1 One Regret

In a distant land far above the heavens.

A world bursting full of energy and life.

Tall mountains and rivers, beasts of all shapes and sizes roamed the earth and dominated the sky. Wondrous glimmering treasures buried beneath the ground.

A world so large that can contain a near infinite amount of living beings.

But only one race has stood proud and tall above the rest across the eons.

Humans.

Humans have obtained a method to obtain boundless strength to trump all others in this world. Through this method, a hierarchy was established.

Thus, this was a cruel, cold place where strength reigns supreme.

Where the victor is righteous and the losers are the ones in the wrong.

This is the Immortal Realm.

In this world, one can live up to thousands of years as long as one's cultivation is high enough to withstand the unwavering tides of time.

Anyone can become strong through the method that is 'Cultivation'.

Cultivation is a method of accumulating Spiritual Energy from the environment all around you and circulating it inside your body. The more energy you circulate and retain, the stronger you become.

It is a bitter and solitary road one walks when a person steps through the door of strengthening their own body, mind, and spirit.

Although most can open said door, only a select few can continue to tread through.

They break through the challenges and continue to rise towards the heavens.

While the others can only be crushed beneath their feet as mere bones.

These people, are called Immortals.

"Are you the one they call 'Lone Conqueror' Long Tian?"

In a certain place within the Immortal Realm.

Thunder and lightning rolled as the clouds turned dark and rain fell ceaselessly.

"....."

Towering peaks so high that they seem to pierce through the clouds themselves.

"...Not even sparing me a glance, as expected of someone who roamed the world unhindered generation after generation."

A tall, handsome, and overbearing man who had long black hair floating towards the sky stood on one of the pointed mountain peaks without the slightest sign of falling.

"....."

In his line of sight was a ragged youth with mist radiating from his surroundings. The youth with long, unkempt silver hair only sat there on another mountain peak listlessly bowing his head down, as if there was no one talking to him.

The only thing strange about it was that this mountain peak was not craggy or pointed.

It was flat.

Unnaturally so, that it was glistening as if the sun's rays had made contact with it.

As if someone cleanly cut the whole peak and what only remained was a smooth surface.

One might not find it strange in this world, but these particular mountain peaks were in fact, composed of the hardest material in the Immortal Realm.

Rune Stone.

This was one of the most precious materials in the world with countless uses. Whether it be for construction of fortresses, weapons, armour, spell formations and many more.

The reason was simple, Rune Stone was an ore that absorbed the energy of Heaven and Earth. This energy is much more concentrated than the Spiritual Energy cultivators use.

The longer they absorb this energy, the harder they become. Thus, even the ones which began absorbing energy for at least a year was harder than tempered steel.

And these mountain peaks, dubbed the 'Rune Stone Mountains' have been standing tall and proud since ancient times. An age where people were still struggling to gain strength.

Therefore it was deemed to be impossible to even make a scratch on these mountains, let alone cut them cleanly in half. One can only imagine how high a person's attainment in his personal cultivation can be to produce such a feat.

"It's a pity. Although you were hailed as the one who had reached the highest realm the fastest, you are not unrivalled in this, no, my generation!"

The overbearing man seemed as though he was lamenting the state of the universe as he finally radiated his imperial golden aura outwards, enveloping all the land around him and even the heavens themselves. It seemed as if anyone who comes in contact with this aura would immediately lose their pride and prostrate towards its source.

"....."

Unfortunately, the ragged youth was not affected in the least and remained unmoving.

"Impressive, you can even withstand this one, Xia Ling Xing's imperial aura? It seems your tales and feats across the millennia were not exaggerated after all."

Chuckling lightly, Xia Ling Xing, the ruler of Soaring Dragon continent, took out a golden longsword radiating boundless light from out of nowhere.

"But, I had enough time gauging your strength. It seems your cultivation had stagnated at the peak level of Immortal Sovereign Realm?"

Holding his sword up high, he radiated the boundless light towards the youth and directed a monstrously dense amount of killing intent towards him.

"...Hmm?"

As if he finally woke up from his stupor, the ragged youth's eyes opened and revealed a dark golden lustre as he raised his head to respond to the dense killing intent aimed towards him. Only to open his eyes wide for a second and narrow them once again.

As if he perceived that the enemy was not a threat at all, he lightly shook his head sideways and went back to his listless state soon after.

