Nights always came especially early in Greenstone Town, especially in the late fall. Just after the eleventh hour, the entire town had already fallen into silence, and the only thing that was still translucent was a faint glimmer of light in the firewood room on the west side of the Zhao family compound.
Lin Yi huddled on a pile of hay, borrowing the moonlight coming in through the window, carefully wiping an ancient wooden box. This wooden box was about a foot long and half a foot wide, its surface was covered with traces of age, but one could still make out the cloud pattern carved on it - it was the Lin family's unique family crest. Ten years have passed, the edges of the wooden box have been worn shiny, but those scars cut out by the sharp weapon are still clearly visible, as if in a silent story of that bloody night.
“Tomorrow is the Ancestor Sacrifice Ceremony...“ Lin Yi whispered to himself, his voice particularly clear in the empty woodshop. His fingers gently brushed over a crack on the edge of the wooden box, the only relic he had received from his father when he was five years old, and the last thing left behind after the Lin family had been exterminated.
Outside the firewood room, the autumn wind rolled the fallen leaves and slapped against the window pane, making a rustling sound. Lin Yi subconsciously tightened the thin linen clothes on his body, but not to ward off the cold - he hadn't felt any real warmth since that change of heart ten years ago.
A sudden tingling came from his fingertips, and Lin Yi shrunk his hand violently, realizing that a sharp bronze remnant had appeared at some point in the corner of the wooden box, glowing with an eerie greenish hue. He was sure it hadn't been there when he wiped it yesterday; it had appeared as if out of nowhere.
A droplet of blood oozed out of his palm, taking on an abnormal dark red color in the moonlight. The bead of blood dripped impartially onto the word “Chaos“ engraved on the fragment.
“Hiss--“ Lin Yi sucked in a mouthful of cold air, that drop of blood was actually completely absorbed by the bronze remnant, followed by a wave of excruciating pain exploding out of his dantian, as if there were millions of steel needles traveling through his body, and as if there were countless ants nibbling on his meridians.
“Ah!“ He couldn't help but let out a cry of pain as his entire body curled up into a ball, his forehead knocking heavily on the hard ground. However, the pain in his flesh was nothing compared to the intense pain in his body.
Immediately, an ear-piercing jeering sound came from outside the window, “Listen, that waste of a man from the Lin Clan is being sick again!“
“Hahaha, at the Ancestor Sacrifice Ceremony tomorrow, let's see how he makes a fool of himself in front of everyone!“
“I heard that Elder Zhao has decided to kick him out of the Zhao Family, this kind of waste who can't even practice the most basic techniques is a waste of food to keep around!“"
Lin Yi clenched his teeth, veins rippling on his forehead, and stiffly swallowed back the subsequent cries of pain. He trembled as he propped himself up and saw through the window crack that three Zhao Family children were pointing at the firewood room, their faces filled with sneers. The leader, Zhao Ming, was the grandson of the Zhao Family's Third Elder, and had already reached the sixth level of Qi Refining at the age of fifteen, making him the leader of the Zhao Family's younger generation. The two followers following behind him were also at the fourth level of Qi Refining, and only Lin Yi, at seventeen years old was still a “mortal“.
“What are you looking at? Rubbish!“ Zhao Ming sensed Lin Yi's gaze and deliberately raised his volume, “After the Ancestor Sacrifice Ceremony tomorrow, you'll have to get out of the Zhao Family! Let's see who'll still give you a mouthful of food at that time!“
Lin Yi didn't respond, just silently withdrew his gaze. Over the past ten years, such humiliation had long been taken for granted. His entire attention was drawn to the strange power within his body - the pain seemed to be mixed with some sort of indefinable feeling, like something that had been sealed for years was awakening.
Suddenly, the seven stars of the Big Dipper in the night sky strangely shifted their positions. The seven stars that were originally supposed to be arranged in a spoon-shaped arrangement unexpectedly reorganized themselves into a peculiar runic shape. Immediately afterward, seven streaks of purple starlight descended from the sky, piercing through the shabby roof of the woodshed and enveloping Lin Yi's entire being.
“This is...“ Lin Yi was surprised to find that the word “Chaos“ on the bronze fragment began to glow, the light grew more and more intense, and finally turned into a stream of light that drilled into his dantian. At that instant, it was as if he heard some sort of ancient call, and it was like the sound of some sort of shackles being broken.
