In a corner of the great Golden Empire lay a city, not very large, but quite well-known. Its name: Chaos Border City.

  The reason for this strange and unsettling name was the fact that it sat between the Ancestral Jade Mountain and the Forest of a Thousand Dooms.

  The Ancestral Jade Mountain wasn’t particularly popular or dangerous, but it was said that a great number of Spiritual Herbs could be found there. However, they were difficult to harvest due to the unpredictable climate and conditions. The Forest of a Thousand Dooms, on the other hand, was home to various dangerous monsters. It is believed that in its center lived the fearsome beasts of the legendary Immortal Scholar level.

  But of course, by luck—or perhaps bad luck—Chaos Border City was situated on the very edges of the Forest of a Thousand Dooms, so the monsters found there were of a low level; otherwise, the city would have been destroyed long ago.

  At this moment, at the foot of the Ancestral Jade Mountain, in a secluded corner beneath a tree whose leaves were gently rustled by the evening breeze, a young man with light brown, shoulder-length hair was lying down, lost in a peaceful nap as a warm ray of sunlight hit his face.

  That was Xiao Ning, the vagabond of the Xiao Family.

  The Xiao Family was one of the four great families of cultivators that governed Chaos Border City, and within it, Xiao Ning was famous for being a massive slacker.

  He spent the entire day loitering around the Family properties, skipping every engagement, and even his only obligation—cultivation—was cast aside, always with the excuse that "I'll do it later."

  Because of his sloppy attitude, he was seen as a pariah, an unnecessary expense.

  His talent was low, his cultivation almost null, and his dedication... Hmph! It’s not even worth mentioning. After all, why should the Family keep someone like him? Who could blame them for wanting to kick him out?

  If not for the fame of his late father, he would have been sent to one of the subordinate families long ago.

  Well, in any case... Xiao Ning was lying beneath a tree, sleeping peacefully. It seemed nothing could disturb him.

  But then, suddenly, he let out a painful bellow and rolled onto the ground, clutching his chest. His scream caused some nearby birds to take flight.

  With his eyes closed, he thrashed back and forth. It felt as if something had pierced his chest.

  It was then that, breathing heavily, he abruptly widened his brown eyes and, as if something were chasing him, began to crawl backward, looking frantically from side to side in search of his nightmare.

  But when he found nothing—only a tranquil area disturbed solely by his own frenzied screams—he began to calm down.

  Breathing rapidly, he studied the place where he was with great attention. His eyes darted from the bush to the grass and then to the top of the mountain.

  In a confused, somewhat terrified tone, he asked himself:

  "What is happening? Where am I?"

  He looked once more at the mountain in the background and, with extreme astonishment, murmured:

  "Don't tell me that..."

  Saying this, Xiao Ning began to run like a madman in an unknown direction.

  "If I'm right, there should be a spring around here..."

  He crashed through a bush, not caring about the thorns tearing his clothes. He leaped over a rock in the middle of the path. And when he spotted a stream of crystal-clear water in the distance, he stopped, panting.

  On his face was a mixture of euphoria and astonishment. He wanted to scream with joy, but a part of his heart still refused to believe his eyes.

  Remaining cautious, Xiao Ning walked toward the stream. He needed to be sure. And for that, there was only one way...

  When he approached the bank, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. And after preparing himself mentally, he stretched his neck and took a peek...

  The crystal-clear water, combined with the green mossy bottom, acted like a verdant mirror, reflecting the face of a young man who didn't seem to have reached his twenties yet. His eyes were brown and his hair shoulder-length. There were no scars on his skin, which looked time-immaculate.

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  Then, after a brief pause to return to reality, Xiao Ning broke into a wide grin. As if to ensure it truly wasn't a dream, he patted his face a few times and finally celebrated:

  "It worked... the Divine Treasure of the Hero's Return, it actually worked!"

  In ecstasy, Xiao Ning raised his arms and began to celebrate. He howled at the skies and sang like a lunatic. If anyone could see him now, they would wonder: "What rock did this nutjob hit his head on?"

  After spending all his energy celebrating, he let his body fall to the ground, but the excited smile remained stamped on his face.

  It was at this moment that his chest began to glow. A white light, like that of distant stars, released rays that reflected in the crystalline waters of the stream.

  Xiao Ning looked at the light in his chest. There was no fear or surprise in his eyes. It seemed this was already expected. In that instant, amidst a ray of light, a black ball—like a small black pearl—floated peacefully out of Ning's body.

  He reached out and caught the pearl in mid-air and, with an intense gaze, stared at the small lugubrious stone in the palm of his hand, assuming an expression of pure respect and gratitude. Finally, he murmured:

  "Divine Treasure: Hero's Return... Hehe! I honestly didn't think it would work. I only refined it on a whim. After all, it was an item created by the Ancient Gods." Xiao Ning looked at the pearl more closely. "It is a pity that it has lost all its power."

