Origin Stone Town, Zhou Family.
Under the scorching sun, a group of dozens of young men and women are strenuously practicing martial arts in a square, all drenched in sweat, the ordeal almost unbearable. A middle-aged man with his hands behind his back moves through the crowd, occasionally scoffing sharply and scolding any lazy youth.
On a large rock at the edge of the square sits a young man with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, merely seventeen or eighteen years old, slender and remarkably handsome.
It's mid-September, the peak of the oppressive late summer heat, and under the blazing sun, the rock is so hot it could cook an egg. Yet, despite the continuous twitching of his eyebrows, the handsome young man remains seated, his sweat soaking through his hair at his temples.
His name is Zhou Heng, and he is cultivating the Zhou Family's secret technique, the Fierce Sun Jue.
For martial artists, cultivation involves digesting food and extracting absorbable energy, refining it into their True Yuan Force stored within cells in the body. The Fierce Sun Jue utilizes the power of sunlight to accelerate the absorption of food and increase the conversion efficiency.
The more intense the sunlight, the higher this conversion efficiency, but few people can withstand exposure to the fierce sun. Most practitioners can only endure several minutes or at most half an hour of cultivation before seeking shade to cool down.
But Zhou Heng had started cultivating at sunrise and had persisted for three hours now!
Not just today, but for several years without a break!
Unfortunately, Zhou Heng's body is weak, and despite his arduous efforts, he remains at the initial period of the Body Refinement First Layer, nearly indistinguishable from someone untrained.
Martial artists are divided into twelve levels according to their cultivation, known as the Body Refining Twelfth Layer, and reaching the twelfth layer allows one to attempt even higher levels. It's said that once successful, one could ascend to heaven in a single step! Yet in over a hundred years, nobody from the Zhou Family has embarked on this heavenly path.
The Body Refining Twelfth Layer is further divided into four realms. The first three layers constitute the Skin Refinement Realm, layers four to six the Flesh Refinement Realm, layers seven to nine the Bone Refinement Realm, and layers ten to twelve the Blood Refinement Realm.
True Yuan Force cultivated by martial artists is stored in cells within the body. It's a gradual process that begins with the skin, progresses to muscles, then to bones, and finally, the blood.
This leads to the division into four realms.
The power discrepancy between each realm is substantial. A Flesh Refinement Realm martial artist facing someone from the Bone Refinement Realm would essentially be defeated instantly! Within the same realm, such as the fourth and sixth layers of the Flesh Refinement Realm, the advantage clearly belongs to the one at the higher layer but not overwhelmingly so.
The path of martial arts is fraught with difficulties, becoming steeper the higher one climbs. Advancing within the Blood Refinement Realm could take over a decade to rise just one level!
However, breaking through the Skin Refinement Realm is relatively easy. Generally, with an ample supply of food and diligent cultivation, reaching the peak of the Body Refinement First Layer could be achieved in half a year, and completing the entire Skin Refinement Realm might require only three years.
Zhou Heng had started practicing the Fierce Sun Jue at the age of eight, and now nearly ten years later, his cultivation level still remained in the initial period of the Body Refinement First Layer. This was downright bizarre, and despite countless doctors having examined him with no conclusive results, the only explanation was that Zhou Heng had poor innate talent, inherently unsuitable for cultivation.
Stubborn as a rock!
What's inexplicable is that Zhou Heng's father, Zhou Dinghai, is a genius, a true genius. He completed the Skin Refinement in half a year, the Flesh Refinement in two years, and the Bone Refinement in five more years. Now, at only forty-one years of age, he has reached the Blood Refinement Realm, the Tenth Layer of Body Refinement!
Previously, the youngest member of the Zhou Family to enter the Blood Refinement Realm was sixty-three years old, which shows just how terrifying Zhou Dinghai's talent was!
Such a genius surely deserved a shot at the heavenly path!
Tiger father, but a dog son!
This was the Zhou Family's assessment of Zhou Heng, and even that was putting it politely. Many behind his back bluntly called him a failure. If not for Zhou Dinghai being one of the family's six great elders, those insults would be hurled directly at him.
"That failure still refuses to give up?"
"Hmph, what does it matter if he doesn't give up? Countless doctors have seen him, and all say there's nothing physically wrong; he simply lacks the talent needed for cultivation!"
"Fortunately, the family has us. Otherwise, when demon beasts attack, everyone could only wait for death!"
"Despite being a failure, he eats more than anyone; he's truly a big eater!"
"I think he's just putting on an act, pretending by simply sitting there, not really cultivating at all!"
The young men and women in the square paused for a short rest, whispering among themselves, their voices loud enough for Zhou Heng to hear every word clearly.
"Shut your mouths!" the middle-aged man supervising them immediately shouted. He is Zhou Yuanyang, who could be considered Zhou Heng's uncle in terms of their family relationship. He sternly said, "Putting on an act? Let's see any of you try that act! Anyone who can sit on that rock for an hour, I'll excuse from today's remaining tasks!"
At these words, those youngsters were instantly rendered speechless.
A joke, that rock was hot enough to cook eggs. Who could sit there for an hour? Forget an hour; ten minutes would be tough! Only a few practicing Fierce Sun Jue could convert that extreme heat—yet not everyone in the Zhou Family practiced Fierce Sun Jue!
