In the Yunyue Empire, Xingyu City, at the backyard mountain of the Wu family, stands the Guanjing Pavilion.
A teenager about 16 or 17 years old is seated alone on a stone bench, his eyes gazing distantly. His silhouette seems somewhat desolate, but full of expectation in his eyes.
"Tomorrow, tomorrow Xueyan will return from the Feiyun Sect. I wonder whether she suffered in the past two years."
The teenager muttered to himself softly, but his joy was hard to mask.
The teenager was named Wu Yun, the only son of the head of the Wu family, Wu Tian, due to his status, he has always been under the spotlight ever since he was born.
He lived up to expectations. Being naturally gifted, his cultivation speed far exceeded ordinary people. He reached the seventh level of martial arts at the age of fourteen and outshone everyone, becoming the top talented youth of Xingyu city.
Three years ago, Wu Yun was the center of attention in Xingyu City, like a shining star.
In the same year, the head of Xiao family, a prestigious family in Xingyu city, Xiao Long, personally visited Wu Yun, promising his daughter, Xiao Xueyan to Wu Yun and settling their marriage agreement.
Wu Yun and Xiao Xueyan had been childhood sweethearts, so both sides had no objections to this marriage.
Their relationship warmed rapidly after it was made clear and they became inseparable.
Half a year later, Xiao Xueyan was suddenly struck by a serious illness. Her Dantian
energy centre
was damaged and urgently needed a new Dantian to replace it, otherwise, her life would be in danger.
But at that time, no one was willing to give their Dantian to Xiao Xueyan.
Because to a cultivator, the Dantian is even more important than one's life.
Seeing this situation, Wu Yun did not hesitate to decide to give his Dantian to save his first love, Xiao Xueyan's life.
Of course, this decision was opposed by everyone in the Wu family.
The importance of Dantian for cultivators was well known to everyone, especially for the likes of Wu Yun, who was considered a pride of the heavens; it held a paramount significance.
Wu Yun's Dantian was somewhat unique, it was larger than most of the common people's Dantian, which was one of the reasons for his superior cultivation speed.
If he were to lose his Dantian, Wu Yun would completely fall from grace, from being the pride of the heavens, he would become crippled.
Nonetheless, despite his family's opposition, Wu Yun insisted on having his Dantian extracted by the members of the Xiao family and placed it inside Xiao Xueyan's abdomen.
A month later, Xiao Xueyan's body was completely healed.
Although Wu Yun barely survived, without his Dantian, his cultivation plummeted, and a month later, he had completely become a useless person incapable of even tying a chicken.
Half a year later, with the assistance of Wu Yun's Dantian, Xiao Xueyan's cultivation made a giant leap forward. In just half a year, she had gone straight from the previous Sixth Layer of Martial Arts to the Seventh Layer Realm.
She completely replaced Wu Yun and became the number one among the youngsters in Xingyu City.
A year later, Xiao Xueyan made another breakthrough, reaching the Eightfold Heaven of Martial Arts. Her fame in Xingyu City was unsurpassed, and her name even spread to some surrounding cities.
As for Wu Yun, the former pride of the heavens, he was gradually forgotten.
Some people even began to mock Wu Yun for being foolish, giving him the name of a wastrel.
It was the year when Xiao Xueyan reached the Eightfold Heaven of Martial Arts that Yunyue Empire's foremost sect, the dream cultivation place for all cultivators in Yunyue Empire, sent an invitation, hoping that Xiao Xueyan could join Feiyun Sect.
From then on, Xiao Xueyan became a household name in Xingyu City, and even the ruler of the Yunyue Empire couldn't help but nod in praise when he heard her name.
The Wu family was outraged at that time, and even Wu Yun couldn't help feeling a bit bitter.
This should have been his glory, and all of this should have been his.
However, he didn't regret it, because if he hadn't done what he did, then Xiao Xueyan would have died. If he hadn't been able to save Xueyan, that would indeed be something he would regret for the rest of his life.
Wu Yun clearly remembers the words Xiao Xueyan spoke to him before her departure.
"Thank you, Brother Yun. Without you, I definitely wouldn't have what I have today. Everything I have is given by you. I will be grateful to you for this lifetime. When I return from the Fei Yun Sect, I will marry you."
Thinking of this, Wu Yun's train of thought gradually returned from his memories.
"It's been a year, Xueyan, you're finally coming back. Will you keep your promise to marry me? I miss you so much."
A happy smile emerged on Wu Yun's face. Afterwards, he sat down cross-legged, started to operate the family method, and tried to absorb the heavenly spirit.
Although he had lost his dantian, he had never given up. Despite failing time and again, these were not reasons enough to knock him down.
As was usual, making a hand seal, the family martial art method, Martial Element Jue, began to slowly operate, and the heavenly spirit was gradually absorbed into his body. After cycling through the whole body meridians for twenty-four cycles, it began to converge towards the dantian.
However, his dantian had long been taken out, making it impossible to condense the spirit. Seeing the spirit that he had managed to gather slowly dissipating, Wu Yun couldn't help but feel a bit downcast.
"Is it over, did I fail again?"
Wu Yun whispered to himself.
Slowly opening his eyes, he was about to get up and leave the stone bench.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang in the clear sky.
With a rumbling sound, a bolt of lightning flew across the clear sky.
Startled, Wu Yun looked up, only to see that the clear sky that had been cloudless just a moment ago was now filled with rolling black clouds.
Bolts of lightning streaked across the sky, the thunderous noise shaking the ground beneath subtly.
The next moment, Wu Yun saw a golden light flashing in the black cloud-filled void. He felt a heat in his forehead, as though he was hit by something, and darkness veiled his sight, and he lost consciousness.
After Wu Yun fainted, the sky regained its tranquility. The dark clouds disappeared, the thunder receded, and everything returned to calm.
A while later, Wu Yun opened his eyes only to find himself in a completely unfamiliar world.
The area was shrouded in darkness, encased by a layer of thick fog that seemed boundless.
Peering into the distance, Wu Yun spotted what seemed to be a lake a few hundred meters ahead.
As he approached it, he was horrified to discover that this was not a lake, but instead, a sea of spiritual energy.
It was vast and unfathomable, entirely converged of spiritual energy, resembling an endless ocean.
"This... This is an ocean of spiritual energy?"
"Wu Yun exclaimed, "Such a massive sea of spiritual energy, tens of millions of cultivators could practice here for hundreds of thousands of years and still might not absorb it all."
Where on earth am I?
Am I dead?
Is this the underworld, or is it heaven?
At this moment, at the far end of the boundless sea of spiritual energy, a surge of golden light began to glow. Soon after, came a series of chant-like sounds, as if the voices of Buddha had graced the world.
Majestic and archaic, the sounds echoed into Wu Yun's ears.
Wu Yun felt as if he had undergone a baptism of fate. All of a sudden, a buzz hovers inside his head, these Buddhist sounds seemed to want to convey some information to him, but for a moment, he was unable to comprehend it.
Under the baptism of the Buddhist sounds, Wu Yun subconsciously sat cross-legged, and began to attentively listen to the truths hidden within these sounds.
His eyes were closed tightly, completely engrossed, relishing the baptism of the Buddhist sounds.
As he inwardly observed, he was surprised to find that in his Dantian, which was originally empty, a golden orb the size of an egg had suddenly appeared.
The orb was dazzlingly bright, with mysterious light circulating around it.
Suddenly, Wu Yun felt warmth in his abdomen. The golden orb started exerting force, and a massive and vast surge of spirit energy gushed out, directly spreading into Wu Yun's meridians throughout his body.