Outside the window came the terrified cries of the Zhao Family's children, “Look at the sky! What is that?“
“Purple... Purple starlight! It's from the side of the woodshed...“
“What's that loser up to?“"
“Hurry up! Go report to the Elder!“
The sound of footsteps quickly moved away, but Lin Yi no longer had time to care about the movements outside. He only felt as if something had been awakened within his body, and an unprecedented amount of power was rushing through his meridians. What was even stranger was that he could clearly “see“ what was going on inside his body - those meridians that were supposed to be unobstructed were densely covered in black runic chains, and at the moment, these chains were gradually loosening under the impact of the purple starlight.
What Lin Yi didn't know was that at the very same moment, all the cultivators within a hundred mile radius of Qing Shi Town felt the anomaly. The old ancestor of the Zhao family who was in seclusion opened his eyes violently; the tea cup in the hands of the city lord who was guarding his mansion suddenly exploded; even the demonic beasts that were deep in the mountains and were diving into cultivation all looked up at the starry sky, their eyes filled with fear.
And in the mass grave thirty miles away, nine ancient corpses that had been buried for many years opened their blood-red eyes at the same time...
Severe pain came in waves like a tidal wave, and Lin Yi's consciousness began to blur. In a trance, fragments of unfamiliar images flashed through his mind-
When he was three years old, on a cold, gloomy winter night. Little Lin Yi was lying on his warm bed when he was suddenly awakened by a piercing chill. When he opened his eyes, a silhouette shrouded in black robes was standing in front of his bed, making complicated hand seals in his hands.
“Chaotic Spiritual Root... It must be sealed...“ The black-robed man's voice was like metal rubbing, cold and piercing. Little Lin Yi wanted to shout but couldn't make a sound, wanted to move but was stiff, he could only watch as the man drove a black nail into his dantian.
“If this son grows up, he will definitely subvert the order of the Three Realms...“ The black-robed man muttered, changing a few more spells in his hands, “Use the Nine Underworlds Metaphysical Iron as a guide, borrow the power of the seven stars of the Big Dipper, seal!“
As the last word fell, little Lin Yi only felt that something important was being pulled out of his body alive, and then he fell into a three-day long coma.
The memory fragments came to an abrupt end, and Lin Yi snapped out of it, cold sweat already soaking his shirt.
“So that's how it is...“ He came to a sudden realization, his voice hoarse, “My meridians aren't naturally blocked, they've been artificially sealed!“
This realization caused an indescribable wave of emotions to well up in his heart - both the anger of being backstabbed, the relief of finally finding the cause, and more than anything else, a deep scorn for that black-robed man. To be able to do this to a three year old child, what kind of god is the other party?
At this time, the wooden box issued a light sound, the sandwich automatically popped open, revealing a blood-red jade slip. The jade slip was crystal clear, and there seemed to be liquid flowing inside, making it look particularly strange under the purple starlight.
Lin Yi cautiously observed the jade slip that had suddenly appeared, and realized that a few ancient seal characters were slowly emerging on its surface: “Spiritual Root Unsealing Requires Nine Happenings“.
“Nine Happenings?“ Lin Yi muttered and repeated, not understanding the meaning for a moment. However, the restless force within his body seemed to be urging him on, causing him to unconsciously reach out and touch the jade slip.
The moment his fingertips touched the jade slip, a sudden change occurred!
The jade slip suddenly shattered, turning into countless blood-colored points of light that disappeared into Lin Yi's body. At the same time, a strange fluctuation spread out in all directions with him at the center, like ripples on the surface of the water, instantly sweeping across the entire Qing Shi Town and continuing to spread farther afield.
Ten miles away in a cave, a black-robed man who was meditating violently opened his eyes, a hint of shock flashing in his eyes: ''The Chaos Seal has been touched? It can't be... That child should have died of meridian exhaustion long ago...“
The black-robed man quickly got up, and with a wave of his wide sleeve robe, the cave entrance's restriction was broken in response. With a flash of his figure, he had already appeared dozens of feet away and sped off in the direction of Greenstone Town, so fast that he left a string of residual shadows in the night sky.
“We must reseal that power before it fully awakens... Otherwise...“
The black-robed man's whisper dissipated into the wind, unheard.
At the same time, a basalt iron sword enshrined in the Zhao Family's ancestral hall suddenly shook violently, the scabbard clashing with the sword's body with a crisp sound. The family servant on watch was dozing off, and was so shocked by this sudden movement that he fell to the ground.
“Come... Someone come! The Ancestral Sword has manifested!“ The family servant rolled and crawled as he rushed out of the ancestral hall, his voice changing tone.
