Beneath the Primordial Trigram

Li Tianliang had been struck by lightning for eighteen years.

Not because he had it coming. Lightning simply always picked him. When other families shut their windows and hid under the covers during a thunderstorm, his mother would grab an umbrella and chase him around the courtyard.

Wan Xingyao, who lived across the hall, had grown up with him and shared his dorm. He nicknamed Li Tianliang “Lightning Rod” and got chased down the street for three blocks.

His martial arts aptitude test showed a fire affinity, ranking him near the bottom of the school. His father was a noncommissioned officer, his mother ran a general store, and he had no connections. His homeroom teacher, Tie Feng, a veteran who had lived for hundreds of years, looked at him and said, “Just make it through graduation alive.”

Li Tianliang figured that sounded fair.

Then came the final exam: nine hundred students entered a real secret realm. While the others hunted primal beasts for points, he approached a purple electric marten. It discharged electricity, and the lightning followed the current straight to him. While the others steered clear of a flood dragon, he crawled right into its mouth.

After the exam, Tie Feng handed him an untitled cultivation manual. The last page read: “For whoever can use it.”

He tried to cultivate. The fire energy wouldn't flow.

Li Tianliang looked down at his hair, fried for eighteen years straight.

All right, then.

Cultivation has ranks, awakenings are entered into the records, exams are wars, and secret realms are webs. Rules seem to be everywhere, but beyond them lie corners no one can see.

Beneath the Primordial Trigrams, the world is only just beginning to unfold.