I died when I was two hundred years old.
Not peacefully.
Not like the heroes in the stories.
I died watching everything I built disappear.
The sky above my sect had turned crimson. Mountains cracked apart, halls collapsed, and the disciples who once called me Sect Master fled in despair.
Two hundred years of effort… gone in moments.
And the one who did it stood calmly in the sky before me.
A young man in white robes.
The same age as me.
He looked down at me with faint curiosity, as if observing something unimportant.
"Concept Incarnate at two hundred?" he said lightly. "Lin Xuan… that's quite ordinary."
Ordinary.
I couldn't help but laugh.
He wasn't wrong.
I had never been a genius. Never someone favored by heaven.
Just a normal cultivator who climbed slowly, step by step, through endless years of effort.
While others advanced quickly, I endured.
While geniuses shined, I struggled.
Two hundred years later, I finally reached the Concept Incarnate Realm and built my own sect.
For a moment, I thought my life had meant something.
But in front of a true heaven-born genius…
None of it mattered.
He raised one finger.
"Your story ends here."
A small movement.
That was all.
Yet the sky seemed to collapse.
An invisible force crashed down like divine punishment. Mountains shattered and the entire sect turned into ruins.
My body slammed into the ground.
Blood filled my mouth. My vision slowly darkened.
Two centuries…
All gone.
Through fading eyes, I looked up at the young genius standing in the sky.
Hatred burned in my chest.
"If there is another life…" I rasped.
"I'll make sure you regret today."
The young man didn't even respond.
To him, I was probably nothing more than a passing insect.
Darkness swallowed everything.
—
I woke up suddenly.
My chest heaved as I tried to breathe.
For a moment, I thought I was still dying.
But the room around me was quiet.
A small wooden bed.
Simple walls.
The faint smell of incense.
I slowly sat up.
"This place…"
My voice sounded unfamiliar to my own ears.
Then I looked down at my hands.
Young. Smooth.
No calluses from centuries of cultivation.
My heart began to pound.
I rushed to the bronze mirror on the wall.
The reflection staring back at me was a face I hadn't seen in a very long time.
Eighteen years old.
"This can't be…"
But deep inside, I already knew the answer.
I had returned.
Back to the time when I was still an ordinary disciple of Black Mountain Sect.
Before everything happened.
Before I built my own sect.
Before I died.
Before I met him.
I pushed open the wooden door and stepped outside.
Bright sunlight fell across the courtyard.
For a moment, I simply stood there.
Black Mountain Sect looked exactly as I remembered.
Stone paths ran through the courtyards, and young disciples in grey robes moved around carrying wooden swords and training manuals.
Some were practicing sword forms on the training field.
Others sat beneath old trees discussing cultivation techniques.
In the distance, the dark mountains behind the sect rose high into the clouds. Thin white mist drifted between the peaks, making the entire place feel quiet and ancient.
It was peaceful.
Alive.
Nothing like the burning ruins in my memories.
I watched the disciples laughing and arguing with each other.
In my previous life, I never paid attention to moments like this.
Back then, I was too busy chasing strength.
But now…
I knew how fragile all of this was.
My eyes slowly moved across the courtyard.
Then I froze.
Among the group of disciples stood a young man in white robes.
He was talking casually with others, smiling as if he didn't have a care in the world.
The moment I saw his face, my stomach tightened.
It was him.
The man who destroyed everything I built.
Right now, though, he looked completely normal.
Just another disciple.
No overwhelming aura.
No terrifying pressure.
If I hadn't lived through that future myself, I would never believe what he would become.
"So you were here all along…" I murmured.
In my previous life, I never noticed anything special about him at this stage.
He was simply another talented disciple.
Nothing more.
But this time…
My hand slowly moved inside my sleeve.
Something cold touched my fingers.
I pulled it out slowly.
A small black relic rested in my palm.
The object was old and covered in faint, strange patterns.
In my previous life, I found it decades later inside an ancient ruin.
I never figured out what it really was.
Yet somehow…
It had returned with me.
While I was staring at it, the relic suddenly trembled slightly.
Faint symbols appeared across its surface.
Then a cold voice echoed in my mind.
[Heaven-Defying Artifact Detected]
I froze.
My eyes slowly lifted toward the courtyard again.
Toward the young man in white.
In the cultivation world, there were rumors about mysterious treasures that could change fate itself.
People called them Heaven-Defying Artifacts.
Objects that could help someone rise faster than any genius.
Most people believed they were just legends.
But the relic in my hand was reacting to him.
Which meant…
"That guy…" I whispered.
"He has one."
The relic trembled again.
[Target Artifact Located]
[Extraction Possible]
My heart began beating faster.
I didn't know what this thing truly was.
I didn't know how it worked.
But one thing became very clear.
That man's terrifying future…
Was connected to a heaven-defying artifact.
And the relic in my hand could steal it.
I looked at him again.
He was still laughing with the other disciples, completely unaware.
A slow smile appeared on my face.
"So that's your secret…"
In my previous life, you destroyed everything I built.
But this time…
My fingers slowly tightened around the relic.
"That heaven-defying artifact…"
"…will belong to me."