1 — The Things That Fall From Men
Pain was the first proof that this world was real.
It was not distant or dull. It burned along Li Yuan's ribs, pulsed in his jaw, and throbbed beneath his shoulder blade. When he tried to inhale deeply, the air scraped his lungs like broken glass.
He lay on cold soil beneath a sky that did not belong to Earth.
The moon was too large. The stars were too sharp. The silence too complete.
He rolled onto his side and pushed himself up against a tree trunk. Rough bark scraped his palm.
Memory struck him without warning.
Outer disciple.Azure Wind Sect.Three years at Body Tempering — Early Stage.No breakthrough.Public humiliation.Senior Brother Chen's boot pressing against his chest.
Laughter.
Thrown down the mountain path as a warning.
Two lives overlapped inside his skull.
One died quietly at a computer desk.
The other had just been beaten half to death.
Li Yuan touched his face.
Younger.
Seventeen, perhaps.
Bruised. Swollen.
This body was not only injured.
It was weak.
The previous Li Yuan had trained for years and barely strengthened his meridians. His qi was thin, unstable, nearly useless in combat.
In this sect, strength determined worth.
And he had none.
He tried to stand.
His legs trembled.
He would have fallen—
If not for the strange light floating in front of him.
He froze.
A faint, drifting ember hovered inches above the ground.
Not bright.
Not solid.
More like a shard of condensed air.
Within it, characters formed slowly.
⟡ Strength +0.1 ⟡
The symbol around the text shimmered like faint frost.
Another fragment drifted near dried blood.
⟡ Pain Resistance +0.2 ⟡
Then another.
⟡ Agility +0.1 ⟡
They were not panels.
They were not structured.
They were loose.
Unstable.
Like fragments of something broken.
Li Yuan's breathing slowed.
He looked around.
The forest was empty.
Only he could see them.
Slowly, cautiously, he reached forward and touched the nearest fragment.
The shard dissolved instantly.
Warmth flowed through his arm.
Not explosive.
But distinct.
At the same time—
Something deeper awakened.
His vision darkened for a split second.
Then—
A structured interface unfolded inside his mind.
Not floating.
Not fragile.
But solid.
Organized.
Ancient.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ ORIGIN FRAGMENT SYSTEM ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ Host Recognized ]
Name: Li YuanIdentity: Azure Wind Sect — Outer DiscipleAge: 17
Current Realm: Body Tempering — Early StageRealm Progress: 12%
Vital State: InjuredMeridian Stability: 41%Qi Flow: Sparse
Core Body Assessment:
Strength — 3.1Agility — 2.9Physique — 3.0Endurance — 2.7Comprehension — 4.2
Integration Stability: 100%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The difference was obvious.
The floating shards were raw remnants.
This—
This was the root.
Li Yuan swallowed.
He touched another fragment.
⟡ Pain Resistance +0.2 ⟡
The shard dissolved.
[ Fragment Integrated Successfully ]
[ Minor Physical Damage Reduced ]
The panel updated.
Meridian Stability: 43%
He felt it.
His breathing no longer scraped as harshly.
His ribs still hurt—but less.
He looked at the remaining fragments.
⟡ Agility +0.1 ⟡⟡ Breath Control (Incomplete) ⟡
One by one, he absorbed them.
Each shard dissolved into warmth.
Each integration triggered a clean response.
[ Agility Increased ][ Breath Pattern Optimized +1% ][ Qi Circulation Efficiency Slightly Improved ]
The changes were small.
But precise.
Measurable.
He stood slowly.
This time, his legs did not tremble.
The weakness had not vanished.
But it had shifted.
It was no longer suffocating.
It was manageable.
He exhaled slowly.
"So these… are what people leave behind."
Fragments.
When someone trained, fought, or suffered—
Something shed.
And he could see it.
A branch snapped behind him.
Footsteps approached.
Two figures emerged from the trees.
Wang Jie.
Luo Ming.
The memories aligned instantly.
They had helped Chen Hao beat him earlier.
Not because they hated him.
But because weakness was contagious in this world.
Wang Jie stopped when he saw him upright.
"You're not dead?"
Luo Ming's gaze sharpened. "Should've broken both legs."
