Chapter 1 – The Useless Son-in-Law
Rain fell in thin, silver threads as Ye Chen stood motionless outside the towering gates of the Ye family estate. His robes were soaked, torn at the sleeves, clinging to his lean frame. Behind him, shattered fragments of a wooden plaque bearing his name lay trampled in the mud—his final tie to a household that had never accepted him.
"You're not worthy of my daughter!" shouted Ye Shan, the patriarch, his voice thundering over the storm. "Marrying into our family was already a disgrace—now get out before I burn your name from the family records!"
Ye Chen didn't flinch.
He was a door-to-door son-in-law—married into the prestigious Bai family without dowry, status, or strength. In a world where cultivation determined one's worth, he was a cripple. Unable to sense qi, to open even a single meridian, to practice the art of cultivation. Trash. That's what they called him.
Even his wife, Bai Lingxue, once graceful and warm, now treated him like a shadow in the corridors. She hadn't spoken to him in weeks.
But none of them knew the truth.
Deep in his soul, something ancient stirred. A relic not of this world. The Primordial Time Compass—a treasure that bent the rules of heaven, whispering to him in voices older than time.