Chapter 1: Jiang Zhe
The sky was clear, the red sun just beginning to rise.
Inside a towering nine-story alloy building, all the direct descendants of the Jiang family had gathered.
Today marked the sixteenth birthday of Jiang Zhe—the youngest of his generation—and, according to family tradition, the day he was finally allowed to begin formal martial arts training.
Here, "martial arts" referred to genuine combat techniques.
Until now, his training had focused on nurturing his body—gradually enhancing physical fitness, reading martial texts to strengthen the mind, and broadening his understanding.
On this version of Earth, before one could even be called a martial artist, the body had to meet strict standards. This world didn't reward people for using 100% of 10% power—it required you to have the raw power in the first place.
"Punch Force: 790 kilograms!"
"Speed: 22.4 meters per second!"
"Nerve Reaction Speed: Average!"
"Congratulations, Young Master Zhe!"
Old Wu, the butler overseeing the assessment, beamed with pride. "You're only a step away from the advanced trainee level—and you've just started. In time, you're sure to have a place among the War Gods."
Only a family as powerful as the Jiangs—one of the top clans in the Hanxia Nation's HR Alliance—could afford a butler confident enough to say something like that.
Even though Jiang Zhe had mentally prepared himself, when he heard the results, he couldn't help but clench his fists. Excitement surged through him.
He had been in this world for sixteen years.
Born in 2030. Now, it was July 26th, 2046.
The great upheaval—the rise of martial artists—was still a decade away.
2056...
Yes.
This world was Swallowed Star.
A dream realm for countless transmigrators.
In this universe, martial arts were the path to godhood. If you had strength, you could achieve anything.
Comprehending the laws of the universe was the backbone of martial arts—and without talent, you were destined to fail.
"Sixteen years old and already halfway to advanced trainee… This is a strong start.
Just how far can I go in this life?"
Jiang Zhe's heart burned with ambition.
He imagined the vast cosmos depicted in the novel.
He thought of those mighty Domain Lords, Immortals, and Venerables.
His pulse quickened—
120... 130... 140... 155...
180!
200!
His smart wristwatch's health monitor blared in alarm as the numbers spiked wildly.
His heart pounded, his vision blurred.
It all happened too fast for him to react.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
His heart slammed like a war drum, threatening to burst from his chest.
As his heart—the engine of the body—pumped furiously, a hidden energy suddenly surged into the depths of his mind.
"AAGH!"
Jiang Zhe collapsed, clutching his head in agony, rolling on the ground.
"Zhe?! What's happening!?"
"Little Brother!"
"Is it another headache? Is he awakening?!"
"Doctor! Get the doctor!"
Only a few seconds had passed, but it felt eternal.
Jiang Zhe's eyelids grew heavy. His vision darkened. His family's panicked voices faded into echoes.
As consciousness slipped away, one last thought surfaced—
Psychic power...
Is this my awakening—or just a surge?
He was certain he had psychic potential.
For years, he had suffered from sudden headaches, always followed by unnatural boosts in his physical abilities.
Luo Feng, the protagonist of Swallowed Star, had awakened as a psychic at sixteen and joined the Elite Dojo as a mid-level trainee.
But Jiang Zhe?
He was stronger than Luo Feng at this stage.
Some of that was thanks to psychic stimulation—but more came from bloodline inheritance and an excellent training environment. That's how he'd managed to almost reach the advanced level so early.
He didn't know how talented the original Jiang Zhe was in the original timeline.
But his own soul—transmigrated from another world—was strong by nature. And after sixteen years of nurturing in this new world, he was confident:
His psychic talent wouldn't be weak.
---
He was right… but also wrong.
The situation inside him was far more dangerous than just an awakening.
In the depths of his mind, a strange battle had begun.
Inside a boundless mental space, endless mist surged.
At the center, a glowing golden sphere—like a mini sun—rotated slowly, releasing thin trails of mist into the surroundings.
This golden sphere was the crystallized form of mental power—the core of his psychic potential.
But the mist... was thinning.
Then, it appeared.
A stone orb, rough and ancient, drifted silently through the fog.
It was the same size as the golden sphere and absorbed every wisp of mist in its path.
Once it had devoured all the scattered energy, it turned toward the golden sphere—then charged.
No clash happened.
Instead, the golden sphere turned translucent and merged into the stone orb—taking Jiang Zhe's very soul with it.
If seen through the lens of a cultivator, this moment was shockingly familiar.
It resembled the transformation that occurred when a warrior broke through to the Domain Lord level—when the soul was sealed into a Life Core, granting near-immortality.
