Dispute Over the Vision

The Heaven Gate Sword Immortal had lived roughly fifteen hundred years ago, during the transition from the end of Wu to the beginning of Great Yan. But perhaps because he had seen too many undying old monsters, Xu Yuan was not overly surprised by the woman's age.

"So you were actually a figure from the same era as that Sword Immortal. But counting the years, the founding ancestor of Great Yan should have lived in your time as well, no? Did even that old man fail to catch your eye?"

"Li Shouchen?"

After a brief silence, the woman surnamed Wen slowly said, "Neither his methods nor his cultivation could be called supreme. The reason he won the realm was largely because the Qian and Zhou states had drained each other dry in their struggle, and the sects also needed someone to quell the chaotic age."

Xu Yuan smiled at that.

"Isn't it a little excessive to describe the man who founded such a towering empire in that way?"

The woman surnamed Wen gently shook her head and said with a smile, "History books can be rewritten, but facts cannot. If Li Shouchen truly possessed the power to sweep across all beneath heaven as the records claim, why would he have left the sects for later generations to deal with?"

"..."

After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan fixed his gaze on her and asked, "That makes sense. But if the founding ancestor of Great Yan was so inadequate, and you speak with such confidence, why didn't you try to contend with him for the Nine Cauldrons throne back then?"

The woman surnamed Wen pondered for a while, as though recalling the past, or perhaps weighing her words. Only after a long moment did she answer softly, "At that time, my