In the afternoon, snowflakes drifted across the northern sky of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Another year was coming to an end!

The Ye Family, one of the three great families in Fengyang City, had been preparing for the annual year-end clan competition a month in advance.

On the martial arts prosperous continent of Cangyun, the year-end clan competition was undoubtedly the most important grand event for every family!

Ding!

Dang!

In the rear hall of the Ye Family's armory, a bare-chested young man with a black stone pendant tied around his neck, wearing coarse linen pants, was waving a large iron hammer in front of a smelting furnace, continuously forging a glowing red-hot raw iron block.

The furnace fire illuminated his face with a reddish hue, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans had seeped out on his resolute face and muscular body.

'Bang!'

The young man, tired from hammering, threw the large hammer aside and wiped the sweat from his forehead. As he looked at the iron block still burning, he couldn't help but mutter:

'I just want to forge a blade, but why is my aunt screwing me over like this! Where did she find this piece of scrap iron?'

He had been smelting this Xuantie

a rare type of iron

for two years, spending at least one hour every day hammering it, but until now, it had only slightly deformed.

After two years, he hadn't forged a blade, but his body had become stronger than ordinary people, and he could wield the two-hundred-plus pound hammer with great skill.

He shook his head helplessly and then began sparring with a metal puppet nearby.

Instantly, the hall resounded with incessant 'bang bang' sounds.

This metal puppet was also rare, able to use different fist styles to fight him. In less than a quarter of an hour, it had changed through three or four different fist styles.

The young man, however, had no set routines and simply reacted to each move, occasionally getting hit by a few punches but remaining completely unfazed.

Suddenly, he and the puppet both unleashed a powerful strike, their fists colliding.

With a 'bang' of an explosive sound.

The metal puppet retreated two steps, while the young man stumbled back four or five steps before barely managing to steady himself.

The young man rubbed his swollen fist, the muscles on his face twitching slightly from the pain, but his bright eyes were filled with disappointment.

'Could my aptitude really be so poor? I've cultivated diligently for four years, yet in the end, I've only reached the third stage of Body Refinement. There are only ten days until the annual clan competition, and if I don't reach the fourth stage of Body Refinement by then, I'll be sent to a branch pavilion!'

The major realms of martial cultivation, in ascending order, are Body Refinement, Essence Crystallization, Sea of Vitality, Pill Condensation, and Celestial Realm. Each realm is divided into nine stages, and each stage is further divided into four levels: early, middle, late, and peak.

Some people also broadly classify the first three stages of each realm as the early period, the fourth to sixth stages as the middle period, and the seventh to ninth stages as the late period.

In this Fenyang City, there are no martial cultivators who have reached the Sea of Vitality realm. Achieving the middle stage of the Essence Crystallization realm is enough to establish a major household.

As for realms beyond the Celestial Realm, those are mere legends!

The bare-chested young man's name was Ye Liuyun.

His current realm, to be precise, was the late stage of the third level of Body Refinement, which is generally referred to as the early period of Body Refinement.

At this moment, he was filled with a sense of grievance and a profound feeling of powerlessness.

When Ye Liuyun was ten years old, his aunt Feng Wanru came to visit his mother, apparently due to some trouble in his mother's family.

His father then accompanied his mother back to her hometown, and never returned. His aunt was left behind by his mother to take care of him, taking over his father's position as the Pavilion Elder.

Ye Liuyun had always hoped that through his diligent cultivation, he could become stronger, and one day be able to search for his parents and explore the world outside.

But in the last two years, his realm had been stuck at the third stage of Body Refinement! No matter how hard he tried, his cultivation made no progress.

Within the clan, whether from the main or branch lineages, all the disciples looked down on this 'waste of space' and 'mediocre talent'.

Even Ye Xinyu, who was betrothed to him, would always look at him with disdain and disgust whenever they met, repeatedly suggesting they break off their engagement, making him the laughingstock of the entire clan.

Ye Liuyun picked up a casual robe and put it on, then walked out of the rear hall with a dejected expression.

