who got himself almost killed by Lin's father before refused to choose a name for himself and is still being called "Boss" by the whole village because Lin always addressed this way. Chen and Yue just helped Lily with everything all day and the little girl was training the couple to be her assistants in the future! even the delivery of the cubs included the two in the operation to help Lin, Lily and their mother. The villagers counted the tiger-cubs and did simple math there’s four tiger-cubs.The teenager-couple (Chen&Yue) receive two of the tiger-cubs because they're the closest individuals to the two young owners of Sun and Moon! add their two younger siblings which is Lao and Rose to receive the remaining two tiger-cubs then nothing will be left for them. The villagers had nothing to say or do but regret not being close friends with the twins like Chen and Yue.

'Sigh. Maybe I'll get lucky next time and receive a tiger-cub for myself.' this thought ran through the heads of all the village members while some of them made plans to try and gain the favor of the twins later.

“Everyone... I have an announcement to make. Actually, it's just great news for all of you, so listen up.”

Lily was excited when she spoke because what she's seeing in the eyes of this crowd of people is a feeling which she couldn't be more familiar with.

The villagers turned their gazes from Chen and Yue towards Lily who was squatting down and cleaning the fur on the back of the only female cub among these newborn tiger-cubs while watching the rest feed from their exhausted mother. Moon was laying on her side with drowsy-eyes which fought sleep for a little bit longer so that she could check on the health of her little cubs.

“Hehe... sleep already! I told you didn’t I? I told you once that it hurts like hell to give birth, but you slut ignored my advice, then went and did it behind my back. Now sleep! your babies are in my care, so you better rest now.”

Lily noticed the gentle gaze Moon gave her little cubs and the little girl joked while using her hand to close the tigress's eye to sleep.

“Now... first, we need to build another project, those who volunteer will find the reward pleasant and very much to their liking, while those who demand compensation for their effort will be paid in whatever method they see fit. Second, we're going to do a series of tests for every active member starting from tomorrow, these tests will be recorded and tabulated then published everywhere around the village for all of us to see. Why's that? you must be asking yourselves right now... right!” the villagers bashfully smiled when they heard the little girl publicize their thoughts and most of them nodded while the rest waited for Lily to continue speaking and were feeling curious about the reason why she’s talking about another project and some tests instead of the fate of these tiger-cubs. Then Lily continued to talk : “Don't you want one?” Smiling demonically in return with a cute squint in her eyes the little girl stood-up which made her pigtails shake then pointed a finger at one of the tiger-cubs next to her feet while asking.

The sight of the villagers gasping in shock after finally understanding the hint which Lily just dropped in their laps made Lin's mother and madam Bai giggle. Being her best-friend this lady Bai already knew from her beautiful sister about the rules which these people are yet to know. Lin shook his head after seeing his sister's overly dramatic ways and went to take a shower to clean-up all of Moon's birth-fluids off of his body. The matter of building tiger-hall and the rest was left completely for Lily to handle.

Tiger-hall. This place will be the destination for all those who wish to own their tiger someday and no tiger younger than six months old is allowed to be separated from its mother.

Now all these people are allowed to compete for their own chance to own one. They have six months from this day to prepare well and increase their chances. Lily will be the one responsible for distributing information about the tigers and how to take care of them. But that doesn't include the factor of competitiveness in the situation! does it? of course not. Men, women, children, and even babies can receive their own tiger-cub! at the age of six months the tiger-cub will be allowed to choose its partner. If... the tiger-cub didn't favor anyone amongst the villagers then who receives it will be decided through the method of competition between the villagers. "Competition" doesn't have to be on physical capabilities or meritorious deeds on the hunting-journeys or exploratory missions. Everything done by someone in this community is counted and calculated in contribution points for each individual. In the end it only comes down to who accumulates more.

Still. There will be a follow-up period of supervision extending to six months for the lucky people who managed to win the favor of a tiger-cub. These people need to do joint exercises with their partners inside the tiger-hall and if they failed the final round of tests they'll receive another chance of one month extension which will be their final opportunity to pass the test of tiger-hall! if they failed to pass on the second attempt then the tiger-cub will be claimed back my the tiger-hall then given to another villager directly. The records come to play a major part in this scenario because accumulating contribution-points makes the top on the merit-list directly become the first candidates eligible to receive a tiger-cub in case someone failed to pass the tests of the tiger-hall or the tiger-cubs themselves not favoring anyone in particular.

In the "unlikely" but possible case of the tiger-cubs choosing one of the babies in the village! the parents become responsible for taking care of the tiger-cub's training and needs until their baby reaches the age of understanding what to do to keep a beast-companion. If the parents failed this mission then the baby gets to try again when he's older or be compensated with a calculated sum of contribution points from the very beginning if the parents see that to be a better solution for their baby. Of course if the parents insist that their children be left on the "waiting-list" then that will be resolved for the babies when they grow with the next batch of offspring from Sun and Moon or maybe with a batch of tiger-cubs from the offspring of the offspring.

“Calm down everyone. Only three of these four cubs will be given away by the tiger-hall this time, the female cub stays within the care of the tiger-hall, no negotiations are allowed on this condition.” Lily said teasingly and waited to relish-in the expression of the villagers getting antsy after their first burst of joy then the little girl continued : “Don't become disappointed too soon. First point which I have to clear-out is... my family, we promise to, not... take any of these four tiger-cubs for ourselves or compete with you guys for any of them, like... ever! only this female cub like I said before which will be left in the tiger-hall to be a source of tiger-cubs in the future.”

Lily clarified the intentions of her family to the crowd and they started to smile again after giving the young girl a few reproachful looks for being too naughty like how she’s usually is.

“Anyway... you guys have six months to prepare yourselves until it's time for the main event. Don’t forget to gather again tomorrow, we'll be talking further on the matter and discussing the small details, volunteer or hired, you’re free to choose how you’d like to be included in the upcoming project. Back to your lives everyone, we’re done here.”

Lily dismissed the excited crowd then had her fun studying the difference between the second-generation of tiger-cubs and the first generation which is Sun and Moon! she discovered that the offspring of Sun and Moon were not only born healthy but also these tiger-cubs were born a size larger than their parents.

-----

Lin on the other hand was trying to feel inside his soul-body for the source of soul-force! after a couple-weeks of receiving the soul-strengthening technique from Jin Bao the boy never stopped dedicating all his free-time to meditation if he wasn't taking a relaxing swim in the pool. His only hope was to reach the next realm of soul-cultivation and activate his soul-eye because according to this soul-manual the technique of soul-sense is considered a different type of sense unlike the other senses which are touch, smell, taste, hearing, sight, and intuition.

Soul-sense is a lot similar to a "sensor" and the realm of soul-eye would enable the blind to see and the deaf to hear plus how it can easily allow the paralyzed to feel and smell or taste! not to mention the amazing boost soul-sense adds to the only "ethereal" sense which is intuition or awareness to both surroundings and danger. Now that his soul-body is glowing inside this dark space of the soul-world then all the boy should do is feel his soul-body and seek the source of force inside it and try to add more soul-force until his soul-body is filled into maximum of its current capacity! His fuel will be the memories, thoughts, feelings, and aspirations. His closeness to success will be calculated according to the width of the area his soul-body lights-up in this soul-world and that's why this realm is called actually soul-seeking a "source". Once you’re able to gaze upon the source of soul-force inside the soul-body it means the soul-eye can be opened soon. When you do and the soul-sense awakens then the world could be seen from a wholly-different perspective for the user and the potential of comprehension gets truly released from the shackles of the mundane to reach the next level.

True soul-cultivators don't recognize any fellow soul-cultivator to be a genuine-colleague in soul-cultivation unless they’re in the realm of soul-eye or higher! however if you count the soul-cultivators in the spirit-world you'll encounter one every one-hundred thousand spirit-energy or qi-refiner and weapon-intent cultivators. While if you're looking for a soul-cultivator in the realm of soul-eye specifically then you'll end-up looking amongst millions reaching upwards to ten million of cultivators from the different systems of cultivation with a five-percent chance of actually getting lucky enough to encounter one! any higher realm and your chances of finding a soul-cultivator lowers greatly and the numbers of cultivators you’ve to search jumps from ten-millions upwards to a billion cultivators or higher. That’s how rare soul-cultivators actually are to find in this spirit-world! right now Lin’s soul-body was surrounded by eerie darkness everywhere in the soul-world save for a small area around it which has light be that in the air or in the water beneath it. The boy was trying to forge-ahead and advance his soul-cultivation in this environment while being only armed with the soul-strengthening technique. His knowledge was limited on practically everything be that spirit-energy or soul-force but not the body. Yes Lin still knows nothing about qi-vitality or body-refinement and can’t understand how it’s done or works but he sure does understand and knows how to train his body to become flexible and strong.

Great-sage Lin has an organized stack of knowledge in his brain depicting the human body and how to train it and where to train it and what to use to do so plus when to stop pushing its limits and when to strain it and push for results instead of relaxing its muscles, tendons, joints, ligaments, and cartilages!

"PUMMA" is the short term for "purified and ultimate mixed martial arts" this technique is the perfect fusion of all martial-arts and fitness techniques that humanity created ever since they started to roam the surface of earth! after humanity understood what was on stake and how their survival is questioned by the fear of the incoming end-day the progress in many martial-arts stagnated greatly and some of them halted completely.

“Martial-arts wouldn't help us punch or kick the disintegration-shockwaves away! would it? no! then I better study how to create something that might help me escape that disaster or help others do so.” many martial-artists had given similar answer once they learned of the danger then joined their fellow humans in the race against time to save an entire race.

PUMMA technique was later acknowledged to be the shortest way to mastering martial-arts then it was later acknowledged again to be the best amongst martial-arts after the technique was organized into separate levels and stages then given a methodical approach and systematic steps.

“The only reason someone studying this PUMMA martial-art and losing against another person who doesn’t use the "PUMMA-technique" is because that person is lacking in mastery of the "art" itself, I've studied its moves and compared it with every different competition there is and it is by far the one lacking in weaknesses and holes of its techniques, stances, or approach compared to other martial-arts. Having fewer weaknesses and less disadvantages makes you less prone or vulnerable to experience anything unexpected during your fight, to make split-second decisions with meticulous precision is exactly what you'll ask from the fighter in a high-speed exchange or toe-to-toe and close-encounters or during a grabbling moment. The factor that would play the biggest part in these occasions is the amount of training and effort the fighter contributed before the duel, the experience accumulated through the time they practiced PUMMA-martial-arts, and the latent-potential of the fighter himself. After all to keep concentrating while getting hit and you try to hit-back would be plain and naked impossibility to ask from everyone learning the art. Anyway... when I see some PUMMA-user lose to a Kung-Fu, Muai-Thai, Karate, Judo, Silat, TaeKwondo, Boxer, Sumo, Kickboxer or even any amateur who’s blessed with enough natural-talent to win. I don't "jump the gun" and call the style weak or useless, every sport or profession has someone who's talented enough to shine with minimum effort and someone who’s average yet still likes to practice and give it all his effort anyway, why you might ask? my answer would be : because it's their passion.”

