The vast world stretched boundless across the continent of Bailing.
Here, in the Northern Spiritual Realm, stood the prestigious Northern Spiritual Academy.
Midday sun blazed overhead, scorching light pouring down upon the academy grounds and stirring restless energy among the students. As the foremost academy in the entire Northern Spiritual Realm, competition here had always been fierce—but in the past two years, with an influx of outstanding disciples, the pressure had intensified to a fever pitch.
The western district of the academy sprawled across vast grounds dotted with training arenas of all sizes. At this moment, the central arena drew a dense crowd, students pressing shoulder to shoulder as they watched the spectacle within.
"The force lacks conviction. Your spiritual energy scatters like mist in the wind. And your footwork—utterly uncoordinated." A young man in a flowing blue robe stood with one hand clasped behind his back, effortlessly fending off three opponents using only his right arm. His voice carried a lecturing tone, calm yet laced with quiet disappointment. "After two full years of cultivation, is this truly the best you can muster?"
He moved with the fluid grace of a mountain ape—light, precise, untouchable. His right arm swept through the air like ink splashed across rice paper, leaving faint afterimages as he flicked, pushed, and slapped away attacks without a single wasted motion.
Then, the black-haired youth leading the trio on the opposite side lunged forward, his index finger thrusting sharply ahead. Dark spiritual energy erupted from his body in a violent surge, and domineering black light crackled around his fingertip like forked lightning.
A powerful shockwave rippled outward.
"Oh?" The blue-robed youth raised an eyebrow, a faint chuckle escaping his lips. "You've been concealing your cultivation base. Not bad, Mu. At least you've learned subtlety."
"But even with this hidden strength…" His voice dropped, calm yet cutting. "You're still far from the middle phase of the Spiritual Movement Stage."
In the next instant, a far more potent aura erupted from his frame—dense, refined, unmistakably belonging to the peak of the Spiritual Rotation Stage. His arm shot forward like a striking viper, fierce spiritual energy coiling around his fist before detonating outward in a single devastating blow!
Boom!
The black-haired youth's expression twisted in shock. There was no time to adjust his stance—he barely managed to twist his torso aside, but the glancing impact still sent him flying backward like a broken doll, crashing hard against the arena's stone barrier.
Seeing this, the remaining two opponents froze mid-charge. They exchanged a single glance before retreating a full step in unison, hands raised in surrender.
"Brother Lu, please—call it quits!" one pleaded, face pale. "You've already reached the peak of the Spiritual Rotation Stage, while we've barely stabilized our footing in the early phase of the Spiritual Movement Stage. There's simply no contest!"
Lu Chen—the blue-robed youth—shook his head with an easy smile. "You two lack backbone. Look at Mu Chen. Each defeat only sharpens his resolve. If you surrender at the first sign of difficulty, when will you ever glimpse the threshold of the Divine Soul Stage?"
The two boys exchanged helpless glances before one offered a wry smile. "Brother Lu, you're setting the bar impossibly high."
"Consider this," the other added gently. "Most disciples in our entire academy remain trapped in the Sensing Stage, struggling merely to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Countless others cannot even draw that energy into their bodies to break through to the Spiritual Movement Stage. As for the Spiritual Rotation Stage—where spiritual energy condenses into a circulating wheel—only you and Liu Mubai have achieved it among all outer disciples."
Lu Chen's lips curled slightly. Boring.
Since transmigrating into this world sixteen years ago, he had begun cultivating at age six. Ten full years of disciplined practice had brought him to the peak of the Spiritual Rotation Stage—a pace he privately considered sluggish. Yet these so-called "talents" of the Northern Spiritual Academy had spent the same decade barely scraping past the second stage.
'Is cultivation truly this difficult for natives?' he mused inwardly. 'Or do they simply lack the fundamental understanding that spiritual energy responds to intent, not brute force?'
At that moment, Mu Chen—who had just been sent flying—pushed himself upright, dusted off his robes, and strode back toward Lu Chen with bright, clear eyes. Despite his defeat, excitement shimmered in his gaze.
"Brother Lu!" Mu Chen's voice brimmed with genuine curiosity. "That fist technique just now—what was it? When your shockwave hit me, every bone in my body vibrated as if about to dissolve. For a full three breaths, I couldn't muster spiritual energy to stand!"
