A tranquil morning sun bathed Starshroud Peak in soft golden light.
Within a secluded cultivation chamber carved into the mountain's heart, Chen Chao sat cross-legged, his expression calm, yet focused. The stone walls around him pulsed faintly with defensive wards, layered so densely that even a Nascent Soul cultivator would have to pause before breaking in.
In his hands was a scroll—worn with age, but brimming with ancient brilliance. Crimson silk wrapping, stitched with the golden crest of the Chen Clan. His father had given it to him earlier that morning during breakfast. No long speech. No fanfare. Just a nod and a few words:
"Don't rush, make sure your foundation is sturdy and strong."
Unfurling the scroll, Chen Chao's violet eyes flickered with interest.
"Stellar Revolving Sutra."
An Essence Qi cultivation technique passed down exclusively to the direct bloodline of the Chen Clan. It was said that the first ancestor of their clan, a Heaven Ascension Monarch, created it when he stood upon the corpse of a hundred enemies and swore to carve a lineage that could never be bent nor broken.
The technique was profound, its structure built around circulating Essence Qi through nine core star points within the body, refining the foundation at each rotation. It was complex, demanding monstrous comprehension just to grasp the fundamental structure—yet Chen Chao didn't even blink.
One hour passed. Then two.
The scroll in his lap glowed faintly as his spiritual sense etched the technique into memory. His brows furrowed slightly, then relaxed. He closed the scroll with quiet finality.
He understood it.
Most of the younger generation within the Chen Clan would take a day—sometimes several—to even grasp the essence of this technique. And yet, Chen Chao—who had yet to form his first strand of qi—had comprehended it in less than two hours.
Such was the advantage of a Divine Origin Root.
Comprehension. Will. Qi affinity. Every attribute was sharpened to its peak.
Without hesitation, he drew in a breath and began to circulate his inner energy.
The first realm of cultivation in this world… was the Vital Awakening Realm.
This was the beginning. The point at which a mortal body became something more.
The realm was divided into three stages:
—Bone Resonance Stage—
Qi was not yet cultivated externally, but internally, the practitioner used special breathing and circulation methods to stimulate their skeletal frame. The bones would begin to resonate with life force, drawing ambient essence into the body. At this stage, the cultivator would experience strange sounds in their body—popping, humming, sometimes the faint echoes of bells or roars. This was the awakening of the inner structure, the preparation of the vessel.
The stronger the resonance, the purer the qi one could draw in the next stages.
Chen Chao followed the Stellar Revolving Sutra. Qi gathered, invisible to the eye, and slipped into him like a gentle mist. His bones trembled. A low hum rang from his spine like a distant war drum. Faint lines of crimson light threaded through his bones—like veins made of starlight.
His body… had begun to awaken.
When your bones are tempered to their limit, you can finally move to the next stage. —Marrow Blooming Stage—
When the bones were completely resonant, they would begin to refine the marrow within.
This was the stage where true essence began to mix into blood. The color of one's blood would deepen, sometimes even change entirely depending on their root and technique. The marrow would grow denser, like molten metal, granting vast improvements to strength, endurance, and vitality.
In this stage, a cultivator's lifespan would extend, and their vitality would become boundless. Injuries that took weeks to heal would vanish in days. A single step here marked the separation between mortal and quasi-cultivator. And lastly,—Flesh Tempering Stage—
The final and most painful stage of the Vital Awakening Realm.
Here, the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and skin would be bathed in circulating essence qi, over and over, until they were hardened like tempered iron. The cultivator's body would become a fortress—resilient against blades, fast as wind, and strong enough to crush stone barehanded.
It was said that those who completed this stage perfectly could walk through arrows and break iron shackles with a flex.
And when one's flesh was tempered to its peak…
The path forward would arrive.
From there, a cultivator would face their first real bottleneck:
The Spirit Root Realm.
Here, the tier of one's Origin Root determined everything. Cultivators with lesser roots might struggle for weeks just to sense the threshold. But for those with high-tier roots… and especially those with Divine Roots like Chen Chao…
They could pull down qi as easily as drawing breath.
And from there, a true cultivator would be born.
Chen Chao's breathing slowed. The hum of his bones deepened. The qi flow began to gather—faint at first, then steady.
A golden-red sheen began to rise from his body.
The Vital Awakening… had begun.