The Profound Heaven Sect—the number one sect in the Eastern Region.
As a millennial ancient sect and a leader of the righteous path, it boasted tens of thousands of disciples. On the Profound Heaven Peak, immortal clouds swirled, spiritual cranes danced in the sky, and the spiritual energy was so dense it practically took physical form.
However, none of this had anything to do with the Servant Quarters.
Located at the outermost edge of the sect, right next to the back mountain, the Servant Quarters had no spiritual energy-filled cultivation caves, nor elegant pavilions. There were only rows of dilapidated wooden cabins and the lingering, nauseating stench of pigsties.
Gu Changyuan squatted next to the pigpen, holding a wooden bucket filled with slops.
He was twenty years old this year. His figure was tall and slender, yet somewhat gaunt. The faded gray servant uniform he wore had been washed entirely pale, but it was worn meticulously neat. Three years of torment had left haggard traces on his face, but between his sharp, sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, an unyielding edge remained—like a wounded lone wolf, ready to bite back at any moment.
"Yo, isn't this our Profound Heaven Sect's former number one genius?"
A mocking, eccentric voice drifted from behind.
Gu Changyuan didn't turn around. He simply poured the slops into the trough. Several fat pigs grunted and shoved against each other, fighting for the food.
"Senior Brother Chen, what brings you here?"
His voice was terrifyingly calm, completely devoid of emotion.
Chen Xuanfeng walked over with three or four Inner Sect disciples in tow, a habitual cold sneer hanging on his lips. He wore the luxurious robes of an Inner Sect disciple, a glowing jade pendant dangling from his waist—a spiritual artifact rewarded by the Zhao family. At twenty-five years old, with a cultivation at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment realm, he was considered outstanding even within the Inner Sect.
But three years ago, he was nothing more than Gu Changyuan's defeated opponent.
"Nothing much. I was just passing by and wanted to visit an old friend." Chen Xuanfeng looked at Gu Changyuan out of the corner of his eye. "Three years, and you still look like a piece of trash. Tsk tsk, the former number one genius is now worse than a pig."
The disciples behind him erupted in raucous laughter.
Gu Changyuan stood up and turned to look at Chen Xuanfeng.
He was half a head taller than Chen Xuanfeng, but right now, his meridians were completely destroyed and his cultivation was lost. He could barely maintain the first level of Qi Condensation. Meanwhile, Chen Xuanfeng was at the Peak of Foundation Establishment, on the verge of breaking through to the Golden Core realm.
"Senior Brother Chen must be joking," Gu Changyuan said lightly. "I am merely a servant disciple now. I cannot bear the title of your 'old friend'."
"Ha!" Chen Xuanfeng burst into loud laughter. "At least you know your place."
He took two steps forward, looking down at Gu Changyuan from a high horse. "Do you know? Three years ago, when you defeated me in the Sect Competition, I told myself that one day, I would make you kneel before me."
"And now, aren't you kneeling?"
He pointed at the pigpen by Gu Changyuan's feet. "Feeding pigs—doesn't that require you to squat and kneel?"
Another burst of mocking laughter rang out around them.
Gu Changyuan's right hand clenched slightly. At the webbing between his thumb and forefinger, an old scar throbbed with a dull ache—a cruel reminder of that night three years ago.
Three years ago.
That night, he was in secluded meditation, attempting to break through to the Golden Core realm. With his master, Gu Xuanqing, standing guard outside, everything was proceeding perfectly.
Then, a sneak attack came from the shadows.
He only remembered a sinister laugh and a bizarre, eerie power invading his body, ruthlessly shattering his meridians inch by inch. He struggled desperately, but was powerless to resist.
His master rushed in to save him, only to be heavily injured by that same terrifying power.
"Changyuan... run..."
Using the very last of his strength, his master pushed him out of the seclusion chamber before collapsing in a pool of blood.
