Chapter 1: The Ant in the Gutter
Pain. A sea of it, devouring his very existence.
He, Ling Chen, the legendary Alchemist God of the Nine Heavens, a man who could refine stars into pills and smelt galaxies into artifacts, was perishing. Not on the battlefield against some primordial demon, but in his own divine palace. A cup of wine, it fell from his shaking hands. The sound it made as it struck the jade floor was the last thing his original body ever heard.
His wife. The Divine Empress Ji Yao'xue. The woman who had been the object of his affections for ten thousand years, whom he had assisted onto her throne, had betrayed him. The wine was poisoned with "Nine Serenities Soul-Scattering Dew," a poison he himself had invented, a poison with no antidote. The irony was so bitter it caused his soul itself to want to retch.
"Why." His holy soul thundered, a great storm of anger and incredulity.
Her lovely face, a face he had loved, was icy as winter snow. "Ling Chen, you are a genius, the greatest alchemist of all time. But you are just an alchemist. Your heart is too tender, you have no desire for real power. I, on the other hand, want to control all. Your skills are the last stepping stone I need. Farewell, my love."
His vision blurred into an infinite, choking blackness. Anger, loathing, a thirst for revenge so fierce that it felt it branded a hole through the very fabric of reincarnation itself.
Ji Yao'xue. I'll be back! I'll rise again from the depths of the lowest hell, and I'll make you. REGRET!
.
A stabbing, pounding headache. A greasy, wet stench filled his nostrils. It reeked of mold and poverty.
Ling Chen's eyes, they had opened slowly.
Not his palace of gods. This was a dilapidated wooden hut. A beam of sunlight came in through a gap in the roof, lighting up whirlpooling dust motes. He struggled to sit up, his body protesting like a piece of paper ready to tear at the slightest touch.
Then the memories arrived. A deluge of them, not his.
A boy, with the same name as him, Ling Chen. Sixteen years old. He was the young master of the mighty Ling Family in the Azure Sky Upper Realm. But this "young master" was a shameful title. Born with hopelessly clogged meridians, he couldn't cultivate, a piece of trash in a family that cared about power above everything. His own parents, to preserve face, had ruthlessly left him here, in this neglected part of the Mortal Desolate Realm known as Green Leaf Town.
The original Ling Chen had been a wretched existence, bullied and derided. Yesterday, he was beaten to death by a group of other youths for a mere stalk of an inferior 'Serpent-Tongue Grass'.
"Hmph. What an abject life." Ling Chen, the Alchemist God, scorned inwardly, his tone laced with the haughtiness of a superior being. He attempted to shift his spiritual energy, his divine sense, but sensed only emptiness. His cultivation was lost.
No. not lost.
With immense effort, he concentrated what little was left of his mighty soul, directing his senses inward. He examined this new body. The meridians were indeed sealed. But. they weren't blocked. They were sealed. The seals were amazingly complex, practically natural, as if they'd been born along with the body itself. And under those seals, he sensed a horrific, latent power. It was such a universe in hibernation.
Wait. this energy signature. this is. hahaha!
Ling Chen couldn't help but inwardly laugh.
This isn't a trash physique! This is the mythical Primordial Chaos Body! One of the strongest three physiques in all existence!
The Primordial Chaos Body is born in a state of turbulence, its meridians naturally sealed. It is unable to absorb the world's Qi like ordinary cultivators. To mortals, it seems to be the absolute trash physique. But they were merely ignorant frogs in a well! To awaken it, it requires a god-level cultivation technique and a vast amount of pure energy. When awakened, its cultivation speed is horrifying, it can digest any form of energy, and its combat power is unparalleled within the same realm!
"My own parents rejected me for being a treasure they were blind to?" Ling Chen's lips twisted into an icicle smile. "Ling Tian, Liu Mei. And you, Ji Yao'xue. Just wait. This time, I will not only be the God of Alchemy, but the God of all Martial Paths!"
Abruptly, the creaking door to his hut was kicked open with a resounding BANG!
