Awakening in the Land of Shadows

For the first time, Jun felt the warmth of the sun touch his entire body, while the wind pushed against him, flowing through his feathers. He relished this sensation; it was comforting, like his mother's embrace. For a fleeting moment, it felt as though everything that had happened was just a dream—a bad dream or a nightmare. Jun opened his eyes to see the vast skies before him as he soared above the clouds. He was literally in the body of an eagle. Was this another vision? He didn't know, but all that mattered was that he had escaped the bloody vision, at least for now.

Jun continued to live in the body of the eagle, hunting, flying, and sleeping all day long for three months. One day, he perched on a tree branch, observing a group of men in monk robes standing in a circle around an old man. A beautiful storm of energy swirled around the old man, who was clearly in pain. The more the pain etched on his face, the stronger the energy became. It was a mesmerizing sight that captivated Jun until one of the men standing guard around the old man drew his sword and slashed toward him. Though the man was ten meters away, the slow motion of the sword slicing through the air created images of golden blades moving toward the eagle before it severed his head.

The pain was still there, the pain of the sword that had cut his neck. It felt as if his entire head would explode. Jun opened his eyes to darkness, with only the white light of the lotus in front of him. The light continued to embrace him, and his head began to clear more and more. A refreshing sensation spread through his entire body, taking all his pain away, until he lost sight again and opened his eyes once more.

This time, he found himself in a muddy place. The smell of grass was so strong that he enjoyed it immensely. He moved forward in a dark, pipe-like space, narrow around his small body as he navigated through dirt pathways. He kept moving right and left until he saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, he emerged to find himself surrounded by enormous rocks. It was a sunny day on a mountain, and he was there. Feeling an urge to scratch his head, he moved his arms over it, only to see that they were small, like a mouse's. This time, he was a mouse.

He scurried over the rocks, heading to a place that this body apparently knew well. He continued upward until he found the corpse of a human, one that had just recently died. After everything that had happened before, he didn't get flustered. He knew one thing: he had found his food.

After eating his fill, he felt the entire mountain vibrate, and rocks started to fall from above. He quickly hid behind a nearby large rock. When the vibrations ended, he sensed something strange—an important presence was dying. He felt a surge of danger and an urgent need to be somewhere. His body instinctively knew where to go, so he kept moving forward.

He didn't run long before he saw them—the same men he had seen when he was in the body of an eagle, but this time there were only three men and the old man. The three men looked exhausted and injured; one had lost an arm and was crouched down, pressing on the wound, while the other two were terrified and hurt. In front of them stood the old man, his frail body glowing with a golden light, a shining sword in his hand. The golden light revealed stab wounds on his body and a missing eye. He was facing a creature.

It was a deer—a massive deer with enormous horns, with flowers and plants growing from its body. The deer stood as tall as two men, its eyes glowing with a spiral of green energy, standing in front of a cave and facing the men with swords. When Jun looked at it, he felt a surge of respect and an urge to kneel.

As the deer took a step forward, the men took two steps back. Suddenly, green energy began to radiate from the mountain and the woods below, flowing towards the deer. The entire scene was of the green deer facing the golden old man. Suddenly, Jun felt the deer looking at him, peering deep into his soul. After what felt like an eternity of silence, the deer spoke.

"I see, then that's how things are going to be, little boy."

Jun felt the deer's words reverberate inside him. Is it talking to me? Can it see me? Does it know what's happening? A flood of questions surged through his mind, but he couldn't move or do anything. He was just a mouse, staring at a deer.

"Those will be the last words of a mountain god, you bloody demon," the old man spat. "Wudang will not let you continue your blasphemy and demonic acts, deceiving the poor and the weak into believing in the devil."

A mountain god! What is going on?

The old man took a fighting stance, his sword pointed toward the deer, the golden aura around him intensifying until it shone like a small sun.

"Apparently, fate has been decided, and we are just pawns of the great and mighty. You better watch carefully, little one," the deer said.

But before the two energies could clash, the scene changed.

Jun found himself back in his original place, but this time it wasn't all darkness. The white glow wasn't just a small part; his entire surroundings were bathed in white light.

