"Hah! Ha!," little kids of around 6 years of age were training in the field. There were kids as young as 4 years old as well. They were punching the empty air in front of them. With each kick, they threw sand up in the air.
Every morning after the sun came up, they had to train like this for the next 2 hours.
"Hah! Hah!" they continued training.
A middle-aged man with thick black hair walked along the front of the training children with a stick in his hand. He saw a 5-year-old looking girl punch out weirdly. He lightly hit her arm and leg and got her to the correct posture.
The girl didn't cry out from being hit. She didn't even feel pain. Instead, she smiled wide and thanked him. The old man smiled and walked along.
He did the same thing to the various other children as well, none of whom hated him for hitting them. To them, they just didn't feel the pain anymore.
After 2 hours of training, he stopped them. "Alright, that's enough for today. All of you, go back."
"Thank you, Elder," the kids said in unison and left. Only a small kid was remaining. He walked up to the middle-aged man and opened his arms.
"Carry me," he said.
The middle-aged man smiled and grabbed the little kid. "Grandpa will carry you for today. But you will need to walk on your own starting tomorrow, okay?" he asked.
"No, I like it when grandpa carries me. I want grandpa to carry me forever," the kid said.
"Oh," the man said with a smug look and asked, "So you don't want to become strong like your elder cousin?"
"No, I want to be strong," the kid said immediately.
"Then you should know that strong men don't ask their grandpas to carry them, you know?" the old man said.
"Oh," the kid said and started struggling. "Put me down grandpa."
"Hehe, I'm not letting you go now. You will have to stay with grandpa for today," the man said and started walking.
"So, how is it? Do you like grandpa's place?" he asked.
The kid thought for a bit and said, "not really. I like my home better."
"Uh, that hurt grandpa's heart really badly," the man said with a chuckle. Kid's never knew how to be subtle about something.
"Alright, I will ask your mother to make you your favorite meal in grandpa's house and you will like me," the man said and walked towards his house.
He was beelining to his house when the kid asked him something that made him stop. "Grandpa, is the person from the statue real?"
He was always startled when they talked about the statue with him. It was both a reminder of sadness and yet, nostalgia to him.
"Of course he is real. Grandpa told you many times remember?" he asked.
"Oh, then is it that man standing over there?" the kid said, pointing to the side.
The middle-aged man looked to the side and saw a young man with black hair standing there. He was wearing a gray robe and had skin that made him easily stand out amongst his people.
The middle-aged man nearly dropped the kid out of shock. "You- You…"
The young man smiled with slight tears forming in his eyes and spoke.
"Hello, Hyesi."
The middle-aged man shuddered. He really did drop the kid this time and walked towards the young man.
"Inikaka, is that really you?" he asked. He couldn't believe what he was seeing right now. He looked at the man up and down, and no matter how much he looked, he looked exactly the same as the man in his memories.
"Of course it's me. Have I changed?" Ning asked as he looked at himself.
"No, no. You look exactly the same," Hyesi said in disbelief.
Ning looked at Hyesi's neck and said, "I see you've kept the necklace safe."
Hyesi touched the stone necklace and said, "It really is you."
*****
Hyesi and Ning were now in Hyesi's house. The houses in Klavis were no longer made up of normal mud and stones and instead were built out of wood and metals.
Ning looked around and then back at Hyesi who was still looking at him with awe.
Ning couldn't help but sigh when the young child he knew had grown up to become a grandfather. He had even gotten a headache when he tried to check his cultivation base.
"I'm really happy you came back, Inikaka," Hyesi said with a smile. Ning smiled as well.
"I would've come back earlier, had I known you were still alive," Ning said.
"Alive? Why would we have died?" Hyesi asked in confusion.
"After fighting the serpent, I was asleep for 165 years, so when I woke up I thought you all had died. If I had known how long cultivators lived at that point, I would've probably come back. But I didn't so I went on with my life."
"However, I was in a competition around … uhh.. 6 months ago, I think? There, I met Hijaka," Ning said.
"What? You met my grandson?" Hyesi said in surprise.
"Yes. He is the one who told me you were alive in the first place," Ning said. "Honestly, when I heard you were alive, I was so happy. Haha, I had even expected to see an old man with gray hair, but here you are. You barely look older than 40," Ning said.
"Ah, yes. I would've probably looked younger, but it took me a really long time to reach the Nascent Soul realm," Hyesi said.
"I knew you were talented, but to reach Nascent Soul realm before you were 150 years old. People would come to kill you if they ever find out," Ning said.
"Ahaha, those are all thanks to the cultivation method you gave me. They really helped me and my family get stronger," Hyesi said.
"Oh right, that reminds me, I heard you named your son after myself."