C1 Heavenly Sky Divine Technique!
"Ah..."
With a piercing scream, Zhang Nan awoke from his coma, his gaze settling on the surroundings that felt both strange and familiar, causing a throbbing pain in his head.
His body was numb and ached all over.
He rubbed his head groggily and muttered in confusion, "How did I end up here?"
"Child, you're finally awake." A woman, seeing his eyes open, embraced him anxiously. "Do you have any idea how worried your father and I have been? We feared the worst..."
"Let the boy be; he's just come around," interjected a robust middle-aged man with a commanding voice, though his eyes betrayed a deep sense of regret as he looked at Zhang Nan.
He led the woman out, their footsteps heavy with concern.
Now alone in the room, Zhang Nan sat, acutely aware of the changes in his body, a realization dawning on him.
"Could it really be?"
He lay back down, a self-deprecating smile on his face as he gazed out the window, lost in thought.
...
A millennium ago, a storm of spiritual energy burst forth, ushering in an era of cultivation on Earth.
The Martial Academy!
A place where destinies could be altered.
The school was about to host a competition, and the top ten contestants would earn the academy's special training.
They would also represent the academy in the Grand Tournament of the Hundred Academies.
Upon learning this, Zhang Nan became consumed with training, determined to seize this chance to transform his fate.
He was, without a doubt, a prodigy.
Despite a brief period of cultivation, he had persevered to the end, earning a spot in the Martial Academy's reserve trials for the Ten Great Disciples.
There was a challenge before the main competition.
It was during this trial that Zhang Nan had crossed a martial arts family heir of considerable influence.
He was on the verge of victory when the scion launched a surprise attack, wounding him with a concealed weapon.
The referee turned a blind eye due to the assailant's status.
Later, a physician confirmed the weapon was poisoned.
Without some stroke of fortune, his future would have no connection to martial arts.
Overwhelmed with frustration, he had passed out, only to awaken here.
In the Zhang Family Ancestral Home.
...
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Nan stepped out of his room, his soul seemingly adrift. He aimlessly roamed the halls of the ancestral mansion.
Without realizing it, he had reached the innermost sanctum of the ancestral hall.
The place hadn't been cleaned in ages. Dead trees surrounded him, their fallen leaves and decaying wood littering the ground.
Bang!
Out of nowhere, Zhang Nan walked headfirst into the iron door of the ancestral hall.
He remembered clearly.
His grandfather had often told him that their family lineage boasted a once-in-a-generation powerhouse.
Furthermore, the ancestral hall was off-limits, accessible only to the family Patriarch or those on the brink of death.
But now, a recess next to the iron door caught his eye.
"How come I never noticed this groove when I was a child? How odd."
No sooner had he spoken than the jade pendant Zhang Nan wore began to heat up, moving on its own toward the recess.
"Holy smokes, what's happening!"
Indeed.
He was paralyzed, unable to move a muscle, and an inexplicable force weighed upon him, rendering him incapable of controlling his own body.
Moments later, he was engulfed in a blinding light, and Zhang Nan vanished from the spot.
...
When he next opened his eyes, he found himself in a strange place.
Looking around in terror, Zhang Nan's pupils dilated with disbelief.
Could this be real?
Was the legend actually true?
In the vast expanse of space, all was white, and amidst the white were... bodies.
A massive dragon corpse lay before him, its faint aura of dominance still perceptible.
The dragon, with five claws and a pair of wings, was a Rising Dragon!
He had seen it mentioned in a bestiary at the Martial Academy, but he never imagined that such an extinct creature could still exist.
Walking along an ancient path, Zhang Nan felt a shiver run through him as he gazed at the Rising Dragon's remains.
It seemed as if...
The Rising Dragon's eyes had just moved.
Fighting back his fear, Zhang Nan drew closer to the dragon's corpse, only to discover a layer of white ripples encasing it securely.
It was an enchantment!
With no other option, Zhang Nan steeled himself and continued deeper into the space, his trepidation growing with each step.
Because...
Further on, he saw a colossal black dragon hundreds of feet long, and among them, the legendary holy beasts like the phoenix, the black tortoise, and the white tiger.
Ancient behemoths like the Taotie and Tao Wu were present among the remains!
More prevalent were the corpses of humans clad in peculiar attire, likely the immortals of legend.
Each was enveloped in a layer of white ripples without exception.
It was evident they had been locked in fierce combat, only to be instantaneously frozen by the white ripples.
Where exactly was this place?
Could it truly be their family's ancestral hall?
And how could such a place exist within an ancestral hall?
The sight of the surrounding corpses sent shivers down Zhang Nan's spine, and three words sprang to mind:
Immortal Burial Grounds!
Indeed, it was just as Zhang Nan had surmised—the fabled resting place of gods and immortals.
Amidst his astonishment, an object hurtled towards him from a distance, prompting him to instinctively shut his eyes.
Was this the end?
No!
The body landed fortuitously before Zhang Nan, devoid of the white ripples and completely lacking any trace of spiritual energy.
Retreating a step in trepidation, Zhang Nan, driven by some impulse, reached out to touch the corpse.
No barriers?
His relief was short-lived as the surrounding corpses began to quiver, their ripples fading ever so slightly.
It seemed as though they might collapse at any second.
He backed away in alarm.
He might have grasped a grim truth: the white ripples enveloping the corpses weren't everlasting; they could vanish at any moment.
And the timing of their disappearance likely correlated with the deceased's former strength.
The shattered bones littering the ground were probably the result of previous falls.
While Zhang Nan was still piecing things together, a blinding light erupted from one of the corpses, piercing straight into his mind.
The next moment found Zhang Nan clutching his head, writhing in a mix of pain and joy.
The brain is the body's most vulnerable organ, easily harmed, and Zhang Nan had just endured a significant shock.
After some time passed,
Zhang Nan lay on the ground, drained of strength, yet a sudden smile broke across his face as he burst into laughter.
"Hahaha..."
"It's real, it's all real!"
"Who would have thought I'd see the day of a new beginning? This is truly wonderful..."
Zhang Nan, seemingly drawing strength from an unknown source, leapt to his feet, feeling his body grow increasingly powerful with each pulse of the white ripples.
The white light was an inheritance from a formidable figure of ancient times known as Tian Qiong, whose remains had just been laid out before him.
Moon Clap!
This was the cultivation technique practiced by Tian Qiong in life.
Additionally, there was a black storage ring containing nothing but a sword and a pill.
Cultivation techniques were generally categorized into four stages: Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow.
Though Zhang Nan was uncertain of the Moon Clap's exact rank, given that it was utilized by Tian Qiong, it was likely of high caliber.
Especially considering that the techniques taught at the Martial Academy were merely of the middle Yellow Level.
And the pill?
As per the inherited memories, it was the Celestial Concoction, designed to be used in conjunction with the cultivation technique. Taking it could boost a cultivator's power and transform their physique and innate abilities.
The sword was Tian Qiong's personal weapon, named the Celestial Sword.