The dim light fell down.
Wang Yangzi stood at the top of the Saint Hall, his tall body standing straight, talking to the hazy figure in front of him.
"I still advise you not to get involved in the affairs of the realm. If you want to become a great saint, you must stay away from this place of right and wrong, and suppress your cultivation for a thousand years without breaking through. Only in this way can you safely become a great saint."
Wang Yangzi stroked his forehead and smiled helplessly. He said to the hazy figure in front of him, "I really want to become a great saint. I have wanted that for thousands of years. But some things are more important than safely becoming a great saint. Why live so long? Thousands of years have passed and I still haven't seen through life and death."
What he said was very casual, but there was still a faint loneliness in his eyes.
The hazy figure did not respond immediately. He sighed and shook his head, "If that's really what you think, then I have nothing more to say. Maybe I'm just lamenting in my old age. Also..."
The figure was silent for a moment, raised his finger to point at the sky above him, and a curtain of water with faint sparks spread out, isolating everything outside. Only then did he say softly,
"Be careful of the Lords of the Forbidden Zones. I can't figure out their intentions either. Now I'm increasingly suspicious that they intentionally gave up half of the upper level of the realm, but as for the reason, I guess they want to thoroughly integrate the realm with cultivators from other realms and share karmic consequences."
"After thinking about it for a long time, I roughly understand..."
"The Lords of the Forbidden Zones do want a quasi-emperor to appear in the realm, but not when other cultivators become quasi-emperors. They want to pave the way for themselves to have a chance to step into becoming quasi-emperors, and from there onto the path of great emperors."
"The so-called cultivators of the realm, the so-called Saint Halls, are just sacrificial pawns constructed by the Lords of the Forbidden Zones. I'm gradually distancing myself from the chessboard now, unwilling to participate anymore."
Wang Yangzi nodded lightly, resting one hand on the hilt of his sword, and said lightly with a laugh, "I don't really care about being a pawn or whatever. I'm willing to fight because I care about the realm. Even if those above want to plot, I'll just do my part."
"Then I wish you good luck," said the hazy figure softly, then he turned and limped away toward the outskirts, the sparse daylight shone on him, first revealing the empty sleeve, then his face.
It was Boiling Water Great Saint.
Calling him Boiling Water Great Saint now might not be quite right. After hundreds of years of fighting, Boiling Water Great Saint had an arm cut off by the Great Supernatural Power. He had comprehended the two daos of water and fire, and was on the verge of charging to become a Great Saint of the Second Dao, but due to his severe injury, his path was abruptly cut off, and he became a False Saint.
Now he could only be called Water Saint. His only consolation was probably that he had managed to keep his life through thousands of years of fighting.
Wang Yangzi shook his head and gently tapped the flying sword at his waist, laughing and asking himself,
"Are you afraid?"
Of course the flying sword would not speak.
So Wang Yangzi softly answered himself again,
"It's fine."
He slightly raised his foot and descended straight down the Saint Hall, his back to the dim daylight, like a counter-current to the mighty forces, walking alone.
Year 700 of the new calendar.
An extremely bright beam of light fell from the sky above the realm, straight as a sword that could pierce heaven and earth.
As the light fell, there was a violent surge of energy at the city gates of the realm. Karmic opportunities stirred madly, and spiritual energy trembled.
Wang Yangzi stood calmly atop the city gates, the flying sword at his waist kept shaking, as if wanting to leave its sheath, but he steadily kept it suppressed within the scabbard.
He raised his brows slightly, gazing into the distance at the rivers and mountains, as if waiting for someone.
Not long after, a figure strode through the sky in the distance, crossing thousands of miles in a few breaths, and stood before the city gates, facing Wang Yangzi with a displeased expression.
"I said that when you break through to become a Great Saint, it will be the day I come to behead you."
Wang Yangzi smiled lightly, glanced back casually, then curiously asked,
"Just you alone?"
Tian Kai Great Sage coldly laughed, "Not yet a Great Saint, but your tone has already risen. Isn't that a bit too arrogant?"
Wang Yangzi shook his head, a hint of disappointment in his brows and eyes, and replied, "I just heard you say you'd come behead me, so I thought a few Great Saints would come together. I didn't expect it would just be you alone."
