Li Bin was born in Shiwa Village, a small settlement deep in the mist-shrouded Qingfeng Mountains. The village nestled against the mountains beside a river. Though remote and difficult to reach, the few acres of thin farmland handed down through generations produced enough grain in years with favorable weather, allowing the villagers to live quiet, self-sufficient lives, working from sunrise to sunset. But the weather can turn without warning. About five years ago, it was as if an invisible hand had clamped shut the sky above Shiwa Village. Not a single proper drop of rain had fallen since. In just five short years, the village that had once been home to more than a hundred people was left with only Li Bin. He was no longer the sturdy young man he had once been. His face was sallow, his clothes were ragged, and every breath tasted of dust. His family, his neighbors... one familiar face after another fell before his eyes and turned to dust. Only he remained, like a candle flickering in the wind, clinging to life on this desolate land.
That day, Li Bin knew his time was up. He dragged himself to the old locust tree in the center of the village, said to be more than a thousand years old. Leaning against its cracked trunk, he moved his parched lips as the last glimmer of light in his eyes began to fade. He only wanted to wait here for the end of his life. As his consciousness grew hazy, he noticed a palm-sized black iron shard, half hidden in a hollow in the dead tree. A sudden, needle-sharp pain stabbed his head, and the shard sank into the space between his brows. A vast stream of information flooded his mind. From it, he learned the words “cultivation” and “immortality,” and that the shard was called “Spirit Devourer,” an ancient magical treasure from the world of cultivation. From then on, he embarked on the path of cultivation.
