A young man stood atop a mountain, looking over the world with tears in his eyes.
No, he wasn't crying, his teapot had just exploded, and now he would have to journey down and get a new one.
———
Millennia ago, Zhu Fan had been born in a poor district of a backwards sector of the mortal world.
He lived the early years of his life like any child does, playing and laughing, enjoying with his parents,
But life is never easy.
In a spirit beast rampage, he lost his family.
He could still vaguely remember trying to call out to his mother, shaking and telling her to wake up.
For hours, he tried, failing every single time.
He tried until an immortal took pity on him, and brought him to a sect, hidden in the mountains.
Having lost his family, and hosting a desire for revenge, he pleaded with the immortal to accept him as a disciple.
But when his spirit root came out to be the lowest tier, he was taken in as a menial disciple.
From there, all is a blur.
From being a menial disciple of a minor sect, to navigating the Dao, and reaching immortality.
Eating the enlightenment peach to reforge his spirit root, cultivating in sacred realms to comprehend the Dao. He relentlessly pushed the path.
Revenge? He had already had his revenge when he reached the nascent soul stage of his journey.
From there, it was all just about attaining the Dao.
A lifetime of struggles, but he never stopped walking. Immortals bowed before his will, heavens shook from the intensity of his determination.
And at the end of it all? He reached what he had wanted to reach.
He attained the Dao, reached immortality, and became the strongest cultivator in existence.
He united the heavens, destroyed all evil, taught other immortals, and established a peaceful world.
And when he was finally done, a single thought remained.
What now?
There were no more heavens to ascend, no more realms to conquer, no more paths to walk. He had reached the end of his journey.
So, he made a decision.
He flew to the middle of the unified realm, and created a mountain.
On that mountain, he planted the tree of enlightenment, and moved the river of time to it.
He planted trees, made many other mountains around it, and invited immortals to a Dao confrence.
The mystic realm was established, the holy land known as the Paradise Immortal's Mountain.
He made a small hut for himself midway up the mountain, and returned to life as a mortal.
But occasionally, troubles still arise. Troubles that even the strongest existence cannot avoid.
———
Zhu Fan picked up his teapot, and poured the contents into a ceramic cup.
Looking at the teapot, he reminisced about his past.
"It's been so, so long..."
He smiled, and gave the teapot another glance.
"And yet, you've been with me, every step of the way..."
From outside the hut, a slight chuckles floated in.
"Not even being the strongest can replace having real friends, can it?"
It wasn't some demon, and not a mischievous spirit either. It was his pet dragon, named Ao Bai.
Zhu Fan didn't refute his words, or rather, he just couldn't. They were true, after all.
Wherever he went, people would bow to him, try to please him. It had become exceptionally hard to make friends, and the ones he did have, like Old Bai, barely ever visited.
He smiled, and lifted the cup, the steam rose, and disappeared into the clouds above.
He took a sip, but something felt off.
"Just a little hotter would be nice."
He focused his spirit energy, and heated up the tea in the cup, before also heating the tea in the pot.
The cup heated up, but the pot? It cracked, splitting down the middle.
Ao Bai laughed, just a gentle, teasing laugh.
"About time you retired the old thing, it's millennia old."
Zhu Fan sighed, not because one of his only few friends had 'attained enlightenment' and moved on, but because he would have to buy a new teapot now.
Standing on the edge of the mountain, Zhu Fan took a breath, and called out to his sword.
The immortal slayer had been his weapon for as long as he could remember. It was a strong weapon, but it's artifact spirit was a bit mischievous.
And why wouldn't it be? As a weapon that grew alongside its user, his past self had passed quite a bit of his mischief to it.
Getting onto the sword, he cast a charm to hide his appearance, and set off towards a fawaway mortal city.
Going to a nearby one was practically impossible, since the immortal bureau would monitor his every move.
"Being the 'Great Sage' has its downsides, huh..."
Zhu Fan let out a soft sigh, and relaxed, sitting down in a lotus position on the sword.
He flew over the spirit planes, the transcendant lands, the immortal realm, and finally reached the mortal world.
Wherever he flew, heavenly phenomenon occured, flowers bloomed, clouds parted, and even the animals bowed to his presence.
