"Kill! Kill!"
Nie Yun gradually regained consciousness to the sound of a furious roar, one filled with anger, resentment, and indignation.
"Yun'er, you're finally awake! Don't scare Mom like that again!"
The moment he opened his eyes, he heard a voice choked with sobs.
Hearing this voice, Nie Yun shuddered. His eyes shot wide open, and he quickly turned his head toward the sound. Just as he expected, a middle-aged woman was sitting by his bed. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, as if she hadn't slept for several nights.
"Mom?"
Nie Yun's body went stiff, and his mind roared as a memory fragment flashed through it.
'My name is Nie Yun. I was a supreme expert at the Peak of the Dantian Acupoint Realm. When the Demon Race invaded, I entered the continent's most mysterious Ten Thousand Realms Mountain with dozens of my sworn brothers. We were searching for traces left behind by a Divine Spirit, hoping to find a chance to break through and secure a thread of life for humanity.'
'After countless perils, we did indeed discover a remnant of an ancient civilization in the far reaches of time and space. But just as I'd obtained it, before I even had a chance to examine it, a longsword pierced through my chest!'
'The one who attacked was my most trusted brother! They had already submitted to the Demon Race and were just using me to find this ruin!'
'Facing the Demon Race's overwhelming invasion, I never expected to survive. But being betrayed by my most trusted brothers drove me mad. Though gravely wounded, I unleashed a Forbidden Technique, burning my own life force to slay every last one of the traitors with my sword!'
'In that battle, the Ten Thousand Realms Mountain and the ancient civilization crumbled into dust!'
'In that battle, all who betrayed me were annihilated!'
'In that battle, my soul was scattered, my Bloodline Factors were shattered, and I ceased to exist!'
"Shouldn't I be dead? Hasn't the clan been annihilated for years?"
As this memory fragment faded, Nie Yun's fists clenched. When his eyes fell upon the familiar surroundings, it was as if a bolt of lightning struck his mind. His mouth fell open, and he uttered a disbelieving question.
"I've actually... returned to three hundred years in the past? I'm only sixteen this year?"
He knew this scene all too well; it was seared into his memory for life. This was the year he turned sixteen. He had gotten into an argument with his cousin from the same clan, Nie Chao, and the other boy had beaten him until he was severely injured.
Because of that severe injury, he had fallen into a coma for five whole days and nights, and his mother had kept vigil at his side for all five of them. When he finally woke up, his cultivation had plummeted several levels, dropping from the Early-Stage of the Third Layer of Qi Nourishing Realm in the Qi Sea Nine Heavens all the way back to the First Layer of the Energy-Introducing Realm!
It was because of this catastrophic drop in strength that he missed the family's disciple assessment. His branch of the family saw its status plummet, was abandoned by the clan, and forced to leave Luoshui City. From then on, he never recovered. He suffered endless humiliation from outsiders while his family members, left with no support, passed away one by one.
And it was also because of this injury that his mother, desperate to find a Pengxin Snow Lotus to save him, secretly climbed Xialuo Peak. She slipped, fell to her death, and became his lifelong regret.
"If you're not dead, stop playing possum and get up and cultivate!"
Just as Nie Yun's mind was reeling from the shock of his rebirth, a cold, displeased voice barked out. The speaker was a somewhat slovenly middle-aged man holding a large wine gourd. Reeking of alcohol, he stumbled out of the room as he spoke.
"Dad?" Seeing this man and hearing his harsh words, Nie Yun felt no resentment. Instead, his eyes couldn't help but redden.
His father, Nie Xiaotian, had once been the number one genius of their clan. He was a Royal Family Peak Cultivator who had awakened seven Bloodline Factors. Before the age of twenty-five, he had already reached the Seventh Layer Armor Realm of the Qi Sea Nine Heavens. He was the champion of the Luoshui Prodigy Tournament and the winner of the Luoshui Golden Shield. Just when everyone believed he would break through the chains of the seventh layer, advance to the Qi Sect, and become a First Generation Grandmaster, he suddenly suffered a cultivation deviation. His Qi Sea was shattered, and all of his power was destroyed in an instant.
A shattered Qi Sea meant he could never cultivate again. For a supreme genius hailed as a once-in-a-century talent, the blow was simply too great. His father never recovered, drowning his sorrows in alcohol day after day.
Going from a genius to a cripple, his father was ostracized by his former rivals. The status of their family branch plummeted, and they were eventually relegated to the very outskirts of Luoshui City, forbidden from even entering the main family estate.
Nie Yun had been born into this environment, facing all sorts of bullying and ridicule from the very start. Because of this, he had always resented the father who had caused it all. He even hated his own family.
'If it weren't for this father of mine,' he thought, 'I could have awakened my Bloodline Factors much earlier and received far more cultivation resources. My strength would have grown faster, and I might have become a revered genius of the clan, instead of being cast out to the edge of the city, despised and looked down upon by everyone!'
'If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have had to endure so much humiliation. Everything I did wouldn't have been met with such resistance, and our lives wouldn't have been so destitute!'
For all these reasons, he had grown to detest his father more and more. There was no affection to speak of between them.
That was how things were, until that day...
On that day, blood filled the air as the Demon Race army invaded all of Luoshui City. His father's body had shielded him, only to be pierced by the spear of a Mi Demon Race leader.
It was only in the moment of his father's death that Nie Yun finally understood. To help his son awaken his Bloodline Factors, his father had traded away the Wenlin Treasure Saber that he had cherished as much as his own life.
To help him cultivate faster, his father had swallowed his pride and knelt before the Clan Leader, begging for a Spirit Valley Pill. Then, he'd had his mother pretend she had found it by chance and give it to him.
And to prevent his son from being implicated by his ruined reputation, he had painfully forced himself to wear a mask of indifference...