Liu Zhen's hometown was in the Zhutang Empire of the Hengshan Central Domain.
Liu Zhen's family had been middling at best within the great Zhutang Empire. Later, disaster befell the family, and both of Liu Zhen's parents passed away one after another.
He was their only child, so all the assets they left behind went to him. There was quite a lot.
Living in the imperial capital of Chitang City, Liu Zhen had enjoyed a perfectly comfortable life. A sizable family fortune, plus a childhood sweetheart for a girlfriend — his days were quite pleasant.
Unfortunately, it couldn't last. One day, a young man appeared out of nowhere whose background was ten times more impressive than Liu Zhen's and whose wealth was a hundred times greater.
The woman who had belonged to Liu Zhen left him without the slightest hesitation and followed that young man away — even though she was already pregnant at the time.
Every asset that had belonged to Liu Zhen had already been secretly sold off by that woman behind his back, without leaving him a single copper coin.
Almost overnight, Liu Zhen was left with absolutely nothing.
The house, the farmland, every holding he owned — all of it became someone else's property in the blink of an eye.
Liu Zhen nearly went mad. He frantically searched for the woman, desperate to find her and get answers. When he finally tracked her down, he was beaten half to death by the other party.
If there hadn't been so many onlookers, Liu Zhen would have ended up as just another nameless corpse on the roadside.
Carrying that grief, Liu Zhen left the place that had broken his heart and drifted through the jianghu, becoming an independent cultivator who made his living with a blade.
Liu Zhen's talent in the martial dao was passable. But in the Zhutang Empire, cultivators with his level of talent could be found by the handful. On top of that, after losing his assets, he suddenly had no cultivation resources, and his progress slowed to a crawl.
Years had passed, and within the Origin realm, he had barely improved at all.
When he had first met Jiang Feng, Liu Zhen had been significantly stronger. Now he had been left far behind by Jiang Feng, who had already reached the sixth level of the Origin realm.
Jiang Feng was on the verge of breaking through to the seventh level — the Heavenly Origin realm.
Liu Zhen was only at the third level of the Origin realm, barely qualified to attempt a breakthrough into the Earth Origin realm.
Liu Zhen didn't envy Jiang Feng, though. He admired Jiang Feng for having such a fine son, and he considered himself fortunate to have befriended this sworn brother, which had finally brought a turning point to his destitute life.
Liu Zhen had slowly managed to forget that old pain. But as he drew closer and closer to his homeland, that heart-rending anguish attacked him once more.
Those sorrowful memories had never faded — he had merely buried them deep in his heart. And now, as he neared his hometown, those memories surged forth like a flood, shattering the facade of strength he had built.
Liu Zhen realized that he could let go of nearly everything, but this one wound he could never release.
No matter what, he needed to find out the truth.
Not why she had left him, Liu Zhen.
But whether the child in her belly had been his — or that other man's.
The Zhutang Empire's standing within the Hengshan Central Domain was comparable to the Chiding Empire's position in the Chiding Central Domain. In other words, it was the ruling core of the entire domain.
So a family like Liu Zhen's would rank as at most a middling house in Chitang City — nothing that could be called a formidable power. When confronted by forces ten or a hundred times stronger than his, everything that had happened to him was hardly surprising.
After all, this was an extremely cruel world.
It had been nearly thirty years since Liu Zhen had last set foot in Chitang City after leaving. This land of heartbreak haunted even his dreams — always as nightmares.
Thirty years was the blink of an eye for an empire.
But for Liu Zhen, it meant countless sleepless nights and countless times jolting awake from nightmares.
"Liu Zhen, straighten your back. Remember — you are not the Liu Zhen of old. Your sworn brother is the father of the Young Master of Peacock Sacred Mountain." Peerless Great Emperor barked.
Whenever matters of emotion were involved, the Peerless Great Emperor always became intensely passionate. He had stepped forward for Gu Xintang and A-Li before.
Now, upon hearing Liu Zhen's sorrowful past, the Peerless Great Emperor was furious. Even Madam Yun found it inconceivable.
Jiang Chen, needless to say, felt even more strongly.
Chitang City was reasonably prosperous. But for Jiang Chen and his companions, who had traveled far and wide and seen much of the world, it was nothing more than an ordinary city.
After entering Chitang City, Liu Zhen's demeanor grew noticeably more unsettled.
That was why the Peerless Great Emperor kept reminding him to pull himself together.
Deep down, Liu Zhen still felt a resistance toward Chitang City. Having been robbed of his woman by the scion of a powerful family, there remained a core of anger and timidity buried within him.
Now, even with powerful patrons backing him, that timidity in his bones was not so easily overcome.
It took repeated reminders from the Peerless Great Emperor before he gradually adjusted to the situation.
After roughly half an hour, Liu Zhen led the group to the gate of a walled estate. His expression was somber. "This was my old home. It's someone else's property now. How shameful — I've squandered all the honor my ancestors left behind."
Back then, that woman had sold off his family estate and everything in it without explanation or reason.
Overnight, he had been left with nothing.
That outcome was already wretched enough. But in truth, the Liu Zhen of that time had received no sympathy — only mockery and ridicule.