Three young men walked in, their faces flushed with derision. The leader was tall and strong, and had a vicious face. This was Wang Hu, the son of the patriarch of the Wang Family, who was one of the powerful families in Green Leaf Town. He was the one who administered the coup de grace to the last Ling Chen.
"Hahaha! I heard the trash was still breathing! I came to check if we needed to assist him in dying for good," Wang Hu laughed heartily, his two followers chiming in.
One of them kicked Ling Chen's body with his foot. "Hey, trash, still playing dead? You really are worthless, can't even die properly."
Ling Chen's eyes gradually opened, but the subservience and fear they anticipated seeing were gone. Instead, his gaze was as deep and hard as the space between stars. It was a look of utter indifference, the way a dragon would regard a speck of dust.
Wang Hu felt a cold shiver, but shook it off immediately. What was he frightened of by this rubbish? His face burned with rage. "You have the temerity to look at me like that? Rubbish! I beat you up yesterday for having the nerve to harvest the Serpent-Tongue Grass that I had my eye on for Miss Su. Today, I'll smash your other arm to pieces for giving me that look!"
Ling Chen slowly sat up, stiffly moving. He gazed at Wang Hu and his friends, and a scornful smile danced on his lips.
"You?" he snapped, his voice raw but laced with an ancient haughtiness. "A little worm who has just reached the third layer of the Body Tempering Realm? Your Qi is unclean, your foundation shakable. You used cheap pills to progress, didn't you? Your potential is limited. An ant like you presumes to be haughty in front of me?"
Each of Ling Chen's words stung Wang Hu like a slap in the face. Wang Hu's eyes widened. How did this garbage know that he had taken pills to push past? His father had warned him it would weaken his foundation, but he was impatient!
His humiliation soon shifted to fury. "You're inviting death!"
Wang Hu bellowed and punched. It was the Wang Family's special "Fierce Tiger Fist," and a weak tiger roar followed. In a small town like Green Leaf Town, this was a powerful skill.
The flunkies applauded, "Young Master Wang is strong!" They already imagined Ling Chen's head bursting like a watermelon.
But Ling Chen didn't even shift from his position. He just lifted a hand, his pale and bony fingers. Just as the fist was going to land, he made a lazy, effortless motion. He tapped one of his fingers on Wang Hu's wrist.
It appeared to be a light tap.
CRACK!
The crack of shattering bone was appallingly loud in the little hut. Wang Hu's fist came to a stop. A look of absolute horror and incredulity contorted his face. His whole arm dangled at a grotesque angle, evidently broken.
"Ahhh! My arm!" he screamed, dropping to his knees and holding his shattered arm.
The two servants stood stock still, their jaws agape. They couldn't comprehend what had occurred. The worthless garbage, a single, feeble-sounding tap, and it had snapped Young Master Wang's arm?
Ling Chen rose to his feet, brushing off his tattered clothes as if he had just finished accomplishing something completely trivial. He glanced down at the crying Wang Hu.
"The Fierce Tiger Fist uses ferocity, but your control is abysmal. You concentrate all your power in the fist and leave your wrist, your elbow, and your shoulder with three death openings. Any child can beat you," Ling Chen said quietly, each sentence a blow to Wang Hu's pride. "Now leave my presence. Your presence defiles the air."
"You. you." Wang Hu's face turned purple with anger and pain. He was the young master of the Wang family! Never had he been so humiliated! The shame and fury rose up in his throat. "Puchi!" He actually spat a mouthful of blood.
At that time, a gentle, sweet voice came from the doorway. "What is happening here?"
Everyone shifted. In the middle of them stood a girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age. She had on a plain green dress that could not conceal her developing, luscious figure. Her face was thin and lovely, such as a lotus flower, and her skin was white. She was Su Mei'er, the acknowledged beauty of Green Leaf Town and the daughter of the Su Family's leader.
Her pretty eyes opened wide as she looked inside. Ling Chen, the town's legendary trash, was upright, and Wang Hu, the town's bully, was curled up on the ground, spewing blood and having a broken arm. What did that mean? She had heard Wang Hu was bullying Ling Chen again about the Serpent-Tongue Grass she required, and had come with a trace of guilt, with the intention of stopping him. She did not think this would happen.
