Among all the buildings within the Shen Clan estate, the library was the quietest.
It stood at the far end of the compound, separated from the forge and training grounds by a courtyard shaded by tall cedar trees. The constant noise of hammering steel and shouting disciples faded into distant echoes here. Inside the library, the only sound that usually remained was the turning of pages.
Most clan members rarely visited the place unless they needed a specific manual.
Shen Yuan, however, spent more time here than anywhere else.
He pushed open the wooden doors and stepped inside.
Sunlight streamed through the tall windows and fell across long rows of shelves packed with scrolls and bound books. The Shen Clan had collected these texts for generations, preserving everything from cultivation theory and historical records to philosophy and military strategy.
The smell of old paper and ink filled the air.
Shen Yuan walked toward the table near the window where several books had already been stacked.
He had left them there the night before.
The boy sat down and opened the first book.
The title read Foundations of Cultivation.
Although most children only began reading such material shortly before their Spirit Awakening ceremony, Shen Yuan had been studying it for years already. His curiosity had always been stronger than that of the other children.
In truth, Shen Yuan had been unusual since the day he was born.
His parents had told him that he had been an unusually quiet infant. Instead of crying constantly like other babies, he often stared silently at the ceiling or the sky beyond the windows, as if he were searching for something he could not quite remember.
Even as a child, strange dreams had occasionally appeared in his mind.
Fragments of darkness.
Endless space.
A sensation of drifting through a vast emptiness.
And sometimes, a faint sound echoing deep inside his thoughts.
Om.
The visions never lasted long. They faded quickly, leaving behind only a vague sense that he had once experienced something far beyond his understanding.
As Shen Yuan grew older, the dreams appeared less frequently.
Something else gradually replaced them.
Combat.
From the moment he was old enough to walk steadily, Shen Yuan had been fascinated by martial practice. While other children played games or chased each other around the courtyard, he often stood beside the training grounds watching the clan disciples practice sword forms.
By the age of five he had begun imitating their movements.
At first the instructors thought it was simple curiosity.
But it soon became obvious that the boy learned unusually quickly.
By seven years old, Shen Yuan had already begun participating in the clan's sparring sessions for younger disciples. Most children approached those matches nervously, hesitating before striking or pulling their attacks at the last moment.
Shen Yuan never hesitated.
His movements were decisive.
Precise.
Coldly efficient.
During one match, he knocked a boy three years older than him to the ground with a perfectly timed strike.
The instructor had scolded him afterward.
"You need to control your strength."
Shen Yuan had simply shrugged.
"He left his guard open."
After that day, fewer children volunteered to spar with him.
Some of them called him arrogant.
Others called him frightening.
Shen Yuan didn't care much about either opinion.
To him, fighting felt natural.
Like breathing.
Whenever he watched someone move, his mind automatically began analyzing them.
Balance.
Speed.
Weak points.
It happened without effort.
As if some deeper instinct inside him had already learned these lessons long ago.
Shen Yuan turned the page of the cultivation book.
According to the text, cultivation began with Spirit Awakening.
Only those whose spirits successfully awakened could sense the energy of the universe. This energy, known as qi, existed everywhere and manifested in many elemental forms.
Fire.
Water.
Wind.
Earth.
Lightning.
Wood.
Metal.
Light.
Darkness.
Some rare individuals possessed affinity with multiple elements, but such cases were extremely uncommon.
Shen Yuan tapped the page thoughtfully.
"So the body becomes the vessel," he murmured quietly.
"Then qi fills it."
After awakening, cultivators would enter the stage known as Spirit Resonance, where they gradually learned to sense the energy surrounding them. Next came Vessel Tempering, where the body was strengthened so it could safely contain greater amounts of qi.
Only after those stages did the true path of cultivation begin.
Qi Gathering.
Energy Condensation.
Core Formation.
And many higher realms beyond that.
Shen Yuan closed the book slowly.
Cultivation fascinated him, but not in the same way it fascinated most young disciples. Many children dreamed about flying through the sky or wielding incredible power.
Shen Yuan was more interested in understanding how everything worked.
He reached for the next book.
History of the Eastern Continent.
The opening pages contained a detailed map.
Shen Yuan studied it carefully.
Four great empires ruled the eastern region.
The Dragon Crown Empire.
The Crimson Sun Empire.
The Iron Mountain Empire.
And the Stormwind Empire.
Each controlled enormous territories filled with cities, clans, and cultivation academies.