"One is enough." Tian Kai Great Saint murmured, then fiercely tapped his own armor, making a loud clanging sound that shook the somber sky, his aura as majestic as a rising mountain, incredibly imposing.
Wang Yangzi looked up at him and chuckled softly, "I hope so."
He stretched out his hand to the sky and beckoned, and the piercingly bright beam of light began to tremble, its frequency strangely consistent with his unsheathing of the sword at his waist.
"Go," he softly uttered.
The flying sword at his waist left its sheath, shooting straight into the sky, merging into the bright beam of light. In an instant it seemed to become the most dazzling flying sword between heaven and earth!
His flying sword was called "Furnace Fire", reflecting his alchemy dao, representing Wang Yangzi's own dual daos.
To Wang Yangzi, "Furnace Fire" was the brightest light in heaven and earth.
He strode forward with his tall figure, ascended into the sky, grasped the brightest flying sword in heaven and earth, used this sword to carry his alchemy and sword daos, crossed the barrier of arrogance set up by who knows how many heavenly prideful cultivators, and slashed with his sword as a Great Saint of Alchemy and Sword...
Sweeping out with one sword!
The brightest flying sword brought forth the most ardent flames, slicing across the borderlands with one sword, clearing everything before it, sending Tian Kai Great Saint retreating three thousand miles, falling between mountains and rivers.
Wang Yangzi's hand held the dazzling "Furnace Fire", the flames it shook up rolled up his sleeves and robe. He did not retreat after slashing out with one sword, but continued striding forward.
He stepped out of the borderlands, also the first cultivator in hundreds of years dare to go far from the walls of the realm's city, heading straight for the Heavenly Rain Realm's territory.
Year 700 of the new calendar.
Great Saint Wang Yangzi stood before the city of the Heavenly Rain Realm, holding his sword, and shouted loudly,
"Return to my homeland!"
He came alone with his sword, facing the cultivators of the entire Heavenly Rain Realm by himself.
Legend has it that the opposing side had numerous Great Saints who surrounded and attacked him, fighting fiercely for nearly half a month.
Great Saint Wang Yangzi alone pushed forward three myriad miles, forcibly expanding the current border of the realm, using Heavenly Light to behead people, making the heavens and earth into an alchemy furnace. Finally he stood thirty myriad miles away, covered in blood, his flying sword still shining bright.
No Great Saint dared approach.
Wang Yangzi just stood there, his head lowered slightly, finally looking back in the direction of the current realm one last time.
He had thought that becoming a Great Saint would be the end of his life.
But then another tyrannical Great Saint made a move, unleashing a scorching curtain of water to cover Wang Yangzi, directly using half a dao to form a barrier, determined to protect Wang Yangzi.
Boiling Water Great Saint stood atop the sky, his body feeble, hands clasped behind his back, his expression calm with a faint laugh.
"Don't think only you understand. It's rare for you to become a Great Saint, so try to find a way to live a little longer."
Crack.
His head fell to the ground. With just the cultivation of a False Saint now, he had no resistance at all, and was swiftly beheaded by the Great Saint of the Heavenly Rain Realm, his head falling between the mountains and rivers, nourishing all things.
From within the scalding curtain of water, a flaming flying sword suddenly shot out, drawing a scorching arc as it headed toward the realm, soon disappearing from view.
The city gates of the realm.
Wu Saint was anxiously surveying the situation, his brows and eyes kept looking ahead, worried. He cherished his own life very much and was hesitating on whether or not he should go help, feeling very conflicted and anguished.
Buzz!
An arc of light flashed by.
A flaming flying sword fell in front of him, stabbing into the top of the city gates.
Wu Saint immediately recognized it as Wang Yangzi's flying sword, "Furnace Fire".
Based on his understanding of Wang Yangzi, he guessed that Wang Yangzi wanted to leave this flying sword for the realm, to be inherited by future sword cultivators of the realm.
That would be quite fitting for Wang Yangzi's personality.
But Wu Saint's eyebrows rose as he quickly thought of another way.
He forcibly pulled out the flying sword, channeling all his spiritual energy, even igniting his karmic opportunities. Moving extremely fast, he rushed down toward the lower levels of the realm!