Cultivation Begins with the Crane Form

The gulf between mortals and immortals is a chasm as vast as the heavens. Those blessed with spiritual roots stand high above the clouds, pursuing eternal life; those without them are worth no more than grass, doomed to grow old and die in the mortal world.

Xia Dong was once merely a mortal traveler without spiritual roots-until an ancient bronze bell accompanied him into another world, where he was reborn.

One toll of the bell, and every attainment becomes eternal.

The flesh may live and die, but his cultivation never wanes, never regresses.

Spring's pulse is taut as a bowstring; summer's curves like a hook. Autumn's is light as a feather; winter's sinks like a stone. In the long river of time, countless dazzling prodigies vanish with the current, and countless mighty powers crumble into dust.

Only Xia Dong strolls through that river, leaving behind the name Gouchen-Delver of the Depths-to echo through the ages.

"Once I discerned the truth within the tide, I knew at last: there is neither self nor worldly dust."