A cold night, cold rain.
Raindrops the size of beans pattered against the roof of the most remote and dilapidated woodshed in the backyard of the Chu Family, and rainwater dripped through the holes in the roof, gathering into murky puddles on the damp ground.
Chu Yang was curled up in a corner on a pile of moldy dry grass, covered with a thin quilt whose original color was barely discernible. The icy, damp sensation seeped through his thin clothes into his bones, making him shiver involuntarily.
He opened his eyes, gazing at the cobweb-covered roof beams, his eyes filled with a dead, murky stillness.
Ten years.
It had been a full ten years since he arrived in this bizarre Cultivation World where one could fly and escape the earth.
The excitement and lofty ambitions he had upon transmigrating had long since been ground into dust by reality and scattered by the wind.
When others transmigrate, they are either genius young masters, or waste materials who stage a comeback with a golden finger; at the very least, they are nobles whose families have fallen, always having a chance to turn things around.
But him?
The original owner of this body was a disciple from a distant branch line of the Chu Family, one of the three great families in Qingyang City. His parents died early, leaving him with virtually no support. And he himself was "exceptionally gifted"—possessing the legendary "Chaos Spirit Root," which was rarely seen even in ten thousand years!
Sounds impressive?
When Chu Yang first transmigrated, he thought so too. He was so excited he couldn't sleep for days and nights, believing he was the chosen one destined for the peak of life.
But reality slapped him with the most merciless blow.
This so-called "Chaos Spirit Root" was, in this world, synonymous with a useless Spirit Root! It could not sense any attribute of the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, could not guide Qi into the body, and cultivating any Cultivation Method was like a stone sinking into the sea—no reaction whatsoever!
Ten years! A full ten years!
He had aged from a fourteen-year-old boy into a twenty-four-year-old young man. His peers in the clan, even those with the most mediocre aptitude, had at least reached the Qi Refining Stage Third or Fourth Layer. Those with better talent, like the Family Head's son Chu Hao, were already geniuses at the Qi Refining Stage Eighth Layer.
And he, Chu Yang, had diligently cultivated for ten years without stopping, waking up earlier than the rooster and sleeping later than the dog, sweating ten or a hundred times more than others! The result?
His Cultivation Level was firmly stuck at the Qi Refining First Layer!
Unmoving! Solid as a rock!
It was truly a great miracle of the Cultivation World, a complete and utter joke!
"Cough, cough..." A gust of cold wind mixed with rain slipped in through the gap in the door, causing Chu Yang to cough violently. His chest felt tight, and a metallic, sweet taste rose in his throat.
He licked his chapped lips, feeling only bitter despair.
In the Chu Family, a "Waste Material" like him was worse off than a servant. Having his Monthly Stipend docked, enduring cold mockery, and being wantonly bullied... were all commonplace. This dilapidated woodshed was his only "shelter" in the Chu Family.
"Creeeeak—"
The old wooden door was roughly pushed open, and a middle-aged man with a fleshy face, dressed in a blue House Servant uniform, walked in carrying a broken bowl. His face showed undisguised contempt and disgust.
"Here, time to eat, you trash!" The House Servant carelessly threw the bowl with a "clank" onto the pile of grass in front of Chu Yang, splashing murky soup onto his face.
The bowl contained half a portion of leftovers whose original appearance was unrecognizable, emitting a sour stench.
Chu Yang's body stiffened abruptly. He clenched his fists tightly at his sides, his fingernails digging deep into his palms, causing a sharp stinging pain.
But he didn't move, nor did he speak. Ten years of humiliation had long since worn away his initial sharp edges and anger. Resistance? It would only invite more vicious beatings and crueler torment.
He silently reached out and picked up the broken bowl.
Seeing this, the House Servant sneered, his tone becoming even more caustic: "Hmph, truly a docile dog. Eat quickly so I can collect the bowl! How disgusting, every time I have to bring food to trash like you, I feel like my hands are getting dirty!"
