The Family's Outcast

Chapter 1: The Family's Outcast. In the boundless expanse of the Great Thousand World, the Northern Spiritual Realm was like a pearl veiled in dust. Though it possessed a charm of its own, it also harbored countless untold joys and sorrows, partings and reunions. Within the Northern Spiritual Realm, the Mu Domain had once been a prominent power, but as the years passed and times changed, many stories now unfolded quietly within its ruling family. Mu Chen, a boy who should have grown up happily under his family's protection, had instead fallen into endless suffering after his mother disappeared. Among the tall, ancient buildings of the Mu Domain, his figure seemed unbearably lonely. The family members who looked at him no longer showed the respect they had once held because his father was the lord of the Mu Domain. Their eyes were filled instead with indifference and disdain. Mu Chen lived in a small courtyard on the outskirts of the family estate. Compared with the grand, lavish pavilions at its center, with their carved beams and painted rafters, his courtyard was hopelessly dilapidated. Moss covered its mottled walls, as though recounting the merciless passage of time. Only a few nameless wildflowers grew stubbornly in a corner, yet the desolation around them made even those flowers seem forlorn. Whenever he walked along the paths of the family estate, relatives he had once known well deliberately kept their distance, as though avoiding the plague. Whispers behind him pierced his back like sharp arrows. "Look, that's Mu Chen. After his mother disappeared, he became a bearer of ill fortune. The Mu Domain's decline probably started with him." Yet Mu Chen was not crushed by their cruel words or cold treatment. In his humble little room, whenever the night grew still and moonlight spilled through the battered window onto his young but resolute face, he cultivated diligently by the faint glow of a candle. He knew full well that in a world where strength reigned supreme, only great power could change his fate, allow him to find his mother, and make the relatives who scorned him see him anew. His path of cultivation was a hundred times harder than that of an ordinary person. The family's cultivation resources were already distributed unevenly, and as someone the family despised, he received a pitifully small share. But he never complained. Instead, he regarded it all as an opportunity to temper himself. Every morning, before the first ray of sunlight had fully pierced the mist, he was already out of bed, beginning his day's cultivation in a secluded valley in the mountains behind the estate. Jagged rocks filled the valley, and its spiritual energy was far from abundant, but Mu Chen remained utterly focused. He began with the most basic breathing methods, striving for perfection with every breath, sensing the thin spiritual energy entering his body strand by strand and slowly circulating through his meridians. When practicing martial techniques, he had no teacher to guide him. He could only feel his way forward through his own memories and understanding of the techniques. Again and again, he swung the crude weapon in his hands. Long use had worn it down in many places, but he still gripped it tightly. He practiced every movement repeatedly, striving for precision and power. Sweat soaked his clothes, ran down his cheeks, and dripped onto the dusty ground, leaving tiny marks. Beyond cultivation, Mu Chen also used every available moment to learn about the Great Thousand World. In a corner of the family estate where a sparse collection of old books was kept, he devoured every volume with the hunger of someone starved and parched. Dust coated those ancient texts, as though the world had forgotten them, but in Mu Chen's eyes, they were priceless treasures. He learned of the vastness of the Great Thousand World and the wonders of its different regions, and he yearned all the more for its powerful cultivation methods and mysterious spiritual arts. He searched the ancient texts for ways to improve his strength and studied the paths legendary figures had taken as they grew, hoping to draw lessons from their experiences. Among family members his own age, Mu Chen also faced countless acts of harassment. Most of the companions who had once played with him now treated him coldly under the influence of the family elders. Whenever there was an opportunity to spar or compete on the family's training grounds, Mu Chen invariably became everyone's target. They deliberately provoked him, hoping to regain a sense of superiority at his expense and prove that he was merely a weakling they could bully as they pleased. Once, the family held a small martial tournament to select promising young members for special training. Mu Chen had hoped to use this opportunity to demonstrate his strength and obtain more cultivation resources. During his match, however, his opponent resorted to underhanded tricks. In the heat of battle, while the referee was not looking, his opponent used a forbidden concealed weapon and shot it toward one of Mu Chen's vital points. Relying on his keen perception, Mu Chen narrowly evaded the lethal strike. Even so, his arm was cut, and blood stained his clothes red. Yet he did not abandon the match. Instead, an even fiercer fighting spirit blazed in his eyes. Enduring the pain, he fought on. His unyielding figure stirred something faintly in the hearts of a few family members present, but that feeling vanished in an instant. They still refused to acknowledge his excellence. Along this thorn-strewn path toward adulthood, Mu Chen also had moments of loneliness and helplessness. Whenever he dragged his exhausted body back to that desolate little courtyard and gazed at the room devoid of even a trace of warmth, endless feelings of grievance welled up within him. He missed his mother's gentle embrace and the encouragement that had once filled his father's eyes. But those longings did not drown him. Instead, they became the force that drove him forward. He silently vowed that he would rise within this cruel family, make those who had once hurt him look at him with new eyes, and, above all, find his mother, unravel the mystery behind her disappearance, and restore the Mu Domain's former glory. The days passed in this way, one after another, as Mu Chen continued to grow through loneliness and hardship. Though his strength increased slowly, every step he took was firm beyond measure. He was like a seed buried deep in dark soil, silently gathering strength and waiting for the day he would break through the earth, shine with a brilliance all his own, and proclaim his existence to the entire family-and even to the Great Thousand World.