Lin once gave that answer during an interview in his previous life. He spoke casually while in truth he was feeling deep-regret that time because he didn’t have time to study that martial-art himself. The man of that life and the great-sage was lacking severely in free-time and had to dedicate himself to discovering new material that could play the biggest rule in helping his race escape a catastrophe. Sometimes Lin would leave the holographic-monitors on while he worked just to keep a tiny part of his attention keeping track on the competitions! and now it’s only one week until he can officially start training in the martial-art himself. The boy felt his heart-rate increase whenever he thought about his chance of practicing something which he wanted to learn ever since the early years of his previous life. If it wasn't for the help of his long and prolonged sessions of meditation then Lin would've been too antsy and very excited to be able sit still. Because being able to try and practice that specific PUMMA martial-art is one of his passions and dreams from a previous life.

However right now the boy felt that he has to focus more on his soul and especially after Lily started to cynically mention the uselessness of his martial-spirit and deride it again and again! it sure was humiliating to receive all these comments from the little devil who acted smugly while she enjoyed hugging or pressing her brother underneath her naked body. It was like a double edged knife cutting at his pride because apparently his sister’s words had multiple meanings since it hinted towards his manhood and his unresponsive penis too.

“Tehehe... still can't get it up huh, useless as usual, I guess I should’ve expected from a thirty-three years old soul if it is stuffed inside a body of a four years old. Tsk... let me take measurements then.”

Lily muttered while she teased Lin's small member with her female-organ repeatedly then she smiled at the uncomfortable glance her big-brother was giving her, after measuring the length of her brother’s penis she rested her head on his chest and enjoyed listening to the music of his heart-beats and didn’t appear to be bothered by the silence her brother would give her whenever she did immoral things with him because the girl already knew that was her brother’s way of trying to make these events unpleasant for her but she wouldn’t give up no matter how much he tried to be passive.

Day after day Lin used the entire week before his fourth birthday party to search his soul-body and seek for the source of soul-force but he ended-up finding nothing but that the glow of his soul-body would grew brighter every day and the darkness surrounding it in the space of the soul-world would recede bit by bit and give way to more light to exist around the soul-body both in air and in the water beneath it! even his soul-body started to feel more real in this mysterious space of the soul-world. It started to become noticeable to the boy when the soles of his soul-body began to show slight difference from the rest of the soul-body in the beginning and he couldn’t understand the reason when it happened. Then his toes picked-up the same change and it kept raising upwards after every session of meditation or whenever Lin took a rest and had some sleep until it reached his ankles then it was the day of Lin and Lily’s birthday.

His and his sister’s birthday party had the whole village celebrating this event and were laughing non-stop while they played with the little tiger-cubs and gave the one-week old beasts treats of milk or yogurt! Lin attended his own party for a bit over thirty-minutes then left in a hurry while feeling excited since he’s about to start his very-first session of true physical training in this life. Lily couldn't be any more happy to be the center of attention and take the stage after her brother left this social gathering which doesn’t happen a lot in this village. Singing with her mother and little-Lao to entertain the villagers who drank wine by the barrel while the children ate sweets like ravenous wolves whenever Chen and Yue missed the opportunity to monitor them in this funny and chaotic atmosphere.

The team of monks who just returned from a mission were doing their best to avoid being spotted by any of their pregnant women while trying to have some fun after joining in the drinking-competitions with the "Chief" which is Lin's father who didn't get a name yet and Boss who similarly refused to be named after knowing that Lin's father still has no name and preferred to be called the same way Lin calls him! just like his voluptuous-wife lady Bai who treats Lin's mother to be her sister and role-model. The big-man who exceeds the height of three-meters treats Lin's father to be his brother and role-model. Ever since his wounds healed -after their unfair fight- Boss followed every single command from to the handsome man to the letter without a single complaint. Soon afterwards these bald monks got dragged by their horny wives towards their home to have some fun. Sadly these monks has their sexual desires mostly saturated already or eliminated completely after they were instructed to never push to the base while pleasing their women because these long dicks which they have could pretty much endanger the lives of their own babies in the womb if they acted wantonly! now it became a one-sided game of pleasure for the women who enjoyed the slow love-making and not the usual pistoning which is both endless and deep.

Bald-staff was the calmest of the team of monks and he always seemed to enjoy pampering his young woman and clearly this dude actually fell in love with her and enthusiastically learned much from watching the toothless and pervert thin-man which is old Ba and from how Boss would treat his woman lady Bai.

“Heh... who would leave their birthday party to train? only an idiot like you would prefer sweat over fun, sweat all you want then, but don’t blame me if I coincidentally dethrone you from their hearts.”

Lily arrived on her little scooter that she just received among other birthday gifts and moved circles around her brother while he did splits and bridges to check his current limits of flexibility! actually she knew that Lin wouldn't be able to do much but a tiny part of the PUMMA manual for a while after today and he'll be doing the basics for the beginner-class and such routines to lay-down strong foundations for himself when he advance on the techniques and starts to do strength and stamina training. His emphasis will be on flexibility for a while until his goals is achieved then speed and agility will be the focus for the days to come afterwards and only later will endurance and stamina exercises will be added to the training menu! then sheer-power and strength will be the last to arrive in the menu for the boy to focus on in his training.

“Won't you start your physical training? it will be a waste if you didn't."

The boy ignored his sister’s words and asked her while stretching himself backwards and forming a perfect bridge with his spine! He just kept watching Lily’s upside-down image circle around him while focusing on keeping his core balanced and his arms and legs steady.

“Whenever I feel like it then I'll do it, right now I'm focusing on all these bothersome strands which you gave me, mom and dad already know everything that should be done about the new tiger-hall and how to manage it, and since the community is already relying on our parents more and more these days, then it leaves me enough room and quite a free-time to take care of my business and catch-up to you in soul-cultivation.”

Lily shrugged and left to search for little-Lao to play with him after replying to Lin but her words weren't compatible with her actions which made Lin shake his head and turn his attention towards his motions and he started the very basic of the basic training from the PUMMA-manual. Run, jump, sidestepping, rolling forward or backwards, and up and down on the step before enjoying some swimming on the pool. His training varied from day to day and the boy sometimes had to climb a not so high artificial-wall or train his internal organs by doing cardio-training or holding his breath repeatedly for hours in a measured-depth underwater! quickly summer heat passed with its scalding-hot and long daylight then breezy-autumn replaced it with its blowing gales of cool-wind and Lin had been training his physique continuously for almost four months now. Despite Jin Bao’s advice for the boy not to train his body yet because it has a passive-effect of increasing his spirit-energy whenever he trains his physique which in-turn will make him have a harder time controlling his wings later! Lin couldn’t stop training his physique for a single day once he started but he tried to compensate that passive-effect and balance the scales with longer sessions of soul-meditation.

The more the boy trained in the style of this PUMMA the thinner his body became and his baby-fat beneath his skin started to burn and disappear under the young boy's diligence whenever he trained! the records of Lin's top-scores in every technique or training-menu were replaced daily and the monitors in the training grounds showed the improving-numbers of the boy’s improvement to the older kids of the community whom felt this slight-danger from the bright kid who just started to train a few months ago unlike them who began to do these exercises much earlier. After the creation of the tiger-hall it was the turn of the joint-training ground and its facilities to be made and those who seek to claim their own tiger-cub in two more months and gather contribution-points thorough showing their superior physical-capabilities were giving it all there because they got to be one of the top in their age-group to attain these points. Since everyone is allowed access to the current ranks and the performance charts and numbers of anyone who uses these facilities. These kids especially the ones close to Lin in age felt threatened by the boy’s accomplishments and only found comfort and consolation in the fact that he already has the best tiger in the community which is Sun and that means his records wouldn’t endanger their chances of receiving a tiger-cub if it happens to be their turn.

Yet despite being relieved from the worry of having the young boy taking their place in the ranks of owning a tiger-cub because he had one already the youngsters still hated having someone younger endangering them or even having a faint chance to beat their records while they already have the age advantage! in the first month the gap between the boy and the youngsters of the community saw their records narrowing clearly then seemingly to be injected with steroids these older kids again widened that gap between them and Lin by working harder on their training and giving better results. After slacking and taking their training sessions to be a source of fun ever since they started doing these exercises now these boys and girls were taking this daily activity seriously after Lin appeared on their radars with his breakneck speed of improving records which kept chasing their tail (records). The "infectious" group of youth made the blood of the grown-ups boil with a sense of healthy competitiveness and the whole village started to really do better or seek to do so in whatever they were responsible for or whenever they had some task just to gain a slightly more of these contribution-points. Unlike before when they started to learn how to enjoy quality-time these villagers would normally be seen these days trying to earn more contribution-points instead of wasting time fooling around and doing nothing. The entire village was waiting for the next winter to arrive impatiently to see who are the luckiest three and hoping to be one of them while still doing their best to ensure that they’re within the second type of lucky and could receive their tiger-cub from whomever idiot to waste their chance or maybe these naughty tiger-cubs wouldn’t favor anyone and the top-achievers could snatch theirs directly.

Sun left again to go on a stroll around the village territory and Lin instructed the builders to make the tiger tunnels in different directions which stretch far away from the palace of his family just in case this male tiger -which is becoming more wild and irritable lately- met a foe he couldn't beat! in case of that scenario happening then Sun can use these tunnels to escape and if the enemy is someone more formidable than Sun, the mammoth, and the huge bird then the big-feline knows how to activate the mechanism which will lead to the tunnel collapsing on itself to erase his traces. Which is unlikely to happen in Lin’s opinion! now that it's almost a year after Sun ate that strange ball of the black and grey colors the tiger changed completely from the exterior and the boy heard from the "sentinels" responsible for guarding the boarders of the village territory that Sun's ferociousness increased dramatically after his return with Lin from the long journey south with the team of monks. Even the Tiger's orange-yellow fur changed color gradually and turned deep-red after a few months of their return and now Sun has blood-red fur with black-stripes on it and this special trait was passed-on to his young cubs who inherited some of this red-shade on the roots of their fur too! only the female cub which Lily named it "Star" was like her mother Moon with the same snow-white fur and black-stripes but when taking a closer look the roots had slight and faint redness to them and the skin below had scales covering it just like her three male siblings. Sun grew another yet another two meters taller ever since he swallowed that two-fists sized marble and sitting on his neck Lin would feel like sitting on a three-story building! correction... a very lethal three-story tall animal.

