Deep within the Tai Xuan Mountain Range, an invisible barrier enveloped a ten-mile radius, preserving the land in pristine isolation. Over ten thousand years, the world beyond had shifted—mountains eroded, rivers reshaped—yet this sanctuary remained untouched, frozen in time.
At its heart stood an ancient stone chamber, its weathered surface entwined with verdant vines. Strangely, not a single leaf dared obscure the three ancient characters carved upon its door: "Qi Tian Abode."
Abruptly, the spiritual energy of the entire Tai Xuan range surged with unrest. Birds and beasts across a thousand miles froze, their gazes drawn in terror toward the mountain's core. Dark clouds gathered overhead, yet no thunder dared break the eerie silence.
Within the chamber, a seated figure slowly opened his eyes.
"At last..."
Qi Tian's voice rasped, hoarse as if untouched by speech for millennia. His eyes, deep as the cosmos, shimmered with a depth that could unsettle the soul. The mere act of opening them caused the air within the chamber to ripple faintly.
"Ten thousand years, three months, and sixteen days," Qi Tian declared with precision, marking the span of his seclusion. "I've finally broken through the final step."
He rose slowly, his bones crackling like popping beans. Dust cascaded from his form, revealing skin as luminous as jade, faintly aglow with golden light. Every inch of him pulsed with the power to sunder heavens and earth.
Qi Tian gazed at his hand, clenching it lightly. The space within his palm fractured with delicate cracks.
"The Supreme Dao Realm..." he murmured. "Is this the ultimate state my master spoke of?"
Ten thousand years ago, Qi Tian had been the youngest Grand Elder of the Tai Xuan Sect, reaching the Tribulation Stage at a mere three thousand years old—a prodigy unmatched in the cultivation world for a hundred millennia. Yet, when he faced a bottleneck in his pursuit of a higher realm, he chose to enter a deathly seclusion, vowing not to emerge until he succeeded.
That seclusion had lasted ten thousand years.
With a wave of his hand, Qi Tian dispelled the chamber's wards. The heavy stone door slid open silently, but instead of the expected rush of fresh air, he was met with spiritual energy so thin it was almost pitiful.
"Hm?" Qi Tian's brow furrowed as he stepped outside.
The sight before him stopped him cold.
The Tai Xuan Sect's forbidden grounds, once lush with spiritual energy and teeming with sacred herbs, now lay barren. Towering spiritual trees, once a hundred meters tall, were reduced to withered husks. The spiritual fields were overrun with weeds, devoid of even a whisper of energy.
"What happened?" A shadow of unease crept into Qi Tian's heart. His divine sense unfurled, sweeping across a thousand miles.
What he found darkened his expression further.
The Tai Xuan Sect... was gone.
Or rather, it was reduced to ruins. The once-magnificent palaces were now shattered remnants, the sect's protective array long collapsed. Even the stone stele bearing the words "Tai Xuan" lay broken and half-buried in the earth.
"Ten thousand years... and it has come to this," Qi Tian sighed, a flicker of sorrow in his eyes.
He walked toward the sect's ruins, each step causing the weeds beneath to part respectfully, as if paying homage to a titan of ages past.
Suddenly, his divine sense detected a ripple of spiritual energy a hundred miles away. With a slight raise of his brow, Qi Tian vanished in a flash.
...
Liu Hanshuang clutched her chest, staggering through the forest. Her Xuanzong Sect robes were tattered, a deep wound on her right shoulder oozing blood, staining half her body crimson.
"Damn it..." She glanced back, her heart sinking. Three pursuers from the Blood Fiend Sect were closing in.
Who could have foreseen a simple herb-gathering mission turning into this? The Blood Fiend Sect had brazenly violated the truce, ambushing them in the Tai Xuan Mountains. Her three senior brothers and sisters had fallen to their treachery, and only she had escaped, thanks to a life-saving talisman from her master.
"Little girl, stop running!" a sinister voice jeered from behind. "Hand over the Xuanzong Sect's secret techniques, and we'll make it quick!"
Liu Hanshuang ignored the taunts, pouring her dwindling spiritual energy into her flight. She knew that if they caught her, a fate worse than death awaited.
Her foot caught on a root, and she stumbled forward, crashing toward the ground. In that moment, despair closed her eyes.
"It's over..."
But the expected pain never came. A gentle force caught her, holding her upright.
Startled, Liu Hanshuang opened her eyes to find a stranger's face—young, almost impossibly handsome, with dark hair falling loosely around his shoulders. His plain gray robe belied the profundity in his eyes, which seemed to pierce through the fabric of reality itself, stirring an instinctive urge to kneel in reverence.
"Are you alright, young lady?" the man asked, his voice calm yet imbued with an undeniable authority.
Liu Hanshuang was speechless, unable to fathom when he had appeared. Stranger still, though he radiated no spiritual energy, he evoked the sensation of standing before an infinite cosmos.
"S-Senior..." she stammered, swallowing hard. "Run... the Blood Fiend Sect is coming..."
The man—Qi Tian—smiled faintly. "Blood Fiend Sect? Never heard of them."
At that moment, three dark figures burst from the trees, encircling them in a triangular formation.
