Gentle droplets of rain fell in the neon city full of colors, where lights shone. The streets, packed with crowds, focused on one spot.
A body lay in the center of the street, surrounded by the crowd. His breathing was heavy; his clothes were smeared with his own blood. His body was in front of a bloody truck.
As the crowd began to murmur and express their thoughts about the situation:
- "Must've been a drunk driving accident."
- "Someone! Call an ambulance!"
- "Is he gonna be okay?"
- "Everyone, the ambulance has arrived!"
- "Make way!"
As the ambulance sirens grew louder, the man lying in the street began to lose consciousness. His eyes were almost lifeless; his vision began to blur.
Then a cold voice rang in his ears.
"At last, darkness."
As his soul floated in the darkness, he questioned himself about how he had gotten into this.
"How does fate suddenly change plans? Is it my life's value? Or is it how incompetent I was?"
As his questions echoed in the darkness, his soul suddenly felt a warmth covering him. It felt like a small flame had ignited inside him.
As the darkness began to warp, he saw reality itself changing into something new. The darkness shifted from pure black—nothing—to a grayish black.
His soul felt the warmth of the air, then sudden coldness. Then another feeling in his head: a cold liquid was dripping onto his forehead. But it felt just like the sensation of being alive. Suddenly his eyes opened to see a wooden ceiling dripping with raindrops onto his face.
As another drop hit his face, he became irritated by the drops. He shot up from the bed he had been lying on, only to see the things around him: old traditional Chinese cups and other items.
Confused.
His eyes wandered to a mirror to see himself differently. His face looked average; his attire was a hanfu—a crappy black and grayish one with many stitches.
Now even more confused by his long, messy hair, he started to tie it.
While tying his hair, he questioned himself about how he had gotten to such a strange place.
"How the hell did I get here?"
As the cold breeze of the rain began to envelop him, he shivered in the cold. His hunger started to act up.
He became frantic, searching for something to eat and something to keep him warm. As the storm grew stronger, thunder struck above the skies—it felt like someone was fighting in heaven.
Finally, he found a loaf of bread lying on a table in the storage room. Beside it was a diary.
As he started to eat the bread, he began to ponder this strange world he was in now. Then he noticed the diary—dusty, just lying there quietly, waiting to be used.
As his curiosity grew, he couldn't help himself. He picked up the diary, opened it, and started to read.
As he read, he found that this world was like a cultivation world—the one he had dreamed would be real. His expression turned from relief to joy.
"My dream? Finally, it became real! Yes!"
Then he started to experiment inside the hut to activate his abilities. He read the diary again. It was a diary focused on cultivation and techniques left by the previous owner.
As he read, thunder struck a tree nearby. He ran outside to see the storm had grown stronger. Then another thunder struck, followed by an explosion.
The explosion was loud—it must have been close to the hut he was staying in. He went to investigate the sound. He saw a crater where a figure lay.
As his curiosity got the better of him, he checked and saw a man bound in ropes. His mouth gushed blood; his clothes were smeared with blood. Then another thunder roared.
As the man's breathing grew heavy, in a frantic voice he called to the boy, introduced himself, and shouted for the boy to run.
"Hey… there, passerby."
"I… I am Shin Luo, a grandmaster from the Heavenly Sect. You must escape, passerby, because the beast is coming. Run!!!"
As the rain grew heavier, a thundering roar came from the distance. It was the Thunder Scale Dragon—a massive beast. The ground shook with its presence.
The passerby quickly introduced himself, then carried the old man on his back. He started to run into the deep forest as the thundering roar grew louder. He was panicking; he regretted investigating in the first place.
"Hey, old man, I am Zhung Hang. Our goal for today is—to survive this massive beast!"
In a panic, he shouted many spells that he didn't know how to perform or activate—spells he had read.
"Fire Blast!"
"Raging Fire!"
"FIRE! FIRE POWER!!!"
The old man on his back just chuckled at the young man's foolishness. Then the old man looked back to see the massive beast in the distance charging toward them.
The old man stayed calm. With a hoarse voice, he asked the young man what technique he was trying to use.
"Young man, what spell are you trying to use?"
Zhung Hang, panicking, said he was trying to use a type of fire spell as a distraction for the beast.
The old man chuckled again, his eyes full of relief. Then he began to teach the basics of Chi Gathering to Zhung Hang. He continued calmly as the thundering roar grew louder.
