Prologue: Past Life and Present Life
In the darkness of night, Wang Yue slowly opened his eyes. He stared at the electronic calendar glowing faintly in his bedroom, his mind sluggish and unable to process what was happening.
Had he truly been reborn... or was it all just an incredibly long dream?
This was a world where spiritual qi had revived—and expanded a thousandfold. But after the revival centuries ago, humans weren't the only ones who benefited.
The birds and beasts of the skies, the creatures of rivers, lakes, and seas—they were closer to nature and gained even greater boons.
Fortunately, humanity had martial arts research kickstarted by the qi revival, backed by powerful technology. That barely allowed them to stand toe-to-toe with the beast clans, carving out territories in a tense stalemate.
Jinling was a major city near the edge of human territory, dominated by three great families: the Wang, Su, and Chen.
Wang Yue was one of the grandsons of the Wang family's current head—the only boy in the main second branch.
Three years before the time Wang Yue now occupied, a Secret Realm had appeared near Jinling.
Secret Realms were phenomena that emerged only after the qi revival. Their origins were unknown, and they appeared completely at random.
These Secret Realms were crucial to why humans could contend with the physically superior beast clans. Inside them lay vast heavenly treasures and martial inheritances.
The top cities and martial holy lands in human territory thrived because of complete or near-complete Secret Realm inheritances. Cities like Jinling got only scraps leaked from those holy lands or top families.
Unfortunately, Secret Realms were exceedingly rare. In centuries, fewer than a thousand had appeared, and less than half fell into human hands.
So when this one surfaced, the three Jinling families went mad. They sealed off all news and sent in virtually every male over ten—an elite force from all three houses. It wasn't sexism, per se; the three patriarchs were hardcore chauvinists who believed exploration and fighting were men's work, while women handled the home front.
They never returned. Not a single one. The Secret Realm vanished with them.
Wang Yue, then twelve, had been on the list but fell gravely ill at the last moment, sparing him by luck.
His generation in the three families was already short on males, with none younger than him. The Secret Realm wiped them all out—except Wang Yue.
With the men gone, the families' prestige plummeted. But each still had a Heavenly Origin Realm powerhouse holding the fort (Body Tempering - Qi Condensation - Spirit Condensation - Earth Palace - Heavenly Origin - Return to Truth - Mortal Shedding - Transcendence...), plus ties to a martial holy land. That kept outer-city powers from swallowing them whole, letting them cling to control of Jinling.
But misfortune never comes alone.
If it wasn't a dream, then in three years, Jinling would face utter annihilation.
A massive beast tide—endless in number, led by over a dozen Return to Truth Realm vicious beasts.
Jinling and the three families couldn't hold against that. They begged aid from the nearest top city, Tianhai.
Tianhai sent help... but with outrageous demands. Jinling produced beautiful women, especially from the three families.
The Tianhai powerhouse demanded the families submit as slaves after the aid.
Purposes obvious.
The women chose death over humiliation, perishing with part of the horde.
Wang Yue survived that too. As he charged into the beasts with his grandmother, mother, and sisters, an indescribable force whisked him away.
Then began endless darkness.
True darkness—no light. Imprisoned in a place thick with surging yang qi, force-fed a supremely rigid, yang-dominant, profoundly mysterious cultivation art. Days blurred into endless practice.
No food. Stop cultivating, and you'd starve.
Bearing his family's hopes, Wang Yue refused to die. He cultivated diligently, dreaming of escape.
The art progressed lightning-fast, but side effects were brutal.
At first, just one part swelled, growing stronger. Over time, his body overheated, nearly incinerating him.
He'd black out. Upon waking, all his pure yang qi gone—back to square one.
Endless cycles. Decades? Centuries? Millennia? Time lost meaning.
Unwilling to endure forever, he pondered and experimented beyond practice.
He knew isolated yin doesn't breed, isolated yang doesn't grow. But comprehending its mysteries? Impossible alone.
One day—enlightenment.
Then, thunder struck.
In that chaos heaven thunder's instant, he understood: he'd grasped the Great Dao of Yin and Yang.
One of heaven and earth's primordial daos, unattainable for mortals—especially his pure isolated yang body. Cosmic laws unleashed thunder to punish.
Then, he returned to now.
Reborn, or dream's end?
Wang Yue couldn't fully tell, but eons of habit took over. He sat cross-legged, circulating the art.
Instantly, ambient pure yang energy swirled like a tornado vortex, flooding into him.
His original Qi Condensation 5th layer exploded with the influx.
Qi Condensation 7th Layer
Qi Condensation 8th Layer
...
As his realm climbed, the thing in his crotch stood erect like a pillar, swelling larger—until far thicker and longer than any adult's.
Only then did it stop. Wang Yue's cultivation hit Qi Condensation 9th layer peak, one step from Spirit Condensation.
He halted. Pushing to Spirit Condensation was easy, but experience screamed: once there, that monster below wouldn't soften. How could he even leave the room?
Now confirmed: true rebirth, no dream.
But questions piled up.
First, Jinling wasn't the frontier—why the sudden beast tide in three years?
Second, with ties to a martial holy land, why did Tianhai dare covet them? And why no aid from the holy land?
Those could wait. Priority: surviving the beast tide.
Standard family arts? No. Even if his grandmother Liu Ruoshi burned everything to break through, three years maxed her at early Return to Truth—useless against a dozen such beasts.
Forcing the Pure Yang Technique? Fine for him. Local yang qi was billions times thinner, but the art's potency meant half a year would let him crush those beasts effortlessly.
But side effects too severe. Needed a fix first.