The Fool Who Shook the Heavens

Chapter 1

"Village Chief Tang! If I don't get a chicken drumstick today, I'm not breathing until sunset!"

Tang Hao stood in front of the wooden house, cheeks puffed out, face flushed red. One sandal was on his right foot. The other was wedged under his armpit, forgotten.

He was sixteen, but he thought and acted like a five-year-old. Everyone in White Stone Village knew him as Fool Tang Hao, the village chief's adopted son, whom he'd found as a baby.

In the yard, Old Tang was hanging laundry. He glanced over at the threat, then went back to pinning up a shirt.

"You threatened to stop breathing three days ago, too."

Tang Hao quickly let out the air he'd been holding. "Because three days ago you said tomorrow! The next day I asked, and you said tomorrow again! If it's always tomorrow, when do I get chicken?"

Old Tang opened his mouth, but no answer came. At last he set down the clothes in his hands and looked at the boy, who was still glaring at him expectantly.

"Fine. We'll catch a chicken today. But you stay by my side and don't go running off."

"Really, *today*?" Tang Hao hurried closer, eyes shining. "Not a tomorrow like yesterday's tomorrow?"

"Today," Old Tang said with a sigh.

Tang Hao let out a cheer so loud that the sandal fell out from under his arm. He picked it up, inspected it for a moment, then slipped it onto his left foot with a satisfied grin.

They headed for the chicken coop on the hillside behind the village. All the way there, Tang Hao deliberately stomped through every mud puddle, laughing each time the water splashed his calves.

When he spotted a small white pebble, he picked it up and pressed it to his ear. Old Tang had no choice but to stop, because his adopted son had suddenly squatted down in the middle of the road.

"Now what are you doing?"

"The rock says it doesn't want to come."

"Then leave it here."

Tang Hao set the pebble down with great care. "Okay. Wait here, all right? I'm going to go eat chicken."

Old Tang shook his head and yanked him back by the collar before he could wander into the bushes. He was used to the boy's strange antics by now, though sometimes he still had no idea how to respond to them.

The coop stood on a shady slope, ringed by a waist-high bamboo fence. Dozens of chickens scratched at the dirt, while a few roosters crowed as if competing to see who could be loudest.

Tang Hao's eyes locked onto a plump rooster with a bright red comb. He pointed at it with such a solemn expression that Old Tang thought he was considering something important.

"I want that one! Just the right drumstick. Throw the rest away!"

"If you throw the rest away, who's going to eat it?"

Tang Hao thought it over, staring at the rooster. "The chicken."

"Which chicken?"

"The one with no drumstick."

Old Tang closed his eyes for a moment. He decided that catching a chicken was far easier than continuing this conversation.

He pulled out a handful of rice and scattered it slowly across the ground. "Stand behind me. Wait until it comes close, then we grab it."

Tang Hao nodded obediently, but his eyes never left the fat rooster. He crouched low with both hands spread wide, ready to pounce the instant it lowered its head.

As he crept forward, the tip of his sandal caught on a half-buried stone. He pitched forward and landed chest-first in the dirt, and the whole flock scattered in a panic of squawking.

"My chicken!"

The plump rooster leapt through a gap in the fence that hadn't been closed. Tang Hao scrambled up with mud smeared across his chin and tore off after it, ignoring his foster father's shouts.

"Tang Hao! Come back! There are other chickens!"

"No way! That one has a *big* drumstick!"

Old Tang chased after him, wheezing. But Tang Hao was younger and far stronger, and the distance between them kept growing as they raced past a cornfield and over a narrow ditch.

The rooster finally vanished into the tall grass. Tang Hao crashed through the bushes calling after it, then came to a sudden stop at the edge of a wide valley he had never seen before.

Hundreds of young people had gathered there. Some wore coarse, rough clothes, while others were dressed in clean silk robes. They stood in rows facing a stone platform, where a black boulder as tall as a grown man's chest sat waiting.

For the moment, Tang Hao forgot all about his chicken. He edged closer, curious, with no idea that he had wandered into East Valley, the very place Old Tang had always forbidden him to go.

Today was the day the Clear Sky Sect recruited new disciples.

Suddenly, the neighing of horses rang out from above. A carriage with red curtains descended slowly from the sky, drawn by horses whose manes blazed like fire and sent sparks flying whenever they tossed their heads.

"Whoa! The horses are on fire!" Tang Hao pointed and laughed. "Why don't they run and find some water?"

