1: Chapter 1 Stone Beads

The morning mist had not yet fully dissipated over the thicket on the back mountain of the Ye family estate.

Ye Tian hid behind a clump of waist-high wild grass, his breathing shallow and quiet.

He gripped a hunting fork tightly, his eyes fixed on a gray-furred tusked boar nearby that was bowing its head to gnaw on grass roots.

The beast was quite large and well-fed, with two tusks curving outward, gleaming with an oily sheen.

He had been crouching here for nearly four hours, his hands and feet becoming stiff, before finally waiting for this opportunity.

The Ye family established itself through martial prowess; most children in the clan typically succeeded in Qi Gathering by age fourteen or fifteen, and many had even stepped across the threshold to become a Martial Artist.

However, Ye Tian was already sixteen this year, yet he couldn't even master the most basic introductory Cultivation Technique, the 'Qi Induction Mantra.' His Meridians were sluggish and blocked, and he couldn't sense even a trace of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The title of 'Trash' had been pinned on him for five whole years.

Since the path of martial arts was closed to him, hunting became the only way he could obtain a few resources for his small family.

This tusked boar would be enough for him and his sickly mother to eat for several meals. The remaining meat and hide could be taken to town and perhaps exchanged for some medicinal herbs to nourish her body.

He took a deep breath of the cold air.

Tightening his grip on the hunting fork, he calculated the distance and force needed.

His strength couldn't compare to those peers who had gathered Qi, so he could only rely on technique and patience.

Now!

Ye Tian suddenly lunged from behind the wild grass, pouring all his strength into his right arm, and thrust the hunting fork with precision and ferocity toward the boar's neck!

The fork's tips entered the flesh, but they were off by half an inch, failing to be immediately fatal.

The tusked boar let out a shrill, agonizing howl and lunged upward, its bloodshot eyes instantly locking onto the attacker.

The intense pain drove it into a complete frenzy. Its hooves kicked up large chunks of turf and soil as it lowered its head, aiming its two tusks at Ye Tian and charging.

Ye Tian's expression changed, and he hurriedly rolled to the side to dodge.

The tusked boar brushed past the edge of his clothes and slammed into a tree trunk as thick as a bowl behind him.

The trunk shook violently, and the branches and leaves rustled loudly.

Having missed its strike, the tusked boar turned its body, panting heavy white mist, and charged again with reckless abandon.

Its speed was even faster than before!

Ye Tian dodged repeatedly in a disheveled state, several times escaping by a hair's breadth.

Spotting an opening, he pulled out the wood-chopping knife from his waist and slashed it fiercely against the boar's spine.

Clang!

The knife felt as if it had hit a stone, leaving only a white mark, and the recoil made his hand go numb.

This beast had thick skin and tough flesh; it was no ordinary wild animal but was approaching the threshold of a Rank One Vicious Beast. It was not something an ordinary person who couldn't Cultivate could easily hunt.

I miscalculated!

Ye Tian's heart sank.

The thing feared most during a hunt is this situation: the prey's deathbed counterattack, a fight to the finish.

He fought while retreating, trying to find another opportunity.

However, the tusked boar became increasingly manic, charging and goring without any pattern, forcing him into one dangerous situation after another.

Failing to dodge in time, a tusk grazed the outside of his thigh. The fabric tore, and blood immediately gushed out, staining a patch red.

The sharp pain caused Ye Tian to stumble, leaving a massive opening in his stance.

A murderous light gleamed in the boar's eyes. Seizing this momentary chance, it lowered its head and lunged with all its might toward his chest!

Those blood-stained tusks rapidly enlarged in his pupils.

I can't dodge!

Ye Tian's mind went blank, leaving only despair.

He instinctively held the hunting fork horizontally in front of him, but his foot tripped on a tree root, and he fell backward.

A heavy impact followed, and the wooden shaft of the hunting fork snapped.

The boar's momentum was slightly hindered, but its hideous head still slammed hard into his chest.

"Argh!"

A sweet taste rose in Ye Tian's throat, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

He was knocked off the ground and sent flying. His back hit the earth hard, and he rolled several times before stopping, crushing wild grass and shrubs along the way. Every bone in his body felt like it had been shattered.

The tusked boar approached step by step. Seemingly certain that he had lost the ability to resist, its pace slowed. It lowered its head to gore his body with its tusks, preparing to deliver the final blow.

Ye Tian's vision began to blur. His entire body was in agony, and every breath felt like his heart and lungs were being torn apart.

His consciousness was rapidly fading.

Am I going to die?

To die here just like this...

What about mother?

