Volume 1: Surface of Fate — A Step Away From Heaven
"Fate no longer walks beside me."
A beautiful field covered in blue flowers stretched as far as the eye could see. At its center stood a large pagoda, divine light shining down upon the sea of blossoms.
Each time a brick fell, it struck the solid stone floor with a heavy echo.
The ground beneath was polished like a silver chestplate, faint sparks of light flickering across its surface. But no one seemed to notice—because they were all dead.
Countless lifeless bodies lay scattered across the land.
SPLASH!
The tearing of flesh echoed through the air as blood stained the ground, soaking into it as though the earth itself was drinking it.
"Are you out of your mind?"
The sun rose high in the sky, casting light over a young man standing below.
He wore ragged clothes and held a broken double-edged katana.
He stepped back. His face was bruised and covered in blood. He looked like a ghost born from battle itself, his clothing nothing more than torn rags.
He clenched his fist and pointed forward.
"Why are you doing this, Supreme Leader?! Don't you understand this is hypocrisy itself?!"
Suddenly, Mingyun's vision blurred as twenty immortals surrounded him from all directions.
A figure stepped out from the shadows.
He came from an ancient lost clan, one that had been destroyed years ago but later rediscovered by the Nine Sects.
His face was stained with blood. He wore a suit of crimson armor, divine veins glowing faintly green across his chest. A black fur cape rested over his left shoulder.
He smiled coldly.
"Oh, Mingyun… the one who brings people together. Hehehe… don't change the subject, boy. Didn't you say you wanted this?"
Mingyun clenched his fist, his voice rough.
"What are you talking about? I never asked for this. I never told you to destroy my village! I only said I despised it… I fucking despised it!"
The truth was simple—this destruction had been caused because of Mingyun.
He was hated by his clan and by immortal cultivators, beings said to descend from heavenly creatures above the Nine Heavens, from the Great Soul Force Sect.
Mingyun was only a man over a century old who had not awakened his soul force.
The gap between mortals and immortals was absolute—destiny itself seemed to favor the strong.
He was treated like a failure, despised by his clan, and worse than a servant among mortals.
He spoke again, voice shaking.
"Did I tell you to do this? Why are you twisting the story?"
The tall man stared at him with a tired expression. In a flash, he appeared in front of Mingyun and grabbed him by the throat, leaning in close.
"Thank you, by the way. Because of you, we gained spoils from this place. This village was useless anyway—now we have gold and diamonds."
Mingyun did not resist. Only guilt remained in his eyes.
"You'll regret that…"
CRACK!
Before he could finish speaking, his neck snapped.
Mingyun died that day with a bitter smile on his face.
Far away, a caravan road stretched across a dry field of cracked earth.
Thousands of people moved along it, living their lives as a middle-aged man lay on the ground, bleeding, wrapping his wounds with dry bandages.
He looked up with trembling eyes. Tears fell down his face.
"Mingyun… if I had known I wasn't a failure… I would have tried to give you a better life than this…"
He coughed violently.
"I didn't expect to leave this world so soon…"
Mingyun held his father's hand gently.
"Father… it's not your fault. You tried to protect me. I was just too weak to awaken my soul force. Please… don't blame yourself."
But his father did not listen. He cried until night came.
Mingyun opened a wooden door and entered the room where his father lay dying.
He held a bowl filled with green paste, stirring it with a damaged wooden fork.
He carefully applied it to his father's wounds as tears fell silently.
Then suddenly—
He slammed the bowl against the wall.
"Dad! No… don't die! Please!"
He held his father tightly as the old man slowly closed his eyes.
"Someone help me… please…"
"Dad… don't leave me…"
"Why… why, Dad…?"
That night, Mingyun buried his father in a grassy field.
His eyes were empty, filled with hatred toward the world.
"You left me alone… when are you coming back, Dad?"
He coughed violently as rain began to fall.
"This is unfair… I'm all alone… why can't this world be righteous?!"
Ten years later.
Mingyun sat at a table, staring out the window.
He picked up a cup, swallowed a pill, and took a sip of water.
Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.
He collapsed.
"I… I'm only 18 years old… I still need to achieve my goal…"
He coughed weakly.
His voice faded before his final words could escape.
He died painfully.
"This action will have consequences, Mingyun. If you don't think properly, you're acting like a fool."
Mingyun shouted back with a trembling voice.
"Shut up, old man!"
"Did I allow you to speak to me? No. You don't deserve that."
"I am one of the Ten Sect Servants. Even if I am the lowest rank, I am still above a mortal like you."
The chubby man in black silk robes looked at him calmly.
"Yes, I failed. But unlike you, I have experience. I only want what's best for you."
"You're going to destroy yourself if you enter that tournament. Do you even know what happens if you fail a round?"
"You will lose your life to the Headmaster, who will take your blood for his own gain."
But Mingyun struck him in anger.
"You're the reason my father died in that war! If you hadn't sent him, he would've been a hero of Sap Continent! He could still be alive!"
"I hate you… I wish even my mother—who abandoned me—was here instead of you!"
Mingyun collapsed, bleeding.
"Uncle…"
He tried to speak, but his breath trembled.
Suddenly—
The building collapsed.
His uncle pushed him away, shielding him as the structure crushed him.
"UNCLE!! NOOO!"
"Why me?! WHY ME?!"
He turned—and saw people fighting everywhere.
Then—
A blade pierced his neck.
He coughed blood.
"Headmaster… you fuc—"
He died instantly.
Mingyun stood before a beautiful red lake.
He dropped the knife.
Above him, thousands of figures floated in the sky, staring down.
"So you are the culprit behind the destruction of the Fate Building. We finally found you."
Fear filled his body.
Then something inside him broke.
He stopped shaking.
Stopped crying.
Stopped fearing.
Stopped caring.
Everything went silent inside him.
All emotion vanished.
He looked up and smiled faintly.
"Cultivators like you dream of happiness and set goals… but the thing stopping you is yourselves."
"My lack of hard work… was for nothing."
"So much potential… for what?"
A cultivator shouted.
"Shut your mouth, mortal! We know you hold the Life and Death Artificial Weapon—the second most legendary item in the Nine Heavens!"
"We are here to take it."
All eyes locked onto him.
Mingyun whispered:
"So all my actions… all those years trying to fix my mistakes… were for nothing?"