Lin Haoran tilted his head. "Should I?"
Gong Heshan looked up, startled.
Then realization dawned in his eyes. Of course. A boy living atop a nameless mountain, tutored by a wandering martial master—how would he know?
The elder adjusted his posture, lowering his head as if in reverence—not to Lin Haoran, but to the very concept itself.
"Shrine Lord… the word Saint is not one used lightly."
He took a breath.
"It is not a title one earns. It is not a rank or cultivation realm. It is a birthright… bestowed by heaven itself."
Gong Heshan's eyes dimmed for a moment, as though he were looking not at the boy before him, but into the distant past—into the bones of a story so old it had no true name.
Then he spoke, and his voice had changed.
It no longer belonged to a bloodied elder, but to a man reciting legend, as it had been passed down from voice to voice, fire to fire, through ages that no scroll had recorded.
"Shrine Lord… do you know how many races there are in this world?"
He did not wait for the answer.
"Ten thousand."
"Some live in seas of flame. Some sleep beneath jade glaciers. Some can carve mountains with a breath. Some ride thunder as easily as you and I walk. And for all our pride… humanity was once the lowest among them."
His eyes turned distant, as if seeing a sky no longer there.
"But legends say… that every race, once in a thousand years, may give birth to a figure."
"A child touched not by parents, nor fate, but by Heaven itself."
"Such a child is called… a Saint."
He leaned forward, his voice softening.
"They are not born like others. On the day they enter the world, the skies react. Stars shift. The winds hold their breath, and there are great sign between the heaven and earth!!! ."
"Let me tell you a story, Shrine Lord. A true one—though told only in shadows."
"A long, long time ago… back when humanity first stumbled into the Myriad Sky Continent... we were weak. we were Wandering. And for reason no one in the present knew... the Immortal Path had collapsed"
"it is even said that the immortals in that era,were the last immortal generation and after that no immortals had ever been born again they were all Gone. And with them, hope."
"We were thrown into a world ruled by Gods, dragons, titans, and beasts that wore fire like skin. We were prey. Meat."
His voice dropped lower.
"If not for the last generation of immortal protection us… we would have been wiped out. And yet…"
He straightened.
"In that bleakest hour—he was born."
"Wu Daotian. The Martial Ancestor!!!!. The First Human Saint."
"They say… when he was born, the sky itself opened it mouths."
"it rained for 7 days and 7 night the earth dragon tumbles over, and rainbows bloom all over. The stars blinked and shine greater than ever. And the other races—all ten thousand—felt it."
"A saint has been born!! and that too at the human race!!!.."
"Every race in the entire myriad sky continent went envious!!! The birth of the saint meant too much..it signify that a race might never be completely destroy again, it signified the chosen one of heaven, that the human race had gained the attention of the heavens and were the new protagonist of the entire era!!"
"The 10,000 race of myriad sky continent trembled in fear for what was about to come!! there were already 10 great race at that time pushing down down upon their head, they did not need another race from a foreign land to come and bully them"
"Therefore they declared war against the human race, they attacked!!. At once. Every one!!."
"it was the human race against the entire world!!!"
"according to mythical history, this was the darkest era of the human race, billions and billion of kid, pregnant women and warriors died in the hands of the other races!! famine and death were wipe spread and humanity felt despair!!"
"The 10,000 race tried their best to erase him before he could even grow teeth."
"But…"
A breath.
"He survived."
"And that too only under the sole protection of the last immortals"
"and he Grew.!!"
"Rose."
"And from his hands came a path not gifted by gods nor inherited from blood of beasts. A path he carved by himself by his own hands!!"
"The Martial Path.!!!!!"
"With bare hands and mortal bone, he rose to heights and surpass even the immortals that teached him. He burned with a flame that could not be taught. Could not be forged. Could not be passed down."
"And with that strength that could not be rival… he crushed them."
"He dominated an entire era!! He shattered the bone towers of the Guhuais-ancient marrow clans. He drowned the thunder of the Kuanzhens. and even battled high gods in equal footing!! And in that era—humanity stood tall."
"We became one of the Top Ten Races."
"And the word 'Saint'—first spoken by our enemies—became our greatest pride."
"But…"
He looked down.
"All things end eventually come to end.."
"Some said another war happened, some said they left.... No one really knows … but the Saints disappeared."
"One by one. Not just ours. All of them on that ancient era. Human. Dragon. Titans. spirits, deamons. Even the Celestial-Blooded lost theirs."
"And without them... we fell."
He let that sink in.
Then he said, quieter now:
"But the fire never died. Not fully."
"Even today… the greatest of the races remain. and Some are rumor to still bear Saints. Others have not seen one in thousands of years, meaning that saints could still be born, not extinct..."
"And so the Saint Guiding Sect was formed."
"The saint guiding sect is a huge sect. Spanning borders. Hidden in courts, Thrones ..empires...mountains, monasteries. Its one purpose: to find the next Saint."
"And if none were born…"
"To make one.!!"
He paused.
Lin haoran sighted- 'The saint guiding sect had ambitions'
"Even a man-made Saint… could shift the balance of an age."
Gong heshan continued-
"But if a true Saint has returned… born in blood, under silent skies…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't have to.
The air in the chamber had grown still.
Gong Heshan's voice faded, the echoes of his last words still trembling through the chamber like an aftershock.
Then suddenly—
He froze.
His breath caught.
A flicker of something—realization—lit behind his eyes.
He choked, audibly, as if something lodged itself in his throat.
Slowly… his gaze rose to Lin Haoran
.
But this time, it wasn't reverence.
It was something far stranger.
Wary. Disbelieving. A hint of fear.
"Shrine Lord…" he said slowly, carefully.
His voice was almost too soft.
"…how old are you?"