In the stillness of dawn, Li Yi sat upon a cliff overlooking the Cloudmist Basin.
The energy around him surged like the tides of the sea. His cultivation had reached a level that would leave sect disciples speechless. In just a single night, he had broken through Meridian Opening and was now approaching the bottleneck of Foundation Establishment—a feat unheard of, even among the top clans.
His breathing was deep and measured, but his mind was restless.
That voice from within—the whisper of a legacy buried deep in his blood—had spoken again in his dreams.
> "Your birth severed fate. Your steps awaken paths the heavens forgot."
He didn't fully understand it. But as the pendant around his neck continued to pulse with divine warmth, he felt the certainty of it—his existence was anything but ordinary.
---
Meanwhile, far beyond the skies of the Upper Realm, in the shattered reaches of space where reality twisted and burned, the Ancient Battlefield raged on.
The God Realm, once a domain of peace and divine authority, had become a war-torn hellscape of eternal conflict.
Massive beasts born of abyssal hate clashed with gods cloaked in celestial flame. Every sword strike echoed across dimensions. Every fallen deity bled starlight and law.
Among the fighting stood a woman in white robes stained with silver blood. Her eyes burned with cold determination, her face delicate yet divine. She was Li Yi's mother—Mu Qinglan, daughter of one of the Eternal Deities of the Divine Sky Clan.
With a single palm, she shattered the head of a Demon Lord that dared touch the divine warding stones.
A voice spoke beside her. "Still watching that pendant of yours?"
She didn't turn. "He's alive," she whispered. "And the seal trembled last night. My son... he's started to walk the path."
"You should not have left him," the god beside her said. "You gave up your place in the Divine Palace for him."
"I would give up the heavens themselves," she replied, voice soft but unshaken.
---
Back in the Xuan Realm, Li Yi stirred.
A strange light had appeared in the night sky—visible only to those attuned to universal qi. It looked like a tear in the heavens, quickly fading, but it left a faint mark in his senses, like a memory not his own.
And then, it came.
A dream—or perhaps a vision.
He stood in a battlefield where stars wept, and the ground was stitched with chains of gold and blood. He saw demons with a thousand mouths scream curses at the sky. He saw divine warriors fall, laughing even as they were torn apart.
And above them all, a golden gate, shattered and sealed by a wall of divine runes. Behind that gate... he felt home.
When he awoke, he was drenched in sweat. The pendant on his neck was glowing faintly, showing symbols he could not read.
---
"Is this... my future?" he whispered.
The energy within him swirled violently. He could feel his cultivation pushing past the barrier.
He gritted his teeth, focused his mind, and with a silent roar—
Boom!
His dantian exploded with light. A core formed—dense, pure, and golden.
Foundation Establishment – Complete.
He had crossed yet another threshold.
But he did not smile.
He had seen war. He had heard the voices of gods. And he now knew this world—this peaceful, quiet Xuan Realm—was merely a small piece of a much greater battlefield.
And for some reason… the fate of that battlefield was tied to him.