Darkness... endless darkness.

Li Jian looked around only to find himself surrounded by emptiness.

‘What’s going on? Where am I?’

Attempting to stay calm, Li Jian’s nervousness drenched the back of his shirt as cold sweat dripped down his body. Shifting his gaze, he sensed something in the distance.

He walked towards this feeling and soon saw the girl from his dreams lying on the ground.

Slowly moving closer and closer to her, he stopped. As if lightning had struck him and time had stopped, he froze staring wide eyed.

Li Jian struggled to continue as he whispered the name of the girl.

“Xiu’er..”

She was dead.

Across her body was a deep wound caused by a sharp weapon.

Li Jian took a step and felt a sharp object pierce through his body. He looked down at his abdomen and saw a sword dripping fresh blood.

“Forgive me Brother Li.”

Li Jian opened his eyes and reached over to his stomach.

No wound, no blood... Nothing.

‘That was just a dream, but it felt so real..?’

Li Jian tried to comprehend what had happened in his dream, but realized it was already afternoon.

‘Class begins soon! Elder Ma said my class is in the north training grounds. I should make my way there right now before I’m late. Wouldn’t want Master Yun to have a bad impression of me on my first day!’

Putting aside the events of his dream, Li Jian got out of bed and changed out of his sweat-soaked clothes.

The training grounds was a good distance from the residential district and was split into four divisions: north, east, south, and west. Within these divisions were multiple domes where classes would be held.

Li Jian walked around the north training ground until he found a dome with Master Yun’s name on it.

These domes were large, white and layered with multiple arrays with one singular door. Above the door was a name, indicating the teacher and class of the building.

Li Jian opened the door and was welcomed by a man seated on the ground with his arms crossed. This man had an unkempt beard and long white hair. He had a well-defined body and was quite muscular. Even though he had white hair, he looked young!

“Welcome to combat training, Li Jian.”

Li Jian bowed clasping his fist and palm.

“Li Jian greets Master Yun.”

‘Am I early? Where the hell is everyone else..?’

“Concede.”

Li Jian, confused, looked at Master Yun.

A wall of fire blazed, surrounding the edges of the dome and covered the door.

“Huh?”

“Decimating Flames!”

In an instant, Li Jian was surrounded by multiple balls of fire heading straight for him!

‘What the fuck! Is he trying to kill me?!’

With no time to say anything, Li Jian activated Nimble Step and dodged.

“Too slow. I can see your movements even with my eyes closed.”

Master Yun punched the ground with his palm.

“Volcanic Explosion!”

The dome shook violently and fire began shooting out from the ground like an erupting volcano.

‘I can’t keep using Nimble Step to dodge, I’m expending way too much spiritual energy!’

Li Jian looked at Master Yun and dashed straight for him.

“So you want to fight me head on? A foolish mistake.”

With one hand behind the other, fire blew out from Master Yun’s palm.

Li Jian jumped to the side and dodged.

However, a split second later, he felt himself being constricted and was then slammed into the ground.

Li Jian, struggling to breathe, had the wind knocked out of him.

The flames extinguished and Master Yun walked up to Li Jian with a grin on his face.

“You did well, except you disregarded my Flame Whip.”

Still confused, Li Jian looked up at Master Yun trying to say something, but was paralyzed from being slammed into the ground.

“Try again next time hahaha.”

Master Yun exited the dome and left.

‘What the fuck??’

After a couple minutes, Li Jian relaxed and slowly stumbled home to rest.

During the next week, Li Jian had continued to train his Nimble Step and was not only able to use it longer, but was able to move faster than before.

Li Jian entered Master Yun’s dome and was again welcomed with him seated with his arms crossed.

“It’s only your second class, but looks like you’re eager for another beating! Shall I give you a handicap this time?”

Li Jian went through this ‘combat training’ class and everytime, he would lose and be beaten horribly. He would have to stay home and recuperate as he had many injuries that would barely heal in time before the next class would start.

Five weeks had already passed and it was time for Li Jian’s fifth class. Over the five weeks, Li Jian learned that he was the only student to Master Yun's class. The other students had dropped out and transferred to different combat training classes. Some students had even been crippled!

“Master Yun, what must I do to pass??”

“Beat me of course! Something you won’t be able to do at your current level hahaha.”

Focusing his spiritual energy and activating Nimble Step, Li Jian prepared for battle.

“But today is different Li Jian, I will not be giving you lessons today.”

‘Giving me lessons? You’ve been beating me up every week! How are those lessons??’

“I’ll be leaving for a couple weeks, but when I’m back I hope you’ve progressed just a little bit hahah.”

“When you come back, I won’t hold back!”

Li Jian gritted his teeth and left.

‘Damn Master Yun. Whatever! I won’t waste this opportunity. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen any of my friends.’

Li Jian left the training grounds and went straight to Lee Gang’s home.

