He fell silent for a moment before saying, "My strength is meager, Senior. I fear I may be unable to handle what you wish to entrust to me. If there is something you need me to do, please tell me first. If it lies within my abilities, I will naturally do my utmost."
Elder Kong nodded, a distant look emerging in his clear eyes. "It is a long story. To tell it, we must begin a very, very long time ago—so long ago that this continent was still one unbroken expanse of fertile land, and the Sun-Moon Palace was still one of its foremost powers."
"Back then, a Demon Beast suddenly emerged from the depths of the ice fields in the continent's Far North Lands."
"No one knew where it had come from. All anyone knew was that it was immensely powerful, far beyond anything anyone at the time had anticipated."
"It spread destruction through the Far North Lands at astonishing speed, devouring living beings and absorbing the vital energy of heaven and earth. In just a few short months, it turned more than half the Far North Lands into a dead wasteland where not a blade of grass could grow."
"As one of the continent's foremost powers, the Sun-Moon Palace naturally could not stand by and let such a Demon Beast rampage unchecked."
"Xi Leng, the mistress of the Moon Palace at the time, led the palace's elite experts to the Far North Lands to hunt down the Demon Beast."
"But the Demon Beast was simply too powerful. Even with Palace Mistress Xi Leng fighting in person, they still could not kill it head-on."
"To stop the Demon Beast from continuing its rampage, Palace Mistress Xi Leng, left with no other choice, offered herself as a sacrifice and cast