Chapter 1834: So That's How It Is

Li Luo's eyes rippled and fully blossomed; at this moment, he recalled the sect master himself utterly dissipating, that golden gaze—after giving him a crisp rap on the skull, smiling yet profound.

Li Luo suddenly laughed.

His laughter carried a tone of astonished realization, echoing through the long river of time.

"So that's how it is..." Li Luo softly sighed.

His eyes were deep, all doubts answered at this moment.

Accompanied by Li Luo's soft sigh of realization drifting through the long river of time, his figure turned into a streak of flowing light, falling into an extremely distant ancient era.

In this era, the Outer Shenzhou world was undergoing violent upheaval.

At this time, the Dark World was born, alien beings invaded Outer Shenzhou, causing chaos and suffering among all living things.

Countless ancient powers, caught off guard, were destroyed by the alien beings.

Those with great ambitions struggled desperately to find ways to resist the alien beings, forming alliances both horizontal and vertical, seeking a path to survival for the world.

Amidst this turmoil, a man with white-gray hair walked like a shadow between the realms of Outer Shenzhou, witnessing countless sufferings; finally, atop a great mountain, he forged with his hands a simple mountain gate.

He forged the mountain stones into a stele, standing before it for a full spring and autumn.

In the end, the man's face showed a radiant smile; he used his finger as a brush, leaving on that stele four ancient, mysterious characters containing profound rhythm.

That was...

Wu Xiang Holy Sect!

In the past of the Outer Shenzhou world, there was no founder of the Wu Xiang Holy Sect, because he did not exist in the past.

He came from the future.

Li Luo stood beneath the stele, gazing at the four ancient characters; he inscribed all the cultivation methods of the Myriad Appearances Seed into it, awaiting those with affinity to come here, comprehend it, and thus the Wu Xiang Holy Sect would naturally be born in the ages.

Li Luo looked at those four ancient characters, his eyes deep and weathered, while he gave a faint smile.

So, the founder of the Wu Xiang Holy Sect...

Was me.

His figure began to fade, turning into a wisp of green smoke; the green smoke condensed, forming a mask, which drifted with the wind toward an unknown place.

And when Li Luo's figure disappeared, time flew like a shuttle, years passed swiftly.

Eventually, a refugee boy, after encountering the alien beings' slaughter of his mountain village, fled here in panic; at this time, the stele was already covered in thick moss, the boy curled beneath it weeping, blood and tears on his body mixing together, gradually staining the stele.

On the stele, mysterious light flowed, melting the moss and shining its radiance into the eyes of that sorrowful, desperate boy.

Thus, the name Wu Xiang Holy Sect truly appeared in this era at this moment.

The boy ultimately became the Heavenly King, and the Wu Xiang Holy Sect was passed down through his hands, generation after generation, and began to grow at an astonishing speed.

Until one day, the Wu Xiang Holy Sect became the undisputed hegemon force in the Outer Shenzhou world.

The invasion of the Dark World was finally begun to be stopped.

Accompanied by the Wu Xiang Holy Sect leading the beings of Outer Shenzhou in continual struggle against the Dark World, its prestige also grew ever more resounding.

But the chaos brought by the Dark World still continued, and all people suffered from it.

Until many years later.

When a girl about five or six years old, with her hair tied in twin buns, wandering everywhere, dug out a mask from the silt of a small stream; the mask's spiritual light flowed, and then the light beneath the mask gradually, in the girl's astonished gaze, transformed into a tall male figure.

The man wore the mask, his eyes flowing with a smile as he gazed at the little girl before him.

She was young, and her clothes were dirty; although her small face was stained with silt, one could still see her lovely features, especially her eyes, like the setting sun hanging in the heavens at this moment.

Radiant like flowing gold.

Under the girl's somewhat nervous gaze, the man smiled and extended his palm; his voice flowed with tenderness.

"Finally, I have waited for you."

"Are you willing to follow me?"

The little girl hesitated, then asked: "If I follow you, will I no longer go hungry?"

The little girl, without support or reliance, wandered alone, struggling to survive, obviously having endured much hardship.

The man smiled and nodded slightly.

The little girl looked at his gentle eyes; although she was young, she possessed a maturity beyond her years, so she could feel that warmth and kindness she had not experienced for a long time.

Thus, finally, she vigorously rubbed her silt-stained little hand on her body, then placed it into the man's outstretched large hand.

The man took her hand, walking along the small river, the shimmering light reflecting beneath their feet, as if stepping upon the light of time, heading toward the future.

"Do you have a name?"

"No."

"Then I will call you... Xiao E, how about that?"

"Oh, good... then how should I call you?"

"Um... hahaha, you call me Master."

The little girl looked at the man suddenly clapping and laughing loudly, somewhat bewildered, but finally she nodded firmly.

"Master!"

Thereafter, the man brought the little girl to wander across the vast expanses of Outer Shenzhou, teaching her all he had learned; after several years passed, that little girl had become a graceful young lady.

She held a red-tasseled spear, sweeping through all alien beings she saw.

Finally, under the man's guidance, they arrived at the Wu Xiang Holy Sect, which already stood at the pinnacle of this era.

The man stood at the mountain's base, gazing at the simple mountain gate he himself had once forged; now this place was already the summit of the world, a place where countless powerful ones devoutly paid homage.

"Xiao E, I can only accompany you this far; the road ahead must be walked by you alone." The man looked at the girl beside him, heroic and spirited, tall and slender, and smiled.

He also gazed at the girl's cheek; although it still retained a touch of youthful inexperience, one could already see that familiar peerless elegance.

The girl possessed a maturity beyond her years; she gazed at the man, knowing they would part forever here.

In the end, she said nothing more, merely kneeling before Li Luo and sincerely kowtowing three times.

The man laughed as he crouched down, extending his finger to carefully brush away the grass clippings stuck to her cheek, then, under the girl's slightly doubtful gaze, he flicked his finger and snapped it hard against her Bai Xi forehead.

Snap!

A hard flick to the forehead.

"Hahaha!" Then he burst out laughing, his laughter filled with a joy and sudden realization that others could not understand.

The girl covered her slightly reddened forehead and puffed out her cheeks.

But in the end, her eyes gradually reddened as she saw the man's form before her grow increasingly illusory, finally vanishing completely before her eyes along with that hearty laughter.

Only the mask on his face fell with him, dimly landing before her.

The girl remained silent for a long time before finally picking up the mask with difficulty, placing it on her own cheek, then gripping her red tassel spear tightly, she resolutely rose and strode toward the magnificent ancient sect.

She will here forge a stunning name that will echo through one era after another.