180: Chapter 18 Transformation: I Am Still Number One

However, Lu Qingxuan's nature was cool and graceful, not shy, she just lowered her head slightly and responded softly:

"Elder Jiang, you jest. However, if that day truly comes, I will certainly inform Elder Jiang."

These words were tantamount to acknowledging their relationship. Zhang Bo chuckled foolishly beside them, clearly having known all along.

Jiang Hao nodded with satisfaction: "Good, good. Seeing you all succeed and have good feelings for each other, I can rest assured."

The group chatted for a while longer. Xiao Fan briefly recounted his experiences over the past century, naturally omitting countless dangers and only picking out some interesting anecdotes.

Jiang Hao mostly just listened with a smile.

Afterward, the group talked about Cultivation. Jiang Hao also acted as a listener, occasionally interjecting a word or two, yet always hitting the key points, leaving Xiao Fan and the other two deep in thought.

Two pots of tea were drunk, and the sun gradually began to set in the west.

Xiao Fan knew that Elder Jiang preferred quiet and disliked being disturbed for long, so he stood up and said:

"Elder Jiang, Junior needs to attend to some matters, so I won't disturb your peace any longer. If you ever need Junior's help in the future, no matter how far, just send a message, and Xiao Fan will do his utmost."

Zhang Bo and Lu Qingxuan also stood up to bid farewell.

Jiang Hao also stood up, patted Xiao Fan's shoulder, his tone gentle but carrying a reassuring strength:

"Go. The road is still long. Be steady and firm. Remember, you must guard your Heart-Nature."

"Junior will remember." Xiao Fan and the other two bowed again in salute.

Watching the three walk out of the teahouse, blend into the crowd, and gradually disappear, Jiang Hao sat down again and poured himself a cup of tea.

A hundred years of time, and the little ones have all grown up.

Xiao Fan's Heart-Nature has not changed; he knows how to repay kindness. Excellent.

Lu Qingxuan can join hands with him, and the White Deer Clan's future is promising.

Zhang Bo is also an honest and good child. Seeing them like this, his journey through the Mortal World was not in vain.

He stood up and walked out.

...

Mountains and rivers, cities and villages, the cycle of four seasons. Jiang Hao's footsteps were neither hurried nor slow as he walked through many places, saw many sceneries, and met all sorts of people and events.

Sometimes he built a hut in the mountains and lived there for several years, observing clouds and listening to rain. Other times, he mingled in the markets, chatting with vendors and porters, experiencing the most ordinary hustle and bustle of life.

Thus, time flowed silently, and three thousand years passed.

Three thousand years, an unimaginably long time for Mortals, but for the vast Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Worlds, it was merely a period of neither short nor long years.

Enough for some Dynasties to rise and fall, enough for some Schools to flourish and then become silent, and enough for some Geniuses to rise and then perish.

In these three thousand years, Jiang Hao's dao fruit body, the body that entered the world in an elderly form, finally reached the end of its life.

One day, he traveled to the depths of an ancient mountain range in the Eastern Wilderness, a place rarely visited by humans, and found a secluded cave.

There were no earth-shattering phenomena, no Spiritual Qi violent vortexes; everything was completed in an extremely natural process.

Jiang Hao sat cross-legged, his aura gradually calming, like an old tree in hibernation.

The wrinkles on his skin slowly smoothed and faded, and his head full of silver hair, starting from the roots, gradually turned jet black, inch by inch.

His hunched back straightened, and his withered flesh became filled with vitality once more.

His figure silently shrunk.

After an unknown period, the one sitting cross-legged in the cave was no longer the old man with a youthful complexion and white hair, but a child of about five or six years old.

The child wore an obviously oversized grey cloth Daoist robe, with its sleeves and trouser legs rolled up several times.

The child slowly opened his eyes, which were clear and pure, like the cleanest spring water in the mountains, yet also carried a profound and tranquil depth as if having experienced eons.

Jiang Hao lowered his head, looked at his fair, tender little hands with dimples, then raised a hand to touch his smooth, delicate cheek. A hint of extremely rare trance flashed in his eyes.

"Is this what I looked like when I was little? It's truly... long overdue!"

