Martial Cultivator

Chen Chao slightly raised both hands. The qi within his body surged like a flood, continuously rushing and gathering into a single meridian, crashing toward that gate.

The surging of countless qi within Chen Chao formed a magnificent scene, like hundreds of rivers returning to the sea, like ten thousand horses galloping.

In an era, one might still find quite a few powerhouses at the end of Nepenthe, but to find even a few Fuyun cultivators was not easy.

Especially over the past thousand years, with the widespread loss of cultivation secret arts, many cultivation paths had already been severed, making it even harder for those within sects to reach this realm.

Over these thousand years, those who had reached this step were exceedingly rare.

An existence as young as Chen Chao was even more one of a kind under heaven.

Chen Chao kept his eyes tightly shut, but in truth, before him, he seemed to already see quite a few figures.

Those figures were each towering and majestic, their bearing unmatched, possessing a peerless, domineering aura that looked down upon the world.

If the martial path truly was a road, then the figures Chen Chao saw at this moment were those seniors who had long since walked far ahead.

These exalted predecessors of the martial path, every single one of them had been heaven’s chosen of their respective eras.

Chen Chao saw the most familiar figure: his own uncle. He stood upon the road, emperor robes fluttering, the aura of a generation’s great ruler fully on display.

The Great Liang Emperor looked at Chen Chao and laughed loudly, “Good boy, stride forward boldly, go and walk to the very front!”

Chen Chao smiled without end and did not linger here, passing by his uncle who could also be called half his master - the Great Liang Emperor.

Without the Great Liang Emperor, Chen Chao would never have been able to reach this step in his life.

Continuing forward, figure after figure whose names he could not call out nodded toward Chen Chao in acknowledgment.

Chen Chao also nodded in response, carrying with him the approval and expectations of these seniors as he strode forward.

After several steps, there was a man with a saber hanging at his side standing by the roadside, looking at Chen Chao. Though his appearance could not be seen clearly, Chen Chao knew his identity.

The former owner of the broken saber, the man whom the Divine Daughter of the Divine Mountain had never been able to forget.

Chen Chao looked at him, opened his mouth, wanting to tell him that there was a woman who had been waiting for him all this time, but after thinking about it, he gave up. It was destined that saying it would be useless; he was merely a thought left behind here when breaking into the Fuyun Realm.

The man smiled and said, “My saber isn’t considered buried in obscurity in your hands.”

Chen Chao pressed on the hilt of his saber and smiled, “Now it is my saber.”

The man said nothing, only stepping aside to make way, signaling Chen Chao to continue forward.

Chen Chao took a deep breath and continued walking ahead. He did not know how long he walked before reaching the very front.

Then he stopped and looked into the distance.

At the end of his sight stood a towering mountain, and at its summit, a grand figure could be clearly seen.

If nothing unexpected had occurred, that figure was the founder of the martial path, the very first person of the martial way. Later generations of martial artists had many names for him.

More people were willing to call him the Martial Ancestor.

Chen Chao stood in place and asked with a smile, “Why stand so high up?”

The Martial Ancestor turned around, looked at this successor from who knows how many years later, and smiled, “Come up.”

Chen Chao nodded and said, “I will.”

......

......

Lu Ji had been watching the scene above the sky all along, and like him, countless citizens of Rainfront County had also been paying attention to the spectacle in the heavens.

Ever since Chen Chao went up to the heavens, Lu Ji’s heart had been in his throat. In his view, this heavenly tribulation was the fury of heaven and earth. Before such a will, Chen Chao should have laid low and endured it; once he withstood the tribulation, he could prove his Dao.

But Chen Chao’s actions shocked him, and at the same time made him worried.

Only when he saw the lightning pool disperse and the sky return to normal did Lu Ji finally relax, his heart settling back into place. This Tea Sage put away his teacup and could not help but sigh, “The younger generation is indeed to be feared.”

To forcibly withstand the heavenly tribulation, and even take the initiative to charge into the heavens, just this courage alone was something few in the world possessed.

At this point, Lu Ji was no longer surprised why among so many young geniuses of the current age, it was Chen Chao who first stepped into this realm.

But in the next moment, he was once again shocked.

Because within the sea of clouds, another towering pillar of light surged forth, piercing through heaven and earth!

No need to doubt it, that was undoubtedly Chen Chao’s aura leaking out.

