“I can’t die! I can’t die! Everything is a lie! Everything is a lie!”
“This world is a lie! Don’t believe it! Don’t believe it! Don’t believe it!!”
Huuuh… Huuuh…
A teenager woke up with a start, his face filled with panic.
“This dream again.” The teenager muttered, “I can’t die? I’m living a peaceful life, why would I look for death?”
He reached up to brush away some strands of hair from his face, feeling a bit irritated.
“Which demon on earth planted this bizarre dream in my head?”
He simply couldn’t comprehend it. He remembered very clearly that ever since he started babbling his first words, he had never heard such “insane” phrases. Although his cultivation aptitude wasn’t very good, his memory… well, it had to be called “transcending mortals, rare in this world!”
“Could it be that some demon used magic to strike my head? But it seems I had that dream right when I first gained consciousness in this world… Was it when I was just born? Wouldn’t that be too cruel!”
The more he thought, the angrier the teenager became. Even the most delicious food becomes tiresome if you eat it too much. He had been dreaming that dream for fifteen years. Fifteen years, that’s fifteen whole years!
“If I ever find out which demon it was… Hmph hmph… I will definitely… definitely make them taste what it’s like to be tormented to death and revived again. If it’s a man, I’ll make him a eunuch, if it’s a woman…”
After thinking for a moment, the teenager wondered to himself:
“Can a woman be ‘cut’?”
It seemed he had never heard of any woman being ‘cut’. Shaking his head, the teenager cast this complicated problem aside. He reached down, picked up the sword from the ground, and walked into the forest. Under the newly risen sun, he began to train…
Frankly speaking, his aptitude for cultivation was only barely passable. That’s right, not just passable, but barely passable – the kind of phrasing that tells you everything you need to know just by hearing it. Even the thing he used to pride himself on – no, to comfort his little heart with – his “memory transcending mortals, rare in this world,” had been utterly trampled.
Look once and never forget? Others just use their spiritual sense to scan once and remember everything!
Transcending mortals? Transcending mortals, my foot! This world isn’t only for mortals! Roughly speaking, this is a world full of color, full of excitement; where demon beasts roam the land and cultivators soar through the sky. What place is there for an ordinary mortal to beat their chest and make a name for themselves?
After realizing that cruel truth, the teenager felt deeply wounded in spirit. That’s why he decided to diligently cultivate to complete – ah, no, to reclaim a little bit of what he called “small pride” for himself. It’s just that his aptitude…
…
Hiyah!... Hiyah!... Hiyah!
In the forest, the teenager continuously swung his sword, striking down at the large tree in front of him. The graceful sword strokes, the transcendent stances, truly were… beautiful.
After an unknown amount of time…
Huuuh… Huuuh…
“I’m dead tired!” The teenager collapsed onto the ground, panting. He felt his entire body had no strength left, and even the sword in his hand had fallen at some unknown point… He looked at the blue sky. He looked at the white clouds. He looked at the lofty creations above, muttering to himself:
“One day, I, Wang Zhi, will stand up there.”
Then his eyes slowly closed…
“I can’t die! I can’t die! Everything is a lie! Everything is a lie!”
“This world is a lie! Don’t believe it! Don’t believe it! Don’t believe it!!”
…
“Not again. It seems I’ve been worrying too much lately.” Reluctantly, Vương Chi sat up and walked over to the ancient tree he had been using for sword practice earlier.
The tree trunk still stood imposingly right there. The only thing proving Vương Chi wasn't mistaken were the haphazard sword marks left behind. But… they were undeniably too shallow, not even an inch deep!
The more he looked, the more Vương Chi’s brow furrowed, until finally, he resolutely stopped looking.
“Even plants have lives. I must not have had the heart to use full force when striking with my sword.”
Having consoled himself, Vương Chi looked at the sky, saw it was getting late, picked up his sword, and headed back…
“Eat slowly. No one’s going to snatch it from you.”
“Brother Hạc, here’s your food.”
“Big Brother Ưng, don’t be so fierce. We’ve been friends for a long time, after all.”
…
After more than an hour, Vương Chi finally completed the noble duty entrusted to him by his sect. Indeed, for him, caring for spirit beasts was a noble duty, or at least, that’s what he kept telling himself.
Speaking of his sect, Vương Chi couldn't help but feel a touch of wistfulness. The Spirit Sect – one of the seven great sects at the pinnacle of the Vân Lam Continent. That certainly sounded impressive, yet Vân Lam was merely a small continent, ranked at the very bottom of the cultivation world. According to the hierarchical division here, territories from lowest to highest were: continents, realms, and domains. A domain encompassed many realms, and a realm comprised many continents; moreover, not all domains, realms, or continents were alike.
For instance, continents were divided into three tiers: Tier One, Tier Two, and Tier Three. Tier Three was the highest, and Tier One was the lowest. The Vân Lam Continent was precisely a Tier One continent.
“To be the head of one, yet the tail of another, truly, it’s a bittersweet existence.”
Having said that, Vương Chi let out a self-deprecating laugh:
“But why should I care? Right now, I’m still just a mere worm, a cricket.”
Thinking of himself, Vương Chi felt a touch of melancholy. He was originally an orphan, a child abandoned by his parents. He heard that at the moment he was about to pass away, the Sect Master happened to pass by, saved him, and brought him back to this Spirit Sect. Since then, this place had been his home. He ate here, slept here, and grew up here. If anyone asked if he hated his parents, his answer would be: “I don’t know.”
Why? Because he didn't quite understand the meaning of the words “father” and “mother.” If he had parents, how would they treat him? What would they call him? Would they bathe him, sing him lullabies to sleep, like in the stories he heard from his senior brothers? He had never been cared for by parents, so honestly, he didn't know what “father” and “mother” would be like. Sometimes, he truly wished to experience what it felt like to have parents. It was just… a bit too distant.
“At least I still have the Spirit Sect as my home.”
Letting out a long, troubled sigh, Vương Chi's mind shifted to another matter:
“In two days, the spirit pond will open, and I wonder if I’ll be able to successfully awaken my spiritual sight this time.”
According to Wang Chi's understanding, the path of cultivation comprises eight major realms: Mortal Embryo, Eye Opening, Water Accumulation, Spirit Spring, Spirit Pearl, Celestial River, Spirit Infant, and Great Ocean. Among them, Eye Opening is the first milestone every cultivator must overcome on the boundless Great Dao. This milestone is of utmost importance. The reason is that, according to records, any individual capable of achieving Eye Opening before the age of ten, provided they don't die prematurely, is destined for great accomplishments on the path of cultivation. Conversely, if one achieves Eye Opening too late, particularly after the age of twenty, it signifies that they have lost all hope of ever pursuing the Great Dao.