Over time, it's become mainstream in xianxia novel to have trashy young master MCs with shadows of former glory rise to the peak of cultivation by experiencing fortuitous encounters.
This stories happen to be spin off the discovery of special items like magical artifact, remnant wills, divine beasts, unique treasures and so on.
Well, Chen Zhiyu's story was a good depiction of this. Roughly a decade and a few years back, he was the rising star of the Chen Clan, a promising talent that was the pride of the Chen Clan – their beloved Young Master.
But fate loved to play the most mischievous tricks when it felt like the merriment of a person's life was nearing early saturation. It was conditional to dip in its sour hands and ruin the nice broth that was life.
During their family excursion at Mt Luoyin, back when Chen Zhiyu was only four, the start of their troubles took place. It was a sunny afternoon, and the family of cultivators decided to live the mortal excitement together on the mountain top, sightseeing and enjoying nature's beauty.
It was normal for hours, going fine, Chen Zhiyu and his parents had a lot of fun and it all seemed to be going quite well for some time. Unfortunately, evening came and so did the troubles that accompanied it.
The family of three were surrounded by two robust demonic beasts that had come out of virtually nowhere. The two demonic beasts as Chen Zhiyu could remember were not only terrifying and dreadful, but they seem to share a sense of taciturn and harmony whenever they attacked.
It was completely messy and for a child like Chen Zhiyu who had yet to step out of calcium, just the auras of the two demonic beasts alone made him faint. And too bad that his fainting even triggered something worse.
He actually rolled off to the cliff as soon as his mother came in his direction –the reason being that one of the demonic beasts intercepted his mother from heading over. In the process of landing, his childish body couldn't withstand it, hence he was blown away like leaf paddled by wind.
"Little Yu!" She called but Chen Zhiyu was unconscious to respond. Gritting her teeth, she hollered loudly at the beast before brandishing her sword to make a feint attack.
Thankfully, her method worked and the beast in the attempt to dodge, lashed its tail against Chen Zhiyu causing the latter to pulsate in shock from the reaction of being hit by the thick tail.
When she eventually came to carry him, he was already in critical condition with all of his bones sprained and his meridians shattered. It was too grave a result from just those few moments of clashing.
The two demonic beasts lingered for a while longer before leaving into the distance. It was clear that they were sent by someone who was definitely an enemy but there was little to be done about it and they could only hope for the damage Chen Zhiyu sustained to be tended to with immediate effect .
On returning, they asked for the best of the doctors in town to administer treatment. It was the Chen Clan in need, so these doctors were willing to lend a hand but their efforts only solved half of the problem.
They were able to fix the broken bones alone but the meridian problem remained. A lot of medicines were administered in the period when it happened to resuscitate the meridians but they were frustratingly futile.
This development led to desperation for both parents. Initially, they were going to head to a secret realm to find a possible cure for Chen Zhiyu's meridians. However, not only did his mother not return from the secret realm, thus vanishing 'forever', his father was also framed by the members of the Chen Clan when the Li Clan discovered the news about his mother's disappearance.
Hence, he was captured and imprisoned, leaving Chen Zhiyu to himself. Now, being a wasted talent with a dimmed star for a destiny, Chen Zhiyu had grown numb to the doings of fate. Hence, he allowed himself to be thoroughly humiliated by the people he should refer to as family.
After the incident with his father's imprisonment, Chen Zhiyu's uncle, his father's younger brother ascended into the position of clan master in his father's place. However, for unknown reasons, he was not stripped completely of the title 'Young Master'. He suspected it had to be the doing of his father's faction that didn't want his uncle to monopolize all the power and wanted to keep him in check.
Although this appeared to be a good step by at least maintaining some of the power on their side, it only worsened Chen Zhiyu's woes to new heights. The raw envy and jealousy that loomed in the heart of his cousins who couldn't be gifted the title made them despise him even more.
Among his uncle's children, Chen Xizi who was about the same age as Chen Zhiyu himself was the one who loathed Chen Zhiyu the most. If there was anything he enjoyed doing, it was the merry acts of humiliation he gave to Chen Zhiyu.
Chen Zhiyu had suffered so much humiliation and ire from the Chen Clan members and even down to the servants who were supposed to be composed and at least well-behaved around him when considering his status.
However, they also had an incentive from Chen Xizi during this parties and entertainment sessions to humiliate him in any manner they liked. The ones who put in the most efforts would get massive benefits from Chen Xizi.
Was there any sane human who would willingly shy away from benefits that could easily attained by following simple 'instructions'?
So therefore, these servants would raise their strongest fists, hurl the stinkiest saliva and land the most traumatizing slaps on Chen Zhiyu during these parties, just to entertain Chen Xizi.
And of course, even the servants felt a little elated that though they had commoner's blood, it was still a thing of pride to 'humble' one of the proud nobles.
Chen Zhiyu really had nothing left to live for. He had no one to love him anymore, his father was imprisoned in a very faraway land, his mother was also distant too and it was unknown if she was alive or dead, ever since that day he became a cripple, nothing was ever beautiful for him again in life.
He was just waiting and seeking for death to take him because a life without purpose was not worth living to him at all...it was tiring to live.
As Chen Zhiyu reminisced all these bitter memories, he became too immersed in them. Hence, he didn't notice there were two stoic figures dressed as guards who were currently heading in his way.
"Young Master, Lord Xizi invites you to his fortnight party, come with us at once" one of the two guards declared, his voice pulling in Chen Xizi's mind into the present as swiftly as possible.
"Huh?" Chen Zhiyu brows arched as he put on a disheartening look that could arouse a sense of pity within all who saw him.