As the calm gales of wind blew by, the serene strings of sunlight rained down on the mystic realm. There was no actual sun, neither were there stars. But, the atmosphere would still swiftly transition to myriad temperatures and hours of the day.
Currently, the rays which bathed the realm were a crimson orange, as if an auspicious sign of heaven is approaching.
Underneath the shade of a tree that seemed to stretch infinitely, amidst the cries of birds that had the wingspan of over ten miles, there stood Noire.
Confused, hesitant, and unwilling.
He looked up helplessly, then his eyes veered sideways.
Following the crisp cry, he saw the massive bird flapping its wings and spiraling around the tree's trunk. It was an aesthetically pleasing sight that would bud a wave of relaxation into anyone's heart.
Long golden feathers, agile wings, extensive physique, and ethereal movements.
The cries were so loud that Noire felt an undercurrent of wind blowing over his body from their vibrations. But, once the bird was out of sight, within a few minutes its cries would also disappear.
Then, perhaps after an hour or two, the cries would faintly descend onto Noire once more.
One can imagine the circumference of such a tree, and that's the upper reach of its trunk.
The old man simply waited for Noire to digest what has been said. But, that didn't mean the old man had an eternity to wait.
He said, "Young man, before you ask more questions, just know this is for your good. You can't expect to climb martial arts without guidance, and if you had support in the higher planes you wouldn't be here,"
Hearing this, Noire's eyes flashed with a decisive light.
He took a gentle breath before relaxing his body.
Closing his eyes, it was as if Noire had entered an ethereal state, his body gradually became elusive and gave one a distant feeling.
Noire thought back to his experience, comparing what he has to win or lose, comparing the gains with the losses, calculating the time he had left before the unrivaled war breaks through the Nine Thousand Heavens.
The old man watched from the side with a smile, he guessed that the Celestial God Palace have some mishaps with Noire, but that was solely based on his superficial knowledge, he didn't know that there was a deep blood feud between the two.
"Okay," Noire suddenly said.
Then, his eyes slowly parted open with a thin shimmer of gold and silver.
This twinkling light briefly disturbed the projection of the old man's spirit, startling him.
" Your soul force is praiseworthy," The old man nodded approvingly.
"Senior is serious, all I had accomplished was to lightly shake a soul that had lost 99% of its force hundreds of thousands of years ago," Noire said with a nonchalant expression.
In fact, this praise made Noire feel like an ant.
The old man smiled and didn't reply, he simply pointed at the stone tablet behind him and said in a clear voice, "Take a seat in a meditative position and link your consciousness to the stone, then you'll meet the inheritance left by Master."
Noire looked back at the burial spot, finding it disrespectful.
The old man saw this and said, "Hehe, there's no actual body inside there. In fact, this isn't the only Inheritance Island. There's one in every realm across the lower planes, the Master made these preparations long ago. The real body of the young mistress isn't here. But, you're very lucky because there's only a single puppet body, and you got to meet it."
Hearing that, Noire looked at the old man with a weird expression...
"Senior, is your remnant soul responsible for the scattered Islands as well?" Noire asked with some disbelief.
The old man smiled mysteriously, not answering.
Seeing this, Noire sighed deeply.
The world is just too vast, for such an ancient powerhouse to be laid around in the lower planes. Just what sort of a catastrophe have they been through?
From Noire's perspective, he genuinely felt like a 10-year-old in front of such an existence.
After Noire finally sat down in a lotus position before the stone tablet, the old man said, "You will spend a while obtaining the inheritance, I will control some resources, heaven and earth energy, and some miscellaneous treasures to steadily increase your cultivation. Once you're out, I should have helped you reach the peak of what you people call Twilight Realm.
'What we people call?' Noire thought for a moment. Then again, the cultivation system might have been different in the past so he didn't ask.
Without delay, he calmed his breath and connected to the stone tablet.
...
Thousands of miles away from Noire, there was a humid cave dwelling.
The cave was the size of a modern mansion, residing on the side of a massive cliff that wasn't much lower than a mountain peak in the mortal world.
Underneath this cliff and in front of the cave, Yinfer stood still gazing up.
Currently, the loud whistles of wind circulated throughout the cave before they blew right back at her.
Her otherwordly posture made the leopard cups freeze in awe.
A petite body with no fluctuations whatsoever, as if she was a genuine mortal.
Her long, deep azure hair would lit up with a flaming spark occasionally, startling the cups that watched intensively.
Inside the cave, a young-looking couple cuddled closely to each other as they happily watched the cups of their tribe being so close to a cute child-like Yinfer.
"Darling, why would the divine one ask us to shelter those two?" The woman asked.
Her husband shook his head lightly, saying, "I don't know. But, he's been sheltering us from the Imperial Family for generations now, this is the least we could do."
The woman nodded. Then, she asked, "Where is Anastasia? I haven't seen her today."
The husband smiled lightly and said, "She's at the peak preparing for a breakthrough. After her bloodline improves, it seems that Yinfer also wants to purify her bloodline..."
The woman's eyes widened. Then, she once again swept her senses over Yinfer before pouting.
"Darling, stop talking nonsense. Yinfer is clearly a human mortal, there isn't the bit of bestial bloodline inside her!"
The husband could only smile bitterly. He also had his suspicions, but so what? Also, it's very odd for the children to be drawn towards humans, he could only wait without commenting.
...
Hundreds of miles away from the cave-dwelling, two young disciples clothed in black were exploring the verdant land.
