Where there were people, there was the Martial World.
In a sense, the Shrouding the Heavens World was a Martial World too. Once you were in it, there was no escaping fame and fortune.
Do not think reputation mattered any less in a world like this. Here, fame was often tied to the unseen tide of the times and to Fortune.
Before the Dao Realm existed, Heavenly Prodigies of every race and kind had gathered by various means to contend on the Emperor Path. The victors became famous throughout the universe, the tide of the times gathered around them, and fortune flowed without end.
Opportunities and fortuitous encounters followed, feeding their cultivation and helping them make even greater names for themselves.
Look across all of history: not one Great Emperor had reached that height in obscurity.
Now the Dao Realm had burst onto the scene. People across the universe could speak and clash directly; Heavenly Prodigies threw caution aside, and their rivalries never ceased.
Today you might crush a prodigy from another star region; tomorrow, someone else might crush you.
Over five hundred years, certain names had become known throughout the universe. They belonged to the strongest at their respective cultivation levels!
Later, the Gods of the Dao Realm stepped forward and established the Dao Rankings, recording Heavenly Prodigies whose fierce battle records had made them famous across the universe.
The moment the Dao Rankings appeared, they seized everyone's attention, and the competition grew fiercer. This was the official list: to earn a place on it meant standing among the strongest at one's level!
Everyone believed they were second to none!
No one questioned the Dao Rankings' credibility.
The Heavenly Emperor had not personally drawn them up, but three Great Emperors and five other supreme experts comparable to Great Emperors