Uproars filled everywhere, people screamed atop their lungs, fumes filled the entrance and walkway to the ring. It was all worth it for the event - the finals of the continent's martial arts tournament - the biggest event of the year.

From behind the scenes, his anthem echoed off...

“ I am that martial artist who will rise above all others, who will be the greatest martial artist in his generation, who will be the pride of martial arts and prove not only it's importance but it's beauty too to the whole world. I am Han Nian. ”

The fumes decreased, the audience screams louder than before - it was him - Han Nian. That beast in human form, that weird martial artist, although young but has deep understanding in martial arts, he swung the weirdest sword technique and his spear technique wasn't any worse.

His figure began to evolve as the fumes decreased, wind blew towards him and his long white hair followed it's direction along with his long black tunic cloak, he didn't wear it's hood - he didn't need to - his mask was enough, it covered his nose down to his jaw, his God like golden yellow eyes shone bright against the light, the long sleeve covered his pale yellow arms, with gloves on, sword in hand, his hair rose behind his head it was time for battle.

Yes battle, as he marched calmly towards the battle ring, he pondered the thought of it, Although he was still very young but he had been weirding swords since he could walk without exaggeration.

The continent's martial arts tournament although was not easy but he already had won it twice before - in a row to be precise, winning this finals would be his hat-tri . An hat-tri, that was his goal, his main goal, it was what would prove him to be the best martial artist in the continent. The best martial artist in his generation, it would be decided in this final fight, this final step was what determined it all.

He could not believe it - to have accomplished his dream - his ambition - at age sixteen, wasn't it abnormal ?! , of course it was.

Anyways Han Nian knew better than to count his eggs before they hatch, he was only wondering and not anticipating victory, he would not be blinded by over confidence and underestimate his opponent, a good martial artist may - but a great martial artist won't.

Especially when he heard rumors about him, although it was an evesdrop but he would never overlook any slightest information about his opponent, he knew better than that too.

Nian reached the base of the ring, almost immediately he fleaped into the ring and approached his opponent.

Nian could not help but say his opponent was somewhat ugly, a lot of scars from years of battle, his bald head, beefy nose, big lips and huge eyes, with only pants on, Nian could not blame him, he could not imagine a what kind of cloth would contain his hairy pot belly, twice taller than him, Nian had to look up to face his opponent who gawked back at him.

“Hahaha” his voice boomed across the ring.

“this is my first time competing in the continent martial arts tournament, I had thought the tournament had met up to it's reputation after fighting foes worth calling foes while climbing up until the finals. This is a blessing in disguise because I had not expected that I would be facing a mere rat in the finals, how had u won it twice in a row, definitely you had something up your sleeve which must be investigated well, any ways you have tried and would not want to lose face on this day, so if you don't provoke me and just surrender now I may consider that I am in high spirits and just spare your pathetic life”

“ senior really should not be frustrated and sugarcoat his words a little, can't we just share some few pointers” Nian answered with a bow

“ah, very well then” his opponent said.

A thud followed, his opponent's weapon, a flail - a spiked metal ball connected to a huge chain - approximately eighteen inches long - and a short shaft. It was huge. it seemed to be best weapon to fit this animal though.

the fight started

His opponent lunged forward, swung his flail with a shocking speed towards Nian, he ducked, the spiked metal ball whizzed past his head - half inch away from his head, almost immediately another blow came down for his shoulder, Nian instincts kicked in and side stepped at last second, Nian was mesmerized, this man had astounding speed despite his size, that even Nian was only some few inches faster, he had never met anyone this close to being as fast as he was. Nian had always thought his speed was first under the heavens, he didn't expect someone to be this fast too, nevertheless he was still faster at least a few inches but although Nian known before now but he still made it a mental note never to underestimate someone despite his size or look.