For a moment, a surge of unwillingness flooded his heart.

He tried hard to lift his hand, but he couldn't even move a single finger.

Just a moment before his consciousness descended into total despair, something pressed against his chest beneath his clothes suddenly moved slightly.

It was a dusty, gray stone bead about the size of a baby's fist.

It was the only heirloom left to him by his deceased father, who said it had been passed down through the Ye family for generations, though no one knew its use. He had always worn it close to his body as a memento.

At this moment, the stone bead actually began to heat up on its own. The temperature grew higher and higher, burning the skin on his chest.

Immediately afterward, a suction force so massive it was suffocating suddenly erupted from the stone bead!

The thin Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in the surrounding area transformed into vortices invisible to the naked eye, surging toward the stone bead on Ye Tian's chest!

The speed was so fast that it formed a miniature Spiritual Qi storm around Ye Tian's body!

The commotion of the Spiritual Qi infusion was so great that it even stirred a breeze, causing the surrounding vegetation to rustle loudly.

The tusked boar, which was preparing to deliver the final blow, seemed startled by this sudden and eerie change. It let out an uneasy low growl, stepped back twice, and stared at Ye Tian with suspicion and fear.

Ye Tian's sensation at this moment was even more bizarre.

He felt as if endless 'Spiritual Qi' was frantically pouring into him through his pores, his seven orifices, and even his illusory consciousness!

During those five years, he had meditated and tried to sense it countless times, but he had never felt the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. Now, it was so dense it had practically become physical, washing through his body!

His broken bones, torn muscles, and internal injuries were healing and recovering at a terrifying speed under the wash of this violent Spiritual Qi.

The intense pain receded, replaced by an indescribable sense of fullness and expansion, as if every corner of his body possessed inexhaustible strength.

The stone bead on his chest grew hotter, yet the speed at which it pulled in Spiritual Qi did not slow down in the slightest.

In just a few breaths, Ye Tian's injuries had actually healed by seventy or eighty percent!

The tusked boar finally seemed to sense a fatal threat. Animal instinct told it that the thing before it was extremely dangerous.

It no longer hesitated, letting out a low growl before turning to flee into the dense forest.

At the very moment it turned—

Ye Tian, who had been dying on the ground, suddenly snapped his eyes open!

Deep within his eyes, a faint, almost imperceptible golden light flashed and vanished.

He moved almost subconsciously.

His body didn't seem to belong to him, driven by that overflowing power that felt like it was about to explode.

He slapped the ground, using the force to spring up, and grabbed the broken tip of the hunting fork from the ground as he kicked off!

He kicked a small pit into the ground.

His figure instantly caught up to the fleeing tusked boar, and he lunged with his arm!

The sharp tip of the broken hunting fork, carrying that yet-to-dissipate massive force, pierced with unerring precision through the back of the boar's neck and out through its throat!

Blood sprayed.

The tusked boar's shrill howl came to an abrupt end. It stumbled forward a few more steps before crashing to the ground. Its limbs twitched a few times, and then it moved no more.

The dense forest returned to silence.

Only the heavy scent of blood and a scene of devastation remained.

Ye Tian stood in place, panting slightly. He looked down at his hands and then touched his chest—it was perfectly intact and felt even tougher than before. He could hardly believe it.

His face was filled with bewilderment.

Not only had he not died, but his injuries were all healed?

And that strike just now...

He walked to the tusked boar's corpse and exerted some effort to pull out the broken fork tip.

Looking at the fatal wound and feeling the power within his body that far exceeded anything from before.

Suddenly, he remembered something and hurriedly reached into his collar to pull out the red string holding the stone bead.

The stone bead was still dusty and gray, completely unremarkable, but it still felt slightly warm to the touch.

Ye Tian's pupils shrank as he stared at this bead he had never paid much attention to.

That frantic torrent of Spiritual Qi that poured in when he was on the verge of death... was it this?

He tried to sense the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi again and circulate the Qi Induction Mantra.

But this time, there was no reaction at all.

He still couldn't sense anything, and his Meridians were still sluggish.

The stone bead was no longer hot, lying quietly and ordinarily in his palm.

But Ye Tian's heart began to thud wildly.

Was it a coincidence?

He gripped the stone bead tightly.

His gaze fell once more on the dead tusked boar and then slowly swept over the surrounding vegetation that had been broken by the Spiritual Qi storm.

This wasn't a dream.

Ye Tian suddenly looked up toward the sky that was gradually brightening.

The spark that had been extinguished because he couldn't Cultivate was ignited once more.

To pursue the ultimate path of martial arts and stand at the Peak!