The air around him felt different—fresher, sharper, alive. He could hear the wind more clearly, even the steady rhythm of his heartbeat pulsing with strength and confidence. Spiritual energy coursed through his body like a warm current, awakening every muscle and tendon.
He clenched his fist. Instantly, a faint aura shimmered around it, stirring the air with a soft hum.
"My body… it's incredible," he muttered, flexing his fingers. "Feels like I could crush a boulder—or take down a bull—with one punch."
He rose to his feet and brushed the dust off his clothes. Then he pushed open the door of the small hut where he'd been cultivating. A gust of cool, refreshing wind swept over him, carrying the scent of life and mystery.
Today, Li Wen planned to explore this secret realm.
The view outside was breathtaking. Towering trees with silvery leaves glimmered beneath the sun. He leaped onto a branch, then another, his movements light and balanced, almost birdlike. Gravity seemed weaker here—as if the world itself wanted him to soar.
Even though his cultivation was only at the First Foundation Stage, his physical strength already far surpassed that of an ordinary man. Every movement pulsed with raw power, giving him confidence—but also a healthy dose of caution.
As he ventured deeper, signs of life began to appear. In the distance, a few crystal-horned deer drank by a riverside. A silver-furred fox darted through the bushes, and a massive rabbit gnawed on glowing blue leaves beneath a tree.
They looked similar to animals in the human world, yet… different—bigger, more majestic, radiating faint spiritual energy.
Li Wen crouched on a high branch, quietly observing them. Instinct told him not to underestimate these creatures.
"They look gentle," he thought, "but if they carry spiritual energy like cultivators… one strike could kill me."
He decided not to provoke them. There was no need to fight without reason.
He continued onward—through forests and valleys, crossing ridges and streams—until he emerged into an open plain. Something on the ground caught his eye, gleaming under the sunlight.
Li Wen squinted. Between the grass, tiny sparkles scattered across the field like fallen stars.
He stepped closer. And when he finally saw them clearly, his heart nearly stopped.
They weren't ordinary stones.
They were diamonds.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of them, scattered across the ground like worthless pebbles. Some were marble-sized, others as large as his fist. Even a colossal chunk the size of a man jutted out of the cliffside, throwing off rainbows of light.
Li Wen froze, eyes wide. "This… this can't be real," he whispered. He crouched down and touched one. Its surface was cold, solid, and perfectly smooth. The light bouncing off it danced in his eyes—mocking him, dazzling him.
"Diamonds… pure diamonds," he breathed.
A laugh slipped from his throat. At first soft, then louder, until it echoed through the plain.
"I used to be poor—mocked, looked down on, treated like trash…" His voice trembled between laughter and disbelief. "And now? Look at this! Diamonds—diamonds everywhere, like sand on the road!"
Memories flashed through his mind—days when he walked home in torn clothes, when people sneered at him for being broke, when his classmates avoided him like poverty was a disease.
He fell silent for a long moment, staring at the glittering expanse. The reflected light danced in his pupils, hypnotic and unreal.
Then he laughed again, tears slipping down his cheeks. "I'm rich… I'm actually rich!"
He picked up one diamond the size of a grown man's fist. It was heavy and cold in his palm—but that chill filled him with warmth instead of fear.
"If I can take even one of these back…" he murmured. "I could sell it. Change my family's life forever."
His mother's face appeared in his mind—a frail woman with rough, cracked hands from washing other people's clothes every day. And his father—thin, stooped from long hours bent over the fields.
They never complained, but Li Wen knew. He knew they were tired. He knew they went hungry so he could eat.
He tightened his grip on the diamond until his knuckles turned white.
"Just wait, Dad… Mom… I'll give you a good life. You'll never suffer again."
For the first time in years, hope burned inside him—bright and fierce.
The world that had always laughed at him now seemed to offer him a second chance.
Li Wen looked up at the sky of that mysterious realm. The clouds shimmered in soft colors, drifting lazily while eternal sunlight streamed through the silvery canopy. Somewhere out there, power waited—vast and untamed.
But for now, one thing was certain.
He was stronger than ever, standing in a world filled with secrets and diamonds.
And from this moment on, Li Wen swore—
no one would ever look down on him again.