On top of great stone walls towering dozens of feet into the air stood a young man no older than sixteen. He had grayish silver hair reaching down to his shoulders. Deep black eyes and a healthy frame with. Not fat but not too thin either.

Jiang Yun stared star struck at the chaos filling the stretch of plains beyond the safe walls of Dusk Wood Village.

“Bring it!”

“Kill them all!”

“Die Beasts!!!”

War cries reverberated throughout the air. Man and beast tore each other apart in a display of savagery that it made an observer’s blood run cold or grow excited. Longing surfaced in the youth’s heart as he watched.

The men and women all wearing silver armor fought valiantly. Their slices crushed the earth and split beasts tens of meters high in half. Step by step they pushed back the horde of hundreds that poured out of the nearby Dusk Wood Forest.

‘If only… If only I could be like that.’ He clenched his fists. His lips quivered.

If he was strong like them then he would be able to soar through the skies. Traverse the three continents and the nine seas of the Heavenly Jewel Realm while admiring all it had to offer.

If only he was a cultivator and not a mortal, then he could travel without fearing death.

Thumph!

A hard slap on his shoulder surprised Jiang Yun. He turned, taking a step back and glaring at the source of the disturbance.

A boy with narrow golden eyes. Black long hair tied into a high pony tail and a devious grin. Jiang Yun massaged his shoulder then shoved the slightly taller boy while scowling.

“Du Qiang you ass! That hurt!”

“It only hurts because you’re frail as shit.” Du Qiang rolled his eyes, yawning at his friend “Watching them again? I admit the Silver warriors from the Thunderous Shield Pavilion are entertaining and cool to watch but after watching them repel demon beast tides for years, it gets old don’t you think? Hey I have a bright idea. Come with me and let’s join the pavilion!”

“For the last time. I don’t want to! You can go there on your own!” Jiang Yun grumbled. His expression souring.

Thinking about the conditions that place asked you to agree to always did tick him off. Logically those conditions were reasonable. Personally, it felt like an unfavorable exchange. Not to mention his gut just felt wrong about the way the pavilion worked.

Many would jump at the offer of being nurtured into a cultivator at by the pavilion in exchange for forty years of servitude. Jiang Yun wasn’t like them.

He was more ambitious and his dreams misaligned with the pavilion’s interest. Forty years was just too great of a cost. It was time that could never return.

Even the tenth overlord’s greatest rival. The Demon Monarch Sha Xing could not turn back time despite having control over it.

“Alright alright I’m sorry okay.” Du Qiang raised his arms in surrender.

“I won’t ask again. But I can’t just stand here watching you twiddle your thumbs or daydream. I’m your friend! I want you to reach your dreams but so far… The pavilion is the only method available to us... I’m just saying… If we really have no choice or if the annual traveling caravan does not sell cultivation arts then let’s just sacrifice 40 years… We can’t keep wasting our youth like this. Hoping for a chance that may never come.” Du Qiang scratched his head. Helpless and unsure.

Jiang Yun sighed. He understood Du Qiang had his best interests in his mind but he couldn’t really see himself joining. Although he did agree with him on one thing.

They needed someone who would train and guide them onto the path of cultivation. Only a cultivator can turn normal mortal into another cultivator. Becoming one was a requirement because only a cultivator can travel without fear of demon beasts.

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Demon beasts are usually solitary creatures. Unlike the rest of humanity who needed to have an external force unlock their dantians for cultivation. Animals who had lived long enough lives in areas rich in Spirit Essence such as the wilderness just suddenly become Demon Beasts. Larger, faster, stronger and more vicious.

They grew stronger through hunting and consuming one another or by eating the rare mystical fruits and resources that litter the Heavenly Jewel Realm.

All in all demon beasts are just wild animals but better. Unfortunately, they weren’t that simple.

On rare occasions, demon beasts would band together and assault any human settlement that they can find. Thus forming a beast tide. These monsters were highly attracted to humans after all.

The taste of human flesh was a demon beast’s equivalent of opium. That enough was a great motivator to most.

Sounds of battle started dying down and Jiang Yun saw it as his cue. With the beast tide ending, work would call for him again and he did not fancy being late. Having a chunk bitten off your salary wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed.

“I’m gonna go back to work. See you at our spot at the usual day and hour. I remember Hou Yi bragging about something he would show us.”

“Fair enough. See you this weekend.” Du Qiang nodded.

Watching the departing back of his brother in all but blood, Du Qiang bitterly smiled. He wracked his mind for ideas. They needed a cultivation technique, a combat art and someone willing to awaken their dantians. Someone trustworthy since letting a stranger awaken your dantian was akin to leaving taels of gold on a table and hoping no one would mess with it.

But where would he find those things aside from the pavilion?

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When Jiang Yun wasn’t out catching a breath of fresh air or hanging with his two best friends, he was working.

