It had been a full five years since that cataclysmic upheaval.
The lands of the Spirit Realm remained scarred and devastated.
The great waves along the Eastern Sea coast had receded, yet they left behind a thousand li of barren saline wasteland.
Subterranean fires still erupted from certain fissures from time to time, painting the sky an ominous dark red.
The once-orderly Spirit Realm was now in chaos, with resource conflicts growing ever fiercer.
Thanks to the Black Tortoise, those twenty streaks of falling starlight had long since transformed from "auspicious signs" into a "source of calamity" that everyone avoided like the plague.
"It was those meteors that brought the disaster!" people believed firmly.
"Especially the children born where the meteors fell—they must be reincarnations of disaster stars!"
The Ye family was among the deepest afflicted.
Five years ago, one of those meteors had landed squarely in the Ye family's spirit tea garden behind their mountain.
Now, nothing remained there but a massive scorched crater.
——
Southern Frontier, Qingyun City, the Ye family's side courtyard.
In a dilapidated firewood shed, a five-year-old boy sat quietly by the window.
His name was Ye Fan.
Outwardly, he looked no different from any ordinary child, but his eyes held a depth and gravity far beyond his years.
These past five years, every single day had been torment.
"Master, Grandmaster, this disciple has failed your expectations." Ye Fan sighed inwardly, the silhouette of that peerless woman appearing before his eyes—Chen Xingcai, the beloved daughter of his grandmaster Chen Chang'an.
But his master had also come to the Spirit Realm. He wondered if she was in the same predicament as him.
He still didn't know that due to someone's favoritism, some people happened to land exactly where another had planted hidden pieces long ago.
And he was not so fortunate.
All the chess pieces had been reborn into the Spirit Realm with their memories intact.
He had thought that with his past-life memories and cultivation techniques, he could rise quickly.
Who could have predicted that the moment of his rebirth coincided with the Black Tortoise breaking its covenant, with one disaster after another following in succession.
And since his rebirth happened at the exact moment a meteor struck, he was branded with the name "Disaster Star," enduring humiliation for these five years.
CRASH! The door of the firewood shed was kicked open violently.
A chubby ten-year-old boy barged in with two lackeys in tow.
This was Ye Fan's nominal older brother—Ye Hu, the grandson of the Grand Elder.
Five years on, Ye Hu had grown even burlier, and his methods of bullying Ye Fan had become increasingly cruel.
"Disaster Star, the family is testing spirit roots today, why are you still dawdling here?" Ye Hu asked arrogantly, kicking over the broken wooden bowl in front of Ye Fan, spilling the watery rice porridge all over the floor.
Ye Fan looked at him calmly. "No one notified me."
"Notify you?" Ye Hu scoffed.
"You're a disaster star and you think you deserve to have your spirit roots tested? If the family head hadn't insisted that all five-year-old children must participate, you wouldn't even have the right to go near the Spirit Testing Platform!"
With that, Ye Hu signaled his lackeys. "Drag him over! Let everyone see what this disaster star is made of!"
The two lackeys roughly grabbed Ye Fan and dragged him toward the Spirit Testing Platform in the main courtyard.
These five years, Ye Fan had grown accustomed to such treatment.
Though he possessed supreme cultivation techniques in his heart, first, his body was too weak, and second, let alone supporting medicinal pills—he couldn't even get enough to eat in this household.
Along the way, members of the Ye family pointed and whispered, their eyes full of loathing and fear.
"It's him! The disaster star from five years ago!"
"I heard that the day he was born, a meteor fell on the back mountain and the spirit tea garden was completely destroyed..."
"Why is he still kept in the Ye family? He should be driven out!"
Ye Fan listened to these remarks without any change in expression.
His will had always been firm—otherwise, he would never have caught Chen Chang'an's eye.
These mundane trivialities were insufficient to shake his dao heart.
The Spirit Testing Platform was already surrounded by Ye family members young and old.
