“The outside world?” A Fu looked up at the sky and thought for a moment.
“That was decades ago.
My head doesn’t work so well, and I don’t have much of an impression.
Don’t ask.
It’s not very interesting.”
A Fu concealed the matter quite purposefully.
But what he didn’t know was that the child-like Koda before him wasn’t actually a child.
Koda could see something was off at a single glance.
“Oh, I see.”
Koda’s awareness was very clear.
Since A Fu was avoiding the topic, he felt it would be awkward to keep asking.
“Hey, kid Koda, how’s your Water Control Divine Art practice coming along?
I’m not bragging, but our swamp’s Water Control Divine Art is top-notch.”
Seeing A Fu’s clumsy way of changing the subject, Koda chuckled and quickly suppressed it.
He couldn’t let him notice anything unusual, even though he probably wouldn’t notice anyway.
“It is quite strong.
Too bad you aren’t.”
“What!
Say that again, and see if I don’t give you a good training session when we get back.”
“I’m only five years old.
What’s the point of training with me?
Go train with Father.”
“You want me to train with A Shou?” A Fu switched to complaining.
“How could I possibly win?
He just sits cross-legged in the sun on the Giant Tree in the middle of the Great Swamp every day.
I don’t even know how he became so strong.”
That’s right.
A Shou was Koda’s Father.
His hair and beard were unkempt and had mostly turned white, but he was the strongest Water Control Divine Art user in the Great Swamp.
“I told you, Father isn’t just sunbathing.
He’s sensing the mysteries of life.
How could someone like you, who just eats and waits to die, possibly understand?”
Hearing him complain about Father, Koda couldn’t help but retort.
“What does a five-year-old brat like you know?
Mysteries of life?
What’s the use?
Can it fill your stomach?
If it could, I’d stay there every day.”
“Sigh…
there’s no talking sense to someone as thick-headed as you.
When will you stop thinking about eating and drinking all day?
If you start practicing now, maybe you’ll eventually reach the level of one of Father’s toes.”
“Good grief, kid Koda, you’re actually lecturing me now?
Is your skin itching for a beating?
Let me see how your Water Control Divine Art has progressed later.
I’ll help you loosen your joints.”
“Good grief!
You’re just targeting me, aren’t you?”
Koda was speechless.
Every time he argued with A Fu, the man always seemed to want to get physical.
“I’m sorry~~ I’m sorry!
Please spare me, Lord A Fu.
Don’t lower yourself to the level of a kid like me.”
Koda begged for mercy in a particularly sarcastic and sharp voice.
“Satisfied now?”
“Hmph, that’s more like it.”
A Fu smiled happily and let it drop.
A Fu didn’t care about the tone Koda used.
As long as he backed down, A Fu considered it a surrender to his overwhelming might.
But Koda had almost disgusted himself with his own tone just now, yet A Fu was satisfied, which made him roll his eyes inwardly.
…
Regarding their abilities, Father and Koda were very special within the entire tribe because they could cultivate a type of Life Energy that no other tribesmen could manage.
Ever since Father taught him the cultivation method, he went to the Giant Tree to practice every time.
Over time, he felt an energy surging from the massive tree beneath his feet.
From the roots to the trunk, the trunk to the branches, and from the branches back to the roots, it formed a perfect closed loop.
After another period of time, Koda’s perception was no longer limited to the central tree.
His sensory ability slowly expanded outward, and now it could cover half the forest.
However, this perception could only start from the Giant Tree.
The Giant Tree seemed to be an energy convergence point connected to every part of the forest, which was why perception could only begin there.
Meanwhile, Father could not only explore the entire forest from the Giant Tree but also create a small energy convergence point on any plant at will.
Any other energy-containing objects connected to that plant could be detected, much like radar.
Koda couldn’t do this yet.
This energy was called Life Energy by Father.
Only those who understood the essence of life possessed this ability, which was why Father sat cross-legged there all day to comprehend a deeper energy system.
As for why other tribesmen couldn’t learn such a divine ability, Father said it was because he himself had spent decades of comprehension there to achieve this.
Back then, a faint voice had been calling out to him, which was why he could meditate before the Giant Tree for decades without fail, unshakable.
Others in the tribe didn’t have this feeling.
