Ravenwood Town, Xi Continent
The sun hung high in the azure sky, casting warmth across Ravenwood Town. But for Zhengyi Zhiguang, that warmth never reached him.
At sixteen, he stood tall, strikingly handsome, his black hair cascading like silk, ocean-blue eyes calm as still water. Yet, in the Xi Continent, looks meant nothing. In a world where strength dictated fate, his inability to cultivate marked him as useless.
Today, like every other day, the whispers followed him. A pretty face with no power. An ant in a land ruled by dragons.
He stepped into the bustling Morning Dew Restaurant, hoping to eat in peace, but luck, as always, deserted him.
"Look what we have here," a mocking voice rang out. "Young Master Pretty Face graces us with his useless presence."
Zhengyi froze. He knew that voice. Ouyang Min, second son of the Ouyang family, one of the three great houses of Ravenwood. Six of his cronies laughed around him, echoing their master's ridicule.
Zhiguang turned slowly, fists clenched. "Mock me again, and I'll make you regret it."
"Oh?" Ouyang Min chuckled. "Will you challenge me to a duel again? Didn't I beat the arrogance out of you last time?"
Zhiguang's knuckles whitened. He remembered. The bruises had barely faded.
But the fire in his chest hadn't dimmed. "Let's go again. Right now."
The crowd had begun to gather as word spread, Zhengyi Zhiguang had challenged Ouyang Min again.
They stood opposite each other in the town's duelling arena, a circular stone platform surrounded by tall pines and engraved with ancient martial runes. It was one of twenty such stages, built by the town head himself to keep peace through combat.
A referee registered their names, his expression indifferent. He had seen too many such battles end in broken bones and broken pride.
The two young men bowed, fists to palms.
Then they charged.
Fists flew. Kicks collided. No weapons, no flashy techniques, just raw martial skills. At their low level, neither could manipulate spiritual energy, and so it became a battle of reflexes, pain tolerance, and pride.
For a moment, it looked even. Then Zhiguang began to push back.
A feint. A pivot.
A sudden right hook crashed into Ouyang Min's nose, a burst of blood spraying into the air. Gasps echoed from the onlookers.
Ouyang stumbled. The crowd stilled.
Zhiguang stood tall, chest heaving. "Remember this," he growled, spitting blood to the side. "The useless pretty boy just beat you."
He turned, walking away as Ouyang's henchmen parted like grass before a blade.
Zhengyi stepped off the arena platform, battered but victorious. For once, the weight on his shoulders felt lighter. Around him, the crowd murmured in surprise, he had won. Truly won.
Behind him, Ouyang Min seethed.
Blood trickled from his broken nose. His pride lay shattered before the entire town. But it wasn't enough. Humiliation burned hotter than pain.
Without a word, Ouyang stormed to one of his henchmen and ripped a sword from his grip.
"Min! What are you doing...!?"
Too late.
With a roar of rage, he rushed forward, blade drawn, hatred in his eyes.
Zhiguang turned half a second too slow.
Shhk.
The sound of steel piercing flesh was followed by silence.
The sword's tip burst from Zhiguang's stomach, glistening red. His breath hitched. Time seemed to stop.
Then, agony.
He staggered, lips trembling. Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. He tried to turn back to face him, but the pain was worse than death. A dark force slithered through his veins, biting into his soul.
The blade pulsed.
A curse, something ancient and malvolent, began devouring him from the inside out.
Ouyang Min stared in horror as if awakening from a trance. His hands trembled on the hilt.
"What… what have I done…?"
The crowd was frozen. No one moved.
Zhengyi collapsed to his knees, vision dimming. The world faded to black as he whispered the only word that mattered:
"Mother…"
Zhengyi lay in a pool of blood, body twitching, lips pale. The curse etched black veins across his skin like crawling ink.
The arena was silent.
The town is not really big and it was sure that word would have reached the town head and Zhengyi Zhiguang's mother's ears.
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the plaza, carrying a pressure so sharp the air itself seemed to cut.
She had arrived.
A woman descended like a falling star, long silver robes trailing behind her, eyes aflame with fury. Her beauty was regal, but it was her aura that silenced hearts.
Mei Xue, the second most powerful cultivator in Ravenwood Town, and Zhengyi Zhiguang's mother.
She landed beside her son in an instant, kneeling, lifting his blood-soaked body into her arms.
"Zhiguang…" she whispered, voice trembling. "Don't you dare leave me…"
His eyelids fluttered. With his last ounce of strength, he rasped, "Mother… I'm sorry…"
Then, he slipped into unconsciousness.
A golden pill was in her hand the next second, rare, ancient. She crushed it between her fingers and fed it to him, pressing a glowing palm to his chest.
The curse resisted, but her power surged.
She turned her head slowly toward Ouyang Min. Her expression is calm, but her eyes…
They promised extinction.
"If my son dies," she said, voice deathly calm, "I will bury your entire family alongside you."
The ground beneath Ouyang Min cracked.
Darkness enveloped Zhengyi Zhiguang. He floated in a void, weightless, as if suspended between life and death. Faint whispers echoed around him, voices ancient and unfamiliar.
Suddenly, a blinding light pierced the darkness. A colossal figure emerged, a being of immense power, its form shifting between a majestic illusion and a reality.
The figure appeared to be the centre of the universe as immense spiritual energy surrounded him, and various powers of laws surrounded him as the spiritual energy gently pulsate around him.
"Today, I will break the ancient curse and become the one and only Primordial God...".
Author's Note: Did you enjoy the story, if so, please tell me your honest opinion in the comments, I'll really appreciate it.
*What do you think should come next?*