Were it all began

Rain Country.

In the dead of night, even the moon's radiance was snuffed out by the black clouds.

Deep in the Dark Wind Forest, an unfortunate boy who looked to be in his teens was running for his life.

"Huff Huff Huff!"

The boy was exhausted and heavily panting. His clothes were ripped and his face was full of cuts and bruises, showing that he had gone through severe torture before he escaped.

"Damn it!"

The boy coldly spat as he saw four masked men waiting to capture him. He had run so hard for the last thirty minutes, but it seemed he couldn't get away.

"F*CK!"

The boy held on to his trembling legs and glared at masked men. Their faces were covered, but it was easy to see that they all were smirking.

"You did well in running all the way here, Young master Yan."

"Haha, I almost fell asleep while waiting for you."

The boy frowned deeply, If they had been waiting for him here, then there was no point for him to continue running in this direction.

The masked men all pulled out their sabers from their backs. Their eyes were filled with the callous killing intent toward the boy.

'What should I do?'

'What can I do...?'

If It was his life that they yearned for, It didn't seem like talking to them would be of any use. He had used all of his inner Qi to run here, so he had no energy left to run or fight. But even with his death awaiting him, his pitch-black eyes were filled with endless anger rather than fear.

"…Why? I gave up on cultivating already. Why do you want to kill me? What more do you want!?"

"Young Master… you surely know whether you cultivate or not it doesn't matter, your fate has been decided long ago."

The boy was at a loss for words. He had expected this day to come ever since he was very young, but he didn't expect it would come even before he had a chance to prove his worth to his heatless father.

"As long as you have the right to be the Zhuo Clan head, it is your destiny to be chased and killed."

The other masked men began making comments also.

"Surrender, and we will gift you a swift death."

"Even if you have that peasant blood running in your veins, we will not dishonor the blood of our Master."

The boy then became filled with anger. The word he hated the most were the words that insulted his mother.

'Rotten bastards!'

Since he was going to die anyway, Zhou Yan might as well try to fight back. He pulled out two daggers. He had never learned martial arts, however. All he knew was whatever he observed from watching his guard, Cang Hai.

"Hmm? daggers? Did you learn something from guard Cang?"

Sadly, he didn't. If he had actually learnt it, then the skill may have been a little bit helpful in this fatal situation.

"Crude, But your father's blood flowing in your body speaks for itself, that you do not cower away at your death."

The masked men seemed to be very happy. It was more fun for them to kill someone who was unyielding than someone who would beg and cry for mercy.

"Kill him."

One of the men gave the order and the other three attacked the boy at once.

The boy thought he would hold them off for at least a bit, but even that was just a pipe dream.

"Haaaa!"

One of the masked men used his quickness to effortlessly avoid the boy's strike and gave a hard blow to the boy's abdomen.

"Uhh!"

The boy had never felt such pain in his life. A searing pain shot up from his stomach and blood soared up from his throat.

The pain made the boy drop the daggers to the ground and immediately grabbed his stomach. His face grimaced and he glared at the masked man, but the man firmly gripped the boy's neck.

"Argh…"

'Is this it? Is this how I am going to die!? I refuse, I refuse, I refuse to die here!'

The boy's face had turned ferocious, his eyes were filled with indignation towards this cruel reality.

"Any last words..?" The masked man stared the boy in the eye as he loosened his grip on the boy's neck, just enough for him utter a few words.

The boy unhurriedly glanced at all the masked men here, his gaze revealing his utter contempt and hatred, he spoke word for word;

"Go Fuck Yourself!"

"Hmph, such fine words." Instead of getting angry, the masked men smiled within the darkness of their masks.

"Since that is the case, then let this humble one send you to meet your mother!"

The masked man exclaimed with much emotion and his grip on the boy tightened as he quickly raised the boy high up while he slowly brought the saber closer to the boy's heart.

The boy soundlessly watched the Blood-red saber slowly inching closer to his heart, bringing along with it a sense of dread.

Memories surfaced one by one in his mind.

Then, they started to disappear one by one, a smile suddenly appeared on the boy's face.

Yet there wasn't even an ounce of joy in it, only bitterness and sadness existed in it.

'Mother I am so sorry, your son is unfilial. Please forgive me for being such a disappointment, please...' Tears filled the boy's face as he called out with incomparable sorrow.

The masked man sighed internally but the Saber in his hands only got closer and closer, soon it cut the boy's skin before piercing into the boy's chest and continuing for the boy's heart.

The boy's death was a foregone conclusion, he neither had the skills nor the will to fight any longer. What could he even do? Struggle, he has already given everything he had. Struggling any longer would simply be a waste of his energy, nothing else.

But just when all hope had seemed lost, a change occurred!

A brilliant light shined as if a lightning bolt had struck. When the light disappeared, the masked men's eyes turned in shock.

"W-what?!"

Blood sprayed up like a fountain. The masked man who had been grasping the boy had lost the entire top half of his body where the blood was spurting upwards.

"W-what?!"

The boy dropped down, he also was in shock. If he wasn't wrong, some blue streak of light had zapped the man, and his body melted away.

"Over there!"

The leader pointed in a certain direction in shock, and there was an orb emitting dark blue light quietly hovering. The orb of light then disappeared.

"Huh?"

It wasn't through any movement skill. It was as if he had turned invisible so that he could not be seen.

Another light then struck another man, killing him also. The only ones left were the leader and the remaining masked man.

'Someone is helping him… Is it a primordial core realm expert?'

The masked men were all at the peak of the Spirit Gathering realm, only Primordial core realm cultivators and above could have such an overwhelming advantage when facing them.

The boy looked at his chest and saw a deep wound, fresh blood was gushing out crazily from it dyeing the grass red. The rate of blood loss was too frightening, even though his heart was left undamaged he could simply die anyway from the horrifying blood loss.

'We did what we needed, we should retreat.'

The leader tried to send a signal for his man to fall back, but he was then struck with another streak of lightning and he disappeared also.

"Aaargh!"

The man screamed in panic and tried to run, but he too was struck by the lightning. After all the men were killed, the boy smiled and chuckled, "Haha, farewell losers."

Then, the orb of Azure light revealed itself in front of the boy. He wanted to scream in shock but he had no energy to do so.

The boy was first startled but then quickly kneeled and began thanking the azure orb of light for getting revenge for him, but he had no energy to speak and his body was growing cold. He had lost too much blood.

'Am I going to die now? So this is...' Before the boy could even finish his dying thought, the orb of azure light dashed into the boy's forehead.

The boy's eyes immediately lost their luster, they looked lifeless for a few seconds before his eyes automatically shut, then his body began to change.

It was the beginning of his life's turning point.