Chapter 1 - 001 A Clean Break

Chapter 1: Chapter 001 A Clean Break

In the Western Region of the Tianhun Mainland, within the Unmatched City of the Yanhuo Empire.

Today is the most important day for the cultivators in Tianhun Mainland—the awakening of the Martial Soul!

Martial Souls are graded from one to nine, with legends of Emperor and Divine Grades above the Ninth Grade!

The Martial Soul determines a cultivator’s limit for future cultivation, as well as the height of their talent.

If one fails to awaken their Martial Soul by the age of sixteen, they will forever remain in the Body Refining Realm, unable to make any further progress.

Before sixteen, the higher the cultivation in the Body Refining Realm, the higher the grade of the awakened Martial Soul.

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The awakening of the Martial Soul is a phase all cultivators in the Tianhun Mainland must experience, as it represents their future achievements!

On such an important day, Unmatched City should have been bustling with excitement, and people should have been cheering for the young talents, as was the custom every year.

But today, it was the exact opposite!

On the central arena of Unmatched City, a handsome young man in white, armed with a long sword, was desperately fighting. His handsome face was now filled with ferocity and rage, devoid of any elegance.

On a day that should have been lively and full of cheers, the crowd surrounding the arena was instead sighing and shaking their heads.

Pity, sympathy, disdain, laughter.

This young man was none other than Feng Wuchen, the Third Young Master of the Feng family from Unmatched City!

There are four major families in Unmatched City, led by the Mo family, with the Feng family being one of them.

“Feng Wuchen, just give up, you, you will never win!” Below the arena, a girl in green spoke with a very dismissive attitude, as if she knew the young man well. Her cold voice was devoid of any emotion.

In the girl’s eyes, there was nothing but coldness, disdain, and disgust.

“Feng Wuchen, you are inferior to me in both strength and status. Defeating you is as simple as crushing an ant. Why do you humiliate yourself? Admit defeat!” The young man fighting Feng Wuchen proclaimed arrogantly.

With his arms crossed over his chest, he effortlessly evaded Feng Wuchen’s attacks, no matter how fierce or fast they came.

The two were not on the same level in terms of strength.

With eyes full of unwillingness and anger, Feng Wuchen growled at the girl, “Mo Ling’er! You promised me three years, but it has only been two. Why won’t you wait for me! Why do this!”

“Wait for you? Humph! You’re not worthy!” The girl’s pretty face showed a hint of mocking coldness: “I didn’t realize it before, but over the past two years, I’ve come to understand just how foolish I was and how wrong I was about you.”

“Feng Wuchen, as the Third Young Master of the Feng family, not to mention your lack of accomplishments over the past sixteen years, even the Martial Soul you awakened today is only Second Grade. The Feng family might be able to afford such an embarrassment, but my Mo family cannot!”

“My awakened Martial Soul is Sixth Grade, making me the top prodigy of the Mo family, the number one of our generation in Unmatched City. With your mere Second Grade Martial Soul, what right do you have to ask me to wait for you? You’re not even as good as the weakest of women, let alone protect me. Without strength, what can you use to protect me? Following you would be an insult to me!”

Upon hearing this, Feng Wuchen’s pupils constricted and his body trembled. His face stiffened, and tears rolled down his cheeks as he stared blankly at Mo Ling’er, with countless images of their time together flashing through his mind.

Those images were filled with beauty and happiness, but now they seemed to shatter like a heavy bomb had hit them.

This was no longer the Mo Ling’er he knew.

Feng Wuchen’s heart bled. Sixteen years of cherished memories were so precious to him, yet to Mo Ling’er, they were apparently nothing but an insult!

Mo Ling’er’s words made the Feng family’s high-ranking members’ faces darken with fury, on the verge of erupting, yet they were powerless to refute.

Indeed, that was the case.

Feng Wuchen had spent sixteen years in the Feng family, sixteen years without distinction, with mediocre talent and no accomplishments. His peers’ cultivation levels were far beyond his own.

In Unmatched City, his strength was considered the lowest among his peers.

Mo Ling’er was different, not to mention that the Mo family’s strength exceeded that of the Feng family, or that Mo Ling’er’s talent was far above Feng Wuchen’s. Simply the fact that Mo Ling’er awakened a Sixth Grade Martial Soul already placed her far beyond all others of her generation in Unmatched City, and the difference in their future accomplishments was like heaven and earth.

