The Spiritual Energy in this valley was becoming more violent each year, and this is the 1000th year it was happening. The spiritual energy storm ravages the entire valley, destroying anything and everything in it.
But for those who could survive, they would benefit greatly as the storm contains multiple elemental energies from common to the most unknown of them. For the ones who survived, they would gain benefits that far surpassed the ones they would find or plunder from others.
All lifeforms were either crushed or directly incinerated in this seemingly endless storm and in the middle of the Valley was a white stone that face up at skies or if some philosophy was applied it would say "An insignificant piece of earth staring into the heavens."
But that was not what made the stone stand out. Indeed, the stone was not normal for the spiritual storm, which was more concentrated here, making it the most dangerous place anyone would be in. The space around the stone seemed to ripple as the spiritual storm stopped for a single moment, then immediately began to rush towards the white stone.
A piece of the 'space' around the stone broke open and as if a beast was drinking water, the stone began absorbing every single bit of the spiritual storm leaving no scraps behind and when it was done the Valley gained silence for the first time in a century.
The dreary clouds that used to haunt this place dispersed, and the first ray of the sun shined on the land, and the first rays of the sun landed on the stone.
The space around it shattered and the sun shuddered before a thin,long crack that was spilling out a golden light appeared and on the rsdt of the stone, spiderweb like cracks appeared spilling out the golden light.
And from the stone, a cry emerged, a cry of a child finally being born after it was denied birth. Pure, untainted, and innocent—and yet strangely intelligent and boundlessly curious.
The golden light spilt forth like a flood, illuminating the valley in a divine hue. Trees that had long since perished began to blossom in mere seconds. Withered flowers bloomed again. The air became sweet with the scent of life of rebirth.
Then… silence.
The white stone crumbled completely, turning into fine dust that scattered into the breeze. And where the stone once stood, there now lay a child—no more than a toddler. His skin glowed faintly with the remnants of celestial light, his eyes golden and bright as the stars, and on his head curled tiny, silver furred ears.
He looked up at the heavens. His small hands reached out, not in anger… but in fascination.
All the creatures that had long since fled the valley began to return. Birds chirped cautiously in the trees. Spiritual beasts that had hidden deep beneath the earth lifted their heads to the new energy now humming through the ground. They all watched from afar.
The child looked at the sky, trying to pull it down for what seemed to be hours after his birth. Upset the child did not cry, it got up on its tiny legs, his small white monkey tail swinging left and right and his short white hair flowing along the wind.
The Mobkey born feom stone looked at the heavens one last time before looking at the surroundings. In his sight, he caught a large orange fox looking at him strangely.
The stone monkey blinked and then giggled.
The fox moved carefully towards the Stone monkey and, within moments, arrived in front of it. "Child...where is your mother.?"
The stone monkey tilted its head, it doesn't know what 'mother' meant, but he could feel that she was asking where he came from. "Mmm. Stone."
The fox was taken aback, it didn't know what to say, a child already saying a word at the moments of its birth should have terrified her but when it came out from the small mouth of the stone monkey, she couldn't help but feel that it soothed her.
The Fox sighed. Despite its strange birth, a child will always be a child. "A stone huh, you sound like that Great Sage Equal To The Heavens, but that's impossible. He is in the Immortal layer by now.."
The child smiled with excitement upon hearing the word. "Heaven?."
The fox, seeing the enthusiastic child, chuckled. "Yes, Heaven, it is a vast place only true immortals can touch."
The child just tilted its head and blinked.
The fox sighed, the child was...strangely intelligent and also innocent, she wanted to leave upon checking who or what caused the Spiritual storm to disperse and she found out who did and she was sure the other Spirtual Beasts would probably devour him without a hint of remorse.
The fox hesitated. She was not usually on the 'good' side, but she did have a good heart towards people who were not her enemies or would bring her danger.
The fox sighed once more...it would seem she would not be alone these coming days.
The fox lowered her body to the child's level, her great orange eyes studying his features carefully. "Very well, stone child," she said softly. "If no one claims you, then I shall watch over you… at least until you can walk on your own without trying to pluck down the sky."
The child looked at her curiously, then nodded. "Sky…" fall," he said seriously, pointing upward.
The fox blinked. He's mimicking meanings, not just words. Not normal… but not threatening either. "Yes," she said, humouring him. "Let's not try to make the sky fall."
And so, the fox led the monkey-child through the valley. Word began to spread among the ancient beasts and secluded cultivators that the Spiritual Storm of the Valley of Madness had finally ceased.
And that brought about the desire and greed of every cultivator.
Soon, time passed as quickly as the sound of a cicada. Four years have passed, and the stone monkey squared above a branch, looking down at the ground with deep contemplation.
His silver hair reflected the sunlight, and he just sighed after a while. "The valley seems much more quiet than before, I wonder why."
The stone monkey jumped down to the ground and walked towards his abode where his mother stayed.
When he arrived, he heard the sound of his mother almost immediately. "Luo Tian, are you back from your stroll."
The Stone Monkey, whose name was Luo Tiam nodded, his mother thought the name was poetic or something close to that. "Yes, mom and the Valley has been awfully quiet these days, I don't see Zhou Fang nor Li Shinsen."
