Chapter One: The Boy Afflicted by a Strange Illness

Azure Mysterium, Eastern Domain—

Yunqi Kingdom, Luoyang Town, Qin Family Training Grounds.

“He’s awake, he’s awake, thank goodness…”

Amidst a chorus of joyous voices, a youth with ashen-brown hair, surrounded at the heart of a crowd, slowly opened his eyes.

“It hurts, damn it, it really hurts…”

The boy lifted his head with effort, revealing a delicate, youthful face. Though his features contorted with agony, his jet-black eyes shone with an unyielding tenacity and resolve. One hand pressed to the ground, the other clutching his chest, he endured the agony in silence, refusing to utter a sound. Before he could finish a single sentence, the pain overwhelmed him and he lost consciousness once more.

From the blood freshly spilled from his lips and the slight depression of his chest, it was clear the wounds he’d suffered were not minor. Yet his breathing remained steady and deep—a small mercy.

“Thank goodness, his breathing has finally settled. A moment later and lasting harm might have taken root,” said an elderly man with a long beard, crouched opposite the boy. The old man’s face was stern and weathered, his thick brows drawn in a line conveying solemn authority. Yet in the depths of his gaze, a deeply hidden tenderness suggested that saving this scion of the Qin family mattered greatly to him.

“Thank you, Grandfather!”

Beside the unconscious boy stood a little girl, her hair in two pigtails, clad in a pale green dress. Though her expression was cool, an otherworldly grace radiated from her, like a lotus blossom just emerging from the water—at such a tender age, she already possessed a hint of transcendent beauty. One could only imagine how breathtaking she would become as a grown maiden.

At this moment, she supported the boy’s body, her tear-stained eyes still glistening with sorrow, evoking a pang of empathy in all who looked upon her.

After thanking the old man, the girl's face suddenly sharpened with fury. Her almond eyes narrowed, and she glared at a burly youth before her, scolding, “Qin Ba, you knew my brother Qin Feng’s health is poor, yet you struck so ruthlessly! Were you trying to kill him outright?”

Her words were barbed with anger, a spark threatening to ignite, as she confronted the hulking Qin Ba. The crowd’s attention converged on him; the air grew tense and still.

A challenge!

This seemingly demure little girl had become enraged for her brother Qin Feng!

Under a hundred gazes, Qin Ba’s chiseled face turned aside with a disdainful snort.

“Hmph! Even if we Qin family sons can’t be heroes, we’re no cowards or weaklings!”

“But look at your brother Qin Feng now—a useless cripple! Born cursed! Someone like him ought to have been cast out long ago. He has no place here, no right to step onto this training ground! It’s a joke—an utter joke!”

Qin Ba was recognized as the foremost among the younger generation of the Qin family—tall as a giant, broad-shouldered and powerfully built, his voice thundered like a bell. With each word, the several hundred present felt their eardrums vibrate, all the more so from the naked contempt in his speech—

“Your brother Qin Feng has no right to remain, nor to cultivate!”

Surprisingly, most of those present wore faces of agreement, many nodding in assent.

Might makes right!

Not just in the Qin family, but throughout Azure Mysterium, strength ruled above all—only the strong earned respect. In their eyes, a cripple born with a strange illness like Qin Feng was unworthy of the Qin name. Such opinions dominated the assembly, so when their eyes turned to the fainted Qin Feng, contempt and scorn were inevitable—even Old Master Qin Tianzheng’s gaze betrayed a flash of sorrow and helplessness.

That poor child lying on the ground was his own grandson—such a pity, such a pity!

Qin Feng, the boy with ashen hair, bore the mark of frailty from birth, his lifespan surely short.

More dire still, the strange illness that had afflicted him since the womb was shrouded in mystery. Though the Qin elders kept its specifics hidden, its persistence and resistance to all cures meant it was deemed an incurable affliction.

“You—!”

The little girl’s eyes brimmed with angry tears, her slender form trembling with rage, clearly pushed to the brink by Qin Ba’s words.

—

“Yan’er, let it go. This… is not a place for me. Help me back,”

Just as the girl was about to intercede for Qin Feng once more, he suddenly opened his eyes. A flash of clarity passed through them as he stopped her with a word.

“Brother, they’re treating you so unfairly…”

“Let’s go.”

Qin Feng struggled to his feet, frail yet composed. First, he bowed slightly to his grandfather Qin Tianzheng, then, under the scornful gazes of all, met their eyes with a cold, unwavering stare—finally settling his gaze on Qin Ba.

He said nothing, simply looked at Qin Ba with eyes tinged faintly red, their eerie bloodlust and chill cutting to the bone. The burly Qin Ba started, a shiver running through him.

Those eyes…

Qin Ba was astonished, and so was everyone else.

Who could imagine that beneath Qin Feng’s frail exterior lurked a beast of such terrifying ferocity? In willpower, he was clearly a formidable adversary—one who, if not for his physical weakness, would have spelled disaster for Qin Ba today.

That innate aura and murderous intent seemed almost inborn in Qin Feng, sending a chill through the crowd.

Suppressing the surge of killing intent within, Qin Feng clenched his fists and abruptly turned, staggering off toward his quarters.

As his presence faded, the crowd finally breathed again.

Stunned by his departure, none moved to stop him.

