Hey everyone! This my first time ever publishing any story online ever. If you see some flaws feel free to give some polite criticisms. I hope you enjoy! Ah right, before I forget. This chapter is roughly twice as long as the others will be in the future. Also I plan to only release on chapter a week. My schedule is hectic and that's all I will have time to do a week, sorry.

It was the middle of spring, the birds sang happily as they flew through the clear sky with the occasional drifting cloud. At the edge of a forest a young man about 8 years old was sitting cross-legged on an old tree stump. His breathing was methodic and even, his eyes were closed lightly and he almost seemed like an old monk while meditating. Naath let out a long breath and his expression relaxed as he opened his eyes. As he got up from his meditation on an old tree stump he stretched his limbs and took in the fresh spring air. He took a moment to look around and just take in the scenery of the open green field in front of him and the dense forest behind him.

His deep green eyes seemed to hold a gaze as if he had already experienced the world at least once over. After he finished stretching he checked his body over. He smiled lightly and said “only 12 more membranes until major completion?” He threw out a light punch through the air where his fist passed it seemed as if something was drained from the air itself. This was the second level of his true void arts, it allowed him to absorb all of the natural energy in a short range around his body and convert it into his own. Naath drew his fist back and looked at his own hands closing them into fists with a satisfied smile.

After looking over his own body he began to slowly walk in the direction of the village he was from. It was a small place with a population of maybe 3000 called Riverside village. Most of the villagers got by hunting magical beasts and harvesting medicinal herbs that they grew in small gardens. They sold the materials from these in the nearby Misty city, they used the money from this for the village's expenses. It was a quiet peaceful life to Naath for the eight years he had been in this world. After walking for 20 minutes he saw the outline of the rough wooden walls that surrounded Riverside village. As he saw the familiar walls he smiled lightly feeling a sense of peace and comfort.

In this world Naath enjoyed the peace and quiet, compared to his life back on Earth, this was simply a paradise. The air was so clean, the water crystal clear, the food plentiful. In this little village at most there was only the occasional disagreement, never any schemes behind someone else's back. As Naath entered the village walls he was greeted warmly by the guards, Naath smiled and returned the greeting. He walked into the town and simply enjoyed the familiar sights and sound of the village he had grown so accustomed to. He made his way slowly back to his home near the outskirts of the village. Naath lived alone here, he had no idea who his parents were or where he came from. He was found outside the village by the guards on patrol one day when he was just a baby.

They took him into the village and he was raised there at a small orphanage. When he grew to 6 years old he regained all of the memories from Earth like a bolt of lightning out of the blue and became independent. He occasionally went into the woods nearby to hunt or to cultivate his true void arts further. Today he made his way into his house and washed up, he went to his kitchen and grabbed some of the salted rabbit he had. He went back outside and just enjoyed the nice weather on an old wooden chair while snacking on the rabbit.

While Naath was lazily looking at the shapes in the slowly drifting clouds he was approached by one of the village leaders. Naath noticed them and asked “senior Huang what brings you by my humble little home?” Elder Huang shook his head and said “you know Naath if I didn't know better I'd mistake you for an old senior who has seen the comings and goings of countless ages. Most people your age are out playing and causing trouble at all times. Sigh no matter, I came today because it’s your eighth birthday and by village law it’s time for you to take a talent test to determine what role you will be most suitable for in the future.”

Naath finally reacted and lowered his head to meet elder Huang’s gaze and he asked “ah is it that time already? Haha that eight years passed by so quickly.” Elder Huang ignored this, he was used to Naath talking like this as if he had already lived for much longer than he had. He said “indeed eight years have already passed. I will bring you to the village's testing hut if you would follow me.” Naath let out a sigh and finished the last piece of rabbit in his hand before getting up and following elder Huang. They passed by thatched houses and huts on the way towards the center of the village.

They finally arrived at a large circular hut in the center of the village, this was where the elders of the village met to decide matters of the village.It was also where the village elders would test the young girls and boys who turned eight years old to see where their aptitudes lay. Based on the results of these tests they would assign a role for everyone in the village. The results were not absolute of course but more of a recommendation as to what direction one should head in. Naath stepped into the hut and there was a large circular desk with an open space in the middle taking up the entire hut. The table was made of simple oak wood and all around the outer circle 11 elders were seated.