-----

While he gasped for breath the boy was checking his new record of jumping the hurdles which is displayed on the monitor to the side and the indicator pointing-out his superiority to the youngest kid to ever attempt this two-hundred meter race and couldn’t stop himself from smiling slightly because that’s the first time Lin could surpass the records of anyone and it felt really good to beat another kid's record! especially since it’s an older boy and not someone who’s four years old like him. No surprise there... the kid called "Yan" arrived shortly afterwards with his droopy shoulders and pouted lips on his lowered his head and said : “Lin... ermm. C... congratulations on beating my record.”

Young Yan is older than Lin by two years and has a scar on the back of his left hand that resembled fire and that's why Lily recommended him the name Yan once he saw it and the boy liked it then decided to make it his name right there and then! He’s an orphan which Boss found him when he was at the young age of about two years old or so. His mother and father's cave got attacked by some snake of an exaggerated proportions and both parents perished alongside it that day. When Boss narrated the encounter to Lin and how he found Yan's father squeezing the snake's head in a scary death-grip after getting bitten on his right shoulder and how Boss clearly remember the man’s fingers which refused to be released from the beast even after he was long dead. While the mother who got her waist squeezed into deformity and her bones crushed after being entangled by the snake's body which coiled around many times over and how Boss felt fear in his chest and admiration from and towards that woman who got enough madness and courage within her to use her mouth during her rage to protect little Yan and kept chewing on with her teeth until she successfully severed the snake's thick body down the middle. Boss said they found little Yan covered in the gore and blood of the dead snake and trying to awaken his dead parents by slapping their faces because he thought they were just sleeping while crying and it was the sound of the boy’s loud cries which attracted their group to his location! Lin's earlier annoyance with the active-kid (Yan) was completely gone after he heard this tragic story of Yan’s history. Lin would always frown at Yan because he was used to the behavior of always bothering and bullying the only girl around his age which arrived with him when Boss’s group came to the cave  .

“Why do you seem extremely downhearted?”

Lin asked while handing Yan a bottle of cold-juice and drinking some water himself then closing the door of the fridge before starting to get ready for a round of one-hundred meters dash.

“You know... they all laughed at me after your name replaced mine on the screen, and some of them told me that "sportsmanship" requires the loser, to congratulate the winner with a smile on his face, or so they say. I just came here because I didn’t want to hear or see their faces anymore.”

Yan shrugged and drank some juice to quench the feeling of defeat after unloading that truth off of his chest.

“Lily would've accomplished the same result, if... she took her training seriously that is, do you prefer if it was her breaking that record of yours instead of me? jumping hurdles doesn’t seem to be your strong point though! your speed is slightly above-average, your stamina is superior to your age by a few ranks, while your strength is the most noticeable among your physical stats.”

Lin smiled at the narrow-mindedness of little Yan and asked with a smile before analyzing the boy’s achievements.

“No! Hell no, little-Sou is nagging me day and night already, about Lily this or queen-Lily that. Hearing the name of your sister sometimes makes me want to puke, please don’t tell her that I said that!”

Yan seemed to pale in the face at the mere thought then shook his head and seemed very satisfied with the result of it being Lin who broke his record. But he was quick to feel panic and pleaded for eternal silence from the younger boy

“Hahaha... don’t worry, I won’t say anything, your secret is safe with me. Listen well Yan... this is a very, very long race. When you run a marathon, especially when it’s a very long one, does it matter who's in the lead at the beginning?”

Lin felt amused by the boy’s words and laughed while assuring him that he’s safe! then gave Yan a hint before dashing at his top-speed towards the finish-line. Only his short and small legs made his final record only thirty-eight seconds. Yan on the other hand seemed to be enlightened while he watched Lin run and struggling to reach the finish-line quicker despite how obvious it was that the younger boy was currently exhausted. Yan soon smiled happily and returned to the training-grounds which is usually occupied by the other kids around his age and left Lin’s training-area but this time his back was straight and the boy with horrifying history was no longer bothered by the jokes of the other kids! his frustration was scattered and cleared off of his chest while his "Will" was stronger after that small chat with the younger boy and no wonder Lin's record only held for a few minutes longer before Yan reclaimed it back for himself with a difference of a couple split-seconds.

Then Lin received another sudden visitor during his training and this one is considered a very late addition to the community of the village. The young man with vicious eyes is called "Shou" and he arrived with the third-batch of people in the beginning of last spring. Lin considers him the successor of old Ba when it comes to dominating the agility-class and Lin's father finally found his match in speed in this young man which is at most eighteen years old or so! He (Shou) arrived with eight others after the exploratory-team found them in the far north of the village. Shou has four sisters two of them being slightly older than him and they too are twins while the other two sisters are much younger than him and the youngest girl was nearly the same age of four like Lin and Lily. The mother and father who raised Shou weren't his biological parents and these two said that they found this odd and strange boy in his youngest age of two or less living amongst of what would appear to be a pack of wild dogs! according to tale of the adoptive parents Shou was wrestling other puppies to reach the udder of a female and had no fear whatsoever from the beast when it growled at him and still clamped his lips around the teat to get his meal. Yes the reason this young-man is so agile and fast is because he's very relaxed while running on all four that he makes it seem like the natural way to sprint. Shou is one of the strangest in this community despite there being "quite a lot" who fit this criteria in this gathering of weirdos! Whenever he isn't in a scouting-mission this young-man would come and spend his free-time just watching Lin train but he would be extremely excited when Lily is there to make fun of her brother. Too excited that he would laugh loudly and grin from ear to ear and even clap with his hands like a child despite not understanding much of the conversations! Lin could swear that this young-man would wag his tail like a happy dog if he had one whenever Lily is within sight.

“Hey... Shou.”

Lin greeted his lone spectator while using his hand to hold the next bar and he swung his body ahead like a monkey on the horizontal ladder but he kept smiling and silently watched Shou check everywhere around the training-grounds for Lily with his eyes.

“G...ood'nigh't Lin.”

Shou answered while a disappointed expression covered his face when he found that Lily is nowhere to be found in the premises.

“Not "goodnight" it’s "good afternoon" Shou I'm surprised by your terrible memory as usual, never saw someone actually speak our language as fast as you, yet your unique choice of words makes it a conversation which is hard to digest! maybe Lily will fix you up in the future don't worry. She always takes care of her "minions" especially one candidate of your caliper.”

Lin corrected Shou and used the knots on the rope at the end of the trial to descend while sighing at his record which wouldn't get better no matter how much he tried improve it then the boy started to make fun of thick-skinned Shou while offering the young-man a sealed bag of his favorite flavored dried-meat.

“Thanks... little-son Lin.”

Shou gladly accepted the gift then opened the seal and stuffed his mouth with a few pieces of the spiced dried-meat but instead of thanking Lin he cursed him by calling him son instead of brother! Lin just ignored the young-man's antiques with his strange way of speaking and took it in stride.

“Yeah... you’re welcome man, Lily isn’t here, if you’re looking for her then go check the palace.”

Lin sat on the bench and raised a bottle of water to drink some then told Shou the whereabouts of his sister.

“En... Shou comes for little-son Lin, my queen later I go.”

“That so! what’s up then?”

“Me... fast go... no arms cannot... big problem... Shou annoyed bite something... hard!”

Finally Shou told Lin why he came this time -other than enjoying watching Lily mock Lin for every breath he takes- to ask about some things which made it difficult for Shou to run fast on two legs.

“I see... go on then, show me.”

“Alright stop... now listen, this here is the cause of balance while this part is the center of balance and the feet are supporting the whole weight of the body, still I doubt you'll understand all that at once, sigh. The reason you're not as fast as when you're running on all four, is because you're not using your two hands, but that's not all, your current form is no good mate, I don’t know why you're always keeping your knees bent when running! maybe that’s a habit of yours since your legs are usually used be the spring and boosters when you run on all four. Keeping a straight back when you run which is making your movements awkward and wrong, it’s extremely unsuitable for our skeletal-build Shou, try leaning forward slightly when you run until you find the best angle that makes it comfortable for your body to perform it’s natural speed. Legs like a springer absorbing force from the ground through the ankles and making it travel in the muscles up and we stretch our joints which add a certain twist inwardly by pushing the ground for more speed, see these toes you're not using them properly. Since using the back muscles is seeming to be more advanced for you right now, just remember these instructions and use them to improve yourself, don’t forget that this doesn’t mean you should relinquish your style of running on all four alright! good, try again.”

After Lin watched the young-man awkwardly run a lap around the track he stopped him and patiently told him how to correct his form.

“Shou... food.”

“Later then, little-son Lin.”

“Yeah, yeah, go on, I was about to go home as well anyway.”

Lin and Shou both continued to train for a while until one of Shou's younger sister's called him to join the family for a meal.

“Snort... idiot.”

Lin's acute sense of hearing picked-up the little-girl saying that faintly and thought she must be reprimanding her foolish big-brother and was unaware of the disappointed look this little-girl was directing at his back when he left.

Sitting inside his electric mini-car Lin headed back home since he’s already reached his limit of exhaustion and once the boy arrived to the palace he soaked his body in a specially prepared tub of herbal-medicine which works on reinvigorating his tired muscles in the open area at the back garden! resting his muscles and relaxing his body while watching the clouds before closing his eyes to continue his soul training and meditate just like that by sitting cross-legged in that tub became Lin’s normal routine since the benefits could be stacked then the boy wouldn’t hesitate on using any method to save time.

“Hohohoho... pathetic great-sage of the endless stretch of barren land, behold and sink into despair! your uselessness, has no limits, while only I, the queen, the protagonist, the most crucial and important individual alive, can accomplish anything, with but a snap of my fingers, if I shall. Now open your eyes and bow before your queen! don’t just adore me as your queen, you should worship me and hail me as your "goddess" from now on.”

Lin was rudely pulled out from his moment of tranquility which just started. First he felt a very heavy and shiny asteroid approaching him from afar despite being inside his own space of the soul-world which has his soul-body acting like a blazing fire or a glaring light in the center of this endless expanse of absolute darkness! The boy still felt it (heavy & shiny asteroid)  drawing near to his soul-body and even felt a few attempts to invade deep and gaze upon his soul-world. But it seems like the soul-force of the invader was weaker than Lin's own soul-force and the attempt failed to even cross the boy's very first defensive lines and were scattered with a single thought from Lin. The boy knew instantly that it was his twin-sister and didn’t counter-attack by transmitting his own soul-force after repelling hers and grimaced inwardly because he wasn’t in the mood to argue with Lily right now. However the annoyingly-arrogant sound of Lily's high and mighty words during her act rang in Lin's head once she used the soul-link technique to send him her message.

