Remembrance

"This is pointless."

"After all..." He bore a tired smile as he continued, "I am not Zhou Tiandi."

The dream had begun to crumble.

...

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...

"And what might you mean by that?" Huang Ziyi, or rather the remembrance of the past that resembled him, continued with an expression that seemed equally amused and curious.

"It's pointless to explain."

Zhou Tiandi's figure began to morph and change as a sword manifested in between the grasp of his hand.

With a calm yet wary movement, he raised his sword while his amethyst eyes attentively searched for any attack.

Yet, no attack came. Instead, Huang Ziyi's lips tugged into a smile—a helpless, tired, yet warm smile.

"I guess," his words were steady yet wavering in a strange fashion, "An apology would be just as pointless... Haha..."

In one fell swoop, Huang Ziyi and the palace disintegrated into mist, revealing the world of darkness all too familiar to "Zhou Tiandi".

Without a moment of pause, he walked forward through the mist. His steps remained steadfast and purposeful.

-Huang Ziyi!!

The mist of remembrance played out the ancient memory. 'Zhou Tiandi' in the remembrance faced his teacher Huang Ziyi in a battle of cosmic proportions.

However, that 'Zhou Tiandi' differed greatly from "Zhou Tiandi" walking away.

Yet, he did not pay much attention to the remembrance and continued to walk. After all, he was not Zhou Tiandi, so, of course, he'd differ greatly compared to one in the remembrance.

-Hahahaha~!

Huang Ziyi in the remembrance continued to laugh merrily as he faced 'Zhou Tiandi', the battle seemingly reaching a crescendo.

Yet, the continuous rhythmic steps never stopped, never paying an ounce of attention to the mist.

And so the memory of that battle and ensuing despair from aeons ago unfolded in the mist.

While the master-disciple pair did not show any signs of exhaustion perceivable to the mortal eye, such as ragged breathing or appearance, an immortal with a certain level of attainments in his understanding of Dao would know that both had begun to get tired.

However, even then, the difference between Zhou Tiandi and Huang Ziyi was akin to that of an ant and a dragon.

While through sheer "talent" and his unique "Dao" Zhou Tiandi was able to fight on "equal footing" with Huang Ziyi, he felt drained as, in the end, he was just an immortal cultivator half-step into the Dao realm.

However, that was just something that Zhou Tiandi in the mist of remembrance presumed to be the truth regarding his current situation. After all...

'Dao realm is not that simple.'

Indeed. Dao realm was not something as simple as a cultivation realm; to have entered the Dao realm meant to have been reborn as a being that cannot be described in any other way than simply a god.

Just like how an immortal might appear to be a god in the eyes of a mortal, to an immortal, the Dao realm appeared to be the realm of higher beings, and it truly was.

A being who had assimilated his very own "existence" with his comprehension of the Grand Dao to manifest his own Dao, which was what everyone revered as the Dao realm.

The one who walked through the shadowy realm did not stop his steps. However, part of his attention was placed upon the mist of remembrance... After all, that event was about to take place.

Meanwhile, the Zhou Tiandi within the remembrance decided to give his all in his next attack. To gamble it all at the chance of killing Huang Ziyi, even going as far as burning through the budding Dao forming within him... A unique manifestation of his unceasing desire to grow stronger.

A Dao that unraveled all of the person named Zhou Tiandi. A desire to be greater birthed from his sense of inferiority and desperation, calmed through love and re-ignited through vengeance for said love.

Countless karmic threads formed and bound Huang Ziyi as he launched two intertwining stars the size of a small marble towards Huang Ziyi.

Rushing towards their targets, the stars merged and grew larger, devouring all of the ambient qi, matter, and even the spatial boundaries.

However, there was but one thing strange regarding this matter. The target of this attack did not move at all. Instead, he simply smiled without even a hint of struggle. Zhou Tiandi felt something shake within his heart. He attempted to stop his attack, but there was nothing he could do... It was far too strong to be within his control, and soon his teacher had been engulfed by that attack.

