In the Primordial Era, the Primordial Heavenly Court presided over the Investiture of the Gods List, the sole supreme treasure in all the realms, using it to invest gods at the appointed time.
Countless ages later, the Great Cataclysm arrived. The Divine Realm fell into great chaos, the Primordial Heavenly Court was shaken to its core, and in a battle among the gods to seize the Investiture of the Gods List, it was shattered into six pieces, scattered across the mortal world, its whereabouts unknown...
Xianwu Continent, Zhao Long Kingdom, Zhao Long City, Longyang Town.
“Wu Tong, what is the meaning of this?” an angry voice boomed from the great hall of the Ye family, one of Longyang Town’s three great families.
“What meaning?” In the great hall, a middle-aged man scoffed coldly. “Ye Chen has only cultivated to the second layer of Qi Refinement; he’s nothing but a waste. How could my Lan’er possibly marry a waste who can’t cultivate?”
“Who are you calling a waste?” Ye Fen’s face darkened, his eyes blazing with fury.
“Ye Chen seems to be forever stuck at the second layer of Qi Refinement. This engagement ends here! Our Wu family’s marriage alliance with your Ye family is also over!” Wu Tong snorted, as if casting the previous engagement onto the ground.
“Wu Lan, that sort of woman, I, Ye Chen, wouldn’t even give a second glance. Fortunately, you came today; it saves me a trip.” At the entrance of the great hall, Ye Chen’s expression was cold. Though merely a youth, there wasn’t a trace of immaturity on his face at this moment.
“Ridiculous! A person with no future in cultivation dares to utter such wild words!” Wu Tong sneered.
“Whether I, Ye Chen, have a future in cultivation is not for you to decide!” Ye Chen declared solemnly. “Remember, today it’s not you, Wu Tong, who is breaking off the engagement, but I, Ye Chen, who is dumping Wu Lan!”
Wu Tong’s face turned green with rage, and he roared, “You dare!”
“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Ye Chen was not afraid in the slightest. “Not only do I, Ye Chen, dare, but my Ye family will immediately announce this news throughout Longyang Town.”
“Chen’er is right.” At this moment, Ye Chen’s mother, Ling Yun, walked into the living room. “Wu Tong, what do you take my Ye family for? You think you can form a marriage alliance when you want, and break it off when you want?”
“If your Ye family dares to ruin Lan’er’s reputation, my Wu family will not let you off easily!” Wu Tong’s face was green with rage as he stormed out of the Ye family.
“Chen’er, don’t worry. As long as Mother is here, no one will dare to bully you.” Ling Yun looked at Ye Chen, her eyes brimming with doting affection.
“Mother, no one is bullying me,” Ye Chen said with a smile.
“Don’t think Mother doesn’t know. Currently, some people in the family are talking about you behind your back. If they weren’t afraid of Mother taking action, they might even do something outrageous.” Ling Yun murmured.
“This time, our falling out with the Wu family like this is extremely disadvantageous to our Ye family.” Ye Fen sighed, his face etched with worry.
“Brother Fen, this time, Chen’er is the one who suffered the greatest grievance. The entire family knows Wu Tong came forward to break off the engagement. How will Chen’er ever be able to hold his head high in the family after this?” Ling Yun said with dissatisfaction.
“Family matters are the big priority!” Ye Fen heard Ling Yun’s words, and his mind grew even more agitated.
“Chen’er is your son. If you don’t even care for him, won’t others just walk all over him?”
“Who said I don’t care about Chen’er...?”
Ye Chen shook his head. This kind of scene was familiar, and he couldn’t blame them. Ever since he cultivated to the second layer of the Qi Refinement realm and remained unable to break through, such scenes would always play out.
Three years ago, Ye Chen was the darling of his entire clan, showered with countless favors. At that time, Ye Chen was considered the hope of the entire clan. At just thirteen, he had cultivated to the second layer of the Qi Refining realm – a speed that few in the entire Zhao Long City could rival.
However, for three years, Ye Chen had remained stagnant at the second layer of the Qi Refining realm, making no progress whatsoever. During these three years, the Ye family had provided Ye Chen with numerous medicinal ingredients to aid his cultivation, but to no avail.
By now, almost everyone believed that Ye Chen was destined to remain at the second layer of Qi Refining, and they were thoroughly disappointed in him.
Ye Chen's halo of genius was like a fleeting epiphyllum, appearing quickly and vanishing just as fast.
Ye Chen walked out of the living room, sick of hearing such bickering.
Not far from the living room, Ye Chen encountered two youths. One of them, a youth in white, said with a mocking, provocative laugh, “Isn't this our genius Young Master Ye? Word is you've been jilted?”
