She looked up through hazy eyes at the figure that saved her. He looked back at her with a warm smile. Her severe injuries seemed to matter very little to him.

“Let’s meet the keyholder.”

These were the only words he directed at her, and this was also all she could remember before she lost consciousness.

****

The wind was cool yet inviting whilst the sun was scorching and unforgiving. The ideal juxtaposition of the two resulted in the creation of a day where one would gladly accept the sun’s punishment to bask in the sweet relief the wind gave.

In the old rundown ruins that were once his bed for many hours following a terrible defeat.

A figure sat silently in the lotus position with his eyes closed. In his hands was an old wrinkled scroll.

The paper was cheap and commonplace. A one-time use sort of thing for the wrapping of meat. The raw smell that wafted from it was indicative of its origin.

Trash… that was the perfect way to describe it. If it was left in the street, no one would spare it a second glance, as that was its place of residence.

Yet it was this piece of trash that was the reason for this person’s perseverance. For upon this time-worn page were a few scribblings of something most profound.

The Primordial Law.

{The Dao Produced One,

The One Produced Two,

The Two Produced Three

And The Three Produced All things.

Find simplicity in the complex

Find Complexity in the simple

One Is The Origin

The Origin Is The Truth

Expel Three And Take In One

For One Is Truth}

This was a law of sorts that pervaded the cultivation world. The Primordial Law was a strange existence within the cultivation world.

The Primordial Law has existed since time immemorial. It has been passed down through the ages and is recognised as the starting line for cultivation.

Almost all cultivators are familiar with its words. It became something akin to a rite of passage for a cultivator to know these words.

Even Long Di came to know ‘Law’ after a while through virtue of his parents before he took his cultivation any further. This was because the Primordial Law was recognised as a sort of profound truth.

However, the Primordial Law held another identity of being utterly useless on the trek to the peak. Because of its similarity to a cultivation technique in ancient standing, it was once considered as such.

As a result, the attempt to cultivate such a thing was done by the sages of times past and joy found those who realised that it worked. Yet, this joy left the sages as quickly as it found them.

The efficiency of its cultivation was abysmal and as such, it was seen as trash, with only its words speaking of some ultimate truth that granted nothing.

No one knew who wrote it, it was simply seen as that which came to be. Though cultivation techniques, even the lowest rank, was something that no one ordinary person could get their hands on, the Primordial Law was an exception.

It could be found in every library, a commonplace thing even scribbled on a piece of paper used to wrap meat.

Having no money, and virtually no resources, it was this ‘technique’ that Lu Pei was currently cultivating. His bronze destiny, combined with the Primordial Law, resulted in a sorry display for cultivation.

A pitifully small amount of spiritual energy from the surrounding space entered his body. If there was anyone else here, they would have a heart attack from lack of breath from laughing too hard. That was how hilariously slow the spiritual energy was entering his body.

At this rate, it would take him twenty years to reach initial completion of the first vessel of the vessel qi gathering stage. Yet there was a stern expression of determination etched on his face.

Still, irritation crept in all the same. The futility of him being relegated to a life of mediocrity pained him.

“Damn it!” Lu Pei cursed as he lost his composure. A few months ago, his opened meridians revealed him to be in possession of a bronze destiny. This disappointed him greatly, but he desperately wanted to be a cultivator.

So even though those who held this destiny never rose to be anyone great, he wasn’t resigned to the fact. Yet, here he was still cultivating the Primordial Law to no effect. He started his cultivation well before the Destiny Test, yet there was barely any increase in his cultivation base.

“Why!?” he cried out after throwing the paper away.

“Why can’t hard work pave the way for those who are willing to walk it!?” He punched the ground in frustration as he spoke as tears came to be in the well of his eyes.

“I want to walk the path of the dao for myself and for the man who took me in, yet the heavens gave me a destiny of obscurity! A cheap destiny with no way forward. Is this my life!? Does my determination stand for nothing!?”

Tears streamed down his face as sadness and frustration coming together rendered him immobile.

Then his shoulder slumped as he walked to the part of the ruins where he threw the paper. He took it back up and started to read through it and began cultivating in silence once more.

Three hours passed as darkness started to take the land in its slow embrace.

The lack of a roof kept him aware of the time, and he saw that it was time to go. He started to come back to the ruins ever since he discovered it the first time.

He wasn’t sure why but apart from the beating he suffered the first time, he felt oddly at peace here.

He got up and dusted himself off as he prepared to leave, “Don’t worry, father, I will rise to the top of this world. I promise you, no one will get in my way.”

“Is that so?” a creepy voice that danced in the darkness slipped out, scaring him silly.

“W-Who’s there!?” He looked around in a panic but saw no one.

“What a delicious fragrance. I smell the scent of a king on you. What a generation this will be…”

Lu Pei trembled each time he heard the voice. It was slick and smooth as if oil dripped from each word. Yet, it was chilling and fraught with danger. He didn’t know why he felt this, but it seemed to be the case.

“What do you want from me!?” This shout took up a great deal of his courage.

“Oh? What can you give me, I wonder? A show perhaps?” the voice asked.

“I am no entertainer,” Lu Pei’s fear was disappearing as annoyance took over.

“Then what are you?” it asked, the playfulness in its voice slipping away.

“I am Lu Pei!” He said with pride.

“Doesn’t sound like much. Doesn’t seem like much,” the voice chuckled away in coldness.

“Just wait! In time, my name will be known far and wide,” he didn’t know if this was directed towards the voice or himself, but it needed to be said.

“Oh… my apologies, but I have not much time,” as this was said, one of the many shadows cast in the ruins began to move.

Before long, a tall lanky figure stepped out for Lu Pei to see and his expression made it known that his fear had returned.

It was an ugly thing, as it appeared humanoid with unnaturally long limbs. Its hands, if you could call it that, nearly dragged along the ground as it approached him. In place of fingers, were claws as wide and nails and as thin as a cicada wing.

There was a metallic glint to them that shamed even the sharpest of swords.

Its skin was pitch black and glistened even under the setting sun that painted the landscape red.

A smile lined with rows of teeth was plastered on its face as it looked at him. It was a Di Ming that greeted Lu Pei, not that he would know of this.

“So how about a deal, my dear king?” the Di Ming sarcastically asked.

Lu Pei’s entire body was shaking. He had never seen such a thing, but the Di Ming terrified him. He felt what he knew to be the liquid form of fear wanting to escape his lower body, but he took a shaky breath to steady himself in any way he could to look at this thing.

“ … Interesting… I can see why the mark found you,” the Di Ming’s expression changed somewhat, not like Lu Pei could tell what it was.

“W-What mark?” he asked in a cracking voice.

The Di Ming’s smile widened even more as its long clawed fingers wrapped around Lu Pei’s neck.

Its other hand pointed a single claw to his forehead, and before long, a golden ‘King’ character appeared.

It stared at the character in the space of a few seconds, seemingly lost in a memory of sorts, before it looked back at Lu Pei himself, “What are you willing to do to become strong?”

“Anything!” This answer banished his fear in an instant as it came out without him even thinking about it.

The Di Ming seemed to have expected this and brought its face closer to his before it said, “Let’s have a heart to heart.”

An apt choice of words as the Di Ming’s gaunt fingers left Lu Pei’s neck and touched up the left side of his chest where the rapid beating of his heart could be felt.

Vrmmm!

A strange energy could be seen collecting on the nail that touched upon the ‘King’ character on his forehead.

The energy drilled into Lu Pei’s body through the ‘King’ character and before long, cracks appeared all over his body.

The twilight gave rise to a scream of pain that reverberated across the distant plains.