Chapter 1: Devouring Life
The Tianxuan Continent is vast and boundless, and it is also divided into five major domains: East, South, West, North, and Central.
In the south, a single country, in Qing Shan Town, behind Xu's large courtyard, on a small hill, a five-foot-tall boy sat cross-legged on a giant stone that had been polished by time to be as smooth as a mirror. The surroundings were eerily quiet, not even the sound of mosquitoes could be heard.
The lush flowers, grass and trees that were once full of vitality and beauty had all withered away. The flowers drooped their heads weakly, the tall evergreen trees shed their leaves in patches, looking desolate beyond compare. In the distance, about twenty zhang (a unit of measurement) away from the little boy, the trees stood tall, a hundred flowers bloomed in profusion, and tiny sparkling dew drops swayed gently in the breeze, shining brightly under the sunlight.
"Hmm..."
The little boy sitting cross-legged on the giant stone let out a heavy sigh, his eyes opening like stars in the sky, deep and bright. The world in his eyes seemed to hold a piece of heaven and earth. A faint smile rose to the tip of his brow, his small mouth slightly open as he muttered to himself: "This 'Devouring Life Technique' is truly overbearing."
With one hand on the giant stone, he stepped down to the ground and scanned the withered flowers, grasses, and trees within a radius of twenty zhang. The young boy let out a soft sigh, seemingly reluctant in his heart. He gently bent down, stroking a small grass that had lost its green hue, and remained silent for a moment. After a while, the young boy showed a hint of pity and said, "Little grass, little grass, don't blame me, I didn't want it to be like this either. However, Father has always said that in a world like this, one must never lack strength. Although I also dislike cultivating, Father's words are correct. Therefore, for the sake of increasing my own strength, I can only inconvenience you all. But I will definitely leave behind a thread of life, so strive to absorb nutrients and live on!" After finishing his words, the young boy released the small grass he was stroking, stood up, and gazed into the distance, saying, "The 'Life-Draining Technique' - which predecessor created it? It's incredibly overbearing, directly extracting the life force of all living things to nourish oneself. Doesn't that mean a martial artist can become infinitely powerful, even surpassing the heavens if they seize the life force of an entire realm?"
As the little boy thought about it, his eyes filled with fear and pity. He looked around at the withered leaves and the yellowish grass that was like mud, and said: "If there are evil people who cultivate this 'Life-Draining Technique', constantly absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, wouldn't it be said that in the future they would be able to threaten everyone, and even turn all people into white bones to achieve their own success?"
"This is really too terrifying." The little boy patted his chest hard to calm himself down, but the "thumping" sound from his heart beating violently showed that he was still uneasy. Gradually, as he comforted himself, his face returned to normal, and the flush of red faded away. His heartbeat also returned to normal. "Fortunately, I didn't tell anyone about this 'Life-Draining Technique' manual after I unexpectedly obtained it. Presumably, no one else knows about this divine technique except for me. The sheepskin paper that recorded the 'Life-Draining Technique' was also burned to ashes by me. Unexpectedly, only I know about this strange technique in this world. As long as I control it properly and only absorb the life energy from plants, trees, and demonic beasts, I won't cause much harm to this world. Then, countless innocent lives won't be lost."
The little boy's face turned bright red with excitement, his small heart beating again, the smile on his face looked incredibly pure and true, the little thought in his mind was suddenly magnified.
His name is Xu Hua, he's fourteen years old, and he's the third young master of the Xu family in Qing Shan Town. The Xu family is a powerful force in Qing Shan Town, only rivalled by the Zhou and Qian families. However, even among the prominent families of Qing Shan Town, the Qian and Zhou families are slightly weaker than the Xu family because the Xu family possesses a rare, low-level clan martial skill - "Kai Shan Zhang".
Speaking of which, it is necessary to mention the level of martial artists and martial skills on the Tianxuan Continent. The entire Tianxuan Continent has spiritual energy, so even an ordinary adult who has not practiced cultivation has a strength of nearly two hundred kilograms. If one cultivates martial arts and actively absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into their body, then they can exert even greater power.
On the Tianxuan continent, the trend of practicing martial arts is prevalent, and it can be said that everyone is good at martial arts. Even a farmer may know a few moves, but for those who have undergone rigorous training, there is another term - Martial Artist.
At the beginning, a martial artist absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body, transforming it into true energy that he can control. This is the first level of a martial artist - a warrior. The warrior level is further divided into three levels: front, middle, and back, based on the amount of true energy accumulated in the body. For ordinary people, entering the warrior level allows them to exert 300 catties of force with the coordination of true energy in their body, enough to take on three or four ordinary people alone. This realm is relatively easy to reach, and most people can slowly achieve it as long as they have a good method. After reaching the warrior level, one can enter some small families as a guard, receiving a monthly salary, which is much more comfortable than that of an ordinary person.
When a warrior's internal energy is full, if they can condense the gaseous true energy into a drop of liquid true energy, then they have entered the second level of martial arts - Wu Shi. Wu Shi, literally "martial teacher", at this level one can widely accept disciples, become a master and receive respect from many people. A warrior who has reached the realm of Wu Shi can easily surpass 500 jin with just one strike, which is absolutely not something that ordinary warriors can compare to.
