It had been…
"Death" Cheng Hao muttered pensively.
"Death?" The droopy-eyed girl frowned her brows.
"Yes…" Cheng Hao's smile grew as bitter as it was glad. "For me to take the first step… I had to die."
Cheng Hao sighed as he actively came to realize that his death and consequent rebirth had acted as a balm for his soul, truly changing himself. He was the 'reborn Evil Saint', and yet, the only thing that remained within him of that feral monster with blue eyes were his memories.
It looks like, in the end, the Evil Saint truly DID die back then, in that battle at the top of the world.
'Cheng Hao…'
In front of a stunned ashen haired, grey robed Rin, the golden eyed youth clutched his own chest as he shed a tear, thinking in his head:
'It seems, I owe you far more than I had ever imagined. Truly, thank you. Thanks to you… I could truly be REBORN! I was reborn not as that monster… but as CHENG HAO!'
And at this moment, deep within the child's mind, a huge yet unnoticeable change occurred.
Originally, after his rebirth, Xu Ling's soul had been split in two: the smaller part had been golden and less dense and was the eight-year-old Cheng Hao's soul, while the bigger part had been a deep blue and much denser, being the Evil Saint Xu Ling's soul. Right now however, the bonds between the two souls had weakened considerably as a result of Cheng Hao truly having become an existence no longer dependent on Xu Ling, having become a true person!
As if having lied in wait for this realization on Cheng Hao's part and the separations of the souls since the beginning, the faint outline of a spark suddenly appeared deep within the space where the Immortal Ascension Tower was located. The spark flickered before reappearing next to the two souls, decisively rending the connection between the two. Next, it proceeded to wrestle with the bigger, denser, blue soul. Even the bigger blue soul could only hold on for a bit before it dispersed with a silent screech and was completely absorbed by the golden soul again: having absorbed the remnants of blue, the golden soul instantly underwent a qualitative change, growing until its size outclassed even the original gold-and-blue initial soul.
This time however, it no longer retained its individuality, and the two souls truly became one, forming into 'Cheng Hao'.
The spark, having completed all this secretly, once again dimmed down and grew invisible to the senses before once again disappearing from sight, falling back into its deep slumber.
As for what such changes had brought to the man in question, Cheng Hao, he was surprised to find the Immortal Ascension Tower within his consciousness suddenly resonating with him many times clearer than it had ever done before: seemingly without a reason, the connection between man and 'Martial Way' had grown many times clearer. He wiped away his tears with the back of his palm before he began to explore the change to his Immortal Ascension Tower.
"This is?" He waved his hand as, suddenly, Qi strand after Qi strand poured out of his cultivation base, gathering above his palm, forming into the Martial Avatar. The sight of the inverted pagoda caused Rin to stare on with wide eyes. More shocking however was when she witnessed first-hand how the surface of the pagoda rippled to become a purple orb; the Purple Moon!
"THIS IS!!!" Cheng Hao gaped, unable to believe the degree of freedom at which he could bend the Qi strands. Originally, other than changing the Immortal Ascension Tower into a Martial Way with the traits of the Purple Moon, he had tried to do the same with its Martial Avatar. However, even if he changed the attributes of the Martial Way within his consciousness, there would be no change to his Martial Avatars in the outside world. The 'connection' between him and his own Martial Way had been too thin to accomplish that!
Now however… with a thought, the inverted golden pagoda rippled continuously and its aura followed, emulating first the glow of the Purple Moon, followed by the vicious presence of the Black Dragon and ultimately going back to its initial state.
It was as if a barrier had been removed, allowing him to freely link the Way to its Avatar.
Actually, make that Avatar-'s': after summoning a second Martial Avatar out, it immediately followed after the first, the inverted pagoda rippled continuously under Cheng Hao's scrutinizing eye. After several tests, his eyes gleamed with excitement: Martial Avatars, unlike Martial Ways, did not have the same unique aura that could allow people to easily discern them apart from other treasures. Thanks to this sudden and unforeseen boost… he would be able to finally utilize a portion of the Immortal Ascension Tower in battle without fearing others would find out about it as he had before!
It was only at this moment that Cheng Hao suddenly remembered where he was: he slowly turned around to find a wide-eyed Rin looking at him playing around with his inverted pagodas with her mouth in an 'o' shape.
He immediately dismissed the Qi Constructs, absorbing the strands back into his Pseudo-Core before clearing his voice and once again extending his hand. "I still have yet to receive an answer?"
