The Zhou Hao Family residence stood grand and imposing. Its vast courtyard boasted a serene garden, where a fountain shimmered with water that glowed a strange, transparent green.
Within the study, an elderly man sat at the head chair. His scholarly features, framed by white hair and beard, were hardened by fury, the weight of his anger seeming to deepen the lines of age upon his face.
Kneeling before him, a young man lowered his head in silent submission.
"Do you know how the rumors about you have been spreading these days?"
"Do you even care about our family's reputation, huh?"
"Tell me—were you being bullied by that fat pig these past few days?" The old man screamed at the top of his lungs.
The young man wore a tearful expression as he spoke in a trembling voice.
"Sorry, Grandfather. I made the family lose face."
The old man calmed slightly upon hearing the apology, but his tone remained sharp.
"Do not call me 'Grandfather' when speaking of formal matters. How many times have I told you? Address me as Family Head!"
The old man was Zhou Haoxuan, a formidable elder whose influence within the clan was second to none. In the shadows, he harbored ambitions—to wrest control of the clan once the current clan head rose to the position of alliance leader. With the clan head preoccupied by countless affairs beyond the clan, his grip on internal matters would inevitably weaken. Zhou Haoxuan intended to exploit that moment.
Yet, for all his ambition, Zhou Haoxuan bore a foolish grandson. Haoyu's blunders had already tarnished the family's reputation, gnawing at the old man's patience.
"Speak. What did you do wrong?" he demanded coldly.
Haoyu trembled as he answered, "I erred when I let Jingxuan slip away… it was all because of that."
Haoxuan's fury erupted. His blood surged as he slammed a scroll off the desk, the parchment striking Haoyu square in the face.
"Useless wretch! A disgrace! This is the fault of your mother. Even now you fail to see the truth—it was never Jingxuan, but Zhiwei! He is the one pulling the strings!"
"That cunning pig is making you believe it all happened because of Jingxuan."
"What the hell does Jingxuan amount to anyway? Huh? He's just a third-grade talent with a limited future! Your opponent is Zhiwei—Zhiwei, not Jingxuan!" He screamed Zhiwei's name twice, trying to hammer the point into his grandson's head.
Haoyu lingered a moment , then spat the words out in a furious whisper. "I understand, Family Head. I'll make Zhiwei pay — I'll protect the family's honor."
At the mention of the clan, Haoxuan's features softened slightly; the fury that had driven him began to ebb.
"Wait until the Mingji selection," Haoxuan instructed coldly. "Then strike. Do not leave Jingxuan off either. Put the scroll back on the table. You may go now. Cultivate diligently—if you can deal with Zhiwei by then, a mere Jingxuan will be no threat."
If only this old man knew what monster Jingxuan was let alone when he had a third grade talent , even if jingxuan had failed awakening he would be wary of him.
Two months had passed.
A week before the Mingji selection, Jingxuan was quietly cultivating. His eyes were closed, fully focused on his aperture.The primordial essence of Rank One glowed faint red inside the aperture. The aperture had only around ten percent of its primordial essence left.. He was on the verge of breaking through the initial stage and approaching the mid stage.
He had been alternating the talent rings and the rank-one rings for several days. Now, feeling that he had stored enough energy to form a new ring, he made them spin in a single direction, aiming to form a new ring. Energy surged outward, radiating a bright light, and a new red ring took shape. Indeed, the rank-one rings were red.
As he achieved this breakthrough, a true red primordial essence could be seen emerging from the faint light-red essence that remained after the breakthrough. From the depths of the aperture, a new, vibrant red primordial essence began to form. Gradually, all the rank-one rings transformed from their light-red hue to a vivid, true red. Only the talent ring remained colorless.
"Success! Finally, Rank One mid-stage!" Joy could not be concealed in Jingxuan's eyes.
[Rank achieved by Jingxuan = Rank one- Mid stage-four rings]
He checked his aperture until he was satisfied. It was already midnight, so he lay on his bed to rest. He pondered for a while .
Actually, a Rank One initial-stage cultivator—or more precisely, a one-ring Rank One cultivator—cannot use very powerful Mingji, and there are not many Mingji suitable for them. Therefore, the academy waits until almost all students have achieved at least an initial stage with three rings before holding the Mingji selection. This way, all the students have more options to choose a Mingji suited to their cultivation.
