Chapter 170: Guidance, Departure
So you recognized the person before you. He was that Law Avatar from back then, one whose strength rivaled a mid-stage Return-to-Void realm expert!
Back then, you assumed it was merely a coincidence that a Law Avatar possessed a sliver of spiritual intelligence. But looking at it now, it seemed more like a long-premeditated scheme!
"Don't be nervous. I mean no harm." The young man who had returned from death seemed to see through your thoughts, and smiled.
"May I ask, Senior, what enemy did you encounter back then, that reduced you to this state?" You cupped your hands and inquired.
"That day, we encountered an Immortal!" The young man's gaze was deep, as if he were reminiscing about a bygone era.
"An Immortal?" You were astonished. The road to the Immortal Realm had not been opened for over ten thousand years.
"It seems their existence is even more ancient than I imagined."
"That kind of existence — a single glance was enough to reduce us to ashes!" The young man continued to recall.
"Its will altered the Heavenly Dao's rules here. After our deaths, the Great Daos we left behind transformed into avatars, enduring in this world forever!"
"Ah, little one, how is the outside world now?"
You briefly recounted the current state of the Cultivation World, and at the end mentioned the Wasteland Realm's Remnants — who were now known as the Wilderness Clan!
"The Wilderness? So it's them. A pack of faithless beasts who stole the nest for themselves!"
"Back then, if not for the kindness of my lord, who took them in, they would have been destroyed along with the world long ago!" The once gentle young man suddenly became incomparably furious. Clearly, he hated the Wilderness to the extreme.
Your heart was shaken. A truth long buried in dust was now laid bare before you, and for a time, you could not speak.
"That's right. They harbor wild ambitions. I fear our deaths were their doing as well!" Realization struck the young man.
"Senior, now the Heavenly Dao has been replaced by the Wilderness, the road to the Immortal Realm is severed. How should we cultivators proceed?"
The young man let out a bitter laugh. "You overestimate me. Even in life, I was merely a Tribulation Transcendence great expert. How could I possibly manage such matters?"
"This junior was presumptuous." You said apologetically.
"It's fine." The young man waved his hand dismissively.
"Senior, the rumor says that entering this door makes one the foremost among the Return-to-Void realm. What does that mean?"
"What do you think of your current cultivation? Are you worthy of being called the foremost in the Return-to-Void realm?" The young man looked at you with a smile.
You replied with great modesty. "There is always someone stronger, and heaven beyond heaven. This junior dares not overestimate himself."
"Haha, good! To have such strength at such a young age, and yet remain neither arrogant nor complacent — you are quite good."
The young man looked at you with a face full of smiles, nodding from time to time. "So alike. Seeing you is like seeing my former self!"
"Come, young man. Let this strongest prodigy from ten thousand years ago properly instruct you!"
The scene shifted. You arrived in an unfamiliar space. The young man appeared before you and extended his hand.
"Senior, please enlighten me!" You raised your sword and stepped forward, striking without mercy.
Against a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator of old, holding back would be disrespect!
"Well come!" The former Tribulation Transcendence great expert suppressed his cultivation to your level and traded blows with you.
At first, relying on the insight and experience of a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator, the young man completely dominated you! He beat you until you had no power to resist.
After a hundred moves, you had grown familiar with his combat techniques, and had devised some countermeasures — you gained some ability to fight back.
Three days later, after battles throughout the night, you had barely managed to fight him to a draw.
"Not bad. Your progress is swift — almost comparable to my former self!" The young man praised you.
Hearing this, you felt he was not praising you, but rather praising himself.
"Senior, this junior still has a hidden card I have yet to use. Would you like to try it?" You probed, feeling somewhat eager.
"A hidden card?" The young man glanced at you, a trace of disdain in his voice. "Come then, let me see what hidden card a mere Return-to-Void junior like you could possibly have."
"Senior, be careful!" You warned. Then, the Law Paths throughout your body surged, and behind you, a Law of Heaven and Image of Earth gradually condensed!
A Law of Heaven and Image of Earth condensed from ninety-nine Law Paths, containing a force of Heavenly Might!
The young man looked at the Law of Heaven and Image of Earth behind you, sensing the aura emanating from it. His expression shifted from its original disdain to shock!
"You! How could this possibly be?"
"Just how many kinds of the Power of Law have you fused, boy?"
"This junior is unworthy. Ninety-nine."
"Ninety-nine? Impossible! How could you have one more than me!"
"I don't believe it! I don't believe it!" As a top-tier monstrous prodigy of the last era, the young man could not accept that someone could surpass him.
Even in death, his heart remained unwilling.
The young man's Remnant Soul suffered a slight qi deviation, and with a hideous face, he attacked you.
There was nothing you could do but meet him in battle. The two of you clashed once more.
This time, you no longer held back. Because the slightest misstep, and you could be gravely wounded — or even die on the spot!
The young man threw punch after punch. Impossible. Impossible. He recklessly vented that last trace of residual power.
You did not hold back either. As your Law Avatars clashed head-on, your physical body quietly closed in. You seized the moment and threw a punch!
His Remnant Soul, already reduced to a mere sliver, was nearly scattered entirely by your blow!
That punch also thoroughly knocked the young man back to his senses.
"My apologies. I lost composure." The young man said apologetically.
"It's fine. Just casually take some rare treasures as compensation." You waved your hand, magnanimous.
The young man's expression turned somewhat awkward. "Ten thousand years have passed. There is nothing left here."
"The most precious things are merely those three Law Avatars outside, plus my guidance."
"I see. Very well then." You nodded, indicating you understood, and already had thoughts of leaving.
"Ah!" The young man let out a long sigh. "Truly, the young are to be feared!"
"I am no match for you!"
"Senior, do not belittle yourself. The reason this junior could reach such heights — those three Law Avatars outside played an indispensable role!"
"Oh, is that so? If it helped you, then good!"
The scene shifted. You returned to the original great hall. The young man's Remnant Soul, which had been clinging to the body, was about to dissipate.
"Go. I have nothing left to teach you."
"Senior, farewell!" The young man's figure vanished, and the great hall fell silent once more.