The Tianmen Elder’s voice grew low and hoarse. “It was a rainy night. At the sect gate I found an abandoned infant, no more than a few years old, soaked to the skin and trembling with cold. I took pity on him, brought him back to the sect, and accepted him as a disciple.
I named him Shihun, hoping he could forget his past pain and start a new life.
Shihun was extraordinarily gifted. His cultivation talent was astonishing, and he soon became a core disciple of Tianmen. I treated him as my own son and taught him every secret art the sect possessed.”
When Chen Ping and Liu Xue heard the name Shihun, they both instantly thought of the Soul-Devouring Venerable.
A look of heart-wrenching pain crossed the elder’s face. “But I never imagined that this child was a remnant of the demonic sect. His entire clan had been wiped out by the righteous path, and he had carried hatred in his heart from the very beginning. He drew close to me only to learn Tianmen’s arts and then take his revenge.
After he reached the Heavenly Immortal realm, he finally revealed his true colours. On the night of a full moon, he launched a sudden assault on Tianmen.
Using the techniques I had taught him, combined with the demonic sect’s evil arts, he slaughtered every single disciple of Tianmen in one night.”
The elder’s voice broke, and tears slid from his eyes. “I was in secluded cultivation at the time. By the time I emerged, Tianmen was a river of blood, corpses everywhere.
The disciple I was most proud of, the one I trusted like family, had betrayed me and destroyed everything I had built in my life.”
The Tianmen Elder drew a deep breath and continued. “I hid Tianmen’s core region, turning it into these ruins.
Then I destroyed my own body and followed my disciples into death, leaving only this wisp of remnant soul. For over ten thousand years I have waited here, hoping to find someone truly worthy to inherit Tianmen’s legacy and fulfil one final wish for me.”
Only now did Chen Ping and Liu Xue understand why every earlier trial had been about refusing to play the saint.
The leader of Tianmen had once saved a demonic fiend out of kindness, and that kindness had brought about the sect’s annihilation.
Now they also knew why Tianmen had vanished overnight: it had been destroyed by the Soul-Devouring Venerable.
“Senior, the Soul-Devouring Venerable has committed every evil under heaven in the Nine Heavens. He was suppressed beneath the Sixth Heaven for ten thousand years,” Chen Ping said.
“He has been suppressed? Then it seems he has received the punishment he deserved.” The elder let out a breath of relief.
“However, the Soul-Devouring Venerable has escaped again and has now returned to the Nine Heavens,” Chen Ping added.
The elder froze, then said, “Young man, could you not pause so dramatically when you speak?”
“Senior, what is your wish?” Liu Xue asked respectfully.
A resolute light flashed in the Tianmen Elder’s eyes. “My wish is for someone to kill the Soul-Devouring Venerable on my behalf, to avenge the disciples of Tianmen.
At the same time, I hope Tianmen’s legacy will continue, that Tianmen may once again stand tall in the Nine Heavens.”
The elder looked at Chen Ping earnestly. “Young man, I see in you an iron will and formidable strength.
You have passed every trial I set, proving that you are no soft-hearted saint, but a true powerhouse capable of surviving in this world where the weak fall prey to the strong.
I have decided to entrust the entire Tianmen inheritance to you. Within it are all the cultivation resources accumulated through the generations, Tianmen’s supreme techniques, and the sect’s greatest treasures.
I hope you will use these resources, raise your strength as quickly as possible, and then slay the Soul-Devouring Venerable to avenge Tianmen.”
With that, the Tianmen Elder spread his hands. A beam of golden light shot from his palms and instantly merged into Chen Ping’s body.
