*Note* - Link to website with 9 Chapters is https://dawnwuxia.wordpress.com/.

“Get up.”

Those cold words were spat by a group of boys surrounding a

single child. When one looked closely at the child, although he had a pretty

face, they could see that he was in quite the sorry state, with blood dripping

from his arms, dirt in his hair, and the nasty wound on his chest.

However, even though this scene might make one cringe, when

looking at the sect uniforms that the boys surrounding the child wore, nobody

dared intervene.

They were part of the Tiang Clan, one of the 2 major clans

in the small Tian City in the Kingdom of Icefrost. Even an idiot would know the

consequences for interfering with a member of the Tiang Clan’s business, and so

they were generally left alone.

“Please… stop….”

The child on the ground was crying out weakly. For as long as

he could remember, he had endured this torment and suffering from the other

members of the Clan. The reason why this was so was partly because he was a

bastard son; he was born from the Clan Sect Head, Wuyang Tiang, and a concubine

purely by accident. The main reason why he was treated like this, was because

he was unable to generate any type of battle qi.

In this world, only the strong will survive. This principle

is true, no matter where you go in the entire Caos Continent. The strong will

be respected, while the weak will be looked at with disdain and contempt.

In the child’s case, his father did not care for him, as he

was a disgrace to his father. His mother did not have the means to care for

him, and later was banished to the Frozen Isles in the Icefrost North.

However, he could not cry out at the injustice of it all. At

times, the child even felt like committing suicide.

But, he did not. Clenching his teeth, and steeling his

determination, he endured. Endured the bitterness of it all, for 11 long years.

Even now, he was still enduring.

“Heh, you want us to stop? Useless piece of trash.”

The leader of the group of juveniles started to kick him,

then the rest of the group all joined in. Pain wracked the entire body of the

young boy, and soon more blood appeared due to the kicks opening closed wounds.

Endure it, endure it! No matter what, don’t let it get the

best of you…!

*puchi*

The leader of the group suddenly spit on him, and kicked him

one last time, viciously on the head.

“Alright. That’s enough for one day. Let’s go now, before

this bastard brat starts crying.”

Laughing, the group departs with the leader, and only now

does the boy dare to get up. Pain assaults his entire body, and tears start to

fall down his eyes, creating two twin streams.

“Why… why do I not have the ability to cultivate qi? If I

could just… I could… be respected… not treated like trash…”

The boy’s words gradually died down, and the surrounding

townspeople were almost nonexistent now. Although they pitied the boy, they

knew that they could not act.

Acting to help meant that they would make enemies in the

Tiang Clan.

Nobody was willing to do that, to help out some unknown boy.

If you don’t have the ability to support your actions, how

can you pity others?

Sighing, the boy began to walk in the direction of the

nearby Medicinal Clinic. At least he got an allowance of 2 gold per week, which

was actually quite a lot of money to give to a kid. However, it could not be

compared to the allowances of the other children who could cultivate qi, as

they were given 5-8 gold per week depending on their qi condensation levels.

“If only I could be a warrior, or a magus… but…”

The boy knew it was impossible. Without qi, there was no way

to become either a warrior, or a magus.

Qi.

The legendary essence that is believed to have been a gift

to the mortal realm given by the gods.

With it, one could either decide to transform it into

‘Battlelust’ or ‘Affinity’, which would then decide your martial cultivation

path in the world.

There are 6 main elements, for mages which are: Wind, Water,

Fire, Earth, Light, and Darkness.

There are 4 main Paths for warriors – Destruction,

Harmonious, Corrupt, and Pure.

If one does not decide to transform the generated qi, it

could be stored as life-saving energy, to be drawn out anytime, to quickly

restore wounds.

However, one could not simply just generate qi to keep on

breaking through the cultivation realms. One had to understand the natural

attributes of the elements for a magus, and one had to devote oneself to one’s

path for a warrior. Only when certain levels of understandings are gained will their

realm rise.

In the continent, there are 6 cultivation realms, for

warriors and magi.

For magi, their known cultivation realms in the Caos

Continent were – Elementary Magus, Novice Magus, Trainee Magus, Great Magus,

Attuned Magus, and Saint Magus. People with the cultivation of the Attuned

Magus realm were respected by all, and Saint Magus stood at the very precipice

of power in the continent.