No one answered him, because every eye was fixed on the carriage. A girl in a white robe stepped down, her hair pinned neatly with a jade hairpin, her expression calm and cold.

"That's the Saintess of the Clear Sky Sect," a young man whispered.

"She reached the Foundation Establishment Realm at thirteen. Don't you dare offend her."

Tang Hao, meanwhile, only thought the girl was very pretty. He slipped in among the crowd, trying to get a better look at the platform.

The Saintess raised a hand to quiet the crowd. "This is the Fate-Revealing Stone. Each of you will touch it, and the light it gives off will show the nature of your spiritual root."

Pemuda pertama melangkah maju dengan tangan gemetar. Ketika dia menyentuh batu itu, cahaya kuning pucat muncul. Sang Santa hanya menyatakan itu sebagai akar bumi kelas rendah dan memanggil kandidat berikutnya.

Yang kedua menghasilkan cahaya hijau tipis. Yang ketiga tidak menunjukkan reaksi sama sekali. Kemudian seorang pemuda berjubah sutra membuat batu itu bersinar biru cemerlang, dan Tang Hao bertepuk tangan gembira.

"Bagus! Warnanya biru! Aku juga mau!"

Beberapa kandidat menoleh dan menertawakan pakaiannya yang penuh lumpur. Jelas bagi mereka bahwa anak laki-laki ini tidak menyadari betapa seriusnya upacara tersebut.

"Dari mana datangnya si idiot itu?"

"Dia mengira ujian akar spiritual itu hanyalah pertunjukan di pasar!"

Tang Hao ikut tertawa bersama mereka, mengira mereka mengundangnya untuk bergabung dalam keseruan. Namun setelah melihat batu itu sekali lagi, ia mulai berjalan keluar dari barisan.

"Aku ingin menyentuh batunya! Aku juga ingin yang berwarna biru!"

“Tang Hao!”

Suara Tang Tua terdengar dari belakang kerumunan. Pria tua itu berlari ke arahnya dengan pakaian kusut, wajah pucat, dan langsung menggenggam lengan anak angkatnya begitu berhasil menyusul.

"Jangan bikin masalah! Kita pulang sekarang juga!"

"Tapi aku belum menyentuhnya, Tang Tua!"

"Ini bukan tempat untuk kita, Nak. Dengarkan aku sekali ini saja!"

Tang Hao berusaha melepaskan lengannya sementara Old Tang terus menariknya menjauh dari peron. Pergulatan mereka membuat Old Tang kehilangan keseimbangan, dan Tang Hao pun kehilangan pijakannya.

Dia terjatuh menaiki dua anak tangga batu dan mendarat telentang di atas peron. Saat dia duduk sambil tertawa, telapak tangannya yang berlumpur secara tidak sengaja menampar Batu Penentu Takdir.

Semua orang menahan napas.

Awalnya, batu itu tidak menunjukkan perubahan apa pun. Tetapi sebelum Tang Hao sempat menarik tangannya, dengungan yang dalam muncul dari dasar platform, dan getarannya bergema melalui lantai hingga para kandidat dapat merasakannya di kaki mereka.

Batu besar hitam itu tiba-tiba menyala terang, semakin lama semakin terang. Pilar cahaya menerobos awan, memaksa para pemuda itu untuk menutupi mata mereka dan mundur terhuyung-huyung, tidak mampu menatapnya.

Awan di langit terbelah, membentuk cincin yang sangat besar. Di dalam cahaya yang membanjiri lembah, muncul pola-pola bercahaya, seperti tulisan kuno yang terukir di langit.

Wajah dingin sang Santa akhirnya berubah. Matanya membelalak saat menatap Batu Penentu Takdir, tak mampu menyembunyikan keterkejutannya.

Di kaki panggung, Tang Tua berdiri terpaku. Dia tidak mengerti apa yang sedang terjadi, tetapi dia bisa melihat bahwa semua orang sekarang menatap putra angkatnya dengan ekspresi yang sama sekali berbeda.

Tang Hao hanya mengangkat wajahnya dan menatap cahaya yang menyelimuti tubuhnya. Rambutnya yang kusut berkibar tertiup angin, dan senyum cerianya kembali.

"Sangat terang! Keren sekali, kan?"

Tidak ada yang menjawab. Orang-orang yang tadi mengejeknya pun terdiam. Batu penguji telah memperjelas bahwa anak laki-laki yang mereka sebut bodoh itu memiliki bakat yang jauh melampaui siapa pun di lembah itu.