The Purity of Fire

1.6 - Gifts

As if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning, Chu Chen stood frozen in his fathers embrace. His mind reeling over what had just happened. After all this was somehing he had been deprived of for years, and now he finally had all that he wanted. He could feel the tears start to well up in his eyes as he hugged his father back.
For what seemed like an eternity, he duo stood there, as if preserving that moment for as long as they could.
As they both let go, Chu Chen examined his father closely, it seemed as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders, allowing the older man to stand taller and proudly.

The pair then moved together to the main interior of the house where the rest of their small family awaited. Chu Dishi strode ahead of the Chu Chen, seemingly anxious to reach his wife again.

When the two finally reached the courtyard, they found themselves bowled over by the force of Chu Huan throwing herself at them. Even though she was now 16 and nearing the age of her majority, her youthful demeanour still remained, as well as her fiery temper. Although she had inherited her father's indomitable spirit, her astonishingly beautiful looks were straight from her mother, with many of the men in the region constantly pursuing her love. However she had shown little interest in men so far, as she had found few to be worthy of her time. But beneath her looks and tempestuous veneer, lay extraordinary talent, she was already projected to be the next great general chosen to lead the Ox King's armies.
Eventually, Chu Dishi managed to untangle himself from his daughters embrace, and greet his wife, the adoration in his eyes still very much apparent even after such a long time apart. Then seated under a large tree, the family then ate dinner together, the first time in many years, the moment feeling so ordinary, yet so alien to Chu Chen. This continued for a few hours until they felt content, until Chu Dishi cleared his throat and pulled out a two small bags, one green and one purple.

Adorned with a golden ribbon, the bags looked pretty, yet decidedly ordinary. Any cultivator with basic knowledge would recognise this as another type of storage treasure. As the others looked on, Chu Dishi then handed the bags to his children, with Chu Chen receiving the purple one.

Before Chu Huan could open the bag, Chu Li silently stood up and led her away from the area, leaving the father and son alone.

Since he had not begun to cultivate yet, Chu Chen was unable to open the magical treasure, which just lay in his hand, resting like a paperweight. Seeing the slightly hurt look on his sons face and realising his mistake, Chu Dishi let out a bark of laughter before circulating his chi and opening up his own storage treasure and grabbed an mysterious object.

As a bright glow lit up the Courtyard, Chu Chen eagerly leaned forward to see what it could be...