A man could be seen restlessly staying by the side of the mother of this baby. A nurse, who carefully picked up the baby, moved to the man gently passing the baby to him.
The man looked into the dark eyes of this baby, placing his hand on the baby's heart, said quietly, "What a beautiful thing. I will name you, Yuexin, after my late grandmother."
This man wore a clean, white robe adorned with green jade wolf fur. It was quite cold this time of year.
The cabin which was situated on the river bed was surrounded by various wooden and stone buildings, which could be seen forming endlessly into the mountain. On the top of these house were bamboo roofs. They looked flimsy as if violent winds could blow them away at any second. Smoke could be seen billowing out of the make shift chimneys of every house. Lamp lights sprouted everywhere around the houses as if reflecting the stars above in the night sky.
There was a large doc right next to the Cabin, created out of bamboo slabs. These bamboo, well known from this mountain, looked flimsy, but where as durable as even the thickest wood around in the region. The mountain's name was Gang Shan mountain. It was known for its rough, cold weather and its bamboo. In the lake, there were a couple of large bamboo boats floating aimlessly in the clear water, tied by sturdy ropes to the doc posts.
A little time later, the man relaxed as he passed the baby to the mother. "Isn't she beautiful? Just like you, my wife? If she doesn't end up becoming my successor, she will make up for a good elder one day!"
The mother spoke, joy filled her eyes. "I love the name Yuexin, she will become a great person within our Li Lai Clan!"
At this very moment, the man gestured to the nurse. "Open the door, let my two personal guards through."
The nurse gave a short bow and quickly rushed to the bamboo door, opening it by a crack and saying something to the people outside.
Soon, the nurse open the door fully and two guards, both huge men and armed with stone wolf armor over their grey robes, entered one by one through the door. They had stern expressions and had the number 2 etched on their armored chest plates.
One of them finally gave a smile as he said
"Leader, your baby is truly beautiful! She might even become the next great clan leader alongside her sisters!"
The other, who had grey streaks of hair and looked a bit older than the first, chimed up again:
"Ah yes leader, seeing as your daughters are extremely intelligent from just the young age they are now, they definitely could have excellent cultivation potential within their Dao Veins, with their help in the future, we can elevate our clan to a middle stage power further increasing our influence on this mountain range!"
The leader sighed, there was just too many powerful clans within these groups of mountain. While it was possible to change their standing on these mountains, it was extremely hard to change the disposition of their clan in just one generation. Even if his daughters had powerful potential and were going to become the next generations leaders and high ranking members of the clan, they were just one of many clans within these mountain ranges. They didn't have that much say within the politics of these mountains.
The leader then spoke, "we can only wait to see what will happen next. The future is still very uncertain these times. I've heard from other clans of the possibility of great war near these groups of mountains that could most definitely change the effect the state of this clan. Even though my daughters are said to be the top genius' amongst the next generation of this clan, this cannot greatly alter our predicament!"
The two guards lowered their heads, their faces returning back to the original stern look. The younger guard spoke with a troubled look, "you are probably right leader."
The leader looked back at the baby in his wife's arms with a deep sense of love, "you can take your leave now, Bu Hao and Chi Blu."
The two guards quickly bowed and left without saying a word.
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The next 14 years seemed to go by in a blur. The baby grew up into a beautiful girl. She had long, black raven hair, which seemed to glow around her. Her lips were full, cheeks soft but sharp, and her dark eyes radiated a youthful vibrance. She, like her other sisters, shocked the tribe with her intelligence, being able to understand the literature works of the tribe. Many that saw her through the paths of the clan would comment "she is so knowledgable and beautiful amongst the youth. She might even be more knowledge and beautiful than her sisters. She'll definitely gain a high cultivation rating during the awakening ceremony, she might even surpass her oldest sister! Our clan will benefit so much from her!"
Every day these comments seemed to circulate around Yuexin as she walked. Gradually these comments became like air, they were so abundant that it was super normal for her. She began to walk confidently, her head held high. "I really am going to surpass my sisters and become the best within the clan!" she thought as she passed these people. She built a sort of arrogant pride within her.
She had already seen the awakening ceremony three times. Each were of her older sisters, and like the clan expected, they did extremely well in the ceremony, receiving the number 1 spots of potential in cultivation. Every time they received these results, the clan leader Li Lai Bao Tian would be praised for his amazing blood line.
And of course, this left his younger daughters, who hadn't gone through the awakening ceremony, more pressure to get better results in their cultivation potential.
This was no different for Yuexin. She was raised the past 14 years with the best education one could receive as a child. And she did not disappoint. Her intelligence was known throughout the tens of thousands of people within the tribe. "Wow look that's Yuexin! She could memorize Dao Vein technique recipes at just 10 years old, that's simply unheard of! Not even her sisters could do that until they were in their teens!" These were normal comments she heard as she walked around.
However, while she was knowledgable, there was one thing always bugging her. That thing in her heart. it looked like a long centipede wrapping around her heart like a chain. She never saw it, but she could sense it. She could feel it around her heart. it never moved, but she knew it was alive, she knew it could listen to her conscience.
In this world, Dao Veins dictate the life standing and power of an individual, the richer and higher spirited the Dao Vein is the more powerful you were. Dao Veins were the glue of heaven. They connected the mortal realm with the heaven realm, they were the direct communicators of the gods. Every human can sense their own Dao Veins, which were surrounding their actual veins. This naturally meant that they could also sense their hearts.
However, when looking through the hundreds of years of Li Lai clans historical records, Yuexin could not find a document of a person who had a centipede like chain around their hearts. The hearts of humans were pure, there were no living things that resided around those hearts.
Yuexin, however, didn't give up, probing, provoking, asking the centipede like thing to get a response from it. However, it never budged, still coiled around her heart. Every day, she became more restless. "why wouldn't this thing not answer me?" she would think. As she grew, she tried even harder, straining her concentration just on her beating heart, trying desperately to get a response from that thing.
This went on for all her life, until the night before the Awakening Ceremony.