Today was an important day for the Ye family—five-year-old children would have their spirit root aptitudes tested here, determining their future path of cultivation.
When Ye Fan was dragged to the scene, the boisterous crowd suddenly fell silent.
Countless gazes focused on him, most filled with disgust and rejection.
"Next, Ye Hu!" the Third Elder presiding over the test called out.
Though Ye Hu was already ten and had his spirit roots tested five years ago, he had come specifically today to show off.
Ye Hu strutted onto the Spirit Testing Platform and placed his hand on the Spirit Testing Stele.
Instantly, the inscriptions lit up with an earthy yellow glow, even brighter than five years ago.
"Earth-aspect spirit root, mid-to-upper aptitude!" The Third Elder nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad, great improvement these five years."
Ye Hu descended the platform amid the envious gazes of the crowd, deliberately bumping into Ye Fan as he passed.
"Disaster Star, let's see what you can test out!" Ye Hu sneered.
The testing continued among the new batch of five-year-olds.
Some tested with lower-grade spirit roots and could only become outer disciples; some had no spirit roots at all, destined for an ordinary life.
Occasionally, someone with mid-to-upper aptitude appeared, sparking a round of cheers.
"Last one, Ye Fan." When the Third Elder read this name, his brow furrowed, his tone carrying obvious impatience.
The grounds fell instantly silent—everyone was waiting to see the joke.
Ye Fan walked calmly onto the Spirit Testing Platform and placed his small hand on the cold Spirit Testing Stele.
He silently circulated his heart method, attempting to mask the discord between his primordial spirit and this world.
But these five years, he had tried cultivating countless times, always progressing slowly due to the world's rejection.
The Spirit Testing Stele underwent a bizarre change.
First, a faint blue light shimmered—that blue was deep as the sea, yet vanished in an instant.
Then the inscriptions began to flicker erratically, various colors alternating before finally going completely dark.
"What... what is going on?" The Third Elder had never seen such a phenomenon.
An experienced old cultivator in the crowd suddenly exclaimed, "An anomaly! This is the sign of a heaven-and-earth anomaly! No wonder it attracted disaster!"
These words were like lighting a powder keg—the entire crowd erupted.
"Drive him out! Disaster star!"
"He doesn't deserve the Ye name!"
"All the Ye family's misfortune was brought by him!"
Ye Fan stood in place, facing a thousand accusing fingers, but he understood the real problem all the more clearly.
This was his Desolate Heaven Holy Body—it was just that his primordial spirit came from the lower realm, fundamentally incompatible with the Spirit Realm's laws of heaven and earth, so the Spirit Testing Stele naturally couldn't accurately measure him.
But this anomaly only cemented his reputation as a "disaster star."
"Silence!" A commanding voice suppressed the uproar across the grounds.
Ye family head Ye Qingtian stood up, looking at Ye Fan on the platform with complex emotions.
These five years, he had borne enormous pressure for Ye Fan's sake.
"Regardless, the blood of the Ye family flows in his veins," the family head said gravely.
"By family rules, those without spirit roots may not cultivate, but they may remain in the clan to perform menial labor."
"Family Head! This is most improper..." the Grand Elder immediately objected.
"This child is a disaster star incarnate. Keeping him in the Ye family will only bring more calamity! These five years, the fortune of our Ye family has steadily declined—is that not proof enough?"
"Then what does the Grand Elder propose?" Ye Qingtian countered.
"His name should be stripped, and he should be expelled from the Ye family to fend for himself!" the Grand Elder said without hesitation.
Many in the crowd chimed in. "Expel him! Expel him!"
Ye Qingtian was silent for a moment before finally sighing.
"Then a compromise. Ye Fan keeps the Ye surname but is demoted to a servant—he may not cultivate, nor may he participate in family affairs. Is that acceptable?"
The Grand Elder, though dissatisfied, saw that the family head's stance was firm and reluctantly agreed.
And so, five-year-old Ye Fan officially became the lowest-ranking servant of the Ye family.
...
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