People have been calling him trash since he was a kid. Born in a clan of strong cultivators, he was considered a disgrace for not being able to cultivate at all. He was born with a broken meridian and unable to awaken his martial spirit.
Despite his broken meridian, he still tried so hard to cultivate. Every time he tried to absorb the essence of the earth to strengthen his body, he experienced extreme pain and his body felt like exploding. But he was still unable to temper his body.
For someone like him born in a clan of cultivators, he was often bullied and slowly became an outcast. Although his father was a very strong cultivator in the past, he was killed by an unknown enemy. He was also told that her mother died after giving birth to him.
His grandfather, the leader of the SaikĹŤ Clan, never cared about him. He blamed him for the death of his son, his father.
After years of suffering, he was asked to leave the clan and move away from the Royal City of Ember.
"Where will you go now?" Asked Leo, his only friend. He is the only person that showed kindness to him since he was a kid. "Do you have any plan?"
He looked at him and smiled. "I don't know. But I think it's for the best that I left the clan. I never had any good memories there anyway."
He only has a bag with him with some of his clothes, a few copper and silver coins, and dried food. They were nearing the outskirt of the Royal City.
"I can go with you," Leo told him. "Just like you, I don't have anyone that tied me here."
He shook his head and touch his shoulder. "You don't have to do that. You have your clan that supports you. Besides, going with me is full of danger. I'm not even sure that I will survive after a few days. But you, you are full of potential. Your talent in cultivation is one of a kind. Don't lose the chance to grow strong for a trash like me."
"You're not a trash." He said looking at him earnestly. "Even though you are unable to cultivate right now, I'm confident that you will make a name for yourself in the future."
Migo felt touched after hearing his friend. Even though everyone treated him like a trash, Leo has always been kind to him.
"Besides you are," He can see sadness and hesitation in his eyes. "You are… you are… my best friend."
Migo smiled at him. "You will always be my best friend and I really appreciate everything that you did for me. I promise I will be careful and survive. In two or three years, I will be back and visit you. Maybe at that time, you will now be able to travel with me."
"That's a promise then, alright?" Leo asked.
"Yes, it's a promise." He replied. "So, let's stop here and you should go back to your clan now. I will be alright, I promise."
"See you then, Migo. You take care." Leo said before he turned his back and run towards the center of the Royal City.
Migo watched his friend until his figure is gone. He no longer was able to control his tears. He felt so helpless. And now, he is leaving the place he was born and the only person that cares about him.
After he recollected himself, he also decided to depart and start his journey far away from that place.
Despite the danger, he decided to travel through the forest as it will be easy for him to hunt animals or weak beasts or look for wild fruits for food. Even though he is unable to cultivate, he has a strong body. Every day, he completes one hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. Hunting has become one of his hobbies and learned how to adapt in the wild.
He was following the direction of the river. It was easier for him to clean his body, wash his clothes, and have a source of drinking water.
It has already been two weeks since he started traveling alone. Today, he was near a small village. At the entrance of the village, there was a large sign saying Mura Village.
He still has copper and silver coins with him so he decided to enter the village and see if he can purchase some food and other things for his travel.
Although there were people outside, the atmosphere in the village was gloomy. The houses were damaged, and he didn't see any kids at all. There were just some adults busily arranging boxes and putting them in carts.
He decided to approach one of them.
"Hi, Sir. Do you know where I can buy dried fruits or meat here?" He asked.
The man with a mustache stopped what he was doing and looked at him. "Are you traveling alone?"
"I am. Is there any place here that I can buy some food?" Migo answered.
"How old are you kid and why are you traveling alone?" The man asked again instead of giving him an answer.
Migo hesitated and just stayed silent. He was about to go when he heard the man speak.
"You won't see anyone selling any food here right now." He said. "Everyone is leaving the town and moving to different places."
He looked around and realized that people were moving their things from their houses and putting them in the carts outside. He looked at the man with a mustache who continued what he was doing.
"May I know why everyone is leaving?" He asked. He was curious why people are leaving the village.
"The Red Claw bandits started terrorizing the residents of this village recently. They destroyed the village, stole our food and merchandise, and even kidnapped the children. Now everyone is moving to another place because this is no longer a safe place to stay." He answered. "I will just go back to my family before they take all my things."
"Has anyone reported this to the nobles or military of the Royal City?" He asked. "They could help you fight the bandits."
"The Royal City? Do you expect the nobles or the military to help? Do you really think they care about the lives of civilians like us? Someone has already reported this to the Royal City, but they didn't respond. They just ignored it. No one came to help us at all. They only care about collecting taxes and they don't give a damn if we die or not." He said without hiding the anger in his voice.
It was his first time traveling outside the city. Although the nobles are selfish individuals, they were tasked to protect the civilians when there is danger and should provide support when needed. If they were really like what the man said, they were worse than the bandits.
"All done." He heard the man said. "Where are you going now?"
"I'll just continue traveling through the forest then." Migo politely answered. "Thank you."
He already turned his back and started walking away when he heard the man calling him.
"Hey, kid." He shouted. "It's dangerous to travel alone and I don't think you have anywhere to go."
