A decade of relentless struggle within the Golden Myriad Sect, and what did Wan Ling have to show for it?
Well, it was simple.
He was stuck as a cleaner, tidying up the mountain residence of one of the sect elders who had recently passed away after a failed breakthrough.
There was a time when Wan Ling would have laughed at anyone who prophesied this would be his future. After all, he had been reborn from a humble office worker into one of the greatest clans within Moon Country, the Wan Family.
He was the third of five children, and from birth he had it all.
He was rich, loved by many, and there wasn’t anything he couldn’t have.
People lined up before him for favors, and even in the martial world where strength denoted everything, Wan Ling was one of the few exceptions to that rule.
That was until the patriarch of the Wan Family, his father, was found dead from unnatural causes, and his despicable brother, who was also Wan Ling’s uncle, took over the seat.
He stripped Wan Ling and his siblings of their inheritance.
Killed his mother because she didn’t agree, before banishing them from the clan home.
Of the five siblings, four of them were extremely talented martial artists and possessed the aptitude to become cultivators.
So though devastated, they continued on with their lives by joining sects and pursuing the Dao so that one day they might become strong enough to enact revenge.
Wan Ling, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.
He was a mediocre cultivator at best, and as far as cultivation went, he was trash.
What would take an average individual a day or two to learn would take Wan Ling entire weeks or months if he wasn’t lucky.
Perhaps out of pity, the second of the five siblings agreed to look after him.
So he followed her to the Golden Myriad Sect and became an outer disciple of this esteemed sect.
A decade had passed.
Wan Ling was now almost pushing thirty, and in all that time his cultivation had only advanced twice.
From the first stage of the Body Tempering Realm to the third stage.
Whereas most of the colleagues who came with him, or even arrived after him, were pushing into the Qi Gathering or Core Formation stages, with some already resonating within their spirit roots.
Even his elder sister was well on her way to becoming a powerhouse within the sect.
It was quite shameful, especially with the endless comparisons he suffered because he wasn’t as talented as her.
Even so, Wan Ling hadn’t given up and spent his days working odd jobs so he could earn enough spirit stones to buy materials he could cultivate with.
This was why he was currently cleaning the residence of the dead elder.
The majority of the important items had already been taken, and his senior sister, Hei Wumei, who had led him to the job, had said he could keep the things left behind and even sell them.
So while cleaning, he was also searching.
The elders weren’t just powerful but almost ancient and secretive.
He was confident there had to be something still valuable the sect might have overlooked.
It could be a powerful weapon disguised as a boring old sword or a ring with an even more ancient ancestor sealed within.
Wan Ling might be delusional on that front, but tales from his past life motivated him enough to believe he might indeed find something generous.
So he continued his search through the humble abode of the deceased elder.
Chairs were lifted, tables tilted to look underneath.
Flower pots were dug into, and even pieces of clothing were not left untouched.
The living room, the bathroom, the bedroom.
He searched everywhere until it was time for the elder’s office.
Walking inside, his eyes swept through the desk filled with countless scrolls stacked on top of each other.
He pulled them apart but only found half-written tales and incomplete drawings.
He then switched to the shelf where Western books were kept.
They numbered in the hundreds, but he had all the time in the world, so he leaned on the desk and went through them one by one.
Halfway into his search, he grabbed a book much newer than the others, and just as he flicked through the pages, a piece of paper flew out.