Hi guys, first chapter. This is only about 1,8k but I felt it was a good time to stop. Anyway, I wonder, do you think I should remove prologue two and three? Please comment what you think on that as well as what you think about this chap.

On a black cliff where waves were splashing against the shore below, a young boy stood with his head held up high. Black hair fell down to his shoulders and his skin had a healthy luster of copper. His blue ocean-colored eyes followed the rolling waves. Beside the boy, there a small panda with only one eye, whereas a scar covered the other. Its look was fierce.

“Little grey, it’s time for us to begin our journey, too much time has been spent doing nothing.” His voice was very clean and each word was properly pronounced.

The small panda by his side, little grey, clenched its fur covered paws and spoke with a low growl containing tinges of anger, “Finally...”

Andariel continued to inspect the waves, gradually moving his vision to the the sun that was about to be birthed. As it did every morning, day after day for eternity.

“The years of our suffering have been long, but today is the end of that. We have endured enough. And for that, those who made us suffer shall bear the price. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. They took yours, so we shall take theirs.”

Turning around to look at Little grey, Andariel said, “Let’s go.”

Andariel sat inside his small hut standing on the left side of the settlement’s walls. It was a simple and primitive dwelling. But what did it matter, it was only temporary. Soon he would join the Sen clan and move inside the walls where he would be given a residence to live in.

Sitting on the hard, creaky bed, he positioned himself in the lotus pose. It was a must for sensing the natural world energy. In this god forsaken world, only cultivation matters. And to cultivate, one has to inhale the natural world energy, purify it, and then store it within one’s dantian.

There were nine realms in cultivation, signifying the nine circles of Diyu and the nine circles of rebirth. To overcome the shackles of mortality, one had to cultivate through these realms and complete the tribulations of the great five mountains.

Andariel was but at the first stage of the first realm. Others in his age had long ago set foot inside the second realm, and even the third and fourth. But compared to them, he had a reason to not.

Little grey was a peculiar energy beast. It had memories from its past generation and knew that the first and most important step towards immortality stars with building one’s foundation. Without it, one cannot strive toward the higher realms. Therefore, Andariel had decided to not cultivate natural world energy before his body was strong enough.

So for these past years he had arduously trained his body to the limit of mortals. Continuously pushing himself to the limit in the forest, underwater and even in the hotter environments south of the island.

This of course, had not been without rewards. His body and slowly transformed itself into thick but lean cords of muscles. There was not an ounce of fat on his body. His bones were harder than iron and his muscles were vigorous like dragons.

“To sense the natural world energy, I have to go deep within myself, where no man nor beast have ever been. I have to go to my own dantian.”

For hours, he probed the area near his dantian in hope of succeeding in entering it. It wasn’t until later in the day when he found it. As he entered his dantian, only barren lands was in his view. But he payed no heed, he knew that once he would begin to practice, it would become filled with life.

It was now dusk, and the sun was about to die down in the purple horizon. Andariel put his blue robe onto himself and exited the hut. Walking his way to the forest, he tried to find something to eat. He found some berries and nuts which was a good source for nutrients. Unfortunately, he saw no animals to hunt, making him slightly disappointed.

After washing himself in a river, he made his way back home. He once again entered the hut. This time, he didn’t sit on the bed and laid down instead. Tomorrow he would go challenge an outer disciple on the sen clan, beat him and then enter the settlement and become an inner disciple himself.

*pa*

*pa* *pa*

The horrifying sound of palms hitting human flesh resounded in the arena. A white haired old man with ragged clothes spat out loads of blood and fell down with a low thud. Soon, a pool of blood was formed under his body.

Across the arena, an arrogant looking youth with a sneer on his face laughed triumphantly. His garment signified an outer disciple and in front of these outsiders, he did indeed had the right to be arrogant.

“Haha, you old trash. Why don’t you just shoo away, your nothing but a stray dog!”

He gave the old man a kick, throwing him off the arena and into the crowd. As the body landed on the ground, an older woman began to sob. Her hands trembled as she stretched them out to caress the his face.

“Why did you have to kill him? What did he do to you? How can you be so cruel?”