Elder Huang directed Naath towards the center of the empty space in the center of the desk and sat down in the empty twelfth seat. Naath went into the center of the area and cupped his fists greeting all of the village elders. The elders all smiled and nodded implying that Naath could relax, Naath smiled and changed his posture standing completely straight. The elders started to whisper for a moment before elder Huang spoke up saying “Naath we have kept an eye on you for a while in the village. You were raised here as a member of the village but your bearing is clearly not that of some simple villager.

The test is simply a formality, an excuse that we use to discuss a person's future with them. However given your bearing and level maturity we feel it best to simply ask what you wish to do in the future?” Naath seemed to think for a moment before saying “if at all possible I would like to simply continue my peaceful days in the village. I enjoy the quiet atmosphere and peaceful bearing of everyone. Staying in the village and cultivating peacefully would be ideal.” The elders started to whisper to one another again discussing something from Naath’s answer. After a few minutes elder Huang asked “Naath, did you mention cultivation just now?

All of the cultivation manuals in the village are precious treasures. Where did you learn how to cultivate?” Naath shrugged his shoulders and said “seniors, when I was six years old some strange cultivation method appeared in my mind and I started to use it from that day forward. I have no idea where this information is from, I simply know it. I tried to share it with another once, however when I tried to speak of it the words refused to come out.” Naath lied.The elders went into discussion once more for several minutes. Finally elder Huang said “Naath if you wish to be a cultivator we will support you wholeheartedly. However this small village of ours isn’t very suitable for cultivation.

If you truly wish to go down the path of cultivation you should go to a sect, even a small 12th grade sect would be millions of times better than this village. As it happens there is a small sect a few hundred miles to the east called the Raging river sect, they will be holding selections to recruit new members in a years time. If you set out now you should be able to arrive a few months before the selection begins. Unfortunately we can’t spare anyone to guide you to the sect, we can only give you the most basic of supplies and a simple map. So if you choose to go to this sect it will be a dangerous journey you must undertake alone.”

Naath went into deep thought debating if he wanted to do this or not. He loved the idea of becoming a cultivator, after all the power of cultivators was widely known in this world. They had the power to topple mountains and flip seas. They held the entire world in their palms, they could fly through the air, heal injuries fatal to mortals, and were free of disease. Becoming a cultivator was the dream of most mortals in this world. However how many accomplished this dream? Maybe one in every few thousand people would be able to gather the energy of the world to begin cultivation.

However Naath also enjoyed his peaceful life in the village, there were no disruptions and life was easy and relaxed. In the end Naath let out a breath and firmed his resolve. “Seniors, I would like to begin my path of cultivation as soon as possible. Please allow me to journey to the raging river sect and start on my path of cultivation.” The elders began to whisper once more for a few minutes before elder Huang spoke up again asking “Naath we are curious you said that you learned a cultivation method two years ago. Then why is it we cannot sense the aura of a cultivator on you? After all some of us are in the third stage of bone hardening and such a thing would not escape our notice.”

Naath let out a breath “sigh seniors in all honesty I didn't want to be accused of stealing one of the village's precious cultivation arts. Because of this I simply advanced the stages of the method itself and have not used it to begin cultivation. Now that I have seniors permission I will begin my cultivation with the mysterious art I have gained.” The elders seemed to come to an understanding and nodded their heads in agreement with what Naath said before going into more whispered conversation. Senior Huang said “that was probably a wise decision indeed. However Naath we must warn you, cultivation is not some simple process.

Each advancement in the bone hardening realm comes with intense pain, to improve one's bones they must purify them and remove the turbid energy. Each stage involves every single bone in one's body being broken down into dust and then reformed. The greater one's talent, and the more pure one makes their bones the greater the pain becomes. As it is said the heavens envy those with talent, the more you can achieve after each breakthrough the more painful it will become. This is also used as a measure of one's talent and the depth of one's foundation. The greater the amount of energy needed to advance each stage is, the greater the sound produced on advancement.