For warriors, their known cultivation realms were –

Elementary Fighter, Novice Fighter, Newbred Fighter, Warrior, Great Warrior,

and Warlord. Great Warriors were lofty beings, with powerful strength, agility,

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reflexes, and dexterity. Warlords, as their rank suggested, were mighty beings

capable of conquering a province with their unsurpassed might.

The birth of a Warlord or a Saint Magus would be enough to

shock the entire Caos Continent, and the various kingdoms in the continent all

relied on at least one 5th realm warrior or magus to defend their

ruling rights.

The cultivation realms were also divided into ranks from 1

to 10 as well.

There would be a massive difference between a first rank

elementary magus and a tenth rank elementary magus, with the tenth rank

elementary magus being able to easily suppress the first rank one.

After reaching the peak of the tenth rank of a cultivation

realm, after gaining a certain understanding, the Battlelust/Affinity would

undergo a transformation, thus strengthening its user and making them go up a

realm.

Thinking about this, the boy soon arrived at the Medicinal

Facility, and entered. As soon as he arrived, people suddenly started to back

away from him like the plague. In the town, there were rumors of him being an

ill omen, an ominous star, and a harbinger of destruction. Nobody wanted him to

get too close to them, in fear of the ‘bad aura’ from the child spreading to

them.

The boy dejectedly walked to the counter, and saw the plump

clerk who was usually there, and immediately walked over to her.

“I’d like to get treatment.”

His words were short, simple, straightforward, and to the

point. The clerk just glanced at the miserable state the boy was in and sized

him up.

The boy glared at the clerk, as he knew that the clerk would

try to scam him. He had seen one too many of those gazes before, and had

engraved every single one and the meaning of them into his memory. This made

the boy extremely shrewd and intelligent.

What he wanted others to see, he would let them see. What he

didn’t want others to see, he didn’t let them see.

However, due to his size and miserable state that he was

usually in, people tried to take advantage of him. From this, he got a good

understanding of just how dark and cruel the inner workings of the world could

be.

This also changed his temperament into a vengeful, violent

and chaotic one, but silent as well.

“Three gold coins.”

Hearing this, the boy frowned, and immediately glared at the

clerk viciously.

“Look at the signboard over there. It says, medium wounds, 80

silver. Yet you charge me the exorbitant price of 3 gold? I have no internal

injuries, and am only bleeding from cuts. Most of them aren’t deep, either.

There is no way that these can be considered as heavy, life-threatening

injuries, and even the price for that is 1 gold and 80 silver.”

The clerk suddenly shot the boy a gaze full of disdain and

arrogance, as if he was a ruler looking down at his subjects.

“That’s the price for you. Like it or not, if you want

treatment, pay up. If you don’t have the money, then get out.”

The boy knew that he was not going to get treatment here,

and bitterly laughed to himself.

Who would dare treat the ‘ill-omen’ child? That would pretty

much mean making an enemy out of the entire Tiang Clan. News of his status as a

bastard child already came out, and all sorts of rumors were now making the

townspeople even more unfriendly to him than they had been in the past.

It was only natural that if he requested a service, he would

be charged an exorbitant price.

Regretfully, the boy dragged himself out of the clinic, and

began walking home to the Clan. The Tiang Clan had their base and homes on the

Yiwang mountains, the mountain range to the left of the city that the boy was

currently in, Glace City.

Murmuring to himself, the boy muttered, “I hope that I can

find some medicinal herbs or ingredients to put on these wounds.”

The only friends that the boy had were books. He spent

almost all of his time in the Tiang Clan Library, just reading. Since he did

not have qi, he was exempt from the training that the Clan gave its disciples,

and pretty much had a free day every day.

He divided his time up into two segments – self training,

and reading.

If others weren’t willing to spend the time to train him,

then he would train himself.

He forced himself to lift weights, practice unarmed and

armed combat, and sprint. He also underwent mental and spiritual training for

the mind by himself.

The mental training was the best part of his day, as it

allowed him to enter the state of meditation, and allow his subconscious to

take over. He could temporarily forget about all the injustices of the world,

and strengthen his inner self, which hardened his heart and his emotions.

The other half of the day, he would spend reading. Improving

his knowledge.

He would learn about the legends of heroes, medicine,

alchemy, weapon techniques, skills, songs, etc.

However, his life was not easy. He was constantly bullied.

The only solace he had found, when he was 8, was a playmate from the town.

She took pity on him, and was the first who ever had

approached him.

From that day, she touched his heart, and took a special

place in it.