It was a bright spring morning in the village of Miaopo which was nestled at the base of a completely mundane mountain range also named Miaopo. On the eastern end of the village in one of the many modest mud brick houses lived the completely ordinary Yi family. It was a small family made up of the father Yi Wang, mother Li Mei, and their only child Yi Tianxing.

They lived as simple farmers, the same as almost everyone else in the village. Living out their days working under the hot sun in the fields. No events of note ever seemed to happen in the sleepy little village beneath the mountain, besides the occasional famine resulting from bad weather. In other words it was the most boring village in the universe.

In one of the many fields cared for by his family Yi Tianxing was tending to their crops with sweat already heavy on his brow, his parents in another nearby field. He was neither tall nor short, clocking in at a completely normal 170 centimeters (5’7”). Neither ugly nor handsome, with plain black locks of hair and very common brown eyes. Also he didn’t have any extra fat on his frame but was also not considered skinny. Truly the embodiment of the word ‘average’.

Yi Tianxing had turned 15 with the New Year and seemed to give off that sense of enthusiasm and energy that only the young have. He was totally engrossed in his work of pulling up any weeds as he finds them in the field, along with his friend Quan Jingyi who was as usual helping by ‘supervising’. Quan Jingyi was the second eldest son of the only merchant in the village. Being a part of one of the better off families in the village allowed him to eat to his hearts content. As a result he was a massively overweight over dressed bowling ball.

Fatt… er… I mean Quan Jingyi was the first to spot it.

“Hey Tianxing, what do you think that is?”

He was pointing with his chubby arm into the sky to the west. Perched high in the sky was a shining light like a star, but unlike most stars it was moving.

As soon as Tianxing laid his eyes on the strange light he felt that it was very odd. That was when the ‘star’ REALLY started to move. It appeared to grow several fold in mere moments, threatening to fill the sky as a loud rumble started to echo through the fields.

“Run!!!”

Quan Jingyi shouted as he moved far quicker than one would assume someone his size would be capable of. Somehow he disappeared over the horizon before his shout had even ended, leaving Yi Tianxing alone in the field. He didn’t even hear his friend’s shout as his attention was completely locked on the falling star, as if in a trance.

Quickly the star grew to fill nearly his entire vision, but no matter what he tried he could not look away. In fact he was entirely incapable of moving a single muscle. Locked in place he could only watch helplessly as certain doom descended upon him. As the falling star drew closer it became so bright that Yi Tianxing could no longer see, he was blinded by the light and could only hear the endless rumble. Even that too stopped as his eardrums burst from the deafening roar, only the intense vibrations telling him that something was happening. Then just as quickly as it began, it came to an end as he felt an intense heat wash over his face. Oblivion claimed him just as he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.

***

Being dead wasn’t as painless as Yi Tianxing had thought it would be. Instead of not feeling any pain, that’s ALL that he felt. Had he somehow skipped the judgment part of the afterlife and gone straight to the punishment? Though as a filial son who never forgot to give thanks to his ancestors he was sure that someone had made a mistake somewhere. Also, why was he still blind and deaf? His soul should have been able to see and hear perfectly.

‘Maybe I’m not dead?’

He thought for the first time since awakening, though this was hard as the pain threatened to overwhelm his senses and send him back into oblivion. That was when he realized that the pain was slowly ebbing. As it bit by bit faded he was able to think more clearly.

‘NO! Why must you make me a cripple Heavens!? I was so good and always did as I was told!’

“Would you SHUT UP! I’m trying to work here!”

Suddenly a disembodied voice reverberated through his entire being. How had he heard anything? He was deaf and blind right? Or was he being possessed by an evil spirit?

‘Begone evil spirit! Let me rest in peace!’

Yi Tianxing shouted in his mind in an attempt to ward off the evil spirit that must be keeping his body alive and trying to take over. He didn’t know how he would fight it but he knew that he must find a way. He wouldn’t let some evil spirit take over his body and then harm his mother and father.

“Gods-damned country bumpkin! I said BE QUIET! And who are you calling an evil spirit?!? Your sister is an evil spirit! YOUR WHOLE FAMILY IS AN EVIL SPIRIT!!!”

Yi Tianxing was dumbfounded. Since when did evil spirits hurl insults like the town drunk? Weren’t they just supposed to take over your body and do terrible things to all your friends and family? Was he not being possessed? Maybe he should just try listening to the ‘entity’ for a quick second. It’s not like he actually had any ideas about how to fight it in the first place.

That was when he realized that the pain he had been feeling had been seriously reduced and was heading towards being nonexistent. His thinking had truly become clear again. Then he saw a flash of light! Not wanting to disturb the strange entity that was somehow fixing what had happened to him he quietly sat, er… laid there? Where was he again?

Feeling around with his hands, Yi Tianxing felt the familiar frame of his own bed. He was at home. Someone must have carried him there after the star fell. He hoped it was his parents and that they hadn’t also gotten injured. Quietly laying there the flashes of light began to to happen more and more often until they became a steady stream of blurry light, followed by the lights slowly coming into focus as his sight was fully restored.

‘Yep, I’m at home all right. I’ve fallen asleep so many times looking at that thatched roof.’

