The Azure Cloud Sect's grand recruitment ceremony came to an end as the blazing sun began to dip behind the rolling peaks. The sect's vast courtyard was now filled with the joyous shouts of newly accepted disciples, their robes fluttering as they bowed respectfully to the elders who had chosen them. For many, this day marked the first step toward glory, and the beginning of their cultivation journey.
One after another, youths were brought forward, tested, and accepted.
"Exceptional talent!" cried Elder Bia Long, his eyes gleaming as he placed his hand upon the shoulder of Lan Qingshan. "From today onward, you shall be my personal disciple. The Azure Cloud Sect must nurture prodigies such as you. You will carry the sect's name with honor."
Lan Qingshan smirked, his arrogance barely hidden. He turned his gaze over the crowd as though the world itself already belonged to him. His chin lifted slightly, and in the depth of his cold eyes, not a trace of guilt lingered for the boy he had struck down earlier — Lin Xun, the so-called "trash." To him, that incident was nothing more than brushing aside an ant.
The crowd cheered for Qingshan, praising his sharp aura and immense talent. To the common youths standing nearby, he already seemed like a star in the heavens, impossible to reach.
Meanwhile, in a quiet corner of the courtyard, Lin Xun's lifeless body lay forgotten, covered hastily with a cloth by one of the disciples assigned to clear the grounds. None spared him a glance. To them, he was simply another nameless failure who couldn't withstand the harsh world of cultivation.
But the heavens had not abandoned him.
As the night fell and silence returned to the sect, the cloth over Lin Xun's body stirred faintly. His fingers twitched. Then his chest rose ever so slightly, like a dying ember flaring back to life.
Suddenly — his eyes flew open.
"Where… am I?" his voice cracked, dry and weak. His surroundings blurred before him, a haze of stone walls and dim lanterns. Confusion clouded his gaze. He tried to sit up, but a stabbing pain surged through his skull.
"Ugh—!" He clutched his head with both hands, as if it were about to split apart.
At that moment, a torrent of memories surged within him like a raging flood. Images of a poor boy named Lin Xun — mocked by his clan, scorned by his stepmother, beaten by his half-siblings, yet loved dearly by his mother Su Mei and little sister Lin Yan — all crashed into his mind.
The pain was unbearable, but he endured it, trembling violently as the memories forced themselves into place.
When the storm finally settled, his chest heaved, sweat dripping from his forehead. His breathing slowed as his eyes regained focus.
"I… I am… Lin Xun," he whispered, his voice trembling. His heart thudded wildly in his chest.
The boy who had been killed now lived again — but within him stirred something deeper, a faint ember of a sealed soul, far older and far greater than even he could understand.
Thus, under the starry sky of the Azure Cloud Sect, the boy who had been mocked as trash had opened his eyes once more.