Opening his eyes the boy saw his sister sitting on a very cute but majestic golden throne! it was actually not just a simple chair which is big and full of details or ornaments and decorations with a spice of engravings. That throne is a pair of golden phoenix standing side by side! their wings were raised to become Lily’s seat and their tail-feathers were spread in a cross behind her to give her a comfortable-looking back-rest. Their two heads were specifically leaning closer to her arms to become the girl’s arm-rest while their outer wings continued flapping slowly to keep Lily afloat steadily in front of Lin's eyes.

Lily smirked while gazing at him from her golden-throne which floated one meter up and Lin felt scratches of jealousy creep-up on his belly but he hurried to ignore them and these unhealthy feelings were exterminated from his system before the boy got-up from the bath which is filled with the medicinal concoction. Taking a circle around his sister's pair of golden phoenix and studying their life-like shapes and details with growing curiosity Lin quickly noticed the four golden-eyes on the pair of beautiful birds which kept watching every movement he took around them! while he circled these real and alive mythical creatures the boy felt some strange connection and closeness with the birds who made a throne for his sister and that feeling grew after he exchanged gazes with the two pairs of golden-eyes. When Lin extended his hand and touched the feathers of the pair of phoenix he felt like touching real solid gold and the two phoenixes shined brighter in gold light at the touch of his fingers and Lin's own martial-spirit the pair of wings revealed themselves voluntarily without the boy’s permission! just like two friends who didn't meet in a very long time would do if they happened to meet each other by chance after many years.

Lily's golden throne which is in fact a pair of golden phoenix. The golden feathers of these two mythical birds started to glow with the glaring golden light while Lin's pair wings started to accumulate more of the golden color on the edge of each of its feathers! the twins were staring at the strangeness of the two martial-spirits unexpected ritual go on for a few minutes silently before everything returned to normal.

“Your martial-spirit just admitted its inferiority to mine and paid homage to this goddess, just the fact of me being able to control my martial-spirit once I awakened it is enough proof of my superiority, it’s about time that you did the same. harrumph!”

Lily placed one leg on top of the other and rested in her throne lazily then said while drumming the head of one of the two phoenixes with her finger slowly and said phoenix closed its eyes slightly to enjoy this gesture of love from her master.

“How long do you think it will take you to reach the fourth-realm of soul-cultivation?”

Lin didn't bother to argue with someone like Lily because the word sore-loser is considered complementing his sister because she’s way beyond that level if you head towards the direction of "beyond-saving" that is! maybe shameless-loser would be a slightly fitting title for her because if Lin couldn't control his martial-spirit after becoming a soul-seeker while Lily could control hers then it doesn't mean she's any better than he’s. The fact that he's a few months quicker in awakening his martial-spirit and a lot advanced in soul-cultivation speaks volumes of how much stronger his martial-spirit seems to be compared to hers. The pair of wings very easily penetrated the ceiling of his room after one flap! not to mention that there was seven layers of upgraded concrete formula and metal-structure fortifying the upper-dome of the palace behind his ceiling which Lin's wing sheltered him from the danger of crashing into them head-first on his very first attempt to fly. The boy asked his sister because while his soul-cultivation increased higher he kept feeling something existing or buried deep within the body of his twin-sister lately yet now that her martial-spirit is awakened Lin felt like that existence which is inside Lily has disappeared! Lin concluded that his previous feeling was related to her un-awakened martial-spirit and didn't get nosy enough to ask. coincidently Jin Bao, Sun, Moon, and Lin all felt the same and couldn't uncover the secrets without having to alert Lily of them being aware.

Unfortunately that secret will be revealed for the very first time in the exact same day Lin leaves this land of forgetfulness and only Lin's father will be there to witness the moment of exposure of that secret when Lily stepped-up to give a mild yet very effective warning to some unexpected-guests who paid this village a sudden visit out of nowhere.

“meh... I nailed that realm already, just became a soul-seeker a bit earlier than my martial-spirit’s awakening, the realm of soul-eye however... is quite a distance from where I stand currently, if it took someone like you more than four months without any success despite all that effort, then with my type of busy schedule... I guess it will take me much longer, maybe a year or so, at least! but I’m not in a hurry, it isn't fun at all to keep grinding like you. Keep working hard number two, I'll make sure your pathetic image gets removed from the brains of these devoted minions of this goddess. Kakakaka... see you later, you should be feeling proud that this goddess considers you her number two.”

Lily waved her hand carelessly at the topic like it’s nothing important for her and gave Lin a final arrogant glance from above before her pair of phoenixes each used a single wing to push the air downwards to rise up while carrying the girl who sat comfortably and fearlessly on the other pair of wings which accommodated her small body on top of them naturally! throwing her final words at her brother from high above the palace. Lily headed towards the village at the top speed of her phoenix-throne and quickly disappeared from Lin's view when she descended from the sky towards the area of the village’s center.

Four years and three months plus twenty-two days is Lily's record of awakening her martial-spirit. While Lin has the record of three years and eleven months plus four days.

'These two kids!...' Jin Bao who had this soul-clone trapped inside this mysterious ring has already recovered some of his soul-cultivation with the assistance of the soul-soothing stones which kept coming on schedule once per week like Lin promised. Just witnessed the phenomenon of spirit-bonding occur between the twins while feeling mixed feelings inwardly but he silently watched without trying to interrupt the siblings who didn’t seem to even know what is going on! he was happy to witness these two freakish geniuses demolishing one record after another but also couldn’t help himself and some worry and fear filled his thoughts and Jin Bao would be lying if he said that he wasn’t scared by their potential. If these two turned-out to become evil-cultivators in the future because of any reason then this spirit-world will certainly descend into madness as long as they’re live. Honestly Lin wasn't a source of worry for the trapped senior cultivator but someone like Lily with her natural-aura of suppressed gloom and wickedness and the mysterious shadow of ominousness which could be vaguely felt around her sometimes when the girl is riled-emotionally are enough proof for the experienced senior who spent centuries upon centuries dual-cultivating soul & spirit! this girl "Lily" is one of the best candidates to become a complete disaster for spirit-world if she got introduced to the cruel world of cultivation out there in the spirit-world.

However Jin Bao was very surprised by Lin's brilliance more than he was afraid of Lily’s weird and threatening-vibes! not to mention how much the boy seemed to be talented in soul-cultivation which is going completely against the common-knowledge of spirit-world that says : barbarians can only dual-cultivate and these are the cream of the crop amongst barbarians. Cultivators who dapple in triple-cultivation are rare but they still exist amongst cultivators! some of them venture this road after reaching the limits of their solo-cultivation or dual-cultivation and would be just trying to seek a sudden breakthrough in their main-system of cultivation be that spirit, body, soul, or intent by using the other schools and systems of cultivation to work like a supplementary method to their main-system of cultivation. Yet Lin is talented in soul and spirit-cultivation way before his hidden-bloodline is activated or started to show signs of being about to be activated! the saying goes like so in the fables : "a descendant of the barbarian-emperor still remains a descendant of the barbarian-emperor no matter how thin or faint the inherited bloodline is." which means that Lin is certainly going to be blessed with a physique no less suitable for the system of qi-vitality if compared to any average body-refiner in any of the four-continents and that of course is believable if we excluded the savages of the western continent. Because there is the origin of all barbarians and the "war-god throne" and the "axe-holding-statue" which are the two totems symbolizing qi-vitality in spirit-world. Still this boy Lin is certainly way scary than those warmongering-simpletons because the kid isn’t impulsive or easily driven by his emotions which are the common-traits of the barbarian-race. Ever since Jin Bao discovered that calm-mindedness of Lin and his superior intellect which is the common-trait of an entirely different race which is famous for being better in creativity if compared to "goblins" and comparable to "dwarfs" in craftsmanship and superior to "elves" in tactics, logistics, and focus! he just stopped getting amazed by the endless potential of the boy months ago. In a comparison of intellectual-property Lin wins by a landslide. In a comparison of sheer-will the boy -at worst-case scenario- ties with the very best geniuses of these descendants of the barbarian-emperor or any other youngsters in the whole spirit-world. In a comparison of latent potential Lin already wiped the dirt with the record of the fourteenth-pope of the church of light and beaten the records of a very talented senior soul-cultivator like Jin Bao by years and years! then Jin Bao watched the kid start training his physique way sooner than he advised him and began to become worry about the kid doing something which would damage or ruin his bright future before it was represented to the world. But again Lin proved that this worry from Jin Bao was unnecessary when he did train very hard until he almost reached the breaking-point of what his young and weak body could handle then soaked his physique in different medicinal-concoctions to heal his muscles and tired joints back to perfect condition.

'Just what scary monstrosity did you find old Jin! Let's just hope he isn't one of these easily satisfied kids who settle for the mundane life after seeing the true ugliness of this world, no matter what I have to shield him until he helps me mold a new vessel for my soul-body. Cultivation isn't something which others can force you into or spoon-feed you, he must be willing to venture in and endure loneliness and grief to rise up as a true powerhouse amongst monsters of his generation and those who arrived early and got stuck after reaching the culmination of their hidden potential yet still refuses to accept their fate. To forge-ahead without looking back in regret, the boy is a kind-hearted person and that weakness will be used against him by his enemies. Sigh... First, I need to get the boy out of this land of forgetfulness. Second, I guide him slowly while the boy help me in collecting the five ingredients which I need to remold my body. Third, Yi Shirong... you old dog will watch while I wipe-out every single one of your family and loved ones, will watch while I refine their souls and drink their blood! you'll regret backstabbing your only and last friend while shedding tears of blood, and I'll enjoy extracting your foul-soul inch by inch while you give me the explanation with hoarse and despairing cries, an explanation of why did you do it in the first place.' Jin Bao thought while he watched Lin meditate and felt the boy’s aura of his soul strengthen after each session of meditation.

Even Lin himself was sure that he's not that far from opening the Yintang-acupoint and reaching fifth-realm of soul-cultivation soul-eye because inside the space of his soul-world Lin's soul-body is no longer invisible and ethereal like how it was when he first started to seek the source of his soul-force within his soul! The boy’s soul-body became exactly like his physical-body with the only difference between the two bodies being the glowing-skin of his soul-body which is making a very large expanse of the dark space of the soul-world become always lit-up in a yellow light which is very bright and shiny. Like a miniature-sun Lin’s soul-body was the center of this soul-world’s space like a lonely sun in a vacant and empty universe.

