His aunt had already left and Xiao Fengqi was clearly still indulging in his aunt's herbal essence pool , this left the little house to an uneasy silence. It was the kind of quiet that seemed to listen ,heavy and almost ominous. His aunt had been so worried it had taken all his effort and a pile of half-hearted lies to convince her to go to work.
He hated that she worked in the mines with the choking dust, the cruel overseers but if she missed another day, she'd lose the only job keeping their lives from collapsing.
He sat cross legged on the floor, staring at the ceiling. The strange healing energy Xiao Fengqi had transferred into his body still lingered with its powerful unyielding potent . It was like poison, except instead of killing him, it was rebuilding him, breaking down every ruined cell and knitting it together again. And this made his spiritual energy to be siphoned away bit by bit. No wonder Xiao Fengqi had nearly passed out afterward.
A tremor ran through his shoulders as his energy clashed against the healing effect. Faint green veins glowed under his skin, tracing like roots across his arms.
If he let this go on, his body would crumble from the pressure.
He steadied his breath, forcing his spiritual energy to circulate. But with a meager cultivation base of only three turns foundation level, it was like trying to feed a fire with wet wood and felt as if it was never enough.
"I must get stronger," he muttered through his teeth.
After the humiliation he suffered, he had no doubt the Zhao family already thought him dead and were preparing to seize what little land remained. Once, this region had belonged to the Li family , whose name had echoed across the Jian empire, its power would now be compared to the current Xiao family which wielded the strongest power .But a hundred years ago, it had all collapsed and the greedy relatives couldn't wait but sell everything, leaving only this patch of dirt where their crumbling home stood.
After his mother's death, even that patch was nearly stolen with the Zhao dogs changing the land's registration through bribes and deceit.
If the Li family still existed, the Zhaos would have bowed their heads. But the Li name was dust now, and the balance of power in Mingdu belonged to others : the Zhao family, the Feng family, Xiao Sky House, the Xue, the Lu, and the Mo families, alongside the State Soul Academy and the Alchemist Hall.
All of them bent the knee to the Jian Empire which comprised of four states powerful states: Mingdu State, the Tianmeng Gods State, the Darkwater Sect Domain, and the Royal Jian State.
Among them, Mingdu and Darkwater sect held true dominance even stronger than the royal family itself but with royal order,it still remained the peak powerhouse .
The li family was just a small family that belonged under the mingdu state totaling eight strong families and two organizations but now it seemed like the world had forgotten that the li family once existed in mingdu
That memory alone burned in his veins. He clenched his fists,anger burning within . Even with further development,he couldn't be sure if the revival of the Li family would be possible with the remainders of the family scattered across the continent like slaves
He straightened his back and began channeling again. His palms rose, then fell beside his thighs, his breath deepening until the air itself felt heavy.
The spiritual energy gathered around him like mist before a storm, coiling tighter and tighter but even though he gathered tonnes of it ,it couldn't remain in his body let alone be of any help in refining the healing effect completely
The spiritual energy suddenly stopped flowing through his body but gathered around his palm and sank deeper through the feather tracing .
His eyes snapped open.
A strange light shimmered in his pupils, a rusty brown streaked with faint pink.
The faint feather-shaped mark ignited on his palm and the absorption rate of spiritual energy increased . Li Xuan stared down at his palm as it clearly swallowed up all the surrounding spiritual energy within seconds,this speed was absurd .
The absorption rate increased only for a few seconds then slowed down. Li Xuan clenched his fist, then opened it and spiritual energy instantly began pouring it . This time instead a colorless mist,it was painted pink with a rusty brown .
The energy surrounded him like a tornado, swirling around him .
Spiritual energy swirled violently around Li Xuan, merging with the floor beneath his feet. He staggered to his feet, confusion flashing in his eyes as the world around him began to twist.
The ground beneath him rippled,then melted before turning into a sea of molten glass that shimmered with colors too strange to name.
"What the heck…"
If he hadn't known better, he would've thought this was all a dream. But deep down, Li Xuan knew, anything connected to the strange feather mark on his palm was tied to that mysterious figure .
The walls of his bedroom shattered like glass, scattering into countless fragments that dissolved into light. A new space unfolded before him—its floor clear as crystal, its ceiling rippling like an ocean suspended upside down.
Li Xuan frowned. His spiritual senses spread out instinctively.
"What kind of attribute is this…?"
It wasn't darkness or light which were the primary cores of power on the continent. This… this was something else. He couldn't see it, but he could feel it. Everything around him was being devoured, as though some invisible abyss was swallowing all spiritual energy, leaving behind nothing but emptiness.
A voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"So, you can sense it."
Li Xuan spun around, his eyes sharp but he saw no one. Still, that voice was hauntingly familiar and made his chest tighten.
"In this world, there exist energies that devour and energies that create," the voice continued, its tone serene and boundless.
"These two are the seeds of the universe, two the governing laws capable of shattering space itself."
Before Li Xuan could respond, the ceiling of water above began to tremble. The entire world twisted upside down, though it already seemed inverted. A weightless scream escaped his throat as he plummeted towards the endless pool below.
"But…"
That single word stopped his fall. His body froze midair, suspended like a feather caught in an unseen current.
"There is another power, one that exists between creation and destruction. That power is beauty. It changes what is light into darkness, and what is darkness into light. Its allure makes gods tremble and mortals lose their minds. Just as a man forgets reason before a beautiful woman, so too does the universe bow before true beauty. It tempts, and it destroys."
Li Xuan's body grew lighter as he floated in that strange space. He couldn't fully grasp her words, yet fragments of meaning stirred within his heart.
"The power of beauty cleanses the filth… and stains the clean," he murmured under his breath.
"Indeed ,people see the universe as both beautiful and ugly, much like how they judge one another. Yet, what they call ugly may hold greater beauty than they could ever comprehend. The power of beauty does not make one beautiful but it magnifies what already lies within. It is amplification… of the self. That is why It's unstoppable."
Li Xuan felt an odd urge to kick his feet and drift around, like a child playing in a dream. Perhaps that was the only sane reaction in such an insane place.
He breathed out slowly, letting himself drift wherever the current wished.
"This power of beauty—you possess it, don't you?"
"Yes," the voice replied, calm but sorrowful. "My power is tempting and perilous beyond measure. It should never be wielded by mortals… yet I have no choice but to entrust it to you."
"Wait—what?"
"Among all the candidates,you alone bear the symbol of greatness. But…"
Her words were cut short. The world spun violently. Gravity seized him and hurled li Xuan downward. He crashed into the surface of water, the impact sending ripples across infinity.
Before he could curse, a pillar of light erupted beneath him, shattering the invisible realm into fragments. The very world split apart revealing a dark, hollow void beyond comprehension.
From that darkness, a figure stepped forward.
Her form was faintly translucent like moonlight captured in mist yet her beauty was overwhelming. Her hair floated around her like strands of ink dissolving in water.
"…Your heart is filled with hatred," she said softly. "Hatred towards those who wronged you. That alone disqualifies you from possessing this power."
Li Xuan clenched his fists and pushed himself up. In this strange space, she looked almost human now, the translucence fading from her form.
Her voice became a whisper that carried the weight of ages.
"Young man, the hatred in your heart has rotted you from within. What you carry now is not resolve but destruction."
Li Xuan's eyes darkened. "So you want me to forgive them those who insult my family and let my family's name be dragged through the mud? To stand there and do nothing while fate mocks me?"
Her gaze drifted, eyes distant as if watching something long gone.
"You're still young. You believe pain justifies destruction. But one day, you'll learn that fate doesn't need your permission to hurt you. What matters… is what you do afterward."
Li Xuan's chest tightened. He couldn't speak.
"But," she continued softly, "I am willing to teach you. Perhaps through understanding, you will come to see what I mean."
Li Xuan looked up at her, voice low and steady.
"Even if I'm fated to become a vengeful spirit… I'll still crush those who turned us into dust."
"That's your choice," she said, her tone calm but heavy. "Calm your heart or let ambition devour it. Either way, the path is yours to walk. But ask yourself… is this truly what you desire?"
Around him, memories of laughter, loss, and a broken world appeared through broken glass shards .
"I'm just a ten-year-old boy trying not to lose the people I love,my mother was everything to me. Even now, I hear her voice when I sleep. After she died, my aunt was the only one who stayed ,enduring humiliation and pain to raise me alone. If I lose her too… I'll lose everything that keeps me human. This world takes those we love, and leaves only those who haunt us."
The woman's eyes softened.
"You promised to be my master," Li Xuan continued. "To teach me the power of beauty. But I don't want that kind of power. If I'm rotten inside, at least it's for a reason…"
"To protect those you love," she murmured, almost to herself.
Then she sighed. "If that is your choice… then the inheritance of beauty is cancelled."
The vast space dissolved into mist, folding in on itself until his old room reappeared.
She lifted her hand, a faint ring glowing on her finger. A gentle silver light burst forth, gathering into Li Xuan's palms.
Two scrolls appeared.