Eight Years

South Forest of Xin Hai City.

Rustle*

Zhen Lun walked out of the bushes. He was dragging a dead deer on his back while wearing a dead expression on his face.

'Today is the eighth year.' He gazed into the starry sky gloomily, staring at the stars, thinking about his parents and his teacher.

'I have let you guys down.' He has been used to this very sensation, the feeling of uselessness. 'To think I was once called a genius by everyone.'

-----

(Flashback)

Eight years ago, when he first attended Peerless Sky Sect, he was a nobody.

He was a nobody until he surprised everyone with his terrifying cultivation speed.

People tend to begin to cultivate when they reach the age of four. It turns out that at that during that specific age, the growth rate is at the peak.

However, Zhen Lun only started to cultivate when he reached reach eight years old.

During the first day, when he attended the academy.

He shocked everybody by how easily he entered the path of Martial Artists.

He reached enlightenment and entered the first stage of Mortal Cultivation Realm, which is the Body Strengthening Realm.

During that time, the people wasn't bothered by it that much.

They thought he's probably faster because he is older.

Shortly, they immediately throw off that way of thoughts after they received the news of his progress.

He quickly caught up with others who started cultivating earlier than him. He unexpectedly reached Qi Gathering Stage within a month time.

Usually, it will take at least two years to reach Qi Gathering Realm from body strengthening realm. Therefore, it caused a ruckus. Some of them admired him. The others were jealous of his talent.

His amazing feats didn't stop there. Within another month, he reached Pinnacle Qi Gathering Stage of Mortal Realm.

Most of the kids that started to cultivate since they're four years old only manage to reach such realm when they're roughly ten or maybe older.

Among other Peerless Sky Sect's disciples, he was the youngest to reach the Pinnacle stage of Qi Gathering Realm which is at the age of eight.

With his unbelievable feats, his name was known throughout the Peerless Sky Sect and was called a 'genius' by people.

Things are going smoothly for him until he encountered a bottleneck. This is where the young man's nightmare starts.

For the first time, the young man struggled to advance further. At first, he was calm and wasn't bothered by it. His teacher told him that it is normal to encounter a bottleneck. He trusted his teacher, which is why he is willing to try his best.

Young Zhen Lun continues to cultivate, putting all his effort into cultivating every single day.

Days after days, time passed slowly. Unexpectedly a year has passed but he still cannot reach a breakthrough.

'Why?'

'Why won't I advance?'

Continue to grit his teeth, The boy put more time into cultivating. He doesn't want to give up yet. He is not willing to accept this fate of his.

-----

Somewhere on the streets, rumors started to spread among fellow disciples.

"I haven't heard the news of the Genius for a while. What realm is he on now?"

"Hmm... Judging by his cultivation speeds, he should be at Meridian Tempering Realm."

"Aren't that too slow? I'm guessing that he's at the Organ Refining Realm."

"You're imagining things. Last night, I saw him at his residence."

"Guess what! He's still on Qi Gathering Realm."

"What? Is this for real? We're talking about that Genius."

"I saw it with myself! If you don't believe me, you can visit his resident and check it yourself."

"If that's true, then I'll call him trash from now on. This kind of worthless trash was used to be called a prodigy? People were blind for fawning over that kind of person."

There was a reason the people started to look down on him. It was because being stuck at Qi Gathering Realm was a common thing. It happened to many people.

It was due to that problem many people gave up cultivating.

Qi Gathering Realm was a realm that decides whether you become a full-fledged Martial Artists or not. It is a realm that separates normal people and potential Martial Artists.

Upon reaching Spirit Condensing Realm, you will obtain a partner called Martial Spirit.

Martial Spirit could be in any kind of form. The form that commonly appeared were Weapon-type and Beast-type.

Normally, people that stuck in that realm will be ridiculed. The same happened for the one that manages to breakthrough but they received a weak martial spirit. These people were forced to give up and stop pursuing the path of Martial Artists.

Since it has been a year and Zhen Lun was still at Pinnacle Qi Gathering Realm people can easily conclude that he is a 'trash' that is not worth to put on their eyes. After all, even though their cultivation speed was not as fast as him. At least they can advance further ahead in the future.

Oblivious to the gossips around him. The young man silently cultivates in his room.

At this moment, other disciples started to ridicule him. As for the elders, most of them were disappointed even though he has a potential, if he turned out to be 'trash' even they can't help him.

The only person that still supports him at hard times was his master, Wu Shi, one of the elders of Peerless Sky Sect. Wu Shi was a recently appointed Guest Elder. He is the youngest Elder of Peerless Sky Sect. Only twenty years old this year. Even so, the power he wields is not far from the top among Peerless Sky Sect. But as he was still new, he lacks knowledge and experience.

Even though his disciple was labeled as trash, Wu Shi still stays at his side protecting him from being bullied by others.

Of course, Wu Shi didn't just cheer at the side. To help his disciple, He also started to pursue more profound knowledge about cultivation realms.

In order to do that, he went and did some research. After he read a mountain of books that he has gathered, he has reached two conclusions.

