Chapter One: The Arrival of the Chubby Boy from the Fifth Peak

The ethereal sect was situated at the southernmost tip of the Windsoul Continent, encircled by mountains, famed for its sheer cliffs and precipitous ridges where even long-armed apes found it impossible to climb. Towering ancient trees clustered densely, and at midnight the air was pierced by unending howls, chilling to the bone. Save for the occasional desperate hunter or physician in urgent need of a rare medicinal herb, few ever set foot in these haunted wilds.

Yet within this realm, invisible to mortal eyes, countless pavilions and towers nestled in the mountains, immortal figures flitted about—a true paradise hidden from the world.

“Old Five, how is your grandson’s injury?” someone inquired.

“It’s still the same. Three years have passed, yet he remains unconscious, with less than a tenth of his vitality left. I truly don’t know how much longer he can hold on,” was the weary reply from Gu Zaizuo, the master of the Fifth Peak. His face grew even paler, his whole demeanor drained of strength.

“And his father? Didn’t he set out long ago to seek Divine Healer Lu? Still no news?” pressed the other peak masters.

Gu Zaizuo could only sigh, more powerless than before.

In a modest room at the rear of the Fifth Peak’s main hall, there were no extravagant decorations—just a table, a chair, a bed. Upon the bed lay a boy of fourteen or fifteen, his brows tightly furrowed, his forehead and body drenched in cold sweat. Dozens of top-grade Warm Sun Jades were arrayed around the bed, yet they seemed to have no effect at all. His face, utterly devoid of color, twitched with muscle spasms, as if knots were constantly being tied and untied beneath the skin. It was difficult to imagine the agony this still-youthful boy had endured for the past three years, or, more accurately, the torment.

As always, Gu Zaizuo sat by the boy’s bedside for a long time, sighing, before returning to the main hall. Over the past three years, he had spent exorbitant sums acquiring and collecting countless ancient texts—some from orthodox medicine, others from obscure and unorthodox sources. With each volume he finished, the shadow on Nangong Zuo’s face deepened.

The long, silent night wore on. With the master’s mind distracted, signs of decline were everywhere on the Fifth Peak. The few elders and disciples who remained had long since retired to their rooms to meditate or rest. Only in the far distance did the roars of beasts occasionally echo.

The next day, in the main hall atop the central peak, the sect leader Nangong Kang gathered with the masters of the Second and Third Peaks, Nangong You and Nangong Ping; the Fourth Peak’s master, Gu Chengyun; the Fifth Peak’s Gu Zaizuo; and the Sixth and Seventh Peaks’ masters, Ouyang Guang and Ouyang Jun. They convened to discuss the matter of spiritual mine excavation. Only Old Five, Gu Zaizuo, was distracted, and everyone else, knowing his heart was elsewhere, refrained from disturbing him.

The sun blazed like a furnace, flooding the martial training ground and the scripture repository with heat. Elders and disciples alike were absorbed in their various duties.

Suddenly, far in the distance, the sky grew dark as black clouds swept in at tremendous speed, blotting out the sun. In an instant, a shadow fell over the entire ethereal sect, and, looking out, one saw the whole continent plunged into darkness.

Such an anomaly not only left everyone in the sect alarmed and at a loss, but also sent shockwaves through all the other sects, dynasties, and cultivation families across the continent. None could fathom the cause, nor guess what consequences might follow. Whether lofty cultivators or mystical beasts, or mere mortals as insignificant as grass in the wilderness, all alike felt, under this heavenly might, the crushing sense of being no more than ants.

Not long after the black clouds descended, thunder rumbled endlessly in the heights above, as if heralding the world’s end. Thick bolts of lightning cracked in all directions, shaking the earth, turning the entire world into a searing, blinding day amid auroras.

At the same time, across the continent, countless mysterious monuments began to rise from fissures wreathed in spectral fire...

Nangong Kang and the others of the ethereal sect could only stand dumbstruck, mouths agape, staring at the apocalyptic heavens. All cultivators—regardless of whether they had practiced for centuries or millennia—were united in their loss of composure.

Gu Zaizuo, whose mind had been wandering, was suddenly jolted awake. He leapt up and flew directly toward his grandson’s room. In his heart, not even the world’s end could deter him from guarding his pitiable little grandson.

As Gu Zaizuo rushed away, the sect master recovered from his shock, instructed the other peak masters to look after the sect, and hurriedly shot out toward the gates. Across the continent, figures soared into the sky, all heading toward a common destination...

At the highest point of the Tianji Sect, atop the Divination Platform, the place was packed. Sect leaders and elders from various sects had arrived uninvited, all wearing anxious frowns.

The heavenly divination array was activated. The master diviner, known as the Sage of Fate, sat cross-legged, his fingers flying through intricate gestures amid the thunder and lightning. Suddenly, he spat out dozens of mouthfuls of blood and collapsed backward...

“A monument of earth appears—catastrophe descends after a thousand years. The Celestial Palace opens—one chosen will usher in a new era.”

These words of warning from the Sage of Fate spread throughout the world, and chaos descended on every sect and nation.

Back in the rear courtyard of the Fifth Peak, Gu Zaizuo stood with grim determination, unable to bear looking at the suffering boy, facing the door instead.

The boy’s breathing and pulse grew slower and slower, his pupils unfocused, his tightly clenched jaw slackening, his muscles gradually ceasing their spasms. Gu Zaizuo knew in his heart that his little grandson was about to depart this world, and tears streamed down his face.

“Damn it, my head hurts—my whole body hurts...” A sudden curse startled Gu Zaizuo. Uncertain whether it was joy or shock, he grabbed the boy’s shoulder, shouting repeatedly, “Changqing! Changqing... It’s Grandpa...”

On this day that seemed like doomsday to everyone on the continent, it was, for Gu Zaizuo, a day when joy was born from the depths of sorrow—for his little grandson, Gu Changqing, had awakened, though still exceedingly weak.

Summoned forcibly back to the central peak’s hall, Gu Zaizuo listened to the prophecy brought back by the sect leader from the Divination Pavilion. Feeling it had nothing to do with him, he left the others behind and sped directly back to his grandson’s side.

After one night, the black clouds dispersed, the sky returned to its clear, brilliant blue, and the sun shone brightly.

People came and went at the Fifth Peak. Upon hearing that Gu Zaizuo’s grandson had awakened, the other peak masters gathered at the Fifth Peak, each bringing their most treasured spiritual pills and medicines.

At this moment, young master Gu Changqing had already realized that his soul had left his homeland and transmigrated into the body of a boy with the same name on the Windsoul Continent. Lying in bed, he ground his teeth in bitter resentment.

“I’ve read too many transmigration novels—now it’s my turn, serves me right!”

“But my luck is rotten. If not into the body of a healthy genius, at least let it be a slightly frail good-for-nothing—but why this one? Every part of me feels like it’s falling apart, as if I’ve been run over again and again by cars going a hundred and twenty miles an hour...”

Three months later, after being treated with countless rare treasures and medicinal herbs, Gu Changqing was able to get out of bed and walk a little. Though he still couldn’t jump or run, at least there was some hope. The only thing that pained him was that instead of recovering from his sickly thinness, he’d been fattened up by all the tonics. For someone who’d always cared about his looks in his previous life, this was a cruel blow!