The stars above the Lin Clan's ancestral hall shone brilliantly, casting faint shadows across the stone courtyard. Lin Feng knelt before the ancestral tablet, his fists clenched and trembling. The mocking whispers of his cousins echoed in his ears, their disdain cutting deeper than any blade.
"'The son of the mighty Heavenly Sovereign… stuck at Qi Condensation for three years? What a joke!'"
The words stung, a constant reminder of his failure. Lin Feng, the scion of the illustrious Lin Clan, was an anomaly. Born into a family renowned for its unparalleled martial prowess, he was a pale shadow of his father, the revered Lin Tianxian, the "Heavenly Sovereign." While his siblings soared through the realms of cultivation, their progress marked by meteoric rises in strength, Lin Feng remained stagnant, his cultivation inexplicably halted at the initial stage of Qi Condensation.
A mysterious seal, a suffocating weight within his dantian, blocked the flow of Qi, the life force of cultivators. It was a silent mockery, a constant reminder of his inadequacy. The Lin Clan, known for its unwavering pride, had long since turned a cold shoulder towards him, their disdain thinly veiled.
But deep within Lin Feng's sealed dantian, a faint pulse of energy stirred, as if something ancient and boundless had begun to awaken. It was a subtle tremor, almost imperceptible, yet it resonated within him, a flicker of hope in the face of despair.
Lin Feng, however, remained oblivious to this nascent change. He closed his eyes, the weight of his failures pressing down on him. The ancestral tablet, adorned with the names of illustrious ancestors, seemed to mock him. Each name whispered tales of legendary feats, of unparalleled power, a stark contrast to his own pathetic existence.
"Father," he murmured, his voice barely a whisper, "why… why can't I?"
A single tear escaped his eye, tracing a path through the dust on his robes. He had tried every method, every technique, but nothing could break the seal, nothing could unlock the true potential that seemed to lie dormant within him. He was a caged bird, yearning to soar, yet bound by invisible chains.
As the night deepened, a chilling wind swept through the courtyard, carrying with it a hint of unseen danger. Lin Feng, lost in his despair, remained unaware of the approaching shadow, a shadow that would soon disrupt the tranquility of his life and thrust him onto a path of destiny he never imagined.