This time was different. He had no thoughts, only a sense that his entire world had changed. He sensed pulses around him, pulses that continued to grow and connect him to everything. Through his eyes, he saw only a white glow, but he could feel the world within. He could feel animals, humans, the wind blowing, life being born and ending. He felt everything and nothing at the same time, until the glow faded once again.

This time he was a fish in a pond before being caught by fishermen. This time he was a herb collector who fell from a cliff and died. This time he was a wolf hunting a child before being killed by a monk. He lived many lives, both of people and animals, before they died. Sometimes he lived their lives for a day, sometimes for a moment, sometimes for months. Each time, he experienced their pain and struggles, but with each experience, his connection to the world and his understanding of energy deepened.

Now he was Whitey, fighting the masked men. Now he was a monk, dying next to Banzan.

The more lives he lived and died, the more he could control and perceive the energy around him, the different types and feelings. Until one day, he finally felt something solid. He felt dirt in his hands.

He felt the dirt and started to feel coldness creeping in. But he could negate the cold with his energy. Finally, a change—something had shifted, and maybe if he followed that change, he could find his way back to wherever he was. His memory was hazy. What was his name again? Who was he? No, that wasn't important right now. All that mattered was getting out of here.

The boy tried to focus on his surroundings. Through the glow, he could feel the dirt around him. The more he focused, the more he felt pressure on his body. That's dangerous, he thought. Maybe I should try to focus on the energy around me. He stopped pushing the cold energy away and instead began to draw it into his core, located in his abdomen.

His condition was remarkable. For a warrior, storing and controlling energy with a core was standard, but this boy didn't have a core. For a normal human, not having a core meant you couldn't control or even sense energy. But this boy was different. His entire body was full of energy, not just a single core. Energy circulated throughout his body, condensing further as he absorbed more from his surroundings. The most fascinating part was the types of his energy. Most people, or maybe all, had one type of energy, or qi, of one color because each energy had different properties that didn't coexist with others. Maybe similar ones would, but that was a natural occurrence, not a forced one.

If anyone had seen the boy, they would have been astonished because his body contained five types of qi energy, five colors sometimes mixing and sometimes separating: red, dark blue, golden, brown, and green. The boy drew in the cold, dark blue energy and focused on it. In his mind, an image formed—a 3D model of his current location. He saw a glow, which apparently indicated his position, surrounded by brown and dark blue qi. He was deep within that energy, beneath a layer of dark blue qi.

He tried to think of a way to escape this confinement. He kept focusing on the energy around him, wondering if he could control and redirect it to lift his body out. But how? He remembered the old man with the golden energy and how he had gathered it at the tip of his sword. Why not try to do the same and push his way out?

In a desolate place full of snow, in the backyard of Green Mountain—no longer green during the full cycle of snow, the barren land had become desolate. This land was no longer inhabited due to the harsh environment; sometimes a year would pass without the sun touching it. That's why it became a hideout for the most wanted criminals—those running from the government or martial arts sects, whether common criminals or those related to Jianghu.

In the land of Green Mountain, in a village that lay right behind it, a village now devoid of life, with houses that would never see inhabitants again, moved Xiao Feng, carrying a dead rabbit in his hand

 back to one of the huts. It was a rabbit he had just caught. Due to the absence of people for five years, animals were not scarce here. He moved back to the hut where his friend Liang Wei was staying. He had to care for his friend due to his injury. They had spent 20 years together as bandits, a band of brothers. Even after things went south and major sects started chasing them more intensely than before, there were rumors that their band, the Vicious Snakes, were on a killing spree, taking many lives and even attacking Shaolin and other branches. What a ridiculous claim! If they were that strong, they would have been stronger than the Qinglin Stronghold bandits. Come on, they were nobodies! Yes, some of them could use qi and were mostly Murim, but they weren't the Green Forest, for god's sake.

Xiao Feng entered one of the huts, calling out, "Yoo, Liang, wake up. I found something good to eat."

Boom!

Suddenly, a strong explosion erupted from the east, specifically from the tombs.