The night was dark and full of storm.
Heavy rain was falling non-stop. Thunder roared in the sky, and lightning flashed again and again, lighting up the forest for a moment before everything went dark.
Boom!
In one flash of lightning, a young man could be seen tied to a tree.
His name was Long Chen.
His clothes were torn, and his body was full of injuries. Blood flowed from his mouth, but even then, his face looked very handsome. His eyes were calm and firm.
Standing in front of him was Xiao Feng. Behind him stood nine other boys.
All of them were strong. They had reached the ninth stage of Body Strengthening Realm. Xiao Feng was even stronger. He had just entered the Qi Condensation Realm.
In this world, strength was everything.
There were many ways to cultivate, but Martial Arts was the most common. It had several big stages—Body Strengthening, Qi Condensation, Martial Soul, Spirit Blood Awakening, and Martial Meridian Awakening. Each stage had nine small levels.
Breaking through each realm was extremely difficult.
However, Long Chen possessed no Spirit Root.
The Spirit Root determined a martial artist's talent. With it, cultivators could absorb the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth. Without a Spirit Root, one could never truly begin cultivation.
And because of this, Long Chen had always been mocked as trash.
Xiao Feng stepped forward with a cold sneer.
"Do you know why you are here?"
Long Chen remained silent for a moment, as though seriously thinking.
Then he suddenly asked, "What did your mother tell you? Did she reveal the truth?"
Xiao Feng frowned.
"What truth?"
Long Chen's expression changed slightly.
"I thought it was already discovered..." he muttered softly.
Although his voice was low, everyone present was a cultivator. They heard every word clearly.
Xiao Feng face darkened instantly.
"Speak clearly, or I'll kill you!"
"Tell me!"
"Tell me!"
His roar echoed throughout the forest.
After being threatened for several minutes, Long Chen finally sighed as though unable to hide the truth anymore.
"I thought your mother already told you that I'm actually your real father," Long Chen said shyly while avoiding Xiao Feng gaze. "I figured you were afraid of losing your status as Young Master of the Xiao Family, so you came here to silence me."
For a moment, the entire forest fell silent.
The nine youths behind Xiao Feng nearly burst out laughing.
If they did not already know Long Chen's background, they might have truly believed him. His acting was simply too realistic.
Xiao Feng face turned green with rage.
"You bastard!"
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Xiao Feng immediately started punching and kicking Long Chen violently.
Blood splattered across the muddy ground.
After venting his anger for several minutes, Xiao Feng finally calmed down slightly.
"At first, I only planned to force you to cancal marriage with Luo Xueying and disappear from Luofeng City forever," Xiao Feng said coldly. "But after insulting me like this, I've changed my mind."
A cruel smile appeared on his face.
"I'll torture you first... then kill you."
The rain continued pouring heavily as Xiao Feng resumed beating Long Chen mercilessly.
Yet strangely, Long Chen no longer paid attention to the pain.
His focus was elsewhere.
It was true that Long Chen did not possess a Spirit Root.
Because of this, he could not absorb the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth like normal martial artists.
In this world, there were several cultivation paths.
Martial Arts was the most common, but Magic also existed.
Unlike martial artists who cultivated spiritual energy, mages cultivated Mana.
In Martial Arts First realm was Body Refining Realm. Just like that Mages have Magic Body Awakening Realm.
Long Chen had once awakened an extremely rare Unique Magic type —
Creation Magic.
It was a legendary magic said to possess the power to create and shape all things.
However, there was one major problem.
Even though he possessed Creation Magic, Long Chen could not absorb Mana from the surroundings.
It was as if both Spiritual Energy and Mana rejected his body completely.
As Xiao Feng's fists continued crashing into his body, Long Chen suddenly felt something changing within him.
The surrounding Spiritual Energy and Mana began flowing toward him like rivers.
His heartbeat accelerated.
'Just a few more seconds...'
Long Chen silently endured the pain while crazily absorbing energy from his surroundings.
Boom!
Boom!
Two explosive sounds echoed from within his body simultaneously, as though invisible chains had shattered apart.
At that exact moment—
The thunder suddenly stopped.
The lightning vanished.
The entire forest became deathly silent.
Only the sound of rain remained.
"What happened?"
"I-I don't know…"
One of the youths suddenly pointed toward the sky with trembling hands.
"Young Master... look!"
Everyone raised their heads.
Above them, endless black clouds began gathering rapidly.
The clouds were so dark that they seemed capable of swallowing the heavens themselves. Merely looking at them caused fear to rise within their hearts.
Crack...
Crack...
Black lightning flickered within the clouds.
Xaio Feng face turned pale.
"Heavenly Tribulation..."
One of the youths spoke in horror.
"Only experts beyond the Martial Meridian Awakening Realm can trigger such legendary tribulations!"
"An expert must be breaking through nearby!"
Suddenly, the clouds rumbled violently.
The pressure descending from the sky became heavier and heavier.
"Young Master, run!" one of them screamed.
"If we stay here, we'll all die!"
The youth immediately turned and fled toward Luofeng City without hesitation.
