Chapter 1: Stairway to Death
Ah, how time flies, yet it can seem to stretch in an infinite manner. Many years can pass, yet many more are to come. To be born mediocre is truly a crime. But having a family, that condemns one to a life of servitude- only for the crime of lacking talent, can only be said to be a misfortune.
'If only life were fair, if only I was stronger, if only I had more talent, if only...'
These thoughts swirled in Zuck's mind, making him question the very purpose of life and the misfortune that it bought onto him. As he stood at the precipice of Heavenly Path peak, with a calm demeanor, preparing for the turbulent future. For only when there is no longer space for as much as a single step, can the human mind realise it's full potential to offer a new path forward. Treading as narrow a margin as a few millimetres, that is when the maximum efficiency of what can be is considered, covering that which is normally easily overlooked.
As fate would have it, this wasn't the first time Zuck Borris had looked down onto impending death, given the cards life had granted unto him. For a chance to reverse his fate, even as a close shave from one moment of death to another. Only from here, at this height, he could stare straight at the death reaper, hidden under the clouds, waiting for the right moment to strike. His time spent wondering, if it would be a sweet release to take that step forward for once and for all, even if it was cowardly - it offered the chance to leave this miserable life behind once and for all. Who knows, he might have the opportunity to re-incarnate and live out a better life.
For this life had thrown it's fair share of curve balls. His fellow clan members bullied him as a weakling, lacking of talent and worse than trash. Going as far as to force him into servitude of his older cousin Kylo- a born superstar who had taken the spotlight in his clan, ever since his birth.
13 days apart in birth, yet one was a genius that learnt to crawl from birth, started walking on the second day and on the third, spoke his first words. Whilst the other was just your average poe.
At the age of 1, Kylo had started to cultivate, by the age of 3 he already reached the peak of the early stages of the Fighter realm [Realm Stage 001]. In another 4 years, Kylo managed to cross to the peak of the Mortal Sage realm [Realm Stage 002] and was well renowned as a genius, even catching attention from the main family. By the age of 10, Kylo was the youngest known person to reach the 3rd stage of the Spiritual Sage realm [Realm Stage 003] on the entire Phantom Continent.
On the other hand, Zuck was still at the 6th stage of the Fighter realm [Realm Stage 001] at the age of 10. The fact that his parents made him 'donate' his entitlement of resources to his cousin, for the sake of the branch family's rise to prominence, didn't make his progress any easier. Perhaps if Kylo wasn't so attention grabbing, he might be in the later stages of the Mortal Sage realm [Realm Stage 002].
If only he had been a simple mortal, uninvolved in the matters of cultivation - he would not have been as despaired.
Alas, he was deemed to live in the shadows of his cousin as a disposable side character. Yet Zuck never held any evil intentions for his cousin, he was smart enough to avoid becoming cannon fodder or a stepping stone that ended up crippled or worse. All he could do was bide his time, and he had come to peace with his fate. Lately his trips to the Heavenly Path peak were more about meditation and somehow by coming here his cultivation speed increased- in another 3 years Zuck would be able to cross the Mortal Sage realm. Living out life under someone else's shadow wasn't bad, as long as he could reach the Spiritual realm, he would be granted the right to leave the family- find somewhere new to call home and live a respectable life.
Thinking about this, placed a rare smile on Zuck's face, he had a goal to work towards and would be able to avoid danger by not drawing attention towards himself. There were no ties left to bind him to the Qing family due to the cold treatment he got there. The Yuzhou clan never paid him any attention either, as he was only an insignificant member of the Qing branch family, so he would feel no remorse in leaving this old life behind.
'''Sigh'''
"If I got another chance at life, maybe things would be different or perhaps they might be the same as part of my fate?" Zuck solemnly said as he turned to head down back to his residence.
'''Skzzzzz'''
Suddenly he heard a sharp tearing sound from behind, was it an enemy attack?
Pivoting on his left foot, Zuck turned around- summoning his wooden sword to his right hand, charging up his chi to fire a flare with his left hand. He might not like his clan, but that didn't mean he would allow outside forces to create trouble, he still had some filial piety left for his ancestors.
He hadn't even had the chance to turn around when he felt something burning his insides, '''cough, cough''', he suddenly spurted blood. His right hand fell, the chi in his left had drained- the backlash of failing to summon a flare, draining him of his momentum. Falling on his knees, blood dripping from his mouth, all he could see was a blinding light and the tearing sound got louder and Louder and LOUDER.
'''SKZZZZZZZZ'''
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
"Woah this place is so cool, the scenery is awesome from up here. This wooden sword looks so realistic and I can even smell the dirt on it! I must have been dead tired to fall this deep asleep." ???
"Why is there so much blood around me? Ah who cares anyway, dreams don't normally make sense, I could jump off the cliff and still be fine, would probably wake me up though and I don't want to yet...." ????
Zuck was feeling light headed and he heard some wierdo ranting away, trying to find out who this idiot was, he slowly opened his eyes.
In front of Zuck was another person with his back to him. Immediately recalling what had happened before, 'is he the enemy who knocked me out before' he thought, 'I need to capture whoever this is and let the family deal with this'. Summoning his chi with his right leg, Zuck used his Yin Yang attack technique. Once his chi was built up, using a small part to accelerate he swerved his right foot to mid knee height, aiming to temporarily immobilise the intruder whilst he would follow with a chi charge on the heart to paralyse them, using his fists.
'''Whoosh'''
Zuck's right leg passed straight through the intruder, his gaze turned to spot who this ghastly being was and saw that he was facing an injured look alike, holding a wooden sword. He stopped to look at the sword and the name tag on the intruders martial robes. In dread, he looked down at his own feet and then it hit him...
"Oi you there, what right do you have to take my body. Give it back!"
"Huh, you ignoring me there punk, let me beat you out of my body."
Wait I just passed through him and he can't see me...
"Damn it, even if I'm a ghost now I'll haunt you to death, if that's the last thing I do!" screamed Zuck, he would follow through with this vow even if the heaven's flipped!!!!!
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
townofdudleysixth
townofdudleysixth I'm new to writing webnovels, this is my first one. So if you have any ideas or comments about my story, do let me know!
Note- There are 8 realms of cultivation known to Zuck, each one has 7 stages. The cultivation realms are as follows:
Fighter, Mortal Sage, Spiritual Sage, Foundation Establishment, Unchained Saint, Soul Sovereign and the mythical Golden Core cultivation level.
Who knows if there are any levels beyond that, Zuck had never seen the outside world.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone