Four thousand years ago, on Kunwu Continent.
The Azure Phoenix Sect.
A frail boy knelt before the Azure Phoenix Sect's mountain gate, remaining there for three days and three nights.
Beneath his knees lay rough slabs of bluestone.
Moss grew in the cracks between the slabs, its vitality flourishing all the more beneath the rain.
So much so that the knees of his coarse cloth garments had already been stained green.
Fine, dense rain fell upon the frail boy, trickling down his hair and flowing through his collar onto his neck.
The coarse cloth garment he wore had been completely soaked through.
The fabric clung to his body, outlining his thin shoulder blades.
From time to time, disciples of the Azure Phoenix Sect passed through the mountain gate.
The vast majority of these Immortal Cultivators completely ignored the thin, frail boy.
They had seen the same scene many times before.
Every three years, the Azure Phoenix Sect held a ceremony to open its gates and recruit disciples.
The last recruitment ceremony had taken place two months earlier.
Clearly, this frail boy kneeling in the pouring rain had missed the recruitment ceremony two months ago.
Such things happened from time to time. Almost every year, a dozen or so mortal youths seeking immortality and the Dao would kneel endlessly before the Azure Phoenix Sect's mountain gate.
Some kindhearted disciples of the Azure Phoenix Sect had tried to persuade them to leave, but these people usually remained unmoved.
They would not listen to anyone else's advice.
Only when hope truly died would they give up.
There had been no shortage of people who could hold out even longer than this frail boy.
Yet without exception.
Everyone who tried to obtain an exception ultimately returned empty-handed.
But this frail boy knew he had