Qin Feng left. Qin Yuyan, however, was far from appeased. She shot a fierce glare at Qin Ba, stomped her foot, and hurried after Qin Feng.

“Brother, your health… let me carry you back,” she pleaded, her face full of concern.

The coldness on Qin Feng’s face melted instantly at her words, his irritation dissipating. A smile returned to his lips.

He reached out and gently ruffled Qin Yuyan’s hair, his gaze hardening with renewed determination. “Thank you, Yan’er, but I can walk on my own.”

Knowing her brother’s pride, Qin Yuyan did not insist, but instead supported him step by step toward the rear courtyard, leaving a trail of blood that soon vanished from sight.

“What a resolute child—his heart is harder than stone. But that body… alas! If not for his health, his future accomplishments would surely have surpassed his father’s,” sighed some of the elders present.

“Yes, Xiaosheng was a remarkable man. Yet these two children—one born with a strange affliction, the other never growing as she should. What misfortune for one man to bear!” another lamented.

“Indeed, such a pity.”

Most of the younger generation, however, looked on with scorn. In their eyes, for Qin Feng to challenge Qin Ba with such a frail body was self-delusion. Some even whispered whether he’d lost his mind, snickering openly at his misfortune.

“Enough! Disperse. The younger ones, back to training—anyone caught slacking will be expelled from the family on the spot!” roared Qin Tianzheng, his eyes flashing with anger as he surveyed the unruly scene.

At his command, the vast training ground fell silent as the grave.

For the speaker was none other than the Qin family patriarch, Qin Tianzheng.

Qin Tianzheng, head of the Qin family in Luoyang Town and its foremost martial artist, was the pillar of the family’s honor and status in the town.

—

His overwhelming strength and iron rule had forged his unparalleled prestige within the Qin family.

“Yes, sir!”

The training ground, chaotic moments before, regained order at once. The sounds of exertion rang out anew as Qin Ba and the others resumed their drills, sweat pouring from their brows.

Qin Tianzheng nodded in satisfaction. Turning back, he watched the stumbling figure recede into the distance, a trace of approval and reluctance flickering in his aged eyes.

“That boy’s temper is the very image of his father’s! Yet a little hardship will serve him well in the future. I wonder how Xiaosheng is faring. Feng’er will soon be eighteen—if you, his father, don’t return, not even I can let Feng’er remain in the family…”

At this thought, hope filled the old man’s gaze.

There was little he could do. Though Qin Tianzheng was Qin Feng’s grandfather, he was also the family patriarch. According to the ancestral laws, any male of eighteen whose cultivation remained below the sixth tier of the Mortal Strength stage could not continue training within the family compound.

This was an iron rule!

Exceptions existed, but only under the strictest conditions—such as being able to enter the Ancestral Dragon Blood Pool in Tianfeng City on the annual Awakening Day and awakening a bloodline above the Flood Dragon level.

The Qin family was a clan of true body cultivators.

Though strong in Luoyang Town, this branch was but a small offshoot of the vast Azure Mysterium Qin family—a lineage of ancient cultivators bearing the pure Azure Dragon bloodline. Its antiquity stretched beyond memory, its might suffocating in its enormity.

With vast resources and generations of talent, the Qin family had become a towering pillar of the Eastern Domain’s cultivation world—the foremost of the four Divine Beast bloodline clans. Their martial arts were countless, their number of Earth Strength experts legion, and even those at the Heaven Strength stage numbered in the hundreds. It was said that, in the family’s long history, one had even ascended to the Divine Strength stage.

Such was the glory and pride of the Qin family.

They stood for martial supremacy.

Through countless cycles of prosperity and decline, the family endured, their survival ensured by ironclad rules and harsh realities.

Thus, any descendant who failed to meet the standards was expelled. Those who still wished to cultivate could forsake body training to join a sect and pursue spiritual arts; those without the requisite talent would manage the family’s business affairs, living in wealth and comfort—a fine path in its own right.

In the Qin family, to have dignity and respect, there was but one road: to become strong.

This was the foundation for every Qin descendant, and the reason why the ancient clan could look down upon other families, sects, and organizations through the ages.

Though the Luoyang Town Qin family was small, it was complete in all respects.

Even as a minor branch, it bore the illustrious Qin name.

Qin—the very word stood for glory and splendor. Every Qin child’s blood carried the family’s backbone and pride, each generation inheriting the iron law and creed that only strength commanded respect.

Qin Feng was nearly eighteen, yet his cultivation remained stalled at the third tier of the Mortal Strength stage.

Though Old Master Qin Tianzheng had five sons and dozens of grandsons, his third son, Qin Xiaosheng, had only this single heir. Yet, as patriarch, Qin Tianzheng would never bend the rules, not even for his own grandson—should Qin Feng fail to reach the sixth tier, he would be expelled in accordance with the family’s law.

“Eight years! Xiaosheng, you’ve been away searching for a cure for this child all this time…”

Even the ever-stoic old master’s beard trembled, his eyes growing moist with undisguised longing and worry.

For, after all, he was also a father.

The third son, Qin Xiaosheng, was Qin Feng’s father—the most outstanding of the old man’s children. At eighteen, he had awakened a Profound Dragon Soul, his cultivation soaring day by day. Eight years ago, when he left in search of a cure, his strength had already matched his father’s at the tenth tier of the Human Strength stage. Should he return before Qin Feng turned eighteen, perhaps all would not be lost…