Jingxuan was also waiting for the Mingji selection more than anyone. Mingji were the tools of their wielders; without them, cultivators were powerless.
Although Jingxuan was a master of hand-to-hand combat, he trained regularly, and his physique had grown strong enough that he felt confident he could handle most people in Si Fanghu Town, with a few exceptions. After all, he was only fifteen. No matter how much experience he had, he could not face opponents with naturally strong physiques and solid builds head-on without a Mingji.
For example, that bear-like instructor Wei Shan. Even in a scenario where neither he nor Jingxuan used a Mingji, if they fought head-on, the winner would be Wei Shan. The emphasis here is on "head-on."
After reflecting on everything, his mind finally eased, and he drifted into sleep.
The next day at school, it was already mid-afternoon and the classes had been dismissed.
Jingxuan was walking with a thin, meek, and short boy, who had short hair and an ordinary face.
As they went ahead, they turned into a corner road. The street was empty, with no people around.
The short boy handed Jingxuan a bag—it was a bag of Genesis Stones. With three hundred years of experience, Jingxuan could tell, without even opening the bag, just by its weight, how many stones were inside. After a quick feel check, he confirmed it.
It was five Genesis Stones short. Seeing there were fewer, he asked the boy,
"Zhou Bowen, there are only twenty-five Genesis Stones in here. That's less than what you promised."
Although Jingxuan spoke in a calm tone, Bowen's eyes filled with fear as he stammered,
"I–I couldn't manage to—"
Before he could finish his words, Jingxuan suddenly drove his knee into Bowen's stomach. Bowen curled up, clutching his stomach as he groaned in pain.
Jingxuan said, "So you lied to me? Is that our friendship, Bowen? Huh?"
Normally, this road was always empty, but today Chaoyang and Haoyu were there, watching from their hiding spot. Jingxuan had noticed them long ago, but he left them be. He couldn't care less about these people.
Chaoyang, who always stood for justice and righteousness, couldn't hold back any longer. He stepped out from hiding, anger and righteousness filling his voice as he shouted,
"Jingxuan, what are you doing?"
Jingxuan turned toward Chaoyang and replied as he smiled,
"I'm just talking to my friend here. Can't you see?"
Chaoyang turned to Bowen as he said, "Bowen, do not fear. Tell me what happened."
As they were talking, Haoyu also stepped forward from behind and said, with hatred and righteousness in his tone, "Jingxuan, you scoundrel! You are bullying and extorting money from your own classmate—how shameless! Bowen, tell us what he did. I'll make sure to give you justice."
Seeing the two influential figures appear, Bowen nearly blurted out the whole incident.
But—Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
Jingxuan struck before a single word left Bowen's mouth. He hadn't laid a hand on Bowen—his blows had landed on Haoyu and Chao Yang instead. In just a few swift blows, both Haoyu and Chaoyang were knocked to the ground. Haoyu fainted outright, his frail scholar's body unable to withstand the punches despite months of training. Chaoyang, however, sturdier in build, managed to remain conscious and forced out his words.
"Do you not feel guilty? Bullying the weak for money?"
"Attacking people when they are unprepared, like a coward."
Jingxuan ignored Chaoyang as he said to Bowen , "Bowen—next month, I hope you bring the correct amount of stones."
As he said that, he took both Genesis pouches from Chaoyang and Haoyu and left without answering.
Chaoyang was furious as he shouted, "I'll punish you in front of everyone and bring justice to Bowen."
Bowen's heart sank as he saw Chaoyang and Haoyu sprawled on the ground, helpless.
Jingxuan was inside a tavern near the school. It was evening, and the last rays of sunset were beaming through the window. He sat by the window, drinking wine. One of Jingxuan's favorite pastimes was drinking wine. In this world, there were no restrictions on age to drinking alcohol.
He continued to stare out the window, watching many people pass by as they returned home from work. Among them were a few rank one Mingji wielders. Out of every ten people, about four were rank one, while rank two wielders were far rarer—less than one among fifteen to twenty people.
He started pondering. This Haoyu was an interesting character. Back when Jingxuan had ranked among the top three in the assignment, Haoyu had taken offense, as if excellence were a personal attack. He'd started a petty feud out of envy, itching to bring Jingxuan down. If Jingxuan had been weak, he would've been just another name on Haoyu's list of easy prey.
