43: Cycle of Fate

[Year 45, you spent three years traveling through eighteen nations, managing to extort five bottles of spiritual vein essence. You attempted to use this spiritual vein essence to see if you could Breakthrough to a higher Realm.]

[Year 60, Yao Beasts invaded the Tianhuang Continent. These Yao Beasts were incredibly brutal; wherever they went, mountains and rivers were shattered, and cities were completely destroyed. The entire continent ran red with blood, as if doomsday had arrived...]

[Year 63,]

[Knowing that the outside world had become a living Hell, you decided to go out and see the situation for yourself.]

[You left the deep mountains where you had been in seclusion and arrived at the nearby Baixi Village.]

[At that moment, an anomaly suddenly appeared in the sky—a giant green light bead hung high in the heavens!]

[Immediately after, you witnessed a scene you would never forget—]

[Every Yao Beast on the continent, regardless of size, was sucked into that bead.]

[The smallest of those Yao Beasts had bodies two meters long, while the largest reached a staggering hundred zhang; just a single glance made your skin crawl.]

[You vaguely saw a giant spirit boat floating among the clouds, filled with people who looked like Heavenly Soldiers and Generals.]

[The surviving commoners knelt and kowtowed one after another, shouting, "Thank you, Immortals! Thank you, Immortals!"]

[Once the mysterious bead had finished sucking in all the Yao Beasts, the spirit boats broke through the clouds and flew toward the depths of the heavens.]

[With your eyesight, you could vaguely see the spirit boats disappear as they passed through the back of a bronze mirror.]

[You suddenly realized: the entrance and exit of the Tianhuang Secret Realm were right here!]

[Three months later, you arrived at the once-prosperous capital—Tiangang City of the Chu Dynasty.]

[The sight before you made your heart tremble: the entire Imperial City had become a ruin, the dried blood on the ground was a dark red, and a faint stench still lingered in the air.]

[You didn't dare stay long and immediately left Tiangang City.]

[You passed through a dozen more towns and villages, discovering that some places still had small surviving populations, perhaps left behind as "seeds" by the Yao Beasts.]

[This sight made your hair stand on end, and you hurried back to your cave to continue your seclusion, attempting to explore the martial path above the Heavenly Human Realm.]

[Year 100,]

[You were in low spirits because your Aptitude and Comprehension Ability were too poor; you still had not comprehended the Realm above the Heavenly Human Realm.]

[You walked out of the deep mountains and traveled through a dozen cities and villages.]

[You found that the population of the Tianhuang Continent was gradually recovering. The commoners were farming and weaving; though life was hard, it was full of hope.]

[Many people began to rebuild the cities among the ruins, searching for martial arts Secret Manuals amidst the rubble.]

[However, you noticed that most people remained at the Body Tempering Realm.]

[Occasionally, you heard of Grandmasters appearing, recruiting Martial Artists in an attempt to rebuild the dynastic order.]

[Watching all this, it was as if you saw the Tianhuang Continent beginning a new Reincarnation—people had returned to village-based units, living by hunting and farming.]

[You arrived at Baixi Village once again.]

[In the fields at the village entrance, a dozen farmers were working.]

[When they saw you, they greeted you warmly, "Old Grandpa, where do you come from?"]

[Only then did you realize that your hair and beard, untended for decades, had turned white; you looked exactly like an old man.]

[One man shouted toward the edge of the field, "Auntie Lan, don't you need a partner? This old man looks energetic!"]

[An old woman nearby also joined in the teasing, "Yeah, while you can still give birth, hurry up and have a child!"]

[The widow called Auntie Lan walked over to size you up and said with a smile, "He's quite well-featured. He must have been a handsome lad when he was young, right?"]

[You gave an awkward smile, your heart pounding with uncertainty.]

[Even though you were over a hundred years old, looking at this village woman in her forties, you really couldn't bring yourself to do it.]

[Auntie Lan grabbed your arm without a second thought, "Come on, come home and live with me. As long as I have a bite to eat, I won't let you go hungry."]

[You were pulled by her into a shabby little hut.]

[She pulled half a dried flatbread from her bosom, "Here, fill your stomach first."]

[You stared blankly at the flatbread.]

["Eat quickly," she said, stuffing the bread into your hand. "Later, we'll tidy you up, and you can help me with some farm work from now on."]

["Just you alone?" you asked.]

[Auntie Lan's eyes suddenly turned red, "When I was little, I watched my parents get eaten by a Yao Beast. I still remember what that beast looked like to this day."]

[She forced a smile, "Maybe it thought I was too small to be worth its while, so it let me go."]

["You didn't find a partner?"]

[She shook her head, "He said he was going to the city to find martial arts Secret Manuals, and he never came back."]

[You remained silent for a moment.]

["I'll go to work first," she said, picking up a hoe. "Tonight, we'll get married and consummate our marriage."]

[After she left, you put down the dried flatbread, fumbled around in your pockets, took out your entire fortune of eight taels of silver to leave on the table, and then quietly departed.]

[One year later, you stood before the ruins of Longyang Town. The withered yellow grass rustled in the wind, sounding like a silent sob.]

[This once-bustling town now only had a few sections of broken walls standing stubbornly.]

[Three months later, you stepped into the remains of the Yan Dynasty's imperial capital.]

[Charred beams were wedged into the cracked palace walls, and weeds poked their heads out from between the broken bluestone slabs, swaying in the bleak wind.]

[Those once-magnificent halls were now nothing more than a ground full of broken tiles, reflecting a blood-colored light in the setting sun.]

[When you arrived at the former site of the Cheng Residence, three characters eroded by wind and sand on a slanted broken wall stung your eyes: "Where are you?"]

[Between those crooked strokes, it was as if the trembling of the fingertips that wrote them still remained.]

[Your heart suddenly constricted, and a searing fury exploded in your chest—this godforsaken heaven and earth.]

[Year 110,]

[During these ten years, your footsteps covered every inch of the Tianhuang Continent.]

[The vastness of this Secret Realm shocked you.]

[Across a territory of millions of miles, mountains rose and fell like sleeping Dragons, rivers surged like dancing silver snakes, boundless deserts swallowed the bones of travelers, and the dense jungles echoed with the roars of Vicious Beasts.]

[What kind of Secret Realm was this? It was clearly a complete world held captive!]

[Your fingertips trembled unconsciously.]

[Just what kind of treasure could refine an entire world for its own use?]

[This thought sent chills down your spine, as if a pair of eyes were watching your every move from the shadows.]

[And even more suffocating was that on this land, new tyrannies were taking root.]

[In the Northern Desert, the Azure Wolf Riders piled the heads of the defeated into high towers, each hollow eye socket telling a tale of endless terror;]

[On the altars of the Southern Border, the screams of pregnant women and the hissing of Gu insects intertwined into the most evil of incantations;]

[Within the palace walls of the Central State, the sounds of silk and bamboo music could not drown out the sobs of those exchanging children for food outside the city...]

[You stood on a mountain peak, watching the beacon fires spread across the land.]

[On this cursed land, newborn Dynasties were repeating ancient atrocities, and ant-like people were tearing at each other amidst blood and fire.]

[A century of Reincarnation, a millennium of destiny; it was as if they could never escape this bloody cycle...]