"…" Rin blinked a few times before she recovered. Her gaze fell onto the palm before it rose back up and looked back at the golden-eyed youth. Then, she said with a smile, "Your eyes… before tonight, I had never seen such a deep gaze. It took me a long round of peering back at the bar just to tell your true body is not that of a child and that your real age is far from what you are showing. Although your irises were indeed gleaming with the brightness of youth, at the end of the black vortex within your pupils there was a wisdom that made my whole body shiver! It was that wisdom that pushed me to act as I had, for I believed I had finally found that one person that would understand me… and I did."
The dull-gray eyes closed and a heartfelt smile found its way on the beautiful ashen haired youth's face. For the second time, she extended her own palm and tightly grasped the boy's.
"Now, please," her droopy eyes lit up with determination, "guide me so I may understand YOU!"
"Mm." The child nodded, smiling reassuringly, "Don't worry, Rin. I, Cheng Hao, will guide you and help you get back what you lost! I swear!"
Then, lowering his voice, he added, "So, please, forgive me for now, you will have to wait."
A light enshrouded his palm that was tightly grasping Rin's. The gray robed beauty's eyes widened like a frightened fawn's as a stream of foreign energy entered her consciousness. Immediately, her sharp pupils amidst the dull gray of her irises lost their luster as she fell unconscious. Cheng Hao grabbed her before she could fall and carefully placed her down, sparing her one last, resolute glance before gritting his teeth
"All I can leave you now is a hazy memory, but give me one year at most, and I assure you that this seed of hope I planted WILL bloom in your freedom!"
"One year is all I need! After that, I will come back for you!"
"I swear it… on my name."
…
On a night more than a thousand years ago, a puny Mortal Realm cultivator from the Western Continent happened to witness an event that would change their life: he saw the sky tear open onto a new world; one of gargantuan beasts clashing in the air and of armies colliding, one where rivers of golden blood would wash the land and corpses would pile up into mountains. To the shock of the mortal cultivator, slowly, countless treasures began to flood out of the opening, illuminating the night as if it were day.
Taking advantage of his relatively close position, the mortal staked his life and approached the site of the fall. There, he found many helpful resources which allowed him to breakthrough continuously all the way to the peak of the Reverend Stage. As if that weren't enough, he was also bestowed with a powerful technique by a mysterious legacy that elevated his strength to a whole another level: he dubbed it the Mysterious Light-Shadow and renamed himself the Mysterious Light-Shadow Monarch, sweeping through the Five Continents unhindered.
With his cultivation at the peak of mortality and the technique Mysterious Light-Shadow, Mysterious Light-Shadow Monarch greatly surpassed the strength a Mortal Realm had ever possessed in the recorded history of the world. Eventually, even the top Sects, Schools and Empires were all forced to acknowledge him as a superior and bowed down to him as the overlord of the Western Continent!
Finding himself to be unparalleled even amongst his peak Reverend Stage peers, Light-Shadow Monarch set off to explore the world and experience the adventures life had to offer. As the decades passed however, even this almighty being found himself to be powerless in the face of time. With his lifespan being constantly battered by the river of time, it would soon reach the point where even he would go back to dust.
After a life lived to its fullest, there was only one last thing left in the Light-Shadow Monarch's mind, and that was to leave behind an inheritance, a memento of himself, so as not to be forgotten. He then remembered of a time when, while wandering the Western Continent he had stumbled upon a certain danger region called the Four Beasts Mountain Range. This particular region of the Western Continent had outstanding spirituality, giving birth to a special type of rock that was semi-impervious to even a Reverend Stage being's attacks. There, the Monarch had met four powerful Spirit Beasts that had been reigning as rulers of the mountain chain for centuries, working together to fend off outsiders who were eyeing the precious stones.
He had clear memories of this event because, to slay the so-called 'Four Beasts' hiding within their mansions built of such material, even he had been forced to use a good portion of the Mysterious Light-Shadow's true power to cut through the thick walls of stone.
At that time he went ahead and decided: that would be where he would be leaving behind his legacy and create his own Sect! He worked day and night, excavating the stones out of countless peaks until some were reduced to mounds and valleys. Finally, after many weeks, the outline was complete; a total of seven long walls descended from the sky, dividing Four Beasts Mountain Range into six rings and a plateau in the middle, capable of housing millions of Sect Members: in the very middle would be the Sect Head's private plateau, followed by the six rings for Protectors, Elders, Core Disciples, Inner Disciples, Outer Disciples and Vacant Disciples!
Mysterious Light-Shadow Monarch changed his title once more to Mysterious Light-Shadow Ancestor and announced it to the world: he, history's strongest cultivator, had founded his own Sect!
The Five Continents, from that day forward, would be housing one more superpower, and the name of this organization would be Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect!
Hearing the news, cultivators and mortals from every corner of the Western Continent ran over, be it rogue ones or ones already belonging to other powers, they all fought to be the first to join. Like that, the Sect's might and influence grew exponentially by the day…