-----

Lily on the other hand was excited about the second-wave of attention given to her by the villagers after seeing her phoenix-throne especially her mother and father’s attention and worry for her sake! the grin on the girl's face when Lao called her the best queen ever is a sight Lin would certainly regret missing seeing it when it happened in the very far future. Still Lily was slightly annoyed at her little-brother when she saw the expression her mother make when Lao couldn't hold the secret anymore and told their parents how Lin already has his own pair of wings which appeared on his big-brother’s back long ago and way before his big-sister actually. The girl quickly handled the situation and drenched the excitement of the family and people from the village with her piece of "cold" news about how dangerous for Lin to use his wings since they're still "uncontrollable" then she took little-Lao -this traitorous champion of hers- on a round of flight around the village and pinched his cheeks repeatedly until they became rosy-red because the brat was being a big mouth earlier and when Lily returned little-Lao kept shaking in his boots after learning how scary his big-sister can be sometimes. He really felt like she'll throw him down from very high up! and from that day until the awaited-day of the tiger-hall's big-event it became normal for Lin to find others stopping by at his region of the training-grounds just to ask him to show his wings for them to take a look curiously.

Shou's little-sister was one of these people who would constantly arrive to ask every day until Lin ended-up keeping his wings out all the time while he exercise to stop people from interrupting his training sessions then it became a normal sight in the village to see Lin walking around with his pair of yellow wings and Lily riding her phoenix-throne everywhere! only Shou's little-sister passed her days watching Lin train because the villagers became absorbed in their own competitions or missions or tasks to accumulate contribution-points in order to win a tiger-cub. Whenever the little cubs went out their hall to play in the area of the village these villagers would give them treats and try to become friendly with the beasts.

Even though the team of monk's previous ferocity was dulled-down by the fact that they're currently fathers or expecting their own children. These men didn't hesitate to reveal their hidden sharpness and take their arguments towards the ring with whomever dared to ridicule them or undermine their chances of owning one of the tiger-cubs! each and every monk was hoping for a chance to own one tiger-cub in this season. The liveliness of the village before the main-event saw boxing, football, basketball, soccer and many other competitions of individual and team-sports and lots of challenges in board-games.

Unlike before where these people solved all their problems wherever they stood with whomever got a bigger fist and stronger muscles! they changed into the alternative methods which proved to be more fun and exciting. The gambling-house run by Lily became the all-time winner since the coin-system was implemented right after the completion of the tiger-hall and the villagers couldn't get free food anymore.

If you're doing your job which is any kind of job you like! you receive money. If you learn from the available knowledge in the library . You get rewarded with money plus a higher rank in the community then you receive a better job with bigger responsibilities. If you fuck-up your duty and fail the community then you’re unqualified for the position. Then you get punished with wage-deductions and demotions in rank which happens in case you caused a great mess.

The gambling house is the establishment which is playing the bank in that community quickly became the image of the devil in the minds of the reckless ones who dared to take loans! Lily purposefully made that honey-trap to warn the community of wasting their money on the pleasures while they have fun. Those who were bankrupt lived for a while on "government support" which is mostly plain canned-food and lots of work-hours serving the community to make-up for their accumulating bills since electricity and other utility-services aren't for free! living for a single month without lots of food on their tables or electricity and different utilities in their homes became no different from torture to these villagers. Especially while there’s others right next-door to you who are enjoying the delicacies and facilities! this painful experience was enough for the budding community of villagers to keep a sane-enough mind while they have fun and whenever they have fun. Of course the youngsters were prevented from using the gambling-house unless they’re eighteen of age!

These minor events and the main-event itself were of no concern to Lin and he trained his body according to the PUMMA manual until he neared his limits without straining his capabilities dangerously following that exhausting work the boy would soak his body and meditate according to the soul-strengthening technique. The early days were the hardest on Lin's tender and fragile bones and on his soft and weak muscles! the boy spent lots of time in the beginning resting his fatigued-muscles and aching-joints instead of doing the exercises themselves. However the hard days were past him now and the only thing left remaining are the tedious days which descended and clouded his sight with their monotonous repetitiveness. His joints and muscles started to adapt to the different exercises but the numbers of his records didn't improve no matter how hard the boy tried to push himself during training within the limits of his body's capabilities! yet his body started to feel lighter and his motions became smoother and began to flow naturally in every exercise or training after spending six months doing practically the same thing.

As if winter is fated to be the season Lin would find his answers! first his chance-encounter with Jin Bao then his very first-breakthrough in accomplishing every basic training of the PUMMA manual. While the village-residents were clustered in the tiger-hall to await the young tigers to choose their partners Lin was in his training-attire instead and doing one of the basic routines from the PUMMA manual again and again! the boy was tirelessly seeking the feeling of power-surge which should be felt clearly traveling along his muscles when it happened and Lin didn’t seem to notice the snowflakes which started to fall a while ago and began to cover this area of training grounds. From a simple flickering-jab to full-power punching to high-kicks then low-sweeps followed by over-head toss and elbow-stab to midsection-knee. The variation and timing for each move would leave any competition backpedaling and finding no chance to counter-attack if they're in the same rank of expertise but if their speed is higher they can escape or counter this barrage of hits! if their power and defense is better then they're sure to forcefully try and break away this combination. Still if they were a rank or two stronger than Lin they can still be snared in his trap if the opponents insisted on trying to beat him with sheer-force because using the opponent's strength against them is a specialty of PUMMA users.

“Speed is much more troublesome to deal with than power for any accomplished PUMMA user.” was some famous saying from the best PUMMA user in the universe during Lin’s previous life and despite being someone with zero practical experience and countless theoretical ideas when it comes to the style of martial-arts Lin couldn’t help but agree because these words were very much similar to his hypothesis! after doing the last few punches of the basic routine and finishing by sending the flying-bicycle-kick towards the sky while doing the backflip and Lin rolled twice on his back and clawed at his left and poked at his right side after ending up in a half-kneeling position. Checking his time Lin found himself only one split-second faster and away from failing the test of basic-promotion! The boy was his own judge on the techniques used and maybe if he was judged by one of the grandmasters of martial-artists from his previous life then he would've been promoted more than a month ago. Lin was too hard on himself! he refused the slightest mistake in his motions or the existence of tiniest flaw in his movements which had to be both precise and fluid when it’s done according to the instructions of the PUMMA manual. That's why it took him six months to pass the basics of this manual at the age of four years and six months old.

While Lin half-knelt there in the training-grounds under the falling snow gasping for air the long-awaited event was just about to start in the tiger-hall and Lily ascended the stairs of the podium while draped in a black dress which had a long tail and golden embroidery of soaring and dancing phoenixes on the wide-sleeves and the back! the style of the dress the little girl wore made all the females in the audience stare at its tiniest details with interest while males however were a lot more interested in the three prizes standing obediently in line next to the microphone stand and each tiger was properly cleaned and combed.

Only one person of the males had a fierce-gaze when he stared at Lily's small body while his heart was racing in his chest and he forgot to breathe! Shou's cheeks blushed slightly then he gripped his fists tightly and seemed to make up his mind on something right now.

“Everyone... before we start the event which you’ve been waiting for with expectations, let me begin by saying... good job, so far your efforts have made our lives together, an enjoyable and wonderful experience. The amount of work you all dedicated to our community is obvious everywhere we look! give yourselves a pat on the back, because you people deserve it.”

Lily smiled after giving the crowd a cursory-look then began to clap while complementing them for their hard work.

“Stop teasing us Lily... you know, we know too. We all know that you, and your family, are the ones who deserve to be congratulated and thanked the most in this place, if it were up to me then I would’ve made it an obligation for my kids to offer thanks to your family at least once a week! but Lin would certainly chew me out if I did. Anyway... we only work hard to make the lives our children better, while you and your family work hard to pull us from the likes of the talons of ignorance and the claws of savagery which tries to consume us with its jaws of darkness. Stop making us feel bad about ourselves already and start sending these young tigers our way instead, and I promise you, we'll all keep our skins thick enough, and accept each and every single tiger you throw in our faces.”

Boss replied while the huge man cradled his baby-girl on his thick and extremely big palm and swung his daughter back and forth playfully! his beautiful wife rested her body on his chest and watched Lily's secret dress with a smile silently and no one knew what was she thinking but Lin's mother had a faint idea what her sister Bai was thinking right now when she saw the glint in the eyes of the voluptuous woman. These best friends will keep track of the latest fashion trend and Lily's latest designs and new additions and sometimes the two women would unite and corner Lily then force her to give them special treatment and snatch a few samples from the little brat’s secretive workshop to try ahead of the female-society which were the only ones interested about fashion-sense in the community. Now it seems like this little-devil was still able to hide something good from them! Lily noticed the gazes from her mother and auntie-Bai the client which the girl had some fun with her body for a sweet while before her mother stopped her from resuming such activities and thought : 'Go on, glare all you want, from now on I'll treat you just the same like everyone else auntie Bai. You refused my secret-invitation to let me play with your body, then fine, I won't give you any more special-treatment. Humph, such a pity, what a waste of a perfect body, tsk.'

“Well said Boss... next to everyone’s chair is a small compartment, within it you’ll find a piece of cloth, everyone wear it on your head and cover your eyes then stay still in your seats quietly. If you have babies with you or young children then prevent them from making noise or removing the eye-mask from their faces, leaving your side during the time these fine tigers choose their partners may get them disqualified from this opportunity so beware of their behavior, I'm sure everyone knows the rest of the rules but I’ll simplify them in a few words. First choice is decided by the tigers themselves and that’s the priority. Second choice is decided by the ranking of those who accumulated more contribution-points than the rest of us all. Third rule is that my tiger-hall would be the judge of who gets to be called "worthy" later from these two choices, today you can be the favorite of one of these three tigers but if you miss a step in the following seven months then it will be snatched by another just like that and you’ll find yourself waiting in line once again.”

Once Lily said that the crowd calmly sat still and blindfolded themselves and only small babies who had no awareness of their surroundings yet were free to look! the three young tigers started to roam randomly between the crowd and sniff or look curiously at these people. But in five minutes the three tigers sat in front of the individuals whom they felt closeness and favorability towards them.

“The selection... is over! everyone, you're free to take a look.”

Lily muttered and she waited expectantly for the look that would appear on the faces of those who were lucky to be chosen "winner's face" is fun however the thing this girl truly waited for the most in anticipation is the look that is certainly going to surface on the faces of the unlucky people "loser’s face" is amusing because it comes in different expressions. Some frown, some cringe, some despair, some grit their teeth, some glare, some curse, and many more. Those who win either show shock and disbelief or joy and excitement and a rare few like Lin can actually maintain their calm when they want to play it cool.

“Ah!”

“Hrmmm... since when was I this lucky? honey do you see that! your man's charisma made this little one submit.”

“Me you like? me treat you... me you're... grandfather! big heart big meals... no hungry always fun. Queen Lily... always respect or me bite you... understand? good... we friends come eat.”

