1 Mysterious Stone Dial, One Mark For Each Year

The Great Zhou Kingdom…

Tianjing,

Within the imperial city.

Located at the remote southeastern corner was a huge cold palace1 named Eternal Happiness.

That area was filled with abandoned palace complexes. Pavilions and terraces were scattered all over the place. However, it seemed lifeless and deserted.

A handsome young man sat on a bed with the scroll titled Sights and Sounds of Divine Continent, reading it intently.

The three legged copper stove beside his leg was lit with flaming charcoal, emitting waves of heat.

However, compared to the spacious chamber, that little bit of warmth was considered nothing. It was no match for the ferret fur coat on his body in terms of keeping him warm.

"Twelve years went by just like that."

15 minutes later, Zhao Mu put down the scroll in his hand and looked at the snow beyond the windows.

There was a hint of sorrow in his expression.

That body had already been imprisoned deep in the palace for 15 years.

As for Zhao Mu, he had arrived at this place for 12 years.

Back when he was three years old, he had fallen critically ill.

The chilling winds took away the Tenth Prince and welcomed a soul from a foreign world instead.

When Zhao Mu woke up and opened his eyes, he realized that he had inherited the emperor's bloodline, a descendant of the imperial family.

Logically speaking, it was something worthy of celebration.

Born with a silver spoon, he no longer needed to worry about his livelihood.

However, misfortune in life outnumbered fortunate encounters. How could things go that smoothly?

During the Tenth Prince's birth, the imperial astronomer made a prediction of his fortune.

"Nine out of ten will be met with tragedy! The flood dragon swallows the python, bringing misfortune to the father and brothers!"

The imperial astronomer was in charge of ceremonial offerings, observing celestial phenomena, promulgation of calendar, and so on.

Astronomer Yuan Li had vast knowledge. He was favored by the emperor and well respected by the officials.

It goes without saying that a fortune told by such a talented person would carry a lot of weight.

Furthermore, since the Tenth Prince's birth, a few other princes had consecutively lost their lives.

The Third Prince was kicked by a wild horse due to his failure to subdue the beast. He ended up dying after coughing up blood.

The Sixth Prince practiced martial arts and ingested elixirs that resulted in a reversed circulation of his Qi blood, along with his meridiens being broken. Even the imperial could not do anything to help him.

Even the Crown Prince fell terribly ill during that time for no apparent reason.

Rumor had it that his body was invaded by evil Qi and caused him to fall into a comatose state for 10 days.

The string mysterious events left no room for the Emperor of Zhou to doubt.

Finally, under the suggestion from Astronomer Yuan Li, the baby was deemed as the Tenth Prince, the one cursed by fate and destined to be alone.

He was sent into the cold palace as an infant.

Even when his mother passed away, he did not have the chance to see her.

As for the exalted Emperor of Zhou that Zhao Mu had to call 'father', he had never spoken to him at all.

"Ah, the imperial family."

Zhao Mu lamented in silence.

He lay on the bed and shut his eyes.

In his mind, there was an old and worn out mysterious stone dial.

It looked as though it had endured the passage of time, exuding an aura that felt as though thousands of years were but a moment.

On the stone dial were 12 blur markings.

It seemed to represent the eternal laws and order between heaven and earth.

During his time being imprisoned in the cold palace, Zhao Mu noticed that with each passing year, one of the markings would light up.

Each marking was a single year!

It was the 15th year where one had to knot their hair.

Coincidentally, it was his 12th year since arriving in this world.

Therefore, it was not difficult for him to make that deduction.

The mysterious stone dial came from Zhao Mu himself instead of the Tenth Prince.

"If I could activate it earlier and imprint my Dao mark to acquire its foreign power, I might have long become the Sword God of Ten Miles Slope2 and graduate from this zone at max level."

After waiting patiently for 12 years, Zhao Mu was finally able to witness the change in that stone dial.

Imprint Dao mark, acquire foreign objects.