“He's just a good-for-nothing, what genius?” the other youth sneered. “If I were her, I'd break off the engagement too.”
“Are you two looking for a beating?” Ye Chen's gaze darkened as he stared at the two youths.
“Do you think I'm afraid of you?” the youth in white snorted coldly. “If your mother wasn't such a demoness, I would have knocked your teeth out long ago.”
“You dare speak of my mother?” Ye Chen's eyes blazed with fury. He threw a punch, spiritual energy flickering on his fist. Though not as powerful as Ling Yun, it still possessed dozens of times the strength of an ordinary person.
“Overestimating yourself!” the youth in white snorted disdainfully. His body flashed quickly, and at the same time, he struck out with a palm towards Ye Chen. His speed was extremely fast, several times faster than Ye Chen's.
Ye Chen was startled and couldn't react in time. His chest was hit squarely, sending him flying several meters. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and almost spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
“My elder brother broke through to the third layer of the Qi Refining realm a few days ago,” the other youth in green robes said smugly. “Do you think he's still the same as before?”
“Broke through to the third layer of Qi Refining?” Ye Chen's expression changed, his heart filling with even more indignation and hatred.
“From now on, it's best not to provoke me, or else, you'll have hell to pay,” the youth in white said, pointing at Ye Chen with a smug, cold snort. Then, taking the youth in green robes with him, he left with a cold laugh.
Ye Chen clenched his fists, his heart filled with bitter resentment. He crawled up from the ground, ran out of the Ye family compound, and headed towards the mountain behind Longyang Town, running until he had no strength left before finally stopping.
“Ah!” Ye Chen roared loudly, venting the emotions in his heart.
In these past few years, he had gone from a genius showered with countless favors to a good-for-nothing unable to cultivate. He had witnessed his family's coldness and endured countless insults...
On the surface, he seemed no different from usual, but inwardly, he was deeply unreconciled. He had countless times asked the heavens why they would play such a cruel joke on him.
“I'm not reconciled! I shouldn't live my life like this! Heavens, why must you treat me this way!” Ye Chen used all his strength to roar up at the sky.
But, just at that moment, Ye Chen saw a black shadow descend from the sky. In an instant, he knew nothing.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Ye Chen opened his eyes, looking around dazedly. By then, it was already dark, and from the mountain behind, waves of wild beast roars could be heard.
“What fell from the sky just now and knocked me out?” Ye Chen touched his head; there was no injury. He then searched the ground but found nothing. Filled with doubt, he descended the mountain.
Ye Chen returned to the Ye family, where everyone was quietly heading back to their rooms.
“Shen'er.” Ye Fen was standing by Ye Chen's door, waiting for him. Seeing Ye Chen looking dazed and lost, he called out with a touch of heartache.
“Father.” Ye Chen was startled for a moment, then looked up.
“Shen'er, don't take what happened to heart. Are my Ye family sons afraid of not having wives and children?” Ye Fen patted Ye Chen's shoulder, encouragingly.
“I'm fine.” Ye Chen smiled.
“Your grandfather and I discussed it. Since you haven't been able to make any progress in cultivation, why not just help manage the family's businesses instead? You're so smart, you're sure to achieve something in the future.” Ye Fen said with a smile.
“I'll follow all of Father's arrangements.” Ye Chen smiled understandingly.
“Good. Tomorrow morning, come with me to handle business.” Ye Fen smiled, then left.
Ye Chen entered his room and lay on the bed. Feeling utterly exhausted, he unconsciously drifted off to sleep.
In his dream, he saw himself sitting cross-legged on a Taiji Bagua diagram. The Taiji Bagua diagram was absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, supplying it to him for cultivation, and his cultivation speed was dozens of times faster than before.
The next morning, Ye Chen woke up groggily. A dream was clearly etched in his mind; it felt so real, as if it had just happened.
“It was just a dream...” Ye Chen let out a bitter laugh. “From now on, I'll have to give up cultivation and walk an ordinary path...”
Ye Chen still felt a bit unwilling. He opened his palm and released his spiritual energy, but at that moment, he stared at his palm in shock. His spiritual energy was several times more potent than yesterday!
“How can this be?” Ye Chen was greatly alarmed, his eyes wide, utterly dumbfounded.
Then, Ye Chen recalled the dream from last night and couldn't help but shiver. “Could it not have been a dream?”
Ye Chen then remembered being knocked unconscious by something on the mountain behind yesterday, yet he had sustained no injuries. Connecting these thoughts, Ye Chen found it even more inconceivable.
He began to examine his own body internally. After carefully observing his dantian for a while, he was greatly shocked: inside his dantian, there was actually a Taiji Bagua diagram, identical to the one in his dream.