In the autumn of the seventieth year of the Qiyuan era of the Great Xuan, the Hills of Chaos in the western borderlands are shrouded in dense, murky black fog, stinking of rot. The Bone-Eroding Demon has arrived.
Seventeen-year-old Lin Chen clutches the hunting knife his father left behind, hiding indoors with his mother, Madam Li. The courtyard wall suddenly collapses, and a Bone-Eroding Demon, half a person tall, barges in, its claws snagged in the bloodstained clothes of villagers. Madam Li shoves Lin Chen toward the woodshed and faces the demon with a hoe. The hoe snaps. Its claws rip open her shoulder, then strike again, leaving her collapsed in a pool of blood.
As Lin Chen teeters on the brink of death, the ancestral jade pendant on his chest cracks, and golden energy surges into him. [Unorthodox Cultivation System bound! Beginner mission: Kill the Bone-Eroding Demon. Choose one of three options]. He chooses “Infuse the blade with spiritual energy.” Warmth wells up in his right hand, and his hunting knife glows gold.
The Bone-Eroding Demon pounces. Lin Chen dodges and stabs it in the eye, the weakness identified by the System. Golden spiritual energy pierces the demon’s skull. It howls and convulses. Lin Chen finishes it off with another strike, and the System rewards him.
A whimper comes from the corner of the woodshed. Lin Chen finds a palm-sized, snow-white beast, a young Bai Ze, suffering from the foul miasma. He uses his remaining spiritual energy to treat it. The Bai Ze opens its eyes and licks his palm. [Binding successful. Weakness identification unlocked].
Lin Chen covers his mother’s body, slings on a bag of provisions, tucks the Bai Ze under his arm, grips his hunting knife, and pushes open the back door of the woodshed. Flames soar through the village amid the murky fog. He looks beyond the village. This is the first step in his struggle to survive the apocalypse, and the beginning of his journey to break through the immortal path.
