Chapter 1: Dust Beneath Immortality
No one in Qingyun Town knew that the man selling herbs at the roadside stall had lived longer than their mountains.
He wore plain gray robes, slightly worn at the edges. His cultivation aura was weak—so weak that even the lowest Qi Condensation cultivator would not glance at him twice. To mortals, he was just Lin Chen, a quiet man with calm eyes and an unremarkable life.
But beneath that mortal shell…
He was once known as Chen Xuan, the Immortal Sovereign of the Endless Void.
He had shattered realms, refined stars into pills, and watched entire eras rise and fall like waves. Immortality no longer excited him. Power no longer fulfilled him. After ascending beyond the Immortal Emperor Realm, he discovered a cruel truth:
When one stands above all things, nothing can stand beside them.
Loneliness became his only companion.
So he sealed his cultivation.
Not suppressed—sealed, locked behind ancient void inscriptions even Heaven itself could not perceive. He descended into the mortal world, choosing to experience life again from the ground level, not as a god, but as a man.
That was how he ended up here.
"Herbs for sale," Lin Chen said softly, his voice calm like still water.
A group of youths passed by, laughing loudly. Their robes bore the emblem of the Falling Cloud Sect, one of the largest sects in the Eastern Domain.
"Did you hear?" one said. "The sect is accepting new outer disciples. Even mortals can try."
Lin Chen's eyes flickered for a fraction of a second.
A sect.
A place of bonds. Of growth. Of people who still struggled, dreamed, loved.
He smiled faintly.
That night, under a moon veiled by drifting clouds, Lin Chen stood alone outside the town. With a single step, space folded beneath his feet—no light, no sound, no fluctuation. He arrived at the foot of Falling Cloud Sect's mountain.
The next morning, the sect's disciple selection began.
Thousands gathered.
When Lin Chen placed his hand on the Spirit Stone, it glowed faintly.
"Barely qualified," an elder said, unimpressed. "Outer disciple at best."
No one noticed the Spirit Stone trembling in fear.
Among the crowd, a girl stood quietly in white robes. Her aura was clean, her eyes bright yet gentle—like untouched snow beneath sunlight.
She looked at Lin Chen.
And for the first time in ten thousand years…
The Immortal Sovereign's heart skipped a beat.
He did not know her name yet.
He did not know that this simple moment would eventually shake Heaven, rewrite destiny, and force him to choose between eternal detachment and mortal love.
But fate had already noticed him.
And this time—
It smiled.