In the middle of a forest lay a young man covered in the falling autumn leaves. The yellow and orange leaves that fell on him made it a beautiful scene.
At least that's if the observer ignored his gaping wounds and the headless animal accompanying him.
"Aargh!!" Martin groaned in pain as he gained consciousness.
The injuries were inflicted by a low ranked monster wolf which he mistook for a normal wild wolf. When he came across the small silver wolf, he realized it was guarding a yet to ripen blood ginseng. A herb he needs to break through from the last stage of body refinement, he knew this was a chance he simply couldn't miss.
Martin had been living in this forest for months. He had killed many wild animals so he thought it'd be a piece of cake. But when he fought the wolf, he found out that he couldn't have been more wrong, this wolf was of a monster bloodline and it had formed its monster core to become a 1'st order monster beast.
Being an arrow already shot from a bow (with no way of backing out), also desperately needing the herb, he decided to take the risk and fight.
A decision that almost cost him his life. He was suppressed the entire fight, got many wounds, couldn't even manage to kill the wolf, and somehow lost consciousness during the fight.
'I was probably saved by a passerby or something. I must remember this lesson to never underestimate foes by just looking at appearance' he thought as he let out a sigh.
"Since the person saved me from the wolf why couldn't he just finish the job properly. He should have at least bound my wounds, fed me expensive medicine, and left me a few million spirit stones " he shamelessly said before he forced down the cheap medicinal powder he prepared before his expedition down his throat.
'maybe I was saved by a charming older beauty. Come back! I want to devote the rest of my life to you. I honestly don't being a house husband…' his last thoughts before passing out again.
…
While passed out Martin had a dream. It was a dream of memory when he was a kid.
"Hey wait up!", Martin shouted towards the back of a 23-24-year-old looking man but was ignored.
"You are walking too fast please slow down", he pleaded only to receive silence in response as the man kept his pace which he considered fairy slow.
"Uncle cultivator I'm talking to you!" he yelled.
The man involuntarily straightened his back like a cat with a tail that got stepped on turned around and righteously yelled,
"I told you not to call me uncle I'm only 312 years old! don't you see how suave, young and graceful I look? You are probably the reason I have been single for long!"
Martin rolled his eyes and said, "but I have only known you for a month how could I have caused you to be single for 312 years?", while rushing to catch up.
This 'uncle cultivator' was a man Martin met in the village he lived. The man claimed to be in the mortal world for some experience that would help him in his cultivation path.
One of his favourite pass times was boasting to Martin about how powerful he was. He claimed to be able to turn mountains into valleys with a flip a hand. Although Martin was sceptical, he still listened to his stories with relish. That was because this man talked about the most interesting things that sounded as if out of a fantasy novel, things that made his blood boil in excitement.
The man had only spent 3 months in the village, but that was enough time to influence Martin into wanting to be a cultivator. When he asked the man to teach him cultivation, the man just laughed and said,
"Slthough your potential is not bad you are still too young ".
Of course, this only increased Martin's scepticism and made him look at the man as if he was a swindler.
At least that was until he turned 16 and he found that he had been left an inheritance. He found out that he had unknowingly been imparted some cultivation techniques and basic information of things in the cultivation world.
…