Long Wei, a Heavenly Deity stage cultivator, stood at the precipice of his existence. Five millennia of arduous practice had brought him here, not to the boundless longevity of the Void Transformation Realm enjoyed by his peers, but to the bitter end. His curse? False spiritual roots, a birthright that had shackled his potential from the start.
He had unearthed treasures, even a supreme-grade cultivation book, but always, it seemed, too late. With only a year left to live, the pursuit of the next cultivation layer felt futile. He sought only peace, a quiet surrender to the inevitable.
A year passed like a fleeting whisper. Long Wei drew his last breath, a question echoing in his fading consciousness: "Why did I even start to cultivate?" The memory eluded him, yet a faint smile touched his lips, tears blurring his vision. He remembered the crushing weight of being told his false spiritual roots rendered him useless in the grand tapestry of cultivation. But he had refused to yield. "If my spiritual root isn't good," he'd vowed, "I'll just work harder than anyone else."
His journey had been a testament to this resolve. The first stage, Qi Condensing, a mere trifle for most, had taken him 37 years. Hope, however, was a stubborn ember. He had cultivated for over 50 more years to forge his own foundation, a feat typically expedited by rare pills found only in the grand sects – sects that would have dismissed him as a drain on their resources. This arduous accomplishment granted him a mere 100 extra years of life.
From then on, each breakthrough was a race against the clock, a flirtation with death, until he reached the Heavenly Deity stage. There, his progress simply ceased. His false spiritual roots had reached their absolute limit. Yet, Long Wei refused to concede. For hundreds of years, he traversed the world, a relentless pilgrim seeking a breakthrough. After 600 years of searching, he finally stumbled upon it: a supreme-grade cultivation book that promised further advancement. But the cruel irony of time had already woven its web; the sheer duration of his search had negated the book's benefits.
The book, however, held a dark secret, a macabre shortcut to accelerated cultivation: killing a cultivator of the same stage increased its speed by 1%. A tantalizing thought, but Heavenly Deities were rare, often protected by powerful sects or families. The bloodshed would only invite catastrophe. So, Long Wei returned to his singular path, cultivating 19 hours a day, striving for the middle layer of Heavenly Deity. He reached the peak of the early layer, but the true barrier remained: a profound breakthrough in his sword dao comprehension. With over 200 years of life left, he dedicated 198 years to this solitary quest, chasing that elusive moment of understanding. It never came. On that day, a quiet resignation settled over him, the cold certainty of death's approach.
The End of an Era and a Whispered Rebirth
"I've tried everything I could to get enlightenment," he whispered, his voice a frail echo of his former determination. "But I couldn't find it... I'm too tired. I think I should just rest now." With that, Long Wei slowly closed his eyes, accepting his fate.
Long Wei died.
Ten million years later, the world began to unravel. A slow, agonizing destruction consumed everything until naught remained but cosmic dust. In the desolate aftermath, at the very edge of time, a solitary figure cloaked in black appeared.
"I still don't have enough Half-Step Immortal Cultivators," the person in black sighed, their voice laced with frustration. "I need twelve of them, but I'm still missing two to become truly immortal. Sigh... I only have one chance left, and I can only rewind ten million years. that should be enough time. The main problem is that 50% of people don't even get a chance to cultivate. This time, I should try adding a system so everyone can start cultivating without any help. I will bet everything on this one."
Time, a river turned back, began to flow in reverse.
Ten years...
A hundred years...
A thousand years...
Five thousand years...
Ten million and five thousand years...
The world was restored, pristine and untouched, as if destruction had never been.
On this momentous day, Long Wei's eyes snapped open. "What? I'm still alive?" Confusion warred with a dawning realization. He had gone back in time.
"Isn't this the day I first started cultivating?" he mused. "I don't know how I came back, but this time I have a big advantage. I can fix many mistakes I made in my previous life." A newfound clarity filled him, a burning purpose crystallizing in his mind.
Long Wei would achieve immortality and live forever!