Moreover, Mo Ling’er had already reached the Ninth Level of the Body Refining Realm and was on the verge of stepping into the Qi Refining Realm!

“A Sixth Grade Martial Soul? Mo Ling’er has awakened a Sixth Grade Martial Soul! Did I hear that correctly?”

“My heavens, this has never happened before among the young generation of Unmatched City! Although Mo Ling’er’s words were harsh, there is some truth to them. Young Master Feng’s talent is indeed much inferior; it’s as if he’s awakened a useless Martial Soul.”

“Indeed, now that Mo Ling’er has awakened a Sixth Grade Martial Soul, no one in Unmatched City among the younger generation can match her. She’s out of Feng Wuchen’s league.”

“A Second Grade Martial Soul is basically trash, and he thought to reach so high? He’s not even comparable to me, completely unworthy, dreaming of the impossible!”

The onlookers were full of murmurs. Even though Mo Ling’er’s words were excessive, most of them sided with her.

The reason being very simple: because the Mo family was the leader of the four major families!

Mo Ling’er’s words and the crowd’s comments kept replaying in Feng Wuchen’s mind, completely breaking him down. The feeling of a thousand arrows piercing his heart was worse than death, and the torment of pain and rage almost made Feng Wuchen feel like his head was about to explode.

Feng Wuchen’s body, which had been stiff for a long time, eventually deflated, as if his soul had left his body, and his eyes lost their color.

“Boom!”

“Pfft!”

Watching the spiritless Feng Wuchen for a moment, the young man finally made his move. In one palm strike, he sent Feng Wuchen flying, spitting blood, his figure retreating several meters, and his face instantly turning pale as paper.

The young man defeated Feng Wuchen with a single palm, his strength far surpassed that of Feng Wuchen.

“Hmph! You dare to challenge me, Feng Wuchen, with only the Fourth Layer of the Body Refining Realm? You will never win against me in this lifetime!” the young man said proudly with a cold laugh, disdainfully glancing at Feng Wuchen.

“Chen Er!” Below the stage, the face of a beautiful matron was filled with anxiety, worried that Feng Wuchen couldn’t withstand such a blow.

She was Feng Wuchen’s own mother, Xiao Qingqing!

Feng Zhengxiong’s face was extremely ugly, and suddenly, a tyrannical aura burst forth from within him, like an enraged beast, his Qi Force swept through wildly.

Shifting his gaze slightly towards the Mo family, he said in a deep voice, “Family Head Mo, is this how you teach your daughter? Chen Er’s talent may indeed be inferior to Mo Ling’er, but you know well how Chen Er has treated Mo Ling’er over the past sixteen years. Even if Mo Ling’er looks down on my son, there’s no need for such insult and trampling on Chen Er’s dignity! Do you really think my Feng family is so easily bullied?”

“Transformative Realm Ninth Level! The Family Head of Feng has also broken through to the Ninth Level of the Transformative Realm!” Feeling the tyrannical aura that erupted from Feng Zhengxiong, the entire audience was terror-stricken.

With an indifferent gaze towards Feng Zhengxiong, the Mo family head said with a light smile, “Family Head Feng, there’s no need to get angry. Ling’er has made her own decision, and I did not interfere. You also know Ling’er’s character; once she makes a decision, she will not change it.”

“You!” Feng Zhengxiong was furious, cursing this old fox for wriggling out of blame with a single sentence.

Feng Zhengxiong was burning with rage, his killing intent boiling over, his facial muscles twitching as though he wished he could slap the Mo family head to death!

“Uncle Feng, the decision I’ve made won’t change. The fact that Feng Wuchen only has a Second Grade Martial Soul will not change either. His fate in life cannot change, but I am different. I don’t want to wrong myself. I hope Uncle Feng can understand,” said Mo Ling’er slowly.

Feng Zhengxiong’s brows furrowed slightly. Mo Ling’er’s words were clearly implying that Feng Wuchen was not worthy of her, that in this life, Feng Wuchen might remain obscure, while Mo Ling’er’s prospects were boundless.

“You’re only thinking about yourself. Have you considered Chen Er’s feelings? Have you thought about our Feng family? You are well aware of how Chen Er has treated you these years, but how have you treated Chen Er? Mo Ling’er, you are too selfish!” the matron said resentfully.

“So what if I’m selfish? I have a better choice, and I do not want to have regrets later. As for Feng Wuchen, I will never look back in this life!” Mo Ling’er replied coldly.

“Enough!” Suddenly, the injured Feng Wuchen shouted from the ring.

