Sounds of joy and festivities came from the Sheng Clan household. The first child of the current clan head, Sheng <father>, had just been born to Sheng <mother>.

Although she was a girl, he was still full of excitement and had called for a clan feast. The Sheng clan had been muddling along happily these past years, so they didn't lack the money to party with, and afterall, he was still a healthy man with two healthy wives.

"Ahahaha, what a great day it is today! I will even promise that I will favour her well, you can see Xing'er is destined for great things! Look into her eyes, now drink up some more!" <father> roared across the clan's training square, a huge flagon of wine in his hand, half empty - on his second fill - already.

"Yaaaaaaaaaah!" The Sheng Clan disciples, elders and small handful of guests all gave out a loud cry in response to <father>'s excitement, and drank their cups empty, before quickly setting about refilling them.

They all slept soundly and proudly that night, drunk and forgetful of the imperial edict: 'All outstanding children will be taken to the imperial <imps> for proper observation and training'.
Only the large clans had the courage to defy the edict and hide their children or outright hold them back from the <imps> stalkers, as they were nicknamed.

The Sheng clan was not a large clan. It could not afford to do such things. And the great joy quickly turned to great misery only two months later when the stalkers came and took Sheng Xun Xing away to the castle, far away in the capital of <nation>.

Sheng <mother> wailed bitterly, while Sheng <father> tried to fight the stalkers, and stop them from taking his beloved daughter. But he was much too weak, only level 20 against those three level 30s, he was ruthlessly smashed back twenty paces, barely avoiding breaking the wall of the main hall, and could only grind his teeth in anger as they walked away, his daughter in their clutches.

After they had left his eyes, his anger slowly subsided, and he laughed bitterly. "They have given our Sheng Clan so much face in not destroying us for my defiance. I will certainly not make this mistake again."