Sitting in front of a cartographer’s desk he flipped through a book detailing the changes brought by the beast tide and shift of seasons.

The current season was summer as spring had ended a mere few weeks ago. Fall would come followed by winter.

Animals and demon beasts tended to move and migrate from season to season. Especially after a demon beast tide, the local populace of the former and the latter creatures are displaced and disturbed. His job lay in updating the maps sent to Dusk Wood Village by other nearby settlements courtesy of the Thunderous Shield Pavilion.

Alone it would be a nightmare to deal with. Luckily he had generations of cartographers, scouts and helpful silver warriors from the pavilion who have already laid a foundation for him. Leaving behind notes and observations that allowed predicting migration routes and creature behaviors easy.

Some animals like red deer and elks found solace in the plains near the village after a beast tide. Evil Eye Owls always did surface after a tide and end up preying on most medium sized mammals they could spot. Causing various animals – even demon beasts – to move elsewhere.

‘Alright… Mark this off and mark a warning towards this region…’ Jiang Yun hummed, skillfully moving his brush and painting the head of two different deer on the plains beyond the village and just at the boundary of Dusk Wood Forest.

He drew an owl’s head with red eyes at the sea of green tree drawings under the label Dusk Wood Forest.

Slowly the silver grey haired boy fell into a trance. Thoroughly enjoying his work.

It was only at times like this that he could somewhat see the wider world through his imagination and the knowledge he was supplied with.

Half an hour passed and the boy felt relief flood him. He was done with one map.

That relief quickly turned into dread.

Now he just had to make like thirty copies of said map.

“This really suckssss~” Jiang Yun groaned.

Cartography was fun. But mapping the same areas again and again season by season for more than five years was bound to get boring and tiresome.

Jiang Yun’s mind trailed to a faraway place. An uncharted ocean laying to the north east of the Azure Dragon Continent.

“No man’s ocean.” The boy murmured. Fantasies of going traveling to that ocean. Riding a ship and sailing to discover what lay untouched throughout thirty thousand years of history certainly triggers feelings of longing.

Maps about legendary places like those were what he longed to create.

Would there be a secret island full of supreme treasures? Nightmarish demon beasts who would pull you to the depths ? Will there be a whole separate world hidden underneath the ocean?

Jiang Yun’s mind busied itself with imaginary scenarios and unanswerable questions.

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Night soon fell and Jiang Yun massaged his wrist. He’d spent the rest of his afternoon drawing maps and reading through scouting reports. As much as he loved making maps, he feared that if he saw a map right now he would throw up.

From the corner of his eye he spotted an old bearded bald man making his way towards him.

The old man was thin and pale. Like a bag wrapped around a pile of walking sticks which the slightest breeze would blow him away. However what people noticed the most about the old baldy was his squinted gentle eyes. Staring at him, Jiang Yun couldn’t help but feel at ease.

It was like looking at your own grandfather. Not that Jiang Yun knew his grandfather since all his relatives were dead since he was young. 

Jiang Yun smiled at the old man who smiled back at him.

“Old Feng! Done walking around the village again?” He greeted.

“Done already my boy? That was quite fast.” The old man praised. Jiang Yun grew shy.

Compliments rarely came his way. When they did, he didn’t know how to respond.

“Well I only finished it since I had information fed to me by the scouts. Plus there wasn’t much changes this time around. Only a few demon beasts and animals migrated and summer had just arrived.” Jiang Yun scratched his cheek.

“Still you worked hard. Hard work always should be repaid. Keep that in mind.”

“I will Old Feng.”

A clap of thunder ripped through the night.

Startled, the two men looked up and saw a strange sight. Yellow light filled the night like floating fireflies. Upon a closer inspection, the sources of the yellow glow seemed to grow larger.

It was like they were getting closer.

Thunk!

“Ouch!” Jiang Yun winced. Something hard smacked his face and bounced off.

Cussing he looked down at the offending object. His whole body froze at the sight of glowing yellow words engraved on the cover of a book.

Elegant Snake Body Art.

The book was but the first of its kind.

It started raining books.

The young man and the elder took refuge under the cartography building.

One by one Jiang Yun and Old Feng fished books that started piling outside and read their titles. Still in disbelief at what was happening.

Brutal Heart Technique.

Stone Crushing Palm.

Iron Skin Art.

“Cultivation techniques.” Jiang Yun murmured. His hands shaking after grabbing ahold of one.

Naturally, he recognized these to be yellow grade techniques, the lowest of the low. No one in their right mind would give off black rank techniques or higher to mere peasants who could not only spread them to potential enemies, but also end up misusing them. But then again, you’d have to be really messed up in the head to do something like taking thousands of yellow grade techniques and letting them fall onto a village like raindrops.

Jiang Yun felt a pit form in his stomach.

The rain of books didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” His face twisted into a grimace.