The great river flowed east, and the autumn wind swept across the plain where ten thousand people had gathered. In the open space at its center, a white-robed young man stood with saber in hand, in the prime of his youth.
The aging saber fighter left the field dejectedly, saber in hand. Before leaving, he looked back at the Dragon Sacrifice Platform and the clamoring crowd, countless thoughts in his eyes, all of which amounted to a single sentence:
His road through the Jianghu ended here.
Whether the Cultivation Dao or the road through the Jianghu, its grandeur was real, and so was its merciless cruelty.
The rise of newcomers beneath countless watching eyes always came with the unnoticed departure of their elders.
And that would happen many times today. The so-called Heroes' Gathering was, in the end, merely a changing of the guard.
Standing on the Dragon Sacrifice Platform, Wei Wuyi looked at the white-clad figure in the field and recalled his own youth.
Back then, he had stood in the field. He could no longer remember his opponent, but the person standing where he stood now had been Ye Sheng.
Yet this young man in the field might well catch up to him someday, while whether he himself could catch up to Ye Sheng was hard to say.
After the clamor in the field continued for a while, Wei Wuyi spoke warmly:
"Young friend Xie's accomplishments the other day were certainly no accident. This foundation in the Martial Dao puts considerable pressure on us old fellows."
He was speaking not of cultivation, but potential. Sitting among the guests, Duan Yuechou and the others could roughly gauge Xie Jinhuan's potential after watching just one bout.
Xie Jinhuan was certainly someone blessed with great opportunities, but none who climbed to