Vast Light Sea.
An Immortal sat upon mysterious radiance. As life and death revolved and his aura transformed, boundless profundities seemed to unfold around him. His figure was illusory, as though he might ascend at any moment.
Just then, as if sensing something, the young man who had seemed as ethereal as an Immortal abruptly opened his eyes. A faint ripple stirred in his indifferent, emotionless gaze.
"...You found it?"
This had not exceeded his expectations. After all, during their earlier battle, that clever little fellow had already more or less guessed the entire truth.
At this thought, the emotionlessness in Chu Sheng's eyes suddenly melted away like ice and snow, replaced by endless emotions. It was as though he had recalled that distant past, an age long buried by time and now unknown to anyone, when he had crawled through the mud seeking only to enter the Dao.
The Ancient Era had been a golden age for countless cultivators.
Si Sui spread the Dao, and from True Monarchs above to Qi Refining cultivators below, nearly everyone benefited. Yet this so-called golden age had not bestowed its grace upon everyone.
In fact, quite the opposite.
The price of splendor lay in the shadows hidden behind it. They had been the foundation stones and stepping stones of that golden age, yet no one had ever noticed them.
He had once been one of them as well.
Had it not been for that heaven-shaking opportunity, there might never have been a Chu Sheng in this world, nor Taiyi Heaven. There would only have been one more mortal dead in the mud.
Transcendence.
Raising his head, Chu Sheng seemed to return to that time when he had lain in the mud. Back then, just as he did now, he had gazed up at