"Young man, try to feel in your heart the warmth and your burning desire. Try to feel around you. Try to feel the warmth of Chi."
As they continued, Zhung Hang grew more and more tired. The massive beast was coming closer.
Then he tried to gather Chi while running. He tried to feel the Chi. Suddenly a warm aura enveloped his body; his heart became warmer.
The old man chuckled again, then asked what the name of the spell was that the young man was trying to use. Zhung Hang quickly answered—as they left a trail through the forest, with splashes of mud and footprints behind.
"Young man, well done. After that, tell me what spell you were trying to use."
"I forgot—must be Fire Blast, or maybe Flame Burst."
Then the old man laughed at Zhung Hang for not learning an easy and basic spell. He taught Zhung Hang how to make it work—how Flame Burst worked.
"Hahahaha, young man, you're late to the party. Flame Burst is the most basic and easy spell to use—even twelve-year-old children can do it. Hahaha."
"Ahem, but first we have to survive."
"Try to imagine a flame inside you. After that, try to push your gathered Chi out through your finger."
As Zhung Hang tried, he felt his Chi turn into a flame. He pointed his finger at a tree, then let his Chi out through his finger. A ball of flame emerged.
Then he released it fully.
As the old man and Zhung Hang watched the ball of flame floating, following Zhung Hang's finger, the old man commanded him to fire it at a tree in the distance.
Zhung Hang took aim, then controlled the ball of flame. He imagined the ball moving—it moved. It hit a tree in the distance. An explosion louder than thunder was heard. The beast lost focus, then continued to chase the two.
As its eyes looked at the trail in the deep forest, it saw nothing. It roared furiously as the storm grew wild.
As the rain and wind made the autumn leaves sway in the dead of night, two shadowy figures entered a hut.
It was the two—they had finally survived. As they sat on the floor opposite each other, Zhung Hang started a fire to keep them warm. Then Zhung Hang stood up and searched the storage for something to eat. The old man just smiled, then closed his eyes to rest.
After Zhung Hang found something to eat and was done eating, he woke the old man to ask questions.
"What were you doing?"
"What location are we in?"
"Where is the Heavenly Sect?"
The old man chuckled at Zhung Hang's questions, then answered all three in full detail.
"Firstly, I was tasked to collect some rare herbs in Thundering Mountain, where the Thunder Scale Dragon lives. I might have accidentally woken it up, and it chased me here."
"Secondly, we're in the Forest of Souls, where many souls wander, turning into vengeful spirits. I don't even know how you survived here, young man."
"Thirdly, the location of the Heavenly Sect is in the northwest. You'll find a peak mountain with stairs. At the top of the mountain is the Heavenly Sect."
Then he chuckled again and asked Zhung Hang to be his disciple, because he saw talent in Zhung Hang.
"Young man… be my disciple. I will teach you. I saw talent in you. I will pass my wisdom and teachings."
"You gathered Chi quickly while running, so be my disciple. If so, you'll achieve the peak of life."
Zhung Hang's breath grew heavy. He quickly bowed to the old man and accepted becoming his disciple. Now his dream to be a cultivator had become real.
"Yes!!! I will learn from your teachings, Master!!!"
Thus, Zhung Hang became an official cultivator.
As the leaves of autumn fell, the sky shone bright. The rays of the sun shone into a room.
An old man looked around his room. Then a sudden call came from outside.
"Master Hang! Can you teach us the Flame Burst?"
Zhung Hang, now old, opened the other window and looked at the kids below. He smiled.
"Sorry, I can't. I'm busy. Maybe tomorrow."
The kids walked away with disappointed looks.
"What a bummer."
Then the kids left. Zhung Hang was now aged 289. His master had passed away. As he remembered, he cleaned his room while recalling how his master had been killed by the Heavenly Demon.
How many masters had sacrificed themselves to stop the Heavenly Demon. How many lives were lost.
How he was the one left to stop the Heavenly Demon. How he had suffered internal Chi damage after the last blow he gave the Heavenly Demon, ending it.
Then he sighed, breathing out, thinking of his old days. He accidentally stumbled upon a book. As he dusted it off and read it, he saw the words:
> *Everything is an Illusion.*
> *None of it is Real.*
> *Heaven was Playing you.*
**End Of Chapter 1**