Eastern Desert.
Sword Cliff.
In the depths of a mountain range filled with countless hills and towering peaks, there existed a crater shaped like a giant slash that stretched for ten kilometers. The deeper one ventured, the denser the sword aura became.
At its entrance, about a kilometer inward, a young man sat cross-legged on the ground, his head lowered, gripping the hilt of a sword whose blade was buried deep in the earth.
Beneath him, a pool of blood formed from his countless wounds, spreading through the tears of his tattered robe.
"Puff."
Spitting out a mouthful of crimson blood onto the ground, Xu Yang kept an indifferent gaze. He didn't care about anything anymore.
Rising to his feet, he straightened his back—so rigid it resembled the shell of a tortoise.
He tried to take a step forward, but the moment he tensed the muscles in his calves, his handsome face twisted in agony. Even so, he maintained that same cold expression.
"If I die, so be it."
He had a meaningless, insignificant life. If he were to die, his own family would probably laugh for finally getting rid of a useless person.
"Hahaha..."
Xu Yang began to laugh, finding it amusing. He didn't blame anyone—in fact, he understood it perfectly. In a world full of struggles for resources, treasures, and even Dao partners, no family would tolerate feeding a worthless waste.
One of the reasons he had fought so hard to cross this cliff was to comprehend the sword... and gain the strength to protect himself and survive.
"Go to the end..." he muttered with a sigh. And, no longer caring about anything, he forced his muscles to move.
On the first step forward, it felt as if his legs were wrapped in a shroud. His vision began to blur from the rapid blood loss. But the main problem was the oppressive sword aura cutting into his skin like blades, pressing him down as if before a divine being.
'I won't bow! Even before a great power, I refuse to kneel! I know I'm weak, just an ant... but even so...'
Xu Yang took the second step.
Even if he was mediocre, his will was unshakable and his Dao heart unbreakable. Because of that, he managed to keep moving without letting out a single cry of pain.
After another step, his vision went dark and his muscles froze. He could no longer feel any movement in his body—only the blood flowing out.
It was agonizing, especially the sensation of countless sword-like spikes piercing his flesh, slowly tearing him apart.
"So this is the end, huh?"
Xu Yang accepted death with a calm heart.
"I wonder... did my sword improve? I wanted to test it at least once... what a pity..."
That was Xu Yang's last thought before completely losing consciousness of his physical body—only his awakened soul remained, for some reason.
"I'm still thinking? How curious..."
He didn't understand why, which only confused him more. But he didn't bother digging deeper. It wasn't worth thinking about. After all, he was dead.
Now in soul form, Xu Yang floated in a dark space like a pale ghost.
Bored, he started drifting forward, wandering aimlessly through the void.
After an undefined time—impossible to measure—he stopped, tired of moving without a purpose. He stayed still there, for what felt like an eternity.
"So boring... what did I do wrong? Am I trapped in an endless loop? Is this the price of my weakness?"
Xu Yang began to grow irritated.
If he still had eyes, they would surely show traces of madness. Being stuck in that void for so long was driving him insane.
"Calm down..."
He began to dissipate his troublesome thoughts. If there was one thing he had learned in life, it was ignorance—and thanks to that, he could detach from the world and forget everything.
Forgetting even himself, Xu Yang completely surrendered to the void. He no longer seemed like a living existence, but a true ghost.
He kept drifting, like a current flowing down a black river, until—without realizing—he reached the end.
There, before him, appeared a sea of stars. On the horizon, a golden monument stood tall. It looked like a tablet, but it wasn't. Its form was majestic, its radiance indescribable—an artifact beyond existence itself.
If Xu Yang still possessed his sanity, he would have stopped immediately, shocked.
But his ghostly body floated straight into the monument without resistance. The instant he touched it, his soul awakened.
"Huh? What is this?"
Xu Yang barely had time to think before his soul was pulled into the golden light.
....
Above Sword Cliff, night had fallen.
The sky was dark as ink, illuminated by a moon at its center and countless scattered stars. Among them, a golden star shone brilliantly, cutting across the heavens like a comet.
Xu Yang opened his eyes, watching the golden streak flash across the sky like lightning, his pupils trembling.
"I didn't die? And why is there a golden star in the sky?"
He didn't understand anything that was happening.
Placing a hand on his head, he tried to recall his memories. A minute later, all he could remember was that golden thing he had seen before waking up.
"It saved me? What was that?"
His mind burned trying to reason, but it was useless—no logic, no clues. The more he thought, the more questions arose.
"The golden star in the sky... and the one I saw... are they connected?"
Xu Yang lay on the rough ground, eyes empty.
After ten minutes, he decided to stop thinking. If he kept going, he'd lose his mind sooner or later.
He straightened his body, looked around, and realized he was still in the same place. Lowering his gaze, he saw his stained clothes and dried blood stuck to his skin.
"I actually endured the sword aura... until night?"
It didn't make sense. Earlier he had been dying, and now he was completely fine.
"That golden thing... what are you? Why did you save me? I didn't want to live again, you know? What's the point of this, if I'm still trash?"
Xu Yang shook his head, disgusted, with no desire to keep living. To him, carrying the burden of weakness was worse than death.
Grabbing the sword before him, he tried to stand, but immediately fell back down, eyes wide open.
The moment he gripped the sword's hilt, a voice echoed in his mind.
It had no emotion, gender, or age. It was the very embodiment of the void.
"You have grasped a sword on Sword Cliff. Condition fulfilled to register this location in the Heavenly Register."
Right after the message, Xu Yang once again found himself before the golden monument. He watched as glowing characters wrote themselves, and an illustration began to form.
Sword Cliff—with himself standing tall, holding the sword like a legendary swordsman.
"This makes no sense at all!"
He no longer felt surprise. He had gone through far too many strange things today.
He kept his gaze fixed on the monument, and then saw characters appear below the image, glowing even brighter than before.
When he read what was written, his eyes widened once again.
"S-Sword Dao Body."