The Xuan Iron Sword, which was said to have been inherited for three hundred years, had now unsheathed itself for three inches, and the ancient runes on the body of the sword lit up in sequence, emitting a clear sword chime, as if in response to something.
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In the Zhao Family's inner courtyard, the elders who were discussing tomorrow's ancestor sacrifice changed color at the same time. The family head, Zhao Wuji, stood up violently, and the teacup in his hand “snapped“ and crushed to smithereens.
“It's the Ancestral Sword Sensation! A supreme genius has awakened!“ Grand Elder Zhao Shanhe's white eyebrows trembled as a brilliant light erupted from his cloudy eyes, “Quickly check which house disciple it is!“
The entire Zhao Family was in an uproar as the elders of each house rushed to their own courtyards to check if any of their children had made a breakthrough. No one had expected that the one who triggered this vision would be the “waste“ that they called “waste“ in the firewood room on the west side.
Lin Yi knew nothing about these changes. After the jade slip shattered, he only felt that the pain in his body began to gradually lessen, replaced by a strange feeling of warmth, like suddenly soaking into a hot spring in the cold winter months, every pore stretching open.
He tried to run the basic technique taught to him by the Zhao Family, the Qi Drawing Technique. This was the technique that he had persistently practiced every day for ten years but had never seen any results, and it was also the main reason why he was ridiculed as a “waste“.
This time, things were different.
As the Qi Drawing Technique ran, Lin Yi clearly felt the surrounding heaven and earth auras begin to converge towards him. These spiritual qi seeped into his body through his skin, flowing through his meridians along specific routes before finally converging into his dantian. Although those black runic chains were still hindering the aura's operation, a lot of it had already managed to break through the blockade.
"'I... I can really cultivate?“ Lin Yi incredulously looked inward at his dantian, where a faint wisp of aura was hovering. Although the amount was very small, it was indeed a characteristic that only cultivators had!
However, the good times didn't last long, as the aura continued to pour in, black beads of blood began to seep out from the surface of Lin Yi's skin. These blood beads didn't flow randomly, but automatically formed bizarre totem patterns that soon covered his entire body. What was even more terrifying was that as if these black blood beads were alive, they actually began to absorb the surrounding aura to strengthen themselves.
Lin Yi realized with horror that the little bit of aura he had just gathered was being devoured by the black totems!
“No... This can't be happening...“ He gritted his teeth and insisted on running his gongfu, trying to fight with the black totem for control of the aura. Right at this moment, the bronze remnant in the wooden box suddenly flew up and directly affixed itself to his brow.
A coolness surged in from his brow and instantly flowed throughout his body. As if they had met their nemesis, the black totems began to twist violently and finally burst into flames, turning into black flames that wrapped around Lin Yi.
Strangely enough, although the black flames looked horrifying, they didn't burn his clothes or the hay around him, but instead fed a large amount of pure aura back to Lin Yi while burning those black totems.
Thirty miles away, on a mass grave, nine ancient corpses that had been buried for years had completely crawled out of their graves. Tattered clothing hung from their decaying bodies, and blood-red flames danced in their empty eye sockets. These ancient corpses faced in the direction of Greenstone Town and knelt in unison, their rotting throat bones rubbing together to emit a hoarse voice:
""Greetings... My Lord... Return...“
The sound echoed in the silent mass grave, startling a flock of crows that fluttered into the night sky like an ominous omen...
Lin Yi's face in the black flames was twisted, suffering unimaginable pain. Those flames appeared to be burning outside his body, but they were actually directly searing his soul. Every beat was like a dull knife scraping at his bone marrow.
“This time... Must break through the shackles!“ Lin Yi's eyes were crimson and blood was seeping out of his seven orifices, but he revealed a crazy smile. The humiliation of being mocked as a waste for ten years, the pain of having his family destroyed without being able to avenge it, and the indignation of being looked down upon by his peers, all of them had been turned into motivation to break through the seal at this moment.
He no longer followed the route of the “Qi Drawing Skill” to run his aura, but allowed the newborn power in his body to flow on its own. This was suicide in the cultivation world - the slightest deviation from the route of the technique could lead to a fire, which could result in a broken meridian, or a death by explosion.
But at the moment, Lin Yi couldn't care less.
“Since orthodox gong methods are useless, I'll go my own way!“ He hissed, forcibly directing that power to impact the black runic chains in his meridians.
