Lonely Lord: The Apex

In the clear tranquility of a river in the forest, a body lay down, floating comfortably.

It was the body of a grown up mortal. His long grey hair told enough about his age, so did the beard long enough to reach the middle part of his neck.

Even his clothes were somewhat old and, of course, completely wet. Anyhow, the man seemed to be dreaming, floating without a care for the world.

Suddenly, an old man appeared out of nowhere walking straight for the middle aged man on the river. With a rope that seemed a magical artifact instead of a normal, common rope, that appeared on his bare hands out of nowhere, he waved it vigorously, provoking its sudden expansion, heading dozens of meters straight to the man on the river.

With another shake, the man was fully encompassed by the rop and got pulled out of the river after one last shake. It would be a fantastical show of mastery for any eyes that could witness the scene.

When the middle-aged man landed on the shore, the old man then trotted to him and, in an instant, slapped the man's face several times.

The former twitched nonstop before opening his eyes. The world seemed to be blinded by the radiance they emitted for an instant. Demons and gods would kneel if they witnessed their brightness, shaking in fear.

His seemingly ordinary characteristics seemed to carry the majesty of the ruler of nine thousand worlds suddenly. Even the atmosphere around him seemed to change due to his awakening.

The pure, immaculate light they shone with would be able to be seen by a blind person if they were to be besides the middle-aged man.

The world would have light when his eyes were open, and it would be dark and pity when he closes them.

The old man hurriedly got on his left side and smiled happily, seemingly waiting for the retort of the middle-aged man.

However, his newfound smile was now nowhere to be found, as he didn't get what he wanted.

With his eyes shut now, the middle-aged man slightly touched his body, seemingly recalling past sensations.

"What time is it?" He asked flatly.

"It's the New Emperors Era, Year 128.5 billion according to the old geezer of the Heaven's Eye Pavilion." The old man spoke not even a second later, a smile forming again. 

Hearing this, the middle-aged man simply nodded and slowly rised his upper body.

"You must want to start somewhere now, don't you? I find you have plenty of talent, why don't go with me?" The old man asked.

He smiled as a scamer would or so people would think when seeing him like that.

The middle-aged man simply smiled back and nodded, his eyes now shot open again, this time without any special features happening.

He looked back at the river and sighed before completely looking away.

"Let us go", he said softly.

After that, both the old man resembling a beggar with his three unique yellow teeth and the middle-aged man began to walk towards what seemed to be the exit of the forest.

...

Immortal Emperor Continent, Wuyi Daoist Sect.

Being one of the most prosperous - if not the most prosperous sect in the territory of the known behemoth of a continent, the Wuyi Daoist Sect naturally had a voice strong and an ancient enough inheritance to be able to compete with other behemoths, although slightly.

One of the reasons for this was that they were a daoist lineague, particularly one of the oldest.

With their roots extending as far as the previous epoch, rumors had it that their foundational techniques, secret treasures and resources made them able to stand on almost equal ground to the peak-level forces.

However, they had birthed only six Heavenly Lords since the sect's creation. The reasons of this were unknown to many, but they are respected up to this day as they're not weak. Of the six Heavenly Lords, three of them were top-notch which was one of the two main reasons they could held most of their territories after so much time has passed.

Of course, even a normal Heavenly Lord would be completely unfathomable for anyone, enough to sweep through three thousand worlds.

Because of that and many other reasons, they were highly respected, although the current generation was somewhat lacking in the eyes of outsiders. After all, they have lost too much on previous generations trying to train their seventh powerhouse, the sacrifices they have made were enough to make even a peak-level organization blink in awe.