"Well, well, a helper?" the scarred leader sneered. "We'll take care of you both!"
Liu Hanshuang struggled to her feet, stepping protectively in front of Qi Tian. "Senior, go! They're Blood Fiend Sect elders—Foundation Establishment cultivators!"
Though she couldn't gauge Qi Tian's strength, the cultivation world had few true powerhouses left. Apart from ancient hermits, even Golden Core cultivators were the stuff of legend. This young-looking man couldn't possibly stand against three Foundation Establishment foes.
Qi Tian gently pulled her behind him. "Foundation Establishment? Are the young ones so weak these days?"
His words enraged the trio.
"Die!" The scarred man summoned a blood-red flying sword, slashing toward Qi Tian's throat.
Liu Hanshuang shut her eyes, unable to bear witnessing the kind stranger's demise.
Yet no scream followed. Peeking cautiously, she saw a sight that would haunt her forever.
The blood-red sword, capable of cleaving steel, hovered an inch from Qi Tian's face, utterly still. He extended a single finger, lightly tapping its tip.
"Blood-forging technique?" Qi Tian shook his head. "Crude craftsmanship. Not even basic spirit tempering was done properly."
With a flick of his finger—
Clink!
A crisp sound rang out as the sword shattered into dust. The scarred man staggered back, coughing blood as if struck by lightning.
"Impossible!" The other two Blood Fiend cultivators gasped, unleashing their artifacts in unison.
Qi Tian sighed, not even raising a hand. He merely glanced at them.
Boom!
An invisible force descended, pinning the three Foundation Establishment cultivators to the ground. Their bones groaned under the pressure, and to their horror, they found their decades of cultivated spiritual energy utterly unresponsive, as if they were mortals once more.
"M-Mercy, Senior!" the scarred man pleaded, realizing he'd provoked a monster.
Qi Tian ignored him, turning to the stunned Liu Hanshuang. "Young lady, what would you have me do with them?"
Liu Hanshuang's jaw dropped, words failing her. A single glance had subdued three Foundation Establishment cultivators? Even her master, the Xuanzong Sect Leader, couldn't dream of such power.
"I-I..." she stuttered, overwhelmed.
Qi Tian shook his head lightly. "Very well."
He snapped his fingers. The three Blood Fiend cultivators began to dissolve, their bodies breaking into motes of starlight from the feet upward, vanishing silently into the air without so much as a cry.
Liu Hanshuang's legs gave out, and she collapsed to her knees. She'd seen death before, but to erase three Foundation Establishment cultivators so effortlessly...
"Thank you, Senior, for saving me!" She regained her voice, bowing deeply.
Qi Tian gestured, lifting her gently with an invisible force. "No need for formalities. Tell me, what year is it? Why has the Tai Xuan Sect fallen? And why has the cultivation world declined so?"
Liu Hanshuang blinked in confusion. "Senior... you don't know?"
Qi Tian stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze distant. "I've been in seclusion for ten thousand years. I emerged only today."
The words struck Liu Hanshuang like thunder. Ten thousand years? The longest recorded seclusion in history was three thousand years, and that cultivator had perished soon after emerging. Ten thousand years was beyond comprehension.
"Senior," she said, steadying herself, "it is the 9,873rd year of the Xuanhuang Calendar. As for the Tai Xuan Sect... records say it fell eight thousand years ago, though the cause is unknown. The cultivation world has waned since; spiritual energy grows ever thinner, and the strongest cultivators are now only at the Golden Core stage..."
Qi Tian's brow tightened. "To think it has fallen so far..."
He looked skyward, his gaze piercing the clouds to the heavens beyond. There, imperceptible to most, a faint crack marred the firmament, slowly siphoning the world's spiritual energy.
"So that's the cause..." Qi Tian murmured.
Liu Hanshuang stood in awe, not daring to interrupt. She was now certain this was an ancient titan, a relic of a bygone era with unfathomable power.
"What is your name, young lady? From which sect do you hail?" Qi Tian asked, his tone softening.
"Liu Hanshuang, disciple of the Xuanzong Sect," she replied respectfully.
"Xuanzong Sect..." Qi Tian mused. "One of the thirty-six subsidiary heavens under the Tai Xuan Sect ten thousand years ago?"
Liu Hanshuang nodded, astonished. "Senior knows of it? Few today recall that history. Our Xuanzong Sect is indeed a branch of Tai Xuan, but..." Her expression dimmed. "It, too, has fallen into decline."
Qi Tian nodded thoughtfully. "Take me to your Xuanzong Sect."
Liu Hanshuang's heart leaped. A figure of such power visiting their sect could be its salvation! But then she hesitated. "Senior, our Xuanzong Sect is... quite humble now..."
Qi Tian smiled. "No matter. Having emerged, I need a place to rest."
With a casual wave, a gentle stream of spiritual energy enveloped Liu Hanshuang. Her wounds healed instantly, not even a scar remaining.
"Let's go," Qi Tian said, stepping forward. His pace seemed leisurely, yet each step covered dozens of meters.
Liu Hanshuang hurried to follow, her heart a mix of excitement and apprehension. She sensed that this mysterious senior's arrival might reshape not only the Xuanzong Sect but the entire cultivation world's destiny.