Those who have a harder path must strive harder. Life, at its core, is about survival.

　　Chen Qing was a trained cultivator from the Divine Blessed Clan.

　　After the Great War of the Gods erupted, although the Yellow Clan celestial gods forbade the Divine Blessed Clan from participating, the clan secretly dispatched some of its young masters to various tribes of the Mu Continent. Their mission was to assist these tribes in resisting the invasion by the Green Clan.

　　Jiang Sheng and Chen Qing, Jiang Er's parents, were sent to the Wolf-Tribe. Jiang Sheng fought with bravery and tenacity in numerous battles, achieving repeated merits, but he tragically fell in the final engagement.

　　After the war, Chieftain Yu Yong of the Wolf-Tribe wished to reward the widows of those who had served with distinction. However, Chen Qing quietly disappeared among the common people. She gave birth to Jiang Er and lived an anonymous life within the settlement.

　　The Grand Mage Tianyouzi of the Divine Blessed Clan instructed Chen Qing to continue her latent presence within the Wolf-Tribe, tasking her with protecting the tribe's human foraging parties from the predations of the Centaurs.

　　Chen Qing had helped the humans escape on multiple occasions during the Centaurs' smaller-scale raids. However, she never anticipated that the Centaurs would dispatch a force of over three hundred elites for a "grass-and-grain" raid. To protect the humans and her own young child, Chen Qing had no choice but to fight with all her might, resisting to the death.

　　When the celestial gods created humans, they specifically placed a key within the human brain—the pineal gland. Yet, to limit human capabilities, they designed this gland to gradually atrophy after a human reaches six years of age.

　　The pineal gland is the energy hub of a human, responsible for the proper functioning of the body's vital functions. It is also known as the "Mud Ball Palace" and serves as humanity's "Third Eye."

　　Trained cultivators can, through continuous cultivation of the pineal gland, revitalize this atrophied "Third Eye." By using it to communicate with all things in heaven and earth, they constantly draw energy from the universe, acquiring spiritual power, and thus possess certain superhuman abilities.

　　The distance between the centaurs and the humans narrowed further. The humans still had not reached the mouth of the Misty Mountain pass when another volley of arrows rained down from the sky.

　　Chen Qing glanced back towards the distant Misty Mountains, then looked down at little Jiang Er, her eyes filled with tenderness, helplessness, and despair. She stroked his head once, then turned resolutely. Mustering the last of her spiritual power, she shouted, " Turn! "

　　On that cold, rain-lashed night, Jiang Er kept his eyes shut, afraid to look back. He only felt the hoofbeats of the pursuers growing closer, more urgent.

　　He first heard his mother's gasping breaths, then the sharp, collective twangof bowstrings. Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—the deadly sound of the arrowstorm descended.

　　With his mother's cry of " Turn! " he expected, as before, to hear the thud-thud-thudof arrows harmlessly hitting the grass.

　　But this time, the sound was different. He heard a series of sickening thwacks, followed immediately by the agonized scream of their camel-horse. Then, he felt himself hurled forward like an arrow from a bow.

　　It was some time before Jiang Er managed to sit up in the muddy grass. He saw his mother lying motionless not far away, on her side, her back to him.

　　He scrambled and crawled to her side, grabbed her shoulder, and pulled hard towards him. As she rolled onto her back, little Jiang Er saw it clearly: multiple arrows pierced her body, and her clothes were soaked with blood.

　　"Mother! Mother...!" Jiang Er clutched her head, his cries heart-wrenching and torn.

　　The relentless rain continued to fall, washing the blood across the ground. His mother's eyes were still wide open, but the clear light within them was gone.

　　The centaur pursuers had reached them, forming a semicircle that trapped Jiang Er in the center.

　　When Hari saw Chen Qing's face clearly, he gnashed his teeth and roared, "It's that witch! You there, cut off her head and the boy's! Now!"

　　A guard stepped forward, raising his longsword over Jiang Er.

　　Witnessing his mother's tragic death, little Jiang Er felt as if his heart were being sliced and grated. In unbearable agony, he threw his head back, flung his arms wide, and let out a long, piercing scream towards the sky.

　　The roar was like a series of thunderclaps exploding one after another right beside their ears. The decibels were so high that the centaurs dropped their weapons, desperately covering their ears. Even so, many soldiers had their eardrums ruptured, blood streaming from their ears.

　　Jiang Er's eye sockets split, blood springing forth. At that exact moment, a bolt of lightning tore across the sky above. He swept his hands downward, and as if obeying his command, the lightning bolt slammed directly into the centaur soldier before him.

　　A single, sharp cry of agony followed as the soldier was instantly charred to black ash. Jiang Er's world then went black, and he lost consciousness.

　　At that very moment, several points of light and moving shadows emerged from a col within the Misty Mountains ahead. Guided by these figures, the humans on camel-horses were already entering the mountain col.

　　Simultaneously, two ghostly black shadows drifted from the mouth of the pass. Moving with lightning speed, they reached Jiang Er's side in the blink of an eye, arriving without a sound.

　　They were two human men, both with white hair and beards, clad in gray cloaks, with longswords on their backs. One was lean and wiry, with a few long strands of beard flowing down his chest; the other was solidly muscular, a scar running down his face through his left eye.

　　Only later would Jiang Er learn that these two men were the gray-robed mages of the Divine Blessed Clan: Xuanjizi and Xuejizi.

　　Xuanjizi gave a startled look at Jiang Er lying on the ground. During his flight, he had heard the boy's roar and witnessed him using lightning magic to strike down the centaur soldier. He never expected a small child to possess such spiritual power.

