The wilderness stretched endlessly beneath the vast, open sky, where mountains pierced the heavens and forests grew so thick that sunlight barely touched the ground. This was a world far removed from the comfort of cities and sects, a place where nature reigned supreme and every day was a battle for survival. Rivers meandered through valleys rich with spiritual energy, their waters teeming with rare herbs. The cries of spirit beasts echoed through the land, their roars shaking trees and sending lesser creatures scattering.
This was a world governed by strength. Spirit beasts cultivated their power through instinct and bloodline, growing stronger with every cycle of the moon. Humans in this wilderness were rare, seen only as prey or interlopers trespassing in a realm of beasts.
In the heart of this dangerous wilderness, a boy ran silently through the forest. His body moved like a shadow, weaving between towering trees with precision born of countless battles. At just thirteen years old, Jiang Chen was already no ordinary youth. His lean, bronzed frame bore the scars of battles fought since he could remember. Though he had no family, no clan, and no teacher, he thrived in this land ruled by beasts and danger.
Jiang Chen crouched low, his piercing amber eyes locked onto his prey: a Silverfur Stag, a Tier 1 Spirit Beast that radiated an aura of faint spiritual energy at the same level as him, the Middle Stage of the Body Tempering Realm. The stag was massive, standing taller than an ordinary man, its silver fur shimmering faintly as it absorbed sunlight. Its antlers glowed faintly, a sign of the spiritual energy stored within its core—a treasure for any cultivator.
In the cultivation world, spirit beasts were categorized by tiers, each tier corresponding to the strength of human cultivators. Tier 1 beasts were weaker, often equivalent to Body Tempering cultivators.
Jiang Chen gripped the crude spear in his hand, a weapon he had carved from the bone of a Spirit Wolf. Its edge was sharp enough to pierce flesh but brittle against harder materials. He couldn't afford to miss his mark.
The stag's ears twitched. It raised its head, sensing something was amiss. Jiang Chen tensed, every muscle in his body coiling like a spring.
In an instant, the stag bolted, its powerful legs propelling it through the forest at incredible speed. Jiang Chen sprang into action, his feet pounding against the earth as he gave chase. His breathing was steady, his movements silent. The stag dashed into a clearing, its speed unmatched by ordinary hunters—but Jiang Chen wasn't ordinary.
He closed the distance with relentless determination, his spear ready. As the stag leaped over a fallen tree, Jiang Chen lunged. The bone spear streaked through the air, glowing faintly as Jiang Chen channeled his limited spiritual energy into it.
The spear struck true, piercing the stag's side. The beast let out a pained bellow and staggered but didn't fall. Blood seeped from the wound as it continued to flee, leaving a trail of crimson on the ground.
Jiang Chen pressed forward, his amber eyes cold and focused. With another leap, he caught up to the wounded stag and grabbed the spear still lodged in its side. Using all his strength, he twisted and drove it deeper, piercing the beast's heart.
The stag collapsed, its legs giving out as life drained from its body. Jiang Chen stood over the corpse, his chest rising and falling with controlled breaths. His hands were steady despite the effort, and his expression remained calm. This was survival, nothing more.
Jiang Chen knelt beside the stag, his fingers deftly carving into its chest. Soon, he pulled out the beast's core, a marble-sized sphere that glowed with faint silver light. This was the essence of the beast's cultivation, containing its spiritual energy and a fragment of its bloodline power.
For Jiang Chen, the path to cultivation had been forged through trial and error. Without a proper manual or teacher, he had discovered his own crude method of growing stronger: consuming the energy of spirit beasts. Over the years, he had honed his body by battling beasts far stronger than himself, tempering his muscles, bones, and mind in the fires of conflict.
He sat cross-legged beside the corpse, holding the stag's core in his palm. Closing his eyes, he focused inward, guiding the energy flow through his body. Jiang Chen's cultivation was chaotic, unrefined. Unlike cultivators in sects who followed precise techniques, he absorbed energy directly, allowing it to flood his meridians like a violent tide.
The energy from the core surged into his body, wild and uncontrollable. Pain lanced through him as his meridians stretched to their limits, struggling to contain the power. Jiang Chen gritted his teeth, his brow furrowing in concentration. Slowly, he guided the energy into his bones, tempering them further, making them denser and stronger.
This was his cultivation: a method born of chaos and necessity. Every beast he killed, every core he refined, pushed him closer to the strength he needed to survive.
Though Jiang Chen had never seen the cities or sects of the wider world, he had learned of them from fragments of human travelers who occasionally wandered into the wilderness—many of whom perished here. The world of cultivation was vast, divided into countless sects, clans, and empires. At the center of it all were 3 different paths to strength on the way of cultivation.
1. The Martial Path: Cultivators refined their bodies and weapons, seeking physical strength and mastery over martial techniques and increasing their realm.
2. The Elemental Path: Cultivators talented enough pursued mastery of natural elements such as fire, water, and wind, manipulating the laws of the world to their will.
3. The Daoist Path: A more esoteric path focused on understanding the fundamental laws of reality, often considered the pinnacle of cultivation, but extremely difficult.
Each path led to immense power, but they were fraught with competition. Sects and clans waged war for resources, treasures, and territory. At the heart of this conflict were the cultivators themselves, geniuses born with unmatched talent who dominated the heavens and earth. But none of this mattered to Jiang Chen yet. For now, his world was the wilderness, and his only goal was survival.