Against The Heavens 4 Affinity Crystal.

The platform was currently surrounded by people, both young and old, who were gazing at the platform with excited eyes. A few children and youths stood atop the platform already, waiting patiently behind a few old men clad in simple cotton robes. At the head of this group of old men stood a middle-aged man clad in gray linen robes. He had strong features that seemed like they were carved with a knife, a stern expression on his face.

At the top of this wooden platform stood a one-meter tall crystal that looked like quartz. This was the crystal that was used to test persons affinity as well as their talent for cultivating. If one had low talent, it would take them more Qi to open their dantian, as well as taking longer to gain an understanding about the laws.

Laws were what the more educated people called the things a person gained an understanding of. If one gained an understanding about stones, it would be called the laws of stone, while an understanding about blood would be called the laws of blood.

Li Yang arrived at the village square and walked up to the wooden platform, politely greeting a few people as he pa.s.sed them. While some people were slightly scared of him, not everyone would be scared of him just because he was much calmer than other people.

He ascended onto the platform and cupped his hands at the group of old men, as well as the stern-faced middle-aged man. The old men returned a polite greeting, but the stern-faced man's face cracked into a smile as he greeted Li Yang.

The old men were all elders of the Liang tribe, so they could be considered to have a rather high standing in the village. The stern-faced man, however, had a much higher standing than the old men. He was Liang Zhu, the tribe leader, and the village chief.

"Yang'er, there is no need to care too much about today's ceremony, just consider it gaining some experience."

Liang Zhu had a wide smile on his face as he pat Li Yang on the shoulder, pus.h.i.+ng him towards the other children that were waiting in the back. No one was surprised by how Liang Zhu treated Li Yang, they all knew that Li Yang's deceased parents had been good friends with Liang Zhu. They could not quite understand why Liang Zhu had said those words, but they a.s.sumed it was because he did not want Li Yang to have too high ambitions.

"Brother Yang, I look forward to seeing our affinity. Maybe we are lucky and both of us have high affinity. At that point, we can help the tribe grow stronger, slowly increasing the size of the village."

When Li Yang walked over to the other children, a tall youth walked over to him with a wide grin on his face as he spoke. The tall youth had the same strong features as Liang Zhu, but where Liang Zhu had short and spiky hair, this youth had long and silky black hair.

This tall youth was Liang Zhu's son, Liang Zhou, the person who was to become the next tribe leader. Liang Zhou was already seventeen years old, and also a person who had already opened his dantian but not yet engraved any runes. He only took part in today's ceremony because he was curious about whether or not he had gained any new affinities.

Liang Zhou was one of the people in the village who had always been kind to Li Yang. When Li Yang did not have a lot of food after his parents perished, Liang Zhou would often visit him and bring over food, pretending like he had gathered too much.

"That would be very nice Big Brother Zhou, but first I have to enter the wilderness and tame a Demonic beast."

Li Yang responded with a grin of his own, standing next to Liang Zhou and waiting for the ceremony to start. Liang Zhou entered the wilderness not long after he turned twelve, and managed to tame a Stone Crocodile. A Stone Crocodile was a Demonic beast that had the potential to become a Demonic beast at the Houtian Rune realm, so the entire village was overjoyed when they heard the news.

Of course, Li Yang only spoke those words to be polite. Once his memories returned, he would leave this village. But he was not a person who did not reciprocate kindness. Since Liang Zhou and Liang Zhu had shown him kindness, he would protect this village even after leaving it.

Li Yang also greeted the other children that were waiting, but he did not have much of a relations.h.i.+p with any of them, so it was only a quick and polite greeting. After giving them a greeting, he continued to talk with Liang Zhou, waiting for the ceremony to start.

As time went on, many more children were brought over by their parents. To use the affinity testing crystal, the tribe elders would have to charge it with their Qi. This charging would sometimes take several years, depending on the number of elders that were charging the crystal.

Because of this, the affinity ceremony was a very big deal to the entire village. After a few more hours of waiting, almost everyone in the entire village had come to watch the ceremony. Only those who were too old or weak to walk had not arrived.

"Silence! The affinity ceremony will now begin."

When almost the entire village had shown up, one of the elders called out in a loud voice, causing everyone to turn quiet. After making sure that everyone was quiet, the elder walked over to the affinity crystal and placed both hands on the crystal, infusing it with his Qi.

When he infused it with his Qi, the crystal lit up with a faint white light. Seeing this white light, everyone knew that the affinity ceremony was about to start.