The Golden Sky Realm was a vast realm, so vast that no one knew its true extent. Within this realm lay countless places yet untouched by human hands.

Five great continents graced the Golden Sky Realm: the Central Continent, the Western Continent, the Southern Continent, the Northern Continent, and the Eastern Continent. Each continent was separated by a vast expanse of ocean, traversable only by those possessing formidable power.

Among these, the Central Continent stood as the most formidable. It was home to countless powerful cultivators, and the natural energy there was far denser than in other continents.

Atop a mountain in the Central Continent sat a handsome young man, meditating. He absorbed the natural energy that permeated the mountain. This young man was Zhao Ling, a young cultivator in the Central Continent who had reached the esteemed rank of Saint Cultivator before the age of thirty. This accomplishment earned him widespread admiration throughout the Central Continent.

But Zhao Ling's reputation extended beyond his cultivation prowess. He was also renowned for his ferocity in battle, possessing three out of the one hundred Heavenly Flames: the Snow Flame (ranked 32nd), the Ocean Flame (ranked 23rd), and the Sacred Flame (ranked 9th). These flames earned him the moniker "Heavenly Flame Cultivator," for when combined, they granted him unparalleled might within his realm, even allowing him to challenge opponents three minor realms above him. This instilled fear and respect among his peers.

Moreover, Zhao Ling held the title of the youngest Seventh Grade Alchemist in the history of the Golden Sky Realm. This achievement garnered him respect even from formidable cultivators. Once, Zhao Ling commanded a Peak Sky Cultivator to obliterate a force that had offended him. To the astonishment of many, the Sky Cultivator readily agreed, a testament to Zhao Ling's influence and power.

At this moment, deep within the mountains, far from the Zhao Ling Kingdom, Zhao Ling absorbed natural energy into his body, striving to break through to the Earth Cultivator realm. He had lingered at the peak of the Saint Cultivator realm for far too long.

"Almost there. The natural energy within me is transforming into Qi energy," Zhao Ling murmured inwardly. Indeed, he was attempting the arduous task of converting the absorbed natural energy into Qi energy.

Qi energy was a power attainable only by those who sought to transcend from the Saint Cultivator realm to the Earth Cultivator realm. The conversion process was fraught with danger, for the slightest misstep could lead to the cultivator's Dantian exploding, rendering them nothing but waste. It was this perilous undertaking that caused many cultivators to remain stagnant at the peak of the Saint Cultivator realm.

Furthermore, upon ascending to the Earth Cultivator realm, one would face Heavenly Tribulation – a test from the heavens to determine their worthiness of wielding such power.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere around Zhao Ling began to shift. The once clear sky darkened as storm clouds gathered, accompanied by flashes of lightning that cracked through the air.

Zhao Ling rose to his feet and faced the heavens, a smile gracing his lips.

"Come! Let me witness the might of the lightning that terrifies all Saint Cultivators!" he declared, his voice booming across the mountaintop.

As if responding to his challenge, the lightning converged, forming a bolt as thick as a man's thigh that struck Zhao Ling with terrifying speed.

Jderr!

Jderr!

Jderr!

Boom!

Zhao Ling's body was engulfed in the blinding light, the impact throwing him back. When the light subsided, Zhao Ling lay on the ground, blood trickling from his lips.

"Arghh... I-it hurts! I-is it over?" he groaned, struggling to believe that a single bolt had inflicted such pain. But his hopes were dashed as the sky crackled with renewed energy, the clouds gathering to unleash an even larger bolt of lightning.

Fear flickered in Zhao Ling's eyes as he stared at the spectacle unfolding above him.

"D-damn it! Is the heavens toying with me?" he muttered, his teeth chattering. With effort, he pushed himself up, raising a hand toward the sky.

"Come! Unleash your lightning! I am ready!" he roared, his voice echoing through the mountains.

As if on cue, a monstrous bolt of lightning, as thick as a man's torso, descended from the sky with blinding speed.

Jderr!

Jderr!

Boom!

Argh!

The deafening roar of thunder shook the mountaintop, accompanied by Zhao Ling's scream. When the dust settled, Zhao Ling's body lay broken and scorched on the ground. His clothes were ripped to shreds, revealing his once pristine skin now blackened and burned. Blood flowed freely from his mouth, nose, and ears.

