The northern winds howled like ancient beasts. Across an endless expanse of snow and ice, mountains loomed like frozen giants, their peaks buried beneath white shrouds. In the great wilderness, where only the hardiest beasts and men could survive, there stood a village half-buried under drifting snow.
This was **Coldwater Village**, a place where survival meant everything, and warmth was rarer than gold.
It was into this bitter world that **Leng Tian** opened his eyes for the very first time. His tiny body trembled as his cries escaped his lips, but unlike other children, there was no robust energy, no sense of vitality in his wails. Instead, the cold seemed to cling to him instinctively, as though his very soul was bound to frost.
The villagers celebrated nonetheless. A new birth meant hope — another pair of hands that might one day hunt, guard, and work for the fragile community.
But Leng Tian's parents, both seasoned hunters with weatherworn eyes, felt the difference immediately. Their child's grip was weak, his cries feeble, his flesh lacking the healthy red of well-born infants.
Still, his mother kissed his forehead gently.
"Even if weak," she whispered, "he is ours. He will endure."
And endure he did.
---
### Childhood Years
Leng Tian grew up in constant comparison to others.
At five years old, while most boys were already learning to wield wooden spears and help their fathers hunt snow hares, Tian struggled to even carry firewood. His frail body collapsed often, his breath harsh in the frigid air.
"Useless child."
"He'll never awaken a martial spirit worth mentioning."
"By the time the snow wolves raid again, he'll be the first to die."
The words pierced him, but beneath that fragile body lived a heart tempered beyond mortal measure. For deep within his soul, unknown to all, **Leng Tian remembered**.
The void.
The icy tome.
The words: "Eternal Ice Spirit".
This life was not his first. It would not be his last.
So even as the village mocked him, he clenched his fists tighter. **If he couldn't wield strength now, then he would leave behind something that would last beyond his fragile flesh.**
At six, he stumbled after his father during hunts, memorizing every track, every snow-beast's habits, even when his arms couldn't pull back a bowstring. At seven, when boys his age boasted of training, he carved patterns in wood, sketching future cultivation techniques he barely dared to dream of.
One thing became clear — though his body was weak, his **mind was sharp**, and his will unyielding.
---
### The Awakening Ceremony
Like all children, at the age of twelve, it was time for his **Martial Spirit Awakening Ceremony**.
The village gathered in the main hall, cold air frosting even their breaths. An elder, long past his prime but still possessing the strength of a Soul Grandmaster, stood at the center with a faint soul ring orbiting his body.
One by one, children placed their hands upon the elder's crystal stone, awakening dormant spirits.
Some manifested icy claws, others snow-rabbit phantoms, some faint ripples of frost energy. Most were ordinary, but each child was met with cheers nonetheless. For in this land, any scrap of cultivation talent was a precious weapon against the cold.
At last, Leng Tian stepped forward.
The hall quieted. Everyone already whispered their doubts.
Placing his trembling hand upon the crystal, Tian felt a rush of biting cold. A faint **shard of translucent ice** appeared above his palm, floating weakly. The air chilled slightly, then flickered, unstable.
The elder frowned.
"Martial Soul: **Frost Crystal**… but unstable, incomplete."
He closed his eyes briefly, extending his energy to sense soul power. Moments later, his expression grew darker.
"Innate Soul Power… **Level 1.**"
The whispers turned into open sighs.
"Just as we expected."
"His body was always weak."
"Barely worth training…"
Tian looked at the fragment of ice hovering before him. Weak, imperfect, fragile — his spirit reflected himself. Yet, instead of despair, a faint smile touched his lips.
*So it begins again.*
Though at the bottom now… his cheat, his rebirth, his determination — these had only just awakened.
---
### The First Step
That night, Tian's father drank heavily. He had dreamed of his son surpassing him, of leaving behind hardship for greater horizons. But instead, life had given him a child cursed with weakness.
"Why does fate mock us so?" He slammed the table, eyes red.
Tian remained silent. Only his mother's hands rested gently on his thin shoulders. "What fate denies," she whispered, looking into his eyes of quiet determination, "hard work will claim."
And so it began — the **training of the useless child**.
While others advanced quickly, Tian painstakingly cultivated each wisp of soul power. Every day was agony, like pulling threads from frozen stone. But he endured.
Months passed. His soul power hardly budged—yet every step stronger than yesterday was victory. Where others sprinted, he crawled, but he never stopped crawling.
It was during one of those bitter training nights — beneath a sky glowing with northern auroras — when Tian said to himself:
"This life may not be glorious. This spirit may not be strong. But I will live. I will plant roots. And even if this body shatters against heaven itself… my bloodline will rise."
His breath misted against the frost-filled night. His goal was no longer personal glory. It was a single seed, one small sapling that future descendants could grow from. The birth of the Eternal Clan would begin here, on broken ice, with a boy everyone called useless.
---
### The Hunter's Trial (Foreshadow for Ch.2–3)
At thirteen, Tian would face his first trial: joining the men of the village in their hunt against a rogue snow wolf. Weak in power, mocked by peers, and slowed by fragile body — he should never have been chosen. Yet he insisted on joining.
For though he could barely summon strength, he remembered… every death meant rebirth, every life meant another chance. But a clan could not survive unless its founder first carved courage into its bones.
And so, Leng Tian picked up his wooden spear. His hands trembled. His soul power flickered dimly. The snow wolf's howl echoed from the forest mist.
The first true test of the "useless child" had arrived.
---
🔥 **End of Chapter 1**
***