“you are a bit interesting kid but I noticed it's been a while now and you still have not drawn your sword yet” his opponent observed

” not yet senior”

“ I mean the time is not right yet” Nian answered

Of course he haven't forgotten, the time truly was not right yet. His opponent dealt more blows - faster this time, quickly closing the gap between them regarding speed, Nian admired him but criticized him too, he was still too timid, although the speed was closed up leaving Nian with only an inch but it was what Nian wanted, the faster he became the more his rytheme rang in Nian's ears, three times the speed was intense, the fourth time was half a second slower than the last three, how could he not have gotten it before long, now he figured it out anyways, it was time to act - No - not time yet, he had to be sure, as the next wave of blows rained down, although with his heart beat racing faster he expertly dodged ducked and side stepped, his hypothesis was right, first three times were extremely fast while the last one was half a second slow.

It was time to act, Nian heart in his throat as he realized how near victory had become, the first blow Nian side stepped, the second he ducked and the last he dodged, this was the time, the most important moment for him, immediately he drew his sword and slashed upward, the sound of blade tearing through flesh, his opponent shrieked as jumped back, reeling from the sting of the slash.

This was his moment, he must not waste anytime, he lunged forward and for the first time he saw the man's expression change from killing intent to confusion and the to fear - real fear. He plunged his sword into his opponent throat, the whole blade entering through, blood gushed out from his mouth and neck the whole blade filled with it.

“you ...... you ......”

“senior seems to have lost and seriously injured” Nian said.

Nian pulled out his sword, now blood filled, his opponent fell behind him, blood continuously pouring even until now he could not bear the sight.

Nian closed his eyes, the realization sinking in, he had won the tournament for the third time, an hat-tri, it proved it, he was the best martial artist in the continent, he could not wish for more, it was all he wanted, to rise above them to stand at the peak, this feeling was surreal but he loved it anyways, he had made himself proud; he had made his coach proud. The award was on its way.

*

The door creaked open.

“ coach sir, you called for me” Nian said as he entered his coach room.

His coach gestured for him to sit.

“it has hit the headlines today” his coach said, expressionless, his eyes fixed on a newspaper.

“ it was not by my might, I was only in such position because of coach sir” Nian said as he kowtowed.

“not bad, at least you are grateful” his coach said as he rubbed his bread, still expressionless and not meeting Nian's eyes.

“of course I would forever be grateful to coach sir” Nian said and immediately his face brightened “ you said you would tell me something important today..... about my background”.

“ ah that's true, this old man's memory is not getting any better, and by the way it's a long story”.

“ I have time sir” Nian answered.

“ very well” coach sir said and took a deep breath as if trying to bring back memories from ages past; it didn't feel comfortable as it was taking moments.

Finally after what felt like forever, he started

“ in another universe, another world, where the strong talks and the obeys, a world where everyone is strictly ranked, a world where the only strength rules, where everyone strives and struggles to be stronger than at least being bullied, where martial arts is ten times deeper than what you can ever imagine”

“ such a world is called T**housand chaos world, with approximately a thousand continents; all the continents follow this one rule of strength, one in particular is called Huan Ying** continent; this is where you hail from”

“in this continent, every sect, academy, clan, family, association whatsoever is ruled by strength and strictly ranked too. We have super, first class, second class, third class and low class, even in each class they are also numbered accordingly too”

“The Han Family from the Heavenly Dragon clan, is where you hail from, a super class family, ranked third if not second before we left, it was a family filled with anything better than geniuses it was sometimes called The terrifying monsters family, and whose patriarch was certainly stronger than the the emperor himself, this title; the family held it for countless millenniums, at least until we left sixteen years ago”

This time coach sir sighed, Nian could see the grief in his face and he could tell that the next few things the would say wouldn't be nice at all.