Chu Yang kept his head down, looking at the pig slop-like contents of the bowl, his stomach churning. But he knew he had to eat it. If he didn't eat, he would starve to death. He didn't want to die; even living this humbly and wretchedly, a sliver of desire for life—or perhaps, unwillingness to accept fate—remained deep in his heart!
Just as he was about to force the "food" down, a louder, more arrogant voice laced with deep mockery came from outside the door.
"Chu Yang! Get out here! An order from the Family Deacon Hall!"
Chu Yang looked up and saw two more people at the doorway. The leader was a youth in fine clothes, about twenty years old, with an arrogant face and contemptuous eyes. This was Chu Xiong, one of the Chu Family stewards and the Second Elder's grandson. He possessed a Cultivation Level of Qi Refining Fifth Layer, placing him in the middle tier among the younger generation of the Chu Family, and he usually enjoyed bullying Chu Yang to assert his own presence. Following him was the House Servant who had just delivered the food, who was now bowing and scraping with a fawning expression.
Chu Xiong fanned his nose with his hand, as if the very air here disgusted him. He looked down at Chu Yang, as if viewing a pile of garbage.
"Chu Yang, following the resolution of the Deacon Hall, your ten years of cultivation have yielded no progress, wasting family resources. You are truly a disgrace to the Chu Family! Effective immediately, your identity as a family disciple is revoked, and your entire Monthly Stipend is stopped! You are to be banished to the mine outside the city for hard labor to atone for your uselessness!"
Rumble—!
Chu Xiong's words exploded in Chu Yang's ears like a clap of thunder.
Revoking his identity! Stopping his Monthly Stipend! Banishing him to the mine for hard labor!
Although that meager Monthly Stipend was often withheld, and his identity as a disciple was practically meaningless, it was at least a nominal status that allowed him to remain in the Chu Family, to possess a semblance of a "home."
Once stripped of it and banished to that dark, high-mortality mine... his life would truly be over! He would likely die there quietly within a few months, like a stray dog.
Ten years of forbearance, ten years of humiliation, finally broke the last dam in his heart at this moment.
"Why?!" Chu Yang suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Chu Xiong, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing together. "For ten years, I, Chu Yang, have not received a single Spirit Stone or Pill from the family! How can you say I wasted resources?! That little Monthly Stipend is less than what even the lowest-ranking servants receive! By what right do you do this?!"
His voice trembled with agitation, but the anger and unwillingness contained within it made Chu Xiong pause slightly.
Chu Xiong hadn't expected this usually submissive waste to dare to resist today. He immediately became enraged, stepped forward, and unleashed the full pressure of his Qi Refining Fifth Layer aura onto Chu Yang: "By what right? By the right that you are trash! Trash has no right to ask why! Can the family's resolution be questioned by you?!"
The powerful Spiritual Pressure bore down on Chu Yang like a mountain. His already weak body trembled violently, his bones creaking under the unbearable weight, but he gritted his teeth, stubbornly straightening his spine, refusing to kneel!
He could be humble, he could endure humiliation, but he absolutely could not lose his last shred of dignity in front of this kind of person!
"Hmph! Still quite stubborn!" Seeing that he couldn't subdue Chu Yang, Chu Xiong lost face. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes: "It seems I need to teach you a lesson so you can recognize your place!"
Saying this, he raised his foot, which was covered with a faint layer of Spiritual Power, and fiercely kicked towards Chu Yang's chest!
If this kick landed solidly, given Chu Yang's fragile body at the Qi Refining First Layer, he would either die or lose half his life!
Chu Yang's pupils contracted sharply. He wanted to dodge, but his body was completely immobilized under the Spiritual Pressure, leaving him only able to watch as the foot rapidly magnified before his eyes!
At this critical moment—
"Stop!"
A cool, yet authoritative female voice came from outside the courtyard.
Chu Xiong's foot froze hard in mid-air. He frowned, retracted his foot, and turned to look.
Chu Yang also struggled to raise his head.
Through the curtain of rain, a graceful, slender figure holding an oil-paper umbrella slowly walked in. The woman was wearing a light purple long dress, her features beautiful, with an inherent coolness and arrogance in her eyes.
Seeing this person, Chu Yang's heart sank abruptly, colder than when he had just heard about being banished to the mine.
