Because of Uncle Teng's strictness, no one dared to be careless. Everyone practiced with the utmost focus, and remarkably, not a single person was punished during the session.
Uncle Teng, standing to the side, nodded repeatedly, looking thoroughly pleased. Amidst the training, his gaze fell upon Ye Feng.
To his astonishment, Ye Feng's expression was completely relaxed, forming a sharp contrast with everyone else, who were drenched in sweat.
Uncle Teng sensed his aura for a moment, and his expression instantly turned to one of utter shock.
"Ye Feng, stand up!" Uncle Teng called out in a booming voice.
"Yes, sir." Ye Feng gently set down his clay jar and stood straight up.
"Tell me, have you broken through to the Spirit Awakening Realm?" Uncle Teng asked with a completely serious expression.
"Yes, just today!" Ye Feng replied loudly, pride radiating from every word.
The moment those words left his mouth, a wave of astonished gasps erupted through the crowd.
"What?"
"Ye Feng broke through?"
"How is that possible? Ye Feng is only sixteen this year! That's a full year earlier than the youngest record ever set in the village!"
"I'm doomed. When I get home, my parents are going to lecture me again and compare me to Ye Feng from now on!"
"There wasn't even the slightest sign of it this morning. How did he just break through all of a sudden?"
The murmurs grew louder and louder, causing quite a bit of water to slosh out of the jars balancing on their heads.
"Quiet down!" Uncle Teng barked, and the crowd instantly fell silent.
"You, you, you, and you—add one hour."
Uncle Teng pointed at several people in succession, all of whom had spilled their water.
"Ah!"
Faces fell instantly into expressions of utter despair, but no one dared to utter another word, fearing they might be given a few more hours.
At that moment, Uncle Teng turned his gaze to Ye Feng. "Very good. You are the first person in our village to step into the Spirit Awakening Realm at this age. Our long days of cultivation have truly paid off."
Uncle Teng praised him, but his tone shifted immediately. "However, this is merely the starting line. Even harsher trials await you further down the road."
"Starting tomorrow, you will join those who have already entered the Spirit Awakening Realm for your training. You no longer need to come here."
"Alright, consider today your day off. Training here is useless to you now anyway."
"Understood. Thank you, Uncle Teng!"
Ye Feng offered a grateful bow, shot Ye Hun an encouraging look, and practically bolted away.
Finally, he no longer had to endure these dry, repetitive drills. He couldn't wait to share this wonderful news with his parents.
Ye Hun, still balancing a jar on his head, felt no trace of frustration; instead, he was genuinely happy for Ye Feng. He would now be training alongside the disciples who had already stepped into the Spirit Awakening Realm.
The group there was small, but their training was undoubtedly far more rigorous, often involving real combat against fierce beasts.
Compared to that, while the training here was dull and monotonous, it was remarkably safe.
Soon, Ye Hun's evening practice came to an end. The moment he stood up, his legs wobbled as if he might collapse, but he managed to steady himself just in time.
"Goodness me! It's finally over," Ye Hun muttered, stumbling his way toward home.
Along the way, he ran into quite a few villagers!
"Little Hun! Come eat at our place tonight. Your uncle just hunted a fresh spirit boar, and I saved a leg for you."
"Let your auntie show off her cooking skills for you. What do you say?"
"Thanks, Uncle Gang, but I won't be able to make it tonight. Grandpa is waiting for me at home!" Ye Hun politely declined with a smile.
"Sigh, the village chief is getting up there in age, and you're the one who has to cook. I'll drop some food off for you in a bit. That's settled, you kids don't need to cook tonight." Uncle Gang laughed heartily, hoisted the boar leg over his shoulder, and hurried home to prepare dinner.
Ye Hun could only offer a wry smile. With every few steps he took, another villager invited him over for dinner.
As he passed Aunt Li's front door, a handful of fruit was forcefully thrust into his hands.
Since evening training had just ended, it was the time when villagers prepared meals for their husbands and children returning from a long, busy day. Thus, women could be seen standing by their doorways, having finished cooking, waiting for their families to return.
Spotting Ye Hun, they warmly called out and invited him to join them.
"Little Hun! We've already cooked dinner, come have a bite!"
"Little Hun! We stewed a chicken today, come drink some chicken broth to nourish yourself, and bring a bowl for the village chief too."
"Hey, don't rush off yet, wait for your auntie a second—" Amidst his repeated, polite refusals, his hands were piled high with food anyway.
Clutching all these provisions, Ye Hun's journey home felt heavier and heavier.
Ye Hun had been an orphan since he was a toddler. On a stormy night filled with thunder and lightning, a blinding flash of light had illuminated the entire small village, instantly startling the sleeping villagers awake.
Stepping outside to look, they saw what appeared to be a shooting star streak across the sky and land not far away in the mountains.
Yet there was no explosion or loud sound, leaving the villagers filled with wonder.
The village chief led several strong-bodied men from the village up the mountain to investigate.