The others quickly followed behind him.
Even Xiao Feng no longer dared remain there.
Before escaping, he glanced at Long Chen one last time.
But what he saw nearly stopped his heart.
Long Chen was smiling.
That smile was cold.
Terrifying.
"Xiao Feng!" Long Chen shouted loudly through the storm. "Wash your neck properly. The next time we meet…"
"I will personally take your head!"
Crackle!
Every hair on Long Chen's body stood upright.
A bolt of heavenly lightning descended from the sky and struck him directly.
Boom!
His already torn clothes instantly turned into ashes.
Yet the lightning caused little damage to his body.
Before Long Chen could react—
The second bolt descended.
Boom!!!
The second lightning strike shattered the giant tree completely.
Wood fragments exploded everywhere as black lightning danced wildly around Long Chen's body.
Yet instead of panicking, Long Chen's eyes became brighter.
He immediately raised his trembling left hand.
A faint silver glow appeared at his fingertip.
Creation Magic activated.
Using his own blood and mana as ink and his finger as the brush, Long Chen began carving mysterious lines onto his arm.
Those lines slowly formed the shape of a dragon.
Every scale, claw, and whisker looked lifelike.
This was a special technique of a creation mage he had once obtained —
Elemental Tattoo.
The tattoo could absorb elemental energy from the surroundings and store it within the body. The stronger the tattoo, the stronger the elemental power it could control.
Long Chen gritted his teeth as unbearable pain spread across his arm.
The heavenly lightning continuously destroyed his flesh while the tattoo absorbed traces of lightning energy into itself.
Crackle!
The dragon tattoo suddenly emitted a dark-purple glow.
At the same moment—
The third lightning bolt descended.
Boom!!!
Long Chen coughed out a mouthful of blood.
Then came the fourth strike.
The fifth.
The sixth.
Each strike became stronger than the previous one.
His skin split apart repeatedly, exposing flesh and bones beneath.
The entire forest shook under the terrifying heavenly might.
By the seventh strike, Long Chen could barely remain conscious.
By the eighth strike, his vision had already blurred.
And when the ninth lightning bolt descended—
Boom!!!!!
The ground within several hundred meters exploded apart.
Long Chen's body was blasted into the mud.
His heartbeat nearly stopped.
His bones were broken.
His flesh was charred black.
He had reached death's door.
At that critical moment, Long Chen suddenly bit down hard.
Crack!
One of his wisdom teeth shattered instantly.
A warm medicinal energy exploded inside his mouth and spread throughout his entire body.
It was a rare healing pill.
A life-saving treasure capable of healing nearly all injuries instantly while also calming the mind and stabilizing consciousness.
Under the pill's power, his destroyed flesh rapidly regenerated.
Broken bones reconnected.
His heartbeat stabilized once more.
But before Long Chen could even breathe in relief—
The sky roared again.
The tenth lightning tribulation descended.
This lightning bolt was completely different from the previous ones.
It was pitch black.
Like destruction itself.
Boom!!!!!!!
The black lightning swallowed Long Chen whole.
"ARGHHHHH!"
Long Chen finally screamed in pain.
His body continuously broke apart and regenerated at the same time.
His flesh burned.
Recovered.
Burned again.
Even the healing pill's terrifying medicinal power was barely enough to keep him alive.
The process lasted for what felt like eternity.
Finally—
The black clouds slowly dispersed.
The heavenly pressure vanished.
Rain continued falling quietly across the ruined forest.
Long Chen remained lying motionless in the crater.
Although alive, his condition was terrible.
Tiny arcs of black lightning continuously emerged from his body.
Crackle...
Crackle...
At that moment—
"LONG CHEN!"
A worried female voice suddenly echoed through the forest.
A beautiful young woman came running through the heavy rain.
She wore a simple blue dress already soaked by water. Her long black hair clung to her face, and her beautiful eyes were filled with panic.
She was Long Lingyun.
Long Chen's aunt.
When she finally saw Long Chen lying inside the crater, her heart trembled painfully.
"Chen'er..."
Her voice shook.
Long Chen's body looked horrifying.
His skin was cracked everywhere, and black lightning still flowed across his flesh like living snakes.
He looked less like a human and more like a corpse struck by divine punishment.
Long Lingyun's eyes instantly turned red.
Without hesitation, she rushed forward and lifted Long Chen onto her back.
"Hold on... please hold on..."
She bit her lips tightly and began running toward Azura Mountain Village.
The mountain path was slippery because of the storm.
But Long Lingyun never slowed down.
Crackle!
Suddenly, lightning burst from Long Chen's body and struck her back directly.
"Ah!"
Her delicate body trembled violently.
The skin on her back burned black instantly.
Yet she still gritted her teeth and continued running.
Step after step.
The lightning inside Long Chen's body continuously erupted.
Again and again, it struck Long Lingyun.
Her clothes became torn.
Her back turned bloody.
Several times she fell heavily onto the muddy road.
But every single time—
She stood back up.
Then continued carrying Long Chen toward home.
Toward Azura Mountain Village.
Because to her—
Long Chen was family.