Chapter 1: Snowfield Ambush

In the afternoon, the northern sky of the Great Zhou Empire was filled with drifting snow.

Another year draws to a close!

In Fengyang City, the Ye Clan, as one of the three great families locally, began preparing a month early for the annual year-end Clan Competition.

On the Cangyun Continent, where martial ways prevail, the year-end Clan Competition is undoubtedly the most important grand event for each clan!

Ding!

Bang!

In the Back Hall of the Instrument Hall of the Ye Clan, a shirtless youth with a black stone pendant around his neck, wearing coarse linen trousers, swung a massive iron hammer before the furnace, repeatedly hammering a piece of molten, glowing red raw iron.

The furnace fire flushed his face bright red, and beads of pea-sized sweat dotted his resolute visage and muscular body.

"Clang!"

The boy, weary from hammering, tossed the hammer aside, wiped the sweat from his forehead, glanced at the ever‑burning iron chunk, and muttered:

"I only wanted to forge a sword, Auntie—why are you giving me such a raw deal! Where did you even find this scrap iron?"

He has been melting this mysterious iron for two years, dedicating at least an hour each day to hammer it, yet it has only barely deformed so far.

After two years, the sword remains unmade, but his body has grown stronger than ordinary people, and he now wields the two‑hundred‑plus‑jin hammer with exceptional skill.

He shook his head helplessly and engaged in combat with a Metal Puppet nearby.

Immediately, the hall rang with endless "bang bang" sounds.

The Metal Puppet was rare, capable of employing various fist styles against him; in less than fifteen minutes it had already switched through three or four sets of techniques.

The youth fought without any preset pattern, simply countering each move; even when a few punches landed, he seemed utterly unfazed.

Suddenly, he and the puppet struck with simultaneous force, their fists colliding at a point.

"Bang" rang out.

The Metal Puppet stepped back two paces, while the boy "stomp stomp stomp" retreated four or five steps before barely regaining his stance.

The boy rubbed his swollen fists, his facial muscles twitching in pain, yet his bright eyes were filled with disappointment.

"Is my talent really this poor? I've toiled for four years, and I'm still only at Body Refining Third Level. The year-end Clan Competition is ten days away; if I don't reach Body Refinement Fourth Level by then, I'll be sent to a sub‑branch!"

The great stages of Martial Cultivator cultivation proceed as Body Refinement, True Essence, Sea Transformation, Nascent Core, and Celestial Steel. Each stage has nine layers, each layer further divided into Early, Middle, Late, and Peak phases.

Some people loosely label layers one to three of each stage as the early period; layers four to six as the middle period; and layers seven to nine as the late period.

In Fengyang City, there are no Martial Cultivators who have reached the Sea Transformation stage. Attaining the middle period of True Essence is enough to sustain a Great Clan.

As for stages above Celestial Steel, they are merely legends!

The shirtless youth is named Ye Liuyun.

His current stage, precisely, is Body Refining Third Level Late, which is generally referred to as the early phase of Body Refinement.

At this moment, his heart is filled with resentment and a deep sense of helplessness.

When Ye Liuyun was ten, his aunt Feng Wanru came to see his mother, apparently because something had happened in his mother's family.

Then his father accompanied his mother back to her natal home and never returned. Feng Wanru was left by his mother to care for him, taking over his father's role as Elder of the Instrument Hall.

Ye Liuyun has always believed that through his own diligent cultivation he can become stronger, eventually find his parents and see the world beyond.

But in the past two years, his stage has been stuck at Body Refining Third Level! No matter how hard he tries, his cultivation makes no progress.

Within the clan, disciples from both the main branch and sub‑branches look down on this "worthless" and "mediocre" individual.

Even his betrothed Ye Xinyu, each time she sees him, fills her gaze with contempt and disgust, having repeatedly proposed to break off the engagement, turning him into a laughingstock for the entire clan.

Ye Liuyun casually grabbed a thin shirt, put it on, and sorrowfully walked out of the Back Hall.

