In a world that relies on cultivation, where the strong prey on the weak and the weak obediently follow the powerful. An extremely elegant crystal palace burned with flames bright as the sun and screams were heard throughout the entire city. The city was riddled with burning pieces of wood covered in blood and flesh, houses were in pieces and in the middle of it all, one woman stared at the sky with a smile that could tear all hearts open, but it contained an evil aura of hatred along with it, her eyes were bloodshot with blood flowing down all across her slender arms. The palace exploded while she slowly walked away into the distance. 

- - -

Zhou sect, Yan empire

"Zhou Xinqiu, 6th level body tempering stage!" the ancient stone in the center of the sect displayed.

"YAYAYA! Finally I broke through the 6th level!" A young girl by the name of Zhou Xinqiu, who was about the age of 16, was jumping in joy. She finally had reached the peak of the middle tier body tempering stage. In the beginning of a human's cultivation journey was the body tempering stage, this stage was further split into 9 levels. Every time one broke through to the next level, their strength would grow tremendously. level 1-3 of the body tempering stage was low tier, this was when one strengthened their skin and outer body, level 4-6 was mid tier, which was when one strengthened their bones, and level 7-9 was high tier, which was when one strengthened their inner organs. Beyond the Body tempering stage was the Qi circulation stage which followed the same segmentation but was meant to allow humans to build their Qi pathways and meridians to be able to store their first Qi energy which would make their attacks exponentially stronger.

"Haha great job qiu'er" Zhou Xinqiu's father, Zhou He, praised. Zhou He had adopted her when she was less than two years old, after the great calamity of the world and the shocking battle between the demon realm and the human world. The Human world eventually prevailed however this calamity was deeply engraved in the heart of all the humans in this world.

During the calamity's end, Zhou He had met a young injured Demon woman who had saved him from death's door when he had been poisoned by one of the Demon soldiers in exchange for him to take care of her child, naturally her child was Zhou Xinqiu.

Today was a very important day in the Zhou sect, it was the ceremony where the strongest people of the younger generation of the Zhou sect would be chosen to enter the Bronze Circulation Pool. This pool could greatly enhance any cultivator who was under the stage of Qi Circulation's cultivation level and maybe even help them breakthrough into the QI circulation stage.

The Zhou sect, however, had many problems and although the sect leader had suppressed these problems for the time being, because of the opening of the Bronze Circulation Pool many of the factions within the Zhou sect had started to begin refusing to agree with Zhou He's orders and tried to seize more power in the sect.

There were 2 factions within the sect that were the most threatening to Zhou He. These were the Black Jade faction and the Golden pupil faction.

Note: The names of the factions come from the type of techniques they practice

Out of the 50 young participants of the Zhou sect's youth ceremony, only 5 could enter the Bronze Circulation pool.

"Dad. . . you promised me that you would give me a higher level attack technique when I reach the 6th level Body tempering stage!!!!" Zhou Xinqiu whimpered with her hands in a begging position as she looked at her dad.

"Ah Qiu'er" Zhou He cleared his throat "This . . . I . . . Ok, how about this, I will give you an even higher grade technique once you reach the Qi circulation stage"

"UGHH You said that last time when I reached the 5th level too" She pouted and wrinkled her eyebrows.

"Qiu'er, I have a surprise for you, do you want it?" He had no other option, this girl was too greedy.

"yes yes yes I want it" She looked at him with her eyes wide open and smiled.

"Ok then do this for me, Reach the Qi circulation stage first and then I will give it to you" he looked at her and then looked away as he thought in his head, "you need to get strong so no one can bully you around when you leave this place"

"Ok! I will try my best for your surprise! you better not let me down this time or Ill go tell auntie!" Zhou Xinqiu stuck her tongue out at him and then hopped away out of the manor.

"Ah your little girl is growing so fast, I hope she can stay happy like this forever but I know she won't let me keep her in this tiny sect for much longer." he looked at the sky starting to get feelings of depression as he remembered that little girl's pure face.