Wutian

The Redsun Mountains stood in a great line like the spine of the land.

Hidden inconspicuously within the mountain range was a small settlement, Dragon Village. It spanned an area of about one square mile and only comprised a dozen wooden houses. 

Behind the village was a ten-thousand-feet-tall peak, which was covered in lush vegetation and towering trees. It rose into the clouds, forming a natural barrier against the icy wind.

It was nighttime when sequin-silver stars and the glow of the moon spilled all over the sky.

"When the spirits of fire, earth, water, wood, metal, darkness, and light combine into one, they will form an immortal body that awakens endless potential…"

A boy, about fifteen or sixteen years old and seven feet tall, was sitting on a large rock on top of the peak. He was earnestly studying a parchment in his hand.

His name was Wutian, and he was a resident of Dragon Village. With the exception of his sixty-year-old grandfather, he had no other family members. They took care of each other and lived a comfortable life.

"Whoever attains immortality can pluck the stars, move rivers and mountains, and blank out the sky. But… Sigh! Easier said than done. I haven't even built up my physique, let alone immortality."

His face was rosy, while his teeth were ivory. Two white streams of breath came out of his nostrils as he exhaled. Taking his eyes off a parchment, he looked up at the crescent moon in the sky and fell into deep thought. In the end, he sighed.

According to the record on the parchment, the vast expanse of land was called the Samsara Continent. It was divided into five major subcontinents: Central Yaw, West Tiger, South Bird, North Zen, and Greendragon, each of which was incredibly huge and populous.

The Redsun Mountains were in Greendragon, and it was the largest of all the subcontinents with a population of over tens of millions. However, few cultivators existed there, let alone immortals.

"Grandpa used to say that as long as I grow stronger, I can find my parents. I'm already sixteen, but I still can't become a cultivator. Am I destined to not see them my entire life?"

He closed his eyes abruptly, his unkempt, black hair fluttering in the wind. Then, he performed complex gestures with his hands as he rested them on his knees.

It was a fortune-telling technique.

Wutian's grandfather practiced fortune telling to make a living. Under his grandfather's influence, Wutian had learned that authentic technique, which could tell the fortune and misfortune of a person in the future. He wanted to discover his future and find his parents using the technique.

While he was still performing the hand gestures, an opalescent light suddenly burst out of his forehead. Wutian instantly saw an expansive section of Heaven and Earth in his vision. Under the brilliant stars and the bright moon, he could vaguely make out the mountains and rivers, as well as the grass and trees.

At the horizon was a partly visible majestic peak. It looked like a terrifying ancient beast under the moonlight's soft glow.

There was a massive temple atop the peak. Only its faint silhouette was visible, but Wutian could perceive its glory and majesty based on its visually stunning, fairy-like appearance.

Crash!

All of a sudden, lightning and thunder struck as a storm rolled in. Rain poured down while the sky opened. Amid the lightning and storm, a giant hand descended out of nowhere, obstructing the heavens and enveloping everything.

Wutian felt a jolt in his body, and blood spurted out of his mouth. The vision disappeared before his eyes, and all he saw was darkness.

"Just as Grandpa said, I can't tell my fortune." Wutian opened his eyes, thinking of what his grandfather once told him.

"Wutian, I can foretell the fortunes of others, but I cannot see yours. Every time, an invisible giant hand seemingly blanks out your future at the crucial moment, shielding any glimpse of light."

Wutian looked at the crescent moon, and frustration plagued him.

He found that the night sky was dotted with familiar starlight as if it were a memory of his past life or an illusory realm in a dream. It was surreal. He seemed to sense something familiar yet strange calling out to him from inside the temple on the peak.

Meanwhile, that giant hand appeared to be his foe, arousing hatred in him and making him want to tear it apart.

Bang!

Wutian was startled by a loud sound behind him. Cold sweat trickled down his spine, and for a moment, he forgot where he was because he had been too deep in thought.

The mountain was a hunting ground for the residents of the village, so there were few monstrous beasts around. Nevertheless, dangers still existed. Several less powerful but savage, monstrous creatures—venomous snakes, bugs, scorpions, spiders, and all—haunted the place.

They had low cultivation attainment but were extremely poisonous. Their bite could instantly kill.

That had happened before.

"A Louse!"

Wutian got the shock of his life, and goosebumps broke out all over his body as he turned around. Bouncing to his feet, he hid behind a giant rock and kept his eyes open.

It was a flying bug the size of a fist! Its body emanated a blood-red gleam, and it emitted a buzzing sound while it flapped its wings rapidly. Also, it had a long, heinous sting on its mouth, giving it the appearance of a deadly predator that could kill immediately.

There was a giant one-meter-long Black Panther in front of the Louse, and it was threateningly ferocious.

Yet, facing the Louse, the panther was intimidated and shivering slightly with fear in its eyes.

Wutian dared not make a sound as the two beasts faced off. Both the Louse and Black Panther were scary monster beasts, especially the former. Its sting was so sharp that it could penetrate rock and metal. The Louse was fast and elusive, hard to guard against akin to a ghost.

The Black Panther roared with a heinous look and kicked up dust with its paws, but it stopped short of charging forward. It scanned its surroundings the entire time as if searching for an escape route.

Meanwhile, the Louse produced an ear-piercing, high-frequency shrill, and the Black Panther scrunched its face up in pain as its ears bled from the penetrating sound wave.

"The rumor that Lice can produce lethal sound is real!" Wutian covered his bleeding ears with both hands. He was utterly shocked. If he had not been quite a distance from the bug, the terrible sound wave would have killed him.