At that moment, Aunt Feng Wanru was passed out, snoring loudly in a rocking chair, while several empty wine gourds lay haphazardly on the nearby wine table.

He glanced at Feng Wanru—her complexion pale with a hint of red, eyelashes fluttering, chest rising and falling. He quickly averted his gaze, unwilling to stare longer.

Feng Wanru, eight years his senior, was still youthful, possessing a stunningly beautiful face, graceful and poised, with an ethereal aura—a true great beauty!

Yet this beautiful aunt has become a drunkard, often stumbling in a tipsy haze, completely lacking any lady‑like demeanor!

Feng Wanru is well‑read and worldly; Ye Liuyun's knowledge of the outside world comes from her stories. Yet many times he assumes she is merely exaggerating.

However, regarding cultivation, besides making him train his body, she never gives him any body‑strength pills, claiming it's for his own good.

Ye Liuyun doesn't understand. Others without a blood‑line awakening also take pills to advance their stage. He has protested, but it only angered Feng Wanru and achieved nothing.

Thus his slow advancement is largely due to his refusal to take any pills.

Feng Wanru doesn't care about his stage, but seeing his blood‑line still dormant and feeling helpless, she turns to wine to drown her worries.

Thinking of this, Ye Liuyun feels a pang of sympathy for his aunt.

"I wonder if, should I be sent to a sub‑branch, would Aunt be able to endure it?"

He sighed, lifted the wine gourd from the table, and left the residence to fetch her more wine.

Ye Liuyun doesn't feel cold; braving the swirling snow, breathing the crisp air, his boots crunching through the deep snow, his mood lightens considerably.

Just as Ye Liuyun reaches a point two streets away from the tavern, he suddenly stops, his brows furrowed.

"A murderous intent?"

A sudden sense of danger wells up, his heart pounding fiercely.

Suddenly, a masked black‑robed figure darts out from an adjacent alley, rushing toward him like a gust of wind.

Ye Liuyun catches a whiff of a woman's fragrance carried in the wind, strikingly distinct in the fresh post‑snow air.

But Ye Liuyun's low stage means that, despite sensing danger, he cannot evade and is pierced in his lower abdomen's Qi Sea by the Black-clothed Person's sword.

Instinctively, he clutches his abdomen, his hands slick with fresh blood.

The black‑robed figure follows with a palm strike aimed at his chest.

"It's a woman! This hand and the scent of that wind… Ye Xinyu? Is she trying to kill me?"

A thought flashes through Ye Liuyun's mind.

He doesn't understand others, but regarding his own fiancée, Ye Liuyun, though he harbors little affection, he has studied her closely, so he can instantly identify her.

It was only that Ye Xinyu had at most insulted him a few times before and goaded others to trouble him; she herself had never laid a hand on him, let alone tried to kill him.

At that moment there was no time for him to think further; with a "snap" sound, the Black-clothed Person's palm struck the pendant on his chest, as if shattering it.

The instant Ye Liuyun fell backward, a hand hurriedly clutched the pendant at his chest. That was the only memento his parents had left him.

Ye Liuyun hit the ground, and the Black-clothed Person immediately followed with another sword, thrusting toward his throat.

"Hmph!" a cold snort rang through the street like a thunderclap, followed by a massive surge of pressure bearing down on the Black-clothed Person.

Pfft!

The Black-clothed Person was so stunned that his whole body went rigid; the sword could not go any further, a spray of blood spattered his mask, and he turned and fled.

Seeing the Black-clothed Person run away, Ye Liuyun relaxed. It seemed someone had intervened and saved him. He had just thought he was about to be killed!

At that moment, even he did not know that the black pendant had absorbed all his blood.

Then the pendant flashed, enveloping Ye Liuyun's entire body, and the wounds on him instantly healed, as good as new.

"The wounds have healed? What's going on?"

Ye Liuyun was shocked, still not understanding what had happened, when the black pendant suddenly flew back into his body.

At this moment, perhaps because his earlier injuries were severe, his consciousness grew increasingly hazy, and he gradually slipped into unconsciousness.