A mountain draped in lush greenery pierced the clouds, its peak hidden among the swirling mist. At the summit stood a grand family palace, surrounded by boulders and cranes soaring gracefully through the crisp, cold air. The entrance was marked by a vast, boat-filled sea gate. This was the Cloud-Piercing Mountain, and anyone who wished to reach its peak had to climb tens of thousands of arduous stairs.
The Shi family was a mid-tier clan among the 72 Empyrean families of the Lumine Continent, ranking 64th overall. Though not the largest, its influence stretched over the northern regions, neighboring the Lu family.
The family head was Shi Ming-Ku, a mid-Golden Core cultivator, renowned for his power, said to be capable of annihilating an entire family with his bare hands.
Within the Shi family, thousands of slaves toiled day and night, organized into factions responsible for cleaning, laundering, and delivering goods.
At night, cold wind swept through the backyard of the Shi estate. A lone feminine figure stood there, gripping a broom tightly, swinging it left and right as if it were a sword. Her face was bruised, but her eyes burned with fierce determination, fire ignited within them by some unseen force. Cold sweat dripped from her forehead, and blood stained her hands, clenched tightly around the broom as if it were her very lifeline.
Her hair was tied back, unyielding, flowing in the moonlight like strands of silver. Beneath her bruises, faint beauty lingered, a girl no older than eleven or twelve.
If one listened closely, a faint whisper could be heard, almost ghostly, words repeated like a chant, each one matching the sweeping motion of her broom.
"Destroy shi!"
"Kill shi!"
"Slaughter shi!"
A surge of Qi burst forth from her thin frame, sweat streaming down as moonlight bathed her. Despite her frail figure and worn clothes, a sharp killing intent flickered in her eyes, an intent she struggled to suppress.
Breathing heavily, she stopped swinging her broom and lowered herself into a crouch, slowly stabilizing her Qi. Opening her eyes with a heavy sigh, she murmured in a harsh voice, "I reached 4-star Qi three years ago and have been stuck ever since."
She glanced around cautiously to ensure no one had noticed her and then looked disappointedly at herself, sighing pitifully.
Despite the dazzling moonlight, her face was unreadable, a mask hiding her true emotions. She gazed up at the moon, tears streaming down her cheeks. Bowing deeply three times, she whispered, "Your daughter still cannot avenge you. Forgive me, Father."
A piercing ache stabbed her heart, like a sword plunged deep within. As her tears fell, so did time, flowing endlessly as another day dawned.
Inside the Shi family palace, in the back courtyard, the same girl was sweeping the floor under the harsh sunlight. Her black hair and ocean-blue eyes were visible beneath bruises and a large scar across her forehead. Her hands trembled from the previous night's toil and bloodshed.
As she moved through the corridor, her gaze suddenly fixed on an approaching old man. His hair and beard were white, his face wrinkled with age. Though he was the eldest slave, rumored to be between 100 and 150 years old, the old man smirked upon seeing her, but the girl recoiled, disgust clear in her expression.
Suddenly, a sharp voice rang out behind her: "Stop!" The old man shouted. She hesitated but obeyed, turning to face him. Their eyes met, and his smirk faded, replaced with cold disdain.
Without warning, he slapped her hard across the face.
Thrown aside, she dropped to her knees, bowing her head. "Forgive me," she whispered.
As the old man turned to leave, spitting contempt at her, two others, a man and a woman, approached and began bullying her. They hit her trembling head; blood dripped from her hands, but she neither blamed nor fought back. She endured their torment like a beaten puppy.
She was helpless.
If she revealed her true identity now, all hell would break loose. So she forced herself to accept this cruel fate, letting the abuses slide.
Yet, in the depths of her heart, she sighed, quietly bearing the pain.
Suddenly, an old man's cold voice echoed through the courtyard: "Kill this girl. She is the ungrateful daughter of the Shi family."
At those words, a deadly light sparked in her eyes. Slowly, she rose, her body coiling like a spring.
With a sudden burst of speed, she struck, breaking the old man's hand with a sharp punch.
Rage flooded her veins, and she no longer cared who witnessed her fury.
With a whirlwind of attacks, one punch, one kick, she shattered another's arm and, for the man who tried to restrain her by the hair, she dealt a crushing blow to the head. His body collapsed lifeless to the ground.
No one noticed the sounds or the fallen bodies.
A flicker of flame appeared at her fingertip. She burned the corpses to ashes, leaving no trace.
Then, she returned to her normal demeanor, showing no hint of the violence that had just erupted. No drama, no celebration, only the cold resolve of one who had accepted her fate.
She did not believe her family had sunk so low, nor that she would be forced to endure such misery.
As days passed, she fled to the jungle to train.
With nothing to gain from the Shi estate, she sought strength among the beasts.
She hunted day and night, aiming to become stronger.
She had thought about her path all night and resolved to train in the Beast Jungle, home to creatures ranked from first to seventh level.
Determined to make a breakthrough, she chose a remote corner of the jungle to begin her trials.
At night, masked to hide her face, she moved cautiously past third-ranked beasts that barely noticed her.
Searching for a second-ranked beast, she first encountered a first-ranked boar. Confident, she slayed it with a swing of her wooden sword.
In the following days, she repeated the process, killing dozens of boars as she sought a second-ranked beast.
Twelve days passed with no luck.
On the thirteenth day, she finally spotted a swarm of second-ranked mosquitoes, hundreds in number. Even a Foundation cultivator would hesitate to face them.
She hesitated, unable to bring herself to throw her net, and walked away.
But misfortune struck on the twelfth day.
She was attacked by a third-ranked beast, a Jade Python.
Its scales were tough enough to withstand strikes from an eighth-ranked Qi Condensation cultivator.
Though terrified, she did not hesitate.
She moved like the wind, slashing her wooden sword at its scales.
The sword had no effect.
The snake hissed, launching three fiery spikes at her, knocking her back. Trees crashed, and the ground shook.
Blood spilled from her mouth, and facing a life-or-death crisis, she activated the ancestral technique of the Shi family, Ancestral Sword Split.
Waves of energy surged forth, lighting up her wooden sword like a blazing sun.
Her sword clashed with the snake's scales, shattering them.The beast roared in fury but failed to harm her further.The snake whipped its tail, swinging down.
The girl dodged nimbly, but the ground beneath her crumbled.
Sensing imminent danger, she gathered her Qi.Using the basic cloud-stepping technique of the Shi family, she synchronized her movements with the clouds.
Step by step, energy flowed around her feet.With the third step, she leapt onto a cloud, then from one cloud to another, moving like the wind.Her Qi energy was depleting.Though weakened, she pressed on.
She swallowed a Rank 1 energy restoration pill, intended for later, but now necessary.
And she ran.