Meanwhile, the overbearing monarch, Xia Ling Xing had been elated at seeing his foe notice him. But when he saw that he had been looked down upon by the latter, he was instantly enraged and began to raise his voice in anger...

"How dare you look at me like that! Even though I am only at advanced stage Immortal Sovereign, with my treasured 'Solar Essence Sword' I can surpass you easily!"

He raged as he swung his large sword that had grown to over ten meters long and radiated the golden sword energy towards Long Tian...

There were many levels in the arduous path of Cultivation.

They are mainly divided into 12 levels.

Starting from the first step, one begins their journey through Body Tempering.

After that, there was Spirit Accumulation, Core Formation, Mortal Core, Earth Core, Heaven Core, Trinity Axis, Sacred Being, Grand Saint, Heavenly Monarch, Divine King, and finally ending at Immortal Sovereign level.

At this stage, one would be likened to an invincible existence.

A being that can call upon the wind and rain, and destroy countless worlds with one fist.

But it is very difficult to find someone who can reach this stage in one's lifetime.

This is due to every stage being harder to break through the higher level you are.

Most people only ever reach the peak level of Body Tempering before their lifespan ends.

Forever unable to break through the giant wall dividing each level.

Such is the reason that each level is further divided into four sub-levels.

Initiate Stage, Intermediate Stage, Advanced Stage, and Peak Level.

In each stage, one's strength increases manyfold. Even a person who is only one sub-level higher than you are, can only be twice or more stronger than your own strength.

In order to train, people would spend years up to decades in order to break through a single sub-level depending on their natural talent and comprehension.

But this is only true for normal people.

Some are born geniuses and can understand spells and laws with one glance.

Others are fortunate to have powerful teachers to guide them.

This 'youth' Long Tian, was one of the latter.

Long Tian had been born into a village far away from civilisation.

One day, his village got caught up in a fight between two Immortals and got decimated.

Whether it be lucky or not, Long Tian had been out hunting for food thus he was spared from his village's fate of being destroyed. When he came back from the forest, all he saw was the barren crater left in the wake of the two Immortal's battle.

That night, he cried until there were no tears left in him.

It was also the time when an astounding change occurred within his soul.

He had sworn then and there to take vengeance for his family and fellow villagers. From then on, he had never shed a tear. He travelled to the city and learned martial arts until he was strong enough to enter a cultivation sect.

His heart that had grown cold, never regarded nor cared for others besides himself and his burning desire for vengeance. Thus, he had become aloof to other people and made no friends, but instead he had offended many arrogant youths and cultivators that began to hate him thus they desired to kill him.

After all, death and murder was common place in this world without proper laws.

Years later, he had been caught in an assassination attempt on his life by more than twenty Mortal Core experts. There, when he thought he would have died without fulfilling his wish, came a turning point. He met his one and only teacher in this life.

With a swing of his sleeves, the heads of Mortal Core experts flew in the air, separating from their bodies that turned into ash soon after.

A boundlessly strong expert at the Grand Saint level had been travelling around the world and saw Long Tian and the assassins by chance and decided to help the youth.

In order to thank the mysterious expert, he could only relay his life story for the latter was interested in his unwavering desire for vengeance. After that, the expert took a liking to Long Tian and accepted him as his only disciple.

With slight hesitation, the lonely Long Tian finally accepted him as his teacher after a year of travelling together. With him at his back, he was like a tiger that had grown wings. Becoming ever so powerful ever so quickly, reaching Trinity Axis stage at the age of 400.

One must know that even his teacher had only reached this stage after a thousand years.

He was immensely proud of his disciple and went with him to take revenge against the ones who destroyed his village many years ago.

With Long Tian's newfound strength, he easily found the perpetrators and killed them after much preparation. But as if by a twist of fate, those two belonged to a large sect who had unmatched power and was ever so arrogant.

As when they found out that their elders had been killed by a nameless junior, they were instantly enraged and sent many experts to erase Long Tian's existence. Even five Grand Saint elders came out and attempted to kill the boy to retain their sect's dignity.

Obviously, the boy wasn't a match for these elders who had reached levels way above his. He could only wait for death as he tried to fight them in vain.

Seeing that his disciple's life was in danger, Long Tian's teacher, Zin Shu Lin, one who had broken through to peak level Grand Saint risked his life and killed the five elders at a heavy cost. He took his own life and blew up his 'Saint Soul' and engulfed the enemies within it. Seeing this made Long Tian feel as if his heart was ripped into many pieces.