Lin Wan'er.
His fiancée by the childhood Marriage Contract.
No, perhaps soon she wouldn't be.
Lin Wan'er was also the young lady of the Lin Family, one of the three great families in Qingyang City. The two of them used to play together as children, and their relationship was relatively close. But ever since his reputation as a "Waste Material" spread, Lin Wan'er's attitude towards him grew increasingly distant. In recent years, she rarely even met with him.
Chu Yang knew without even thinking that her appearance here boded no good.
Indeed, Lin Wan'er walked up close, not sparing the utterly wretched Chu Yang a single glance, as if he were just a piece of air. Her gaze fell directly on Chu Xiong, and her tone was flat and emotionless: "Steward Chu Xiong, I have some private matters to discuss with Chu Yang. Could you grant me some convenience?"
Chu Xiong seemed quite wary of Miss Lin. He immediately plastered a smile on his face: "It's Miss Lin, of course. Please, go ahead, please." After speaking, he glared fiercely at Chu Yang and retreated outside the courtyard with the House Servant, but he didn't go far, clearly waiting to watch the show.
Only Chu Yang and Lin Wan'er remained in front of the dilapidated woodshed.
Rainwater dripped from the eaves, making a monotonous "tap-tap" sound.
Chu Yang struggled to stand up from the pile of grass, trying hard to appear less wretched. He brushed the straw off his clothes and looked at the once-familiar yet now strange girl before him, speaking with a dry voice: "Wan'er... what is it you need from me?"
Only then did Lin Wan'er turn her gaze to him. That look was cold, indifferent, and devoid of any emotion, as if she were looking at a stranger.
She lightly raised her hand, and an invisible Spiritual Power barrier isolated the two of them from the outside world, preventing their conversation from being overheard.
Then, she took something out of her sleeve and presented it to Chu Yang.
It was a Marriage Contract.
The Marriage Contract detailing the Marriage Vow established between the Chu Family and the Lin Family back then.
"Chu Yang," Lin Wan'er's voice was crisp, yet every word was like a knife cutting into Chu Yang's heart. "Let's dissolve our Marriage Vow."
Although he had expected it, when those words actually came from Lin Wan'er's mouth, Chu Yang felt as if his heart was being fiercely squeezed by an invisible large hand, causing him such pain he could barely breathe.
His face instantly turned pale, his lips trembling. After a long pause, he managed to squeeze out a single sentence: "Why... why?"
"Why?" A faint smile, tinged with pity and mockery, curved Lin Wan'er's lips. "Chu Yang, don't you understand yet? You and I are already worlds apart."
She slightly tilted her chin, emitting a noticeable Spiritual Power Fluctuation from her body.
"I am now at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, and I will soon be heading to the 'Azure Cloud Sect' to cultivate. The Azure Cloud Sect is a major Cultivation Sect that you and I can only look up to! And you?"
Her gaze swept over Chu Yang's tattered clothes, his pale and haggard face, and this leaky, broken woodshed.
"You are just a Waste Material at the Qi Refining First Layer, and even staying in the Chu Family is becoming a luxury. You are about to be banished to the mine to fend for yourself."
"Do you think you are still qualified to be my, Lin Wan'er's, husband?"
Every word was like a cold dagger, stabbing fiercely into Chu Yang's heart, completely shattering his last shred of dignity and fantasy!
He stared fixedly at Lin Wan'er, at the person he once thought he would spend his life with, his eyes bloodshot, his chest heaving violently.
"Qualified?" Chu Yang suddenly laughed, his laughter hoarse, filled with endless sorrow and self-mockery. "Yes, I am not qualified. How could I, Chu Yang, a waste material, be worthy of you, a favored daughter of heaven?"
His laughter abruptly stopped, and his gaze turned sharp, like a cornered beast in its final moments, carrying a fierce resolve.
"Lin Wan'er, this Marriage Vow was actively sought by your Lin Family! It wasn't something I, Chu Yang, shamelessly begged for!"