By the time he woke up, his meridians were utterly ruined, his cultivation completely gone. And his master... had exhausted his lifeblood to save him and passed away shortly after.
From an unparalleled genius to a crippled piece of trash—all in a single night.
As for who the murderer was, he still didn't know.
"What? Not convinced?" Chen Xuanfeng noticed Gu Changyuan's clenched fist, and his smile grew even more malicious. "Want to fight? Come on, I'd love to see what a cripple with shattered meridians can do to me."
He reached out a finger and poked Gu Changyuan hard in the chest. "With the way you are now, I could crush you to death with a single finger."
Gu Changyuan lowered his head, staring at the finger resting against his chest.
He could endure it.
Over the past three years, what kind of humiliation hadn't he suffered? Being spat on, having slops thrown at him, being stripped and thrown into the pigpen... he had endured it all in silence.
Because he knew he was completely powerless right now.
But he also knew that enduring was not the same as surrendering.
"Senior Brother Chen," he raised his head, his eyes so calm it was chilling. "You are right. I am indeed trash right now."
"But have you ever thought—"
His voice was whisper-soft, so soft that only Chen Xuanfeng could hear it:
"For three years, while you've been stepping on my head... did you ever consider today?"
Chen Xuanfeng froze for a second before bursting into even wilder laughter. "Today? What about today?! Gu Changyuan, your meridians are ruined! You can never cultivate again in this lifetime. Do you honestly think you can still turn things around?"
"Keep dreaming!"
He violently slapped his palm against Gu Changyuan's shoulder. Spiritual energy surged, sending Gu Changyuan staggering backward, nearly making him fall into the filthy pigpen.
"Remember your place, trash." Chen Xuanfeng withdrew his hand and clapped his palms together, as if dusting off something disgusting. "Next time you see me, remember to kneel and bow."
With that, he strutted away with his lackeys, their arrogant laughter echoing through the Servant Quarters.
Gu Changyuan gripped the fence of the pigpen to steady himself. He watched Chen Xuanfeng's retreating back. There was no anger or humiliation in his eyes—only a dead, eerie calmness.
He looked down at his right hand.
The scar on his hand had healed three years ago, but the memory of that bloody night would never fade.
Before his master died, he had shoved a torn, ancient manual into his robes.
"Changyuan... this is my life's work... the Heaven-Burning Art... maybe it can..."
His master hadn't been able to finish that sentence.
For three years, he had flipped through that damaged manual countless times, yet he could never comprehend its profound mysteries. His meridians were ruined anyway; even if he understood it, what could he possibly do?
But he refused to give up.
Because he still had a blood debt to collect, and the truth to uncover.
The person who ambushed him, that sinister laugh—he swore to drag them out of the shadows.
The sun set in the west, dyeing the Servant Quarters in a desolate, dusky yellow. Gu Changyuan packed up his wooden bucket and walked toward his cabin.
The wooden cabin was falling apart. The roof leaked, and the wind howled through the cracks in the walls. But it was his only shelter.
Pushing open the creaking wooden door, he walked inside and pulled a cloth bundle from beneath the hard bed boards.
Inside the bundle was a yellowed, damaged scroll.
The Heaven-Burning Art.
He unrolled the scroll and, by the last sliver of dying twilight outside the window, stared once again at the cryptic text.
Three years. He had read it a million times, yet it remained a complete mystery.
"Master, what exactly were you trying to tell me..."
He muttered to himself, his gaze falling heavily on the final line of the scroll:
"He who burns the heavens incinerates all, including destiny itself."
Outside the window, the sky turned pitch black.
Dark clouds violently surged from the horizon, blotting out the stars and moon. The faint, ominous rumble of thunder echoed in the distance. A terrifying storm was approaching.
Gu Changyuan put the scroll away, lay down on the hard bed boards, and slowly closed his eyes.
What he didn't know was that this very storm would completely rewrite his destiny.
Because in the direction of the back mountain, the firmament was about to tear open.
A figure was currently plummeting from another world.