Two days ago, that mysterious stone dial had been glowing miraculously.

Since then, it no longer maintained the slow rate of one mark per year.

Instead, it moved by one mark for each passing day!

Zhao Mu could not forget about the incident either. At that time, he was just walking past Eternal Happiness Palace's East wing, slacking off at the abandoned and dilapidated elixir refining chamber. 

The stone dial vibrated slightly and a line of clear text came out of it.

'You've arrived at the elixir chamber. Acquired Blood Bodhi!'

'Would you like to imprint?'

Something stirred in his mind.

Once Zhao Mu nodded, a strange blood-red fruit appeared out of nowhere within the invisible subspace that was created by the mysterious stone dial.

Blood Bodhi came from the manhwa titled Storm Riders!3

According to legends, it was a treasured miracle fruit found within Lingyun Cave, beneath the Leshan Grand Buddha. 

It came from the blood droplets of a Flame Qilin and had the properties to cure all wounds and increase one's powers.

Zhao Mu was in shock.

After a long time, he finally snapped back to his senses.

With 12 long years being bored within the cold palace to polish his temperament, it helped him not to lose his composure. He quickly reorganized his thoughts.

The mysterious stone dial advanced by one mark each year before that. Only after finishing the 12 marks did it give out some sort of a sign. Zhao Mu speculated that it might have been a process to charge its power.

At that moment, the 'powered up' stone dial moved one mark a day and slowly began to reveal its true miraculous properties.

As of then, he had no idea about the origin of the stone dial.

Its actual use was shown through imprinting his dao mark and acquiring foreign objects.

The so-called 'imprinting' was to have him arrive at a particular location, similar to signing in.

Meanwhile, the 'Acquire' function was to exchange the imprint into foreign objects.

Just by passing by the elixir refining chamber on the previous day, Zhao Mu had acquired a Blood Bodhi that could increase his power.

That was because the location used to produce all sorts of elixirs and left 'marks' behind.

If so, what would it bring him this time?

Zhao Mu went through an emotional roller-coaster ride, then returned to his calm state.

There was no doubt that the Emperor of Zhou forbade the Tenth Prince from learning martial arts because he was cursed and would bring about calamity that would bring harm to the Zhou imperial family, as foretold by the imperial astronomer.

Meanwhile, a Blood Bodhi that could increase his power and physical strength coincidentally met Zhao Mu's needs!

He had already missed the optimal age to temper his physique by practicing martial arts.

Unless there was someone of great power to purify Zhao Mu's bones without stopping for an entire month, it would be impossible for him to achieve anything.

That Blood Bodhi that could increase his power was just like someone sending him a pillow right when he felt sleepy.

'If this is as I speculated, the stone dial wouldn't be limited to acquiring miracle elixirs and fruits.'

The young and handsome Tenth Prince opened his brightly glowing eyes.

Although he had never set foot outside of Eternal Happiness Palace to see the outside world, the abandoned and desolate palace complex was fully equipped.

Within it were the study, practice chamber, armory, meditation room, elixir refining chamber, library…and other locations.

Being stuck alone deep within the imperial city's inner district, devoid of freedom, Zhao Mu could only read books.

By reading chorography records, local rumors, and travel records, he created a vague image of this world within his mind.

Four Kingdoms of the Divine Continent!

Ten great sects!

Six sacred grounds!

The foreign archipelago!

Apart from those great powers that reigned over their own territories, there were also martial grandmasters that could move mountains and breathe lightning.

The reason there were so many people with strange powers was because the Divine Continent was in a state of constant warfare.

During times of war, it was natural for martial arts to thrive.

Through thousands of years, the various martial arts evolved, with each generation stronger than the previous one. That resulted in a comprehensive path for cultivation.

The 10 Mortal Stages were the peak that all martial artists needed to overcome.

The initial five stages were Form Shaping, Body Tempering, Unblocking Aperture, Circulation, and Foundation Establishment.

