Immortal Destiny - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Li Hao

Since the beginning of time, the Eastern Star continent has been ruled by nine creatures that possess extraordinary power. Each of these creatures can split the sea and destroy mountains with ease.

They are known as Divine Beasts.

The physique and strength of the human race born in the Eastern Star continent were not comparable to the Divine Beasts and their followers. This resulted in humans ending up being nothing more than slaves, toys, and even food to them. Every day, humans wished they could put up a fight, until one day, that opportunity finally arrived.

Two humans with extraordinary powers of unknown origin suddenly appeared and faced the Divine Beasts and their followers. One by one, the Divine Beasts were defeated and sealed, bringing peace to mankind.

On the ninth day, the human race asked the two godlike humans why they didn’t kill the nine Divine Beasts.

One of them replied with a prophecy.

“One day, there will be a human who will unite all the Divine Beasts and their followers in the Eastern Star continent under his leadership.”

The two godlike humans then passed down knowledge to the human race. It contained methods that allowed humans to absorb the world’s energy called Qi. Humans who were able to absorb Qi were called cultivators, and they could enter the path of immortality.

After many humans became cultivators, the two godlike humans disappeared, and the remaining Divine Beast followers reappeared after previously hiding out of fear of the two.

Thus began an era where humans and the followers of Divine Beasts, the Demonic Beasts, continued to fight for hundreds of years, until humans finally emerged victorious and became the new rulers of the Eastern Star continent.

Thousands of years had passed since that day. The history and prophecy that the godlike humans spoke of had begun to be forgotten by mankind, and the world entered the age where fellow humans and cultivators kill each other for resources.

****

“Why is it so dark? Where am I?”

Little Li Hao opened his eyes wide but couldn’t see anything. The last thing he remembered was when he was swimming to catch fish. He tried to feel his surroundings and touched a lump of slimy flesh. His foot also stepped on something springy.

“Hm… Looks like something ate me again…” he concluded. This wasn’t the first time he had experienced this.

Li Hao started stomping his feet violently, as well as hitting the nearby flesh wall with all his might. It didn’t take long for the surrounding flesh to start shaking violently until finally Li Hao’s body started to be pushed out.

Moments later, Li Hao saw a light. He had been vomited by the creature that swallowed him, a creature in the shape of a crocodile.

The crocodile looked both angry and in pain. He regretted not chewing Li Hao before swallowing him. The crocodile didn’t think the little boy in front of him had so much power.

“How dare you eat me, you naughty fish.” Li Hao snorted in annoyance before charging and beating the crocodile.

Within minutes, the crocodile fell to the ground, no longer moving.

Li Hao picked up the crocodile’s tail and dragged it toward his house. He was a five-year-old boy who had lived in the Peach Blossom Mountain all his life with a man he called Uncle Liu.

All his life or for as far as he could remember, Li Hao had always stayed in Peach Blossom Mountain without ever leaving it. He never knew the world outside the mountain.

Peach Blossom Mountain itself had everything he needed. There were fruit trees, a lake where the fish never ran out, and beasts that had delicious meat. Yes, as far as Li Hao was concerned, life was about enjoying food every day.

It had been a year since Li Hao was ordered by Uncle Liu to hunt for his own food. At first Li Hao could only pick fruits, then he started hunting small animals. His favorite food was fish from the lake.

There were different kinds of fish, but he never differentiated them. Even the crocodile he was dragging was considered a fish to him.

“Uncle Liu! I’m home! I brought a big fish for us to eat today,” Li Hao exclaimed cheerfully. “Uncle Liu? Why aren’t you answering? Are you napping again?”

Li Hao turned his head up. The sun was still directly above his head. He then opened the door of his house, a simple building that had to be repaired every heavy rain because of its fragility.

His house was not big, as it was only used for sleeping, so apart from the bed, there was hardly any other furniture. Usually, Uncle Liu would lie in bed while waiting for Li Hao to bring him food, but this time, the house was empty.

Li Hao scratched his head, slightly confused that Uncle Liu was nowhere to be seen. He checked under the bed but couldn’t find him there either. It was only a while later that he realized there was a piece of paper on the bed.

He grabbed the paper containing the notes left by Uncle Liu. He scratched his head even harder than before, his expression turning to one of astonishment. “Did Uncle Liu forget that I still can’t read yet?”

***

Five years had passed since Li Hao found the paper on the bed, and Uncle Liu had not been seen since that day. Li Hao often wondered what was written on the paper.

At ten years old, Li Hao’s body had grown taller and stronger. Even though he sometimes missed Uncle Liu, at least he was still passionate about living his days for the past few years.

“Groaarr!”

A loud roar woke Li Hao from his slumber. “Ah, it’s morning already?” After doing a light warmup to relax his muscles, he left his house to take a morning shower and look for breakfast. But after taking a step out of the house, he was surprised to see that the sky was still dark.

“Hmm? Did the rooster wake up too early? Why did he crow when it’s still dark?” Li Hao muttered as he looked up at the sky.

Right after he spoke, a thunderbolt flashed loudly. Li Hao jumped backwards in surprise, realizing that the sky was dark above him only because it was cloudy, though he had never seen clouds that dark and covered the entire sky in his life.

“Is Heaven angry?” Li Hao swallowed his saliva.

Rain started to pour down heavily, so Li Hao could only sit and wait inside his house. At the same time, a loud sound that was slightly different from thunder started to fill the air. The sound kept repeating itself and became more and more frequent.

“Why is today’s thunder so different?”

When Li Hao turned his head upwards, he found that something was hurtling down from the sky.