Chapter 1

Mo Yang knelt before the tomb, his face expressionless, as he tightly clutched the letter containing secrets given to him by his mother.

"Mo Yang, the Four Elders are dead, and you still have the nerve to kneel here? You should die to atone for your sins!"

"The Four Elders fell because of you, causing our Lingxu Sect to suffer tremendous losses. Your death is not enough to make up for it!"

"After so many years of cultivation, you can't even enter the Qi Condensation Realm. Mo Yang, you are nothing but a waste. The Lingxu Sect does not keep waste. Get out of the Lingxu Sect!"

"The Four Elders have fallen, and no one will protect you anymore. The Sect Leader has already ordered that starting tomorrow, the Wood Peak will be merged into the Main Peak. From now on, there will be no place for you in the Lingxu Sect!"

...

At the back mountain of the Lingxu Sect, a tomb stood before a sixteen-year-old boy who knelt there with a blank expression.

Faced with the scolding and angry shouts of over a dozen sect disciples, some of whom even pointed at his forehead...

He seemed oblivious...

His expression was wooden, his eyes hollow, like a walking corpse.

He was Mo Yang!

The only remaining disciple of the Wood Peak.

The Wood Peak was one of the five peaks of the Lingxu Sect, but it had fallen into complete decline in recent years.

The Fourth Elder often went out to seek various medicinal herbs, neglecting the affairs of the Wood Peak. The sect was extremely dissatisfied with this. Many of the Wood Peak's disciples were either directly withdrawn by the sect or joined other peaks on their own, leaving the Wood Peak deserted.

Mo Yang had long anticipated the merger of the Wood Peak.

But when the day finally came, he still felt an inexplicable sense of loss.

Looking at the newly built tomb, the kind face of the Fourth Elder kept appearing in his mind, refusing to fade...

In his heart, the Fourth Elder was not only his master but also his only family in this world.

He was an orphan. Ten years ago, the Fourth Elder saved him from the mouth of a fierce beast during an outing and brought him back to the Lingxu Sect, taking him as a disciple and teaching him cultivation.

When he first started cultivating, he could directly condense true qi, and his astonishing talent caused a sensation throughout the Lingxu Sect.

But he never imagined that what awaited him was not a glorious halo, but endless despair and darkness.

After ten years of cultivation, he still couldn't enter the first realm of a cultivator, the Qi Condensation Realm, because he couldn't store the condensed true qi in his meridians.

In the path of cultivation, Mo Yang was a genuine waste.

Over the years, the Fourth Elder had tried every possible method to prevent his monstrous talent from being buried.

But in the end, it was all in vain.

Half a month ago, there was news that a sacred herb had appeared in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, attracting many sects. The Fourth Elder, ignoring everyone's advice, insisted on going.

He knew that this was likely the opportunity to change Mo Yang's fate...

But he never returned!

Subsequently, several elders of the Lingxu Sect secretly investigated and learned from some cultivators that the Fourth Elder had been killed by a powerful cultivator from the Daodao Sect while trying to seize the sacred herb.

The Daodao Sect was a terrifying peak force, with a history spanning thousands of years and an unfathomable foundation.

Faced with such a behemoth, the elders of the Lingxu Sect dared not speak out and shifted all the blame onto Mo Yang.

The other disciples did the same, and from that day on, Mo Yang faced a flood of vicious words every day.

"From tomorrow, there will be no more Wood Peak in the Lingxu Sect. You must find your own way to survive!" The Second Elder glanced at him from a distance, said these words, and then turned and left.

After the disciples left, Mo Yang sat alone before the tomb, looking at the overgrown grass around him and listening to the howling wind, his mood sinking to the bottom.

"It's time to leave..."

After a long while, he whispered to himself.

But then, endless confusion flooded his mind.

Where could he go?

And where could he go to?

After a brief moment of confusion, a hint of self-mockery appeared in his eyes.

He muttered to himself, "I am an orphan. The world is vast; where can't I call home?"

"Master... rest assured, I will step into the path of martial arts, become a powerful cultivator, and avenge you one day!"

He couldn't understand his own condition. Everything seemed normal, but he just couldn't store the condensed true qi in his meridians. The true qi he condensed would always disappear within a short time, and this had been the case for ten years.

Not only was the Fourth Elder powerless, but the other elders of the Lingxu Sect were also clueless and couldn't find the reason.

As the last ray of sunset faded, the world plunged into darkness.

Mo Yang knew this was his last night in the Lingxu Sect.

He sat quietly before the tomb, his mind running through the cultivation techniques, and a thread of true qi slowly condensed in his meridians. As usual, the true qi dissipated shortly after it condensed.

He sighed helplessly. This had been the case for ten years, and he was already used to it.

Moreover, recently, every time he condensed true qi, he felt a sharp pain in his dantian, as if his body was being torn apart, which made Mo Yang feel a sense of fear.

Because if the dantian shattered, he would be completely cut off from the path of cultivation.

But at that moment, his body suddenly trembled.