Little Yan, Boss, and weird Shou found one of the three tigers crouching in front of each of them and staring directly into their eyes once they removed the blindfold.

Little Yan was scared shitless because his the face of his tiger was too close and he uttered a startled shout like a little girl who’s afraid of the dark before face-palming to cover his expression of shame and the kids in the hall bursted-out laughing at how funny it looked even the grown-ups couldn't hold their laughter when they found the boy about to fall from his seat before quickly finding his balance before it happened.

Boss was estranged by his unexpected luck and hugged lady Bai's waist closer while he spoke his sight was the epitome of carelessness when he laughed to the sky and raised his baby-girl up to make her giggle.

Shou was the strangest of the three because he started to imitate the tiger’s movements and sniff him back while saying strange words which doesn’t make sense but the tiger seemed to do understand them! soon both man and beast were on all-four and stuffing their faces on the same plate and eating. Then these two odd man and beast started to wrestle each other for a slab of meat and pulling it against one another and neither of the two seemed willing to let the other have it.

The rest of the unlucky residents were feeling sourness in their throats but they weren't feeling very bad to the degree of storming-out from the hall huffing and puffing! the party which followed the selection event saw higher amounts of alcohol being drunk and food being withdrawn from the storages.

Old Ba was clinking glasses with Boss and laughing while he made his little daughter play with his best friend's daughter by allowing both girls to ride the back of the Boss’s tiger together! the little-one didn't mind the extra work since there’s compensations of treats and like a glutton the young tiger at chunk after chunk of meat.

Yan was surrounded by the majority of the younger-generation in the village and he was feeling awkward being the center of attention after being the source of all jokes because Lin would improve his records daily while Yan was the most endangered by the little freak's rapid improvements because he's at the bottom of the rankings! but thankfully Lin seemed to hit some kind of barrier in his improvement lately and Yan could barely keep himself away from the little boy’s reach of course the meaning here is Yan’s records were still safe and that was enough reason for him to sigh in relief. While he answered a question after another the boy kept feeding his new beast-companion and remembered the time Lin helped him open his eyes to the truth. Now that he’s in a long marathon that will last for six months and needs to do his best to keep this little tiger forever.

Shou was wrestling with his tiger and having fun in the snow carelessly and this sight of primitive-joy between man and beast made a certain girl watch his carefree attitude and hesitate whether to join them or not for a short while before her courage betrayed her and she retreated in silence to rejoin the gathering of her female friends.

Lily was currently sitting on her mother's lap and crossing her arms with pouted lips while feeling indignant because she was restrained between lady Bai and her mother! only if the girl gave her promise to help these two into newly designed dresses can she join the fun. Lily watched the young-girls clustered to the side and gossiping about this and that without being able to join them and felt her insides tickled by unwillingness before she finally succumbed to the demands of the bullying duo and the girl ran away quickly after receiving her freedom under the giggles of her mother and auntie Bai. Lily ran for her friends and joined them in getting busy having fun talking about who has a chance of keeping his beast-companion and who has feelings for who and girls gossips had no end and she loves it.

Lin's father was enjoying his drink to the side quietly while teasing little-Rose's cheeks and smiling whenever his daughter smiled or acted bashful after he gave her a kiss or hug.

Suddenly all those who were in the tiger-hall and celebrating this event be they men, women, kids, babies, or animals felt something descend upon them and cover them within it.

Silence could be heard and felt on everyone’s chests like a heavy pressure which held them by the throat and stopped this big crowd from speaking! the sudden change in the tiger-hall from lively and noisy to deathly-silent and complete-stillness from man and beast would make everyone uncomfortable and confused but if you add the suddenness of the mysterious feeling falling on their chests and it would feel frightening and creepy. Utter silence and deathly stillness was maintained for five long and cold seconds before the first person to react awoke the crowds from their terrified-daze. Lily riding her phoenix-throne flew at her fastest speed towards the training-grounds. Being the person with the strongest soul-force next to Lin she felt it clearly and on a different level unlike these people! the girl felt her brother’s eyes staring directly at her soul-body inside the space of her soul-world after a sudden explosion of soul-force which covered everything around her. When it happened Lily felt weak and insignificant despite how confident she was in her soul-cultivation the girl felt like her soul is nothing but a dried-branch which fell inside a stormy sea! it was a very unpleasant experience especially after how much she was enjoying the feeling of looking-down at her older-brother these previous days. Which felt better than doing anything so far! seeing Lin incapable of doing something which Lily can do with ease has been -by far- the best feeling this little monster experienced ever since she split from Lin's soul years ago. The girl has to see for herself what made her feel like Lin is watching her every movement? even now the feeling wouldn't go away! Lily feels like she’s no different from a "turtle in a jar" and it made her panic because if Lin has a method to see-through her then there’s many things which this girl doesn’t want to expose to the boy yet. The rest of her secrets she wishes that her twin-brother would never learn of them.

“Your emotions are showing-up on your face... sis. Lesson number one... always remain composed and calm in order to make the right decisions, whenever you find yourself in a difficult and complicated situation then it means you need to be more calm and more composed than normal, because panic and worry will only affect your sense of judgment if you let these negative emotions circle your brain. Breathe-in... and breathe-out. That’s a good girl... woah! I just kissed a goddess.”

When Lily stopped above the training-grounds she found nothing and no one there but the traces of Lin's training session earlier was there on the floor which had areas covered in a thinner layer of snow! While the girl looked everywhere searching for her brother she heard his voice ring right next her ears and she couldn't find him when Lily turned to look behind her for Lin. The girl almost cursed in frustration because again just like what happened earlier her brother whispered more and more of these words in her ear and vanished again and again whenever she tried to turn her neck quickly to look behind her then Lin stopped speaking after breathing on her neck! shaking her head to remove the distractions Lily started to really doubt herself of being hallucinating right now. The girl was annoyed because currently she was flying very high up in the air while Lin shouldn’t able to fly yet! then Lily heard the voice of Lin again going next to her ear with his first lesson very slowly which seemed to be daring her to try and find his location. The girl just gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in her seat and refused to turn her head despite feeling her brother’s lips on her neck and cheeks when he gave teased her, but the last word was the title which Lily gave herself lately and clearly Lin was aiming to pay her back for all the fun she had. Unlike her brother who can endure her childish actions and jokes this girl just couldn’t stand the feeling of inferiority to anyone and especially when it comes to her brother.

“Did you have your fun yet? y... you bastard! do you like to bully me that much? huh... show yourself, do it if you’re a man.”

Finally Lily lost her calmness and stood-up on the seat of her phoenix-throne to shout at the sky and was clearly filled to the brim with frustration! the fact that Lin was talking in her ear and not sending her messages thorough a soul-link technique made her wish for nothing but to get her hands on her twin-brother and keep doing shameful things with him just to vent all this anger which grew within her chest. Add to that the feeling of eyes watching her from every angle just like slow-dead motion cameras all the time and Lily became sure that Lin has already reached the fifth-realm of soul-cultivation the soul-eye realm and activated the formidable technique of soul-sense.

“Heh... you're one to talk, it's been two months now remember, two months of enduring you, not only did you make fun of me all the time, but also you made me look like a monkey in a zoo whenever I come here to train, it's about time you taste how it feels to be a clown. You're just lucky I'm not as petty as you're Lily, otherwise it won't end with you tasting how it feels only once. That’s me being a merciful... man.”

Lin's body appeared in front of Lily in the middle the falling-snow from thin air and the twin siblings were a few inches apart from one another and each of them was using his or hers martial-spirit to float in the air! after gazing at each other for a few seconds it was Lily who broke the silence by jumping from her phoenix-throne to cling onto Lin's body and her eyes had tears on the rims and the girl was biting her lower lip while trying to stop herself from crying. Such sight was the exact opposite of how she looked usually and right now Lily looked just like a little kid which is feeling wronged and is seeking consolation from his loved ones.

Sighing once. Lin hugged his sister closely and went back home with a single flap of his wings and slowly descended towards the garden while patting Lily’s back.

“Not yet...” Lily muttered softly and she hid her head in Lin's neck abashedly.

“Oh! I thought you’ll start to behave-”

“I’ll... I promise! it’s just...”

“What? say it... I won’t make fun of you.”

“Let's keep flying for a little longer.”

“Easy for you to say that, you’re not the one carrying me!”

“I know how exhausting it can be to keep using our martial-spirits... but I really want to experience how yours feels like because it is faster than mine, and especially since it will be us two sharing that memory together! please.”

“At least you’re being honest about it. One launch upwards is all you’ll get young lady, where’s your pair of phoenixes by the way?”

“Deal then, I hate it when you’re stubbornly play it safe. When you separated me from my throne it somehow blinked-back inside me.”

“Cool! I guess that means it can never be snatched from you, but I doubt the misfortunate perpetrator would like your reply or reaction. Thankfully that scenario isn’t going to happen, now hold tight and don’t bite your tongue girl. Because these babies packs one hell of a punch, and my gut tells me that you might puke on me on the edge of atmosphere, it would be unfortunate and saddening for me but I’ll be forced to let you go all the way down on your own. Truth is... only this great-sage is allowed to puke on people, you see so... I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with it and... accept it just the way it is. Father did! so what’s it gon-”

“Bfffttt... Just fly silly! whoa-”

Despite his exhaustion after all the PUMMA training then his prank on his sister which seemed easy yet it wasn’t because it consumed soul-force and mental-concentration from the boy who had to keep his new ability (soul-sense) activated all the time to tame these pair of wild wings! Lin pushed himself some more and used them again to go higher this time then spread his wings and freely let them glide back down slowly.

“I know... lots of air getting shoved-into your lungs all at once does that to people, tsk, that’s why I always close my mouth. Just imagine being unlucky enough to coincidently inhale some bird-shit or something, I think I would chase the poor feathery-thing to the end of earth just to get my hands on it!”

“Cough...”

“That’s a good girl... don’t look at me like that! I assure you... "twinzie" my soul-sense was active, and nothing was in the path of your open jaw. I got your back, I just wish that I can always say the same about you.”

“Don’t get me started! you hold my life between your hands right now, and you can end it just like that. Releasing me here and now can make me... this "nightmare" like it never happened.”

“Heh... wrong approach, wrong person, wrong ending. Back to your books "goddess" because this great-sage happens to be one who favors turning villains into great "things" and you happen to be a "thing" which is about to be great, not there yet... but there’s a milestone for you to look forward to, catch-up in soul-cultivation because I’m starting to feel lonely! you know... being ahead on my own sucks, plus I’m afraid if this situation continues any-further I... might bury you in my... dust!”

“Tsk... you’re enjoying this aren’t you!”