  Having said this, he tossed the small dead stone into the stream without any sign of hesitation.

  "Thank you for giving me a second chance!" he thanked with sincerity, bowing his head toward the stream.

  Indeed, Xiao Ning couldn't be more grateful for the black pearl, or rather; the Divine Treasure: Hero's Return. After all, it was thanks to this treasure that he could revive.

  Exactly, revive!

  Before waking up screaming under a tree, Xiao Ning was in a distant place, far from the Golden Empire. In fact, he was far even from the Central Continent, which is where the empire resides.

  At that time, he was already over five thousand years old. His cultivation, compared to the Central Continent, was near the apex. Yet, even so, he ended up dead as if he were an ant.

  However, by luck, he had the Divine Treasure: Hero's Return. Which allowed him to return to life, at some point in his past.

  "Now, how old am I? How far back in time did I go?"

  Asking himself this, Xiao Ning closed his eyes and placed his hand on his chest. After a while, he opened them again and murmured in a frustrated tone:

  "Even sensing Spiritual Energy is difficult." He let out a sigh. "But, if I'm not mistaken, I am at the 2nd Layer of the Mundane Realm. Though that doesn't answer much, since I stayed in this Realm until I was twenty."

  Saying this, he burst into laughter. It was as if his own misfortune amused him.

  The Spiritual Realm, or Realm of Cultivators, is divided into various levels, and the higher your level, the stronger you become. For someone truly powerful, flying, controlling fire, creating storms, and living for thousands of years was not impossible. This is a magical world in which the word "impossible" holds little influence.

  Among the various existing levels, the first and most basic was called the Mundane Realm, which was divided into seven layers. Once someone was able to advance through all of them, they would reach the next level, or the next Realm: the Awakening Realm. And so it continued, successively.

  And, according to some conservatives, only after reaching the Awakening Realm would a person be considered a true cultivator, someone capable of doing anything. Before that, they would be merely a common human, a Mundane.

  At this moment, Xiao Ning, a member of a great and ancient Family of cultivators, was only at the mediocre 2nd Layer of the Mundane Realm. This, for the Family, was nothing short of shameful.

  After figuring out, more or less, his level, he let out a lazy sigh and said:

  "Well... I'll think about cultivating later, I'm in no rush anyway."

  In his more than five thousand years of age, one thing never changed, and that was the fact that he had always been lazy. Unless something caught his attention or piqued his interest, he certainly wouldn't exert himself. Such lack of motivation was almost a motto, intrinsic to his soul.

  He even considered cultivation somewhat interesting, but when he thought about the difficulty of increasing his level... There was nothing to be done, other than leaning against a tree and taking a nice nap. And this idle mindset didn't change even after five thousand years and a somewhat painful death.

  "Hm... Just knowing my cultivation isn't enough to figure out my age."

  Xiao Ning stretched his neck once more and peeked at his reflection in the stream water.

  "I think I'm... 15, maybe 16 years old?" he murmured in a confused tone, scratching his head. Even he was unable to perfectly recognize this face so long lost. "Anyway, I really went very far back in time—I mean, the Golden Empire is still intact."

  Finishing his train of thought, Xiao Ning looked around, then at the sky. He noticed it wouldn't be long before nightfall.

  "I think I'll go back to the Family for now." Saying this, he turned and walked away from the stream. "I just hope I remember the way."

  The place where Xiao Ning was now was the base of the Ancestral Jade Mountain and was part of the Xiao territory. But despite this, it was a rarely frequented area, as there wasn't much to explore there.

  However, precisely because it was a seldom-visited location, it became Ning's favorite resting spot. After all, the chances of being bothered there were quite small.

  But, after thousands of years, memories had become vague, and finding the way back would not be an easy task.

  As Xiao Ning wandered from place to place, recollections became clearer, and the path leading back to the Xiao Family estate was revived in his memory. He skirted a thorny bush, descended a valley, walked a bit more, climbed a slope, and finally, when the sun was almost setting, he spotted the first houses in the distance, as well as Chaos Border City.

  Standing at the top of the slope, Xiao Ning had a view of almost everything; the Patriarch's house; the meeting hall, which only the most important members of the Family could enter; the training arenas, reserved for the young members and boasting over a thousand square meters; the Elders' courtyard. Everything was within his sight.

  In short, from there, one could see a large part of the city, the Xiao Family property, and even a bit of the territories of the other three great Families.

  Looking at this vast land, Xiao Ning made an expression of someone thinking about something complicated, before murmuring:

  "What should I do? Leave for the next continent tomorrow? It makes no sense to stay here for long, since this place will be destroyed anyway. Hm... What to do?"