Chapter eight:starting cultivation
"And now," the voice echoed through the boundless darkness, carrying an authority that brooked no refusal, "you may access the first page of the Heaven Devouring Emperor Scripture. You will be sent out of the trial ground in three… two… one…"
Before Xiao Chen could even react, the pressure vanished as if it had never existed. Space twisted, his vision blurred, and in the next instant, his feet touched solid ground once more.
Xiao Chen appeared before an enormous stone pedestal.
Atop it floated an ancient scripture.
The surface of the scripture looked ordinary at first glance, yet the moment Xiao Chen focused on it, his heart trembled for no reason. The book seemed to exist outside time itself, as if it had witnessed the rise and fall of countless eras. Just looking at it made his breathing unconsciously slow.
"So this is it…" Xiao Chen murmured.
He took a step forward and stared at the first page.
The instant his gaze settled upon the scripture, lines of ancient text began to surface on the blank page, glowing faintly before stabilizing. The characters were strange, yet familiar at the same time, as though they were imprinting themselves directly into his consciousness rather than entering through his eyes.
What appeared before him was not a martial technique nor a combat art.
It was a cultivation method.
At the very beginning, a warning appeared.
This scripture is not for all.
Those whose dantian has already been tainted by impure qi are unqualified.
Xiao Chen froze.
A requirement followed immediately after.
Only those whose qi has never entered the dantian may cultivate this path.
For a moment, Xiao Chen felt as though his mind had gone blank.
"Isn't… isn't this talking about me?"
Ever since childhood, he had been unable to absorb qi. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how many methods he attempted, the result was always the same—failure. Others called him talentless, broken, even cursed.
Yet now, this requirement described his situation perfectly.
His heart began to beat faster.
Suppressing his emotions, Xiao Chen continued reading.
The scripture explained that the qi absorbed by ordinary cultivators was impure—mixed with turbid energies of heaven and earth. Such qi might allow one to cultivate quickly, but it placed a natural ceiling on one's path.
This scripture rejected such a method entirely.
Because this was the path of an Emperor.
An Emperor stood above kings.
Ten thousand kings could not compare to a single Emperor.
An Emperor must be pure.
An Emperor must be absolute.
An Emperor's will could not be shaken.
To walk this path, one could not rely on borrowed purity. One must refine, condense, and dominate qi itself.
And then came the meaning of the word "Devour."
Devouring did not merely mean absorbing qi.
It meant taking everything that stood in one's path—qi, energy, talent, and even opportunities—and making them one's own.
Xiao Chen exhaled slowly.
By the time he reached the end of the first page, the ancient characters faded, leaving behind a heavy silence.
Without hesitation, he turned to the second page.
To his surprise, what he had expected to be sealed or restricted opened effortlessly. There was no resistance, no test, no rejection—as if the scripture itself acknowledged him.
"Too easy…" Xiao Chen muttered.
The second page contained the actual cultivation method.
As soon as he began reading, his expression changed.
The cultivation technique he had practiced in the past—one given casually by the sect—now seemed laughably crude in comparison. If that technique was a roughly carved stone tool, then the Heaven Devouring Emperor Scripture was a perfectly forged divine weapon.
The difference was obvious even to someone with limited knowledge.
Diagrams formed in the air, showing the flow of qi, the circulation of meridians, and a completely unfamiliar cultivation route. Xiao Chen studied them intently.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
And then he stopped.
Because he realized he no longer needed to look.
The diagrams, routes, and principles had already been deeply imprinted into his mind, as though they had always existed there. Forgetting them would be nearly impossible.
"So that's how it is…"
Xiao Chen felt both excited and uneasy.
After calming himself, he looked around the dark space.
"How do I leave this place?"
The thought had barely formed when the world shifted.
In the blink of an eye, Xiao Chen vanished.
When his vision cleared, he found himself back in the servant quarters of the sect, seated exactly where he had been before—legs crossed, posture unchanged.
"So I can leave… just by willing it?"
Xiao Chen let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
But his expression soon turned serious.
He had obtained a cultivation method. He finally had hope.
Yet there was still a problem.
Inside his body, that white mass of light still existed. It had always absorbed any qi he gathered, leaving nothing behind. There was no guarantee it would not do the same again.
Xiao Chen clenched his fists.
"At least… hope exists."
And hope was enough.
He adjusted his posture and began cultivating according to the instructions of the Heaven Devouring Emperor Scripture.
This time, things were different.
Qi did not immediately rush into his body.
Instead, wisps of qi—so fine they were nearly invisible—began gathering outside him. They drifted toward him like strands of silk, slowly converging.
One wisp became two.
Two became many.
They condensed again and again, growing denser until they could no longer compress.
Only then did Xiao Chen guide them inward.
The qi entered his meridians smoothly, flowing like a calm stream. Xiao Chen focused, prepared for the familiar sensation of loss.
But what he expected did not happen.
The qi did not vanish.
It passed through his meridians without resistance and continued onward, straight toward his dantian.
For the first time in his life—
Qi entered his dantian.
Xiao Chen's body trembled slightly.
Whether this path would lead to glory or ruin, he did not know.
But one thing was certain.
His fate had already begun to change.
If you want next:
🔥 Breakthrough scene
📜 Explanation of realms
👁️ The white light reacting
💥 First cultivation anomaly
🏷️ Proper tag categories for posting
Just tell me what you want to do next.