“Brother Lee, come with me.”

“What are we eating?”

“We’re not going to go eat right now.. Just come.”

Lee Gang looked depressed and then sighed.

“Okay.. But you owe me. I can’t even eat my third breakfast now.”

“Third breakfast? How many breakfasts are you going to eat when it’s already lunch?”

Lee Gang pounded his chest with his fist giving Li Jian a proud expression.

“16 meals a day is my family’s motto! How can I go against my family!”

“Okay.. Forget it.”

The two walked up the road and entered another house.

“Who’s this punk?”

“My name is Lee Gang, and I am not a punk, punk!”

“Meng brothers, this is my friend Lee Gang.”

“Hello Brother Lee. My name is Meng Zhao and this is my brother Jiao’er. A friend of Brother Jian is a friend of ours.”

“Hahaha Brother Lee’s got balls to call me a punk.”

“Alright, now that we’re done with the greetings, let’s get down to business. We’re all in the 3rd level of the Mortal realm right now and I won't be having classes for awhile. I think it’s time we take on a mission!”

“‘Bout time Brother Li! We been waitin’ to go on a mission!”

“I’m excited! We’ve been waiting for some time now, and our contribution points are running a little low..”

“Wait, I’m still in the 2nd level though?”

“You’re at the peak Brother Lee, you’ll break through soon enough.”

“Here Brother Lee, snack on some Spirit Grass. This should help you break through.”

Meng Zhao took out some Spirit Grass from his bag and handed it to Lee Gang.

“Thank you Brother Zhao! I’ll eat this later at home with my dinner!”

“No worries. Anything to increase our chances of succeeding."

“Brother Zhao, how did you get enough contribution points for Spirit Grass?”

“Jiao’er and I helped out an Elder a week ago and was rewarded Spirit Grass! The spiritual energy it provides isn’t that great after the 3rd level so might as well help out Brother Lee.”

Li Jian couldn’t help but feel happy that these three were his friends.

“Let’s go check the mission board and pick out a mission.”

The squad of four left the house and hurried over to the mission board.

There were many groups hovering around the mission board, talking amongst each other and discussing different missions.

Weaving through the crowd, Li Jian and the group looked through the listings.

“Brother Li, that one rewards 100 contribution points! We just need to kill a Fanged Tiger and bring back its fur. We can even keep the meat and fangs!!”

“Ooh, there should be some White Fanged Tigers in the Veiled Mist Forest nearby. This is perfect for us. They’re usually in the 2nd level of the Earthly realm. Let’s do it Brother Li.”

“This is gonna be an easy 100 contribution points.”

“Okay, we’ll split the contribution points evenly among us.”

Lee Gang grabbed the mission and took it to the Elder nearby to accept it. With the Elder’s approval the four had finally received their first mission together.

“Dinner’s on me tonight brothers!”

“Free dinner, Brother Li?!”

Lee Gang’s eyes teared up as if he was staring at a god.

“We’ll leave for the mission when Lee Gang breaks through to the 3rd level.”

“Don’t worry about me! I’ll break through tonight with this Spirit Grass. Let’s leave tomorrow morning!”

“If you aren’t in the 3rd level by tomorrow morning, we’re not going. Don't rush cultivation and make sure it's stabilized.”

Hearing this, Lee Gang didn’t want to let the three in front of him down. He bit his lip and shed a tear as he forced himself to say what he thought he would never say in his life.

“Okay... I’ll be skipping dinner.. I’m going home to try and break through..”

Stunned, Li Jian looked at Lee Gang thinking if he was joking or not.

‘Skipping dinner?? This can’t be the real Lee Gang!’

Lee Gang had turned around and went home. Going on a mission with friends was more important to him than having a free dinner.

The three remaining went to go eat some dumplings. They called it a day and went home to prepare for their mission.

Back at the mission board, Jia Xi could be seen talking with the Elder.

“So they’re headed for the Veiled Mist Forest.. Lu Bao will enjoy this..”

Night fell and Li Jian had fallen asleep rather quickly.

The white crystal within Li Jian’s dantian faintly glowed.

Li Jian experienced the same nightmarish dream: he saw Xiu’ers dead body and was stabbed in the back.

Waking up in his sweat again, Li Jian sighed.

Loud banging noises came from his door before being forced open.

“Brother Li! What're you doing!? I’m in the 3rd level!! Let’s get going! The Meng brothers are outside waiting for you!”

“Congratulations on reaching the 3rd level.. Now get out so I can change!”

‘It’s progressed from waking me up by banging on my door to barging in..’

Li Jian changed into a new pair of robes and grabbed his bag.

“Good morning brothers, let’s head for the Veiled Mist Forest!”

The four moved through Jade Moon City and out of the walls towards the vast forest.

Following behind the group were three other disciples: Lu Bao, Jia Xi, He Ra.