Tears slowly drizzled down from her cheeks, only her shattered voice could be heard. The crowd was completely silent, some began to cry while some turned their heads away. This was their fate if the couldn’t become cultivators, being tossed around by the stronger and more powerful.

The young teenager laughed at the scene. He thought it was really funny and enjoyed when these outsiders broke. The best for him was to see them full of spirit before the fight and when the fight neared its end, their eyes were full of fear. That was the best moment, when they knew they had lost and that they would die.

"Haha, he was gonna die soon enough anyway."

“You..!” the old lady’s expression became angry. This young man had just killed her husband whom she had been together with for over fifty years, and were acting like it never even happened. She totally lost it and entered the arena only to throw herself at him, “You little bastard! How dare you!”

“Aw, shut up!” the young teenager mused and sent out a punch. It hit her right in the face and threw her backwards hitting the arena floor with a, “Tong!” Before he could stomp on her back, several men from the crowd had moved her away.

Upon seeing this, the young teenagers face turned into a wide sneer. These outsiders were puny, worse than livestock. At least he could eat livestock. He laughed inwardly when he saw the old lady being drawn away. She got what she deserved for trying to attack him, an inner disciple of the sen clan.

“Why did you do that? Is that an challenge. You, yes you.” he pointed out one of the men who had taken the older lady away and said, “Come up, you want to become an outer disciple, right? You will just have to defeat me.”

“Shut up.” a loud voice from the crowd bellowed.

“Ehh?” the young teenager became stunned. Someone actually told him to shut up, was this a joke? He quickly tried to locate the voice and when he did, he began to laugh, “Haha, it’s you again. You want me to beat you up worse than last time? Or maybe I should just kill you, hehe~?”

“Today, you shall reap what you once sow.”

A young boy, thirteen or so years judging from his effeminate features, emerged form the crowd and entered the arena. His black hair was tied up in a ponytail, and his blue eyes were sharp. It was Andariel.

“Haha, another stray dog has arrived, woohoo~!” the young teenager yelled laughingly, “Now, let’s see if the dog will bark but then run away like he usually does? Or is he here to fight?”

“You are but an outer disciple. What gives you the right to act like this? You kill us for nothing but your own entertainment. You are no real cultivator.”

Andariel’s words pierced right through the young man’s aloof facade. The crowd was stunned, when did this young boy become so sharp with words? At the same time, they truly hoped that the boy would beat this cruel outer disciple who terrorized them to the point of suicide. Sometimes, he would even beat up young children just to make his point.

The young teenager’s face darkened. His brows lifted upwards, he said in a low tone, “I’ll kill you, bastard.” he leapt out toward andariel and kicked with his leg.

“You dare to dodge ME?”

Andariel dodged by a hair’s width and made some distance between the two. He tried to calm down and remember Little grey’s words resounding in his mind:

“Andariel, the first form of the Panda from the east is called nimble as the wind. It’s an evasion technique. I will now demonstrate for you how to do it. The first step is to use gauge the opponent…”

Letting Little grey's words guide him, he lightly tapped his feet into the ground as the young teenager’s next attack was about to hit...

"Swoosh!"

Instead of the sound everyone expected to hear, only the swooshing sound of the young teenager's fist could be heard.

What just happened?

The crowd formed a big O with their mouths. Andariel had dodged easily. Was this sheer luck, or was it truly skill? To be able to dodge the punch of an second stager was after all no easy feat.

A second stager refers to a cultivator in the energy condensation realm. It has to be pointed out that second stagers had a lot stronger, faster and more durable bodies than first stagers. There was a fundamental gap between the two. Second stagers could infuse energy inside their attacks, making them very hard to deal with.

Yet this small boy had done it? They all felt it extremely hard to believe. But since it they saw it with their own eyes, how could they doubt it?

“You…” the young teenager’s forehead was about to burst from the blue veins. His whole face was red and anger was clearly seen. “Fine, I will show you the difference between us. I hope you prepared your own funeral.”

Suddenly, Andariel felt a strong pressure emanate from the young teenager’s body. It was slightly suffocating. Normal mortals would surely have a hard time breathing now, but not him. He had gone through a very tough training and his body was at the peak of what mortals could attain. This is why he could hold his ground.