"Ten years! I, Chu Yang, have been a laughingstock for ten years. Did you ever show a single word of concern? Did you ever defend me once? Now that I am in trouble, you rush to break the engagement and deliver the final stomp!"
"Good! Very good!"
Chu Yang suddenly straightened his back. Although his body swayed precariously, his spine was perfectly straight, as if nothing could bend it again.
He extended his trembling hand and snatched the Marriage Contract.
"Riiip—!"
With a crisp sound, the Marriage Contract was torn in half down the middle!
He threw the shredded Marriage Contract fiercely onto the ground and, using all his strength, said word by word:
"Lin Wan'er! Today, it is not you who rejects me, Chu Yang!"
"It is I, Chu Yang, who rejects you!!"
The sound was like a cuckoo crying blood, echoing endlessly in the desolate, rainy night.
Chu Yang's sudden outburst and fierce gaze startled Lin Wan'er, causing her to instinctively take half a step back. She looked at the torn Marriage Contract on the ground, then at Chu Yang's figure—though wretched, it was unusually upright—and an inexplicable panic flashed in her heart, but it was quickly replaced by greater indignation.
"You... Hmph! You're still talking tough when death is near!" Lin Wan'er scoffed, concealing her inner discomfort. "I hope you have this same backbone in the mine!"
With that, she turned and left, as if staying another moment would soil her shoes.
The Spiritual Power barrier dissolved. Chu Xiong and the House Servant outside the courtyard looked at the shredded Marriage Contract on the ground, then at the seemingly crazed Chu Yang, both showing malicious, gloating sneers.
"Tsk, tsk, that was quite a show! Being publicly dumped by a woman and tearing up the Marriage Contract—Chu Yang, you've truly disgraced yourself to the extreme!" Chu Xiong mocked him sarcastically.
Chu Yang ignored their mockery.
He only stared fixedly at Lin Wan'er's retreating back disappearing into the rain, his eyes vacant, yet seemingly burning with fire deep within.
It was over.
Everything was over.
Abandoned by his family, dumped by his fiancée, and facing a future of dark mine servitude.
This world held the deepest malice toward him.
He slowly lowered his head, looking at his palm, which was bleeding again from using too much force.
Why?
By what right?!
Just because I cannot cultivate?!
A surge of unprecedented violence and despair flooded his mind.
Staying here was a dead end! Going to the mine was also a dead end!
It was death either way!
Then, why not...
Chu Yang suddenly raised his head and looked towards the Demonic Beast Mountain Range outside the city, which loomed eerily in the rainy night!
That place was a Forbidden Land for humans, filled with ferocious Demonic Beasts and unknown dangers. A cultivator at the Qi Refining Stage entering it faced a near-certain death.
But that was the only place where he might find a sliver of hope now! Even if that hope was as faint as a candle flame in a gale!
Rather than staying in the Chu Family to die under endless humiliation, he might as well charge into the mountain range and gamble for that illusory chance! Even if he died, he would die like a man! Not like a stray dog worked to death in a mine!
"Hahahaha..." Chu Yang suddenly threw his head back and laughed, his laughter filled with tragic heroism and resolution.
Under the stunned gaze of Chu Xiong and the House Servant, he abruptly turned around, dragging his battered and weak body, and plunged into the icy rain, running staggeringly yet firmly towards the direction of the Demonic Beast Mountain Range outside the city.
"He's gone mad! This waste material must be insane!" Chu Xiong spat after watching the direction Chu Yang disappeared. "Good riddance, saves me the trouble of escorting him to the mine. If he goes to the Demonic Beast Mountain Range to seek death himself, that's cleaner!"
The rain grew heavier and heavier.
The icy rain washed over Chu Yang's face, blurring his vision, but it could not wash away the almost insane obsession and the hatred ingrained in his bones.
He ran desperately, using every ounce of strength he had, as if trying to shake off all the humiliation and despair behind him.
His body grew colder, his strength gradually faded, and his consciousness began to blur.
But he had only one thought in his mind:
Go in! Enter the Demonic Beast Mountain Range!
After running for an unknown amount of time, he finally rushed into the Demonic Beast Mountain Range's
Ch One: End