Chapter 1: Chen Sha

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Chen Sha

Dao Yi Mountain loomed over the Canglang River like an imposing fortress, forcing the mighty river to detour around it, winding about the towering peak like a belt. A mountain need not be high; the presence of an immortal makes it renowned. Moreover, Dao Yi Mountain was already a famous mountain and Saint Realm of the Daoist Sect, boasting countless precious Lin and pearl-like trees.

Today on Dao Yi Mountain, the setting sun cast long, trailing shadows of the entire peak across the earth. Everything exuded an aura of a declining era, evoking a Moo Ming sense of sorrow. The cause for this was the sudden passing of the world’s number one expert, Chen Canxuan, who had once suppressed all nations and sects, his prestige overshadowing both the Black and White Paths.

Chen Sha and a group of his martial uncles and fellow disciples knelt before the spirit tablet. As he gazed at the gaunt and frail figure on the bed—the man who was his "father," the "Sect Leader," and the "number one expert in the world," now stripped of all vital signs—how could the emotions in his heart be described as anything but a complex Moo Ming?

To be precise, he was merely an Earthling whose soul had bizarrely been reborn into this young man named "Chen Sha" just seven days ago. This world was in a post-Immortal Martial Era. When Martial Arts were cultivated to the pinnacle, one could split rivers, cleave mountains, and look down upon everything from on high. Overall, this world was ten million times more magnificent than Chen Sha’s previous life.

Furthermore, he had been dealt a perfect starting hand. He was reborn in the world’s number one Major Sect, and his father was the world’s strongest expert. Yet, who could have foreseen this? Chen Sha looked at the great pillar of support before him who had just departed this world. Even the number one expert couldn’t fend off life and death. Now that this man—who simultaneously served as Sect Leader, father, and peerless master—had passed away, Chen Sha wondered what he should do in the future.

He couldn’t help but silently look at the gate within his mind. The gate was tall and majestic, its pillars gilded and indigo, entwined with dragons, phoenixes, and other unknown Exotic Beasts. Cloud patterns, bird-seal scripts, and other Ancient God writings were engraved upon it...

The most awe-inspiring aspect was undoubtedly the three shocking, massive characters on the gate!

Southern Heavenly Gate!

Although his old man had passed away, at least he still had this gate to rely on. Over these seven days, Chen Sha had also figured out the function of this terrifyingly famous gate.

Cross the Southern Heavenly Gate, step into the Nine Heavens.

Behind the gate lay countless Cosmic Light Fragments, which he could enter for trials. Just like the Southern Heavenly Gate in Ancient God mythology, outside the gate lay the various realms, and inside the gate was the Celestial Court. As long as people from the various realms achieved Ascension through the Southern Heavenly Gate, they could become immortals. In short, the fortune behind the gate was immense.

If Chen Canxuan hadn’t died, Chen Sha could have perfectly lived under the shelter of this ultimate pillar of support. Without worrying about anything else, he could have solely focused on seizing the fortune behind the gate. In just a few years, he would have been able to rely on his own strength to face all the dangers of this world without fear. But who would have thought... with Chen Canxuan’s death, not only was he unable to remain sheltered under his wings, but he was now required to take over the position of Sect Leader and single-handedly hold up the prestige of the world’s number one Major Sect.

"Little Chen Sha... You have memorized everything your father said on his deathbed, right?" an old man among the kneeling crowd spoke up. "Now that your father has passed away, without a figure like him to suppress the world’s unrest, there’s no telling how many bloody conflicts will arise. The rule he left for you before he passed...

"If you do not attain the Cultivation to become the number one in the world for a day, you cannot descend the mountain for a day.

"Can you agree to this?"

The old man who spoke had gray hair braided into a small pigtail at the back of his head, yet his face was Colored Red, giving him the appearance of an elder with a youthful face. This old man, named Zhou Santong, was currently arguably the most formidable person on the mountain. He was the third junior brother of the late Sect Leader Chen Canxuan, making him Chen Sha’s Third Martial Uncle. Despite his advanced age, he remained forever innocent and artless. Although his talent for Martial Arts was exceptionally high, he lacked worldly wisdom and possessed the mindset of a mischievous child.

"If he does not attain the Cultivation to become the number one in the world for a day, he cannot descend the mountain for a day..." another person from Chen Sha’s martial uncle generation sighed. "This dying wish of our Sect Leader Senior Brother will likely prevent Chen Sha from ever leaving the mountain for the rest of his life."

"It’s better if he doesn’t go down. The world below is currently in chaos. With Sect Leader Senior Brother’s passing, we can no longer suppress the strong figures of various nations and sects. Every single one of them is itching to make an example of our Dao Yi Mountain to avenge the humiliation of being suppressed by the Sect Leader in the past."

Another chimed in, "As long as he doesn’t descend the mountain, with Santong holding the fort within our Sect and the older generation standing guard, no one would dare to cause trouble on Dao Yi Mountain, no matter how bold they are. On the other hand, if his Cultivation is inadequate and he sneaks down the mountain, I’m afraid he will easily become a target for those titans."

The world’s number one Major Sect no longer had the world’s number one expert. Once he descended the mountain, everyone would want to take a bite out of him—either to raise their own prestige or to settle grudges from Chen Canxuan’s era.

"Martial Uncles, you do not need to worry. As his son, how could I not take my father’s dying wish seriously?" Chen Sha turned to look at the older generation of martial uncles and said, "Rest assured, everyone. I promise you, unless I rank among the ’top ten experts in the world’ while on this mountain, I will absolutely not speak of descending."

