Writer's Note: This is my new side project. Releases at random due to college and main story. More chapters will be released once I finish writing seven or eight chapters. I am currently establishing the setting of the story for it and have started the sixth chapter. Thanks for reading.

Prologue: Nathan Chase

"Guan Xiang, why? Why betray our empire, me?" a man asked his sister as she pointed her sword at him. Behind her were fifty archers and five hundred foot soldiers. "You go this far for Meng Yi? The Meng Clan defected to the enemy."

"I have no choice, brother. I bear my husband's child. He is to be the next emperor," Xiang said. "You are too loyal to the emperor. The empire was always first on your mind, your military prowess the reason the Zhou Dynasty does not fear attacks from the north. Men, aim your arrows at Commander General Guan Zhu."

"The sages say that fate lasts countless lifetimes. In the next life, I hope that I am born into an ordinary family so that I may live my live in peace together with them," the general said and drew his sword. "Your goal lies in the pavilion behind me. Do not waver, sister. You chose the path of blood. See it through or the deaths are in vain."

"I'm so sorry, Zhu-gege," Xiang cried and said. "Release your arrows."

"Long live the emperor!" Guan Zhu yelled and ran toward them, unafraid of the storm of arrows. His last image was that of his crying sister. His steps wavered and he felt blinding pain as he reached out as if he could brush her tears away. His vision blurred and the Zhou general was dead before he hit the ground, over a dozen arrows in his chest alone.

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"Always the same dream, or nightmare," a fifteen year old boy muttered as he awoke. He had short black hair and bright orange eyes. He was once Zhu of the Guan Clan. Now, he was Nathan Chase, his mother's maiden name. Her name was Helena.

He was once a general of the Zhou Dynasty. However, he died at the hands of his sister who supported her husband's treasonous ambition. He had hoped to be born to an ordinary family. However, his mother was a maid who the head of a powerful clan slept with while in a stupor. The wife finally killed his mother when he was seven and he barely escaped with his mother's corpse.

Now here he was, sleeping before her gravestone. His father was a city lord and the boy stole his birthright before he escaped. One was a purple jade stick on a steel chain with a gold dragon coiled around the smooth jade cylinder. The second was a storage ring that had a third of the clan's wealth. The last was a black box containing a magically shrunk spirit crystal vein.

The world he was reborn in had architecture of the Chinese. Apparently, the Zhou Dynasty did not have his name, Guan Xiang, or Meng Yi's name in the annals of history. He was on a planet called Earth, but different than the one he lived and died in. In this Earth, magical beasts from legends he heard as a child were real.

People called scientists were experimenting with a substance they found from a meteor in America. The experiment was a success on living tissue, but went horribly wrong on live test subjects. The experiments could not be contained and they escaped to infect the world. The year was 5,017I.E (Immortal Cultivation Era). The planet of Earth seemed to thrive as the animals began to mutate to monsters.

Thirty thousand years ago, mankind lived in the last days in the Era After Christ (A.D.). They discovered that humans were infected differently, now accessing more of their brain and gaining supernatural powers. Over time, these developed and became similar to what Derek read was a xianxia novel.

Cultivation of spirit energy was possible and spirit crystal veins sprouted all over the earth, deep under it. Technology was lost, remade, and lost countless times over the centuries and millennia. The Immortal Cultivation Era began after the first person reached the pinnacle of cultivation and ascended. That was when people knew of the Immortal Realm and accepted that their reality was truly like a xianxia.

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Humanity, the creatures now called magical beasts, and a third species were at war. The third species were called devils. No one knows when they arrived, but they were humanity's biggest threat for a long time. It was only before the First Immortal stopped the war. He scattered his teachings in jade sticks all over the world, each one containing five spirit techniques.

The First Immortal was a Chinese who believed in the world as Yin and Yang. He believed in the five elements of wood, fire, water, metal, and earth. Of course, there were other elements he discovered. However, he mastered those five and was the first to ascend. Other people ascended but his name would always be the first people think of. His methods were considered obsolete, but commoners still revere it and have deified him.

The purple jade stick necklace was precisely one of those jade sticks. He stole it from his father's vault. The reason he learned nothing was because he had been on the run for eight years. Humanity only had nine countries and forty nine human cities outside those countries. Naturally, it was very difficult for him to escape America and come to China.

The whole world was mixed, but some countries stuck to traditions of past records. He had smuggled himself and his mother's ashes in a jar in countless ships. His life was farther than the peace he had hoped for in his new life.

"Mother, Tang City is right below the hill," Nathan said. "This is the land of your mother and mine, in a way. Rest now. Father and his whore wife cannot harm you anymore. I will become the strongest cultivator and travel across the ocean once more to destroy his clan. I will avenge you. Be at peace."

As he entered the city, the guards did not think twice of him. It was incredibly dangerous for anyone to travel outside the city. Those who did were very dangerous and not advisable to anger, no matter how young they looked. As with every city, there were five powerful organizations. The country of China still existed.

Naturally, one of the five organizations in the thirty six cities was the Chinese Army. They were responsible for suppressing the devils which sought to invade and destroy them. Another power would always be a council consisting of the nobles of the city. The other three powers were sects, but had more strength cultivation wise.

Just like his father's city, Tang City would have a Grand Plaza. There, most of the market was built around and where sects and the other two powers recruited. The official age of recruitment was fifteen, Nathan's current age, because it was uncertain if people lived past age ten. No birthdays were celebrated before age ten because the child could die from the infection in the air.

The infection became known as spirit energy and was omniscient, the only difference being the density and purity of the spirit energy. Until age ten, it would be too painful to get too attached to a child that could die at any time. Age fifteen was accepted by the five organizations to boost manpower.

"Excuse me, when is the next recruitment test?" Nathan asked and held out his arm.

"Hmm. Age is fifteen years. Name?" the attendant asked.

"Nathan Chase," he answered.

"The test is in three days. It consists of four trials. The first is the Spirit Awakening Ritual. It is also the trial with the highest death rate. The second test evaluates how much spiritual pressure you can endure. The third test requires you to kill at least five magical beasts in a monster infested town once we ensure it is safe enough. The fourth test is always a secret. Good luck," the attendant said as he received two gold after Nathan filled out the sheet.

Nathan nodded and received an application number and identification card. All he needed to do now is wait.