1 Chapter 1 History and the Presen

Breathing slowly and with his eyes wide open, Hartley laid on his improvised bed made of straw and beast pelts, with both hands behind his head he stared at the ceiling of his crudely built cabin in deep contemplation.

Laying statue-still and bare-chested in the silence of the shabby cabin, thin beams of unwanted sunlight invaded through countless holes in the rickety structure built on a flat piece of rocky land at the foot of a mountain.

With bright spots of sunlight dancing over his body, he couldn't help but think of the years he had survived the vibrant horrors of the mountain while living in the small hole-riddled wooden cabin, he knew that soon, he would be leaving this place that he had called home for most of his life.

Scratches and bruises decorated his thin muscular upper body and his muscles felt tired and sore. His training had been hard, relentless and non-stop in the danger-filledregion where life and death was decided within seconds.

Two years ago, a great disaster that almost took his life had turned into a fortuitous encounter that would change his life, the result being him finding a mysterious artifact in the mountains that allowed him to freely manipulate gravity.

As an orphan from the Lou clan who had often been shunned by his peers, Hartley was banished to live in the shabby wooden cabin on the outskirts of the mountain from a young age, often entering the mountain filled with nightmarish fierce beasts capable of devouring and tearing grown men to pieces. Hartleyhad honed his survival skills by necessity and truly came to understand the law of the fittest in this place where death seemed more likely than his next meal.

Hartley's clan of birth was the Lou Clan,which was one of many influential clans in the Waltham province, they had cultivated a long line of strong warriors and had built a foundation as one of the flag bearers for the region. Hartley had no memory of his mother or father and was treated like the dirt of the clan, if he didn't have the surname Lou, maybe they would have banished him to the wilderness a long time ago, instead he was allowed to live in the outskirts of the dangerous beast-filled mountain, many even expected him to be dead by now.

He had taught himself to be self sufficient and had avoided the unnecessary confrontations with the conceited young lords, he would only venture into the populated town when absolutely compelled by his needs.

The mountain became Hartley's oasis the more he adapted to it. This place had sculpted him like a block of granite, carving out a will and determination within him that never slackened or wavered in his conviction to gain strength and control his own destiny. Visitors were rare but Hartley didn't mind as long as no one came to bother him with petty adolescent drama, which was the norm for youths his age.

Hatley's approach was different, he had opted to keep low-key and had forsaken the social relationships youths his age yearned for, rigidly sticking to a routine of training, eating and performing bodily necessities.

As life went on as usual for everyone else, a black hair youth dressed in crude clothes made from the raw untreated pelts of beasts, was living a life of constant hardship and battles in the mountain, almost seeming to be forgotten by the world.....

Recently Hartley hadbroken through to the 9th layer of houtian realm, this is the first realm for a cultivator and is known as the preparatory realm, this was a realm that built the foundations for future achievements and transformed the body to a vessel for elemental energy.

Unknown to him, under the constant life and death pressure of his environment, he had pushed his body to the extreme limit of the houtian realm.

His speed and endurance was tremendous, he could keep up with even the yellow striped wind leopard, maybe he was even a bit faster.

He had hunted deep in the mountains on many occasions and by now killing yellow striped wind leopards was an easy task, most cultivators at his age could barely even catch up to one much less to even think about killing one of these wily animals.....

Having tempered himself with countless battles for survival against the many species of fierce beasts roaming the outskirts, he had eventually trained himself to be calm even in the worst life threatening situations....

.............Two Years Ago.......

Wounded by a vicious Bear twice his size, a black haired youth staggered through the inner regions of the mountain, with desperation evident in his eyes the youth left a trail of blood and broken shrubbery as he crashed through the unfamiliar section of the mountain with a speed that defied his serious injuries.

Gripping his bloody chest and constantly peeking over his shoulder in fright, the slim youth heard the chilling roars of the fierce beast as it bulldozed anything standing between it and its wounded prey, clumsily smashing through trees and uprooting the thick shrubbery, it rumbled forward like a natural disaster cutting a path through the darkening forest

Injured, bloody and losing ground to the fierce beast, in desperation the youth summoned all his strength and hurled himself over a cliff in an unfamiliar part of the mountain to escape the killing blow and preserve his life a little longer.

Landing face-first with a splash in a small pool at the bottom of a precipice, the frustrated growls of the animal echoed out above for what seems like hours before retreating, the youth stared at the blackness with a sense of impending doom not only was he injured, the fall had knocked him silly, most likely leaving him concussed.

