I created an extraordinary era

Chapter 674 concludes the story, marking forty years of the extraordinary era.
Uncle Ding's funeral was very simple. Apart from Xia Yuan, the Ding family, and Zhang Changsheng's family, almost no outsiders attended.

The main reason is that by the time Uncle Ding reaches that age, the people he knew have long since passed away.

He was seen off by several close relatives and friends.

The coffin slowly sank into the yellow earth behind Tanglin Village, becoming one with the land where he had lived for decades.

Supported by her son Ding Hai, Aunt Ding's aged body was slightly hunched. She took one last look at the fresh soil, gently patted Ding Hai's hand, and said in a low, hoarse voice:

"Go back."

Two words say it all.

Life must go on.

After the funeral, the Ding family courtyard seemed much emptier.

The laughter of the past is completely gone.

Ding Yan stood in the courtyard, looking at the bamboo chair where his grandfather used to sit, which was now empty.

Xia Yuan appeared under the eaves at some point, his gaze falling on the empty bamboo chair.

Fragments of memories, accompanied by the familiar scent of grass and trees in the courtyard, quietly surfaced.
Perhaps he sensed that his time was coming to an end.

A few days before his death, Uncle Ding's spirits suddenly improved significantly.

That afternoon, the sun was shining brightly.

Uncle Ding squinted, enjoying the warm winter sun, his face serene and detached.

He slowly sipped the pine needle tea that Xia Yuan had brewed, and suddenly spoke:

“Xiao Yuan, these days I keep dreaming about my old buddies. They’re calling me from over there.”

Xia Yuan paused slightly as he poured the tea, but did not reply.

Uncle Ding didn't seem to mind, continuing to speak as his gaze slowly swept over the courtyard where he had lived his entire life, every inch of which he knew as well as the lines on his palm:

"In my youth, I was a farmer who toiled in the fields. Later, after I married your aunt, I went to work on construction sites. I don't have any great skills."

"But God has been kind to me, allowing me to live peacefully to this age, and my children and grandchildren are all filial."

He paused, his gaze finally settling on Xia Yuan beside him, his cloudy eyes revealing genuine gratitude.

"Most importantly, I was able to meet you. This is the greatest blessing for our Ding family."

Xia Yuan was silent for a moment, then said softly:

"Uncle Ding, you flatter me."

"I know it in my heart."

Uncle Ding waved his hand, his tone unusually clear.

"Xiao Yan is an honest and straightforward kid, but sometimes he can be a bit stubborn!"

“But times have changed. There are more and more superhumans now, and I’m afraid I’ll suffer because of this personality trait, or even be murdered.”

"Xiao Yuan, from now on, I'll need you to keep a close eye on things."

His voice gradually faded away.

"And this courtyard, it will inevitably be deserted after I leave."

"But with you here, I feel at ease."

"Xiao Yuan, don't think I'm being long-winded. I'm entrusting my family to your care from now on!"

That day, Uncle Ding said a lot of things, as if he wanted to explain all the concerns he had made throughout his life.

As he finished speaking, he leaned back in the bamboo chair.

Holding the cup of tea that had long since gone cold, gazing at the drifting clouds on the horizon, I murmured:

"It's about time, it's time to take a break."

That was the last time he sat in that bamboo chair.

Recalling this moment, Xia Yuan's fingers lingered on the bamboo chair armrest for a moment before finally falling gently.

"Uncle Xia."

Ding Yan turned around and saw him. He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Your grandfather passed away peacefully.

Ding Yan nodded, his eyes reddening again:
"I know. It's just... I'm not used to it."

Xia Yuan looked at him and couldn't help but sigh.

This kid is too sentimental!

With his personality, he will probably live in the past forever.

No wonder Uncle Ding was so worried.

But some wounds can only be healed by time.

Like Ding Yan, there was also Aunt Ding.

Since Uncle Ding left, Aunt Ding often sits alone in a daze.

Their spirits also visibly declined day by day.

That evening, Ding Hai returned home and saw his mother sitting alone on the stone bench in the courtyard, staring blankly at the empty bamboo chair.

The afterglow of the setting sun shone on her gray hair, making her look exceptionally old.

"Mom, it's getting late, let's come inside."

Ding Yan gently advised.

Aunt Ding seemed not to hear, and only slowly turned her head after a long while, her eyes somewhat dazed:
"Xiao Hai, I think I just heard your dad calling me."

Seeing his mother like this, Ding Hai felt as if his heart was being torn apart.

He knew that his parents had been together for over seventy years, and that bond was deeply ingrained in his very being.

Father passed away peacefully, leaving Mother with endless longing.

……

A month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Everyone's lives gradually returned to normal.

After Uncle Ding passed away, Ding Yan became even more diligent in his cultivation.

It seems that he wanted to use cultivation to fill the emptiness and longing in his heart.

He was already quite talented, and now he is even more focused and making rapid progress.

Finally, about two weeks ago.

Ding Yan successfully broke through to the late stage of Dark Force in martial arts.

As for his cultivation level, he had already reached the fifth level of the Transcendent Realm six months ago.