The entity seemed to be ignoring him now. Well at least it didn’t seem to be hostile. Thought it probably had something to do with the falling star so he wasn’t really sure about that. Maybe it was a benevolent spirit that was fixing it’s mistake? Whatever the case Yi Tianxing was sure that the entire situation was completely above him. Better not to get involved with any spirits good or evil if he could.

Slowly as there was nothing to keep his mind occupied Yi Tianxing drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

***

“WAKE UP!!!”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Yi Tianxing screamed as he was abruptly woken by an unfamiliar voice. He soon heard… Wait… My hearing is fixed as well! Smiling from ear to ear Yi Tianxing sat up in his bed as he heard someone quickly approaching his room.

“Tian’er! Are you okay?”

His mother burst into the room and quickly ran over to comfort him.

“I was so worried! We had thought we were going to lose you! I’m so glad you’re awake!”

Rushing her words and beginning to cry into his shoulder Li Mei began hugging and then touching and inspecting her child all over, as if he might vanish at any moment. After seeing that her son was perfectly fine she let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s a miracle! The Heavens have truly blessed us on this day! The ancestors surely must watch over you…”

“When little Jingyi was running through the fields screaming about the falling star and you were nowhere to be seen we grew very worried. We quickly hurried over to you just in time to see the heavens themselves open up and shine its light upon you! The whole village saw the column of light. Truly a miracle, a miracle!”

Quickly resuming her sobbing into his shoulder. Li Mei treasured her son like any good parent would. Quietly standing at the doorframe to his room, his father Yi Wang was there with a look of relief on his face.

“As long as you are okay, everything will be alright. Come wife, let our son rest. I’m sure he must be tired after all that has happened.”

Slowly getting up from his bed, Li Mei wiped her tears clean and proceeded to quietly close the door behind her. Seeing that his parents were fine and that nothing bad had happened to them, Yi Tianxing let out a sigh of relief.

“So… How are you feeling?”

Yi Tianxing, quickly looking around didn’t see anything or anyone else in his room.

“Down here stupid!”

The sound was coming from his abdomen! Lifting his clothes so that he could see his belly, a strange tattoo had appeared. It was an incredibly ornate trigram tattoo filled to the brim with an unknown but extremely detailed calligraphy.

“Hey, you aren’t as dumb as a rock! Alright!”

Yi Tianxing got the fairly obvious but distinct impression that he was being mercilessly mocked by the ‘entity’. But seeing as it had somehow saved his life he let the matter go.

“Um, what exactly are you? If you don’t mind me asking oh great benefactor of mine”

His father had always said that if you don’t know how to act around someone you don’t know that the best course of action is flattery, everybody likes to hear good things about themselves. Surely spirits are like that too right?

“I’m so glad you asked! Finally someone who likes to quickly get to the heart of the matter. Though you better sit… down… Hmmmm… I guess you are already seated… grumble…”

Suddenly the light within the room began to dim, then a strange sensation began in his stomach. A thread of blue-white light began to flow out of his abdomen and started wrapping around his arms, legs and torso.

“I AM THE HEAVENLY DAO! BOW… ER… SIT BEFORE MY MIGHT! I HAVE COME TO GIVE YOU A BLESSING! DO YOU DARE ACCEPT?!?!?!”

While the ‘Heavenly Dao’ appeared to be shouting Yi Tianxing got the distinct impression that he was the only one that could hear it. Otherwise he was sure that his parents would have burst back into his room.

“What’s it going to cost me?”

What kind of ‘Heavenly Dao’ gave things away for free? Yi Tianxing wasn’t a spring chicken you know! The gall of this ‘entity’ trying to fool him into doing something that was sure to be against his best interests. Maybe it was an evil spirit after all? Better to ask some questions to be sure.

*cough* *cough* “...foolish… I MEAN… FOOLISH MORTAL! DO YOU DARE QUESTION THE HEAVENLY DAO? I REQUIRE NOTHING OF YOU! ...Please just accept, it’s so hard to use my authoritative voice this much…”

“I decline”

Suddenly the lights flowing around his body grew still.

“…”

Was Yi Tianxing imagining things or did he somehow HEAR an ellipsis? How was that even possible? Must have just been his imagination.

“Fine then mortal. I will accept your refusal. I guess you are stupider than a rock.”

Then the light began to flow out of his abdomen in an orderly fashion, collecting into a small sphere in front of him. It seemed that he had averted a cris… OH GOD THE PAIN! Convulsing in his bed Yi Tianxing quickly learned that the pain he felt during his recovery wasn’t really pain at all. THIS was true pain with every fiber of his being feeling like it was being ripped apart and then put back together again and again.

“I ACCEPT! I ACCEPT!”

Yi Tianxing quickly started screaming in the hope that it wasn’t too late. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to piss off the ‘entity’ that was able to do miraculous things like rebuild his body and fix his sight and hearing.

Just as fast as it had began to flow out of him, the light returned to his stomach. As soon as it was all contained back within him his skin began to glow. He slowly began to sweat, but strangely what was coming out of his pores wasn’t sweat. It was a black tar like substance that reeked worse than an outhouse. Then he even started to vomit the same substance. Lets not talk about how it tasted.

For the third time that day Yi Tianxing found himself losing consciousness. It was for the best.