The Vicissitudes of Time, a Grandmaster at the Pinnacle Beyond the Nine Realms of Martial Arts!

The Vicissitudes of Time, a Grandmaster at the Pinnacle Beyond the Nine Realms of Martial Arts! Desolate, cold, silent...

He felt as though he had been exiled into the frigid universe, or perhaps imprisoned in a cage where he was the only captive, enveloped by endless darkness.

He felt himself drifting, not knowing where he had come from or where he was going.

This near-eternal desolation gradually turned his initially lucid thoughts drowsy and heavy. In the end, those heavy thoughts crumbled apart and became chaotic.

Sometimes he was lucid; sometimes he was confused.

When lucid, he felt the suffocating despair in the cold darkness.

When confused, he babbled like an Evil Ghost within the coffin, the sound of his teeth grinding echoing through the deathly silence.

Yet even in his most confused moments, he still clung to his final line of defense and did not strike out to smash the bronze coffin trapping him.

Thick, cotton-like white clouds collapsed and scattered atop the mountains, while gauzy morning mist at the valley floor was drawn away by an invisible hand, gathered, then drawn away again.

Light and shadow flickered through gaps in the clouds and mist, as swiftly as hurried breaths.

The lush mountain forests changed from a green sea into white wilderness.

Before one could even appreciate this unusual winter scenery, spring water emerged from frozen pools in the mountains. It began as trickling streams, then in the blink of an eye soaked the wilderness.

Flowers bloomed and withered; grasses and trees passed through their cycles.

Waaah~

A doctor lifted a child and patted his bottom, and the child's resounding cries drew a burst of laughter.

He struggled to get up as he learned to walk, then staggered along with a schoolbag on his back.

Amid the youthful songs of ten-minute breaks between classes, he dragged his luggage away from his hometown to study far away.

A high-speed train tore through the snow, with snowy mist concealing everything.

When it burst through, it had already become a faster, cooler maglev train, charging toward the end of the sunset with the unstoppable rise of a great nation before transforming into a rocket shooting straight into outer space...

The young man linked arms with the girl he had dated for years and entered into marriage amid the blessings of friends and family.

Another child entered the world, crying loudly.

His steps grew unsteady; then he gradually straightened his back.

A few strands of white appeared at his temples; his spine bent more and more.

He watched his child board a train bound for some distant place, waving farewell with reluctance written across his face.

The child rushed toward that distant place without looking back, before homesickness had even taken root.

Alas, another fresh grave appeared in the cemetery.

He held another child's hand, his eyes red as he looked at the person who had once brought him into this world. Suddenly, he saw grains of sand slipping away from his fingertips...

Tall buildings rose from the earth.

Mountains and seas gradually changed.

Black hair in the morning, white snow by dusk.

Spring brought life, and winter brought death again.

After Yuan Tianzong was gone, the entire world suddenly became like a movie with its fast-forward button pressed, everything changing at breakneck speed.

The hands of the clock on the wall spun rapidly, round after round.

Ticktock, ticktock, ticktock...

Drip, drip...

The sound of water boomed like thunder. The rapidly changing world suddenly paused, then returned to normal.

Great sprays of water struck the rocks beneath the waterfall and splashed in every direction.

Amid the flying spray, a figure was washed out as well.

On the shore, a burly man stood with his arms crossed, watching that person crawl out of the water.

The drenched young man spat out the water and sand in his mouth, then collapsed wearily onto the ground. With a miserable expression, he said, "Second Uncle, this is way too hard! The rocks beneath the waterfall are already slippery, and there's the falling water from above too. Who can stand steady under that?"

The burly man remained expressionless, his face stern. "The Nine Realms of Martial Arts: Skin Forging, Muscle Tempering, Bone Grinding, Blood Shifting, Acupoint Ignition, Meridian Penetration, Four Symbols, Five Origins Realm, Dragon Opening. You've only reached Muscle Tempering, yet you act like this every day."

"In another half year, it'll be time for All Mountains Open Their Gates. If you can't reach Bone Grinding, you won't have the slightest chance of squeezing into a first-rate mountain sect. One step behind means falling behind at every step. After that, you'll be completely cut off from becoming an expert!"

The young man had already looked miserable enough, but hearing about the Nine Realms of Martial Arts only made him feel worse.

