The silence in Li Tian's hut was deafening. It was a heavy, oppressive quiet that seemed to amplify the echoes of the day's humiliation. Each mocking laugh, each scornful word, played on a loop in his mind, a torturous symphony of his own failure. He sat on the cold, hard floor, his body trembling not from cold, but from a soul-deep exhaustion and the bitter aftertaste of despair.
'Mortal Grade Zero.'
The official verdict echoed in the hollow chamber of his chest. It wasn't just an assessment; it was a life sentence. A decree that he was, and always would be, less than nothing in the world of cultivation. The anger that had flared so brightly in the arena had burned out, leaving only cold, gray ashes of resignation.
"Am I truly destined to remain a servant? To never step onto the path of cultivation?" he whispered to the darkness, his voice raw. "Was my father's fate… meant to be my own?"
The question hung in the air, unanswered and unanswerable. His gaze, empty and lost, dropped to his hand, to the only tangible link to his past—the cracked, rusted iron ring on his finger. For ten years, it had been a mere keepsake, a useless piece of metal. A symbol of a legacy that led nowhere.
But tonight, something was different.
As his despair reached its absolute nadir, a faint, almost imperceptible warmth bloomed against his skin. He initially dismissed it as a phantom sensation, a trick of his overwrought nerves. But it persisted, growing from a whisper to a distinct, steady pulse. It was a gentle heat, like a single ember glowing in the frozen wasteland of his spirit.
He uncurled his fingers and stared, his breath catching in his throat.
The ring, for the first time in a decade, was reacting.
The deep crack running along its surface began to emit a soft, ethereal blue light. The faint, almost invisible etchings on the metal—marks he had always thought were merely scratches of age and neglect—now glowed with a profound, ancient luminescence. They were not random; they were intricate characters of a language older than the Azure Cloud Sect, older than the mountains themselves, swirling with a power that made the air around his hand hum.
"What sorcery is this…?" he murmured, his heart beginning to pound against his ribs, a frantic drumbeat of fear and burgeoning hope.
Before he could react further, the world dissolved.
The rough, wooden walls of his hut shimmered and vanished into an infinite, star-dusted void. The solid floor beneath him gave way to an endless, gentle floating. He was adrift in a cosmos of breathtaking scale. Nebulae of violet and gold swirled in majestic silence, and distant suns blazed with cold, fierce light. The spiritual energy here was so thick, so ancient and pure, it felt like breathing lightning. It made the Qi of the Azure Cloud Sect seem like a stale, lifeless fog.
Terror and awe warred within him. Had he died? Had the humiliation finally broken his mind, conjuring this magnificent delusion?
"Ten thousand years… I have slept. And now, at the end of hope, a suitable vessel finally awakens me."
The voice did not travel through the air. It resonated directly within Li Tian's soul, calm yet carrying the weight of epochs. It was the voice of the universe itself, echoing with the memory of celestial cataclysms and the birth of stars.
From the swirling stardust before him, a figure coalesced. It was not fully solid, but a majestic silhouette woven from pure radiance and the fabric of the night sky. He was a man of impossible stature, his features noble and timeless, etched with lines of immense wisdom and a profound, haunting loneliness. His robes seemed to be crafted from condensed galaxies, and his eyes… his eyes were like twin suns, blazing with an intensity that saw through flesh and bone, straight into the core of Li Tian's being. An aura of unimaginable power radiated from him, a pressure that should have vaporized Li Tian on the spot, yet it was held in perfect, gentle check.
"Who… what are you?" Li Tian stammered, his voice a tiny squeak in the overwhelming grandeur of the void.
The luminous being regarded him, its sun-like eyes seeming to weigh his entire life's worth in a single glance. "I am the last echo of Ao Shun, the Starfall Immortal Emperor. A remnant of will, clinging to this ring after my true form was shattered for daring to defy the Heavenly Dao."
Immortal Emperor! Li Tian's mind reeled, unable to comprehend the magnitude of the title. These were beings of myth, figures from the primordial ages who commanded the very laws of creation. To the Azure Cloud Sect, an Immortal Emperor was a concept, a fairy tale used to inspire awe in naive disciples. To be in the presence of one, even a faded echo, was beyond belief.
"You… you were destroyed?" Li Tian asked, awe-struck.
A flicker of something dark—a deep, ancient resentment—passed through the Emperor's radiant eyes. "The heavens do not tolerate defiance. They demand obedience, a neat and orderly cycle of life and death. I sought a path beyond their constraints. For that… I was cast down." The words were calm, but Li Tian felt a universe of bitterness behind them. This was not just a wise mentor; this was a rebel, a fallen king whose throne lay in ruins.
"But why me?" Li Tian's voice was plaintive, filled with the insecurity of a lifetime. "I am nothing. A servant. A mortal with no spiritual roots. They call me trash."
Ao Shun's form shimmered, and for a moment, he seemed to look past Li Tian, into the vast expanse of time. "The world judges by the shallowest of measures—spiritual roots, bloodlines, innate talent. They are blind. I have waited not for a prodigy, but for a will that refuses to be extinguished. A spirit that has been tempered by despair, hammered by humiliation, yet still contains a single, unyielding spark of defiance."
He focused back on Li Tian, his gaze piercing. "The ring responds to that spark. Your 'Mortal Grade Zero' body is not a curse, mortal child. It is a blank slate, untainted by the weak, flawed cultivation arts of this decaying era. It is the perfect vessel for a legacy that seeks to overturn the very foundations of this world."
Li Tian's breath hitched. The words were like a lifeline thrown to a drowning man. Everything he had ever been told was being inverted. His greatest shame was being recast as his greatest strength.
"The path I offer is not one of gentle ascension," Ao Shun's voice grew solemn, the light around him dimming slightly. "It is a path of defiance. The [Heaven Swallowing Art] does not beg for energy from the world; it seizes it. It devours. It is an art that challenges the natural order, and in doing so, it will draw the attention of that very order. Power will come with a price—tribulations that will scar your soul, enemies in both the mortal and heavenly realms. Your journey will be paved with chaos and blood."
The warning hung in the air, a chilling promise of unimaginable danger. But to Li Tian, who had just faced a future of endless servitude and scorn, it sounded not like a threat, but like an opportunity. Chaos was better than stagnation. A dangerous path was better than no path at all.
Hope, fierce and terrifying, blazed to life in his chest, burning away the last remnants of his despair. He met the Immortal Emperor's gaze, and for the first time, his own eyes held a glint of steel.
"I have nothing left to lose," Li Tian said, his voice gaining a strength he didn't know he possessed. "I choose the path."
Ao Shun observed him, and for the first time, something akin to approval flickered in his celestial eyes. He raised a hand woven from starlight.
"Then let the legacy of the Starfall Immortal Emperor… find a new home."
The Emperor's hand reached forward, not towards Li Tian's body, but towards his very soul. A light brighter than a supernova erupted, and Li Tian felt a cataclysm of knowledge and power rushing straight into his mind, threatening to tear his consciousness apart.