“ sixteen years ago you were born, the fourth son of the Han family's fifth elder, a talent that rivaled all others, a talent not anyone even in the family could meet up to, that was you, it caused so much ruckus in the whole continent that everyone envied, it was known that you would bring great change in the whole Huan Ying continent; whether good or bad no one knew”

“ This disturbed the Abyss of darkness clan; a very powerful clan that had many evil sects, gangs and many others under them, they resolved to snatch you any either kill you or make you theirs, although this plan was discussed in their most secret board meeting, but the Han family with their undeniable strong sources; came to find out, and with the least time to spare prepared, they sent messages to other strong sects and associations to come to their aid but unfortunately none believed, although they knew the Han family to be a trustworthy and held highed family but everyone sought for power and as a result no one could still be trusted, instead they thought the Han family was found it as an opportunity to form an alliance with them, rule them and become stronger”

“despite this, the Han family didn't relent and prepared for the worst, everyone staked their life for you, the Abyss of darkness clan really came, they sent their most powerful force, the sheol palace, their hall dispatch a great deal of fighters, clearly they had not underestimated the Han Family, the war started, clearly they had sent a force that could wipe out any other family, in fact clan or even sect but ironically not the Han family, reverse was the case instead, the sheol palace was entirely wiped out without too few survivers, the Han family really met up to it's reputation, reinforcement really came from other factions but they were too late, the Han family had won the battle before reinforcement was even rallied, but definitely the Han family paid dearly for it, they suffered too many losses”

“during the fight my twin and I covered for you, we disguised, he pretended to be the one with while I was; giving me enough time to escape, with my whole true qi I tore through time and space bringing me as far as I could, while I was crossing over to this world I heard my brother burn his vital energy to communicate to me, he said ‘when that brat grows, tell him to come and pay tribute to me at Brookdale lake, the second forest of the nine jungles, soaring cloud pavilion’. ”

“due to extremely little qi energy in this world, I was unable to teach you martial cultivation so I taught you basic martial arts in it's stead so if you really think that you have won this tournament and you are a rare talent now then I'm sorry when you get to that world you would be disappointed, to think that this world could only be limited to the most basic martial arts is really disappointing too” coach sighed

Nian was overwhelmed, his expression changing from confusion, to fear, to awe, to anxiety and back to confusion again, he didn't seem to understand anything now as he tried to comprehend it all, it was very strange but Nian could not help but feel it was the truth, he was shocked to know a battle was fought for him, that his birth almost brought the downfall of his family, was he even human at all, was he to bring such doom to his family,he was elated to know he came for a very strong family; one that held martial arts with high respect yet his heart pounded to imagine his birth alone almost brought it's downfall, his heart pounded even more as the tried to comprehend every other sentence in the story, his head spun wildly as he took it all in, he swallowed hard for the millionth time as he realized how many lives were lost in exchange of his, he was sure coach was done with the story behind his background now, he knew without asking the ulterior motive his coach had in telling him this story, he would go to that world and prove himself to be an extremely rare genius that he was.

“are you thinking what I'm thinking?”coach said, jolting Nian from his thoughts.

“ yes but coach sir how would I cross back to the other world”

“ leave that to me, but my expectations for you are quite high, promise to meet up to them” coach said

“i promise sir, I will work very hard, I was cross a sea of fire and scale a wall of throngs to meet your expectations sir” Nian answered.

Nian fired off an arrow, it's been three months since he had left that world, it was the most surreal moment of his life, he had seen his coach open a transporting portal for him to come to this world, it was unbelievable, unimaginable yet it happened before him, the thought of leaving his coach whom he had know since he could walk overwhelmed him, he was not just his coach; he was his guardian too,the only relative he knew, he seemed like even he could not believe his eyes, entering this world, he met himself in a forest thicker than any in the other world and almost immediately he was welcomed by unthinkable beasts and extremely fierce animals, each exotic than the other, he had fought his way through, everything was so foreign yet so familiar, though it came with some few benefits, coach had given him a sumeru space ring; a ring that had indefinite space in it,he was taken aback by it, he began to feel like nothing was impossible in this world, the ring had some few treasures in it, Nian had found an alchemy manual in it, one he read anytime he found a place to rest and was bored, Nian had found some herbs that were used in alchemy, in the forest, the forest had exotic animals; it had exotic plants too some were poisonous, some were not. He also managed to extract the core of the animals he killed; he had read in the manual that they could be refined and used to make wonderful pills and artifacts too.

