In her previous life, Yan Qingyan was born on a planet called Blue Star. She had just graduated from university when the apocalypse arrived. Overnight, nearly half of humanity turned into zombies.
She was fortunate to awaken a Wood Element Ability right from the start of the apocalypse and even unlocked a Cultivable Space of about three hundred square meters. If she threw the Crystal Cores dug from zombie heads into it, the space could even absorb them and expand further.
In the third year of the apocalypse, Yan Qingyan encountered an unbeatable Elite Monster. Accustomed to hiding in her space whenever danger arose, she happened to be in the midst of a space upgrade at the moment of life and death. After dying, she reincarnated into this Cultivation World called the Tianxuan Realm, and only now did she remember everything.
In this life, her family belonged to a branch of the Yan family, one of the three major families in Qingyang City. For the sake of the family's development, resources were concentrated and allocated to those with the best aptitudes, while most others would be sent away after reaching adulthood at eighteen.
This year, she turned eighteen. Unfortunately, she was among those about to be sent away… one of them.
The Cultivation World placed extreme importance on aptitude, and her aptitude… was far from ideal!
The quality of Spiritual Roots was divided into four grades: Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow. Each grade was further divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower tiers. Additionally, the number and types of Spiritual Roots mattered. Generally, fewer Spiritual Roots meant faster Cultivation speed, while more types of Spiritual Roots allowed for greater versatility.
Yan Qingyan possessed Water-Wood Dual Spiritual Roots: Wood Element Mysterious grade Lower and Water Element Yellow grade Middle. Cultivation aptitude was often determined by the weaker Spiritual Root attribute. Therefore, her Water Element Yellow grade Middle Spiritual Root placed her among the Wastewood with low aptitude in the family.
Her parents in this life had died unexpectedly during an early expedition, leaving her without any backing. Soon, she would be sent away.
Misfortune never comes alone. Just as she was halfway through packing her belongings, she suffered such a major setback!
Yan Qingyan gently touched the wound on her Dantian, her eyes revealing a fierceness she had never shown in these eighteen years.
This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak. Only the powerful had the right to speak.
In this life, she was inexperienced in the ways of the world. In such a Cultivation environment, disrespect from the weak toward the strong was a grave taboo.
But she wouldn't blame herself for being reckless. Instead, she would focus on becoming stronger in the future and repaying tooth for tooth, eye for eye!
She had memorized that person's face!
The wound on her Dantian had been roughly treated, but the pain continued to torment her nerves. Yet, at this moment, Yan Qingyan suddenly froze, her eyes flickering with a long-lost excitement.
Not only had she regained the memories of her previous life, but her Portable Space had also returned, along with her fourth-level Wood Element Ability!
Yan Qingyan was in such high spirits that she completely forgot she was still injured.
With a mix of excitement and trepidation, she channeled her mental energy into the space.
She saw that the space had nearly doubled in size. The wooden hut she had painstakingly built in her previous life was still there. Unfortunately, all the instant noodles, chocolates, and other snacks she had collected inside had expired and grown moldy. Even the various electrical appliances and mechanical items had rusted and broken down. It didn't look as if only eighteen years had passed but rather a much longer time.
In the small courtyard, there was now a massive, crystal-clear crystal of unknown purpose. It didn't carry the aura of a Crystal Core, and with her current level of insight, she could only guess it might serve as decoration or a weapon for smashing things.
However, none of that was important. The most crucial thing was that at the center of the Space, there was now a Spirit Spring she had always dreamed of!
A Spirit Spring! All the effort she had put in, exhausting herself and investing so many Crystal Cores, was worth it. Her death in her previous life had been worthwhile!
"Haha, what is this? Must one endure a storm before seeing a rainbow?"
Yan Qingyan lay on the bed, laughing foolishly without restraint, and eagerly scooped a cup of Spirit Spring Water to drink.
A wave of coolness swept through her entire body, and pure energy flowed through every part of her, cleansing her meridians and marrow, expelling a layer of foul, stinking impurities.
Yan Qingyan’s lips twitched. She had thought Spirit Spring Water was a panacea, capable of healing the injuries to her Dantian. Instead, it merely alleviated the pain and, in other aspects, had an effect similar to that of a Marrow Cleansing Pill.
Just as Yan Qingyan was thinking this, a sudden, intense, throbbing pain erupted in her Dantian!
At the same time, the Wood Element Ability Crystal Core in her consciousness sea began to spin rapidly, and a surge of green energy gushed out, swiftly sweeping through her limbs and bones.
Hum—
A sound akin to an ancient roar reverberated within Yan Qingyan’s body. At that moment, a miraculous change occurred inside her.
Wood Element Spiritual Root!
Startled, Yan Qingyan quickly turned her focus inward.
She saw that her Earth grade Lower Wood Spiritual Root had suddenly become pure and translucent, breaking through several major grades in succession. In the blink of an eye, the "sparrow" had transformed into a phoenix.
Yan Qingyan was stunned.
She hurriedly retrieved a Spirit Testing Stone to check. When she saw the result, her face lit up with overwhelming joy.
Heaven grade Lower!
She actually possessed a Heaven grade Spiritual Root!
However, since her Dantian was now ruined, whether her Spiritual Root was Heaven grade or Earth grade made little difference.
Still, this delighted her immensely. Her Dantian would be restored sooner or later.
After the initial shock and joy, Yan Qingyan finally brought her attention back to reality.
"Ugh—"
Yan Qingyan pinched her nose, disgusted by her own stench.
With her Dantian destroyed, she couldn’t use the Cleansing Technique. Staggering, she rummaged through the room until she found a Yellow grade Cleansing Talisman to use on herself.
After all the commotion, Yan Qingyan finally calmed down and began to think about her next steps.
Cultivation was a must. She wanted to live freely and with a deep sense of security.
Becoming strong was the greatest confidence she could give herself.
Revenge was also a must. She held grudges deeply. If she couldn’t destroy that person’s Dantian in return, she wouldn’t be able to swallow her anger, and her Cultivation journey would never be smooth.
From the knowledge she had acquired since childhood in this life, she knew that the Tianxuan Realm was vast and boundless, dotted with countless continents, seas, islands, as well as various mystical realms and perilous lands rich in resources and governed by strange rules.
The continent she was on was called the Xuanqian Continent. Qingyang City was located within Qingzhou, on the border of the Xuanqian Continent, and could be considered a moderately sized city.
The Cultivation levels in the Tianxuan Realm were Qi Refining, Foundation Building, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Void Refining, Unity, Mahayana, Tribulation Crossing, and finally Ascending to Become Immortal.
However, it was said that no Cultivator in the Tianxuan Realm had successfully ascended in a hundred thousand years. The Xuanqian Continent had declined to the point where Golden Core Cultivators were considered great experts, and Nascent Soul Cultivators were revered as patriarchs.
Still, they were far stronger than she was.
Yan Qingyan, now almost an ordinary mortal, had set her sights directly on the pinnacle of the immortal path!
Since childhood, she had heard countless tales from the Cultivation World: how a Nascent Soul Patriarch could wipe out an entire clan with a wave of his hand, how a Golden Core True Person could descend into madness and slaughter a city, or how Evil Cultivators consumed people and used young boys and girls for their Cultivation practices…
In such a perilous environment, she refused to be treated as an ant by the powerful. She wanted to become strong enough to roam freely between heaven and earth, to become invincible under the heavens!
Yan Qingyan's eyes seemed to sparkle with starlight as she clenched her fists and let out a resolute cry,
"With the Space in my hands, who in the Cultivation World can stand as my rival!"