Now that his martial arts realm has broken through to the late stage of Dark Force, he only needs about a year and a half to break through to the sixth level of Transcendent Realm.

Based on this calculation, Ding Yan's breakthrough to Grandmaster level will take no more than five years.

At that time, it had been less than fourteen years since he became a grandmaster.

This cultivation speed is already comparable to that of some students at the Origin Academy!
Of course, the absolute best among the geniuses cannot compare.

Nowadays, many students at the Origin Academy can break through to the late stage of Dark Force at the fourth level of Transcendent Realm, and they also master the Law Intent.

Under such circumstances, the speed of cultivation can be described as extremely exaggerated.

It takes less than five years to go from the fourth level of the Mortal Transformation Realm to the seventh level.

These people can be considered the true top geniuses of the human race.

Of course, the ability to cultivate so quickly is inseparable from abundant resources.

In other places, even with great talent, it would be impossible to cultivate so quickly.

However, Ding Yan's current cultivation environment and resources are no worse than those of any top genius.

This is also why he was able to cultivate so quickly.

Ding Yan, now thirty-eight years old, has already reached the fifth level of the Transcendent Realm.

It's actually quite rare even within the entire human race.

The current standard for top geniuses is generally to break through to the Grandmaster level before the age of forty and to the Unity Realm before the age of sixty.

Of course, this refers to people born after the Extraordinary Era.

Those born before the Extraordinary Era are not included.

After all, people in the old days started later and from lower levels.

Like Nangong Hong, who only started cultivating at the age of thirty.
Well, speaking of which, it seems that it only took Nangong Hong twenty-five years to break through to the Unity Realm, and he wasn't even sixty years old at that time.

However, this is an exception.

Those born before the Extraordinary Era are extremely rare to reach the Unity Realm before the age of sixty.

There were fewer than five people.

These people have now all entered the second or even third stage of the Unity Realm.

That's right, both Ji Xuan and Nangong Hong have already entered the third level.

This is also the final stage of the physical realm.

Once the third stage of tempering is completed, one can enter the second realm of Unity.

Muscle and Bone Realm.

Xia Yuan estimated that it would take Nangong Hong about twenty years to reach the Skin and Flesh Realm.

However, this speed is not actually very fast; at least it did not reach Nangong Hong's limit.

If he weren't trying to open up acupoints, he could have saved a lot of time.

But in any case, ten years will definitely be needed.

In other words, it would take at least fifty years to cultivate to the peak of the Unity Realm.

This is only the theoretical case.

After all, a talented person can't possibly not explore their potential.

Everyone has already noticed.

The more acupoints you open, the stronger your physical body will be, and the more energy you will have.

The efficiency of absorbing source energy will also be higher during cultivation and recovery.

With so many benefits, naturally no one would give it up.

Therefore, the cultivation speed of the top human experts is actually much slower than the theoretical value.

Of course, opening up acupoints is extremely difficult.

This path is not suitable for everyone.

Many people are not naturally gifted, and if they waste a lot of time and resources trying to develop new talents...

They would probably never be able to break through to the True Spirit Realm in their entire lives.

However, in Xia Yuan's opinion, those who haven't explored their physical potential probably only reach the True Spirit Realm as their limit!
It's practically impossible to break through to a higher level.

“Nangong Hong has already opened up more than forty acupoints, yet he still hasn’t been able to form a complete galaxy like me?” Xia Yuan stroked his chin.

He originally thought that condensing a galaxy wouldn't be too difficult.

At least for Nangong Hong, it shouldn't be too difficult.

Unexpectedly, almost fifteen years have passed, and Nangong Hong has opened up forty-three acupoints.

But a qualitative change has still not occurred.

This surprised Xia Yuan quite a bit.

Or rather, it was much more difficult than he had imagined.

If even Nangong Hong faces this challenge, then it would be even more difficult for others to condense a galaxy.

Xia Yuan pondered to himself.

Perhaps it's not just a matter of the number of acupoints; it could be that the acupoints have been opened in the wrong locations.

According to his observation, among the twenty-odd people who have broken through to the Unity Realm.

No one has yet appeared with the exact same acupoints.

These people have some differences, and some have even opened up completely different acupoints.

Of course, this is mainly because the number of acupoints that people have opened up is relatively small.

As more acupoints are opened up in the future, the number of repetitions will definitely increase.

Shaking his head, Xia Yuan stopped thinking about it and turned his attention back to the three of them.

That's right, three people!
Apart from Hua Changfeng and Ding Yan.

There is another person.

Wan Chen.

Two years ago, after dealing with matters at Lingxiao Academy, Wan Chen did not go to Yuexing.

Instead, they came to Panlong Town and requested to pay their respects to Xia Yuan.

In front of Xia Yuan, he confessed his past grievances with the Dawn Society and everything he had done afterward.

This includes how to leverage the position of Dean of Lingxiao Academy to provide resources for those who defy fate, and how to bribe some members of the Judgment Hall.

This also surprised Xia Yuan quite a bit.

Of course, it wasn't unexpected what Wan Chen did.

He knew most of these things.

Xia Yuan originally thought that if Wan Chen could confess before the Judgment Hall came to him, he would eventually be spared.