They stepped closer.
Li Yuan felt something new.
Around their bodies—
Faint shards flickered.
Not many.
But visible.
Every movement they made shed tiny remnants.
When Wang Jie cracked his knuckles, a shard drifted free.
⟡ Strength +0.1 ⟡
When Luo Ming adjusted his stance—
⟡ Footwork Insight (Minor) ⟡
They were stronger than him.
But they were leaking.
Wang Jie stepped forward. "Since you're awake, let's make sure you remember your place."
He lunged.
The punch came fast.
Faster than the old Li Yuan could have reacted.
But tonight—
His perception felt sharper.
He shifted slightly.
The fist grazed his cheek instead of crushing bone.
Shock flickered in Wang Jie's eyes.
Luo Ming attacked from the side.
Li Yuan retreated two steps.
Still weaker.
Still inferior.
But now—
He could see opportunity.
As Wang Jie advanced, another shard slipped loose.
⟡ Endurance +0.05 ⟡
Li Yuan twisted mid-movement, brushing his fingers through the air.
The shard vanished.
[ Attribute Absorbed: Endurance +0.05 ]
Heat strengthened his legs.
Wang Jie swung again.
Li Yuan ducked clumsily and grabbed a fallen branch.
He struck Luo Ming's wrist.
A crack echoed through the trees.
Scream.
Chaos.
It was not elegant martial combat.
It was desperate and raw.
They grappled in dirt and leaves.
Li Yuan felt fists slam into his side.
Pain flared.
But fragments kept shedding.
⟡ Strength +0.1 ⟡⟡ Qi Circulation +0.1 ⟡
He absorbed them mid-motion.
[ Rapid Integration Detected ]
[ Integration Stability: 94% → 89% ]
He ignored the warning.
Wang Jie overextended.
Li Yuan drove the broken branch forward with everything he had left.
The struggle ended in ragged breathing and stillness.
The forest quieted.
Two bodies lay unmoving.
Li Yuan stood above them, chest heaving.
He had killed.
There was no glory in it.
Only survival.
Then—
The air shifted.
From their bodies—
Brighter shards began to rise.
Larger.
Denser.
More stable.
⟡ Strength +0.5 ⟡⟡ Qi Density +0.4 ⟡⟡ Combat Instinct (Basic) ⟡⟡ Meridian Expansion +0.3 ⟡
His heartbeat thundered.
These were not scraps.
These were cores.
He stepped forward and absorbed the first.
Heat surged violently through his limbs.
[ Major Attribute Integrated: Strength +0.5 ]
The second—
[ Qi Density Increased ][ Qi Flow Stabilizing ]
The third—
[ Skill Acquired: Combat Instinct — Basic ][ Reaction Speed Slightly Enhanced ]
The structured panel unfolded again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ ORIGIN FRAGMENT SYSTEM ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Realm: Body Tempering — Early StageRealm Progress: 12% → 36% → 57%
Core Body Assessment:
Strength — 4.6Agility — 3.9Physique — 4.2Endurance — 3.8Comprehension — 4.3
Qi Density: StabilizingMeridian Stability: 59%
Integration Stability: 82%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Suddenly—
Pain tore through his chest.
[ Warning: Foreign Attribute Load Approaching Threshold ]
[ Recommended: Halt Absorption ]
His meridians trembled violently.
He dropped to one knee, gasping.
So there was a limit.
Good.
There had to be.
Otherwise this would not be power—
It would be chaos.
He forced himself to breathe.
Slowly.
Gradually, the tremor subsided.
[ Stability Recovered: 86% ]
He stood again.
The forest felt different.
Not because it changed.
But because he had.
He flexed his fingers.
Qi moved more smoothly beneath his skin.
He was still at the bottom of the sect.
Still weak compared to inner disciples.
But he was no longer trapped by talent.
He looked toward the distant silhouette of Azure Wind Sect's mountain.
Yesterday, he was trash.
Tonight—
He had climbed halfway through a realm.
And he had only just learned to see.
The wind moved softly through the trees.
High above, beyond mortal sight, something ancient stirred faintly.
A fragment had returned.
And this time—
It had found a host.