Hartley laid motionlessly in the darkness with ragged shallow breaths, moans escaped his lips as pain seared through his chest which had been slashed open, leaving blood pouring freely from the wound staining the crude pelts tied to his body as clothing red.

It felt like death had surrounded him and was reaching out its spindly hands to pull him into its bosom, Hartley had given up all hope, suddenly there was a bright blue light flickering and blinking like a fire fly in his peripheral vision. Somehow he found the strength and began crawling to the light. Bleeding and cramped with pain, it took almost an hour for him to reach it.

At first he thought it was a way out of the cave leading to somewhere where he could find some unlikely help.. it was a long shot but hope kept him plowing forward.

Finally reaching the source of the light, it almost broke his mind to find out that the bright light wasn't an exit, it was just a small blue stone emitting a strong hazy blue light which seemed to glow even brighter in his presence.

Disappointed, he let out a final scream of anguish as all hope disappeared and he collapse next to the strange stone embracing his death unwillingly. In what he had thought were his final moments, his weakness, thirst and hunger seem to mercilessly attack him, gnawing at his consciousness that was fading into darkness, his unfocused eyes radiated with deep despair and regret....

Suddenly the light started to float, brightening the cave with a soft blue hue like a full moon..

His eyes refocused, opening wide with fear as the strange light made a beeline towards him, circled around him twice, then with a whooshing sound and leaving wavy ripples in the air, it shot straight towards his chest.....

Hartley thought it to be some kind of parasite or predator that had waited in the dark for an unsuspecting prey and prepared himself for a painful demise, thinking how unlucky he must be, to have escaped death by the black bear only to be food for some weird parasite.

As he was prepared for the pain, surprisingly the opposite happened, instead of the excruciating pain he was expecting, he felt warmth and comfort as if he was back in his cabin, laid in his straw bed and wrapped with fluffy beast pelts.

His hunger and thirst that had been torturing him for so long receded and he felt a sliver of strength returning to his limbs.. unknown to him he had been laying motionlessly in the cave for 2 months.

Eyes that were transformed to the color of sapphire fluttered open as a light breeze caressed his face, a feeling of strength had returned to his tall thin frame as he was greeted by a throbbing pang of hunger in his stomach, sitting up and taking stock, temporarily having no idea where he was, memories of a vicious encounter came flooding back.

Hartley nervously clutched at his chest and checked the wounds, to his absolute shock his life threatening injuries were all healed leaving three lines across his tanned skin.

He also noticed that he could see almost perfectly in the pitch black cave, the animal furs he was wearing were ripped to shreds and hanging from his body but he was not cold at all.. he actually felt comfortable.

He got up and looked around and every movement he made was greeted with gentle splashing sounds.

He was lying soaked in a cave lined with ankle deep water, he could hear the occasional sound of water dripping slowly from the ceiling in the quiet oval shaped cave.

The stony face of the cave walls were covered with countless algae-like green moss and herbs were growing out of the many cracks scattered throughout the cave, immediately he recognized the abundant herb.

It was a short vine-like herb with a red stem growing out of long narrow green leaves, every crack in the cave-wall seemed have hundreds growing out.

These were called lion candy and he had seen them in the market on one of his infrequent trips into town, these were very expensive and were used to recover energy and strengthen the body of low-level cultivators.

Harley couldn't even dream of getting his hands on these herbs in normal circumstances, usually only the young lords of the clan could afford these for their training as these were rumored to be very hard to find.

Creating splashing sounds with every step, which seemed to echo in the empty cave, he moved over and picked 2 of the herbs, removed the red sapling and put it in his mouth.

instantly his body was like a desert that had its first drop of nutrients in years, his hunger was abated and he started to feel energized.

After consuming three more a feeling of strength radiated from his body and his bones began to make popcorn-popping sounds.

Remembering the incident with the blue light when he had first entered the cave, he removed the raggedy animal fur he was wearing, with his upper body bare he began inspecting his chest.

Next to his healed scars, there was a small tattoo looking like a blue star over his heart that he hadn't noticed before, it was strange but he didn't feel like examining it in detail right now.

Bare chested and with a splash accompanying every step, he headed for the exit.

Fifteen minutes later he was back at the place where had landed, the dark green colored water here was just a little bit deeper than in the cave and vaguely reflected the sharp ragged rocks of the cliff up above, lookingup he could see the blue sky which had a smattering of fluffy clouds.

There was a 500 meter jagged cliff-face forming a semi circular dead end. The formidable cliff seemed impossible to climb, or very difficult without any tools to say the least.

