1 The 9 Layers of Stellar Clouds

"Ughh, my body... what is this light, am I going to heaven."

Xie Tian was laying on the ground, he was beaten by the guards because he dropped Xie Yijun. the Young Mistress of the clan's dinner.

Xie Tian was the previous young master of the clan but he lived an unfortunate life. His mother, Han Xiu, died during his birth and his father who was the Patriarch of the Xie Clan, Xie Lei, mysteriously went missing a week after Xie Tian's birth and was found dead by a riverbed. Xie Tian who was 1 Week old at the time was sent to Xie Lei's brother and the new Xie Clan Patriarch, Xie Bai, and so Xie Tian grew up with him.

But that happiness soon ended because when Xie Tian turned 12 Years Old his talent for Martial Cultivation was tested. He was found to have a special, mysterious, and unknown Bloodline, Spirit Root, and Dantain. But his meridians were all ruptured, meaning he couldn't follow the path of Martial Cultivation.

In this world, Martial Cultivation was everything and it dictated status and reputation. The path of Martial Cultivation was:

-Body Refinement

-Qi Condensation

-Qi Revolving

-Pulse Opening

-Pulse Refinement

-Pulse Connecting

-True Qi Awakening

-True Qi Condensation

-True Qi Sea

Xie Tian only knew of these cultivation realms so far, True Qi Sea was akin to gods for anyone in the 9 Province Continent.

Due to Xie Tian's lack of meridians, he had no way of directing Yuan Qi in his body and so he had no way to go on the path of Martial Cultivation. Xie Bai saw no use in keeping Xie Tian in his home and decided to put the useless Xie Tian to use as his Daughter, Xie Yijun's, servant. Every day she constantly tortured him making him do tasks that were difficult for a normal mortal.

Xie Tian himself was a happy kid until he turned 12 Years Old and was tortured by Xie Yijun every day. His anger and resentment towards the clan grew increasingly but he had no strength to fight back because Xie Yijun herself was a genius who reached Stage 8 of Body Refinement when she was 13 Years Old.

Today, Xie Tian dropped Xie Yijun's dinner and so she called the guards and they almost beat him to death. He passed out and saw a faint light out of the corner of his eyes and he taught he was dying. But suddenly he felt his consciousness get sucked and he appeared in a strange land.

Xie Tian was very startled and was wondering if this was the afterlife or not, but a sudden voice woke him up "REACH THE HIGHEST YOU CAN AND PICK YOUR FIRST SOUL."

Xie Tian was startled and looked around trying to find the source of the voice but he found no one. Xie Tian looked below and saw that he wasn't touching any ground, but he was flying. He recalled the voice telling him to go as high as possible and so he decided to take a gamble and see what was in store for him.

He looked around as he flew upwards and saw clouds above each cloud was a name like 'Crimson Lightning Soul' and 'Scarlet Blood Sword Soul' he guessed that each cloud represented some sort of power. The entire land was filled with clouds like this and he was wondering how could there be so many inheritances, if he was really dead or if this was all a strange dream.

Xie Tian kept flying upwards, and each time he breached another layer he felt a strong force push on his body. But each time the force pushed on his body he felt a strong force from blood and body push back, Xie Tian knew of his Bloodline, Spirit Root, and Dantain so he felt that these 3 things were the reason he was able to reach such a level.

Xie Tian spoke every time he heard a *boom* signifying he reached the next level "1...2...3...4...5..."

Once he reached the 5th level he felt the pressure push on his entire body not allowing to move any further. The voice suddenly appeared again "Good... Good, you have reached the 5th layer out of the 9 Layers of Stellar Clouds. Now pick your first Astral Cloud Soul and you will learn everything to reach the peak of everything... goodbye."

Xie Tian shouted and asked for answers but the voice didn't come back, Xie Tian decided to trust the voice since he had nothing else going for him in life. He looked around and the names for these Astral Cloud Souls were much more domineering than the first 4 Layers of the Stellar Souls.

Xie Tian read out the names "Divine Gauntlets Soul, Supreme Demon Ape Soul, Heavens Thousand Hammers Soul, 7 Firmaments of Lightning Soul."

Xie Tian felt his soul start to get heavier and heavier, so he sped up his search and suddenly stopped at one Astral Cloud Soul that caught his eyes, the 'Divine Elephant of Thunder and Flames Soul'.

Due to Xie Tian's inability to cultivate, when he wasn't being tortured by Xie Yijun, he often went to the public library to study. One day he came across a book called 'The Elephants Might' and it described a story of an Elephant and its supreme image of strength. Xie Tian's blood surged when he read the book and now seeing the ability to gain the power to crush mountains with his hands and summon lightning and fire at his behest, Xie Tian immediately reached his hands out and touched the cloud.

Suddenly a tiny astral figure appear out of nowhere and Xie Tian felt his body start to ache with intense pain, his head also felt like it was splitting open and a bunch of information was forced into his head. He started to scream before shortly passing out again.

A mysterious force awakened outside Xie Tian's body as the stars started to imprint a tattoo with an elephant surrounded by thunder and fire.