Immediately after, his dantian seemed to shatter, and a crisp cracking sound echoed.

Mo Yang's face changed drastically. Was heaven really going to cut off his path of cultivation?

But the result seemed different from what he imagined.

The dantian, which cultivators could only open at the Spirit Sensing Realm, was inexplicably and instantly connected. The sudden change left Mo Yang stunned.

At that moment, a vast amount of true qi surged out of his dantian, instantly filling his meridians.

Mo Yang was stunned. Could it be that the true qi he had condensed over the years hadn't really disappeared but had been absorbed by his dantian?

And at the moment his dantian was connected, it felt as if something had been washed away, and a powerful force erupted from his dantian along with the true qi.

Mo Yang was shocked. In a short moment, he felt as if his meridians were about to burst, causing intense pain.

This had never happened before, leaving him unprepared.

Before he could recover, the surroundings suddenly changed. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a gray, misty space.

Mo Yang's mind was in turmoil. He was conscious, but what was happening had completely overturned his understanding, as if he were in a bizarre dream.

Where was this place?

He quickly scanned his surroundings...

It looked like a ruined wasteland, with broken stones scattered everywhere. It seemed to have experienced a terrifying battle, as some incomplete corpses could still be seen among the broken stones.

Then his pupils constricted. Not far away, a figure stood!

The figure stood with its back to him, tall and imposing.

It stood there like an unscalable mountain, like an ancient deity or demon.

This completely exceeded Mo Yang's understanding of cultivators. The figure gave off an extremely terrifying pressure, and even a glance could make one feel an overwhelming aura.

Mo Yang instinctively took a step back and asked, "Who are you?"

His intuition told him that this was an existence powerful beyond imagination.

The middle-aged man silently looked at Mo Yang, his expression unreadable. He didn't answer Mo Yang but said, "You being here means you have overcome the darkest time."

The calm words were like a thunderclap to Mo Yang, leaving him completely stunned.

Clearly, the other party knew his experiences!

At the same time, endless doubts arose in his mind...

Where was this place?

Who was this person?

He was sure this wasn't an illusion!

"Who are you?"

Mo Yang asked again, becoming more alert.

But the middle-aged man still didn't respond to Mo Yang's question. Instead, he said, "There is a loss, but there is also a gain. After the darkness, the dawn will surely come. When the seals in your body are broken, and you receive the power that defies heaven, you will embark on an invincible path."

Mo Yang stood there, stunned. The middle-aged man's words were like thunderbolts, causing a storm in his heart.

He had seals in his body? What was the power that defies heaven?

Could it be that this middle-aged man had already done something to him?

If so, then the ten years of darkness he had endured were likely due to this person!

If he hadn't heard it with his own ears, he wouldn't have believed it. A terrifying and mysterious powerful being, why would he do this to him?

In his memory, his past was a blank. When he had memories, he was already brought to the Lingxu Sect by the Fourth Elder, and then came the ten years of darkness.

Mo Yang couldn't calm down. He had already noticed that when his dantian was connected, not only a vast amount of true qi but also a powerful mysterious force had surged out.

Could that mysterious force be the power that defies heaven mentioned by the middle-aged man?

"What is the power that defies heaven?"

Looking at the middle-aged man who seemed both close and distant, Mo Yang's emotions were in turmoil.

"Heaven's inheritance!"

The middle-aged man seemed to smile, his eyes like shining stars.

At that moment, he exuded a domineering aura, and the four words were like a thunderclap, causing the gray, misty space to tremble.

"I am just a lingering imprint, waiting for you to come!"

The middle-aged man didn't say more. His body suddenly turned into a light mist and dispersed, causing the gray, misty space to tremble violently, as if a giant mechanism had been triggered.

Before Mo Yang could recover, he felt a force pushing him out.

...

The night wind blew, and Mo Yang's thoughts returned. He slowly opened his eyes, and the newly built tomb was still there, but under the dim moonlight, it looked even more desolate.

After regaining his senses, he quickly circulated his power. The true qi flowed in his meridians, and he discovered that his cultivation had already broken through the Qi Condensation Realm and the Spirit Sensing Realm, directly reaching the third realm of a cultivator, the Earth Profound Realm.

He couldn't believe it. The ten years of cultivation nightmares had been mysteriously resolved, and in such a short time, he had broken through six minor realms!

The true qi in his meridians, driven by the cultivation technique, continuously circulated, and the true qi that emerged from his body clearly told him that he had reached the first stage of the Earth Profound Realm.

Thinking of that strange space, he quickly focused his mind and found that a stone tower had appeared in his dantian.

With a thought, the scene before him changed again, and he instantly appeared before the stone tower. But upon closer inspection, the stone tower was incomplete.

The stone tower had eight levels, and above the eighth level, it seemed to be cut off, with a clear broken edge.

The stone tower shimmered with light, and the ancient stone skin seemed to have fallen off, revealing a few ancient characters. Mo Yang carefully identified them, and the two ancient characters seemed to be—Star Emperor!