The sudden shout startled everyone, and for a moment, surprised gazes converged on Feng Wuchen.

Feng Wuchen slowly stood up, his eyes becoming extremely cold, sending shivers down one’s spine: “You just disdain my mediocre talent and are afraid I will hold you back and become a laughingstock, don’t you? If you want to go with him, I won’t have the slightest bit of attachment!”

“Clang!”

With those words, Feng Wuchen split his long sword in two with a palm, coldly saying, “From here on, you and I are severed! This sword shall bear witness!”

Seeing Feng Wuchen’s decisive and aloof demeanor, coupled with his earlier shout, a surge of unexplainable anger welled up in Mo Ling’er’s heart, causing her to feel an even greater disdain for Feng Wuchen.

Biting her red lip, Mo Ling’er said angrily, “Yes, I do disdain you! I look down on you from the bottom of my heart. If it weren’t for me giving you Spiritual Liquid all these years, you wouldn’t even have been able to break through to the Third Layer of the Body Refining Realm, let alone the Fourth Layer!”

As soon as Mo Ling’er’s words came out, the entire place erupted. Being the third young master of the Feng family and still relying on a woman’s help for cultivation? Wasn’t this a disgrace to men?

Feng Zhengxiong, along with the high ranks of the Feng family, had an even grimmer look on their faces.

“What I owe you, I’m now paying back!” Feng Wuchen’s face twisted fiercely as he replied, his voice growing colder.

Feng Wuchen raised the broken sword in his hand and decisively stabbed it into his dantian, blood spurted out, and even in pain, Feng Wuchen didn’t utter a sound. Compared to heartache, this was nothing.

“Chen Er! Stop!” With that scene unfolding, Feng Zhengxiong’s face drastically changed, but it was already too late to stop him.

“Chen Er!” “Third brother!”

Panic spread throughout the Feng family, and the onlookers were startled, with no one expecting Feng Wuchen to take such action.

“Mo Ling’er, what I owed you, I’ve now paid back. From this moment on, we owe nothing to each other!” Feng Wuchen gritted his teeth and roared, the sword strike devastating his Qi Sea.

Soon after, Feng Wuchen collapsed.

Mo Ling’er was also shocked; she hadn’t anticipated Feng Wuchen to show such backbone and courage, which seemed out of character for him.

For some reason, at that moment, Mo Ling’er suddenly felt like she had lost something, but couldn’t articulate it. After one glance, she turned away ruthlessly and left.

Mo Ling’er’s betrayal and insult had utterly disheartened Feng Wuchen. His life force was fading, and his half-open eyes slowly closed.

But just as Feng Wuchen’s eyes were about to close from weakness, they suddenly and eerily snapped open, his pupils turning completely black, which was very frightening.

Moments later, faint strands of black miasma started to rise between Feng Wuchen’s brows, and soon a small black dragon appeared, both weird and mysterious.

“The seal is finally broken! You never imagined this brat would seek his own death, eh? This sovereign shall use this brat’s flesh to be reborn! Once this sovereign regains my strength, I will annihilate your entire clan! No! I shall seal you all forever!” A deep, murderous, and ancient voice exploded inside Feng Wuchen’s mind.

“Evil Dragon God, your stubbornness never changes! You think you can be reborn through the young master’s body? Pure delusion!” As the Evil Dragon God tried to expel Feng Wuchen’s soul, an imposing and dignified voice rang out.

“Young master? Who might you be?” The Evil Dragon God cried out in shock, quickly inquiring.

There was another being hidden within Feng Wuchen, one that the Evil Dragon God had completely failed to detect, indicating this person’s terrifying power.

“Hmph! I’ve sealed you for years, just to wait for today. It’s time for the young master to awaken.” An extremely terrifying power burst forth, striking directly at the soul body of the Evil Dragon God.

“Damn it all! You’ve sealed this sovereign for ten thousand years, just for this brat!” The Evil Dragon God raged, its overwhelming power bursting forth, the terrifying murderous aura crazily spreading.

“A mere soul body dares to resist? Die!” The mysterious person let out another fierce shout, his vast and vigorous power mercilessly crushing the soul body of the Evil Dragon God.

The Evil Dragon God had no power to fight back and after a reluctant roar, its soul body exploded, its fragments starting to merge into Feng Wuchen’s limbs and body.

The people below the stage were unaware of what had transpired, only seeing Feng Wuchen’s agonized struggle for a moment before he passed out.