Jin Hao's eyes turned blank, and the voice echoed, emanating from that black tome, a young man's cry rang out from a crumbling village—it was Khan, long before the Seven Dins would bend the knee...
— The Emperor's Imperial Record, Entry No. 1 —
Thud…Thud…Thud.
The wooden shovel struck wet earth, a mournful cadence under a weeping sky.
My lean frame shoveled mud from the deepening pit. Rain mingled with tears that seared my eyes like embers.
Coarse, calloused hands on burnished caramel skin held the shovel as I looked at the grave.
Beside me lay my father, Ullyses Dahgehs—the only soul who'd stood by me since we fled our old home. His frail form mocked the strength he once had.
My memories burned—his laughter warming the nights. Calloused hands guiding mine to carve wood into the fleeting shapes of my youth.
They all flickered in my mind.
Hopefully, he would enjoy a better afterlife than his actual one.
'What kind of son leaves his father to die alone?' The question gnawed, and I whispered a silent prayer.
I'd been hunting in the forest when death stole him. His last cough still rattled in my ears.
I bent low to heave his body into the grave I had made for him, but I flinched at the first touch. His body was like ice.
The rain fell against my face, trying to wash away the dirt and grime.
It did nothing.
'If I ever climb out of this mud, I'll make sure that no one I love will ever starve again.' I roasted the deer I had caught over a spit, its flesh sizzling as I turned it over, tearing a piece—his favorite cut before I laid it in his grave—a final tribute to a man I'd failed with the weight of my absence.
There was nothing left for me in this place.
No other loved ones to turn to. An unwavering determination ignited within me, one I had put off for too long.
Before he'd died, I'd made a solemn promise to him.
I would not just live this life; I would ascend as a cultivator. Tear power from The Skies themselves if I had to.
Claw my way up 'til the world choked on his last name.
I placed my forehead on the ground.
One last filial bow.
I would ascend as a cultivator.
My teeth rattled and shook like the branches in the wind.
I had stopped crying.
And with a final heave of my shovel, I covered the grave with the freshly dug earth and some of the coals from the fire, another burial rite. I couldn't bring him warmth or safety in life, but at least, in death, he would feast.
With a honed blade and the little I had, I walked to the edge of the village, and as I walked, voices dwindled to whispers.
Vile things. They felt like spit on my father's grave.
My father, Ullyses, had been a generous man who gave until he had nothing left.
I wanted to scream—the vultures had fed on our charity when their own hearths grew cold and after they'd sucked him dry, they'd left me to bury him.
Ptu! At the front of the village, I spat on the ground and strode into the wilderness. The Awoken Moon sect was many days away; the sooner I left, the sooner I'd fulfill my promise to my father.
I hung my leather satchel around my body and ran. The branches clawed at my face, like hands trying to hold me. I did not dare slow down.
–break–
In a matter of minutes, I was in the forest proper.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the nocturnal beasts of the forest stirred. Their presence announced by the screeching sounds of the dark.
Before long, it was completely dark.
And I had to hide.
I scaled a towering tree for refuge, lashing myself high with a cord of rope as growls rumbled below.
Every snap of a twig down there was a promise—if I fell, I'd be meat too. A sudden realization hit me, 'Twigs snapping?'
*Grawww*
Leopard.
I cut at the ropes I'd bound myself with and clambered off my back and onto my belly.
Bright yellow eyes glared up and looked into mine. There was a leopard just below me.
"Be damned." Not yet, I wouldn't let myself die so soon. The beast had locked onto me.
*Scratchhh* The leopard dug its razor-sharp claws into the bark, and paw by murderous paw, it began to climb up to me.
My heart slowed, and I reached for my bow.
*Grawww*
For a brief moment, my attention lapsed, and I looked away from my bow and at the beast. It had leapt halfway up the tree.
I didn't have time.
As quickly as I could, I drew my arrow, "Aah!"
No! My hands had fumbled, I hurried, trembling as I redrew the bow, aiming for the one target I could actually see.
Twang!
The leopard roared, a paw clawing at the arrow I'd sunk in its eye, the other paw still clinging stubbornly onto the tree.
It leapt again.
Twang. I shot another arrow. This time the beast fell, and I heard a sickening crack.
Within moments, a band of wolves had ganged up on it. Reveling in the feast.
– 玄 –
I would be Emperor of the Seven Dins.
Yet, on this night, I was prey.
Lesson 1: Everyone is prey to someone else—this is the hierarchy of fear.
– 玄 –
The sun kissed my face like a long-forgotten friend. It had been nearly a full month since I left my village, and I was nearing the edge of the forest.
I had barely managed a few minutes of sleep, but I was close. So close now.
I set my course northward, headed for the grounds of the Awoken Moon Sect.
After a little more than two days, the forest's edge finally appeared, and I let out a sigh of relief.
The shift from the thick, shadowy woods to the wide-open grasslands and marked out fields felt like the difference between two worlds.
Most of the forest's deadlier beasts kept to the deeper parts, where the trees grew thicker, and the air hummed with power, or…qi.
The closer you got to the heart, the stronger they became—and at the very center, they said, a spirit beast of unimaginable strength ruled unchallenged.
I'd risked my life crossing that cursed forest, all for the chance to join a sect and learn a cultivation technique.
But here was a beast, born with the power to cultivate naturally, without any technique at all. The thought filled me with awe—and a burning envy.
I wanted that power.
I needed it. And I would make it mine.
Using my knife and a sharp rock, I sparked a fire and cooked a small squirrel I'd caught. By the time I set out again, it was almost dark once more.
Soon, I found a winding trail through a wheat field, where some farmers were working the land. I went toward the closest one, "Uncle, where is the Awoken Moon Sect?"
"Morning, boy", the farmer grunted, straightening his back and wiping the sweat of his brow. He placed his rake straight into the ground, leaving the claws up and facing me.
He pointed at a small, well-trodden road, snaking through the fields to the left of the one I was already on. "The sect's down that way. Straight shot," he took in a shaky, exhausted breath.
"If you keep going straight once you get on that road, then you can't miss it; If you want to get accepted, don't be late when the intake starts—those sect folks don't wait on stragglers."
"I understand," I bowed slightly, "thank you, uncle."
"Wait," He held me by the shoulder, "the sect is known for being hard to get into, son." A few wrinkles formed on his forehead while he found his words. "It's…best if you think of something else."
I gave a curt response. "Thank you, uncle, but it'll be no problem."
The farmer scoffed, turned around, and waved me off so he could return to his backbreaking work.
It wasn't long before I saw a city.
A city so vast it defied everything I knew. In my village, two hundred people together was a large gathering.
Here, at the gates alone, there were thousands—workers hauling bales of wheat, guards barking orders, supervisors watching like hawks to ensure no one cheated the system. It was overwhelming, awe-inspiring.
And I knew this was only the beginning. In my lifetime, I would see far greater things.
I pressed on, moving steadily forward, until I saw it—the Awoken Moon Sect.
My breath hitched.
Breathtaking?
No. That word was too small.
Above me, the crescent moon hung in the velvet sky, its pale light washing over the sect's towering structure.
Right there, at the peak of the sect building, a massive crescent moon sculpture sat, its pale glow dwarfed beneath the light of the real moon drifting far above it
I was here. Finally here.
My mind raced with possibilities, warring against the unease within me. What trials awaited behind those walls? What would I sacrifice for power? For my promise?
I flung off my outer robe, a remnant from my village.
Now, it was either ascend or die.
Onward, then. Toward power. Toward the man I would become. Toward a destiny I would carve with my own two hands.