Zhou Yuanyang walked over to Zhou Heng, his heart sighing faintly; he saw and acknowledged the young man's efforts, yet fate was cruel, having rendered him unable to cultivate naturally.
"Don't take it to heart!" he could only offer these words of consolation to Zhou Heng.
"Thank you, Uncle!" Zhou Heng replied with a sincere smile, as radiant as the sunshine.
"You should also not overexert yourself; be mindful of your health!" Zhou Yuanyang advised.
Sitting on this large stone to cultivate, even he could not persist for a long time, let alone Zhou Heng, who hadn't even reached the Initial Period of the First Layer of Body Refinement?
"I understand!" Zhou Heng nodded, but he had no intention of getting up.
Zhou Yuanyang sighed again in his heart, feeling even more regret, thinking that if this young man had the same talent as his father, then with such efforts, his future would be even brighter!
He turned his head back to look at the young boys and girls resting under the tree shade and suddenly a wave of anger surged in him, and he shouted, "Rest time is over. Continue training!"
"You must be kidding, we've only rested for less than five minutes!"
"Exactly, we didn't even have enough time to catch our breath!"
"It's all because of that loser, dragging us all down!"
The youths reluctantly returned to the training field, their eyes filled with hostility as they glared at Zhou Heng, blaming him for everything.
Zhou Heng saw these glares but didn't take them to heart, continuing to circulate the Fierce Sun Jue, using the power of the sunlight to continuously refine the food in his body, transforming it into his own True Yuan Force.
Inside his body, food was being refined under the influence of the sunlight and cultivation technique, forming countless threads of free energy, which then turned into streams of True Yuan Force, flowing within his body under the operation of Fierce Sun Jue.
Everything was normal up to this point, but when the True Yuan Force flowed to his lower abdomen, it suddenly took a turn and plunged into his Dantian, never to come out again!
True Yuan Force is only useful when stored in the cells, where it can burst out when needed, and it pervades the skin, flesh, bones, and blood throughout the human body. But what is the Dantian? Although there are rumors that the Dantian is very important, related to the ethereal path to ascension, Zhou Heng was still unstable in his foundation, how could he think about the path of ascension?
Only Zhou Heng himself knew the reason he couldn't cultivate; it was all because of the Dantian!
More specifically, it was because of a Broken Sword in the Dantian!
Zhou Heng had a secret nobody knew about. When he started cultivating at the age of eight, it was as if his consciousness could materialize and freely circulate within his body, allowing him to see every detail of his body.
It was then that he saw the Broken Sword floating in his Dantian.
More than a foot long, pitch black, with even the hilt deep in blackness. Although it was a broken sword, it emanated an imposing aura as if it had existed since the creation of the heavens and the earth, transcending through eternities and forever enduring!
If it were another child, seeing this scene might have made them cry from fright!
But Zhou Heng had always been a very determined person since he was young, and he kept this secret hidden.
He didn't want to become a monster in everyone's eyes!
When the first physician diagnosed him, Zhou Heng was apprehensive, but that physician didn't notice the presence of the broken sword at all. Not just that physician; all the doctors Zhou Dinghai invited didn't discover the existence of the black Broken Sword—it seemed as if it only existed in Zhou Heng's imagination!
Since nobody even knew about the existence of the black Broken Sword, how could they talk about removing it?
As time passed, he did not become a monster, but he became recognized as a failure. But no one knew that it wasn't because he couldn't practice martial arts; rather, it was that the True Yuan Force he painstakingly cultivated was being "eaten" by the black Broken Sword!
This robber, hiding in his body and lazing as if it was his den, was actually sucking all his True Yuan Force clean!
But even knowing that the black sword was a thief, why did Zhou Heng continue to cultivate relentlessly?
Because he still had a glimmer of hope—that there would eventually come a time when the black Broken Sword would be satiated!
At that time, the True Yuan Force he cultivated could be used by himself!
His aptitude was not poor; this could be seen from the amount he ate because for a Martial Artist, food was equated to True Yuan Force. He ate more food every day than any other peer, which meant that the True Yuan Force he cultivated each day also far surpassed others!
Because of this glimmer of hope, he calmly faced pairs of disdainful eyes and faces full of scorn. He firmly believed that as long as the black Broken Sword no longer held him back, he could indeed rise above others!
This day was getting closer!
He could feel that the black Broken Sword was continuously undergoing changes, albeit the process was very slow. But as the saying goes, constant dripping wears away the stone; after ten years, the time for a qualitative change was finally approaching!
It was going to happen in just a few days!
This hope sustained him through the scorching heat that could nearly burn one's buttocks, the endlessly boring meditation, and the continuous cultivation, feeding the vast appetite of the black Broken Sword in his Dantian.
Apart from eating, Zhou Heng just sat on the stone continuing to cultivate with the Fierce Sun Jue, which could convert the high temperature; otherwise, he would have been baked dry long ago!
A few hours later, as the sun set, Zhou Heng staggered to his feet and walked towards his home.
"Think you can leave? Crawl over from under me!" A young boy suddenly blocked Zhou Heng's path, his arms crossed over his chest, a proud smile on his face, while four other boys watched the scene unfold.