He stopped and looked at the man who already sat in front of his cart and was about to go.
"I am on my way to Crystal City. I have my family there. Do you want to go with me?" He continued asking.
Now that he learned about the bandits, traveling through the forest will become more dangerous. He looked at the man and nodded. He sat beside the man in front of the cart.
"I am Roland by the way." He introduced himself as the horse started moving and pulled the cart.
"I'm Migo." He answered.
"It's going to take us a few days to reach the Crystal City." He explained. "It seems that you have been traveling on your own for a while now."
He sighed and explained what happened.
"I didn't expect a big clan like yours will abandon you just because you can't cultivate." He said. "My brother was also a cultivator but I'm just an ordinary man. But he treated me fairly."
He just stayed silent while listening to him.
"He told me that the world of cultivation is very full of challenges but also exciting. It will make you work hard to grow stronger. He said that the stronger you are, the quicker it is to reach the heavens." He continued.
"That was the last time I talked to him before he was killed by another cultivator from a big clan like yours because of a map."
He was shocked when he heard the story.
"I never understood the last words he told me. I'm not a cultivator." He said. "But I have always been dreaming of revenge. Unfortunately, I'm just an ordinary man. What can I do against a cultivator?"
He felt the sadness and helplessness in his voice.
"It was years ago. And now that guy has already become a very strong cultivator."
"I'm so sorry to hear that." He said. "Is he from the Royal City of Ember?"
"No, he wasn't. He was from the Sato Clan in the Wasser Kingdom." He answered. "I was born in the Wasser Kingdom and grew up there. But when my brother was killed, I moved here in the Ember Kingdom and have a family."
Being born in a big clan of cultivators, Migo was exposed to the world of cultivation where the strong were respected and admired. They have the power to decide the fate of ordinary people and those weaker than them.
However, no matter how strong a cultivator is, they always start from the Mortal Realm which is divided into three layers – Body, Spirit, and Soul. Every layer is divided into Low, Middle, and High Levels.
At this realm, mortal cultivators need to build a solid foundation – body, spirit, and soul – which is very important for future breakthroughs. The body layer is the start of their cultivation journey. This is when they start practicing body martial arts to open the channel of the meridians allowing the essence of the earth to cleanse their body and temper their organs.
Every cultivator also has a martial spirit since birth which is divided into categories – elemental, beast, and weapon. This is considered the innate talent of the people practicing cultivation. The spirit layer of the mortal realm allows cultivators to enhance the growth of their martial spirit from its embryonic stage by using the energy of heaven.
Aside from having a broken meridian, Migo has no martial spirit. It has been checked by several elders when he was young and confirmed that he will never become a cultivator.
When the body and the martial spirit have perfect harmony, the essence of the earth and energy of the heaven will combine allowing a breakthrough to the soul layer. At this time, the cultivator will feel an increase in their vitality and strength. They can also start practicing martial techniques and skills compatible with their martial spirit. They can also take in the spirit energy of heaven and earth to fully awaken their martial spirits.
There are a lot of young cultivators in their clan that is currently at the soul layer of the mortal realm.
When the mastery of martial skill is perfected and the martial spirit is fully awakened, the spirit energy within the body will evolve into divine energy. The divine energy will cleanse the cultivator's mortal body and enhance it to become a martial body. The martial spirit will also take a physical form and can be seen by the naked eye. When this process is completed, there is a high chance of breaking through to the next cultivation realm – the Martial Realm. It is said that the Martial Realm is the beginning of one's road to cultivation.
Majority of the cultivators of his age in their clan are martial realm practitioners. One of his cousins is considered a genius for becoming the youngest High-Level Martial Heavenly layer at the age of seventeen and just a step away from the True Martial Realm.
Martial Realm is divided into Earth, Sky, and Heavenly layer. Every layer is divided into Low, Middle, and High Levels. Practitioners at this realm are many times stronger compared to mortal realm practitioners. This is because their body has been transformed to a martial body and constantly being enhanced by the divine energy within their body to become a true martial body once they reach the High-Level Martial Sky layer.
True Martial Realm practitioners are the main force of big clans. This realm is divided into three levels – Low, Middle, and High.
Practitioners of this realm are very strong because they have already cast away their mortal body and have modified it into a True Martial Body. With a true martial body, they can already create Divine Energy Sphere in their body which allows them to absorb more energy from heaven and earth. This will greatly increase their divine energy allowing them to increase their fighting power and release powerful martial art skills.
Above the True Martial Realm is the Venerable Realm. In this realm, a cultivator can already become the leader of their clan or a sect. His grandfather is a Venerable Realm expert.
But according to what he heard while in the Royal City, the king is said to be an expert above the Venerable Realm.
Unfortunately, he did not encounter any information related to that realm and above.
"You might want to take a rest for now." He heard him say. "We are still a long way from the Crystal City, and it looks like you have not had any good rest in a while."
He just smiled and nodded.
While traveling in the forest, he never had time to let his guard down. The forest is full of danger and anywhere inside it is not safe. Strong beast can appear anywhere at any time. Because of that, he was not able to rest or sleep well since he started traveling.
He closed his eyes and started to fall asleep.