Peerless Martial Soul Chapter 1: Shou tomb for five years
"Mortality is the fate of all men. Unless one attains the power of the ancients, who can truly endure?"
"I have lived a life of joy and bold decisions. Having once witnessed infinite splendor, dying now brings me no regrets!"
Inside a modest thatched cottage, a man in his thirties lay upon a bed, a massive laceration tearing through his midsection.
The injury was gruesome, nearly severing him in half.
That he remained conscious and capable of speech was nothing short of a miracle.
His features were handsome, marked by sharp, sword-like eyebrows that even the stains of blood could not diminish.
A boy of about eleven or twelve years knelt beside the bed, his eyes brimming with tears.
Sobbing, the youth cried out: "Master, tell me who did this to you! Your disciple swears that even if I must hunt them to the ends of the nine heavens and ten earths, I will have my revenge!"
"Be quiet!"
The handsome man barked a harsh reprimand. A violent fit of coughing followed, causing fresh blood to leak from his lips.
"The strength of my enemy is beyond your wildest dreams. Until you have become a powerhouse of the Tianhe Realm, you must purge all thoughts of vengeance from your mind!"
The boy was stunned by these words; the Tianhe Realm was a level of existence he could scarcely fathom.
His own Qianyuanzong was considered a first-class Sect within Qingzhou, yet he had never heard of their Sect Leader reaching such a height!
Upon attaining the Tianhe Realm, a cultivator can bridge the gap to the nine Tianhes—rivers of stars containing billions of heavenly bodies that span the cosmos. By harnessing the power of the Tianhe, their might becomes peerless.
Master’s foe was truly that formidable!
"Disciple, you must mark my next words with gravity!"
"Once I pass, you are to guard my tomb for five years! You must not leave this place during that time. Every single day, you shall recite the Bedoro Leaf Golden Scriptures I gave you before my grave. Do not allow yourself a single day of laziness! Furthermore, you were born with mediocre talent and have suffered the disdain of others. Without my protection, your path will be even more treacherous. For these five years, you must never reveal your true self. Even if others trample upon you, do not strike back! Your only command is: endurance!"
"When five years have passed, you are to exhume my grave! Everything I have left unsaid is hidden within."
"What?" The youth’s eyes widened in shock as he protested: "Master..."
To desecrate his master's resting place was an act of ultimate filial impiety; he could not bring himself to do it.
"Will you still not obey me?" The man’s anxiety caused him to cough up more blood. "Do you wish to see me die in agony?"
Witnessing this, the boy tearfully nodded: "Master, I promise you!"
"Excellent! Excellent!" The handsome man let out a long laugh, but suddenly his frame shuddered, and a final burst of blood escaped him.
He began to chant in a lingering, melodic tone: "An immortal heart I possess, yet it remains shrouded in dust. When the dust is finally swept away, it shall illuminate the mountains, the rivers, and ten thousand blossoms..."
His voice faded into a whisper before falling silent forever. He lay there as if in a peaceful slumber, a faint smile resting on his lips.
The boy remained kneeling, tears flowing freely, yet a spark of iron-willed determination appeared on his face. He whispered to himself: "Rest easy, Master. I will obey. I shall guard your tomb for five years! After that time, I will open the grave and continue my Cultivation. One day, I will uncover your killer and take his life for yours!"
After speaking, the boy carried his master’s remains outside. He dug a grave with his bare hands next to the hut and interred him. Though his fingers were raw and bloodied from the earth, he seemed oblivious to the physical pain.
His tears eventually ran dry, leaving only a heart fueled by vengeance and the burning desire to grow strong!
The passing of Yan Qingyu, once the greatest genius of the Qianyuanzong, failed to cause even a ripple within the Sect.
The Great Qin Empire stretched for hundreds of thousands of miles, containing Qingzhou which spanned tens of thousands, and Danyang County which covered thousands of miles.
Danyang County housed dozens of sects, with the Qianyuanzong being a well-known junior sect in the region. Yan Qingyu had joined twenty-five years ago. By age eleven, he had attained the Ninth Stage of the Houtian Realm. By twelve, he broke through the Houtian shackles, unlocked the Divine Gate, and entered the first stage of the Divine Gate Realm.
Prior to him, the record for the entire Great Qin Empire stood at thirteen years old.
The Divine Gate Realm is also referred to as the Secret Realm, and the Divine Gate itself is known as the Gate of Good Fortune. Once a cultivator passes through this gate and unlocks it, they gain access to a secret realm.
Within these secret realms lie boundless treasures.
Upon opening their realm, some receive a potent Martial Spirit, others a soul-bound weapon, a divine technique, or a massive boost to their physical constitution. Legends even speak of those who, upon opening their secret realm, obtained fragments of Heavenly Laws left from the collapse of the ancient heavens, marking them as future masters of the world!
In short, passing the Divine Gate grants a massive surge in power, elevating a cultivator to a realm entirely distinct from what came before.
