The ancient map on the polished stone table of the Su Family hall glowed faintly under the flickering light of spiritual lanterns. Su Leilong stood tall beside it, his hand resting upon the edge of the table, while his sharp eyes traced the glowing leyline paths connecting distant lands beyond the Crimson Sky Empire.
Su Mengtian, seated beside Bai Yueying, leaned forward with intensity. Long Xuemei, graceful as ever, watched from the other side of the room, her expression both solemn and proud.
Su Leilong began again, his voice deep, firm, and slow like thunder rumbling beneath the earth.
"What you have seen, Mengtian, what you've conquered and defended, the halls you've built and the lands you've liberated—these are only pieces of a greater puzzle."
He gestured to the central glowing cluster on the map—the five sacred continents.
"The Crimson Sky Empire, the Zephyrosa ranges, even the Frostlit Crown and the Dunaleth deserts... these are merely a single layer of the world. Beyond these lands, farther than the Eye of Heavens can see, lies the true furnace of power. The place where legends are tempered."
Su Mengtian frowned thoughtfully, absorbing the implication of his father's words.
"You mean there's more than the Five Sacred Continents? Even more than the rifts and oceans?" he asked.
Long Xuemei replied, her tone cool but resolute.
"Far more. What you know as reality is only a continent-sized fragment. Beyond the Veilstorm ocean lies the continent of Aurion, an ancient land so steeped in spiritual history that even time itself flows differently there."
Bai Yueying leaned closer. "And that's where the Supreme Sects are based?"
Su Leilong nodded. "Indeed. Eleven Supreme Sects. Righteous, Demonic, and Neutral. Each one rules a sacred continent or domain far greater in power and history than anything the Crimson Sky Empire can fathom."
He pointed to a sub-map hovering just above the surface—a three-dimensional projection of rugged landmasses surrounded by ley-rivers and floating sigils.
"Aurion, the Ancient War Continent. At its core lies a crystalline mountain—the Spire of Aether. A leyline nexus formed during the war of the gods. Around it orbit three sub-continents: Draegor, Kharnis, and Veddun."
Su Mengtian narrowed his eyes.
"And what lies within Draegor?"
"The tournament," Su Leilong said, his voice suddenly darkening. "The Hundred Dynasties Great War. A battle for survival, recognition, and ultimately, ascension."
Long Xuemei lifted her hand, weaving the air with strands of starlight. A scene shimmered to life—warriors in cloaks of flame, beasts of nightmare proportions, entire mountain ranges reshaped by duels.
"Only the final survivors of this war are even considered by the Eleven Sects. And even then, only the rare few are chosen."
Su Mengtian watched the vision, his fingers tightening. "Then that's the gate I must pass."
Bai Yueying spoke with quiet determination. "And me."
Su Leilong nodded approvingly. "Then you must both be ready. You have five years until the next Hundred Dynasties War begins. Five years to push yourselves beyond every known limit."
Su Mengtian asked, "Where does the Crimson Sky Empire stand in all this? Can it send participants?"
"Yes," Long Xuemei answered. "Every dynasty, empire, or federation is allowed to send five representatives. But to be chosen, you must pass the Crimson Mountain Trials."
Bai Yueying turned. "What are those?"
Su Leilong smiled. "A set of life-and-death tests overseen by the Empire's Guardian. And coincidentally... an old friend of mine."
Su Mengtian blinked. "There's a Guardian in our Empire?"
Long Xuemei nodded. "Each Empire has one. They act as protectors, overseers of trials, and envoys for the Supreme Sects."
Su Leilong walked to an old chest in the corner of the room, unlocking it with a seal infused with thunderlight. From it, he took out three items: a treasure map sealed in moonsteel, a second map bound in scarlet scales, and an obsidian token etched with the sigil of the Heavenly Dao.
The flickering hearthlight in the Su family hall seemed to dim, as if yielding to the gravity of Su Leilong's words. Time slowed, as the conversation carried the room into memory. Bai Yueying sat still, her fingers lightly clutching the edge of the wooden table, while Su Mengtian, now silent, leaned forward, eager.
Su Leilong closed his eyes.