The elders all nodded. They didn’t expose Chen Sha’s little scheme of secretly changing the dying wish’s "Cultivation to become number one in the world" to "top ten experts in the world."

They could understand. The dying wish left by the old Sect Leader had practically severed any hope of Chen Sha descending the mountain in this lifetime.

Number one in the world.

Over the thousands of years of Dao Yi Mountain’s history, spanning more than sixty generations of Sect Leaders, how many had actually achieved the title of number one in the world? Producing one such individual every millennium was already an immense fortune for the Sect; it was a heaven-sent talent, allowing them to enjoy the blessing of commanding the world.

Now that Chen Canxuan had just passed away, could they really expect his son, Chen Sha, to become number one in the world just like his father? To bear the four words "number one in the world"—was that something that could be achieved merely through diligent Cultivation? Not to mention, among this generation of disciples, Chen Sha’s Cultivation talent was still inferior to another disciple who was currently gaining experience down the mountain...

These Elders and martial uncles all tacitly accepted Chen Sha’s slight alteration of the dying wish’s requirements. Attaining the Cultivation of the top ten experts in the world to descend the mountain—this was already sufficient. They couldn’t be as unrealistic as the old Sect Leader’s demands.

Across all the nations, sects, and paths in the world, there was a population of nearly ten billion. To stand out among ten billion people, command the world, and become one of the top ten strongest figures of the current age—for an authentic Daoist Sect like the Dao Yi Sect, this was more than enough to continue their prestige and legacy for a generation.

Unexpectedly, an untimely voice bluntly rebuked, "What ’top ten experts in the world’? Your father said number one in the world! Don’t you dare try to cut corners. Even though your father is dead, I’m going to keep an eye on you for him."

The one who spoke was Zhou Santong. This overgrown child, who was over half a century old yet as naive as a kid, revered his senior brother Chen Canxuan like a god all his life. He was fuming, his beard trembling as he added, "He said number one in the world! If it’s missing a pound or short one tael, it cannot be considered number one in the world."

The other Elders could only look on helplessly. Everyone knew the temper of this child-like junior brother; he treated the old Sect Leader’s words as imperial decrees his entire life. If Chen Canxuan had told him to jump off a cliff, he would have done so without hesitation. Naturally, he couldn’t tolerate Chen Sha’s little trick.

Furthermore, following the old Sect Leader’s passing, Zhou Santong was currently the person with the most profound Cultivation in the Sect. If he didn’t agree, Chen Sha truly couldn’t descend the mountain.

Chen Sha knew this martial uncle’s personality and didn’t argue with him. He simply said, "Number one in the world, that’s correct. But my father didn’t seem to explicitly say that I must be number one in Martial Arts."

Zhou Santong froze. It seemed his senior brother indeed hadn’t stated that he had to be number one in Martial Arts. He asked, "Then what is it?"

"In any case, I won’t go down the mountain right now, but there will eventually come a day when I do," Chen Sha said softly. Although he had lost the shelter of his old man, the towering tree, he was confident that he could ascend to the pinnacle of the world’s Lin of experts by relying on the Southern Heavenly Gate within his body. All of this was merely a matter of time. Right now, his Cultivation was insufficient. The formidable figures, titans, and old fiends his father had once suppressed outside were innumerable. Descending the mountain now would only lead to one outcome: death. Even if someone tried to force him down the mountain now, he wouldn’t go. Unless he could cultivate the strength of the top ten in the world while on the mountain, he wouldn’t have the confidence to go down.

However, he suddenly remembered that he had to resolve a major problem right now.

He thought, "My father passed the position to me, but when Fifth Senior Brother Li Jianzhou returns, I’m afraid he won’t let this go easily."

His father had passed away suddenly. Out of the six great disciples of this generation, only four had been waiting on the mountain to see Chen Canxuan for the last time. Two others had gone down the mountain to gain experience a few months prior and simply couldn’t make it back in time. More importantly... one of the disciples currently gaining experience down the mountain was the most outstanding among the six in terms of both prestige and strength.

He was the fifth of Dao Yi’s Six Disciples—Li Jianzhou.

At a young age, his Cultivation had already reached the Grandmaster Realm. The other five, including Chen Sha, were only at the level of First-class Experts. In addition to this... this fifth senior brother held exceptionally high prestige in the hearts of his fellow disciples, and even among the martial uncles. To tell the truth, over sixty percent of the people on Dao Yi Mountain likely believed that the most suitable candidate to take over as Sect Leader was Li Jianzhou. The fifth disciple, Li Jianzhou, certainly believed so himself on a normal basis. Therefore, in front of the spirit tablet just now, no one had expected Chen Canxuan to pass over the most outstanding disciple of this generation and still choose his own biological son to succeed him. This actually caused a lot of dissatisfaction in the hearts of some Elders, though none of them voiced it.

"Fifth Senior Brother..." Chen Sha looked at the crowd and slowly asked, "He should be able to make it back in time for my father’s burial, right?"

The Elders and second-generation disciples maintained impassive expressions upon hearing this, but a peculiar feeling stirred in their hearts.

An Elder spoke up, "Before the old Sect Leader’s accident, Sword Ship was still in Jin Country territory. Even with an overnight courier, he should arrive in seven days."

After the reply, dead silence fell before the spirit tablet. No one else spoke a word. This was simply because they all knew perfectly well why Chen Sha had asked this question. The fifth disciple was coming back. For a fierce man whose talent and prestige utterly crushed Chen Sha’s, he would absolutely refuse to easily acknowledge the fact that "Chen Sha has succeeded as Sect Leader."

Something was definitely going to happen...