Following the familiar mountain path, the group quickly and smoothly reached the location.
They had imagined all sorts of scenarios, but none of them prepared them for what lay before their eyes.
Right there, where the falling star seemed to have landed, quietly lay an infant who looked just like a porcelain doll.
The baby was exceptionally adorable, with round, chubby cheeks and big, glistening black eyes that captured everyone's heart.
Lying on the cold stone, the baby neither cried nor fussed, fixing a pair of bright, curious eyes on the surrounding crowd. His snow-white, delicate skin contrasted sharply with the dark wilderness around him.
When the elderly village chief trembled as he picked the baby up, the infant gurgled and giggled right into his face.
They were deeply puzzled as to who could abandon such a lovable baby in a place like this.
The Old Village Chief Grandpa had people search the surroundings thoroughly, but not a soul was found. Lacking wife or children, the elderly chief decided to take the infant in.
Unwilling to let the child wander as a lonely ghost, he simply gave him the single name "Hun," combining it with his own surname to make Ye Hun.
The Old Village Chief Grandpa was overjoyed. He had lived a lonely life; the first half spent drifting through the cultivation world, and his later years marked by a total loss of cultivation, returning here burdened with injuries and ailments.
He had thought he was destined to spend his days entirely alone, never expecting that in his twilight years, someone would be there to send him off.
After becoming the village chief, he worked diligently every day, mediating neighborhood disputes. Before long, harmony flourished among the neighbors, and the entire Ye Family Village became exceptionally united.
Later on, he even established a beast-hunting team, organizing regular trips up the mountain to hunt fierce beasts for food. Under his care, Ye Family Village grew increasingly prosperous; though not wealthy, the neighbors got along harmoniously, treating one another like blood brothers.
The villagers held the Old Village Chief Grandpa in the highest regard, and knowing he had no heirs of his own, they often worried for him even more than he did.
The sudden appearance of Ye Hun filled that very void!
From that day on, the Old Village Chief Grandpa's vitality grew stronger by the day, as if he could live another hundred years.
As the child grew, he became increasingly endearing—sensible, humble, and completely free of mischief.
Every few days, the chief would call Ye Hun over to his house for a meal, partly because he was getting older and struggled with cooking, but mostly because he simply adored the boy.
And so, Ye Hun grew up eating meals provided by a hundred families. There wasn't a single household in the village he hadn't visited, and the people of Ye Family Village truly treated him as one of their own.
Ever since he could remember things, the Old Village Chief Grandpa had told him the truth, so he knew he was an orphan.
Yet he never dwelt upon it. He grew up here, ate here, played here, cultivated here, and made friends here.
He had long since considered this place his home, and in the future, he would use his own strength to protect the village.
The past held no memories for him; everything he had right now made up who he was today.
"Grandpa, I'm back! I brought you something good."
Pushing open the wooden door, Ye Hun stepped into the courtyard, dropped the gifts enthusiastically given by his uncles and aunts onto the stone table, and dashed into the house.
As soon as he entered, he saw the old man sitting leisurely on a recliner, puffing away on a dry-tobacco pipe.
The old man appeared to be in his seventies or eighties, with graying hair and beard. Though his frame was lean, his eyes were exceptionally profound, as if they held infinite wisdom.
"Little Hun, you're back. How was your training today?" the old man asked calmly from his recliner.
"Not bad at all, Grandpa! I brought you something great," Ye Hun said, pulling two cyan-colored fruits from his pocket.
They were precisely the Azure Spirit Fruits he had saved for the Old Village Chief Grandpa.
"Hm? Spiritual fruit?"
The old chief recognized them at a glance and smiled with satisfaction.
"Good, good, you know how to show filial piety to your grandpa." Without a trace of hesitation, he picked one up, tossed it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed it down.
Ye Hun didn't even have a chance to stop him; he had just wanted to warn him not to eat it that way, fearing his grandfather's frail body wouldn't be able to handle it all at once.
Yet after waiting a moment, he noticed his grandfather was completely unaffected. To the old man, the fruit seemed as ordinary as any common green apple.
"There's another one, Grandpa," Ye Hun said, holding out the second fruit.
"I don't need this one. Ye Feng has already broken through; keep this one for your own breakthrough into the Spirit Awakening Realm!"
"Just having this kind thought from you makes Grandpa very happy."
"Grandpa, aren't you going to ask where I got these?" Ye Hun asked tilting his head in curiosity.
"No need. Everyone has their own destiny and fortuitous encounters; both gain and loss are governed by fate."
"Life is the same. A person's destiny is predetermined, and no matter how much one struggles, there is no escaping it. It's better to face it with equanimity."
Seeing Ye Hun fall into deep thought, the Old Village Chief Grandpa laughed heartily. "You don't need to understand now. When the time comes for you to comprehend it, you naturally will."
"Fine then!"
"So what story is Grandpa going to tell me today?" Ye Hun asked eagerly.
"Today? I'll tell you about our Eastern Region!"