　　When Xuanjizi's gaze fell upon Chen Qing in Jiang Er's arms, his face turned pale with shock. He hurriedly knelt down, cradled the body pierced with countless arrows, and cried out in agony, "Qing'er! It's you! How can it be you! We're too late!"

　　"Old man, who are you?" Hali demanded, pointing his spiked club at Xuanjizi and Xuejizi. He had been secretly shocked by the boy's powerful roar and lightning technique, and when he saw two ghostly shadows floating rapidly from afar, he thought he was seeing apparitions. Upon closer look, they were just two ordinary old men.

　　Hali composed himself, thinking: with over 300 fierce centaur warriors on our side, why fear two old men? He continued arrogantly, "Old man, I advise you not to meddle in others' business, or else we'll deal with you along with them."

　　Xuanjizi completely ignored Hali, treating him as if he were invisible. Grieving, he picked up Chen Qing's body while Xuejizi carried Jiang Er, and they turned to leave.

　　"Trying to leave? Not that easy! Frontline warriors, on my command! Ready! Nock! Loose!" Hali shouted the order.

　　About fifty or sixty centaur archers at the front fired a dense volley of arrows at the two men from close range.

　　Hali almost laughed imagining the two turned into pincushions. But soon his smile vanished.

　　Xuanjizi waved his left hand backward, and the fifty or sixty arrows strangely stopped mid-air as if time had frozen, then quietly fell to the ground.

　　Xuejizi tossed some powder backward. When it met the rain, it produced a thick smoke.

　　When the smoke cleared, Hali looked carefully ahead - the area was completely empty!

　　"Don't let them escape! All warriors, pursue!" Hali raised his spiked club and charged forward at the front.

　　The centaurs soon reached the mouth of the Misty Mountain pass.

　　The Misty Mountains run east-west, forming a barrier between centaur and human territories. This mountain range has a pass on each side, east and west, serving as crucial passageways for the centaurs to access human lands.

　　The western pass is called Kara Pass, an extremely wide passageway. The eastern pass, however, is exceptionally narrow. Between the two mountains lies a basin known as Domepeak Fairy Vale.

　　The overall shape of Domepeak Fairy Vale resembles that of an American football. At the two tapered ends of the 'football' are the North and South Passes, separated by several li. The basin within the vale is flanked by蜿蜒起伏的 high mountains. For reasons unknown, the valley is perpetually shrouded in thick mist throughout the year.

　　The pass where the centaurs had arrived was the North Pass, approximately fifty meters wide. A stone pillar stood erect on each side.

　　A centaur soldier, holding a luminous flower, approached the pillars for a closer look. On the right pillar was inscribed: Sanctuary of the Divine Blessed. On the left pillar were the words: Death to Those Who Trespass.

　　A thin layer of mist shrouded the mouth of the pass, making it impossible to see clearly what lay within against the backdrop of the night.

　　Hali, leading from the front, charged toward the mountain col. However, before he could even cross between the two stone pillars, a loud thumpresonated by his ears. As if hitting a powerful spring, he was flung backward, crashing heavily into the centaur warriors behind him and landing flat on his back.

　　Hali had no way of knowing that the Divine Blessed Clan had erected protective barriers at both the North and South Passes. Ordinary beings without spiritual power simply could not enter.

　　The soldiers nearby hurriedly helped General Hali to his feet.

　　His lieutenant said to him, "General, I've heard that the Domepeak Fairy Vale is inhabited by a group of demons and monsters who call themselves the ' Wizard Clan.' Their magical power is immense, so formidable that even the fiercest beasts dare not set foot here. I think we should withdraw and take the long way back to the tribe."

　　"No! I refuse to believe they possess some supernatural prowess! Archers, loose your arrows into the pass!"

　　The centaur soldiers obediently fired a volley towards the mountain entrance. Yet, their arrows, upon reaching the thin mist, clattered down as if striking a solid wall of steel.

　　"Men! Shout your insults into the pass! We must provoke those cowards to come out and face me in battle!"

　　A torrent of the foulest curses streamed from the centaurs' mouths. But within the mist-shrouded col, there was only silent swirls of fog, devoid of any response.

　　Setting aside the centaurs' futile shouting at the North Pass for now, the narrative follows Xuanjizi and Xuejizi. Carrying Chen Qing and Jiang Er respectively, they moved with swift, gliding steps deep into Domepeak Fairy Vale.

　　At the col, a group of over ten disciples from the Divine Blessed Clan was already waiting, holding Luminous flowers. Some were cloaked in brown, others in blue.

　　The mages of the Divine Blessed Clan were ranked into four tiers, in descending order: White-Cloaked Mages, Gray-Cloaked Mages, Brown-Cloaked Mages, and Blue-Cloaked Mages.

　　The human refugees who had entered the vale earlier had already been guided by the clan members deeper into the basin's heart.

　　Inside the pass, on the right side, stood a row of small log cabins, their interiors illuminated by Luminous flowers—these served as the quarters for the clan's guards.

　　Xuanjizi laid Chen Qing on a bed within one cabin. He first carefully extracted the arrows piercing her body. Then, pressing his index and middle fingers to her forehead, he began channeling spiritual power into her Third Eye.

　　Xuanjizi understood all too well that reviving her was a near-impossible task, unlikely to succeed even with divine intervention. Her death, with eyes wide open reflecting immense regret and unwillingness, showed she could not rest in peace. He hoped that by infusing her Third Eye with energy, he might elicit a final, brief return of consciousness—a lucid interval—allowing her to impart last words and depart in tranquility.