But this ancient stone orb?
It wasn't just a Life Core.
It was a Prokaryote—a seed of potential far greater than ordinary warriors ever achieved.
---
When Jiang Zhe's consciousness returned, he found himself in a strange new space.
All around him was swirling chaos mist, except for a flat, open area about ten meters wide.
In the center grew an ancient tree, its trunk more than a meter thick.
Its twisted branches reached into the fog, concealing the tree's crown.
Beneath it sat a stone table and stools.
On the table lay a heavy logging axe.
"I'm conscious again… but where is this?"
He had no body here—only his mind floated in this strange realm.
Scanning the surroundings, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a surge of knowledge from the space itself.
"Chop… the tree?"
He was being instructed to pick up the axe and chop the tree.
Surprised, fragments of old memories stirred.
This is... familiar.
My cheat… has arrived.
It all came flooding back.
Before transmigrating, he had a reckless habit—playing trashy mobile games late at night after work.
One night, soaking his feet, he pulled his charger too hard, yanked the power strip off his desk, and dropped it—right into the foot bath.
The game he was playing at that exact moment?
A tree-chopping, reincarnation-themed mini-game.
You'd start as a demon, chop down trees to earn treasures, cultivate, transcend tribulation...
"One swing to fell a thousand-year-old tree! One chop to step onto the path of immortality!"
Damn. Even transmigrating couldn't save me from that ad."
"But hey… a cheat is a cheat. Let's give it a try."
He focused his mind and tried to move the axe.
It didn't budge.
"Do I need a body to act in this space? But how do I enter this place physically?"
As soon as the question formed, he felt his mind plummet—like falling off a cliff.
Suddenly, his senses returned all at once.
The smell of disinfectant.
The pressure of an IV in his hand.
Footsteps pacing. Whispers filled with worry.
He opened his eyes.
He was back in his room, lying in bed.
A drip was hooked to his arm. The room was crowded.
The most eye-catching figure was a man who looked like a bear pacing anxiously—his second brother, Jiang Wu.
"Woke up too hard... Thought a bear demon came to steal my blanket..."
He muttered a joke to himself, but didn't lie back down.
Instead, he sat up and pulled out the IV.
Jiang Wu turned sharply at the sound.
Seeing Jiang Zhe awake and tugging at the needle, he roared with joy.
"He's awake! Little Zhe's awake!"
His aunt and cousin rushed to the bed.
Jiang Wu tried to crowd in but was pushed aside.
He scratched his head sheepishly and joined the tall, scholarly man standing by the wall—Jiang Wen, the eldest brother.
Jiang Wen was refined and focused on business—almost certainly the next family head.
Jiang Wu was all brawn. Only 23, he was already a mid-tier martial warrior and had earned a spot in the Thunder Dojo's elite training camp.
Cousin Jiang Sisi, a tough-looking short-haired woman, was also a high-level warrior. She asked gently about his condition.
The third generation of the Jiang family:
Wen, Wu, Si, and Zhe.
Even their names followed tradition.
"I'm fine, really. This has happened before. You all know it's not a bad thing—it's actually good."
Jiang Zhe reassured his family.
His childhood headaches had long been diagnosed as signs of strong psychic potential.
Psychics—unlike martial artists—weren't considered strange in the Jiang family. They had seen many.
But his aunt, Jiang Chengcheng, glared.
"Not a bad thing? If your awakening fails, you could've ended up brain-dead, or worse—bleeding from every orifice!"
"Your mom took one look, said you'd be fine, and went off to play mahjong again. Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were adopted."
Jiang Zhe just smiled.
His mother really was that carefree.
And his aunt never got along with her. He wasn't going to get involved.
Jiang Sisi signaled her brother to change the subject.
Jiang Wu caught on and asked,
"So, Little Zhe… Did you fully awaken?"
Jiang Zhe frowned.
He tried to sense his psychic powers.
Tried to move objects.
Tried to look inward…
Nothing.
No awakening. No mental power.
No spiritual awareness.
He hadn't even started training with genetic energy, so internal sight wasn't possible either.
But then—he noticed something strange.
There's… a stone sphere in my mind?
It was a small, ancient-looking orb resting inside his brain.
It moved with his thoughts, rolling from the center of his brow to his throat, chest, abdomen—and finally settled deep in the core of his being.
This… this is the Prokaryote?
A unique structure.
A seed of power.
A symbol of advanced lifeforms—like the Golden Horned Beast in Swallowed Star.
That strange world I visited earlier… That must've been the inner space of the Prokaryote!