As Su Lingxi sat quietly near the old well, sorting through his thoughts in the fading light of dusk, the peaceful atmosphere of the village was suddenly disrupted by a loud roar coming from the forest.
The ground shook. Birds flew away in panic.
Moments later, three young cultivators, who had passed through the village a day earlier, stumbled out from the trees. They looked disheveled, bloodied, and injured. Their faces were pale, and they struggled to breathe. One of them clutched his arm, blood soaking his sleeve.
"I sent a message to Senior Brother!" one of the male disciples shouted between breaths. "He'll be here soon; we just need to hold on!"
The only female disciple among them gritted her teeth, anger flashing in her eyes. "I told you not to go deeper! Now look at what you brought us!"
The third disciple, another young man with a bleeding gash across his forehead, shook his head in disbelief. "We didn't even go that deep… a second-tier beast shouldn't have been there. It wasn't supposed to be there!"
From behind them, the trees fell aside like sticks as a massive beast appeared. It resembled a lion, but its back was covered in sharp plates, and a long scorpion-like tail swayed behind it. Its roar was deafening, sending a chill through the village.
Screams echoed as villagers ran in every direction, tripping over one another in their haste.
Chen Yu, who had been washing vegetables nearby, turned pale. Without a word, she rushed to Su Lingxi's side, scooping him up and holding him protectively against her chest as she stepped back, her eyes locked on the approaching monster.
The beast charged forward, its tail crashing through a small hut and sending splinters flying everywhere. Several villagers fell to the ground, frozen in fear.
Just as the beast lifted its tail to strike, a bright arc of sword light fell from the sky. In one swift movement, the beast's massive head was cleanly severed, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
Hovering above the village on a flying sword was a young man dressed in clean white robes. His long hair was held back with a jade clasp. He looked barely older than twenty, but the air around him was sharp—refined like an immortal. He was clearly on whole another level compared to the three cultivators.
A few villagers knelt instinctively, eyes wide, murmuring "Immortal… Immortal…" under their breath..
He landed calmly near the fallen beast and surveyed the three injured disciples.
"How did you provoke a second-tier beast?" he asked coolly, his voice firm but measured. "And how did you lead it into a village full of mortals? If I had arrived moments later, there would have been a massacre."
The male disciples looked down in shame. The girl, still catching her breath, forced a weak smile.
"But you arrived in time, Senior Brother Jiang. No one was hurt—"
Senior Brother Jiang interrupted her with a wave of his hand. He then noticed a boy among the villagers. Without saying a word, he descended and landed in front of a sixteen-year-old boy who stood quietly near the crowd.
He moved closer, standing before a dark-haired youth of about sixteen. The boy wore simple clothes and had a plain appearance. The cultivator studied him for a moment.
"You," he said. "What's your name?"
The boy blinked, then straightened in admiration. "Luo Haoran."
Senior Brother Jiang narrowed his eyes, as if sensing something unseen. Then he nodded slightly.
"Not bad. Your spiritual roots are decent. If you're interested, come to Stone Sky City in two months. The Verdant Sky Sect will be recruiting. That's all."
With that, he turned away. The three junior disciples, still limping, followed him silently as the four soared into the sky and disappeared beyond the treetops.
The village fell silent. Slowly, the people began to move again, cautiously.
A sense of awe replaced the earlier panic. Fear faded, giving way to whispers of reverence.
"Did you see that? He cut it down in one strike…"
"He was so powerful…"
"Verdant Sky Sect… that must be a righteous sect…"
Many eyes turned to Luo Haoran—now the center of quiet admiration and envy. Yet, their glance also shifted to the charred remains of their homes, a stark reminder of the danger they had faced and how dangerous the world is.
Chen Yu exhaled and gently loosened her grip on Su Lingxi, though she still held him close. She looked down at the child's expression—calm, unblinking, and uncommonly thoughtful for a two-year-old.
But inside, Ren Zhaoyang was anything but calm.
That beast was real. That man flew down from the sky on a sword. His logical mind struggled to take it all in. He severed that thing's head in a single strike. It wasn't special effects. It wasn't trickery. That was real power shown only in movies.
No amount of company manipulations or meeting plans could have prepared him for this kind of world. This was a place where people could fly, where monsters the size of trucks could appear out of nowhere, and where survival could come down to a second's difference.
Ren grasped something important from the conversation—spiritual roots.
They were the foundation of cultivation. Without them, a person could never take the first step on the path to cultivation. It was clear now why Luo Haoran had been chosen—he possessed spiritual roots
The villagers had changed in an instant. Power shifted perspectives. That was the reality of this world, much like Earth.
He needed a way to gain power. Without it, he would remain like the mortals in this village—fragile, afraid, and insignificant.
He clenched his small fists.
In his previous life, he had fought his way to the top with only his intelligence and ruthlessness. In this life, he would do the same. If his parents—those who abandoned him in that cave—had been cultivators, it was very likely he had spiritual roots too.
That night, he set his first goal in this world:
To cultivate. To become strong.
He would cultivate, no matter what it took.
Today, he had witnessed how terrifying this world could be. Danger could strike from anywhere, at any time.
And this world—this absurd, illogical, impossible world—was nothing like the one he came from. Here, strength rewrote reason. Here, swords flew and beasts roared, and nothing followed the rules he once understood.
If he wanted to survive, he would have to discard everything he thought he knew.
He would have to adapt.
He would have to grow.
To survive, he would either stand above the madness…
or embrace it and become a part of it.