The fox, now known as Luo Tian's mother to the child and a few others in the valley, turned away from the herbs she had been sorting. Her orange fur shimmered faintly under the flickering sunlight streaming into their den-like home, nestled between ancient stone roots.
Her voice held a tinge of worry. "Zhou Fang hasn't returned since he went to the northern cliffs… and Li Shinsen's aura vanished two days ago. I fear it's not mere silence you're noticing."
Luo Tian furrowed his brow, the childlike glint in his golden eyes fading into something sharper—more aware. At only four years of age, his thoughts ran far deeper than they should have. "Do you think they were taken?"
The fox sighed. "Sometimes life's takes it's course and it can be extinguished. The world is cruel, Luo Tian and you should know what my words mean."
Luo Tian frowned, his golden eyes turning to slits. "I understand, their fates were meant to end here...but that does not mean I cannot find out how they perished."
The fox raised a brow and pointed a paw to it's chest. "You don't have the strength for that an you do not practice the cultivation technique I gave you frequently."
Luo Tian pouted. "It's uncomfortable to practice and I have already changed it a bit, i just removed the fast spiritual energ7 gathering for more potent effects on building my foundation and plus i don't think even if I practiced that technique for a hundred years I would not even advance to a higher realm."
The fox's ears twitched. "You… modified it?"
Luo Tian nodded confidently, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Yes, the way it flowed felt… off. So I restructured the meridian paths in the second layer to focus on core resilience. I can gather energy slower, but I lose almost none of it. Isn't that better?"
The fox was silent for a long moment. Then, she laughed—a low, amused chuckle that grew louder as she looked at the boy before her with a strange mix of awe and concern.
"You're four," she said, shaking her head. "You barely know how to cook rice, and you're rewriting cultivation techniques?"
Luo Tian crossed his arms, his silver tail flicking in mild annoyance. "Cooking is boring. And cultivation is… clearer than speech, sometimes. I just feel how things work."
The fox stared at him. "You're not normal. You never were. I knew that the moment you pointed at the sky and tried to pull it down."
There was a silence between them, filled only by the rustling of wind in the leaves.
Then she added softly, "You must never show others what you truly are, Luo Tian."
Luo Tian nodded. "I know, I saw how some of the spiritual beasts look at me here, it was like they were dreaming to feast upon me when your protection over me is gone."
The fox's gaze grew somber, and she lowered her head so that her golden eyes were level with his. "Child...you're features are enough for that, you resemble a child between a human and a Demonic Beast making them think you're a Demi-Human but that is not the truth, you're a stone Monkey, a different kind but still a monkey."
Luo Tian shrugged. "Sounds complicated, anyways I'm going to go and try to find their corpses and bury them in their favourite spots."
The fox was a bit surprised that the child was not angry despite the news of his friends potentially dead. She watched as he walked out of the cave and walked further away from her senses.
But what the fox didn't know was that the child was simply suppressing such emotions. Why would he be angry when she said that?. He has not seen their situation with his own eyes so I does not count...but if what she said was true, the stone monkey's wrath would follow through even if his enemies are stronger than him.
The stone monkey was young but it was not foolish he had killed a lot of beasts with his own hands behind the back of his mother but he was not at fault, the beasts were simply too greedy.
As Luo Tian made his way through the thick underbrush, the familiar silence of the valley began to feel suffocating, almost unnatural. The birds no longer chirped. The wind, which usually carried the soothing scent of herbs and moss, was still—almost as if holding its breath.
He reached a clearing near the northern cliffs, the place Zhou Fang often meditated. The stone where the turtle-like spirit beast used to rest still bore the marks of clawed feet and scattered scales, but the air was stale—lifeless.
Luo Tian bent down, placing a hand on the stone, and his golden eyes flared briefly. A ripple of spiritual energy passed through the area, and he whispered,
"Echoes of breath… carry the truth."
A faint afterimage appeared: Zhou Fang, meditating calmly—until a sharp shift in the wind. Something… or someone… dark and cloaked in void-like qi struck from the shadows. The image flickered and died before revealing more.
"Masked qi?" Luo Tian muttered, his eyes narrowing. "Not a beast… a cultivator."
He turned to the east, towards Li Shinsen's last known location, a grove where crystalline flowers bloomed in moonlight. He arrived just as the sun began to dip behind the mountains. The flowers here had been trampled—shattered like glass. There was blood, faintly smeared along a tree trunk, but no body.
Luo Tian dipped his fingers in the dried crimson and closed his eyes. His mind reached into the spiritual residue.
"Let memory sing…"
A vision returned: Li Shinsen, his long antlered form charging through the trees, chased—no, hunted—by three robed figures.
Luo Tian opened his eyes. "Cultivators, huh?"
The two techniques he just used was something he created when he lost hos way in the valley some time ago at first it gave him a huge headache everything he used it but now it just take a lot of spiritual energy, but Luo Tian would not worry about Spirtual energy that much
He waved his hand, and a faint ripple spread through the Grove. "Let Memory Talk."