But Shen Yuan's eyes quickly settled on another region.
A large stretch of land marked simply as The Wilderness Borderlands.
That territory had once belonged to a fifth empire.
His family's empire.
The Shen Empire.
Shen Yuan leaned back slightly in his chair as he continued reading.
According to the records, the Shen Empire had once guarded the frontier between civilization and the wilderness. Its armies had defended the eastern region from the endless demonic beasts that roamed beyond the mountains.
The empire's warriors were feared.
Its blacksmiths were renowned.
Its cultivators were powerful.
Then the wilderness war came.
Shen Yuan had heard parts of the story from his grandfather many times.
A massive beast tide had surged out of the wilderness.
Cities were destroyed.
Armies vanished.
The Shen Empire fought for years to hold the frontier.
But eventually the tide became too large to contain.
The empire collapsed.
Shen Yuan frowned slightly as he continued reading.
The other empires had not intervened.
Instead, they fortified their own borders and waited.
From a political standpoint, Shen Yuan understood the decision.
Helping the frontier empire might have weakened their own defenses.
Still, the result had been inevitable.
The Shen Empire fell.
The surviving noble families scattered.
Many of them became ordinary clans.
Like the Shen Clan itself.
Shen Yuan turned another page.
It described the Thirteen Major Clans of the eastern region.
These clans possessed influence comparable to smaller kingdoms. Some controlled entire mountain ranges. Others maintained powerful academies where young cultivators were trained.
Two names caught Shen Yuan's attention.
The Iron Mountain Clan.
And the Azure Sword Clan.
Both had fought beside the Shen Empire during the wilderness war.
Both had suffered enormous losses.
Shen Yuan tapped the table thoughtfully.
"So they were the only ones who helped."
He flipped to the next section.
It described the structure of cultivation training across the eastern region.
Young cultivators usually began their journey within local academies or clan training halls. After reaching sufficient strength, they could attempt the examination for the Sub-Branch of the Central Sect.
The name of that sect appeared repeatedly throughout the text.
The Heavenly Origin Sect.
According to the records, the sect maintained branches across multiple regions, but its true headquarters existed somewhere on the distant Central Continent.
Entry required reaching the realm of Qi Gathering.
Shen Yuan smirked slightly.
"So first you survive the academy," he murmured.
"Then you survive the sub-branch."
"And maybe, if you're lucky, you survive the main sect."
He liked the sound of that.
The stronger the challenge, the more interesting the path.
Shen Yuan reached for another scroll.
This one looked far older.
Records of the Wilderness War.
As he began reading, detailed descriptions of ancient battles filled the page. Armies clashed with waves of demonic beasts while cultivators fought monsters capable of destroying entire battalions.
As Shen Yuan read, something strange happened.
His mind began reorganizing the battles automatically.
If the army had retreated toward the river…
If the cavalry had attacked from the flank…
If the beasts had been lured into the valley…
He blinked and leaned back.
"…Why do I always think like this?"
He had never fought a real war.
Yet his mind instinctively analyzed every battle like a commander planning a campaign.
He closed the scroll slowly.
Then suddenly the library blurred.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Shen Yuan felt himself drifting through an endless void.
The earth disappeared beneath him.
Then the stars vanished.
Only infinite darkness remained.
A brief flicker of fear rose in his chest.
"Is this… death?"
Then the sound came.
Low.
Ancient.
Resonating through existence itself.
Om.
The vibration spread through the void like ripples across water.
The fear disappeared instantly.
Peace replaced it.
And then Shen Yuan sensed something enormous watching him.
A presence so vast that his mind could barely comprehend it.
The figure leaned closer.
Trying to see him.
The vision shattered.
Shen Yuan gasped softly and found himself back in the library.
The scroll still lay open on the table.
Sunlight still streamed through the window.
Nothing had changed.
Except his heartbeat.
Shen Yuan stared down at the page for several seconds.
"…That again."
Over the past year, strange fragments like this had begun appearing in his mind more frequently.
Memories that did not belong to this life.
He did not understand them yet.
But one thing had become clear.
Whatever he had experienced before this life was connected to something far greater than the simple cultivation theories described in these books.
Shen Yuan slowly looked around the library.
Thousands of books surrounded him.
History.
War.
Cultivation.
Secrets of the world.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"If the universe really has answers," he said quietly to himself, "I'll just have to find them."
He reached for another book.
And continued reading.