The two henchmen, noticing her, rushed to assist Wang Hu up. "Miss Su! This rubbish ambushed Young Master Wang! He's lost his mind!"
Wang Hu, upon catching sight of Su Mei'er, experienced another bout of humiliation. To be caught in such a condition in front of the girl he was attempting to woo. his face colored with a shade of crimson that was nigh on black. "Ling Chen! You dare! My father will not release you!"
Thus they fled from the shack, carrying their wounded young master.
Now there were only Ling Chen and Su Mei'er. The atmosphere was slightly uncomfortable. Su Mei'er gazed at Ling Chen with a complicated look. This was not the weak, cowardly boy who would bend his head when seeing others. This Ling Chen stood upright with an air of absolute confidence, even arrogance. His eyes especially were deep and enchanting as if holding the wisdom of centuries.
Ling Chen's eyes scanned her. Not half bad for a mortal world girl. Her body is elastic and her yin energy is unspoiled. She would be a good cauldron. no, a good maid.
He moved towards her, his mouth twisting in a playful smile. He paused a step behind her, close enough she could smell his breath. Her heart began to pound like a drum.
"Little girl, what are you staring at?" he asked, his voice deep and compelling. He leaned in a bit nearer, his gaze shamelessly raking her from the flushed face, down to the soft rise of her breasts, and then back again. "Are you in awe of this young master's fresh authority? Or were you concerned for my pretty face getting destroyed?"
No one had ever spoken to Su Mei'er like this. The town's young men were respectful or furtively lustful, but none so openly insolent. She flushed beet red in an instant. "You. who's concerned about you! Don't be shameless!" she spluttered, stepping back.
"Hahaha," Ling Chen smiled with a low laugh. "You're here for the Serpent-Tongue Grass, aren't you? That fool Wang Hu wanted it. Do you know why?"
Su Mei'er looked puzzled. "Why?"
"He wanted to powder it up with a Red-Veined Lizard's blood to make a crude 'Lust Inducing Powder'. He was going to use it on you," Ling Chen spoke lightly, as though discussing the weather.
Su Mei'er's own pretty face paled, then reddened with disgust and anger. She had thought Wang Hu was a scoundrel, but she had not realized he was so horrible.
"So, you see," Ling Chen went on, advancing one more step, pushing her back against the doorframe. He raised his hand and stroked behind her ear with a stray piece of her hair, his fingers sending shivers along her skin as they touched. "I technically rescued your virtue. How do you intend to pay me back? In the world of mortals, it is only right for a girl to pay back a life-saving favor by devoting her life to him, isn't it?"
Her brain went blank. Her whole body flushed hot. This was trash Ling Chen? This couldn't be. This devil was so charming and arrogant.
"I. I." She was totally flustered, not able to construct a simple sentence.
Ling Chen laughed once more and retreated a step, letting her get some air. He had just been reborn; he had no spare time for affairs, but toying with this little mortal girl was an entertaining diversion.
"I'm kidding. Go home, little girl," he replied, his voice returning to one of condescending scorn. "Don't bother me again unless you have some top-grade spirit herbs. And I mean real herbs, not trash like Serpent-Tongue Grass."
With that, he stalked away from her and into the depths of his shack, leaving a totally confused and flushed Su Mei'er standing at the door. Her heart was a jumbled mixture of shock, anger, shame, and a strange, unexplainable spark of curiosity.
Ling Chen dismissed her. He settled onto his stiff bed, his thoughts already working overtime.
This body, the Primordial Chaos Body, requires an enormous quantity of pure energy to activate. The spiritual Qi within this Mortal Desolate Realm is sparse and unclean. I must seek sources. Pills. I must make pills.
His eyes flashed with an icy, keen light.
To begin with, I will polish a five-element "Body Tempering Foundation Pill" to make this flimsy vessel stronger. Next, I will seek a means of producing a "Chaos Awakening Elixir". This will not be easy on this desolate world, but I am the Alchemist God. Nothing is impossible for me.
Ji Yao'xue. Ling Family. Just wait for me. The ant you cast into the gutter has been reborn. And soon, he will come back to destroy your heavens.