A thud followed, the sound of metal piercing through wood, the arrow; it hit bull's eye, Nian expected nothing less, although he still saw some mishaps and rough edges, he made a mental note to work on them.

“ I envy you, your precision is quite accurate” lei Cheng said

This boy, the farmer's son, his father had helped him when he was out of the forest bleeding; he had been scratched, bitten and Injured, he had washed his blood off his injuries and took him home, he had forever thanked the man for his kindness.

His son lei Cheng and he were good friends now, training together and cultivating together too, before he left his coach, he had explained to him about martial cultivation, the art of absorbing the qi energy and circulating the true qi in the body; he had also read manuals of basic martial cultivation; it was the first thing he noticed; the air density, it was denser than that of that world, it all felt surreal in the beginning but he now he was used to it.

lei Cheng's father had told him about lei Cheng, he was so determined and strong willed about being a martial cultivation, he didn't want to waste his life in this God forsaken village, even if he were to be a businessman he would be a good martial artist too; if he always one then he could guarantee that he would own a big shop or even something bigger like - a city. His ambition wasn't half bad anyways. With this Nian knew they would be together for not too long, they would depart at least after spending some time in the soaring cloud pavilion.

Yes, the soaring cloud pavilion; the sect he was going to join, a first class sect, at least it could provide him with enough resources to cultivate. He had heard that the sect leader and the grand father of Han family's patriarch are best friends, they cultivate together and even go into selueded retreat together, if he joined the sect then he would be one step closer to his family, he would also go pay tribute to coach Sir's twin brother, he still remembered the address; Brookdale lake, second forest of the nine jungles, soaring cloud pavilion, another reason to join the sect, he would hold high respect for him for giving up his life for his, he would extremely be ever grateful to him. It was his plan, First to become stronger, then to get a step closer to his family and then to pay tribute to that man that sacrificed his life for him. Lei Cheng was going too.

“ what?” lei Cheng asked “ thinking about your past?”

Nian nodded

“ you see we all have pasts” lei Cheng said.

How could Nian forget, lei Cheng was a good talkative, finding every moment talk worthy.

“even if you don't want to talk about yours, although I won't force you but I will advise you to only thing of the way forward and the way through, thinking of the past would only draw you back” lei Cheng said.

It was what coach had told him; not to expose his identity at least until he was strong enough to defend his title and even if not his title then at least himself.

“thanks” Nian answered, thanking lei Cheng for his advice.

“it seems you came from some at least second class family, you precision accuracy is a good testimony” lei Cheng said.

“ nothing of sort” Nian answered smiling “i just happen to train a bit well”

“ you are so weird” Lei Cheng said “i can only believe you because until you came here you have not started cultivation”

“ eenn” Nian answered

“ any ways your aptitude is quite high and somewhat weird too, you broke through to qi gathering realm level three, last week, I have been cultivating for five years and I am just at qi gathering realm level six.”

“ you have only cultivated for barely two months and you already broke through thrice, although my aptitude was high but I definitely didn't break through three minor realms within two months, I must say your aptitude is quite high - even higher than mine” lei Cheng said.

“ it was only by luck” Nian answered.

Even if he'd started cultivation lately his breakthrough speed was very fast and abnormal, it was noticable and from the corner of his eye he had seen cheng'er expression; he saw the slightest envy flash through, although even lei Cheng might have not noticed but he had, he was an expert at discovering such things but he would not blame him, if he were in his shoes he might have done the same.

All that was not what was in his mind right now, he was looking forward to the of disciples enrollment of soaring cloud pavilion.

“ soaring cloud pavilion” Nian said more of sigh than talk.

“ I look forward to it's enrollment too” lei Cheng answered.

Nian picked another arrow and took aim, he was indeed looking forward to it too.