Zhao Ling lay there, helpless, his vision fading. "Am I dying like this? Hahaha, the heavens must be joking! The Heavenly Flame Cultivator, struck down by a measly tribulation lightning? How laughable!" he thought bitterly. With a final sigh, he closed his eyes, succumbing to his wounds.

As Zhao Ling's consciousness faded, far away, on the Eastern Continent, in a small town called Wunzen – a humble town under the rule of the Eastern Sky Empire – a strange event unfolded.

Deep within a dark and dense forest, in a secluded cave, lay the lifeless body of a young man. His body was riddled with wounds, his breathing shallow.

Suddenly, a crimson light enveloped the young man's body. Miraculously, his wounds began to heal at an astonishing rate. The gashes that had been spewing blood moments ago sealed shut. The young man's pale complexion regained its color, and his chest, which had been still moments ago, began to rise and fall with renewed life.

After what felt like an eternity, the young man's eyelids fluttered open. "Ugh... Where am I? Is this the underworld?" he groaned, clutching his head as a searing pain shot through his skull.

"Arghh! What is this? Do the dead feel pain too?" he cried out, his voice hoarse from disuse. For what felt like an hour, the pain raged on, relentless and unbearable. Finally, it began to subside, replaced by a wave of confusion and astonishment.

Images flashed before the young man's eyes, memories that were not his own. He saw glimpses of another life, of battles fought and victories won. And then, it hit him. He wasn't in his own body.

"Hahaha! I'm alive! Reborn into the body of this young man, even with the same name! How fortunate!" he exclaimed, a manic grin spreading across his face. This was the soul of Zhao Ling, the cultivator from the Central Continent. Having been struck down by the Heavenly Tribulation, he had somehow survived and been given a second chance at life.

"Hahaha, the heavens are truly just! They recognized my good heart and granted me another opportunity!" Zhao Ling laughed, a newfound zeal coursing through his veins. He then sat up, crossing his legs into a meditative position, and began to sift through the fragmented memories of the body he now inhabited.

Inside a dark cave, Zhao Ling sat cross-legged, digesting the fragmented memories of the body he occupied. An hour later, Zhao Ling opened his eyes and muttered,

"So, this young man was from the Zhao Clan in Wunzen City, a small town in the Eastern Continent. He had no talent for becoming a martial artist, which made him the subject of ridicule from other youths. Ashamed and wanting to save his parents from further humiliation, he recklessly went to the Dark Forest to seek his fortune. Unfortunately, he was beaten by a young man from another clan and forced to flee into this forest, where he encountered a master-level Fire Bear." Zhao Ling, who now understood the gist of it, closed his eyes again and examined the body to understand why it couldn't cultivate.

Zhao Ling kept his eyes closed for a long time, examining his body until he finally opened them.

"So that's it. This body can't contain profound energy because the body and bones are very weak. No problem, I was the youngest alchemist in the Central Continent. Weak body and bones are not difficult things for me," muttered Zhao Ling, who already knew the problem. He then muttered again,

"Although this body is weak, it's a genius's body because it has two elements. While others only have one element, this body has both fire and lightning. Good, with this, I have an ace up my sleeve in the future," muttered Zhao Ling happily. What he said was true. Usually, people only have one element in their dantian, but the body he occupied had two, and one of them was a special element, lightning, which was very rare.

Zhao Ling then looked around the cave. He was quite happy because there were many level one herbal plants there.

"Good, this place has a lot of low-level herbal plants. For now, I will forge this body to its maximum until I can increase my realm to the 1-star Beginner Warrior realm," said Zhao Ling happily. He then stood up and gathered the herbs for his use.

There were thirteen levels of martial artists:

Beginner Warrior,

Master Warrior,

Grand Master Warrior,

Warrior Soldier,

Warrior Commander,

Warrior General,

Warrior King,

Warrior Emperor,

Warrior Saint,

Earth Warrior,

Heaven Warrior,

Demi-God Warrior,

God Warrior

All these levels were divided into nine stars. God Warriors were very rare; they didn't even exist in the Azure Sky Realm anymore. And a God Warrior was not the highest level; there were still two more realms: Earth God Warrior and Heaven God Warrior. But those no longer existed in the Golden Sky Realm, making them legendary realms.

Back to Zhao Ling, he had now gathered the right herbs to increase his body and bone strength.