“pretty much yeah.”

“I don’t know which should I feel more right now. Mad at you for all this ego or happy for you because you’re... sigh. Don’t worry Lin... your loneliness wouldn’t continue for long, and I’ll be damned if I let myself be buried in your stinky dust.”

“How encouraging! these words of yours will make me work harder.”

“I know... it will only feel good to me when I beat you at your best.”

“......”

Brother and sister kept their conversation and ended up taking their time circling the sky in this long glide while Lin consumed his martial-spirit’s juice entirely for the first time since he awakened it months ago.

“What does it feel?”

“Soul-sense... hrmmm, I think normal people would find it amazing but for us the novelty would be felt in something completely different.”

“Is it really, like it was mentioned in the technique... having complete awareness of everything happening in your sphere of influence isn’t something you and I got to experience before, is it!”

“Not even close... of course! but what I meant is the feeling itself, it’s so dangerously addictive that I’m worried for you, your bad habits will be tested beyond their limits Lily. Believe me when I say this because I say it now for a single reason, I... care a lot about you, and this family. I don’t want to see you going out of control because of some power which... can, and will, enable you to control others! if... you want to.”

“Huh!... earlier when I was in the hall y-”

“Was in your head yeah. Soul-world to be exact... it might feel like a long time with me being in there, but you know how time works differently there. In and out was how it was. Y... your secrets... are safe. Whenever you’re in peace with yourself and feel like talking them out with... me, then know that I’ll always try to listen first then be reasonable with my judgment. I... awe you that much, at least.”

“Tsk... I... sniff...”

“It’s okay, give it time, no rush.”

“S...orry... sniff...”

Seeing signs of struggle on his sister’s facial expressions and body language made the boy sigh inwardly and hug his sister again. Lily’s final emotional-barrier broke and she melted in the embrace of her twin-brother.

“Come. I stink of sweat after that work-out, and you look like you’re in need of doing something which can cheer you up a little. Let’s share the hot-tub like good old days, what do you say about that?”

“A... ight.”

“Come-on piglet, I’ll be honored to carry you there.”

“Tehehe... sniff... dummy you... sniff... keep forgetting that I’m a... sniff... goddess now.”

“That happened huh! well... get on then goddess, piggyback is the method your kind prefer I assume, forgive me because I’ve never been to your celestial-realm before. If I’m lacking etiquette or manners then I beg of your holy-self, please don’t turn me into anything funny.”

“Just follow my orders... and you’ll be safe.”

“Phew... what a relief!”

“Heh...”

Just like that the boy carried his sister on his back and smiled when he felt her emotional-distress fade into nothing and the small heart in her chest finally calm its racing-beats and return into its normal rhythm.

“How far can you spread your soul-sense?”

Lily seemed a lot calmer after they entered the bathroom and asked Lin while they soaked their bodies in the steaming water.

“Finally you ask about the important stuff, I thought you’ll never ask.”

“And ruin your fun? no! this is your moment of glory, I... can never... take that... from you. Sigh.”

Of course the little demon still stretched her hand to feel his penis to see if it would erect just like she always does! the girl would be delusional if she thought her twin-brother could do such thing at this age and she knew it yet Lily just couldn’t stop herself from trying.

“I guess some people never change huh! this... down there... still need time, lots of days and lots of nights. Heh.”

“Someday it will respond to my summons, and I’ll devour it to my satisfaction.”

“Yes... yes, I heard all about that before, now you just need to be patient enough for that to happen, or keep giving it massages while desperately hoping for it to swell, suit yourself then.”

“This goddess... is still waiting for her answer... mortal!”

“Sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching in a one kilometer radius is possible as long as it's not something solid enough or thick enough to impede my soul-sense from penetrating through it. I know you’ll enjoy hearing this, I can experience what’s inside every house if I want and not like a spectator watching, but thorough the person himself if said-person has a much weaker soul-force, or penetrate downwards through the ground to search the terrain but somehow it shortens the full-distance of my soul-sense to one-tenth of its maximum. Some places it's less than one-tenth of my maximum range too, and the more I focus on a particular area the faster my soul-force gets depleted if I insist on maintaining my soul-sense on the rest of my range while doing so.”

Lin was looking at Lily's body and scanning his twin-sister’s inner organs and skeleton with his concentrated soul-sense which worked much better and efficient than x-ray vision! after seeing nothing out of the ordinary with her body the boy smiled because she was shocked by his explanation of how soul-sense works and Lin knew how badly she must be right now to get this ability too.

“Fuck me...”

“I would never do that to a... goddess!”

“Now I have to really get my own...”

“A penis! no... please don’t goddess, you’re perfect the way you are.”

“This is like the ticket for me to regain my very first client.”

Lily didn’t even seem to notice Lin’s dirty jokes and muttered while she remembered her mother who just forced her -in a tactful way- with the help of auntie Bai to assent on handing one of her special designs later.

Lin shrugged and smiled helplessly when he confirmed that Lily is distracted beyond his ability to drag back to reality and just gave up attempting to do so right now since he already knows how much this little-she-demon is messed-up in the head! tightening his arms which were wrapping his sister’s naked body the boy closed his eyes and started to check his soul-body closely for the first time after his Yintang-acupoint was opened.

Darkness in the space of the soul-world receded much further compared to last time he checked until it’s nowhere to be seen in the radius of exactly one kilometer from Lin's soul-body which sits exactly in the center of that bright domain! the water underneath him is clear and visible for the exact same depth which Lin could use his soul-sense to penetrate downwards in the ground. While his soul-body itself is fully-material in this space of the soul-world but on that body there’s a slight difference from the one living in the material world and hugging his sister naked in a hot-tub! a third-eye decorated the center of its forehead. This third-eye is vertical unlike the pair below it and the pupil itself is silver unlike Lin's eye-color which is black and inside this soul-world the soul-body which gained material-form the pair of eyes has a different color too! they were golden instead of black which disturbed Lin quite a bit because so many strange things were going on and the boy couldn't decipher or connect them with reasons.

“Senior... old Jin... Sigh. Maybe he will answer me if I tried when it’s time to collect his next shipment of soul-soothing stones.”

Lin tried to call for the cultivator trapped in the ring many times and all he received back was nothing but silence then the boy stopped and decided to wait and try on another time since he was harshly given a warning which forbade him from sending his soul-sense inside the ring without reaching the next realm in soul-cultivation which is the soul-clone and the sixth-realm of this system.

-----

After that day Lily stopped being a pain in Lin's ass most of the time and began to show hard-work on her soul-cultivation instead of causing trouble for him. The girl only stopped her sessions of meditation when she had to take care of an urgent matter in the village or when Lily had to join in planning one of the future projects with the village’s "board-of-directors" before quickly returning back to Lin’s room to seek her source of soul-force.

The "chief" of the village is Lin's father and the "head-of-directors" in the village is Lin's mother while her best friend voluptuous-lady Bai received the position of being her secretary! every household has a representative in the board and when the numbers of households exceed the available slots in the board then the elections will be held to determine the members taking position in the board-of-directors.

Dear Lin started to practice new routines from the levels which are slightly above the basic level of the PUMMA manual and learn new and different techniques of the soul-strengthening technique. Those abilities which he could use only after unlocking his soul-sense were fun to have and "telepathy" is one of them! if someone is within his range of soul-sense then Lin could keep in touch with that person’s thoughts and it only needed the boy to leave a mark of his soul-sense on the intended person but if that person has a strong soul-force then they can sever that connection or if they have some soul-force on the medium-rank of strength and the distance is on the far edge of Lin’s range of soul-sense then they can block his telepathy. However being someone who spoke to people millions of light-years away the idea of "staying in touch" with people one kilometer away wasn't making him that excited because translating the body-language and vital-signs with skillful-usage of "tongue" can make you read people’s mind too but it was something at least. The village already has connection on a wider range than that anyway! the thoughts of others were popping up in Lin's head whenever he wanted to take a peek at their minds and despite the usefulness of the ability Lin refrained from using it again after he mistakenly peered-down on the thoughts of one of the clowns. It was horrendous! even Lily with all her darkness would've shouted : “You... perverted and sick fuck! why don’t you make us all a favor and die already?” before storming-out and leaving the village forever just to make sure she’s maintaining her distance for the rest of her life from this extremely tall person.

After Yan was accepted by his tiger the boy’s personality changed dramatically and his records soared amongst his contemporaries and while Lin was slaughtering the records of the slacking youngsters who happened to be at the tail of this age-group the boy Yan was smiling broadly whenever he noticed the names of the rankings shifting places and made it his motivation and encouragement then gave training his team-work with his tiger and his body all the time he could give! Shou on the other hand is the one who has the best "chemistry" with his tiger amongst the trio and Yan comes behind the wild young-man in second place despite how it would appear sometimes that Shou is always wrestling or fighting with his beast-companion over food. Boss is third and last but his tiger adored the man and his family and unsurprisingly this tiger is the fattest young-tiger in the history of its family of tigers and no wonder why it loves the person who’s famous for being the best cook in the village if three members of Lin’s family were excluded! hands-down that would be an unanimous decision from the village-residents.

Jin Bao continued being a mute and refused to answer the boy’s calls while shamelessly taking the soul-soothing stones every week and Lin stopped his attempts to communicate after trying twice.

Lin started to spar with the other kids after wearing protective gear after his physical-records stagnated for the second time but he would be out-powered very quickly by the other kids and even some girls who weren’t interested in sports or physical-activities did manage to accumulate a few winning streaks but since he wasn't after the win in the first place and was after the experience instead! he just didn’t mind the teasing comments and would wave it off with a smile, a shrug, or one of his smart-ass replies if the person was starting to be rude and over-step their boundaries of respect. Of course the boy knew that if he unleashed his soul-sense during the sparring-match then most of these hits wouldn't land effectively or at all if he was quick to respond which could lead to his win but doing such thing would ruin the purpose of the whole experience of sparring. Losing is fine as long as his body got used to taking hits and reacting fast on its own reflexive-response than it already is.

The second soul technique Lin learned after telepathy was the very first soul-ability which could still function despite the target being outside his range of the boy’s soul-sense! soul-candle was both easy and very useful to this small community at this early stage of developing. Lin would leave a small and tiny wisp of his soul-force to act as a beacon of light inside whomever leaves the range of his soul-sense and once Lin enters his soul-world he will be able to see floating candlesticks in the far darkness outside the glowing domain of light surrounding his material soul-body. That way the boy can keep being aware of the direction each of the hunting or exploration teams went while the fires of each candlestick worked like an indication for Lin telling him the vital-status of everyone who received a trace of his soul-force! and despite not being an indication which is detailed enough to cover every bases it was better than nothing for the time being. Especially since their efforts to build a connecting network failed because of the monsters in the deeper areas which kept wreaking havoc periodically be that fighting one another or killing one another. Even Sun would turn tail and escape if he encountered one of these large and fast beasts which proved to be cunning and ferocious while hoping to reach one of the escape-tunnels before they caught-up to him! these creatures or better call them monsters were on another level entirely compared to the giant mammoth or the bird. Now Lin would be able to alarm the rescue-teams to get moving and do their job in case the teams outside required immediate assistance once he notices the light of these candlesticks growing fainter or dance chaotically which means extreme emotional disturbance.

