Four years have passed since the birth of zhen, and he was already causing trouble.
"I can't do it, this is too much for me." Visibly distressed, the tutor pleaded with Elder Shen.
"Oh come now, we are like brothers," Elder Shen calmly added as he walked toward the tutor, placing a warm hand of assurance on his shoulder.
"I think you're just the right kind of teacher he needs."
Immediately, the tutor's brows curled. "Oh, please, this is the sixth time you've convinced me to continue teaching your grandson."
"You know I have no choice, out of all the tutors, you are the only one who has actually stayed long enough. Please, only for a few more years."
"Enough!!! I am done here. Your grandson is far beyond what I can comprehend. Every word seems like nonsense, yet somehow it invokes the Dao. If I stay near him any longer, my Dao Foundation will collapse!"
Elder Shen, defeated, watched as one of his closest friends walked away, broken. He knew all too well what happened to a cultivator who encountered a Heaven-Blessed. Both a blessing and a curse. If lucky, being around a heaven-chosen can reveal truths, lies, dreams, and happiness—each a key to proving the Dao.
But for the less fortunate, encountering a heaven-chosen creates a heart demon that invades a cultivator's Dao Heart and Seed.
Those who fail to suppress and defeat their heart demons become corrupted and often fall into the demonic path. Though not all demonic cultivators are evil, those who enter that path without a solid foundation end up crippling themselves—becoming blood worms, allowed to exist only by possessing a vessel and consuming flesh of the living.
As each worm is fundamentally born from chaos qi, its body requires constant life qi, an energy possessed only by the living.
Which is why Elder Shen respected his dear friend's request. He could only blame himself for almost sacrificing someone so close to him. After a few minutes of silence,
Grabbing his outer garment, he headed toward the Pavilion of a Thousand Scrolls. The mountain air whispered as he moved, robes dragging across dew-kissed stone. The sun had barely risen, but that didn't matter. Some truths needed to be seen before the day fully began.
He passed the bronze bell tower, ascended three winding paths, and stood before the ancient gate — carved with the names of countless Immortal Lords, their stories etched into eternity. Inside, the Pavilion was still. Silent and Heavy.
Inside, little Zhen sat among a pile of scrolls. Now four years old, he could move of his own will. Which meant: it was time for adventure.
Excited beyond words, he had roamed throughout the Tianxue Palace, the Main Chamber, and even tried to exit the Tianxue Secret Realm. Even as he was thwarted several times, he still continued exploring, and his mischievous deeds didn't end there.
In the Immortal Realm, it is customary that once a child reaches the age of three, a tutor is assigned to guide their path. This age-old tradition ensures each young immortal is molded and raised into a cultivator worthy of their bloodline and destiny. Naturally, one was also assigned to little Zhen.
But Zhen was no ordinary child. With full consciousness regained — and the mind of a twenty-three-year-old from another world — things did not unfold as expected. Sharp, calculating, and far too aware, it wasn't long before… problems arose.
The issue at hand was that He was too gifted. Any lesson he heard, he could recall and improve. If he was handed a technique, no matter the grade, he was able to not only memorize it with one look but also could raise his comprehension of it from initial insight to Mid Great Perfection.
{dao here-
Comprehension is the cultivator's ability to understand, internalize, and evolve a technique, Dao, or concept. Unlike raw talent or cultivation base, comprehension reflects the depth of insight a person has into the essence of what they are using or learning.
It is not something that can be given — only experienced, refined, and earned through battle, meditation, enlightenment, or life and death situations.
Why is Comprehension Important?
Higher comprehension = stronger techniques. A simple sword technique, when fully comprehended, can cut mountains and the moon
It reduces energy waste. Better qi control. Qi manipulation can affect the laws of the world depending on the stage.
It opens the way to Dao Embodiment. Without a perfected comprehension, one cannot walk the Dao.
In higher realms, comprehension becomes just as vital as cultivation base, as the strongest beings may cultivate a single technique to the peak, outmatching those with dozens of half-learned arts.
[Technique Comprehension Stages]
Techniques evolve through ten stages of mastery. Each stage reflects how deeply a cultivator understands and integrates a technique.
1-Initial Insight
2-Basic Comprehension
3-Minor Attunement
4-Major Attunement
5-Low Great Perfection
6-Mid Great Perfection
7-High Great Perfection
8-Peak Perfection
9-Dao Embodiment
10-True Law Fusion
ok back to the story}
One by one, his tutors began to quit. Being in his presence only highlighted their shortcomings. Zhen would even mock them for failing to answer a single one of his questions. Time and time again, a tutor would leave. After all, who would dare risk triggering a heart demon?.
