When the golden sun rose above the towering cliffs of the Eastern Sky Mountain Range, its light bathed the vast grounds of the Thousand Peaks Cultivation Academy. The academy, seated within a nexus of spirit veins and ley lines, had stood for over three thousand years, producing immortal lords, sect leaders, and divine protectors of empires.
To many, this place was the cradle of greatness.
To Sun Mo, it was the endless reminder of failure.
At the very edge of the inner disciple courtyard, Sun Mo sat beneath a leafless tree, surrounded by lush jade tiles and sculpted walkways. Students passed by in silken robes glowing faintly with embedded spirit runes. He was the only one in gray.
A robe signifying failure.
"Still stuck at Qi Refinement, first level?" one of the passing students whispered.
"He's been here for five years and hasn't advanced a single realm."
"Why doesn't he just give up? Even the outer disciples mock him now."
Their voices were low, but not low enough. Sun Mo heard it all. He always did.
And yet he never spoke back. Not because he couldn't. But because he was waiting.
He looked down at his hand. It trembled—not from fear, but from the constant buzz of something ancient and dormant.
Something that didn't belong to this world.
The academy was structured into seven inner mountains, each representing a core path of cultivation: Sword, Alchemy, Formation, Beast Taming, Heaven Sense, Heaven Body, and Dao Laws. Students would be assigned to a peak depending on their talent and affinity. Those with no peak were considered "loose roots"—drifting without anchor.
Sun Mo was the only student in the outer ranks who had not been assigned to any peak since enrollment at age 13.
He should've been expelled.
But for some reason… he wasn't.
Some higher-up must've intervened.
The cultivation paths taught at the academy revolved entirely around Dao cultivation. From absorbing spirit qi to refining meridians, students pursued longevity, power, and eventual ascension. Spirit qi flowed like rivers through the air, dense and thick around the academy's sacred grounds.
But for Sun Mo, it never worked. His spiritual sense was dull. The qi refused to enter. The sect elders labeled him "spiritless." Useless.
Until now.
The night before, during a silent meditation beneath the moonlight, Sun Mo had felt something stir. A resonance—soft, subtle, unlike anything the Dao had ever offered him. It wasn't spirit qi that entered him, but something more primal. Something that recognized him.
He didn't cultivate the Dao. He cultivated something else. Something older.
The Source.
A whisper, no louder than a thought, had echoed in his mind.
"Calm down."
And as he did, he felt the warmth of his own heartbeat, the quiet breathing of his lungs, the gentle stillness of his soul. For the first time, he wasn't chasing something beyond himself. He was returning inward.
The Source wasn't about conquering heaven. It was about understanding being.
And so the system activated.
[You have felt the Source Echo.]
[The path of Source Cultivation is now open.]
[New Objective: Cultivate Your Being.]
[Name: Sun Mo]
[Lifespan: 18/105]
[Race: Mortal]
[Dao Cultivation: 1st level of the Qi Refinement Realm]
[Source Cultivation: None]
[Technique: Advanced Qi Refinement Method]
[Equipment: None]
[Cultivation Potential: Extremely Bad]
[Cultivation Path: Dao, Source]
A new window flashed in his mind, different from any cultivation system he had ever read about.
[Source Cultivation Path Initiated.]
[Stage 1: Awakening of Self – Inner Sight. See your flaws, fears, and mental blocks.]
Sun Mo's eyes opened wide.
Finally, after years of being mocked, scorned, and overlooked, something had accepted him.
Something had recognized his existence—not as a potential cultivator, but as a person.
He clenched his fist and stood slowly, the wind catching the hem of his gray robe. Around him, the academy remained unchanged, the voices of students echoing like shallow ripples.
But something was now different.
Within him.