Hartley tried to climb the cliff a few times but could barely find any purchase to grip the slimy rocks, met with failure he then returned to the cave in frustration.

For the next 3 days he tried everything he could think of for a conventional way of getting out, he tried to make a rope with grass but it was very weak and he had no hope of finding enough to make a rope the length he required, even if he could make the length, it wasn't going to be strong enough to support his weight for a 500 meter climb. He ate lion candy herbs daily and trained some basic fist techniques he had learned back in the orphanage.. each time he swung his punch the air in the cave scattered with a whoosh it felt very powerful. He went into a routine of training and eating lion candy.

After a week he felt a strange sensation,his body has strengthened immensely so he thought this strange feeling was just his strength multiplying by leaps and bounds but it was not just brute strength, it was a feeling of being able to control everything within a fifteen meter radius.

He could some how feel even the tiniest ripples in the ankle deep water. He was beginning to feel a tingling sensation in chest where the blue light had entered.

Captured and awed by this feeling he finished practicing his fist technique and sat down cross legged in the water then concentrated.. there was something at the edge of his consciousness but he just could not connect to it after sitting still for fifteen minutes, then there was a bang in his head and he finally connected with the strange feeling.

He could actually somehow see the inside of his body and the space where the blue light was. It was a Star, Saphire blue in color. He knew only Xiantian experts could see their inner daintan in their bodies, he was so shocked..He calmed down and started to look around in amazement. Up til this point he had not been formally trained in any martial school, he was self taught with numerous battles with fierce beast so he could eat.

As he looked around there was a bright blue book under the star, he moved in consciousness closer to the book, on the cover were words that read.. Blue Star Gravity Sutra. He willed the book open and started to read. The first page stated only people talented and chosen by the blue star fragment could practice this sutra.. he inhaled a deep breath. Was he talented?

He read the first 20 pages and could not open anymore pages after that but he learned the basics gravity manipulation, star feet moving technique and star fist and the first part of cultivating blue star power.

The star fragment in his body was basically infinite and he had to draw the power from the blue star and make it is own until he could completely assimilate the star with his body..He found out that at this point he was in the houtian realm and could cultivate to the God realm with this cultivation technique..

He had no clue how scarce a cultivation technique that could bring one to the God realm was, many experts in the Waltham province would start a war over such technique.. but he wasn't stupid he knew this had to be kept a secret..

Two months went by in the blink of an eye and he had cultivated religiously and ate almost every single herb in the cave, he was now houtian level 5 and had mastered the star fist technique and movement skill up to the third of 5 levels.

With the basics of gravity manipulation, he could control the gravity in a 15 meters radius with him at the center.

He could change the gravity at will up to 10x gravity or could go to zero gravity. He stood up ate the last of the herbs in the cave and prepared to leave.

As he walked out the exit of the cave and faced the cliff-face that had seemed impossible to climb 2 months ago, he took a deep breath, Hartley was now a changed boy from the kid that fell down all that time ago, his eyes were now a beautiful saphire blue, his hair was messy, wrapped around his handsome features in a disheveled manner, his tall skinny frame now had an aura of power.

Hartley's body had been nourished by the Blue star fragment and he had been eating rare herbs for breakfast lunch and dinner..

He was morphed into an unbelievably powerful young man even more powerful than the young lords in Waltham province who had been training and nourished since young.

He looked at the cliff, bent his knees and exploded like a bullet 40 meters up the front face of the cliff,

the turbulent wind made his figure look distorted and blurry leaving water molecules splashing, spraying and spreading in all directions behind him.

His bare feet touched the jagged cliff, he willed gravity to zero and pushed off in the opposite direction leaving cracks on the cliff-face and sending pebbles falling to create broad ripples across the surface of the water below. Gaining leverage he shot himself another 100 meters upwards and towards the other side of the semi-circular cliff-face, as soon as his feet touched, he pushed off with all his strength in the opposite direction again, this time sending a massive shower of pebbles, rocks and dust downward towards the dark green waters.

Hartley shot straight towards the opening at the top with a whoosh, squinting his eyes in the wind as he shot out of the opening with a beautiful ark and squinted even more when he entered the glaring golden sunshine that he had not seen in months.

He landed in a crouch with one palm directly on the ground and stayed in that pose for a few seconds before his eyes acclimatized to the bright sunlight.

Inhaling a deep breath before standing up and looking around, gravity around him went back to normal and he made his way out of the mountains back to his cabin.....

..........The Present.........