Elder Shen sighed in defeat. Sitting on his throne within the royal halls, he wondered about what had gone wrong. How could a child of only four outwit and outmaneuver thousand-year-old cultivators?
"At first it wasn't like this," he thought. If only we had chosen a different tutor at the time, then he would be a child who smiled more. Now he is cunning and unrelenting, never giving the edge. Believing he must always be in the lead."
Elder Shen's worry for zhen made him look like a regular old man, flowing through the weary times as a leaf in the wind. All of this is due to Zhens ' first tutor, Ping Xin.
This began one year ago, when zhen turned 3 and had finished celebrating his birthday. Following the custom, Zhens' father, Prince Hu, began discussing with his mother and the elders the need to find a tutor now that Zhens was of age.
At first, there were thousands of candidates ready to teach the boy, since doing so might earn them status, rank, and prestige, since the Tianxie clan was the second most noble clan in the immortal world. A true royal family, standing above thirty-six thousand worlds.
And even then, just being able to teach a heaven's chosen was an opportunity most were not willing to miss out on, due to the benefits a heaven's chosen brings,
in hopes of getting closer to proving the dao, countless clans and races from the myriad worlds soon gathered at the immortal realm. After a gruelling process, Ping Xin was chosen.
A fifteen-million-year-old mid-stage immortal general. A small man standing around 2'11 due to his bloodline being half-ant. Although he had no bloodline, his appearance leaned more towards his human side, with black hair that flailed wildly. Slanted, striking brown eyes full of greed. And a face that comforted one's soul, a true, dignified, immortal.
By his side was his trusted weapon, the lonely sage's flute. A powerful immortal artifact ranked seventy-seven on the ten-thousand weapons list. A weapon that allowed one who specialized in the Dao of Sound to create a field of 900 meters. Within the field, the immortal gains a 10% increase in immortal qi recovery every 3 seconds, up to a maximum of 5 times, with a max time limit of 10 minutes.
While the enemies get a 35% debuff to qi absorption, reducing their ability to recover. When the immortal does damage, the field will inflict {bleed}, which will siphon the enemy's true and immortal qi. The longer the field remains stacked, the more it gains qi.
When Ping Xin first began tutoring the young zhen, he believed that due to his experience. This would be an easy task, which would surely place the honors and status on a platter and deliver it to him. But after just one day of tutoring zhen, he quickly realized that this child was dangerous.
You see, on the first day of lessons, Ping Xin had prepared countless questions and tests that would stump experienced cultivators, to the point that they would give up. He confidently believed that there was no way a three-year-old could even understand the questions.
"This plan is perfect, as long as he fails, I can still be his tutor for as long as I want. By the time I allow him to graduate, I will be a prestigious sage." Blinded by his thoughts, Ping Xin slowly began to crumble as his desires for fame and rank slowly festered within.
Unaware of this, Zhen answered every question with ease. Due to his innate affinity with the Dao, anything related to it was recorded in his mind. No matter how much one tried, Zhens' affinity with the Dao proved too much for them to endure.
However, Ping Xin believed differently. In his mind, he was convinced only he was truly capable of teaching the boy, since how could fifteen million years of comprehending the Dao lose to a fetus?
Then on the second day, something happened that would cause a stir within the immortal world. At first, Zhen had just been escorted to the hall of a thousand scrolls, where they conducted the lessons. Seeing that his tutor had not yet arrived, he began scoping around the library. And as the holy son of the Tianxe royal clan, he had access to every level and could view any technique of any grade without restriction.
But only when he had reached the required realm, and since he is currently only three, he was only at the first stage of the qi gathering realm. So, as of now, he only has access to the first floor.
Within the pavilion of a thousand scrolls, there are a total of ten floors, each one corresponding to the grades of techniques.
{dao here-
In the primal universe, techniques are ranked by grade — a measure of how much power, insight, and Dao resonance a technique contains at its peak.
While comprehension stages show how well a cultivator understands a technique, grades represent the potential ceiling of that technique. For this reason, techniques below the profound grade can only reach mid-grade perfection, and those below the immortal grade can never reach the true law fusion.