He had begun cultivating at eight years old, and now he was fifteen.

Seven years. A full seven years!

He trained at dawn when the roosters crowed and never stopped until the moon set. Only after suffering untold hardship had he barely made it through two major stages.

"Second Uncle, cultivation is too bitter. How did those people my age who already reached Bone Grinding manage it?"

The burly man sighed softly.

"Ming Tao, you should ask yourself. Whenever you cultivate, you slack off the moment you get the chance. Do you know how hard those people with better talent, stronger family backgrounds, and more resources than you work?"

"Only by cultivating day and night like them can one perhaps stride forward on the path of cultivation in the future."

"Only people like that might shine brilliantly in the future."

Ming Tao curled his lips. "Second Uncle, what era are we in now? No matter how hard you cultivate, you still can't beat Gene Martial Arts or Bio-simulation Body Arts. In my opinion, why not talk to Dad and buy a few C-Class Gene Potions?"

Furious at his failure to live up to expectations, the burly man scolded, "Training in martial arts is also training the heart! Only an unsettled heart would want to rely on external things for cultivation. Those things are crooked paths taken by foreigners who know they can't compete with us on the proper path, understand?"

How could rebellious Ming Tao be persuaded by just a few words? Unconvinced, he immediately retorted.

"No, if you're cultivating martial arts, then cultivate martial arts. What's with cultivating the heart? The right path of humanity is the vicissitudes of time. So what if you train hard? Can you block missiles? Can you withstand nuclear bombs? Can you or can't you?"

The burly man fell silent.

"Not saying anything? You can't do any of that, much less withstand the antimatter cannons secretly researched by various countries. Cultivate, cultivate—what's the point in the end?"

The burly man's face turned green, then white with anger. "Who says you can't block missiles? A Grandmaster can!"

"A Grandmaster? What's that?"

The burly man raised his head. "A Grandmaster, above the Nine Realms—the pinnacle of humanity!"

"Above the Nine Realms? Why have I never heard of a realm beyond the Nine Realms?" Ming Tao looked deeply skeptical.

"You've never heard of it because no one can reach that step!"

"If no one can reach it, then where did Grandmasters come from?" Ming Tao seized upon the flaw in his logic.

"No one can now, but that doesn't mean no one could in the past."

Ming Tao raised an eyebrow. "Second Uncle, martial arts have flourished over the past three hundred years. Even the history books say this is the most prosperous era for martial arts in thousands of years. There aren't any Grandmasters now, so could there have been any before?"

The burly man gazed toward the sky. "That's right. During the near-modern era a thousand years ago, China was rumored to have produced a Grandmaster who stepped into Gods' Forbidden Zone. Like an epiphyllum blooming, he appeared in a fleeting moment of splendor."

"Gods' Forbidden Zone?"

"That's right, Gods' Forbidden Zone. It's impossible to imagine just how terrifying that Grandmaster from a thousand years ago must have been, to step into that forbidden zone sealed off by the gods during an era when Heaven and Earth Origin Energy had nearly dried up!"

"Even today, such an achievement cannot be accomplished with all kinds of martial arts support technology. Just thinking about it makes one's scalp tingle!"

Ming Tao said, "It was probably made up."

"Perhaps. After all, it was too long ago." Even the burly man had his doubts.

Deep in the mountains and forests, fierce beasts roamed unchecked.

In this age when martial arts were rising, animals had also become increasingly powerful.

At dusk, a thirsty mountain bear lay by Blackwater Pool, drinking water.

Suddenly!

A skeletal hand shot out from the water and clamped around the mountain bear's neck.

The mountain bear roared and instinctively struggled. Its terrifying strength shook the surrounding ground again and again.

Yet no matter how it struggled, it was dragged underwater in the blink of an eye.

Through the water's gradually calming surface, a human figure could vaguely be seen crouching atop the black bear, sucking the hot blood from its carotid artery like an Evil Ghost!

More than ten seconds later, that skin-and-bones hand stretched out of the water again, gripping something on the shore and pulling hard...

Splash!

The surface of the water bulged, and white droplets flew everywhere.

A horrifying figure like a starving ghost burst from the water, standing steadily on the ground while dragging the heavy mountain bear in one hand.

"Did it work?"

"What year is it today?"