This kind of phenomenon could not be called incomparably magnificent, but this kind of commotion was truly something it was hard to find a second example of in the world.

Damn it, was he trying to smash the very firmament apart?!

The term Fuyun originally carried the meaning of “rise up to the clouds,” referring to how, once cultivators reached this step, they could truly glimpse the Heavenly Dao and stand above all living beings.

But looking at Chen Chao now, he probably did not just want to rise up to the clouds, he wanted to trample the heavens beneath his feet.

This kind of bearing was far too rare!

“Being the number one person of the current era isn’t enough for you, huh? You’re trying to become the number one person of all time?”

Lu Ji was startled by his own thought. One had to know that throughout this long history, there had been far too many heaven’s chosen.

Leaving other things aside, there was the Confucian Primordial Saint, the Daoist Dao Ancestor, the martial artists’ forefather Martial Ancestor, the forefather of the sword cultivator lineage, and even figures like the forefather of the qi refiners.

Every one of them had been a true heaven’s chosen in history.

Shaking his head, Lu Ji looked at the teacup in his hand and smiled. “No matter what, you will become the most dazzling figure in this world.”

After saying this, Lu Ji raised his head again to look at the sky, at that pillar of light piercing heaven and earth, and smiled. “Since you’ve already walked this far, perhaps there really are some things that you people can accomplish.”

......

......

The battle between the Sword Sect’s Sect Master and the Demon Emperor finally came to an end.

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master had already unleashed the strongest sword of his life. The brilliance of that sword, while it could not be said to be unmatched in the past and present, still had an enormous gap compared to that ruler of myriad demons.

Thus, his defeat at this moment was only to be expected.

Covered in blood, the Sword Sect’s Sect Master gripped the flying sword he had only obtained three hundred years too late, collapsed onto the sea of clouds, and with difficulty sat cross-legged, resting the sword across his knees.

Cao Chong came to his side, tossed him a pill, and then asked with a bitter smile, “Do you regret it?”

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master did not stand on ceremony. He swallowed the pill without concern. Since this scholar he had never met before had not shown any hostility, he simply treated him as someone Chen Chao had brought in as reinforcement.

“There’s nothing to regret. The strongest sword, delivered against the strongest person, is already the best possible outcome. For the sword, and for me, it’s the same.”

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master panted heavily and said with some regret, “It’s just a pity I couldn’t cut down His Majesty with my sword, couldn’t leave behind a dazzling reputation in this world.”

Cao Chong smiled, speaking freely, “In this world, there are some people who have never been defeatable. If the entire world were a book, they would be the rightful protagonists within it, while we are merely supporting characters with somewhat more scenes.”

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master shook his head. “Everyone is the protagonist of their own life. Don’t think about it so much.”

Cao Chong only smiled it off.

“Since you’ve already fought, let me try. I also have a book, I want to see if I can write him into a supporting role.”

Cao Chong had been holding an old book all along. At this moment, he raised his head to look at the somewhat shattered dharma idol of the Demon Emperor, his expression calm.

The Sword Sect’s Sect Master remained silent.

That earlier sword of his, while it had not severely wounded the Demon Emperor, had at least caused some injury to that ruler of myriad demons. But even so, he did not believe this scholar had the ability to keep the Demon Emperor here.

It was not that the Sword Sect’s Sect Master looked down on him, this was simply reality.

The Demon Emperor remained expressionless. Within the sea of clouds filled with dense demonic qi, he had long since noticed Cao Chong. But compared to the Sword Sect’s Sect Master, who could cause him some trouble and possibly seriously injure him, this scholar was not worth his attention.

Even within the Fuyun Realm, there were differences in strength.

Otherwise, the Great Liang Emperor would not have been able to shatter Mount Qiuling by his own strength alone.

“I know you don’t think highly of me, but I still have to try, don’t I?”

Cao Chong took a deep breath and said loudly, “This scholar, Cao Chong, dares to stand for the people of the human race and block Your Majesty!”

The Demon Emperor said nothing, only looking at the scholar before him.

Then he took a step forward on his own.

Cao Chong, on the other hand, tore out a page from his book with a pained expression and tossed it into the air.

On that page, countless texts flew out.

Within the sea of clouds, tangible words gradually spread to fill the sky.

But the Demon Emperor had no intention of waiting. He stepped forward, and vast killing demonic qi spread, directly covering everything before him!