Perhaps it was a matter of fate.
Father was exceptionally serious when he said this.
He had once asked Father why he could also sense this Life Energy.
Father looked at him, his face shifting from serious to kind.
He placed his hand on Koda’s head, and a warm current flowed from the top of his head through his entire body, instantly filling him with a cozy sensation.
Just as he was immersed in the enjoyment, he heard Father bark, “Feel the direction of the energy flow!”
Koda woke from that magical sensation, gave a shiver, and began to examine the energy’s circulation path within his body, strand by strand.
He was surprised to find a small glowing orb at the position of his navel.
It was an energy convergence point that Father could create at will, but this one existed permanently within his body and would not dissipate.
He had seen the energy convergence points Father created elsewhere in the forest.
Wouldn’t the energy dissipate once the Water Control Divine Art was withdrawn?
“Why is mine so special?” Koda asked Father with this question in mind.
“In such a damp environment, it’s very easy for an infant to get sick and die.
When I first found you, you were barely breathing.
I gave you some of the Life Energy I had cultivated back then, and I didn’t expect it to actually improve your constitution.
It allowed you to cultivate this Life Energy as well and further enhanced your talent for the Water Control Divine Art.
Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise.”
Father’s tone was full of the vicissitudes of time, as if events from many years ago had happened only yesterday.
His question was answered, but he didn’t become happy because of it.
Because Koda knew some secrets—secrets that only someone who had truly cultivated Life Energy would know.
For example, a person’s Life Energy has an upper limit.
Cultivated energy can be recovered if used normally.
But if it’s used to save a dying person, it not only consumes a massive amount of energy but also reduces one’s maximum energy storage limit, and the energy lost from saving someone will never be recovered.
Father clearly knew this when he saved him, yet he still resolutely chose to do so.
Saving a dying person consumed more than just a little energy.
It almost completely cut off his talent for future cultivation.
Koda looked up then, stared straight at him, and said with utmost seriousness, “In a few years, I will be the one to protect you and let you live openly in the outside world.”
Father smiled, knowing what Koda was thinking about.
“Life now is pretty good.
We don’t have to worry about the harassment of the Fire Nation Army here, and everyone lives happily.
You don’t need to worry.
I know you want to go out and see the vast world.
I don’t object.
As long as you can defeat A Fu, I’ll let you go out.”
Koda made a resolution then: to practice the Water Control Divine Art diligently and to defeat A Fu!
He was only four years old at the time.
…
His thoughts returned from the past.
Looking at the surrounding scenery, the boat sped through the trees.
In the complex terrain of the swamp, Water Control Divine Art users could always sense the conditions of the water’s surface, detecting hidden dangers beneath and steering the boat to avoid them.
Thus, there had never been an instance of a speeding boat hitting a tree root and capsizing.
…
Water is the source of all things.
Moreover, water is formless and shapeless.
It becomes whatever shape you want it to be.
It can be like this, or it can be like that.
Back on the swamp’s Giant Tree, that was the first lesson Father gave him.
As he spoke, the water ball in his hand turned into a stool, and after a few seconds, it slowly became a scimitar.
Water is not only formless.
It is the source of all things.
It can heal wounds and dispel illnesses.
The scimitar turned back into a water ball and wrapped around Koda’s arm, which was bruised from falling off a tree a few days prior.
He felt only a cool sensation.
By the time he came to his senses, his arm was perfectly healed.
Koda was truly amazed by that moment, which further strengthened his determination to learn the Water Control Divine Art.
Still immersed in his memories, Koda seemed to hear someone speaking to him.
“Kid Koda, seeing how much you think about the outside, do you want to go out?”
To this question, he answered directly without even thinking, “Didn’t Father tell you?
He said as long as I can beat you, I can go out.”
“Hahaha, this is killing me!
Beat me?
Even if you’d been practicing since you were in the womb, you still couldn’t beat me, let alone having only studied the Water Control Divine Art for one year.
Stop dreaming!”
“Hmph,” Koda snorted coldly and said, “Just you wait.
In a couple of years, I’ll pin you down and thrash you until you crap yourself.”
“Hey, you brat, who taught you such foul language?
If my hands weren’t busy right now, I’d throw you down to feed the crocodiles.”