"Hmm, I don't have a cauldron to make pills, so I have to turn them into body strengthening liquid and bone strengthening liquid. Oh well, I think it's enough for me," muttered Zhao Ling, resigned to his current situation. He then released the flames, which were ordinary fire elements. If you asked where his Heavenly Flame was, maybe it had returned to its original place. After Zhao Ling's death, it would definitely return to where Zhao Ling first found it.

"Sigh, what a pity my Heavenly Flame is gone. Hopefully, no one will find it. I worked so hard to get those three flames. Luckily, I never told anyone where I found them," muttered Zhao Ling resignedly. He was also determined to get the three flames back.

"Hmm, is there a Heavenly Flame in the Eastern Continent? It seems I have to find out for myself," muttered Zhao Ling, and he returned his focus to making body strengthening liquid and bone strengthening liquid. Because he had no profound energy at all, Zhao Ling could only use his soul power to maintain his flames.

"Fortunately, my soul is strong enough to make this liquid. Otherwise, I don't know if I would succeed or not," said Zhao Ling, smiling wryly. How could he, who was once known as the Flame Warrior, have to start all over again?

While Zhao Ling was busy making the liquid for himself, in Wunzen City, precisely at the Zhao Clan residence, a woman in her 30s was seen crying and being comforted by a man, her husband.

"Sob, sob, Ling'er, where are you, son?" cried the woman, who was none other than Zhao Ling's mother, Yun Li. She came from the Yun Clan in Wunzen City. The Yun Clan was the same as the Zhao Clan; they were both first-class clans in the city, and the two clans were in-laws because Yun Li was the daughter of the previous Yun Clan Patriarch.

"Li'er, let's just pray that Ling'er is okay. I've deployed our elite troops to search for Ling'er, so be patient," said the man, wanting his wife to calm down. He was Zhao Lin, the current Patriarch of the Zhao Clan, and Zhao Ling was their third child. Zhao Ling was the youngest of three siblings. He had an older brother and an older sister. His older brother was named Zhao Feng, and his older sister was named Zhao Bing. They were both geniuses of the Zhao Clan because at the age of fifteen, they were already at the 5-star Master realm. This attracted the attention of a large sect in the Imperial Capital, and they were currently studying in that sect called the Flame Sect. As the name suggests, the sect only accepted martial artists with the fire element.

In the Eastern Continent, there were seven great sects, and they all represented the seven basic elements: fire, water, wind, earth, ice, wood, and metal. The seven sects were constantly competing to be the strongest, and coincidentally, the Flame Sect was the number one largest sect in the Eastern Continent. Because the Patriarch of the Flame Sect was already at the peak Saint Warrior realm, similar to the Eastern Sky Empire, which was held by the current Emperor named Qing Yan. He was also at the peak Saint realm. Each great sect also had an ancestor whose strength was equal, and even the Empire's ancestor had the same strength as the seven ancestors of those sects.

It was not just the seven sects that were the pillars of the Eastern Continent, but there were also four great clans: the Shi Clan, the Lin Clan, the Yi Clan, and the Ye Clan. Although not as strong as the seven sects, the power and influence of the four clans were enormous in the Empire, especially the Lin Clan, which had given birth to many true geniuses.

Back inside the cave where Zhao Ling was, he had now finished making a liquid that would be useful to him now.

"Linzi Liquid, a liquid that is useful for increasing body and bone strength, I didn't expect that the liquid from my experiment would be useful to me now," Zhao Ling muttered while shaking his head. Yes, Linzi Liquid was a creation of his own. This liquid was very useful for novice martial artists because it could strengthen the body and bones, but this liquid would no longer be useful for master martial artists.

"Hmm, if my strength was enough, I would prefer to take the blood of a demonic beast so that my body would develop quickly," muttered Zhao Ling. Yes, the blood and flesh of demonic beasts were very useful for martial artists to increase their cultivation. Not only that, but demon gems were also very useful for increasing the energy circle within a martial artist's dantian. However, usually, martial artists only dared to absorb a few gems a year because if they overdo it, there would be changes in the human body's form, such as resembling the demonic beast whose demon gems they absorbed. But that didn't apply to Zhao Ling because he could absorb as many demon gems as he wanted without feeling any side effects. This was also Zhao Ling's secret.

Back to Zhao Ling, he had now drank the Linzi Liquid and began to absorb it and circulate its benefits throughout his body without missing anything. Zhao Ling continued to do this until five hours later, and he used up ten bottles of Linzi Liquid to strengthen his body and bones to accommodate natural energy.