In the bone hardening realm each advancement will be accompanied by the sound of your bones snapping and turning to dust. The greater the sound the greater power one can bring out and the more pure their bones. When I advanced myself it created a sound that was heard from several streets away. However my talent is considered average, a genius would have the sound travel through the entire village. Naath if after hearing all of this you still wish to cultivate none of us will stop you, we will even do everything we can to support you.” Naath nodded his head and didn't hesitate to say “I thank seniors for your guidance, however this junior still insists on entering the path of cultivation.”

Senior Huang said “in that case Naath we would like you to safely step into the first stage of bone hardening here with all of us present. This will allow you to safely advance and not worry about your well being with all of us here. It will also allow us to gauge your level of aptitude towards cultivation.” Naath nodded his head and sat down cross legged on the spot closing his eyes and putting his true void arts into action absorbing all the energy in the area. The 114 true void membranes on his meridians acupoints began to activate and silently draw in energy from the surroundings directing it into Naaths body and nurturing his bones from the marrow outwards.

After several hours passed Naath had drawn in enough energy so that there was a noticeable change in the energies around the village. All of the elders were astounded when they felt this change. If any one of them were trying to break through to the first stage of bone hardening again they wouldn’t cause such a change even after gathering energy for a few days or even weeks. Let alone a few hours like Naath had done, after two more hours passed the energy In Naath’s body seemed to hit a tipping point and started to seep deep into his bones enfusing with every part of them. Even fusing with the very core of his bones. Finally Naath’s bones couldn't handle the pressure of the energy anymore.

*SNAP!!!*

A resounding snapping sound rang out through the entire village and continued outwards. The beasts in the nearby forest all started to flee in all directions from panic thinking a thunderclap had resounded. The sound was so intense it made a visible soundwave that expanded outwards and seemed to warp the air. Naath’s expression changed to one of intense pain, he went to grit his teeth only to find that they had already been reduced to powder. He shut his eyes tightly and his face turned purple from the intense pain of every bone in his body turning to powder and beginning to reform using the very energy that had destroyed them to reconstruct themselves.

The elders all covered their ears and flinched simultaneously, their expressions all warped slightly from the pain, and their ears began to ring incessantly. After the soundwave passed they forgot their pain realising this intense sound had come from Naath. Their expressions quickly turned from pain to fear for Naath’s well being. In the next instant all of them breathed out in relief seeing Naaths bones start to reforge themselves while his energy held his body upright and protected him from harm. Once his skeleton reformed completely he would have advanced successfully. After that their expression turned from relief to shock, the sound that Naath made after simply advancing into the initial first stage of bone hardening was that intense?

They all started to think at the same time ‘If that was him just starting to cultivate what will happen as he advances later?!’ Naath was completely unaware of all of this and was focusing on maintaining his composure and resisting the pain he was in. His body was covered in a layer of sweat and he was shaking from the intense pain. His skeleton was slowly repairing itself bone by bone, after an hour Naath’s bones had completely reformed. Naath rubbed his tongue over his new teeth, they didn't feel any different at all. Naath did find that he had spiritual perception now however.

This was a skill all cultivators had, they could use their martial energy to “look” inside of their own bodies and “see” every bone and organ. They could use this energy to know the exact situation in their bodies completely. Upon looking Naath noticed that his bones seemed much cleaner and had a slight sheen on them. He felt that they were now roughly as hard as rock, as if he could punch a boulder into pebbles now and not have any issues at all. This confirmed to Naath that he had indeed broken through to the initial first stage of bone hardening. Just as Naath was starting to relax the soundwave that was still spreading outwards caught the attention of an odd symbol flying by.

The odd symbol suddenly changed course in an instant and disappeared from where it was. After it disappeared a group of people appeared in the air where it had been. They all had the same robes with purple thunderbolts scattered around in various places. They were clearly cultivators from a sect. The one in the lead yelled “Damn it! What’s with that rune?! We went through all of that trouble to obtain the inheritance of the great formation emperor's tomb but who knew the inheritance would have a mind of its own and would run away. Damn it all!” One of the two behind him said “senior brother Zhen there's nothing we can do about it, if it isn't fated we won't obtain it no matter how hard we might strive for it. However if it’s fated it will still fall to us in the end.”