Zhu Fan, however, was completely unaware.
As he reached the edges of the Azure Stone city, he got off his sword. Making a swiping gesture, he disguised it as a simple hairpin.
He walked up to the guards, and made a polite bow.
"Is this gate open for entry?"
The guard returned his bow and spoke up with a bit of excitement.
"Of course it is!"
Zhu Fan gave him another bow, and walked into the city.
Immediately as he entered, he could see spirits mingling with humans, immortals chatting casually with demons, and even some children learning swordsmanship.
He walked past into the city, and looked around for anything interesting that caught his eyes.
He had reached the end of the path, but that didn't mean there was no way to progress further.
Opportunities were plenty in the cultivation world, and it was only a matter of time before he happened upon one.
His path had reached its end, but his adventure still hadn't.
Snapping out of his daze, he found himself walking through the market, looking around at the stores and the stalls, he spotted a store selling ceramic items and walked in.
Inside, an old man sat on a stool, wiping the dust off the teapot. The store wasn't dirty, and it wasn't clean either, it was just messy enough to entrance any person walking in.
There were a few ceramic items scattered about, and as Zhu Fan walked in, his lips arced into a faint smile.
He had developed this fondness for humans, actually, he had developed a fondness for mortals in general.
He spoke, his words carried a gentle tone.
"Greetings, senior... The days haven't been kind to you, have they?"
The shopkeeper looked up, and looked into his eyes. That one look told him all he needed to know—this child wasn't normal, not by any means.
The shopkeeper rose, and greeted Zhu Fan with a laugh, laced with a bit of regret.
"You're right, lad. The years truly haven't been kind to me."
He stopped, and took another good look at Zhu Fan. Then, he spoke up again.
"My name is Li Yun. But you can call me old Li if you want."
Zhu Fan just nodded, his eyes glued to the teapot in old Li's hands.
Old Li noticed his gaze, and handed the teapot to Zhu Fan.
"Like it? You're a good child. You can have it, I don't really have any need for it."
Zhu Fan picked it up, and channeled some of his spirit energy into it.
The only reason Zhu Fan had even bothered looking at it was because he had sensed faint spirit energy emanating from it.
As he channeled his spirit energy into it, a voice rung in his mind.
"Great One, this spirit thanks you for awakening it. But please, this opportunity is not meant for you. It is someone else's fate, I beg you to leave it be. This spirit has nothing of value to give you."
Zhu Fan didn't reply, he just set the pot back down.
"Thank you for the offer, senior. But I don't like to take something for free."
He looked at another teapot, somewhat similar to his old one, and picked it up.
"I'll be taking this one."
With that, he walked out of the store.
Back in the store, Old Li was pulled into a mysterious state of enlightenment.
One name resounded in his mind:
The Great Sage, Zhu Fan.
As he snapped out of his stupor, he picked up the teapot on the table, muttering to himself.
"Truly, such a mysterious person..."
Zhu Fan walked along the path, not even bothering to look back.
As he walked, a faint glow caught his eye.
It was the glow of spiritual energy, and a glow so faint that even he had only managed to barely perceive it.
He followed the glow to a stand, the vendor looked at him quietly, observing the strange man.
Zhu Fan, however, paid no mind. He picked up a weirdly shaped egg from the hundreds placed in front of the man.
"Friend, how much for this one?"
The vendor was about to say something, but the man in front of him radiated an aura that made him want to give the egg away for free.
Still, gathering his wits, he said,
"Just one spirit stone, friend."
Zhu Fan pulled out a spirit stone and placed it on the stall, picked up the egg, and resumed walking.
As the vendor pulled out of his daze, he picked up the spirit stone and muttered something to himself.
"What an odd fellow..."
Zhu Fan simply said to himself,
"Breakfast acquired..."
Zhu Fan walked, and people all around were enlightened. His presence made cultivators breakthrough, and soon, rumours spread about a strange young man who could perform miracles.
Zhu Fan still kept on walking, before eventually stopping to rest below a peach tree.
He sat down, and noticed another person who seemed to be meditating under the tree.
From the strange man's aura, it was clear that he was an immortal, but he didn't seem to have any spirit energy.