Lu Chen's expression softened slightly. At least this one possessed true passion.
"My own creation—Shocking Fist," he explained without pretense. "When striking an opponent, I vibrate my spiritual energy at precise frequencies. The resulting shockwave penetrates their body, rattling bones and meridians, temporarily severing their connection to their own spiritual energy."
Mu Chen's eyes widened. "You… created it yourself?"
"Trade me a low-grade spiritual-grade attack technique, and I'll teach you the fundamentals," Lu Chen said casually.
In this vast world, techniques used for cultivation and combat fell under the broad category of spiritual arts—further divided into cultivation arts, body-refining arts, attack arts, defensive arts, and more. These arts were ranked in three major tiers: mortal-grade, spiritual-grade, and divine-grade, each subdivided into lower, middle, and upper grades.
Over the past decade, though Lu Chen had never laid hands on a divine-grade technique, he had painstakingly deduced their underlying principles through observation and experimentation. Cultivation, at its core, was simple: draw spiritual energy into the dantian, then release it through controlled vibration. This vibration—termed spiritual energy amplitude in cultivation theory—determined a technique's potency. Higher amplitude meant greater refinement. A high-grade mortal technique might achieve five amplitude levels; a low-grade spiritual technique, ten; mid-grade spiritual, fifteen—and so on.
Having internalized amplitude manipulation over ten years of relentless practice, combined with insights gleaned from studying other attack techniques, Lu Chen had naturally birthed a technique rivaling low-grade spiritual-grade arts—Shocking Fist.
"A spiritual-grade technique?" Mu Chen's face fell into a wry smile. He couldn't even muster resentment—only helpless admiration. As one of the leading families in the Northern Spiritual Realm, the Mu clan possessed merely three spiritual-grade techniques in total. Yet this Brother Lu casually crafted his own school of thought…
'Truly infuriating to compare oneself to others,' he thought, though without malice.
Lu Chen caught his expression and waved a hand dismissively. "Don't look so crestfallen. Creating a viable technique demands profound insight—not just raw power. In ten years, Shocking Fist remains my sole creation. I can't simply give it away. How about this instead—a Divine Soul Pill in exchange?"
Mu Chen shook his head firmly. "Brother Lu, you jest. If our Mu family possessed a Divine Soul Pill, we would have used it generations ago. And with your talent… you'll break through to the Divine Soul Stage within months. Why would you need pills to temper your Divine Soul?"
Lu Chen blinked, then smiled. He truly couldn't fault the boy's logic.
Though Mu Chen had not been chosen by the Spiritual Path—lacking a spiritual vein entirely—his comprehension ability was exceptional, and his cultivation speed unmatched among outer disciples. In Lu Chen's estimation, even so-called "kings" and "emperors" walking the Spiritual Path might struggle to match this youth's potential… once he overcame his innate limitation.
"Fair enough," Lu Chen conceded with a shrug. "I'll cultivate first. Breaking through to the Divine Soul Stage soon—I've heard this realm holds fascinating possibilities. Upon breakthrough, one can refine beast Soul Essence directly into their Divine Soul. I'm… curious to experience it."
With that, he turned to leave for his residence.
He had transmigrated alone into this world—no parents, no memories of a past life beyond vague impressions. An elderly couple had raised him from infancy until their passing when he turned ten. In this life, he had few desires beyond one: to unravel the mysteries of cultivation.
Just as Lu Chen pivoted on his heel, his vision suddenly blurred. A crystalline surface shimmered into existence within his soul sea, radiating serene light.
[Ding! The Mirror of Myriad Fates has awakened within your soul!]
[One reflection per month. Unused reflections do not accumulate.]
[Gaze into your possible destinies?]
'A cheat?' Lu Chen's brow furrowed. 'With my comprehension, do I truly need to peek at alternate timelines?'
[Gaze into your fate?]
The voice echoed again—pleasant, mechanical, utterly neutral.
Lu Chen narrowed his eyes, soul-will firming. 'Not now.'
The mirror's surface dimmed instantly. Without another glance backward, he quickened his pace toward his quiet bamboo residence—mind already turning over the implications of this unexpected awakening.