Enlightenment at Longchang

Who am I?

Where am I?

What am I doing?

The agonizing pain of his Divine Soul being torn apart still reverberated through every limb and bone. Qian Gu Fenfeng's physical body was already battered beyond recognition, his Coiling Dragon Staff had fallen to the ground, and his Battle Armor was covered in webbed cracks.

The lingering force of a god's strike continued to eat away at his origin. His physical body could no longer withstand this destructive power.

In a haze, his remaining Divine Soul broke free of the shackles of his ruined body, slowly slipped out of its flesh-and-blood shell, and fell toward boundless nothingness.

The world around him gradually faded. The smoke, the battlefield, and the shattered earth all receded into the distance.

His Divine Soul drifted, falling into a boundless Chaos Sea.

It was an ocean without sun, moon, or stars, without boundaries of space or time. Vast, gray waves of chaos surged endlessly, and dark chaotic mist spread everywhere. There was no light, no sound, only an unceasing torrent of chaos rolling onward.

There was no up or down, no front or back. All concepts dissolved here.

His Divine Soul was like a solitary boat, swept up and down by the waves of the Chaos Sea. Violent Chaos Power constantly scoured his Soul Body, wearing away strands of his Divine Soul's origin. Boundless loneliness closed in. All the grudges, attachments, battles, and things he had protected in this world grew distant and indistinct within this chaotic ocean.

The heroic spirit with which he had once swung his staff to crush his enemies, those memories etched into his bones and heart, were like grains of sand washed by the tides, swallowed little by little by chaos.

He did not resist. He let his Divine Soul drift with the waves of chaos, his consciousness gradually sinking into the depths of this vast sea of nothingness.

The Chaos Sea stretched endlessly, with no known destination and no known way back.

His consciousness felt as though it were being torn by the undercurrents of the Chaos Sea. Within the boundless void, scenes of the past flashed before Qian Gu Fenfeng's shattered Divine Soul like a revolving lantern.

The earliest memory was of his younger self. He had been exceptionally gifted from birth, displaying astonishing potential at his Martial Soul Awakening. His cultivation had proceeded smoothly, with no one among his peers able to stand against him. Even at a tender age, he had already been the finest of his generation, born with the pride of one who swept all before him.

As a youth, he had been a nightmare that haunted all of Shrek Academy. Countless gifted Shrek disciples had fallen beneath his staff in trials and sparring matches. The Coiling Dragon Staff had begun to show its edge, its sweeping shadows leaving Shrek's proud talents sorely troubled whenever they fought him. The mention of his name always carried a measure of wariness.

Later, he had entered Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy to study. Bustling, prosperous Mingdu surrounded him with cutting-edge Soul Guidance Technology. Proud to his very bones, he had honed his cultivation as a Soul Master while studying soul engineering, and the prototype of his Battle Armor had slowly taken shape in his hands. Brimming with youthful spirit and showing his edge without restraint, he had also been the focus of everyone's attention at the academy.

It had been a fierce match against Shrek, which ultimately ended with Qian Gu Fenfeng's overwhelming dominance. The thunder of colliding Soul Power had echoed through heaven and earth, and there, amid the chaotic fighting in the arena, he had seen Leng Yaozhu. She had stood amid the smoke, her gaze keen and her presence piercing. The two had met in fierce battle, matching each other point for point, each seeing the strength in the other's very bones.

That girl, called an outcast among angels, had been trapped in desperate circumstances, surrounded by loneliness and struggle, understood by no one around her, as though struggling painfully in the mire. Qian Gu Fenfeng had stepped in and rescued her from danger. At that moment, he had gazed into the girl's desolate eyes, like a ray of sunlight falling into her heart, and an unfamiliar stirring had arisen deep within him.

His two elder brothers, Qiangu Dongfeng and Qiangu Qingfeng, had always treated him with generosity and warmth. They had protected him in everyday life, indulging his unruliness while also offering guidance on his sharp edges. His brothers' care had been a rare warmth in his proud, untamed life. In their leisure, the brothers had laughed and talked freely, speaking of the future, the youth's heart filled with lofty ambitions.

Back then, he had been in the full bloom of youthful confidence.

His strength had surpassed all his peers. With the Coiling Dragon Staff in hand and Battle Armor on his body, brothers beside him and a kindred spirit found, the road ahead had seemed smooth and open. He had thought he would cut through thorns and brambles all the way, roam the continent unhindered, and be capable of anything.

Scene after scene flashed past like a tide: the pride of his invincible youth, the formidable name he had earned fighting Shrek, his years studying in Mingdu, the old acquaintance he had met on the battlefield, the girl he had rescued from hardship, his brothers' warm companionship... All those vivid, passionate memories gradually began to blur beneath the scouring of the Chaos Sea.

Agonizing pain struck again from deep within his Divine Soul. The revolving lantern's images began to flicker and falter, and those spirited years were disappearing, little by little, into the boundless chaotic mist.

All along this road, why have I kept growing stronger?

At first, it had been his inborn talent. From his youth, he had swept all before him, unmatched by any of his peers. Growing stronger had seemed like an instinct.

Relying on his formidable strength, he had crushed opponent after opponent and become Shrek's nightmare. That youthful pride had made him believe that power was everything, that as long as he was strong enough, he could do as he pleased and roam the continent unhindered.

While studying at Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy, he had painstakingly practiced his Soul Master techniques, researched Soul Guidance Technology, refined his Battle Armor, and honed his Coiling Dragon Staff.

Back then, he had sought strength to live up to his gifts, to stand higher and see a wider world, and to fulfill the great hopes the Qiangu Family had placed in him.

But later, he had met Leng Yaozhu in the arena and witnessed the stirring defiance of "Who says women are inferior to men?" He had seen Qian Chenyue trapped in the mire, rejected by the world. Only then had he suddenly understood that strength was not merely for competing and winning.

There were also his two elder brothers, Qiangu Dongfeng and Qiangu Qingfeng. Their care and tolerance had been the warmest underlying color of his unruly years. As he desperately pursued strength, he had also vaguely wanted to become someone who could hold up the family, to have the ability to protect this hard-won familial love and live up to his brothers' expectations.

He had once thought that growing stronger was for glory, for renown, for standing proudly above all other heroes.

But only today, with his Divine Soul sinking into chaos and his body shattered, as he looked back on his life from the brink of death, had he slowly begun to see clearly.

It had been for his unwillingness to squander his gifts, for his family's hopes, for the kindred spirit he had met, for rescuing those who suffered, and for protecting everything he cherished.

Yet in the end, even with power that could shake heaven and earth, he still could not withstand a single strike from a God King. He still faced the fate of having his Divine Soul drift through chaos.

His Divine Soul trembled softly within the torrent of chaos, and endless bewilderment flooded his heart.

What, in the end, was the true meaning of the strength I gained by cutting through thorns and brambles all along the way, cultivating painstakingly day and night?

Boundless chaos surged, and no one could give him an answer. Only his shattered Divine Soul remained, alone in that vast sea, questioning his own innermost heart again and again.