Year 4965, summer.
Nie Chongshan, the former Sect Master of the Bright Sect, sat cross-legged in the sect's palace. Beside the desert, the heat was dreadful: the air temperature exceeded forty degrees, and the ground approached eighty. He was at the height of his power, but also nearing Spiritual Decline. Few people under heaven could rival him.
Yet Nie Chongshan had not left the sect in decades. The world's Cultivators had nearly forgotten this Ninth Tier master of the Bright Sect.
His only remaining disciple pushed open the door and entered.
Nie Chongshan gazed toward the distant Tianshan, seemingly unaware of his arrival. The disciple stood quietly to one side without disturbing him. Only after a long while did Nie Chongshan turn to him and pass on the position of Sect Master.
"I've lived my life with an open heart and a clear conscience. There are few things I regret, and I have no other lingering regrets except one..."
"I, your disciple Xuanzhen, am the 236th-generation successor of the Daoist Order. My master was True Person Qianfa of the Jade Peace Temple, and my grandmaster was True Person Changpei. Senior Cao Ci is now so obsessed that he intends to break the Southern Continent's seal to become a God. Please lend me your strength and descend into my body..."
Whoosh!
Young Master Xuanzhen opened his eyes. His gaze was sharp and weathered.
The scene before him was a siege.
A dozen or so young people surrounded an old man. Some grappled with him up close; others unleashed spells and sword light. Every means they had came out, and not one of them flinched.
Waves of Spirit Power rippled through the air like storm-tossed seas, one after another.
In the distance, a "human" poked its head out, saw what was happening,