The Name Ling Tian

On Tianmu Star, in the Five Elements Domain, a streak of green Mysterious Light tore across the sky. A dashing man cradling a swaddled infant drifted down onto the summit of a towering peak. The baby had two trails of tears hanging from the corners of his eyes, yet, strangely, he was smiling. He stared without blinking at the vast, hazy firmament, his eyes brimming with longing. This was our protagonist.

The man was Lingyun. On the day the baby descended into the mortal world, Lingyun had defeated the masters of the Five Elements Sect with a single song, the Samsara Soul Song, and won the right to take the infant.

After a long while, the baby finally forced himself to stop looking at the sky and began to sense everything that lay ahead. He giggled, but his laughter was threaded with strange emotions. Then he closed his eyes and welcomed the fate to come:

Qingyun Mountain lay in the eastern part of the Five Elements Domain on Tianmu Cultivation Star. It stretched for more than a thousand li, its ranges rising and falling without end. Nine main peaks towered into the clouds. Most days, white clouds wound around their middles, obscuring their summits.

Qingyun Mountain was blanketed in forest, with flying waterfalls, strange crags, rare birds, and exotic beasts in abundance. Its scenery was rugged, perilous, and magnificent, making it famous throughout the Five Elements Domain.

More famous still was the cultivation sect on the mountain: the Qingyun Sect.

The Qingyun Sect had been here for several thousand years. It regularly fought demons and expelled evil, offered medical care, and gave out medicine. Its reputation was excellent.

The Qingyun Sect was divided into nine branches, each stationed on one of Qingyun Mountain's nine main peaks. Aside from the main lineage on Qingyun Main Peak, the other eight were Qingyou Peak, Qingsong Peak, Qingming Peak, Qinghuang Peak, Qingdie Peak, Qingshi Peak, Qingjian Peak, and Qingquan Peak.

The eight main peaks stood in the eight directions, linked in order by chains of dark iron bridges. Together, they formed an enormous ring around Qingyun Peak, like stars clustered around the moon. Qingyun Main Peak was also connected to the other eight peaks by iron-chain bridges, making the whole arrangement seem like one seamless, magnificent whole.

Qingyou Peak stood in the eastern part of Qingyun Mountain. Though it was one of the Qingyun Sect's nine branches, hardly anyone lived there.

That was because this branch had only one person. It was the sole branch with a peak master but no disciples, and even Lingyun Peak Master was little known.

Years ago, this branch had been thriving. No one knew what calamity had befallen it, but eventually not a soul remained. It wasn't until the current peak master, Lingyun, arrived that the place became a little livelier.

And so Qingyou Peak remained a place with only one inhabitant for many years.

But on this day, Qingyou Peak was no longer home to just one person. Lingyun Peak Master had brought back a baby, one said to be quite extraordinary. He seemed to have been born only recently. Normally, babies cried and fussed from time to time, but this one never cried. He was always giggling. Thanks to him, Qingyou Peak had gained a little more Life Qi.

There was a Great Hall on Qingyou Peak, but the main peak had been abandoned for so long that the hall had fallen into ruin. A few pavilions and towers stood around it, but they shared the Great Hall's fate and had become ideal "homes" for weeds and thickets.

The mountain paths on Qingyou Peak hardly needed mentioning. Perhaps there weren't any paths left to find. Even the chain bridge leading to the other main peaks was covered in moss and speckled with rust. Clearly, its current master, Lingyun, couldn't be bothered to maintain it. Besides, there was no way he could have kept such a vast main peak in order all by himself.

And cultivators usually flew around on their swords anyway, so mountain paths were all the more unnecessary.

Lingyun lived in just one small courtyard. Naturally, there were no weeds or thickets here. On the contrary, it was spotlessly clean and tidy. Flowers and plants were arranged in pleasing order, spiritual birds sang together, and everything was neat and well-kept.

Now that the baby boy had arrived, there was one more person here.

That day, Lingyun was playing with the little fellow in the courtyard:

"Little guy, watch Small Sword fly!" Lingyun waved his right hand, and a palm-length little sword darted through the air, nimble as could be.

