He looked like one of the countless ordinary people in this world: an ordinary face, long hair cascading down his back, tied in a small knot atop his head, with faint streaks of white mixed into the hair at his temples.
Only those eyes drew attention. They seemed to contain the Myriad Stars; with just one glance, guard Zhang Chongtian felt as though his soul had been frozen.
One had to know that he himself was an expert of the True Meridian Realm, yet he was still so fragile, so utterly unable to withstand a single blow. Truly, every step led to a new azure sky!
"You've grown up," Xu Qingshan said with satisfaction.
Xu Qingshan was somewhat surprised that his son had remained quiet for so long. A strong person had to be able to endure loneliness and solitude.
"Father, you've grown old." Seeing the strands of white at his father's temples, Xu Zimo's voice trembled.
In an instant, it was as though every emotion came flooding out. In his Previous Life, he had made a three-year pact with the protagonist, Chu Yang, agreeing to fight at Youlong Ravine. In the end, he had been no match for him and was knocked into the abyss.
To avenge him, his father had mobilized the strength of the entire sect to hunt Chu Yang down, yet he had never expected Chu Yang's growth to surpass all expectations.
Chu Yang escaped pursuit after pursuit, growing ever stronger. In the end, he wielded the Three-foot Green Edge and personally stormed the True Martial Sacred Sect.
It was said that during that battle, the winds and clouds stirred in all directions. The slaughter made the Sky Darken and Earth Dim; mountains and rivers shattered.
His father had ultimately been no match for him and was defeated beneath Chu Yang's sword. Had the Sect Master not suddenly appeared to save the day and settle the matter, his father's life would have hung by a thread!
Yet because of that incident, his father had been unable to bear the blow. His hair turned white overnight, and from then on, he retreated into the mountains and forests, never to be heard from again.
But no one had expected that after he fell into Youlong Ravine, he had not died from the fall. Instead, he had obtained a few fortuitous opportunities.
Only then had he begun cultivating in earnest, desperately longing to grow stronger.
In the end, he broke through to the Divine Meridian Realm and sought Chu Yang out for revenge.
But he had never expected that Chu Yang's heaven-defying talent was simply beyond his comparison. Chu Yang had countless hidden cards, and that battle sent all of Xu Zimo's pride plummeting from the clouds.
His thoughts returned to the present. Xu Qingshan handed Xu Zimo a token and said softly, "You've reached the age to cultivate. Go to the Scripture Repository and choose a cultivation technique that suits you.
"This token will grant you access to the highest floor of the Scripture Repository. The true inheritances of four Great Emperors are there. As for which one you choose, that is entirely up to you."
Xu Zimo accepted the token and nodded heavily. In truth, he had already seen the true inheritance techniques of those four Great Emperors in his Previous Life.
But there was no helping it—many things still had to be done for show. He could not reveal the secret of his rebirth, and even now, Xu Zimo did not know how to use that Round Bead.
"I do not wish to interfere too much with your cultivation. As for which technique you wish to cultivate, that too depends entirely on your interests." Xu Qingshan fell silent for a moment before explaining, "Right now, you are like a carriage traveling along a cliff. All I can do is remind you not to let that carriage fall off the cliff.
"As for whether the carriage heads east or west, south or north, you must grasp the reins yourself."
Xu Zimo nodded. He understood what his father meant.
In truth, whether it was a technique left behind by a Great Emperor or an ordinary cultivation technique, there was no difference in the end.
Everyone would ultimately have to walk a Martial Dao Heavenly Path of their own. No matter how powerful what others left behind might be, it belonged to others and could never fit you perfectly.
"Go. Your mother recently returned to your maternal grandfather's home. I heard their Ten Meridian Fruits are about to ripen, and she wants to ask for one for you." Xu Qingshan smiled. "Cultivate well. Do not disappoint your father."
"Disappoint you?" Xu Zimo murmured, then nodded heavily.
In his Previous Life, he truly had disappointed his father.
At the very least, before Chu Yang knocked him into Youlong Ravine, he had barely ever thought of cultivating seriously.
He had indulged in the glittering, illusory world of wine and women that he had created for himself. He was the Crown Prince of the True Martial Sacred Sect; when many people saw him, they had to wag their tails and pant like lapdogs.
He lacked nothing. He could clearly have lived a better life, so why should he toil away in cultivation?
Only later did he understand that there was no such thing as peaceful years in this world; it was merely that someone else was carrying the burden forward for you.
After leaving his father's Qingshan Peak, Xu Zimo headed straight for the Scripture Repository.
Gazing into the distance at that colossal structure shrouded in immortal mist, he looked upon this sect steeped in too many legends.
The True Martial Sacred Sect was not an ordinary sect. It was an Imperial Dynasty Immortal Sect that had produced four Great Emperors.
Over the vast, boundless river of the True Martial Sacred Sect's history, stretching back tens of thousands of years, four Great Emperors had once emerged.
What was a Great Emperor?
The strongest person of an era!
Legend had it that every era saw heaven and earth give birth to a Heavenly Mandate. Whoever could rise above tens of millions and bear that Heavenly Mandate would become a Great Emperor.
One hundred thousand years ago, the Yuanyang Continent was still in the Barbaric Era. It was an age when humans were like ants, as insignificant as grains of sand, lowly until death.
That day, a man named Zhenwu set out with a sword in hand. After enduring trials that brought him nine deaths and one life, he ignited the Divine Fire, condensed the Emperor Throne, and bore the Heavenly Mandate.
In the end, at the Top of the Firmament, the man shouted, "The Heavenly Mandate belongs to me alone!"
From that day onward, the Barbaric Era came to an end, and humanity welcomed the unprecedented Era of Emperors.
True Martial Great Emperor was also the first Great Emperor of the Era of Emperors. He drew back the curtain on that stirring, vast, magnificent age.
"We are willing to honor you as the strongest!" Countless people shouted, prostrating themselves beneath the might of True Martial Great Emperor.
After bearing the Heavenly Mandate, True Martial Great Emperor eventually arrived in the Far West Land of the Eastern Continent and established the True Martial Sacred Sect.
On the day the True Martial Sacred Sect was founded, guests came to offer congratulations from all directions, and the four seas came to pay homage. Countless people fought until their heads were bloodied just to join the sect.
Countless sects also vied with one another to become affiliated sects of the True Martial Sacred Sect.
From then on, the thousands of miles of mountains and rivers in the Far West Land fell under the True Martial Sacred Sect's rule, and that continued until the present day.
Several thousand years later, another man emerged from the True Martial Sacred Sect.
The world had long forgotten the man's name. What made everyone tremble in the depths of their souls were only the three long blades he carried on his back.
"Immortal Slaying, Demon Slaying, True Self."
With those three long blades in hand, the man suppressed the era that belonged to him.
He was the seventh Great Emperor of the Era of Emperors, and also the second Great Emperor of the True Martial Sacred Sect.
"Three Blades Great Emperor!"
Another ten thousand years passed, and the True Martial Sacred Sect produced its third Great Emperor.
"Divine Movement Great Emperor."
Among the countless Great Emperors since ancient times, Divine Movement Great Emperor was not considered one of the most astonishingly brilliant.
Yet his speed ranked among the very best of all Great Emperors.
In the later years of Divine Movement Great Emperor's era, the man once gazed deeply toward the end of heaven and earth.
He left behind only one sentence: "With these feet of mine, I will traverse the resplendent mountains and rivers, behold all the splendor of mortal life, and wander to the summit of the sun and moon."
Then he left. What he left for the world was only that retreating figure, shrouded in some unseen yet boundless legend.
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