Chapter 1 – Talentless Child
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Scene 1 – Mockery at Dawn
The sun struggled to rise over Fallen Star Frontier, pale and gray, as if even light feared this forgotten corner of the Mortal Realm.
A circle of youths surrounded a trembling boy. His clothes were torn, his face streaked with dirt, and his qi barely flickered—like a dying candle.
"Look at him! He can't even draw qi without shaking!"
"Hahaha! Dao Ling, the realm's most useless waste!"
"A mortal chicken has more aura than you!"
The words cut through the chill air like jagged blades. Dao Ling knelt on rough stone, fingers raw from scraping against the ground. His chest heaved. I have to… I must…
He inhaled, felt for the faintest drift of qi in the frontier air… and pulled.
A jolt ripped through his chest. Blood sprayed onto the stones.
The youths stepped back, faces twisted in disgust.
"Even Heaven doesn't want you!"
"You're talentless! Accept it!"
Dao Ling wiped the blood on his sleeve. No anger toward them—only at the invisible chains that shackled him since birth. His qi refused to move.
Yet… he didn't stop. He couldn't.
My body is weak, but my will… is not.
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Scene 2 – The Mountain Beckons
By noon, Dao Ling's feet pounded over the scorched slopes of Thunderstorm Hell Mountain. Even adult cultivators avoided this cursed place.
Lightning split the sky like shattered jade. CRACK! Its roar shook the jagged peaks. Each step sank into scorched stone. The air hummed with violent energy, making his teeth chatter.
He gritted his teeth.
"If I cannot cultivate qi… then I will cultivate pain.
If Heaven denies me strength… I will steal it from thunder itself."
A violet bolt slammed down. His clothes disintegrated, flesh tore, bones creaked—but he didn't scream. He dragged himself further upward.
Another bolt… another strike… can my body even survive this?
Every strike shredded his mortal body, yet beneath the agony… something awakened—a spark, a pulse he had never felt. It's… power. I can feel it.
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Scene 3 – The Thunder Crystal Core
At the peak, Dao Ling reached a cluster of shimmering Thunder Crystal Cores, treasures mortals were forbidden to touch.
He grasped one.
The sky reacted violently. Thousands of bolts converged on him. BOOOOM! The heavens screamed.
A Heaven-Suppression Tribulation.
A force meant for monstrous geniuses… targeted at a mere mortal.
Dao Ling collapsed, breath ragged, vision blurred. Pain tore through him, yet his fingers clutched the crystal tighter.
"I… refuse."
Even if Heaven seeks to destroy me… I will not yield.
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Scene 4 – Awakening
A warmth spread through his veins, soft but inexorable.
His heartbeat synchronized with something ancient, primordial. The lightning twisted. Gravity warped. Rocks lifted. The very air bent around him.
This was no ordinary qi. No cultivation technique. This was—awakening.
The storm's energy flowed into his shattered body. His meridians, once broken and blocked, drank in the cosmic power.
Below, villagers froze. Even those who mocked him felt an impossible pressure pressing on their souls.
Dao Ling rose. Violet arcs bent and swirled toward him like serpents paying homage.
A faint flame-shaped pattern pulsed on his chest—the Eternal Immortal Mark.
It… it's real. I am no longer powerless.
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Scene 5 – From Mortal to Storm
His once-small frame radiated strength. His eyes shimmered violet-gold, as if holding a universe within.
He stepped forward. The stone beneath his foot shattered. CRACK! The wind stilled. Birds froze mid-flight. Lightning parted around him like curtains.
"I was born under the sky, but I do not bow to it."
The horizon seemed to tremble at his words. The world… it feels smaller now, yet my path is infinite.
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Scene 6 – Breaking Fate
His aura surged, violent and majestic. Every breath, every heartbeat, radiated cosmic rhythm.
"I will break the cage of fate. I will crush every shackle of law. And I… will rebuild the firmament itself."
The youths who had mocked him earlier stared, their voices trapped in their throats. Awe, not fear, consumed them.
Dao Ling walked past them, a shadow long as a legend, every step echoing the pulse of a storm.
The Mortal Realm shifted under his presence.
He was no longer the talentless child of Fallen Star Frontier.
He was a spark. A storm. A heretic against Heaven.
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Scene 7 – Cosmic Attention
Far across the multiverse, in realms mortals could never imagine, the Heaven-Abyss Envoys stirred. Their eyes snapped open.
A mortal who should have been nothing… had awakened a power that defied their dominion.
Dao Ling inhaled. The Eternal Immortal Body surged fully awake.
"If Heaven cannot contain me… then I will walk beyond Heaven."
The horizon stretched endlessly before him. The mountain, the village, the world—all seemed tiny in the presence of one who had risen above the laws of mortality.