The moonlight dimly lit up a dark room. Dark Qi could be seen flowing towards a dark figure, though not at a fast rate.

Shadow slowly opened his eyes and let out a breath of black mist. 'It has been a week since I came here,' Shadow thought as he concluded his Qi cultivation stance.

A few days ago, Lin Fan had to undergo Qi training to further improve his control on [Human Sword Unity] under the orders of Patriarch Wei. Hence, Shadow could only diligently train in the 3 Profound skills that he borrowed and at the same time, gained knowledge about the world by reading the books in Lin Fan's room.

The current world he resided in was one of the 5 mortal realms. Originally, there were 15 mortal realms but 10 were destroyed a couple of years later after the War of Gods, which happened a few million years ago.

The War of Gods caused massive destruction on all the realms-The shock wave from the final clash absorbed almost all of the Qi from all the realms, causing the cultivation speed of cultivators to slow down due to the scarcity of Qi.

Shadow also learned that in the mortal realm, there were a total of 4 cultivation stages; First stage is Qi Refining, followed by Qi formation, Core Formation and finally, Spirit Ascension.

Similarly, weapons and beasts were also split into 4 stages; Common, Rare, Profound and lastly, Spirit.

Martial skills were also ranked according to their strength, with the weakest one being Common rank, followed by Rare rank, Profound and Spirit. Secret ranked martial skills however, could not be ranked according to strength.

Secret ranked martial skills could be created by all cultivators, only if they understood some secrets of the universe. However, only a few understood a portion of the secrets, resulting in an infinitesimal amount of Secret martial skills. Moreover, Secret skills progressed with one's understanding of the universe, sometimes even causing Immortals from the Immortal realm to covet them.

Ever since Shadow became self-conscious, he was able to control his body state to phase through objects.

Shadow came to the courtyard after he phased through the wall of the house. It was said that Dark Qi was the most active at night and remained dormant in the day. Hence, Shadow activated his [Hidden Dark Swords] and [Dark Qi Barrier] at the same time to improve his Qi consumption when using the skills.

Shadow had longed mastered the 2 techniques, in fact, it could be said that he mastered it on the second night of practicing. If other sects' Patriarchs heard of it, they would shamelessly intrude the sect and steal Shadow away...

***

3 days later.

Bang!

"Morningggg!! Do you miss me brother Shadow?" Lin Fan kicked open the door and greeted Shadow with a huge smile, showing his dazzling white teeth.

During the past few days of hell-like training, he often wondered if Shadow was doing alright by himself since he was just 'born' not too long ago.

"Morning." Shadow lazily opened his eyes and glanced at brother Lin before going back to sleep. Last night, Shadow sensed that he was about to breakthrough and decided to stay up the whole night to absorb Dark Qi, leading to his current state.

"Argh... So cold. Anyways, quickly wear the sect's disciple robe. We are going to test your cultivation stage later."

Upon hearing 'cultivation stage', Shadow immediately don the robe and stood before Lin Fan, smiling.

"..." Lin Fan laughed sheepishly and brought Shadow towards the testing area.

When they arrived at the testing area, Patriarch Wei and 10 High Elders could be seen standing around a statue.

After greeting the Patriarch and the 10 High Elders, shadow gazed at the statue.

The statue was twice as tall as him, with a sword in one hand and an empty scroll in the other.

It was a statue of an old man with a sturdy figure, his eyes were incredibly sharp, as if nothing could hide from him.

"This is the founder of the sect. Pay your respects, then place your hand on the sword handle." One of the High Elders sternly spoke.

Shadow bowed before the statue before placing his hand on the sword handle.

In that instant, the Dark Qi in his body started circulating automatically. The rate of swirling increased every second.

When Shadow felt that his whole body was about to explode, the Dark Qi started to slow down and eventually, it went back to its original state.

The empty scroll turned black in an instant. Slowly, the words 'Qi Formation lower stage' surfaced.

BOOM!

Everyone at the scene felt their minds exploded. The cultivation speed was simply too fast...No, fast was an understatement, only monstrous could be used to describe the speed.

"Oh...Qi Formation lower stage. I guess it's okay. Right?" Shadow casually commented while asking the High Elders.

"!!!" Everyone vomited blood at the same time. 'Even geniuses take 2 to 3 years to reach Qi Formation. What about you? Just cultivated for a week and reached Qi Formation?! If this is okay, then what are we?'

***

Dark Forest Village.

"Kill everyone. Rape the women and kill them after that. Leave no survivors!" A middle-aged man with a huge scar across his face ordered. He was one of the 3 Elite War Generals, Elite War General Yi.

He was under the orders of the Human Emperor to purge the Dark Forest region of humans. His loyalty to the Human Emperor was so deep, such that he would not hesitate to kill his loved ones if ordered by the Human Emperor.

The Dark Forest region was split into 3 parts, with each of the Elite War Generals covering their own ground.

After the soldier received the order, he gave the signal to charge into the village and kill anyone on sight.

As the soldiers charged into the village, they killed anyone on sight-Even children were brutally pierced through their heads with their eyes wide opened.

Chaos ensued. Fire and smoke rose from the houses, burning some of them alive.

Upon seeing the merciless slaughter of the soldiers, some villagers fled in fear while some tried to retaliate in anger. However, even the weakest soldier had a cultivation stage of Qi refining lower stage, which was more than enough against normal people.

Hence, everyone in the village was massacre. The air was filled with a bloody scent, even the beasts in the Dark Forest region was scared stiff.

"Everyone except for a few women has been exterminated. Those who fled was captured and burned alive." One of the soldier reported.

Elite War General Yi nodded with a straight face and pointed in the direction of the women.

"Enjoy yourselves my soldiers. We will leave tomorrow morning. Kill them when you are done." Elite War General Yi said with a malevolent smile.

"NOO!!! I will rather die first then let you taint me!" Before anyone could respond, an extremely beautiful woman ran towards a sharp pole that was sticking out of the ground, and impaled herself in the heart. That woman was Fragrance Fairy.

"Wahh...Wahhh!" Wails of crying could be heard coming from a house that was surprisingly still intact.

Elite War General went into the house and after a while, he walked out with a crying infant in his arms.

As if he sensed something evil, the infant cried even more loudly.

Snap!

Suddenly, the infant stopped crying. The head was bend at a strange angle, tears was still flowing from his eyes.

"That's not everyone." Elite War General Yi coldly dropped the infant onto the ground and went back to his own tent.

The soldier that reported the battle results was still shivering in fear and a warm liquid could be felt flowing down from his groin.

The blood from the dead bodies dripped onto the stone pavement, dyeing them red. On this day, life ceased to exist in the Dark Forest Village.

The next day, the group of inhumane monsters left the Dark Forest Village after killing the women, leaving behind them a ghost town stained with blood.

"Let's go. We will gather with the other 2 Elite War Generals at Righteous Sword Sect. That will be our final destination. March!" Elite War General commanded. His eyes were filled with blood lust as he licked his lips in anticipation.