Outer Court, Training Grounds.
Thirty-six stone pillars surrounded the Training Grounds, each one reaching a height of twelve zhang, dividing the entire Training Grounds into a hexagon.
The entire Training Grounds stretched to a length of two hundred and eighty zhang, and right at the center of the arena stood a stone platform. Seated upon this platform was a figure of an old man with graying hair, wearing a pure white Kongshan Sect Daoist robe without any peak insignia.
The old man was tall in stature, imposing and awe-inspiring even without showing anger. Hanging at his waist was a token that, over a year ago, had once intimidated the entire Heavenly Summit Mountain. The token was engraved with eight large characters:
Kongshan Imperial Law, Supre Authority.
Huo Mu.
The mont Chen Yan, having just stepped into the Training Grounds, rely glanced in Huo Mu's direction, he instantly felt his breathing beco heavy, even his breath sowhat stagnant.
Not only that, the true qi within his ridians also beca slightly chaotic for a mont.
Chen Yan circulated the Hidden Immortal Art, barely managing to stabilize his breath and ridians.
"Seven thousand years ago, the Falling Star Sword Immortal Su Hongzhen gathered with the five Supre Pivot Elders of the Five Great Sects of Chenping Continent at the Xiling Mountain Range for a discussion. Not long after that discussion concluded, news arrived of Su Hongzhen's fall."
In the very center of the Training Grounds, Huo Mu, seated upright on the stone platform, slowly began to speak.
But Chen Yan couldn't discern from which direction the voice was entering his ears.
It seed to be everywhere.
"From then on, the Xiling Mountain Range was no longer called the Xiling Mountain Range, but was given a new na, called the Fallen Sword Mountain Range by the world."
Huo Mu continued.
The origin of the na Fallen Sword Mountain Range was sothing almost everyone knew.
"But I believe that from that day seven thousand years ago, what fell from this world was not rely a Su Hongzhen, nor rely a Falling Star Sword."
As he spoke, Huo Mu paused slightly:
"What fell... was this world itself."
Listening to Huo Mu's words, Chen Yan did not react.
He simply took two more steps forward, then bowed in Huo Mu's direction.
"Kongyuan Mountain, current Chief Disciple, Chen Yan."
Huo Mu practically enunciated each word, reciting Chen Yan's title, then smiled:
"Truly nostalgic. Thinking back to those distant days, I too was once the Chief Disciple of Yunyin Peak. At that ti, my mind was focused on only one thing..."
As he spoke, Huo Mu opened his eyes. A suffocating sense of oppression advanced further towards Chen Yan.
"What do you think I was thinking about?"
Huo Mu asked.
"This disciple dares not presu to speculate."
Chen Yan replied. This was the first sentence he spoke to Huo Mu.
"Ascending to Immortality."
Huo Mu stated frankly:
"In this world, which cultivator, upon first setting foot on the path of immortality, does not have Ascending to Immortality as their goal?"
Since ancient tis on Chenping Continent, if you were to add together the numbers of all cultivators across all eras and tis, the total would be at least in the hundreds of billions.
And among these hundreds of billions of cultivators, only thirty-one have ever reached the Immortal Ascension Realm.
Yet this does not prevent almost every cultivator from imagining, upon embarking on the immortal path, the scene of themselves ruling the world alone after achieving immortality.
Chen Yan was the sa.
But by the ti he was thirty years old in his first life and still hadn't broken through to the Qi Circulation Realm, Chen Yan's dream had already quietly shattered.
"That was about six thousand years ago. When I was eleven years old, I was established as the contemporary Chief Disciple of Yunyin Peak. Imdiately after, I reached the Martial Spring Realm at fourteen, the Qi Sea Realm at nineteen. In the year I turned twenty-seven, I beca the youngest Passable God Realm cultivator in the history of the Kongshan Sect, and also the youngest elder of Yunyin Peak. This record wasn't surpassed until a few hundred years ago by Yun Yichen."
Huo Mu reminisced thus about his own past from six thousand years ago.
The Qi Sea Realm at nineteen years old shows just how stunningly talented this Supre Imperial Law Elder of the Kongshan Sect was in his youth.
In the current era, Chenping Continent has only one Qi Sea Realm cultivator under twenty years old: Qin Qingyu of the Star Heaven Sect.
Qin Qingyu, like Huo Mu, also achieved the Qi Sea Realm at nineteen, with her spring surging to form a sea.
But there is one difference: Qin Qingyu had already reached the peak of the Martial Spring Realm by the age of seventeen. For the following two years, she deliberately suppressed her realm in order to participate in the Heavenly Summit Mountain Dao Inquiry, which is why she delayed her breakthrough.
"In the year I turned forty-one, I achieved the Myriad Transformations Realm. In the year I turned fifty-seven, I took up the position of Martial Elder of Yunyin Peak. Then ca Yunyin's Righteous Law, Yunyin's Sword Executioner... After stepping down, I cultivated in seclusion in the position of Offering Elder of Yunyin Peak for over two hundred years, before finally stepping into the Unity Realm."
Huo Mu continued speaking, then suddenly laughed softly and shook his head:
"Can you imagine just how smooth my immortal path was, right up until I stepped into the Supre Imperial Law Court and beca a Grand Elder of the sect?"
Chen Yan did not speak, rely bowed and nodded.
"For at that ti, with ambitions as high as the sky, achieving the Immortal Ascension Realm was rely a matter of ti. I never once thought that there would co a day when I could not ascend to immortality. That is, until five thousand years ago, when I broke through to the Divine Ability Realm."
Huo Mu's tone shifted abruptly:
"And can you understand just how great the sense of disparity truly was?"
The massive spiritual energy congealed in the air undoubtedly declared that if Huo Mu wished, he could tear Chen Yan to shreds in an instant, without any warning.
Huo Mu was not wrong.
In fact, in his first life, by the ti Chen Yan was twenty, he already knew he might not have much talent for cultivation. Yet he still clung to the unrealistic fantasy that he could accumulate strength over ti and overtake others on a bend in the road.
It wasn't until he was thirty and his cultivation still remained at the Body Forging Realm that Chen Yan finally recognized the fact that he was trash.
Chen Yan was disappointed, but he did not feel any sense of disparity.
Six thousand years ago, from the very day Huo Mu entered the Kongshan Sect, he was the heaven-chosen talent cradled in the palm of Yunyin Peak. His cultivation journey was smooth sailing;
he never once doubted his own talent.
The more exceptional the talent, the harder the fall when one recognizes the truth.
"Enough. Why am I saying all this to a young one not even twenty years old?"
Huo Mu shook his head. Then, amidst the reminiscence and regret on this Divine Ability Realm elder's face, a hint of sothing strange, sothing frenzied, and sothing expectant suddenly appeared:
"However, starting today, everything will beco different..."
As soon as the words fell, Huo Mu raised his hand and slapped directly onto the stone platform beneath him. Vast spiritual energy was guided through the stone platform towards the bluestone bricks on the ground of the Training Grounds.
In the next instant, all the bluestone bricks within the Training Grounds were ground into dust in a single mont.
Chen Yan looked down at his feet, and then his pupils constricted sharply—
After the bluestone bricks were ground to dust, the place where he was standing was not the ground.
It was a massive, black scale.
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