Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

It was three days until Yan Zaizen twitched into consciousness, with dirt-filled coughs. His position was rather awkward, his head laying face first into the grassy dirt while his arms and legs were spread out at odd angles. His outline was reminiscent of a murdered victim shot violently in the back. As for himself? He felt like one.

"Wha...?" Yan Zaizen softly exclaimed as he got his bearings, sitting upright atop the grass with a little bit of struggle. Feeling the painful pulsing sensation in his forehead caused him to rub it vigorously. It wasn’t long before it dawned on him as he placed his palm towards his face that he was alive. He was ALIVE!

He yelped in excitement.

"Haha, take that! Think you can take this tough life? Ha, look at yourself in the mirror to see if you’re worthy." Jumping up and giving the middle-finger to no one in particular, Yan Zaizen came to a realization that, besides being slightly dirty, he was relatively fine. Don’t seem to make sense that he got hit by a meteorite from the sky and simply can walk it off. Was he immortal? He patted his body all over, not to just remove the dirt, but checking to see if he had any holes or if anything was missing. Checking his crotch first, he sighed in relief.

At least that wasn’t harmed.

Wait.

He checked his legs. Upon doing so, he came to a realization that he had no broken bones. From his memories, that was incredibly vivid still, he was supporting his fleshy body with Qi due to the shattering of his leg bones from excessive force. However, that didn’t seem to be the case. It gave him a feeling as if he just imagined the entire thing. It was slightly surreal.

Looking around, he found no evidence of a meteor hitting, as if it was all truly a part of his imagination. The situation kept getting weirder as he noticed a silver ring resting tightly upon his middle-finger. This ring seemed to fit him perfectly, with no discerning marks but just plain silver-band, as if it was always his. He traced it with his finger.

Nothing happened.

In his confusion, he couldn’t help but check his body again for any other things he may have stolen in his sleep. I mean, not stolen but acquired with the luck of a finder. However, nothing else was there. Assuming that he wasn’t going insane, then the meteorite existed. It targeted him. He broke his bones dashing for his little life and then was hit. In that case, perhaps...it wasn’t a meteor? He looked at the silver-ring once more. He gazed intently at it.

Could it be...?

The ring was the meteorite. Was this some unearthly, heavenly, and supreme god-tier treasure? For it to descend upon the skies and chose him of all people. It chose him!

"You have extraordinary judgment meteor ring." He nodded in approval like a teacher appraising his student for his good set of eyes. Meteor Ring? Yeah, he’ll name it that. Seeing how that was all said and done, he continued to study the ring, and even tried to take it off his finger. He came to the realization that the ring was stuck like a mountain on the surface - it just won’t budge.

He tried using his Qi to interact with the ring, but all it did was shine slightly with the resplendent light of his Qi. Then, he tried flicking it with his fingers. Then, bring it up to the sun and maybe it’ll illuminate some secret. Then, talked to it like a lover in hopes it would say something in response.

"Baby, come on, you don’t have to stay asleep. Let your man see what you can do."

After trying every single conceivable method he could possibly think of, outside of shattering his precious, he fell on his butt in exhaustion. Not physically, but mentally. Perhaps his Cultivation in Qi was just too low to urge to Meteor Ring to awaken. Currently, he possessed a cultivation base at the Initial-Stage of the Qi Revolving Realm. Even if it may be low, it still meant he was an official cultivator.

The Qi Realms, as he knows of it, were divided into the six Core Realms, three Foundational Realms. The Core Realms consisting of Qi Foundation, Qi Revolving, Essence Formation, Qi Unification, Origin Core, and True Essence. These are the realms that typically determines one’s combat prowess, while the foundational realms determine the depth of the Core Realms. After Essence Formation Realm is the first two Foundational Realm - Dantian Refinement & Pathway Expansion respectively.

Dantian Refinement is as it seems, one refines the Dantian — that which holds Qi — to contain more Qi which enhances one’s endurance. Pathway Expansion refines the meridians & Qi pathways to enhance the speed of absorption of essence, refinement of essence, pathways durability, Qi circulation, and Qi recovery.

The third Foundational Realm is after the True Essence Realm, the Crimson Star Realm. Which further refines one’s heart into a newly developed Dantian to hold more Qi, enhancing its durability and storage to act as a second Dantian. Which leads to the metamorphosis of the heart, producing a True Heart Star. Each of the Realms is divided into four stages - Initial, Mid, Late, and Peak. However, Foundational Realms can achieve a breakthrough into the next realm at simply the initial-stage, making them unique, but by doing so one loses the ability to enhance their Qi Foundation forever. The average Cultivator ignored the Foundational Realms due to the high costs for progression.

Therefore, perhaps to urge the Meteor Ring, Yan Zaizen required a much higher cultivation base than the initial-stage Qi Revolving. A soft sigh resounded filled with resignation and grievance. Currently, his lackluster cultivation was due to actions in his younger years. Yan Jizen & Ya Qinqan were at the Initial Essence Formation Realm, while he remained an entire Realm below despite being the same age as them. He’s remained stuck in this stage for eight years, and now he’s sixteen.

Recalling all of these events that lead up to this result made him descend into depression once more. He lowered his head in sadness. It was why he liked to be alone, away from the mocking sneers, the harsh insults, and the glaring — almost blinding — eyes of disappointment. It was as if he had a distinctive stench of failure. The stench of trash.

Suddenly, he rapidly moved his lowered head to the side, almost reflectively. A wasp with a mission just attempted to strike him with its sharp stinger right in the face. However, instinctively, he dodged. His eyes turned to this wasp that seemed hell-bent on striking him buzz around in wild patterns. He looked at this wasp in amusement. "You want to harm this daddy?" Just as he was about to send this wasp to its wasp afterlife, he stopped.

Then, his eyes widened!

Impossible!

He didn’t notice it before, but his senses had been enhanced to an almost unnatural degree. Although Cultivators typically had enhanced senses, this mostly related to energy perception, but not relating to the five senses. Only Body Cultivators, who refine their bodies, typically have enhanced sight, sound, smell, hearing, and touch. Yan Zaizen was no Body Cultivator, evident by his scrawny appearance.

Then...

His eyes widened into the size of suns, and he now realized that he could observe his entire surroundings. Not just visually see in front of him, but FEEL what’s around him.

"...Spiritual Sense?"

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