"Reincarnation, transformation, rejuvenation, personally experiencing the cycle of life with a dao fruit. This experience is indeed profoundly mysterious."

"It's like time flowing backward, or like standing at the starting point of another dimension of life. It's a bit novel."

Jiang Hao stood up, his oversized robe dragging on the ground.

With a slight thought, the Daoist robe automatically shrunk to fit, transforming into a fitted child's short robe.

He took small steps to the entrance of the cave, looked up at the lush green mountains and vast sky outside, and gently exhaled.

His Mortal World experience had entered a new phase.

And in these three thousand years, the outside world was never peaceful; Xiao Fan's name grew even more prominent.

After he became a Saint, he did not slacken; instead, he grew at an even more astonishing rate.

He explored the Emperors Path, battled in the Starry Sky Arena, contended with peerless Prodigies emerging from the Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Worlds, and tempered himself repeatedly on the brink of life and death.

His Qiankun Body became even more divine and mysterious, his comprehension of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth was unfathomably deep, and his combat power was terrifying; he rarely met an opponent of the same rank.

He was publicly recognized as one of the top few individuals in this great era, and the title of "Northern Dipper's Number One Prodigy" had long spread throughout the Myriad Heavens.

However, this era was not his stage alone.

Just as Xiao Fan shone brightly, a peerless Prodigy also emerged from the Dragon Realm, named Dragon Radiance.

This son's Bloodline Power was unprecedented, having obtained some ancient Legacy from the depths of the Dragon Realm. He was equally brilliant and talented, with power that reached the heavens.

He and Xiao Fan seemed like natural rivals. From their first fierce clash on the Emperors Path, they continued to contend for several millennia.

The two clashed many times in various Secret Realms, ancient battlefields, and even the Starry Sky Arena, always making it difficult to determine a victor.

Their rivalry became the most eye-catching spectacle of this era, attracting the attention of all races in the Myriad Heavens.

They fought their way from the Saint Realm to the Saint King realm, then both broke through to Great Saint, and finally, both broke through obstacles to step into the Quasi-Emperor Domain!

Furthermore, their Foundation was profound and their combat power far surpassed ordinary Quasi-Emperors, shaking countless senior figures.

During his travels, Jiang Hao naturally heard these tidings.

When he first heard the name Dragon Radiance and the stories of his contention with Xiao Fan, he also paused and looked towards the Dragon Realm.

"The Dragon Realm has produced another True Dragon. Excellent. This Dragon Radiance, judging by his battle records and growth trajectory, his Bloodline talent is probably no weaker than Long Hao's back then."

The four great realms of Dragon, Phoenix, Demon, and Heaven are, besides the Origin Realm, the places most favored by Heaven and Earth, always able to nurture various talents that astonish the ages.

"However, having an opponent and pressure is actually a good thing for that kid Xiao Fan."

The two strongest young Quasi-Emperors of the current era, like two dazzling suns, illuminated this great age.

Countless people speculated: which of them would take that final step first and become an Emperor?

However, a cruel reality lay before everyone: the Heaven Refining Demon Emperor's dao mark had not yet dissipated, the Heavenly Heart still had an owner, and the Great Emperor's path remained blocked.

This made countless people who hoped for them to create miracles sigh with regret.

The day of proving the Dao was not yet here; they still had to wait, and various possibilities could still arise.

Jiang Hao's childhood travels were peaceful yet novel.

As a child, his perspective on the world was completely different.

He once played with real children in a village, together wielding a fire poker to cut down roadside flowers and grass.

This was also an activity Jiang Hao enjoyed very much in his previous life when he was a child. Growing up in the countryside, he often did this on the way home from School.

At that time, holding a broken stick, he felt he was number one under heaven.

Later, when he grew up, he thought he was quite foolish and naive. What use could a fire poker be?

When he saw that fire poker again and picked it up, he again felt that he was still number one under heaven.

Back then, it was a feeling; now, he truly is number one under heaven, but it seems he no longer has that feeling from before.

He was also once mistaken for a lost child by kind-hearted people who wanted to take him in.

More often, he was alone, wandering in the Mortal World, experiencing the purity of the earliest stage of life.

Time continued to move forward.

Another four thousand years passed leisurely.