Rider of the Tides

Above the pavilion, smoke curled from the incense burner before Aunt Qin.

Her gaze was calm, her expression inscrutable.

"How did they feel?"

"Pretty strong, but ordinary." Miss Jia sighed. "Heize could wipe the floor with them alone."

"They were ordinary people after all. Their bloodlines were merely somewhat different." Aunt Qin sighed.

"The Three Extremes Sect and Eight Trigrams Gate fighting this time both originated in Great Cang over a thousand years ago.

"At that time, those two powers counted among the very strongest.

"Their disciples all possessed strength beyond mortal men.

"They were called Extraordinary. Even Heize would not have survived a single exchange against them."

Aunt Qin spoke slowly.

Miss Jia felt slightly displeased.

In her eyes, Heize had always stood tall and mighty, his strength incomparably formidable.

Even later, when she had met many masters of traditional martial arts,

she had felt that none of them could compare to Heize.

Heize was a powerhouse in a league of his own.

Aunt Qin smiled. "Extraordinary could no longer be called human.

"Heize was merely an ordinary person. Naturally, he could not compare to them."

"Could Heize... possibly not have been mortal either?" Miss Jia still held onto hope.

Not seeing Heize one final time had always remained a thorn in her heart.

"Absolutely impossible." Aunt Qin's voice was certain. "With Great Cang's destruction, the Extraordinary vanished entirely from this world."

Over those thousand-odd years, she had seen far too many remarkable people.

Yet those who could truly be called transcendent had appeared only during Great Cang's era.

Unfortunately, she had gone overseas then and had not lived through those years.

When she returned, the realm already bore the Huang surname, and the Extraordinary had long since vanished without a trace.

Even when people mentioned them, they were treated as myths and legends. The world had returned to normal.

Aunt Qin could not help recalling the figure of that young man.

Unfortunately, too much time had passed. She could no longer remember what he looked like.

But that person had undoubtedly been the most extraordinary person she had encountered in her life.

No less so than Qin Kuan.

"Why did the Extraordinary disappear?" Miss Jia asked.

"I don't know." Aunt Qin shook her head.

She did not know much about that period of history either.

The Extraordinary had been like an epiphyllum blooming for a single night, leaving one stroke upon history.

Sadly, when people of the present looked back, they saw only tales of wandering heroes and mythical legends. No one took them seriously.

"However, there are still some special people in this world.

"For instance, Xueyan's clansmen have always had unusual builds. Their bodies are exceedingly light and nimble.

"If my guess is right, she carries the bloodline of the Light Feather Gate, one of the Extraordinary powers from those days."

After returning to the Great Xia Clan, Aunt Qin had constantly searched for traces of the Extraordinary.

Especially that person. Unfortunately, she had found no trace at all.

In the end, she found the Qi lineage.

Over the past thousand years, she had often looked after the Qi family.

"Speaking of being special, shouldn't the two of us be the most special people in this world?" Miss Jia's expression was complicated, her eyes deep and distant.

"Perhaps, after some time, that will no longer be the case." Aunt Qin gently inhaled the mist drifting from the incense burner, revealing a trace of intoxication.

Miss Jia said nothing more.

Indeed, the Immortality Elixir was not a true Immortality Elixir.

Before long, she and Aunt Qin would truly vanish into the river of time.

Perhaps this world would return to normal after that.

It was only a pity that she had not seen Heize one final time.

"Do you think that Lin Chao might also carry the bloodline of the Extraordinary?" Aunt Qin suddenly asked.

Miss Jia froze. "Why do you say that?"

"Xueyan has exceptional bones, but she still fell from the third floor. And Lin Chao had been five or six meters away from her at the time.

"Yet he still caught her, and emerged completely unscathed.

"Ordinary people could not possibly do that.

"Even masters of traditional martial arts would find it difficult."

Aunt Qin had naturally investigated the scene in detail.

She had also sensed a trace of something extraordinary about Lin Chao.

"If that is all, it does not amount to much." Miss Jia spoke.

Over a thousand years, what had they not seen?

"There is more... I cannot see through him." Aunt Qin suddenly said in a distant voice.

Miss Jia's body stiffened, then relaxed. "It seems he truly is extraordinary."

After taking the Immortality Elixir, Aunt Qin's body had mutated, granting her many abilities.

Those abilities were strange and elusive.

For example, Aunt Qin could occasionally see the trajectories of certain people's lives.

That was why she had told Qi Xueyan that she would meet someone capable of changing the course of her life.

"Indeed. Those whose life trajectories I cannot see will most likely become either rich or powerful in the future. They are riders of the tides of their era."

Aunt Qin was merely saying it casually.

There was more than one rider of the tides in an era.

Though remarkable, it was nothing much to her.

"Lin Chao!" Qi Xueyan's face shone with excitement.

She had not expected to run into Lin Chao here.

"Qi Xueyan, why are you here?" Lin Chao was slightly stunned. Looking at Qi Xueyan before him, he casually lifted his head and spotted a woman in black gauze standing atop the pavilion.

Qi Xueyan must have come down from the pavilion.

This black-veiled woman seemed to be the woman from the Great Wilderness Mountain Range.

According to Zhao Xiaoyi, she was from the Jia family.

Qi Xueyan knew her?

Of course, that was not the point.

Who Qi Xueyan was had nothing to do with him.

As long as she was not his daughter.

"I came here to watch the martial arts matches." Qi Xueyan's voice brimmed with excitement.

"Those matches between martial halls?" Lin Chao had not expected these martial hall matches to draw so many people.

"Mm." Qi Xueyan nodded. "They're from the traditional martial arts circle, competing for the title of boxing champion. Their level is very high."

"Indeed." Lin Chao nodded.

Relatively speaking, Xiao Rou was already quite strong.

For an ordinary person to possess such strength was no easy feat.

It required not only grueling training, but talent as well.

"Why did you stop watching and come over here?" Lin Chao asked casually.

"It's over." Qi Xueyan spoke, her face overflowing with excitement. "The senior sister from the Three Extremes Martial Hall was truly amazing.

"Unfortunately, her junior brothers and sisters were not strong enough and too many were eliminated. She had to defend the ring alone, and in the end, the people from the Eight Trigrams Martial Hall defeated her by taking the stage one after another."

"I see." Lin Chao understood.

On the high-speed train, Xiao Rou had mentioned the rules before.

Each martial hall sent out seven people for one-on-one fights.

The loser left the field, while the winner remained to defend the ring.

Then the defeated side continued sending people to challenge the winner.

Therefore, even if Xiao Rou was the strongest, without the power to sweep the entire field, she could still exhaust her stamina, lose, and leave the arena.

Just then, Qi Xueyan's phone screen lit up.

Qi Xueyan looked at the message, an apologetic expression appearing on her face. "Lin Chao, sorry, my aunt is urging me. I need to catch a flight to Cangxi City. I'll treat you to a meal next time."

"Alright." Lin Chao answered calmly. Then, suddenly thinking of something, he asked, "Are you going to the Great Wilderness Mountain Range?"

After all, Cangxi City had become wildly popular throughout Great Xia. Quite a few people had already gone there to sightsee.

Even though Heize's remains had yet to be found, people with the Hei surname were already fabricating genealogies, claiming to be Heize's descendants.