Their clothes were brutally hagged as if they experienced a life or death battle over ten times.
Their heavy pants, disordered Qi essence, and bodies drenched in sweat, all of it reflected on their current experience.
"Senior apprentice-brother, I don't want an inheritance anymore... We barely made it here, what makes you think we can reach the Thousand Bells temple? Even if we did, the competition there will be beyond fierce, we might not make it out alive..."
"What can we do then? Even if we went back, do you want to face the iron-clad bear, ten clawed bats, or the six eyes frog? Do you think we can cross the acid swamp again?!"
The younger martial artist froze. Really, what can they do with their Twilight Realm cultivation? They can't even fly.
The young disciple's face paled and his eyes grew watery, he doesn't want to die young.
He has a bright future in the family, good talent, many girls who chase after him.
He still has a noblewoman to chase after, his senior sister from the sect.
Why must I be so weak?!
No, why must I insist on coming to this hell land?!
Little did the two of them know, a dozen miles away from them, Wang and Rui followed their tracks leisurely.
Rui licked her bottom lip, her eyes glowing with a dangerous light as she said, "Good thing senior brother found me quickly. Now, we find those two you spoke about, refine their souls and use them to search for that blue-haired girl. Once we do, hehe..."
Senior brother Wang shook his head. Thunder has always been the nemesis of souls, and that brought many evil techniques...
He personally didn't study any of them. But, his junior sister had a liking towards them.
....
Currently, Noire found himself floating in a starry abyss.
Celestial bodies, stars, suns, moons, planets, stardust clouds, rivers of energy, everything around him was a spectacular scene.
Noire noticed that his body was devoid of all energy, or he simply couldn't sense any of it yet.
He was in this space for a considerable amount of time, yet nothing happened.
Thinking about it for a while, Noire made a decision and decided to explore.
Although he had no powers, he felt he had no weakness either.
This sensation, it was as if the cosmos around him was an indispensable part of himself, or he was an indispensable part of the cosmos.
It was a peculiar feeling, one that he soon found himself immersed into.
Day after day.
Week after week.
Month after month.
Year after year.
Noire doesn't know how much time it had been, could be hundreds or thousands of years, all this time he followed his intuition, traveling at the speed of light, following a conceptual path in his mind.
Then, in front of him, millions of miles away, there was a mysterious, cubic prism.
This cubic prism seemed to contain a flower, and inside the flower was a spherical object that looked like a pill.
Although it was millions of miles away, Noire crossed the distance in the blink of an eye.
Once Noire was about a dozen miles away, everything— including himself; froze.
"..."
Even his thoughts rendered staggering, the space began to crumble like puzzle pieces at an alarming rate.
Before realizing it, Noire found himself in a blank white space, and in front of him was a mysterious man.
This man looked around 20 years old, he had a stalwart figure, dressed in black robes that animated the scenes which Noire had experienced.
The robe had stars, celestial phenomenons, it exuded all types of laws and mysteries.
On the right shoulder piece of the robe was the emblem of a golden sun, and on the left, one can see a brilliant moon.
Looking at this man's face, Noire felt very familiar.
As if he had seen this person before.
But, he couldn't grasp the specific memory, as if he had seen this man on a fleeting whim.
The man had pristine skin as white as snow, long dark hair that rested in a ponytail along his broad shoulder, ink-black eyes that reflected an endless abyss.
Center those eyes, Noire could make out the shape of the mysterious flower from the cube.
"You're a weakling," The man said.
His voice sounded distinct and ethereal as if it came from nowhere and everywhere, Noire didn't even notice the lip movement of this man.
Noire frowned with a tinge of dissatisfaction.
The voice resounded again, "Your main body might be above average, but you're still an ant."
"Your martial experience is non-existent. Your physique isn't tempered the least; common trash."
"Your body is only solid due to the compressed heaven and earth energy, without it; you're as fragile as paper, I could blink my eyes and sunder you to pieces."
"Your combat experience is crude and unrefined, your technique is too barbaric and unsightly. I've already seen through your memories, your knowledge sea, your everything."
"..." Noire didn't know how to respond.
He grit his teeth in shame, he knew he was currently weak, but to call his real body 'above average', what concept is that?
Noire wanted to refute. But, under this weird space, he couldn't even move a finger, much less refute.
Under that man's gaze, he felt an unusual suppression of strength...
The man seemed to notice the complex emotions in Noire's eyes, he said, "My inheritance isn't just to fight my enemies, nor your enemies, my inheritance is to challenge the heavens and earths."
Here, the man frowned, "The Dao Envoy cursed my daughter, and I will shatter the Dao. I couldn't do it in my lifetime, and I will pass my mantle to you."
"The Dao wants all creatures to be balanced? How laughable! I climbed to my strength with my sweat and blood! My struggles! My pain!"
"I suffered just like everyone else. When the heavens sent a God my way, I killed a God. When they sent an Empyrean, I killed one too. When the heavens couldn't deal with me, it aimed its claws at my family."
"What indifference is this? What justice? What equal treatment? I, Adrian Silverstone, will overturn the heavens!"
Every word, every syllabus, every tone this man said seemed to carry a domineering aura that looked down on every entity.
Facing this man, Noire felt an inexplicable feeling bud in his heart.
He could imagine this man's life, his struggles, his growth, his power.
Noire felt immersed the more with every word spoken, then the man said with a burst of unrivaled pride.
"That is my road of martial arts, that is my inheritance!"