"Chirp, chirp..."

Humei leaped onto Lingyun's shoulder from who knew where and gently brushed the little fellow with her tail, making the baby burst into giggles.

Lingyun paused, then said solemnly, "That's true. We can't keep calling him 'little guy' forever. We ought to give him a name." His eyes brightened, his expression unusually serious. "But it has to suit him. What should we call him?"

Lingyun put away the little sword and began pacing around the courtyard, again and again. It seemed that "choosing a name" was quite the headache.

"Ah, I've never named anyone before. I never thought it would be so difficult, but now I haven't the faintest idea where to start. So being a father isn't as easy as it looks, huh?" Lingyun gave a helpless laugh.

"hee-hee..."

The little fellow paid no mind to Lingyun's worries and giggled again, grabbing mischievously at Lingyun's long hair as it drifted loose.

At the sight of the child's innocent smile, inspiration struck Lingyun. He blurted out, "Smile. Ling Xiao. Tsk, that's a pretty good name. It suits your cheerful nature perfectly. It means laughing proudly at the world. What do you think, little guy? Do you like it?"

"Pout, pout..."

Unexpectedly, the child seemed to understand Lingyun. His little mouth pushed out in a sulky pout, his expression full of distaste.

Clearly, he didn't like the name.

Even Humei beside them clasped her paws over her head and pretended to faint, presumably mocking Lingyun's "wonderful name."

Lingyun scratched his head and gave an awkward chuckle. "Well, well, it's not that bad, is it?"

Humei rolled her eyes, full of scorn.

"Why don't you come up with a name, then? You're his mother, after all." Lingyun tossed the "hot potato" of naming the child over to Humei.

Humei paced around for a long while. Her Eight Tails swished as she grew frantic, but she couldn't think of a thing. At last, she understood Lingyun's predicament.

"Haha, now you see how hard it is!" Lingyun crowed, delighted to have found an excuse for his own awkwardness.

Humei was annoyed, but for the moment, there was nothing she could do about it.

"What should we name him? Ah, this is so hard. I'd much rather fight a great battle." Lingyun was at a loss.

Humei's bright eyes blinked. She seemed to be thinking.

"Chirp, chirp..."

Suddenly, Humei bounced about happily and chirped twice.

"What? Let the child choose his own name?" Lingyun froze. "How could that be? He's just been born. Can he even do that?"

Humei chirped a few more times, clearly disagreeing with Lingyun.

"That's true. This little fellow is extraordinary. He can understand what we're saying at such a young age." Lingyun murmured, then looked at the baby and asked, "Little guy, can you do it?"

"Hmph, hmph." As if reproaching Lingyun for doubting him, the baby pushed his little mouth out even farther. He stretched out a small, tender, fair hand and pointed at the sky. His expression turned solemn, and then he nodded.

"Heaven... Ling Tian?" Lingyun ventured.

"Hee-hee." The child nodded, beaming with delight, as if he really liked the name.

"Ling Tian, Tian'er, Ling Tian. Hmm, not bad, not bad. It sounds much better than Ling Xiao, heh heh." Lingyun repeated the name over and over, looking very pleased.

"Chirp." Humei gave a happy cry, as if she approved of the name too.

"Hmm, Ling Tian—soaring above the heavens. Cultivation is all about defying heaven and changing fate. Heaven and earth are heartless, treating all things like straw dogs. If heaven and earth show us no mercy, then we needn't show them any respect." Lingyun's expression turned stern. He looked up at the sky, radiating a haughty, disdainful air toward heaven and earth.

"Chirp." Humei seemed to agree with Lingyun's "audacious" claim that heaven and earth deserved no respect.

"From now on, your name is Ling Tian," Lingyun declared at last.

Perhaps fate had decreed it. Well, this heaven was not that Heaven. Yuan Hao and his wife, and Lingyun and his wife, had given the child the same name: Tian.

In any case, from now on, we'll call this child Ling Tian.