For these two years Hartley had had great progress in his practice, he was now wearing the furs of the yellow striped wind leopard, since he had broken through to the ninth realm of the houtian, he was heading back deep into the mountain to hunt and would be delighted if he would run into that black bear again. Even though Hartley had not been enrolled in any martial school he had learned a lot from the blue Star book and had been cultivating blue star power religiously. He was at the Houtian 9th realm at the age of sixteen some martial artist spent their lives at this level without moving into the Xiantian realm...

Hartely moved through the mountains swiftly and quietly making swift progress, in 3 days he had left the outer part of the mountain was approaching the inner parts, he started to be a little more cautious moving forward.

If anyone were to see him now they would think he was just some kid with a death wish who didn't know the difference between diamonds and horse shit..

He had no armor and his only weapon was a hunting knife. Dressed in self made leopard fur clothes tied to his body with dried grass, he made his way deeper into the mountain, the terrain got more bumpy and steep but he moved like water flowing over a stone.

When it was dark he stopped and set up camp. The handsome youth had run into numerous beast but dealt with them easily. He made a fire roasted some meat ate and drunk from his canteen, after putting out the fire, he climbed a tree sat crossed legged and started to cultivate.

The wind moaned and howled through the night, the rustling of leaves and the occasional roar of a fierce beast sounded out in the darkness. Deep in the night suddenly his eyes flicked open, he instantly jumped 5 meters high and 10 meters back, the limbs of the tree shook violently and as a result loose leaves began swirling to the ground,as he landed there was suddenly 6 deep claw marks where he was sitting just a moment before, splinters flew off the bark of the tree with a grinding scraping sound... There was suddenly a red wolf in the space formerly occupied by Hartley.

He stared at the beast, it was the first time he was seeing this beast, if he had not mastered basics of gravity manipulation he might have been caught off guard but now he could subconsciously sense every detail in a 15 meter radius..

The stealthy Red wolf growled angrily, it could not believe such a soft target had escaped it. It had some intelligence and it knew the more formidable humans would be wearing shiny armor and carrying long swords, these were very dangerous when wielded by a true expert. But this late night snack had escaped his well honed hunting skills, it was rather embarrassed..

Hartley tensed, he stared straight into the eyes of the Red wolf, he was experienced enough to wait for the Red wolf's next move. The wolf jumped down from the tree and slowly circled around....

Then BAM! it catapulted forward leaving dust and dry leaves swirling , it was leaping through the air and covered 5 meters in the blink of an eye, it was now only 5 meters away from Hartley, it could almost taste the appetizing flesh of the human stood before it.

Suddenly it was as if the beast was traveling through thick porridge, its speed reduced drastically, it was confused and growled angrily.... Then a fist approached the side of its head in a blurry blue flash..

Hartley had sent 10x gravity slamming down onto the Red wolf like a mountain dropping from the skies, it lost so much speed that it almost fell from the air, Hartely then pushed off with his right foot, dirt scattered on the floor sending pebbles flying everywhere leaving an imprint of his foot in the soft earth, his muscles that had been training under the restriction of 10x gravity for 2 years looked like iron cables wrapped around his slim body as he arrived at the side of the Red wolf leaving an unstable after image of himself standing in his gravity field.

He threw a right handed star fist at the side of the Red wolf's head, it landed and at the moment of impact, he released his gravity field.

The Red wolf flew back in a blur like a bullet with the impact of the punch, growling out loudly as it smashed into a tree the width of a human thigh, making leaves and thin branches scatter and swirl in the air, the beast was blasted through the tree creating a shower of wooden splinters accompanied by the loud sounds of broken bones, it rolled to a lifeless stop three meters after passing what was left of the tree, half of its face disintegrated into a bloody pulp with one eye missing, blood was running from its mouth and the bone in its back shattered into splinters, it didn't even look like a wolf anymore, it now resembled a red cotton ball.

Hartley walked over with steady careful steps, took out his hunting knife and stripped the fur, it was the first time he had seen a beast like this, the fur might be worth something. After that he used his knife to dig around in the half shattered wolf's head and took out something that looked like a red crystal, this was a beast core, he placed it his pouch with the rest and kept moving.

After hunting in the mountains for days Hartely's backpack was filled with furs and his pouch had beast cores in all shapes sizes and color. He was returning from the mountains and was almost leaving the inner area when he heard a gigantic roar! he hurried to see what was happening.

Silently he approached the area of the disturbance and saw the black bear killing a huge wild boar with a powerful slap from it's front paw.. Hartley's eyes brightened, it was the Black bear from 2 years ago...