There was no wind in the firewood room, and hay and wood shavings flew through the air, forming a miniature whirlwind that surrounded Lin Yi. Suddenly, there was a loud bang as the entire roof of the firewood room was lifted off by an invisible force, shattered wooden beams and thatched grass splattering in all directions, startling the entire Zhao family compound.
“What's going on?“
“Enemy attack!“
“Go and take a look!“
Various cries came from all directions, but Lin Yi turned a deaf ear. The bright moonlight condensed into a pillar of light that poured directly into his heavenly aura. With the power of this moonlight, the power in his body surged steeply, rushing towards those black chains like a flood breaking the dike.
""Click-""
With a crunching sound that only Lin Yi could hear, the first chain snapped!
Followed by the second, the third... With every chain that broke, an extremely pure power was released and integrated into Lin Yi's limbs and bones. His body began to undergo changes visible to the naked eye - black impurities seeped out of the surface of his skin, his bones crackled, and his muscle fibers continued to break and reorganize...
“Ah...!“ Lin Yi raised his head to the sky as a series of bean popping sounds came from within his body. The totems formed by those black blood beads had been completely devoured by the flames, turning into pure energy that fed back into his own body.
The moment the ninth chain broke, Lin Yi's dantian suddenly glowed with light, and the shadow of a bead emitting chaotic light slowly emerged. The bead was only the size of a thumb, but it seemed to contain a universe, with countless stars flowing within it, and it was stunningly beautiful.
“This is... Xuan Spirit Pearl?“ Lin Yi had seen records of it in his family's remaining ancient books, but had always thought it was just a legend.
Without waiting for him to think about it in detail, the bead's silhouette suddenly shook, and a message was sent directly into his mind:
""When chaos first opened, the spiritual root was formed in heaven. Nine tribulations and nine revolutions before the Great Dao is attained.“
Immediately afterward, a large amount of unfamiliar yet familiar knowledge flooded in like a tidal wave - cultivation techniques, potion formulas, array formation essentials... The information was so overwhelming that Lin Yi only felt a splitting headache, and he fainted as soon as his eyes went black.
At the last moment of his unconsciousness, he vaguely heard hurried footsteps and exclamations of surprise coming from the distance:
""Oh my god! That's...“
“Quickly go and invite the house master!“
“Don't come any closer! Be careful of being torn apart by the aura storm!“"
When Lin Yi regained consciousness again, the sky had already turned fish-belly white. He slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself suspended in the air three feet off the ground, with a faint swirl of aura surrounding him.
Landing gently on the ground, Lin Yi took the first opportunity to check the situation inside his body. This look immediately surprised him - the black chains that had plagued him for ten years had all disappeared, and his meridians were unobstructed; at his dantian, a rice-sized chaos-colored bead was slowly rotating, with a trace of aura being drawn in every time it turned around; even more miraculously, he was able to clearly “see“ all the details of his surroundings within a range of three feet, even the ants crawling in the corner of the wall! details, even the trajectory of the ants crawling in the corner of the wall was clear.
“This is... Spiritual Sense Externalization?“ Lin Yi blinked in disbelief. As far as he knew, only Foundation Stage cultivators could achieve Spiritual Sense Externalization, and he had clearly only just started cultivating now!
Trying to run the gong method, this time, the aura circulated smoothly through his body for a week like an arm and a leg. As the gong method ran, the surrounding aura converged towards him at a speed visible to the naked eye, forming a thin layer of spiritual mist on the surface of his body.
"'I... I can really cultivate!“ Lin Yi was trembling with excitement, after ten years of persistence, he had gotten his reward in one day, the joy was simply indescribable.
But soon, he calmed down. Last night's vision must have alarmed the Zhao Family's senior management, and given his position in the Zhao Family, this situation might not be a good thing. Not to mention that the black-robed man who had sealed his spirit root would probably come to check if he sensed that the seal had been broken.
“Must leave here as soon as possible.“ Lin Yi made a quick decision. He looked around and realized that the wooden box had completely shattered, but the bronze fragment and the blood jade sketch were nowhere to be found. Only a faint “Chaos“ mark was found in the center of his palm, which was barely noticeable without a closer look.
Just as he was about to pack his simple luggage, a rush of footsteps suddenly came from outside the firewood room. Listening to the movement, at least a dozen people were rushing this way.
“Quickly! Surround the firewood room!“
“Don't let that kid escape!“
“Be careful, it might be a demon possessed by a demon of the devil path!“"
Lin Yi's heart tightened, knowing that the worst had happened. The Zhao family clearly took his mutation last night as some sort of threat. With his current strength, a head-on conflict would definitely not do him any good.