"It began almost three four decades ago, at the edge of youth," he murmured. "In a time when I was not a marshal... not even a commander. Just a wandering cultivator from the Veilstone foothills, chasing rumors of the Verdant Gates of the Celestial Harmony Sacred Land."
Long Xuemei smiled faintly, the light in her eyes turning wistful. "And I was the youngest daughter of a Crimson sky empire's Great Long clan, fled after refusing a forced marriage. We met at the mouth of the Heartroot Nexus—a place so rich in ley-energy, even the winds sang of fate."
Both of us were selected through the "Hundred Dynasties Great War" too. Actually we were escorted by the envoy of the Celestial Harmony sect to Viridara.
The Heartroot Nexus, at Viridara,
Massive canopies swayed like celestial drapes as sunlight filtered through a thousand shades of green. The Heartroot Nexus was no ordinary forest. The air shimmered with ambient qi, and ancient aether vines pulsed as if they were veins of the planet itself.
A younger Su Leilong, hair tied high and robes tattered from travel, knelt before a vast stone gate entwined in blooming roots. Before him stood three robed examiners of the Celestial Harmony Sacred Land, each emanating a unique aura: one elemental, one demonic, one divine.
"Why do you seek entrance?" asked the examiner with the golden staff, her tone like flowing water.
Leilong did not hesitate. "To learn the balance between strength and stillness. To master war without being its slave."
Silence followed—until a second figure was brought forward. Xuemei, clad in moon-silver robes, her face fierce despite a thin cut along her cheek.
"You carry the scent of heartbreak," the demonic-path examiner noted.
"Then let me bloom from it," Xuemei replied.
The stone gates parted, vines drawing back like curtains. They had passed the first trial.
At Celestial Harmony Sect,
"It was a city of nature and stars," Xuemei narrated softly, her fingers threading through a steaming cup of herbal tea in the present. "Floating trees with root-sky bridges. Jade pagodas that bloomed from mountains. Every path, every hall, was alive with energy, some even sentient."
Su Leilong chuckled. "I nearly fell from the Skyroot Bridge on the second week. My elemental attunement was garbage back then."
"But you had strength of will," Xuemei said, eyes warm.
It was there, Leilong said, that he learned the Breath of Verdant Steel, a technique blending qi control with iron resolve. And it was there Xuemei first summoned her Astral Phoenix Form, born not from bloodline, but from soul-pact with a forgotten constellation beast sealed beneath the Mirror Lake.
Su Leilong reached into his robe and slowly unwrapped a silken pouch. Inside lay a luminous token etched with flowing calligraphy and a single sigil: "Heavenly Dao."
"It was Elder Xin Ryu and Elder Xu Long who gave this to me," he said. "They were one of the few who had stepped beyond the Immortal Mortal Divide. They told me..."
He paused.
"They told me I was not meant to stay forever. That my purpose was not within their mountains, but beyond, to light fires in the shadowed lands."
Xuemei nodded. "They said the same to me. That a phoenix is reborn in exile, not in comfort."
Present Day,
Bai Yueying exhaled, her fingers clutched over her heart. "So... you both walked among legends."
"Not just walked," Su Leilong said. "We bled, knelt, trained, failed, and rose again."
Su Mengtian turned toward his mother. "Why did you both leave?"
Long Xuemei smiled. "Because our destiny wasn't to serve. It was to prepare. To give birth to the spark that would carry our legacy further. You."
"And now," Su Leilong added, handing Mengtian the token, "your flame rises. You will walk the same paths—and go further."
"Here," he said. "The first map shows hidden leyline ruins in Osiraka. The second—a layout of Draegor's outer zones. This token," he held it carefully, "was gifted to me by an elder of the Celestial Harmony Sacred Land. Show it only when absolutely necessary."
He handed them to Su Mengtian.
"And remember, son. Five years may feel long, but it passes in a blink. The enemies you will face there will not be bound by honor, by rules, or even by humanity."
Bai Yueying reached forward, accepting a copy of the Draegor map. "Then we must surpass even the realm of ascension."
Su Leilong nodded. "The minimum qualification is an Emperor-grade bloodline and at least the Astral Ascension stage."
Su Mengtian met his father's gaze. "Then I'll break that ceiling. Again and again."
Su Leilong smiled. "Good. Because your true destiny does not lie beneath one empire—it was forged in the heavens."