"Hmm, ten bottles of Linzi Liquid are used up, and my body's strength has increased to the early master realm, so now I can increase my cultivation. But this time I will do it slowly. I don't want to do it like my previous life where I was obsessed with strength and forgot my foundation, and in the end, I ended up under Heavenly Law," muttered Zhao Ling, making a plan.

"Besides, with the guidance of that ancient cultivation technique, I'm sure I can increase my strength whenever, so I'm not too worried," muttered Zhao Ling.

"Don't worry, my friend, I will fulfill your promise to that shameless woman. I still have three months left. At least I will reach the Grand Master realm," Zhao Ling muttered to himself. Yes, the previous owner of the body had a promise to a woman named Ye Hu. She was a genius woman from the Ye Clan in the capital who was engaged to Zhao Ling by the Ye Clan Patriarch when they were children. But when Zhao Ling was declared unable to become a martial artist, and Ye Hu managed to awaken a strong ice element, attracting the attention of the Ice Sect Master, because of this, Ye Hu broke off the engagement unilaterally. Even Ye Hu's father had opposed his child's wish to cancel the engagement, but the girl did not listen.

Feeling humiliated, Zhao Ling challenged Ye Hu to a fight in the Eastern Heaven Empire Arena three years from that time. Now Zhao Ling was still 12 years old, and three years later he would be fifteen years old, so Zhao Ling wanted to humiliate that woman for insulting him as trash in front of many people, and that made him a laughing stock in Wunzen City.

Back to Zhao Ling, he was now sitting cross-legged and focusing on drawing in natural energy with his cultivation technique, and slowly but surely, natural energy entered his body, and gradually, more and more natural energy entered his body.

Time passed, and five hours passed unnoticed, and from within Zhao Ling's body, a muffled sound was heard once.

Boom!

The sound was heard from within Zhao Ling's body, but Zhao Ling didn't immediately open his eyes. He focused again on absorbing energy to strengthen his cultivation foundation. He didn't want to be like before, hastily increasing his cultivation which caused him to die under Heavenly Law.

Five hours passed again, and Zhao Ling then opened his eyes, and he clenched his fists and muttered.

"I haven't felt this feeling in a long time, 1-star Novice Martial Artist. Even though it's still the beginning of everything, with the experience and perfect basic techniques I learned before, I can match five levels above me. Now I won't be in a hurry anymore. It's better for me to strengthen my body to the extreme point so that I can increase my cultivation without obstacles. Since I've become a martial artist, now's the time for me to explore the outside of this forest, and the first one is this cave. For some reason, I feel like there's something valuable inside," Zhao Ling said to himself. He then stood up and patted his clothes because there was a lot of dust on them.

Zhao Ling then walked into the cave, remaining vigilant. He didn't want anything bad to happen to him. He used the torch he made as a light for his path in the cave.

Zhao Ling walked for quite a long time and still hadn't reached the end of the cave.

"Damn, how deep is this cave? Even after half an hour of walking, I still haven't reached the end," Zhao Ling muttered, but he was determined to explore the cave.

Meanwhile, at the Zhao Clan residence, there was sadness because Yun Li fell ill when she heard the news of the discovery of a young man's mangled body on the edge of the Dark Forest. This made Yun Li faint, and her health declined. Because Zhao Ling had been missing for five days and was not found, coupled with the circulating news, Yun Li's health declined.

Meanwhile, in a large sect, one young man and one woman were seen sparring. They were none other than Zhao Feng and Zhao Bing, who were Zhao Ling's two older siblings.

"That's enough, Big Brother. I can't take it anymore," said Zhao Bing. After all, their strength was one level apart. After Zhao Bing entered the sect, he became a 9-star Master Martial Artist. This shocked the entire sect, and Zhao Bing was declared the most genius disciple and became a direct disciple of the sect patriarch. Not only that, Zhao Bing's realm was now only one level below Zhao Feng.

"Alright, Second Sister. I think that's enough for today," said Zhao Feng with a smile, and then they sat down to rest. But Zhao Bing's face was always gloomy, which made Zhao Feng curious.

"What's wrong, Second Sister? Why are you always gloomy lately?" asked Zhao Feng, seeing his little sister always looking downcast.

"I don't know, Big Brother. I feel like something happened to our little brother and Mother," said Zhao Bing sadly. This made Zhao Feng speechless. He actually felt the same way, but he didn't want to show it to his little sister.