Just as he was thinking of countermeasures, the Xuan Spirit Pearl's shadow at his dantian suddenly shook gently, and a piece of information surfaced in his mind:
""Chaos Stasis Technique: can conceal cultivation and change breath...""
Without being able to think about it, Lin Yi immediately followed the method in the message to run his spiritual energy. Miraculously, it was as if the spell was innate, and he succeeded in one go. Only to see the spirit mist on his body surface rapidly converge inwardly, and his outwardly emitted aura fall sharply, and in the blink of an eye, he changed back to that “waste“ with no cultivation.
Just after completing the disguise, the door of the firewood room was roughly kicked open. Zhao Ming barged in with seven or eight Zhao Clan children in an aggressive manner, each of them holding a weapon in their hands and looking as if they were on the verge of an enemy.
“Rubbish! What the hell did you get up to last night?“ Zhao Ming snapped, but there was a trace of imperceptible scorn hidden in his eyes.
Lin Yi made a bewildered face, “I... I don't know what you're talking about. Last night I was sleeping the whole time...“
“Bullshit!“ A burly teenager behind Zhao Ming cursed angrily, “The entire Zhao Family saw the purple light emitting from you! Say! Did you steal and learn some evil technique?“
Lin Yi cowered and backed away, portraying the image of a frightened loser to the fullest, “There really isn't... I don't know anything...“
Just as Zhao Ming was about to step forward and grab Lin Yi, a majestic voice came from outside:
""Stop!""
The crowd automatically parted, and Zhao Wuji, the Zhao Family Head, walked in, surrounded by several elders. This late stage Foundation Establishment powerhouse's gaze was like electricity as he swept back and forth over Lin Yi's body, finally stopping at the location of his dantian.
“You... Really didn't cultivate?“ Zhao Wuji frowned, clearly surprised by the result.
Lin Yi lowered his head, his voice trembling, “Home Master, Junior... Junior is indeed unable to cultivate...“
Zhao Wuji exchanged glances with a few elders, and Grand Elder Zhao Shanhe suddenly struck out, a bolt of spiritual energy striking into Lin Yi's body. This spiritual energy traveled around in Lin Yi's meridians and found no abnormalities before finally retreating helplessly.
“Strange...“ Zhao Shanhe twirled his white beard, his face full of doubt, “Last night, there was clearly a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation coming from here, and the Ancestral Sword also signaled the alarm...“
Zhao Wuji pondered for a moment and suddenly asked, “Lin Yi, have you ever come into contact with anything strange?“
Lin Yi's heart fluttered, but his face didn't show it, “Back... Home Lord, I work in the firewood room on weekdays and occasionally go to the back of the mountain to collect firewood, I haven't seen anything strange...“
This answer was half-true, the back mountain was indeed a place he often went to, it was off the beaten path and suitable for him to secretly practice his gong methods - although he had never succeeded before.
Just as the Zhao Family's top management hesitated, a family servant came running in a panic: “Report! There's a strange movement in the mass grave outside the town! Nine ancient corpses crawled out on their own and are moving towards the town!“
“What?!“ Zhao Wuji was shocked, “Could it be a corpse transformation? Quickly, all the elders follow me to check! All of the Zhao Family's children return to their rooms and open the protective formation!“
Before leaving, Zhao Wuji gave Lin Yi a deep look, “This matter is written down for now, we'll talk about it after the Ancestor Sacrifice Ceremony. Zhao Ming, take someone to watch him, don't let him run around.“
“Yes! Family Master!“ Zhao Ming respectfully answered, and when Zhao Wuji and the others walked away, he immediately changed into a fierce expression, “Waste, do you hear me? Stay honest, or else...“
He made a neck-wiping gesture, then brought his men to guard the outside of the firewood room, apparently to put Lin Yi under house arrest.
Only when the people left did Lin Yi let out a long breath of relief. He knew that he was safe for the time being, but a greater crisis was approaching - that black-robed man, the moving ancient corpse, the Zhao family's suspicions... All of this signaled that the days of calm had come to an end.
“No matter who sealed my spiritual root, I, Lin Yi, will be on a different path from now on!“ He clenched his fists, a determined light flashing in his eyes.
Outside the window, the first rays of sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone on Lin Yi's face, as if it had gilded him with a golden edge. The mountains were raining, a bigger storm was brewing...