Still the third ability on the soul-strengthening technique was hard for Lin to use and made him rest on bed for hours feeling a severe headache and overcome with pain and dizziness after the boy tried to use it forcefully. Twice! yes Lin was stubborn enough to try again afterwards and ended-up on his bed for much longer this time and it lasted for three continuous days. Accompanied by a strong fever too which wasn’t a pleasant experience at all for someone who wasn’t used to being sick and that sickness wasn’t in his body by came directly from his soul which was in a huge amount of pain... intolerable pain. Following that incident great-sage Lin avoided any more ventures in new soul abilities for a while and it felt okay for him if the boy settled on these three abilities in-hand which he can use forever in satisfaction! then gave all his excess time to training his physique with the PUMMA manual during the rest of winter. The boy would meditate to increase his soul-force and expand his inner soul-domain after finishing working on his routines or getting himself beaten-up by other boys and girls in the sparring-matches. Still the young sage was amazed by his developed body at this tender age of less than five years old when it was the first day of spring! Lin found that he’s taller than he used to be at the age of seven years old in his previous life not to mention how his body is toned with these perfectly shaped and sized symmetrical muscles which isn’t supposed to the body of a kid that young like him. While he stood in front of the mirror flexing his muscles and bending his joints the boy still couldn't believe that he’s still less than five of age no matter what! despite himself being aware of each and every day he spent in this life since he was born.

Finally at his fifth birthday Lin was able to win his first spar and he was feeling so proud of himself for it because he gained that win without using his soul-sense or any of his other superior six-senses which kept improving as a result from his ongoing daily soul-cultivation! lately the boy discovered that he can alternate, restrain, or stop completely and shut-off any of his different senses from functioning superior-mode, normal-mode, and sleep-mode is what Lin calls them and he would rely only on normal sight and shut-of the rest of his senses except for his sense-of-pain whenever he sparred with others. That eight years old girl had already punched Lin countless times before in their boxing spars and the boy admits that her ocular-faculties and reflexes were very high! if these advantages were added to her elegantly refined footwork and light and quick feet plus the longer reach then no wonder Lin would always lose by a decision without getting a chance to touch a strand of her hair or get his fair share of stinging-jabs all over his face by the swift girl if he lost his calm and hurried to dive into the range of his short arms. This time the boy managed to corner his quick opponent in the last thirty-seconds of the second and final round then confused her by feinting both low and high while watching-out for her short-hooks and uppercuts because she did use these before to slug him then quickly switch places. Then gave her a very compact short-hook to counter hers after memorizing the timing and angle and it landed on that delicate-chin of hers squarely! and Lin watched her while she fell with dazed-eyes and sink to the soft mattress of the ring. The girl kept looking up at Lin from where she sat like he’s the slyest little kid in the universe while hearing the count go higher yet she couldn’t rise no matter how hard she tried then after the dizzy-spell faded she stood-up with the help of Lin’s stretched arm. She hugged the boy and congratulated him on his and his sister’s birthday party since she saw no reason to keep holding a grudge against Lin for winning once but the poor girl kept losing afterwards and Lin's tactics and footwork kept changing and adapting whenever she changed hers which enabled him to slip in and out whenever he liked. Sometimes he will plant his feet in the center and avoid her punches while pouring-on the pressure or buzz around her like the most annoying fly while throwing a combination of even more annoying and confusing punches which consist of a mix of weak and strong hits. His feints however were by far the most frustrating because he would sneakily goad you into swinging to ward him off which ends up exposing some weakness in your guard and he never misses a chance to exploit these lately or when you try to block an invisible-punch which would never come then when you think of correcting that small mistake you’ll find an incoming punch out of nowhere and unexpectedly which would find its way through the tiniest crack in your guard! the variations with the little kid were endless and the precision is off the charts still she always enjoyed it and her style saw sharp improvement and amazing how it was beating the other kids whenever they thought she was a weakling because Lin could win against her. Lin specifically gave her the title : "Knock-out artist" when he saw her imitate him and play mind-games with her opponents. But was Lin wasting his days boxing a girl a few years older? yes! and no because he wasn't only sparring with her daily and that’s it. There’s others learning many different sports and martial-arts in the younger generation and he joined all of them either to learn or have fun and relax.

Lin would actually go train with the grown-ups or the baldies if he could but only his father could be trusted to hold-back if they did a sparring-match together. The others? not much really! everyday after finishing his slightly advanced-routines which started to require from the boy to execute practically the same movements from the basics but much slower with insane amount of focus. Lin would tire himself out competing or sparring with other kids before returning home to meditate. His soul-sense was growing larger in range every time he meditated while his muscles and joints toughened-up daily without losing any of their former flexibility.

And Sun was found-out fooling around with Moon secretly in Lin's room. Again! the extremely shameless red-tiger made the white-tigress yelp this time when he did it and stuck it in. Apparently the size difference took her by surprise after Sun completed his latest evolution and Lily barged into the room while being in the worst possible mood after the girl couldn't concentrate enough on her meditation because of the loud voice. The two beasts very awkwardly had to finish the fun-occasion at a hurry in fear of making the little-squinting she-demon more pissed than she already was! that time Sun felt fear when Lily gazed at his long male organ entering her beast-companion and his penis going soft faster than it got erect in the first place.

Grumbling about what happened to Lin later afterwards while scratching at the floor. Sun was complaining about his wounded pride to the boy who was slowly changing between stances while imagining his movements countering attacks of enemies trying to harm him.

“Lily is going through a stage of stagnation in her soul-cultivation because she's too eager to reach the next realm like me, and you buddy choose the worst possible location this time to enjoy Moon’s body, I will keep your secret and mind my own business if I happened to discover you two, but Lily wouldn't ignore you taking Moon without her permission. You know that and took the risk, what happened is the consequences buddy, you had it coming anyway.”

Lin muttered faintly while remembering how much Lily would snuggle-up with him in bed while asking him many different questions about what happened exactly before the boy ascended to the fifth-realm of soul-force then the boy turned towards the grumpy-tiger and told him his final verdict with a smile on his face because he thought this whole situation is quite amusing actually.

“Snort. Growl...”

Sun flashed one set of his long and sharp black-claws on one of his front-paws then swiped quickly and dangerously on the floor to cause sparks to fly everywhere and left three long and deep lines on the training-ground to act as a sign of warning! clearly the tiger was at the end of his capacity to tolerate what the scary girl is doing to his family and ran-out of patience anymore. It’s just out of respect and loyalty to his owner that he refused to take action against Lily's unacceptable behavior on his own. As if... hehe. Clearly Sun ran with his tail between his legs out of fear from the little-devil but he wouldn't show it and refuses to admit it to himself not even when he’s with Lin. This is just him was trying to use Lin like a protective shield to receive what is naturally his which is his sweet Moon with her warm and juicy-wet... cough.

“Alright! stop whining already, tsk. And since when was it that you would need my help with things so trivial? I believe I already taught you to be smart, why wouldn't you do it in your spacious new home in the first place? huh! you did? tried it once after making sure the timing was perfect and Lily is away but you two got found-out by your daughter instead that time... ahahaha. Your luck is horse-shit buddy, take Moon outside and spend a couple nights away to have your fun then... she refuses to be away from the family huh. Well... I kind-of understand where her worry is coming from.”

Lin couldn't help but laugh in front of the enraged tiger and finally something snapped inside Sun and he started to chase after Lin just like how a cat would do if it saw a mouse and the boy kept explaining the situation while avoiding the unarmed-paws of his huge friend.

“Oy... know your place already! since when can kittens defy this great-sage? mark-me, Lin's mightiness and awesomeness is supreme. And... If it's a race you're seeking, then thou shall not win buddy, better give-up now, because you’ll never get to taste the feeling. Like... ever!”

Lin found it pointless to keep using his legs to escape and started to get serious when he revealed his pair of wings and kept a constant four meter distance between himself and Sun while the boy riled the beast up with his words to have speed contest between themselves.

“Roar...”

Sun was up for the challenge like always and stopped instantly after roaring at his friend.

“Your best-friend... this very humble me, the most intelligent, handsome, elegant, eloquent, sophisticated, gentlemanly, and last but not least, the smartest, brightest...”

“Growl...”

“Such impolite impatience! start then...”

“Howl...”

Sun glared at Lin who took his time and kept speaking nonsense while the boy returned to the start-line next to his beast-companion! then after the tiger finally lost his patience and called for his buddy to just cut the bullshit and announce the start of the race already. Sun found Lin announcing the race starting while staying in place while he himself was already sprinting forward at maximum speed. When the tiger looked back and howled at his friend to start moving already from the start-line and not to be a spoiler of this race which is supposed to be a fun game that might cheer Sun up! the beast almost halted his movement and stared wide-eyed at his best-friend at the back who started to have his body disappear into thin air.

“You see little-Sun... that phenomenon you just witnessed is called an after-image, let me teach you how it can actually happen, if you're looking at a stationary target which can suddenly change from its static-state into high speed acceleration which transition it into extreme dynamic-state...”

“Roar...”

When he felt another pout of headache-inducing words enter his ears Sun stopped caring about his best-friend or needing his help in that moment and just ran faster towards the palace at a speed higher than his normal top-speed hoping to escape this lesson of whatever! if lily has her scary moments then his buddy is the most scary when he starts lecturing on these confusing things of his.

“The eyes play a trick on the mind when it happens, which delays the transmitting from the nerve-system, while the true fact remains that the target which already moved... oy! are you listening buddy? I’m getting to the good parts here... so, the nerve-system is delayed and the mind is suffering from a delay of information which it’s supposedly should’ve received a while ago right, the truth remain that the eyes are the ones who are confused and disoriented the most because they’re caught-up in this mix of conflicting signals...”

Sun was lowering his ears and hoping if he could stuff them with mud right now while he ran and was trying his best to stop himself from hearing anymore of whatever that Lin is saying and was thinking : 'Just shut up buddy! I don't care and I don't think I'll ever do, I’m so angry right now that I want to tear things up until I faint, all I ever wanted was for me to have some quality-time alone with Moon without having others watching because I don’t like it. Is that wish too much for me?'