A young man lay on the cold ground beside the river.
The sound of trees swaying in the wind and water flowing downstream was peaceful. The scene would have been beautiful if not for the blood seeping from the young man's wounds slowly staining the riverbank red.
The young man, who could have easily been mistaken for a corpse, slowly raised his head. His vision was blurry, but he still managed to hold onto some scattered thoughts despite his dire condition.
The young man was Yu Tian, a servant in the Drifting Cloud Sect - an eighth-grade sect in the Thousand Mountains Empire.
Through his hazy vision, Yu Tian tried to remember what had happened to him.
"That's right..." he thought, the memories slowly coming back.
He had been a servant in the Drifting Cloud Sect for ten years now, having joined when he was just ten years old. Since his cultivation talent was the absolute worst - a five-element low-grade spiritual root - he had been allowed to stay at the sect, but only as a servant.
In the sect, those who didn't meet the requirements but still wanted to enjoy the benefits of being in a martial arts sect could remain as servants. After serving as a servant for ten years, they could then enroll as outer disciples and receive a Qi Building Pill that would help them enter the Qi Gathering Realm after reaching the ninth layer of Body Refining.
Unfortunately for him, he had also lacked talent in body refining and had only reached the third layer after all these years. So it came as no surprise to anyone that when he finally received his Qi Building Pill, he would be seen as easy prey by everyone.
Without even realizing it, he had been dragged deep into the Black Forest, beaten within an inch of his life, and had his Qi Building Pill stolen.
Yu Tian's gaze slowly cleared up, though not by much, just enough for him to see a few feet ahead. His other senses also slowly returned. He heard a continuous flowing sound nearby.
"That sound... a river," he muttered.
Looking around, he noticed the sun. It was almost about to set.
"Oh no," he thought.
The Black Forest was known for how dangerous it was, teeming with monsters. Not even the sect elders dared to venture far into the Black Forest.
He had to get out of here.
The monsters became active at night. Before sundown, he needed to find a way out.
But how? He didn't even know where exactly he was. If he was careless, he might end up going deeper into the forest.
He gathered all his remaining strength and slowly managed to lift his left hand. He still couldn't feel his legs or his other arm, so crawling was his only option.
With one trembling hand, he slowly dragged himself toward the river, using every ounce of strength he had left. The river wasn't that far - just about ten meters - but he moved so slowly and had to rest frequently that it took him nearly thirty minutes just to reach the water's edge.
By now, most of his vision had cleared, but he still felt numb all over. He pushed himself against a rock and managed to roll into the river. The river was more like a shallow stream, so he didn't sink immediately.
He lay on his back in the cool water, staring up at the sky.
It was beginning to get dark, he realized.
He had approached the stream not only to wash off the blood scent that could attract monsters, but also to figure out which direction the water was flowing. By seeing the stream's direction, he could estimate which way led back to the sect.
He looked upstream, he needed to go in that direction to find the sect.
But he didn't know the distance, and he was completely out of energy. It had taken everything in him just to reach this point.
What was he supposed to do now?
…
Yu Tian slowly opened his eyes. They were back to being hazy again. He felt the cold water flowing through his clothes and past his body, following the river's current.
"How far have I crawled?" he wondered.
He'd been following the stream upward for almost an hour now, but he still couldn't see any signs of the sect. He looked to the side, it was almost completely dark now.
He turned onto his back and let out a heavy breath.
Looking up, he saw the moon and stars that were beginning to appear in the night sky.
It's so beautiful, he thought.
But then he wondered, why was he even trying?
It's not like he had anything to live for. He had been an orphan for as long as he could remember and had joined the sect to escape life on the streets. Not that it was any different in the sect than it had been on the streets.
He slept on the ground like an animal. He had to fight for food and other resources with the other servants. In fact, in his opinion, it was even worse in the sect than it had been on the streets.
The only hope that had kept him going was the promise of the Qi Building Pill. He had believed that he could change his destiny if he became a cultivator.
But now, even that was gone.
Even if he managed to return to the sect, would he get his pill back?
And even if he reported the theft to an elder, would the elder care about an untalented third-layer Body Refining servant like him?
And even in the unlikely chance that an elder actually cared and got his pill back for him, then what? He was still stuck in the third layer of Body Refining after ten years, with no hope of advancing. So he would never be able to use the pill anyway, since it was only usable for those who had reached the ninth layer.
Without being able to use the pill to enter the cultivation path, he'd be right back where he started, just easy prey waiting to be robbed again. What would be his chances of survival after he received the pill back?
As he was thinking this, he noticed something strange. Numbers started moving in his vision.
[0%]
A glowing number appeared, floating right in front of his eyes.