The man in the lead said “sigh I guess you're right, let's go back to the thundering sky sect for now and report what happened.” With that the three of them disappeared from the spot and headed back to their sect. Back at the hut, Naath was just sighing in relief after finishing his breakthrough when a ray of light suddenly shot out of thin air and into the space between Naath’s brows. It directly bore into Naath’s soul sea.”AHHHHHH!” Naath had endured the pain of every bone in his body turning to powder and reforming and had not made a single sound. However when this rune went into his soul sea he screamed out loud and directly passed out. After this happened all of the elders of the village rushed forward immediately and checked Naath over with their own martial energy.

However this was done in vain, it was already in Naath’s soul sea. This was a special region only one in a few million cultivators were able to draw energy from. Unless one had the soul energy that came from the soul sea it was impossible to see within it. Without having it awakened naturally when they first became a cultivator one would never be able to even see their own soul sea, let alone anothers. While Naath was unconscious on the floor there was a single strange symbol in front of him with a 王 shape. Naath floated in front of this strange rune inside of an unfamiliar space.

The space seemed to expand out for a few dozens of feet and was a hazy light blue color. The rune created a distinct contrast with it’s jet black coloration, it stood out and Naath couldn't help but focus on it. The rune stood loftily in the center of this space and was roughly the size of Naath’s palm. It hovered there emitting some strange indistinct light and it conveyed a message to Naath directly to his soul. “Help us.” The message was weak and it seemed like the rune was on the verge of collapse. The obscure light dimmed down and the rune fell into silence almost like it was asleep and exhausted.

After this Naath flashed awake and sat up ramrod straight, as soon as he sat up he clutched his head in pain. He had an agonizing headache, and a wave of strange energy spread out with Naath as the center. The energy stopped spreading after reaching 10 feet away from Naath and seemed to form an invisible field around him. The pain in Naath’s head grew more intense after this field came out and everything down to the way the air was moving in the invisible field was clearly reflected In Naath’s mind. After a moment the pain eased up, however the images remained. Naath was clearly aware of everything down to the smallest detail within 10 feet of himself.

Naath finally recovered from everything and realized that all of the 12 elders were looking at him with concerned gazes. Naath said “seniors please be at ease, I simply lost my composure for a moment. I'm fine, truly.” The 12 of them all breathed out a sigh of relief in unison when they heard Naath’s words. Senior Huang said “Naath, given the results earlier if we didn't send you to a sect to learn how to cultivate properly it would be wasting a peerless talent! My ears are still ringing from the sound you produced, congratulations on stepping foot into the initial first stage of bone hardening!”

Naath asked “Senior Huang, what does the initial stage mean?” Senior Huang smacked himself on the forehead saying “ah of course you wouldn't know, with your demeanor I simply forgot you were actually an eight year old child. Okay, Naath in cultivation there are nine levels to each realm. Each of these nine levels is further divided into three stages. They are initial stage, middle stage, and peak stage. In total there are seven major realms of which bone hardening is only one. In this small village we don't know what the levels beyond bone hardening are called, however you can learn this once you arrive at that sect and enter.”

Understanding dawned on Naath and he said “Thank you seniors for your guidance. When should I set out towards the sect?” Senior Huang didn't even think before saying “tomorrow morning, with talent like yours every day you're not there is simply a waste! We will have everything prepared for you by morning tomorrow, simply go and rest for now. You just stepped into the world of cultivation after all and need to adjust.” Naath nodded and left the hut without another word and headed back to his small home. In the elders’ hut they were all discussing and digesting what had happened today.

They all had the vague feeling that their small village had unknowingly produced a generation genius. They also began to deeply ponder about Naath’s birth parents, after all who could possibly have a child with such enormous talent? Meanwhile Naath was in his home sitting with his eyes close in meditation. His consciousness was focused in his soul sea observing the mysterious 王 character. He was wondering what it was and where it came from. He was also wondering why it had come to him instead of one of the 12 elders that were nearby. Naath put these questions into the back of his mind after a while and went to sleep.