Right then, the Louse flapped its wings. Like a red comet that flew across the sky, it charged toward the Black Panther. The sting on its mouth extended to an inch long as it approached its target.

A red glow hit the Black Panther with a "puff", creating a fist-sized hole in its skull, and blood splattered as far as three meters. The Black Panther dropped dead on the ground before it could even make a sound.

The Louse swooped down and jabbed its sting through the Black Panther's skin. Soon after, the panther's body quickly shriveled as blood was sucked from the body.

The Louse's eyes flashed with pleasure while it enjoyed the goodness of its prey's blood.

Wutian was horrified. The Louse was horrifying. Despite how impenetrable the Black Panther skin's was, the Louse could still pierce through its body with ease. That was how scary the Louse was.

He was too afraid to look at it, his head shrinking back into his neck as he lay face down. If the Louse saw him, not even God could save him.

"Oh, God, whoever you are, please help me!" Wutian quietly prayed to God for protection although he never had faith.

However, no god seemed to have a plan for protecting him. A loud shrill came, and the giant rock in front of him shattered. The shrapnel hit him in his chest and sent him flying, but he clung on to the cliff.

The Louse whooshed down like lightning and stopped above Wutian. Its red eyes reeked of delight while its sharp sting glinted with blood-red light.

"Damn it!"

Wutian cursed as he held on for dear life with both hands. The Louse had spotted him even though he had been careful to hide. This was the end of him.

With the Louse above him and a thousand-feet drop below, death was certain unless a miracle happened.

Sadly, Wutian never believed in miracles. If there had been one, he would not have failed to unlock his physique for the past sixteen years and bumped into the ghastly beast now.

Buzz...

The Louse then made its move and swooped down with its knifelike sting. It was so quick, almost comparable to an arrow that was shot out from a bow—fast and ruthless.

Wutian's heart skipped a beat, and a thousand thoughts flashed through his mind. At last, he gritted his teeth and decided to let go. He might survive the fall down the cliff, he thought, but he would definitely die if the Louse caught him.

At that moment, something cawed, and what seemed like a shadow the size of a fist burst forth from the ground. A creature poked its tongue out and caught the Louse before it drew its prey into its mouth. The crackling sound of bones ensued as the Louse was swallowed.

Goosebumps popped up all over Wutian's skin when he heard the sound. That creature had just crushed and swallowed a Louse alive.

It was an overly strange and shocking scene.

After the mysterious creature ate the Louse, it still yearned for more. It gazed at Wutian with what might have looked like a hungry expression, sticking out its long tongue while saliva was dripping down its mucosa. The creature looked excited as it jumped up and down as if it had found its next scrumptious meal.

It was hard to make out the mysterious creature's appearance in the moon's faint light. But judging by how effortlessly it ate the Louse, the creature was far more vicious than the Louse. His heart sank at the thought of death after he got out of the frying pan only to fall into the fire.

Hopping to the edge of the cliff, the mysterious creature cawed. As it sniffed Wutian's fingers with its tiny nose, a light flashed in its eyes. It then opened its mouth and prepared to swallow Wutian too.

"I would rather fall to my death instead of getting swallowed alive. Grandpa might find my body later on."

Wutian had given up. He fell as he released his grip on the cliff, but the mysterious creature did not seem to have plans to give up its prey. It followed suit, jumping down the cliff and aiming for Wutian's head.

Before the mysterious creature reached Wutian's skull, a milky white glow erupted out of the blue. Akin to a streak of lightning, the glow illuminated the surrounding air and shrouded Wutian like a cocoon. Wutian's fall was suddenly halted, and his body floated, rising to the top of the cliff.

He was caught unaware and did not know what to make of it. Wutian was rooted to the spot as he rubbed his forehead with his fingers, appearing dumbfounded.

A loud caw jolted him out of his thoughts. Wutian looked up and saw a fist-sized, black creature fighting to get away from the milky glow. Yet, the glow had apparently immobilized it.

"Demon Toad? That's not right. Demon Toads are just ordinary creatures. It couldn't have eaten the Louse alive."

While the milky glow entangled the mysterious creature, Wutian pulled up the parchment from around his waist and studied it carefully.

Not long after, his eyes were fixed on the creature, which was screaming at the top of its lungs. The parchment slipped off his hands, but he did not realize it since his body was shivering uncontrollably.

Their bodies are as black as ink with bumps all over their uneven skin. They have short and straight front legs, as well as long and crooked rear limbs. Their eyes look like a pair of pearls while their teeth are as tough as steel, enabling them to crush rock and iron. They may look like Demon Toads—extremely ugly—but they are Gobblers, ranked tenth on the list of exotic beasts.

The mysterious creature in front of him matched the description on the parchment. Hence, the thing that effortlessly ate the Louse was a notorious Gobbler.

However, that was not the reason for Wutian's excitement. The more important point was that the Gobblers had an ability that many people coveted; they could eat everything, extract the marrow, and turn it into Essence for human consumption.

Plus, the Gobblers had another unique characteristic: they fed on flesh and blood right after birth, consuming the blood to aid their growth. They could start eating trees and crystallized rock during their infancy. Once they reached maturity, they could swallow earth and absorb the qi from it. Additionally, they could change their size at will, shrinking to the size of a speck of dust or swelling to the size of a massive mountain. Their strength was nature-defying.

Be that as it may, the Gobblers had a rough growing process, which was not only slow but during each stage of development, they needed to endure numerous lightning strikes. Most of them would die during their infancy, and only a handful of them could make it to maturity.

The Gobbler in front of him was obviously still in its infancy.