When the martial artist reaches the state of perfection again, then it's time to open the Xuan Guan. Inside the human body, there is a heavenly Xuan Guan. If one can break through, they can escape the constraints of the earth and control the air to fly, soaring in the sky. This is what most martial artists yearn for, and this state is also known as - Wu Wang! Of course, controlling the air to fly is extremely exhausting of true energy. When a martial artist first enters the realm of Wu Wang, they can only briefly suspend themselves in mid-air. Only when they reach the later stages of Wu Wang and their internal true energy becomes incredibly dense can they fly for extended periods. It's said that every strike from a martial artist who has reached the state of Wu Wang exceeds the power of a thousand kilograms. If such a blow were to land on an ordinary person's body, wouldn't it immediately turn into a puddle of flesh?!
Of course, after Wu Wang, there are five more realms: Wu Huang, Wu Zun, Wu Di, Wu Sheng and Wu Shen. However, the powerful abilities possessed by these warriors are not something that ordinary people can comprehend.
Apart from the martial arts techniques that absorb spiritual energy, martial skills are also indispensable. With the coordination of a powerful martial skill, a warrior can even kill people beyond their level. According to the traditional classification, martial skills and techniques are divided into four levels: Heaven, Earth, Xuan, and Huang, each with three sub-levels: primary, intermediate, and advanced, totaling twelve levels. The higher the level of martial skills, the greater the power that a warrior can exert; the higher the level of martial techniques, the higher the efficiency of absorbing spiritual energy.
So, the powerful martial skills and techniques are what warriors flock to. In Qing Shan Town, the top strongmen of the Qian, Zhou, and Xu families were all pre-martial kings, but because the Xu family had a Xuan-level primary martial skill, while the other two families did not, in reality, the Xu family was always suppressing the Zhou and Qian families. If these two families hadn't secretly colluded with each other, they wouldn't have been able to resist the Xu family's dominance at all.
Little boy Xu Hua, as the third young master of the Xu family in Qing Shan Town, is naturally known to everyone. Logically speaking, with his identity in Qing Shan Town, he should be someone that no one dares to provoke. However, it's strange to say that it seems like no one in Qing Shan Town is afraid of him. Not only are the children of the Xu, Zhou, and Qian families not afraid of him, but even some of the town's hoodlums dare to speak harsh words when they see him.
Although this may seem unbelievable to outsiders, the residents of Qing Shan Town have already gotten used to it. In his early years, Xu Hua was a kind and gentle person who never went out of his way to provoke others. There was even an instance where he was beaten by a legitimate son of the Zhou family, but when a passing son of the Xu family saw this and wanted to help him take revenge, Xu Hua surprisingly shook his head and gave up, dragging his injured body back home to recover. After that, the Xu family didn't do anything to that Zhou family son either. Gradually, more and more people in Qing Shan Town treated him like a pushover. Over the years, Xu Hua's temper has become better and better, and it can be said that he always repays grievances with kindness. This has also led to no one taking him seriously anymore, but after all, he is still the third young master of the Xu family, so no one dares to bully him.
As a member of the Xu family, he began to practice at the age of eight. Most of the Xu family's children can break into the early stage of martial arts at the age of thirteen or fourteen, and by the time they are eighteen, they can basically reach the late stage of martial arts. By the age of twenty-five, most people can basically enter the level of a martial artist, but most people will stop at the late stage of martial arts for their entire lives. To become a martial king, one must break through the Tian Di Xuan Guan, which is too difficult and has blocked many martial artists from advancing to the ninth level.
Xu Hua, as the young master of the Xu family, had access to various precious medicinal materials from a young age. However, he only just entered the early stage of martial arts this year, which was considered extremely poor by his clansmen. If they had such resources, they would have become mid-stage or even late-stage warriors by the age of 14 and might have become powerful warlords in their lifetime. This made many of Xu Hua's younger siblings extremely jealous of him. However, Xu Hua did not like martial arts and often skipped morning training and clan competitions, which made those people even more jealous. In their opinion, this was clearly a case of "occupying the toilet without doing one's business," which was despicable. Moreover, Xu Hua would often lecture them, saying that everyone is equal and should not bully others. This led to almost no one in the clan being able to get along with him, except for his older sister Xu Hui and second brother Xu Lang, who always cared about him and stood by his side. However, two years ago, his sister and brother went to the Tian Nan Prefecture to cultivate martial arts, leaving Xu Hua once again a solitary figure.
Fortunately, in Qing Shi Town, he still had a good friend, Zhou Ying, the second daughter of the Zhou family, a little girl about the same age as Xu Hua.
The two were originally from different families, Xu and Zhou, and shouldn't have become friends. After all, the relationship between the two families was not good, and their young sons often fought each other. However, they became close friends because Zhou Ying was also a kind-hearted girl with a compassionate heart. They met in the town's commoner district, where they started to know and understand each other, eventually becoming inseparable friends. Despite opposition from Zhou's father and brother, Zhou Xiong, Zhou Ying continued to spend time with Xu Hua, and for some reason, after initial opposition, Zhou's father no longer opposed their friendship, which made the innocent girl's affection for her father soar.
After smiling foolishly, the little boy thought of Zhou Ying again, that little girl who had always accompanied him. He patted the dust off his green shirt and walked out of the backyard with a steady pace.