Zhu Fan looked over, and asked with a gentle tone.
"Brother, are you a cultivator?"
The strange man smiled, to him, Zhu Fan was just another mortal asking silly questions. He still replied, though.
Shaking his head, he said,
"No, I'm just a lowly wandering scholar. Why do you ask, brother?"
Zhu Fan said nothing, he looked into the man's eyes.
"You remind a lot of someone..."
The strange man smiled, and sighed. He looked up, and handed Zhu Fan an old book.
"These are the records of my travels, friend. It seems we are fated, so, this lowly scholar gives you these. May you find your opportunity and ascend to become an immortal."
Zhu Fan returned the man's smile, and picked up the book.
The cover read, "Records of Catastrophe"
Zhu Fan nodded, and the strange man returned his gesture.
Zhu Fan got up, and started walking again.
The strange man simply murmured,
"May you find your opportunity, friend..."
Zhu Fan looked around, and he spotted a small field.
Children swung swords out in the open, but one girl stood out.
Not because she was particularly outstanding, but quite the opposite.
Her form was sloppy, and it reminded Zhu Fan a lot of himself when he had just started out on his journey.
He appeared beside the girl, and placed a hand on her wrist, correcting her stance with his fingers.
"Your grip is weak, tighten it. Don't just swing with your arms, swing with your wrists too!"
Zhu Fan guided her a bit, it wasn't much to him, but to the girl, it made a huge difference.
Seeing the change in her form, she excitedly called out to him.
"Senior! Thank you for teaching this junior!"
Zhu Fan waved dismissively, and simply said,
"Don't worry about it. Just keep practicing, as long as you practice it, you'll get better at it."
"Senior, my name is Yi Lan, please take me as a disciple!"
That name startled Zhu Fan, he looked at her, and then gripped her wrist, quickly checking something.
"As expected, a broken fire spirit root..."
Yi Lan was taken aback by his sudden action, but didn't object, after all, she wasn't worth enough for the senior to hurt her.
Zhu Fan looked at her again, but this time, his eyes shone with a bit of nostalgia.
"Okay then, I accept you as my disciple."
Hearing those words almost made Yi Lan jump in joy, she hadn't expected to ever become the disciple of even an ordinary swordsman, much less a cultivator.
She wasn't an idiot, she knew that the strange energy that entered her body when the senior grabbed her wrist was spirit energy, which meant that this senior was a cultivator!
Yi Lan immediately bowed to Zhu Fan.
"Master, this disciple won't disappoint you!"
Zhu Fan smiled, he had gotten used to people bowing to him, but it had been quite long since any of his disciples visited him.
Speaking of those rascals, the girl in front of him likely meant that his second disciple had started her reincarnation training.
Zhu Fan laughed to himself,
"Time sure passes quickly, huh?"
He picked up Yi Lan in one hand and floated up, having scouted for opportunities and found this exceptionally rare one, he was more than ready to head back.
As he stepped through the clouds, Yi Lan closed her eyes in panic.
"Master! Please don't go so fast! It's my first time!"
Zhu Fan almost choked on air.
"Does this girl have any idea what she's saying!?"
He scolded her as they flew, but he still couldn't help but feel nostalgic.
It felt like just yesterday that he was scolding that mischievous second disciple of his.
As they flew in the coulds near the Paradise Immortal's Mountain, Yi Lan couldn't help but exclaim,
"Wow, master, you're rich!"
"Yea...rich."
As they landed in the garden near the hut, he put her down.
"Disciple, go build yourself a hut."
Yi Lan wanted to protest, but seeing the stern expression on her master's face made it all die down.
As she walked away, searching for wood and other materials, Zhu Fan sat on the edge of the mountain.
He looked over the mortal world, and simply sighed.
"Everywhere in this world, all around. People look for opportunities everywhere, searching for a path to follow. Is that really the way to the Dao?"
Zhu Fan smiled, looking over the clouds.
"It doesn't matter anymore, one's path is their own to decide. If there is a path, walk on it. If there isn't, then make one!"
He clutched the book he had obtained from that strange man.
"Even if I've reached the end of my path, I will keep walking."