Chapter 1 – Trash Martial Spirit

Translator: Mr Voltaire

Editor: Master Shadow

Moonwind Kingdom, Violet Cloud County. Within the Xiao family’s large Martial Arts Grounds, a row of youths were listening to a middle-aged man on a stage talk about the mysteries and wonders of the martial path. The youths’ tender faces were filled with hope and excitement.

The middle-aged man was called Xiao Hu, and was the Xiao family’s Martial Instructor.

“Uncle Hu, what’s a genius?” a youth asked as he looked up with eyes full of expectation.

“In my Moonwind Kingdom, anyone who has awakened a Martial Spirit is a genius, and can glean the favour of the big sects.” Uncle Hu looked at the youths below the stage as he continued with a solemn expression, “Those sorts of people have unlimited potential and are dragons among men. They can soar through the Nine Heavens, enter the vast martial world and become true experts.”

“It’s a pity we didn’t awaken Martial Spirits.”

The youths shook their heads in disappointment.

“You don’t need to feel too dispirited; it’s incredibly rare to awaken a Martial Spirit. As long as you work hard, you can still make significant achievements on the martial path,” Uncle Hu said. “Alright, start trading punches with me. This is a set of Yellow Rank low-grade fist techniques, called the Vigorous Tiger Fists.”

After speaking, Uncle Hu began to teach the crowd the fist technique.

Elsewhere on the Martial Arts Grounds, a youth in white was sitting cross-legged under a large tree with his eyes closed.

If one looked closely, they would be able to see slivers of light gathering around his body.

This youth’s name was Xiao Yun. He had brows like swords and eyes like stars, and looked like a talented young man.

Xiao Yun was a descendant of the main house of the Xiao family, and would be 16 years old in a few months. He seemed quite different, choosing to cultivate by himself. It wasn’t because he was introverted, but because he was facing a problem in cultivation.

Xiao Yun had awakened a Martial Spirit when he was 5 years old, and had reached the Sixth Layer of Body Tempering when he was 8 years old. He had also gathered Mystic Qi in his body.

With such talent, he was a prodigy that would only be seen once every hundred years in the entire Violet Cloud County.

As such, the entire Xiao family had placed their hopes in Xiao Yun, believing that he would be able to bring glory and fame to their family.

It was a pity that after he turned 8, his cultivation stopped advancing, and he could only watch as those with less talent than him stepped into the Sixth Layer of Body Tempering, then the Seventh Layer…

The distance between them grew further and further and yet, he was still stuck at the Sixty Layer of Body Tempering.

As these changes happened, the att.i.tude of people towards Xiao Yun changed as well. To them, the stunning genius had become mediocre and trash. Many of the people who once praised him started to mock him.

Before, the Xiao family still had great hopes for Xiao Yun. After all, he was the only one in the Xiao family’s younger generation who had awakened a Martial Spirit.

However, after finding out that Xiao Yun’s Martial Spirit was not a battle Martial Spirit, but a healing Martial Spirit, the Xiao family’s seniors gave up on him. What was the use of a healing Martial Spirit in a world where strength dominated everything?

Even if he developed his Martial Spirit, he would at most just be an excellent physician.

As such, the halo around this esteemed genius gradually faded away. The genius youth who had once been the pride and envy of countless people had become a laughingstock. As such, Xiao Yun began to fall into depression.

However, before he became too affected by this, Xiao Yun pulled himself together and willed himself to train even harder. He ignored everyone who laughed at him, because he believed that as long as he put in the effort, he would one day be able to reclaim his honour.

Of course, this wasn’t a baseless confidence. Xiao Yun couldn’t cultivate because of a special reason.

Threads of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi were absorbed into Xiao Yun’s dantian at a speed much faster than other people his age. By normal reasoning, he should have long since broken through to the Innate realm.

However…

After Xiao Yun had cultivated for quite a while and absorbed the Essence Qi into his dantian, a light flashed in his mind and a jade-green branch appeared in his sea of consciousness, extending into his dantian. After reaching his dantian, it absorbed all of the Essence Qi that Xiao Yun had painstakingly gathered, taking it for itself.

“G.o.dd.a.m.n, don’t take all of it; leave me a bit of the Essence Qi at least!” Seeing that jade-green branch, Xiao Yun felt speechless. Perhaps he was the only one in the entire Moonwind Kingdom who had awakened such an impish Martial Spirit.

The branch ignored Xiao Yun’s protests. Instead it gave a buzzing sound, as if it wasn’t satisfied yet, making this depressed youth feel even more annoyed.

