Cultivating a Failure

Yu Chang was surrounded by darkness with a faint light off in the distance. He slowly walked towards that light and heard the whispers of a man and a woman.

"He's absorbing the energy too fast, it's not safe." The woman's voice was filled with worry.

"I know, ever since we showed him the swords he's been progressing at an alarming rate. We do not have the ability to protect him." The man said deep in thought.

"Then what do we do?"

"There is only one option. We need to seal his meridians and link the seals to the swords. Let's hide the other blades and leave the key to the final seal with Dragon's little girl. You said they'll eventually meet and bond through your visions anyways, so let her hold the final key. Regardless, she's the only one who has progressed at even a fraction of this pace, she should be strong enough by the time they meet to protect him."

"I can't believe our precious boy is a true Weapon Cultivator. We only collected the 10 legendary blades of China for fun, how did it turn out like this?"

While Yu Chang listened he saw a sword on a display stand illuminated by the faint light. As he stretched out his hand to touch it the light in the room switched on. "Little Yu, what are you doing out of bed?" The woman walked up to him and picked him up. "Come now, mother will take you back to your room."

***

Yu Chang bolted upright in bed as tears flowed from his eyes, this was the first time he had dreamed of his parents. As long as he could remember he was raised by an old family friend and could remember nothing about his real parents. "Why did this dream come so suddenly and why did I feel the same sensation that I felt at Mister Sloth's place in this dream? Are they connected? Maybe I should ask Master to take me back there to find out what's in that vault." Since he was wide awake, Yu Change decided to take a stroll around the gardens, remembering that he was at Falling Star's parents' house. Strolling around the garden, he happened across Cosmic Dragon sitting in the grass.

"What brings you out here so late Little Yu? Couldn't sleep?"

"It's not that, I had a dream. I think it's related to my past."

"Would you like to talk about it? Come sit with me."

"Thank you Senior, but I don't really know where to start. I don't really know if the dream is a real memory or just my brain creating fake memories."

"Why don't you tell me about it? It helps to talk about things."

Yu Chang recapped the dream for Cosmic Dragon while he in turn listened in silence. when he finished recalling everything he looked at Falling Star's father for answers.

"Could it be fate?" Cosmic Dragon mumbled to himself. Noticing Yu Chang was silently looking at him he decided to share a bit of what he knew. "This may not be related, but I knew a couple once who used to call me Dragon. They said Cosmic Dragon sounded too pretentious. I haven't heard from them in over 16 years, it's possible you could be their son, but I never heard of them having a son." He paused a moment before continuing, "the couple were sword fanatics and searched the world for the missing legendary swords of our country. In fact the last time I saw them they gifted the Cheng Ying blade to Little Star. They never explained why and vanished soon after."

"Couldn't it just be coincidence?" Yu Chang was frowning in thought.

"Possible, but too many coincidences mean that it's probably true. You said that you felt a yearning for that blade and had felt the same yearning inside Mister Sloth's office. My advice is to start your search there. It is getting late now, you should get some sleep, you'll never be able to keep up with my daughter if you don't get enough sleep." As he finished Cosmic Dragon stood and strode away gracefully while thinking to himself. 'The name fits, Yu Chang, only they'd be dumb enough to name their son after a sword, and their last name was Yu, though most people don't know that. Too many coincidences, I'll tell Little Star to make sure to take him back to Mister Sloth to find out for sure.'

Yu Chang also had things running through his head at Cosmic Dragon's word. 'Did he know my parents? Will I finally have some answers about my past?'