{Technique Grades}
1-Mortal Grade
2-Spirit Grade
3- Earth Grade
4- Heaven Grade
5- Saint Grade
6-Immortal Grade
7- Divine Grade
8- Origin Grade
Back to the story}
While still waiting for Ping Xin, zhen browsed the lower-grade technique scrolls, trying to understand the world he was in. As he read more, his understanding and comprehension grew. Wanting more, he picked up a scroll that had dropped earlier when he was collecting countless scrolls.
Looking at it, he read the title: {a foolish man's understanding of the clarity dao}, a minor mortal grade technique that had been wasting away in the corners of the pavilion. Although most learn it, they eventually hit a wall that most believe the technique can't overcome. So most abandon it once they reach core formation.
Not caring for its notoriety, zhen still chose to read it anyway, with the goal of challenging himself. If none of those immorals of the past could do it, then he, as the immortal of the future, would outshine them.
With his mind focused on the texts, zhen became entranced by his comprehension of the Dao of clarity. Quickly absorbing and understanding, entering a state of Dao unity.
As this occurred, Ping Xin had just arrived at the great gates and was walking towards where Zhen was waiting. With his chest up and pride inflated, he walked forward with a new and improved plan. For Ping Xin, prestige had become an obsession for him. The obsession was so great that if his comprehension of the Dao of Sound had not reached the Dao Embodiment phase, surely his Dao would have been the Dao of obsession.
This prestige soon began to be corrupted by the desire for more. No longer was he satisfied with just being the tutor of the holy son, or a prestigious sage; oh no, he wanted more.
"Why settle there? I have lived for countless eras. I have seen the birth and death of stars and planes. From birth to now, I have walked the path of the strong, and through blood, I forged my dao. Why should I stop here? I can go higher. Since that little brat is deciding to waste his talents, let me right the wrong the heavens committed by gifting it to him. I should take it, I am more worthy."
Eventually, it made him blind and greedy. And soon, he began to have thoughts of brainwashing the boy and stealing his body. By doing so, he can truly make better use of it. Except within the immortal world, stealing another's body is forbidden, and such techniques are considered taboo and banned. A cultivator caught practicing the dark arts is stripped of their immortal bones, and their immortal core is shattered. Then they are to be cast into the great boundary, where beings above the Dao passage roam the vast skies.
Without their immortal bones or their core, such cultivators are destined to die a gruesome death as their punishment for their crimes. Thus, most cultivators prioritize avoiding such techniques. But to Ping Xin, nothing mattered more than what he wanted. So imagine the shock he felt upon witnessing Zhens' talents.
Now, seeing the boy, Ping Xin stared as Zhen effortlessly comprehended the technique. Within two minutes, zhen had reached the great-perfection phase. Allowing him to unlock what no other cultivator could. Above him, the technique glowed then split in half, to the right was the original technique-{a foolish man's understanding of the clarity dao}, while on the left was the new technique- {Dao Clarity Blade-World Cutter}.
Once it was finished imprinting inside Zhens' mind, the scroll returned to its original form and then faded away. Forever remaining only in the mind of zhen.
Seeing this, Xin's heart became overwhelmed with lust for his body more so than ever, as if staring at a well-cooked stake. Ping Xin quickly rushed his master plan.
After waiting for zhen to finish, he approached him and began to coax him. "How wonderful, my prince, once again I am amazed by your talents. Within the entire realm, only you possess such a gift."
Although Ping Xin did everything to coax him, zhen was the type who saw no value in engaging with petty and treacherous fools, so he always kept him at arm's length, ensuring that no "relationship" between them formed.
Naturally, this upset Ping Xin greatly; in his mind, this was unforgivable. With his status, his pride wouldn't allow him to be rejected by a child. It should be an honor.
Cracking, he approached the boy and began to whisper lies into his ear, hoping to deceive him. "You are not as gifted as they say. This is a lie fed to you only because of your status; you are trash."
Unable to contain himself, zhen burst out laughing and began pointing at him. {How did he think that was going to do anything? Are the people of ancient times really this stupid, or is it just this insect of a bastard?}
Furious, Ping Xin began squirming and yelling, then fell silent. He looked at the boy with anger, challenging him.
"Oh, you think that you're so clever? Well then, let us see how clever you are. Do you dare to face me in a Dao battle?
A Dao battle? For the last three years, Zhen has been learning as much as he could; not once had he heard of a Dao battle. This was because it is something only those who have reached the ascension realm can learn about. But now, a child just at the qi-gathering realm is being challenged to it.
Curious and not caring, zhen replied, "Sure, and without his knowledge, he had now signed a Dao oath for a Dao battle.