If one compared martial arts with building, those five steps were to build a strong foundation, to stabilize one's Qi blood.

By training the physical body, it would nurture the internal organs and allow for one to challenge the limits of the human body!

If one could condense blood essence and manifest the root bone, one would have the chance to convert internal energy to true Qi!

Reaching that stage would make one a big shot in the world of martial arts, gaining the title of an expert.

The latter five stages were Qi Refinement, Dragon Image, Spiritual Transformation, Innate, and Human Immortal.

One step at a time, and each step was a completely different world.

It was especially so during the Spiritual Transformation Stage, where one's mental energy was purified and the will of martial arts was forged.

One would be impervious to all spells and easily crush armies, a great expert that could secure the fortune of an entire sect single handedly.

'This is just like how a tiger would be bullied by dogs in foreign lands…'

Upon thinking of the countless wonders of that world, then his own situation of being stuck in the cold palace, Zhao Mu suddenly recalled a saying from his previous world.

The Tenth Prince had a bad life!

That was the conclusion that the busybodies in the imperial city came to.

Some of them felt pity, some sympathetic, and some even gloating over his misfortune.

Zhao Mu was well behaved and consigned himself to the cold palace for 12 years.

From the onlookers' perspective, that was an act of him resigning himself to fate.

What else could he do other than accept his fate?

How vast was the world?

How many beautiful sceneries were there?

If given the choice, who would willingly be imprisoned deep within the imperial city and be denied freedom for life!?

However, Zhao Mu had no choice!

The Emperor of Zhou, the imperial astronomer, and the existence of his fortune telling of 'Nine out of ten will be met with tragedy! The flood dragon swallows the python, bringing misfortune to the father and brothers,' stood in his way.

Zhao Mu lacked the support of his mother, supporting words from the officials in power, and the talents and qualifications to practice martial arts.

It felt as though he was under the pressure of three huge mountains, destined to be doomed forever!

Those hatred, complaints, suffering, and despair…they could only be pushed down into the deepest corners of his heart, finally transforming his mental state into one like the calm surface of a lake.

"Now that I have the help of the mysterious stone dial, the cold palace and the imperial city might not be able to hold me back anymore!"

Zhao Mu's eyes glowed brightly, with the glow seemingly outshining the light from the flickering candle flame.

He no longer pondered on the origin of the stone dial. He would not understand nor think it through. It would only trouble him further.

"Within the great Zhou Kingdom, strength equals power!"

Zhao Mu clenched his fist tightly, then thought to himself.

As a young master of the Eight Mortal Stage of Spiritual Transformation in the world, one would be able to travel freely across the entire continent, disregarding its law.

At the Ninth Mortal Stage of Innate Grandmaster, one could be smug before nobles, laugh at them, and refuse to kneel before the emperor.

Of those great sects and scared grounds, which one of them did not have over thousands of disciples, and several tens of thousand servants?

In the world of martial arts, the leaders of the great sects were treated as equals to the senior provincial officials.

Each of them would be a prominent figure over a region, which formed the situation of state within a state.

The local commoner would only know of the sects and rich families, often not knowing the existence of the emperor!

When it came to the power they hold, it would even outrank the emperor!

"I'm a prince, born into power and authority. If I practiced martial arts and became the strongest martial artist in the world…I'll have both strength and authority!"

Zhao Mu contemplated for a moment, then suppressed the crazy thoughts in his mind.

His temperament was not sufficiently refined after all. After experiencing such an emotional roller coaster, he had let the rush go to his head.

Zhao Mu sauntered to the doors of Longevity Hall. It was already late in the night.

The snow outside was heavy. The cold air buffeted against his face and managed to calm him down.

'Let's see what items I can acquire from my imprint today,' Zhao Mu thought internally.

He tightened the ferret fur coat on him. Just as he was about to go back in, he heard some noise coming from beyond the walls of the cold palace.