“Arghhhh!”Was the chilly sound that came from the forbidden Sacred Pavilion.A moment later, the screaming stopped, only for a sudden boom to echo and another agonizing sound that could send a shiver down anyone's spine.The torture was endless. Within that Pavilion was a bottomless pit lined with rotating blades, where a disheveled man was chained, his voice interrupting the silence. Every two hours, the rotating blade cut through him as if it had been timed. Every time the blade stopped rotating and his agony ceased, he tried to drag himself out of the pit but before he could even reach the ledge, balls of fire erupted from his body. He burned from the inside out as if his very soul wanted to explode and boom, he found himself cast back into the depths. Then, his body began to knit itself back together through forced cultivation, mending his flesh as if nothing had happened.Yet, the suffering was real.With a crumpled, sweaty face, Wallace Smith wondered if this cycle would co

Before Wallace could process what was happening, something slammed into him, snapping his head sideways and disrupting his composure for a fleeting second. His expression darkened as he slowly regained his balance while he shook his head slowly. Standing before him were the same students who had joined the academy at the Qi Condensation stage with him years ago and judging by the hum of energy radiating from them, they had recently broken through to the Golden Core stage.To the rest of the academy, they were prodigies. However, they were nothing to him. “What do you want?” He asked them coldly.The two students exchanged a glance, then glared back.These two were the academy’s brutal bullies, notorious for tormenting Wallace and anyone else they deemed "trash." They were halfway to the final level of student cultivation, and they knew it.“How dare you question us?” one of them snapped.The outrage in his voice was genuine. The old Wallace had never questioned them. If he spoke at

Suddenly, the sound of a woman’s stifled sobs filled his ears as Wallace had the door opened only to be met with the stench of stale sweat with his mother pinned down by a scarred thug while two others stood behind him. “If you can’t pay the debt with Spirit Stones, you’ll pay it with your flesh!” the leader growled. Spirit stones were gems that have naturally absorbed the Qi over thousands of years.Wallace’s vision blurred. In his mind, memories of the past flickered.. memories of his mother being a Primordial Spirit-Mother and now, this?Wallace’s fist clenched, and a faint, cold hum began to vibrate in the air. He slammed his hand against the doorframe while the wood broke. The thugs froze, turning their heads. The leader sneered, recognizing the face.“I heard the only son of your family clan had died in a ditch,” the leader mocked, his eyes glinting with disdain. “Why have you crawled back, Trash? Did you come to watch?”Rose’s eyes widened. “Wallace? No... run! You’re still a

“I think you are mistaken, Yemeni!” Wallace began as he laughed shortly.“Your sister seems to find my company quite refreshing other than you who's doing everything possible to cling to her like a leech!” “What did you just say, you Qi condensation insect?” Yemeni roared while his mother held his hand, afraid that these rich brats would hurt her child she hadn't seen in years. However, he slowly pecked her. “They won't hurt me… I'm not the weak son you used to know in the past” He whispered. “I called you a leech since you badly want to be accepted in her family while your family is out there barely surviving on Qi. Becca doesn't like men like that.”“You’ve spent thousands of top-grade spirit stones to force your way into the Golden Core realm, but we both know the truth because your foundation is so shallow to the extent that you had to stuff it with artificial energy and finally got to the Golden Core stage”“Shut up, you trash!” Yemeni screamed. “You think Becca will be impr

A few minutes later, Wallace found his way into the inner core of the forest, with each herb calling for his attention. However, using his knowledge as a powerful past cultivator, he knew that most of these plants were poisonous despite their attractive appearance. Only then did he stumble across specimens he never thought he would see in this universe: Sky-anchor Vine, Cicada Petal, and Star-plucking Grass. Together, they represented the bone, blood, and breath required to rebuild the broken bridges to the heavens and soften his withered tissues.“My goodness!” he exclaimed in shock. With these herbs and a few wisps of ambient energy, the body he was stuck in was primed to break through to the next stage of Qi.He quickly gathered them and prepared to move to the next section of the dark forest. Suddenly, he screamed in agony, dropping the leaves as he collapsed. Before he could realize what was happening, an Emerald Glint Serpent coiled around him, constricting so tightly that he