But when the tables turned—when Jingxuan was extracting Genesis Stones from Bowen, Haoyu deemed it utterly unjust—an act he could not reconcile with his sense of righteousness.
Jingxuan thought of Earth, from where the transmigrator had come.
There, there were no mystical abilities when he experienced the transmigrator's life through the inheritance.
Jingxuan was able to grasp more about humans. Most people were like Haoyu in this world—be it this world or Earth.
Righteousness was a cloak they wore, heavy and ornate when it suited them, but easily shrugged off when they themselves were in the wrong.
Just like how unscrupulous rich people condemned a thief for taking even a single loaf, yet turned a blind eye to the piles they themselves kept, all while making the poor even poorer and letting them suffer and die.
Justice was not a principle to them, but a garment to dress up their own vanity.
Chaoyang was interesting in a different way.
He was one of those fools in society who actually believed in justice and righteousness, who thought the world would bend to fairness if only people tried hard enough.
Unlike Haoyu, whose morality was a cloak to show off, Chaoyang's ideals were like fragile armor—well-intentioned but easily shattered by reality.
These idiots were nothing more than tools, shaped by society and the higher-ups to be easily controlled. Righteousness had been drilled into them since birth, a chain disguised as a virtue, making them obedient pawns who believed they were acting freely.
They never questioned: What is righteousness? What makes something fair or unfair? Why should they stand by justice? What truly counts as right or wrong? And who even defines righteousness? They never stopped to ask why… what… or who…
They just followed… blindly, like leaves caught in a relentless current, never questioning, never thinking—bound in invisible chains of righteousness.
In this world,
there is no right or wrong,
nor justice or injustice,
neither fair nor unfair.
The world cares nothing for righteousness.
Only fools believe it is ruled by justice.
It has always been…
about survival.
It was always cruel, cold.
And yet… that was the beauty of this world.
Jingxuan smiled as checked the pouches he had received.
There were almost sixty Genesis Stones in total, including the ones he had taken from the two young masters.
Genesis Stones could be described as the essence of the world—they were what mortal Mingji wielders called them, anyway.
In his past life as an immortal, Jingxuan had a deeper understanding of them.
Setting that aside for now, these Genesis Stones were the currency of this world, as well as a cultivation resource that Mingji wielders used to advance their power.
A normal mortal family could live comfortably for fifteen days on just one Genesis Stone. But for Mingji wielders, it was a different story. Its value became clear when considering that both Haoyu and Chaoyang, who came from influential families, only had twenty-five Genesis Stones between them.
Then how did Bowen have twenty-five Genesis Stones on him? Of course, he had stolen them from home. As mentioned before, the situation in this town was quite abnormal. Si Fanghu Town lay within the Western Jungles, one of the five major regions of the world.
In the Western Jungles, clans built their own cities and towns, each controlled by its respective clan. Unlike here, where alliances existed, such a situation was extremely abnormal.
Another unique feature of Si Fanghu was that it served as a trading hub for a small corner of the Western Jungles, as it was the main route for many small caravans. It is noteworthy that it was primarily a trade hub for small clans; occasionally, medium-sized clans would come here. The Western Jungles were vast—more than 120 times the size of Earth. Clearly, such a small village could not serve as the trading hub for the entire Western Jungle.
So Bowen's father was quite a skilled trader.
From his past life's memories, Jingxuan knew that Bowen had been stealing money from his father.
Jingxuan had forgotten most of the unwanted memories, but he remembered this because Bowen had been trying to win Wenjing over with money.
She had drained him ruthlessly, and after Bowen got caught, she completely ignored him and denied any involvement.
But Jingxuan couldn't care less about any of that.
After drinking for a while, he called the waiter and paid one Genesis Stone.
Jingxuan wore the academic uniform, showing that he was a Mingji wielder. The waiter, being a mortal, was extremely respectful as he asked, "Lord, do you want anything more?"
After Jingxuan shook his head, the waiter bowed before leaving.
Jingxuan was fond of wine, and the kind he liked here was quite expensive. He didn't mind; he handed the Genesis Stone to the waiter.
After leaving the tavern, he felt the night breeze and muttered, "It's time to get the inheritance."