The first reason was that there were no suitable spirits that are willing to form a pact with them. Which resulted in that person stuck at the realm forever as he didn't receive a pact from a spirit.

However, based on what he saw in Zhen Lun, that theory was seemingly impossible. He felt a spirit within his body. Moreover, he was sure that he has formed a pact with a powerful spirit.

The second reason was just a speculation of his. The theory wasn't foolproofed as there was no evidence yet. His speculation was completely based on an old story.

The story was about someone that used to be labeled as trash. The man suffered the same thing as his disciple, Zhen Lun. He was stuck in that realm for a month.

Till now, that person who was once labeled as 'trash' was known widely as one of the top powerhouses. He was the Third Prince and also The Fifth Emperor of the Qin Empire.

It was said that upon his Martial Spirit was awoken. It creates a huge mess around him. The sky was getting restless and the earth was rumbling as though they fears of something might try to devour them.

'The only conclusion that I can come out of was that the spiritual energy or Qi is not sufficient yet to wake his Martial Spirit.'

'Even though it was only speculation, it is something worth to try out. I should get some Qi Replenishment Pill.'

If the speculation of his was correct, it should help his disciple.

Wu Shi made up his mind to provides two pills of grade-one Qi Replenishment Pill every day for his disciple.

A single pill cost him five gold coins which were twenty-five percent of his wages as a guest elder.

If he wants to provide his disciple daily, he eventually forced to use his savings.

Before that happens, Wu Shi decided to learn apothecary so that he could make his own pill. That way he can save some expenses. It is all for the sake of his disciple.

Sadly it was not easier than said, being an apothecary takes a lot of time, talent and money too. For now, he would do what he can. He is more than willing to sacrifice some money for his disciple.

Wu Shi confronted his disciple and told him about his plan.

Shockingly, his disciple rejected his offer.

"Teacher, There's no need to waste precious pill on me." Zhen Lun said expressionlessly.

'This...' Looking at the latter expression Wu Shi don't know how to reply.

The latter expression was either terrifying or sad. It was filled with emptiness. This kind of expression was worse than despair.

Seeing his disciple, Wu Shi felt that he was useless. The first disciple that he accepted suffer this much. He is not fit to become a teacher if he didn't overcome this.

"If you still see me as your teacher, I want you to accept it and cultivate diligently." Wu Shi simply replied as he handed the jade box to Zhen Lun. Wu Shi casually left without saying anything.

Zhen Lun stared at the jade box that he held on his hand, Emotions started to overflow into his mind.

'Why don't you dispose of me?'

'I prepared myself to be disposed of.' Zhen Lun cried.

'I'm not worth at all.' Zhen Lun kneeled down as he grasped the jade box tightly.

Seeing his teacher left, he woke up and managed to clear his mind. This time Zhen Lun was more eager than before.

'Since Teacher hasn't given up on me, why should I give up?'

This time he was determined to try harder. Right now, in his mind, he only has one goal.

Outside of his resident, stood a silhouette watching Zhen Lun from afar. He stood in the corner watching his disciple.

'Good, you didn't give up.' Wu Shi was relieved to see Zhen Lun was fired up.

'I'm sorry. This is the only thing I can do for now.' Wu Shi said in his thought.

-----

**Present**

Since then, eight years have passed but he still stayed in the same realm.

Due to that, he is expelled. He is no longer a disciple of Peerless Sky Sect. Even so, he continues to cultivate.

Sitting in front of the campfire, he roasted the deer that he hunted in the forest.

After he finished eating his dinner, he went back to his shelter, which was provided by his teacher. He has lived in the forest ever since he was expelled.

'Time to cultivate.' He sat on the floor and fully concentrated on gathering Qi towards his dantian.

He is back to what he does every single day.

He always does the same thing repeatedly and wasn't bored by it. It was a miracle that he was able to hold for this long.

rumble*

...

...

'There is something weird happening.'

A weird sensation was felt around his dantian. It felt a bit tingly and warm.

'This feels like...' It felt familiar to him. This feeling happened a long time ago but it happened many times in a row.

'That's right t-this is!' It has been a long time since he felt this sensation.

'I'm breaking through!' He was exhilarated but he quickly discards his useless thoughts.

He only focused on gathering more energy around him.

kacha* kacha*

The shackles that prevented him advancing began to loosen up. Following that, the ground was shaking fervently. At the same time, his body was glowing with abundant of Qi energy.

At this moment, he was too focused on breaking through that he didn't felt the room was shaking.

If someone was watching him, he will be utterly shocked when he saw the current uproar. The density of the energy around him was so rich. To the point, a normal person would struggle to breathe.

With a final push, he finally managed to break free from the restraints. He felt warm energy filling up his body.

The breakthrough restored his body into peak condition, making him livelier than ever.

'I-I finally did it!'

After eight years of persevering, he finally broke through from his bottleneck.

It took him eight years!

Just as he was about to celebrate, weird sounds resounded in his head.

At the same time, a blue transparent screen appeared within his vision.

ding*

[Energy has reached a sufficient amount]

[System will now function properly]

[Congratulations to Master!]

'This is my Martial Spirit?'