By this time, his aunt Feng Wanru had passed out in a rocking chair, snoring loudly, with several empty wine gourds scattered haphazardly on the table beside her.

He glanced at Feng Wanru's flushed face, her fluttering eyelashes, and the rise and fall of her heaving bosom. He hurriedly averted his gaze, not daring to look any further.

Feng Wanru was eight years older than him, yet at a young age, she possessed a stunning beauty, with an exquisite figure and an elegant demeanor, truly a great beauty!

Yet this beautiful aunt was also a drunkard, often getting intoxicated and completely lacking the decorum of a lady!

Feng Wanru was knowledgeable and well-traveled, and Ye Liuyun's understanding of the outside world came mostly from her stories. But often, Ye Liuyun thought Feng Wanru was simply exaggerating.

However, when it came to cultivation, apart from having him train his body, she didn't give him any spirit pills. She claimed it was for his own good.

Ye Liuyun didn't understand. Others who hadn't awakened their bloodlines still took spirit pills to raise their realms. He had argued with her about this, but it only angered Feng Wanru and had no effect.

As a result, Ye Liuyun's realm progressed slowly, largely because he never took spirit pills.

Feng Wanru didn't care about his realm, but seeing his bloodline fail to awaken, she had no choice but to drown her worries in alcohol.

Thinking of this, Ye Liuyun felt sorry for his aunt.

'I wonder if Aunt could bear it if I was sent to a branch family?'

He sighed, picked up the wine gourd from the table, and left the mansion to bring her more wine.

Ye Liuyun didn't feel the cold as he walked through the swirling snowflakes, breathing in the crisp air and crunching through the thick snow. His mood had lightened considerably.

But when Ye Liuyun was just two streets away from the tavern, he suddenly stopped, his brow furrowed.

'A killing intent?'

A sense of danger arose, making his heart skip a beat.

Suddenly, a black-robed, masked figure shot out from a nearby alley, rushing towards him like the wind.

Ye Liuyun caught a whiff of a woman's fragrance in the breeze, conspicuous in the fresh air after the snow.

But Ye Liuyun's realm was too low. Though he sensed the danger, he couldn't dodge the black-robed figure's sword thrust to his lower abdomen.

Instinctively clutching his abdomen, his hands were stained with fresh blood.

The black-robed figure followed with a palm strike towards his chest.

'It's a woman! That fragrance from the breeze... Ye Xinyu? Is she trying to kill me?'

The thought flashed through Ye Liuyun's mind.

He didn't know others well, but he had observed his own fiancée carefully. So he could tell it was her right away.

Xieyu Xin had only humiliated him with a few words or instigated others to cause trouble for him in the past. She had never laid a hand on him herself, let alone try to kill him.

At this moment, there was no time for him to think too much. With a 'pa' sound, the man in black slapped his palm on the pendant on Ye Liuyun's chest, seemingly shattering the pendant.

As Ye Liuyun was knocked backwards and fell to the ground, he hurriedly grabbed the pendant on his chest. It was the only memento left by his parents.

As Ye Liuyun fell to the ground, the man in black followed up with a sword thrust towards his throat.

'Humph!' A cold snort like a thunderclap echoed through the street. Followed by a powerful aura that pressed towards the man in black.

Pooh!

The man in black was shaken and froze momentarily, unable to thrust the sword any further. He spat out a mouthful of blood onto his mask and then turned and fled.

Seeing the man in black fleeing, Ye Liuyun let out a sigh of relief. It seemed someone had intervened and saved him. He had thought he was about to be killed!

At this moment, even he did not know that the black pendant had absorbed all his blood.

Then, the pendant flashed with a brilliant light, enveloping Ye Liuyun's entire body, and his wounds instantly healed, leaving him unscathed.

'My wounds have healed? What's going on?'

Ye Liuyun was greatly shocked. Before he could figure out what had happened, the black pendant flew back into his body.

At this moment, perhaps due to the severe injury he had sustained, his consciousness became increasingly blurred, and he gradually lost consciousness.