“Stop s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around with me!” Xiao Yun roared inwardly.

As if the branch could detect how Xiao Yun was feeling, it flashed with light, then retreated back into his sea of consciousness.

Evidently, this jade-green branch was part of Xiao Yun’s Martial Spirit.

“I wonder if this Martial Spirit has been upgraded.” With a slight thought, his mind entered his sea of consciousness.

Within Xiao Yun’s sea of consciousness was a chaotic world filled with fog.

For the lower-ranked cultivators, only those who had awakened Martial Spirits had this sort of sea of consciousness.

In the midst of this chaotic sea of consciousness was a plant that was about a third of a metre high, giving off a faint jade-green glow.

This was Xiao Yun’s Martial Spirit, and it looked like a jade-green branch.

It was currently giving off a jade-green light as the small leaves on the branch slowly grew.

“The leaves seem to have become much bigger. Looks like you’re going to start growing!” Seeing that the leaves had grown bigger, Xiao Yun let out a sigh of relief. The bigger the leaves on his Martial Spirit became, the stronger his healing effects became, and the faster he could gather Heaven and Earth Essence Qi.

“As long as this Martial Spirit becomes stronger, I can draw out more Chilling Qi from little sis and reduce the number of times her illness breaks out.” At this thought, a faint smile appeared on the youth’s face, and his frown became lighter.

Just as Xiao Yun smiled, the youths who had finished training walked by him.

“Haha, big brother Cheng, that trash is smiling.” A skinny youth suddenly stopped walking as and mocked, “Do you think he’s become r.e.t.a.r.ded? He hasn’t advanced at all in the past 8 years, and yet he’s smiling while he’s training?”

“Maybe he’s broken through,” another youth sarcastically spoke as he grinned.

The sounds of the mocking laughter caused Xiao Yun to frown.

He opened his eyes and calmly gazed at the 5 youths who were gathered around him, before once again closing his eyes.

He had long since become used to their ridicule.

“Cousin Xiao Yun, have you broken through?” Seeing that Xiao Yun was ignoring them, one of the youths who was a bit older than the others frowned before continuing, “If you’ve broken through, tell big brother Cheng. We’ll be sooo happy for you, and grandpa will be extremely happy too.”

This youth was called Xiao Cheng, and was Xiao Yun’s older cousin.

“That’s right, big brother Xiao Yun, you need to tell us if you’ve broken through!” The other youths all exclaimed with sarcastic grins. Anyone would be able to tell that they were still mocking him.

“I haven’t broken through yet and I won’t trouble everyone to worry about me.” Xiao Yun glared at the rest of the youths. They couldn’t see any joy or anger apart from his calm expression, which made them feel even more infuriated.

This guy was completely ignoring them!

“I’ll take my leave.” Xiao Yun ignored them and got up, preparing to leave.

The events of the past few years had caused Xiao Yun’s temperament to become much more mature than those at the same age as him.

Xiao Yun knew that even if he was angry at these people, he wouldn’t be able to do anything without sufficient strength

Moreover, if a dog bit you, would you bite it back?

Of course not. He needed to possess enough strength to hit them back with his fists, not with mere words. That was the way of the king.

As such, Xiao Yun was not in a hurry. He believed that one day, he would be able to rise again.

“Hmph, a piece of trash dares to act so arrogantly?” Seeing that Xiao Yun was about to leave, the youths around him became furious. They were the pride and joy of the family now, and yet Xiao Yun still dared to act like that?

In these people’s eyes, Xiao Yun’s actions were blatantly disrespecting them.

“He definitely has no chance at breaking through, so he’s still living in his own fantasy world where he’s still a genius.”

“Genius?”

“He’s wasted so much of the family’s resources over these past years. If those resources were given to us, we could have stepped into the Innate realm already,” the other youths complained. “Luckily, grandpa’s in closed-door training. Otherwise, our Xiao family’s resources would have all been wasted by him!”

Although Xiao Yun had walked quite far away, he could still hear their voices.

“You’re afraid of me dragging the family down?” Xiao Yun stopped walking as he looked back at the group of youths. He could feel his anger rising within him, but he quickly regained his composure. He looked up at the sky and slightly frowned, as if he had thought of something.

 “Today is the full moon when the Yin Qi is strongest and most abundant. Lil sis’ illness will probably act up again,” Xiao Yun muttered. Whenever he thought of the pain his little sister suffered when her Chilling Qi broke out, he felt as if his heart was being torn in two. He started to walk away even faster.