By DARK_KINGXU
Xu Ming didn't know how long he sat there.
Time lost all meaning under the starlit sky. His body screamed. His mind burned. But beneath it all… he felt alive.
For the first time in his life, Qi moved through him.
It wasn't much. A trickle. A stream of silver mist sliding into his core. But it was real. And it obeyed him.
Each breath brought more clarity.Each moment made the world feel sharper.The threads that danced in his eyes were no longer chaotic. They pulsed with rhythm. Meaning.
> "So this is… cultivation," he muttered,
A memory surfaced. Something he'd heard once while cleaning the Yun Clan's courtyard.
> "The three paths must align: the Body, the Qi, and the Sight. Only then can one grasp the Dao."
He'd laughed quietly at the time. He had none of the three.
Now?
He had all three… just barely.
---
Suddenly, the well behind him began to hum.
Xu Ming turned, eyes narrowing.
The threads around the old stones pulsed faintly — gold and black, ancient and tangled. As if the very earth remembered something.
He crawled closer.
A single rock near the base had shifted. Beneath it were ashes.b Undisturbed for years.
He reached out, brushing them lightly. And then—Booomm
His mind was yanked into darkness.
---
He stood in a void.
A man stood before him, tall and robed in black. His eyes were nothing but swirling galaxies, and his aura… it bent the stars themselves.
> "You are not ready," the voice boomed, but not from the man's lips. From the heavens themselves.
Xu Ming fell to his knees. The pressure was unbearable. He couldn't move. Could barely breathe.
> "But the Eye has chosen. The threads have stirred. The bloodline... is not yet broken."
The man raised a single hand. From his palm, a drop of silver fire fell… and entered Xu Ming's chest.
---
He gasped awake, choking.
The ashes were gone. The threads around the well now glowed brightly, then faded.
In his dantian, the Qi spark had doubled in size.
And something else stirred.
A mark, faint and curved like a crescent moon, now sat just below his collarbone — invisible unless touched by light.
Xu Ming didn't know what it meant.
But he knew this much:
> "Someone sealed a piece of themselves… inside me."
Not just anyone.Someone powerful.Someone ancient.
And for some reason… they had chosen him.
---
Xu Ming stood slowly.
His body still ached. His strength was still pitiful. But his gaze was sharper than ever. The world unfolded before him in lines and flaws. Every rock. Every tree. Every enemy he'd ever face.
He had no master. No clan. No resources.
But he had his fists.He had the Eye.He had the path.
> "I may be broken now," he whispered, fists clenching, "but I will rise. One thread at a time."