In a world of fantasies and great mysteries, there, on the streets of the capital of the country of Zhou, a young boy named Liang Chen lived. He is an orphan who struggled for everything he had despite having to live in the most expensive city in the country. He grew up very poor which was a step up in his lifestyle when it was time to enter the mandatory military service. In Zhou country, all male citizens not of noble birth are to enlist in the military when they turn 16. All who enlisted were to serve for five years during which you will be trained and tested and if deemed worthy you might rise in ranks and stay in the military longer. In this world, one is recognized as an adult when one turns 16 and so did Liang Chen who saw this as an opportunity for him to rise from his lowly street kid status to a military man-he saw this as a springboard to becoming a wealthy man. To Liang Chen, this was the start of his glorious life but unfortunately, things don't always go as planned.
Four years later Liang Chen who was now a twenty-year-old young man who looked strong at a glance had risen in rank since he started but he soon realized that a certain amount of strength was required to be promoted higher in the military. It does not matter how intelligent you are or how resourceful you may be, might if the determining factor. Liang Chen did not have that kind of strength, to acquire such strength certain criteria have to be met. This is power that is beyond the capabilities of any normal man and those who wield such power are known as cultivators. Cultivators could harness qi and use it for many purposes, mostly in battle, but to do that one must have the ability to sense the qi and this required a spiritual root. Then to store it within your body you needed a dantian. A dantian is a spiritual organ located just below the naval area and acts as a storage for qi and as there primary source of power for all cultivators.
...
Liang Chen had neither a dantian nor a spirit root and so was destined to never be a cultivator, which is why he had no way out of the problem he was currently facing. It turns out that during one of his protection missions, some goods had gone missing. Theft was a major infraction on the military laws and it was clear to all that it had been stolen. He is being accused of being the thief but Liang Chen swears he did not take it, however, he knew who took it but could not say because the thief's status was too high that he couldn't afford to offend him. Being the son of one of the army generals and a potential cultivator, Liang Chen knew it was a waste of breath to point out the real thief for even if he did no one would believe him, and even those who did believe him would not dare say anything about it because as a consequence they might quietly disappear including him, no questions asked. There was no way he could vindicate himself without losing his head so he received his punishment of a dishonorable discharge and that was the last time he was spotted in the capital. He had vanished quietly into the night, forgotten.
Liang Chen who had left the capital swore to himself that he was going to do everything within his ability and beyond to get stronger, even if he did not have a spiritual root he was still determined. Through his time serving in the military, he had always heard of martial artists who through dedicated hard work and training could harness their inner force to produce explosive strength in battle. He sought this path out because he wanted to get stronger he needed to get stronger so as not to face such humiliation again in the future. In terms of the will to get stronger, Liang Chen was sure he was inferior to no one and his determination was strong.
He set out on his month-long journey to the second largest city in the country, Purple Leaf City located in Purple County. The city and county were named after the city lord and governor of the county Marquis Purple Leaf. Purple Leaf City is the cradle of martial arts in the kingdom, all who aspire to become martial artists see it as a holy land. This city had many organizations who controlled the day-to-day running of the city and sometimes had influence within the county while obtaining benefits and making a lively-hood out of their various dealings. One such gang is the Blood Saber gang, they had a reputation for being very ruthless and powerful especially their leader, Chief Ouyang, one of the most powerful martial artists within the county. This is the group Liang Chen joined and began his training as a martial artist.
He also joined the Hunter's Association, an organization that had influence everywhere in the kingdom and could be used to issue bounties and adventures and martial artists qualified would complete the tasks in exchange for the promised rewards. The hunter's association acted as a middleman and was responsible for the smooth running of every business deal. To be qualified to accept missions you have to be a member of the organization, You take their test and if successful you will be ranked from unranked hunter to 9-star hunter. This represented different levels of benefits and value the organization places on you. It also signifies your status and strength.
Liang Chen was now an unranked hunter and a martial artist, This brought him a lot of comfort and for the next few years he lived a happy life but all good things must come to an end for those without power.