The only person who believed in him and whom he respected with all of his heart died trying to protect him. At this moment, he felt that bonds like these were what mattered the most in the cruel, merciless world of the Immortals.

When the people sent after him were all dead, he heard a voice in his head in the midst of his despair. It was the ever so familiar voice of his teacher, telling him these words:

'My dear disciple Long Tian, today marks the day where you've accomplished your goal and the shadows in your heart have vanished. Without these shackles, I believe you can soar like your name, the mighty 'Dragon Soaring the Heavens'.

In his astonishment, he found that this voice was coming from a little ring on his finger.

This was an item coveted by many, a 'Spacial Ring' that could create a different dimensional space to store anything stopping their time within.

The voice came from a recording crystal within that activated as soon as his teacher's soul left the Immortal Realm signifying his true death.

'Now, I know by the time you hear this, I have already passed on. But fret not, I am not leaving you alone. You always have my teachings within you. As long as you keep them in your heart, know that I am always watching over you.'

As he listened to each and every word uttered as if the speaker was talking to a relative by blood, he noticed a slight stinging sensation in his eyes.

And as if a dam had broken, tears ceaselessly flowed from his face like a river.

He had no control over it, as he struggled in vain to keep his emotions in check.

He had broken his vow, and gained a new burning determination to surpass everyone in this life, stand above all else, and soar above the heavens like his teacher wanted.

Absorbing these newfound thoughts and emotions, he had heard one last phrase...

'Although I have no doubt you will surpass even me and succeed in this life, I still have one regret when it comes to you, and that is...'

"...Scram..."

As the boundless sword light came rushing towards his face as it broke through his mist protection barrier, Long Tian, the listless youth, opened his eyes once again and swung his sleeve once he uttered one word.

*Slice*

As if it was all an illusion, the boundless imperial golden aura disappeared into nothingness and the surroundings turned dark once more.

Only a sharp whizzing sound of the wind cutting through grass was heard, and everything went silent. No being in a thousand mile radius would dare to make a sound.

For they instinctively felt that an ancient beast had awakened and was looking straight at them. Every living being within this range felt their hair stand up. Immense fear caused even slumbering ancestors with great power to break out in a cold sweat.

For a fraction of a second, many different powers felt it, the unparalleled killing intent.

One built over many mountains of corpses.

Made possible through countless seas of blood.

"That monster has woken up again. I wonder which brat provoked him this time."

An old man carrying a dignified aura could not help but slightly tremble feeling this strength in over hundreds of years as he shook his head, pitying the fool who dared challenge the monster's prestige.

In a different place, a golden haired man who sat upon an imperial golden throne felt the familiar sensation as well. He stood up and gazed outside through the large window.

"Xia Ling Xing, a youth who was blessed in all aspects...What a shame he had to die before fulfilling his role due to arrogance."

This man observed a moment of silence before speaking towards his aides...

"Ready the dragons, I need to go to the Xia Clan myself to explain what happened to their descendant. We also need to go and collect his remains and return it to the clan."

'Although there might not even be a speck of dust left after he's done with him.'

This thought that the emperor kept to himself, made him chuckle in bitterness.

In an old bar in the slums...

A bald man who was wiping a glass with a cloth repeatedly twitched his eyebrow.

"Damn, that guy killed someone again. His opponent was rather strong as well. If only the poor fellow knew he was not only dealing with an Immortal Sovereign peak level expert, but also someone who had lived countless decades, and had no peers at his level and below, he would definitely....no, he would have still challenged him."

I can't blame the guy.

Even I wanted to face him many centuries ago.

At the peak of his prime, he had seen the legendary 'Eternal Youth' and had the desire to step over him to reach the peak of cultivation.

But it was a laughable thought, even Immortal Sovereign peak level experts are nothing but ants to him. He might have even glimpsed towards an unknown level above it.

This frightening thought was only soothed by his admiration towards the man.

"As to be expected from someone who had reached Immortal Sovereign Level at the age of a thousand years. A true monstrous existence..."

This man, who had destroyed countless sects who dared to provoke him.

With a sway of his fingers, countless existences grovel before him.

Looking down upon everyone else, the only person closest to a god in this realm.

The Lone Conqueror, Long Tian.