The aftermath was akin to the explosion of a grand star, the enormous explosion of light was a sight quite rare... the "death" of a Dao realm in the grand scale of things was not rare on the grand scale. However, a death through this manner... through combat was definitely rare.

After all, these manifestations of Dao were nigh unkillable, as long as their will and Dao were unyielding.

That meant one thing... Huang Ziyi died out of his own volition.

-Urghhhh!

The remnants of Huang Ziyi moved towards Zhou Tiandi, enveloping him... These were the Dao fragments of Huang Ziyi...

-}I want to take you as my disciple!{

His teacher's voice echoed in his head alongside a foreign memory that was not his.

-}"This is for your own good, my disciple."{

The vision of his teacher speaking those words played out...

-}Strongest? Well then, I vow to do everything to make you the strongest{

That was when the Zhou Tiandi in the remembrance had understood... This was inheritance...

...

Huang Ziyi, a foolish man who had never felt a sense of belonging to anywhere, had taken in a disciple.

It was on a whim, yet at the same time, it was not. When he saw the boy's eyes that seemed tired, hurt yet filled with undying hatred towards the world and himself, he couldn't help but seek out the boy.

The boy's snarky retorts just made him look even more endearing in his eyes like a... scared cat perhaps?

There was a strange sense of familiarity in the conversations Huang Ziyi had with him... So, he wished to give his disciple what he asked of his teacher.

And that was how Huang Ziyi ascended, his Dao formed upon the foundation of crowning his disciple as the strongest.

Something he regretted in his last moments, however, he still fulfilled his Dao...

Perhaps, there was a mix of a certain selfish desire as well... Wishing for his disciple to outlast him. 'Is this how parents feel?' being his very last thoughts.

Even in the end, he fulfilled his Dao... His ashes would become the foundation of his disciple's "wish". Huang Ziyi's Dao of making "Zhou Tiandi the strongest" and Zhou Tiandi's budding Dao focused on "growing stronger" fused and became the foundation of Zhou Tiandi's ascension.

And that's when the despair began,

'To not be able to bring back the lover who will go against and cause the regression of his Dao, nor being able to let go of her for whom he desperately grew stronger...'

Shaking his head, he continued to walk through the dark realm... only to find himself bound by the mist.

"Disperse." With a flick of his sleeve, the mist made way for him obediently.

The Zhou Tiandi from the remembrance rushed toward him with his claws outstretched yet, that remembrance was stopped right before he could reach his target.

His entire body pierced throughout by countless swords all over his body, each blade formed through the sheer power of will, materialized with the desire to kill. Yet, his target just kept walking not even sparing a glance to him.

...

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...

As he walked along, he found himself to be nearing his destination.

The murky ground beneath his feet, sticky and slimy. Towering structures made of a similar substance looming ahead. Ominous structures that bore countless familiar heads.

Sensing his presence, the heads simultaneously turned to him, opening their rotten jaws in preparation to condemn him. Yet...

"Mirror Severance."

...he simply did not care. A single slash of his blade shattered the very landscape before him revealing the world beyond.

A familiar, desolate world of black and white reminiscent of a world drawn by ink on white. Two celestial bodies, one black and another white hung in the skies and finally a man standing aloofly in between all of this.

Turning towards the newcomer, the man's familiarity became apparent.

His hair was as dark as ink, his skin as pale as white jade, and his eyes seemed to hold the darkness of the entire world within them, donning a simple white Daoist robe.

"Hmph!" The man in white sneered, "You should've let yourself perish in that illusion. Even now you continue to be an nuisance."

"..." However, the man in white's remarks were answered with silence.

"Well then, keep your ignorant arrogance," Soon the man's expression warped into a mocking smile, "You damn fake!"

'That's right...'

With the Man in white's words, all of the doubts had been affirmed.

'...I am Zhou Tiandi's...' With closed eyes, he gathered his thoughts, '...clone.'