Guo Lin was no ordinary boy.
At the very young age of eighteen, his name was already on the list of brightest minds of all time. If Guo ever read a book once , he recall every formula, every historical date, events, and every scientific principle with very high precision. His teachers always called him a genius, but that wasn't the whole story . Guo's ability to understand anything is far more better then any persin in world. Concepts that took others years to master unraveled before him in minutes. Physics, mathematics, philosophy, even art—everything of Earth was like an open book, waiting for him to flip through. Ramanujan left behind multiple mathematical problems that no one could prove, but Guo did it and became famous.
Yet despite his brilliance, Guo always remain alone all due to his intelligence , all his friend were jealous of him , his parents always forced him to concentrate on study and never gave him freedom. He often wondered if this intellect was blessing or burden.
Far from Earth, in the sea of stars, an old man was standing. His hairs were long and jade white, his eyes were sharp like an eagle's. His robe was ancient, marked with a dragon symbol and covered with stains of blood showing his battle experince . He looked down at Earth as if finding something.
"Hmmm, according to my calculations, it should be in this strange realm," he thought, and then his gaze looked towards an apartment in Shanghai.
"Such a tangible soul…" the old man muttered, his voice echoing throughout the vacuum without any air. "This child's soul is flawless, clear, and highly compatible. Even without cultivation, he has such a soul. He… will be perfect material for refining spiritual objects."
The old man raised his hand, and the space twisted as if he could control it, and with a step, he vanished.
Guo was sitting on his chair, solving a complex set of equations that Ramanujan left behind. Suddenly, his body froze. The air in his room rippled, and before his startled eyes, the old man appeared.
When old man appeared , all the sound coming from outside stopped ,old man moved his hand and Guo started moving floating in air, and before Guo could react, symbols of purple light emerged from the old man's palms. They wrapped around Guo like black chains, sinking into his chest. His body froze, and pain spread throughout his body.
"Wh-What are you doing?!" Guo shouted, his face becoming pale, struggling to breathe.
But the old man's expression was calm, as if he did not have any emotions.
"Don't struggle, boy. You are making it more difficult for yourself," the old man said.
"As expected of such a pure soul, it is indeed hard to refine it; maybe I should refine him once I get back," he thought.
On the other hand Guo was struggling violently; his heart rate was rising, he tried to scream louder so that his parents could hear him but his voice was not coming out of his mouth . A transparent barrier sealed the entire room, cutting him off from the rest of the world. His fists hammered against invisible walls, his mind racing for an escape idea, but there was none.
Everything that has happened has defied logic. He has started to lose his mind.
Suddenly—BOOM!
A crack of thunder split the barrier as two beams of golden light pierced the space. Thunder was coming out of the space crack, and from within stepped two figures. One was a middle-aged man in white robes embroidered with golden patterns, his aura sharp as a blade. The other was a woman in black clothing with a golden dragon printed on it, her presence calm but vast like the ocean.
"Old devil!" the man shouted, his voice shaking the earth itself. "How dare you attempt soul refinement on a mortal!"
The old man didn't flinch. His golden eyes flickered with madness. "You righteous dogs dare to interfere? He is mine!"
With a wave of his sleeve, the room dissolved in black mist. In an instant, Guo, the old man, and the two righteous cultivators were swept away.
When Guo's vision darkened, he fell on the ground. After he got up, he found himself standing on an alien landscape—dusty gray ground stretching endlessly, no air to breathe, and Earth looming in the distance like a giant blue jewel. They were on the moon. He thought, "What the hell is happening??? . Am I in a dream?? Is this the moon? How am I breathing?"
While Guo was thinking about how to escape, the two righteous cultivators didn't waste a breath. They unleashed their swords; radiant arcs of energy moved towards the old man. The surface of the moon cracked, sending pieces of stone floating into space.
"Stop this madness, Old Devil!" the woman spoke. "The heavens have forbidden us cultivators from entering this world!!"
But the old man laughed, his face twisted in obsession. "Forbidden? Laws are chains for the weak! For me laws are nothing; I will refine this boy's soul even if I burn my own!"
Like that, the battle erupted. Golden light clashed with waves of demonic energy. Guo could only watch in horror, trapped inside the barrier, as the moon itself trembled beneath their might.
At last, the old man realized he could not win; his laughter grew maniacal. His body swelled with chaotic energy, his soul essence burning like a dying star.
"You think you can stop me? Fools!"
The righteous cultivators' expressions darkened as they sensed that old man was about to self-destruct, and they rushed forward desperately—
But it was too late.
With a loud roar, Old Devil self-destructed, the explosion engulfed all the solar system . The blast shook the universe itself, and Guo fell unconscious; he was flung into a sea of darkness where countless voices whispered, pulling him deeper…
And then—silence.