Even a master at the peak of the Houtian Ninth Stage is no match for someone in the Divine Gate Realm!
When Yan Qingyu opened his Divine Gate, he manifested a natal sword of extreme power—a secret realm that every sword cultivator envied.
It was a top-tier secret realm. It was said that during its awakening, seven flashes of yellow light appeared in succession!
This signaled that his secret realm was at least of the Seventh-Rank Yellow grade, a rarity so great that perhaps only one in a hundred thousand warriors could claim it.
For a time, the empire was stunned, and Yan Qingyu was celebrated as the realm's premier genius, showered in glory.
However, as his Cultivation continued to soar, a catastrophe occurred.
At seventeen, while traveling, he was brutally attacked by a mysterious figure whose realm was five levels above his own. His Meridians were shattered, ending his path of Cultivation. His progress was forever frozen at the Fourth Stage of the Divine Gate Realm!
The genius was cast down from his pedestal. Expectations turned to mockery; praise shifted to insults and cruel curses.
He was stripped of his status as a Core Disciple, demoted to the Inner Sect, then the Outer Sect. Eventually, out of pity from the old Sect Leader, he was granted the title of an Outer Sect Elder, allowing him to live out his days in obscurity.
Yan Qingyu seemed indifferent to his fate. He chose not to live within the Sect, instead building a small hut at the foot of the mountain to lead a quiet life.
He took on one student: the boy now standing there, Chen Feng.
Chen Feng’s talent was abysmal. His Meridians were congested, his Dantian was as hard as iron, and his progress was glacial. After six years, he hadn't even reached the Second Stage of the Houtian Realm. He quickly became the laughingstock of the Qianyuanzong's Outer Sect. The pair were mocked as the 'Trash Master and Disciple.' Yet Yan Qingyu never looked down on him, teaching him with endless patience.
Every day, Chen Feng knelt before the tomb. His gaze was hollow and his expression blank; were it not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, one might have mistaken him for a corpse.
In truth, he was practicing the Bedoro Leaf Golden Sutra. He didn't understand its purpose; he had practiced it for five years without any improvement to his talent. To the world, he was a failure. But because it was Yan Qingyu’s command, he persisted.
Rumors soon spread through the Qianyuanzong that Yan Qingyu’s worthless apprentice had lost his mind.
People began visiting the grave just to torment Chen Feng, hurling insults and spitting on him, yet he never reacted.
Emboldened, they eventually tore down the hut and plundered everything inside. Yan Qingyu had been a world-traveling genius once, and he possessed several fine artifacts, all of which were stolen. Chen Feng watched it happen with total indifference, making no move to stop them.
Six months later, a woman dressed in white appeared at the gravesite.
She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, possessing a face of great beauty and an air of celestial elegance. The thick aura of Qi radiating from her body identified her as a powerhouse of at least the Divine Gate Realm!
She stood by the grave, her eyes filled with a complex range of emotions as she stared at the headstone.
Chen Feng finally moved, looking at her with a dazed expression. Suddenly, he stood up and shouted with excitement: "You are Martial Aunt Ran Yuxue!"
He recalled seeing her five years ago when he accompanied Yan Qingyu to the Outer Sect to collect spirit stones. She had been flanked by a crowd of Core and Inner disciples. Even the most arrogant warriors had treated her with fawning smiles. She hadn't even glanced at the two of them as she walked past with her head held high.
That evening, Yan Qingyu had gotten heavily intoxicated. In his drunken state, he shared the story of his history with Ran Yuxue.
It turned out that during the height of Yan Qingyu’s fame, a young girl used to follow him everywhere, affectionately calling him "Brother Qingyu."
That girl was his Junior Sister, Ran Yuxue, a prodigy in her own right.
The two were once viewed as a perfect match, a couple destined for greatness. However, while adventuring together, Yan Qingyu had taken a devastating blow to protect her. Had he not shielded her, he could have easily escaped unharmed.
Yan Qingyu never finished the rest of the story. Whenever Chen Feng asked about it later, his master remained silent.
Chen Feng assumed that because of their deep past, she had come to pay her respects.
But his warmth was met with Ran Yuxue’s icy stare. She gave him a fleeting look, her brow furrowing in distaste. With her level of Cultivation, she saw through his lack of progress instantly.
"Meridians blocked, Dantian like iron... not a single bit of progress. You are utterly useless, unfit for Cultivation!"
Ran Yuxue’s gaze was freezing, dripping with contempt.
The words hit Chen Feng like a bucket of ice water, leaving him cold to the bone.
"A trash master can only produce a trash disciple. You two truly were a matching set."
With that final insult, Ran Yuxue turned and walked away without looking back.
Watching her departure, Chen Feng squeezed his hands into tight fists.
He screamed internally: "Ran Yuxue, just you wait! One day, I will force you to look at me and my Master with nothing but respect!"