Unexpectedly, Wan Chen eventually chose to come to Panlong Town.

The reason he was unwilling to explain himself to the Court of Judgment was...

One reason is Wan Chen's own status and qualifications.

He is not only the dean of Lingxiao Academy, but also one of the earliest elders of the human race to become extraordinary beings.

He was a figure from almost the same era as Li Nangong Hong, Sikong Yang, and others.

Making him bow down and confess to these people is difficult for him due to his pride and complex emotions.

on the other hand.

Wan Chen did not regret what he had done.

They will seek revenge against the Dawn Society.

This was a strong obsession he had even before he became a superhuman.

If it weren't for that obsession, it's uncertain whether he would have survived back then.

Therefore, Wan Chen was unwilling to accept the judgment of the Hall of Judgment.

In his view, the one who can truly make a final judgment on this matter and make him willingly accept the outcome is the one who can do so.

Only the ancestor!

This was also the common thought in the minds of the first group of extraordinary individuals.

No matter how brilliant someone was in their time, they would not feel awe or beg for mercy.

This is the dignity that belongs to the original seekers of the Way.

Huangfu Yao, who participated in the rebellion, did not beg for mercy from Nangong Hong, who was at the ninth level of the Transcendent Realm and had reached the Transformation Realm in martial arts.
Even at the very end, they all faced death with equanimity, and not one of them begged for mercy.

It's just a matter of the victor taking all, there's nothing more to say.

But it's different when facing the Origin Ancestor.

The Origin is the pioneer who opened the path to the extraordinary and led humanity onto an unprecedented path.

His existence has become a spiritual imprint rooted in that early era.

In particular, the students from the first two cohorts were the first humans to embark on the path to transcendence, and they also had the most contact with the Origin Ancestor.

Therefore, their feelings and attitudes towards Xia Yuan were completely different from those of any other powerful figure who rose to prominence later.

After hearing those words from Zhang Yao.

Wan Chen had already decided to come and find Xia Yuan.

Although he wasn't sure if the Origin Ancestor already knew, Wan Chen was very clear that the Origin Ancestor wouldn't have sent Zhang Yao to deliver such a message to him for no reason.

Therefore, after Wan Chen found out Xia Yuan's address from Zhang Yao, he came directly here.

When he saw Xia Yuan, he didn't say a word of begging for mercy; he was completely prepared to die.

Of course, Xia Yuan did not kill him in the end.

Since Wan Chen had taken the initiative to approach him, he was willing to give him a chance.

However, this comes at a price.

From this day forward, Wan Chen will never be allowed to participate in any human affairs.

And he will stay by Xia Yuan's side for the rest of his life.

This is different from Hua Changfeng.

Xia Yuan will not restrict Hua Changfeng's freedom.

But for Wan Chen, unless his strength one day surpasses Xia Yuan's, he will never be free.

Wan Chen accepted the result calmly.

For him, this could even be considered a relief.

No longer need to struggle with the tug-of-war between power and responsibility, nor be bound by past grievances.

For the rest of my life, the only path left is to pursue the extraordinary.

He has been practicing here for the past two years.

Xia Yuan also delegated the task of instructing Hua Changfeng and Ding Yan to Wan Chen.

With his strength at the Unity Realm and his martial arts at the Transformation Realm level, instructing these two would be incredibly easy.

As for the outcome of that incident...

The People's Federation did not hide much, and the account was basically the same as what happened.

The final publicly announced result was that Wan Chen, the dean of Lingxiao Academy, was stripped of all power and position and imprisoned for life.

This news shocked the entire human race.

The attention generated by this incident even surpassed that of Wanxiang Tianlu at one point.

After all, Wan Chen is the dean of Lingxiao Academy, an elder of Origin Academy, and a powerhouse of the Returning to One Realm.

It is truly unexpected that someone of such a high status would end up like this.

Especially in the eyes of some high-level officials, there was no need to go to such lengths.

Although Wan Chen provided support, he never actually took action, and what was destroyed was only the headquarters of the Dawn Society, without causing any deaths of ordinary people.

Given his power and status, he could have been dealt with leniently.

The reason these people pleaded for Wan Chen was not because they actually had a good relationship with him.

It was Wan Chen's example that made those of them who also held high positions and wielded enormous power and resources feel a chill.

They worried that if they could be so harsh on Wan Chen today, would they or their faction face the same ruthless reckoning if they or their people made a mistake in the future?

The iron fist of the rules, which fell on Wan Chen today, could fall on any of them tomorrow.

Therefore, some people are trying to test the flexibility of the rules by pleading for leniency, in order to pave the way for possible future manipulation.

But this time, no matter who pleaded for leniency, the top decision-making body did not change its mind.

On the one hand, Xia Yuan had already defined the nature of the matter; on the other hand, this door really couldn't be opened.

As the human race expands its territory and power, it will inevitably lead to the emergence of more interest groups and factions within its ranks.

The Wan Chen incident, to some extent, can be seen as a powerful deterrent by the top decision-making body against increasingly complex internal forces.

The intention is to clearly inform everyone that no matter how high one's status or how strong one's power, there are certain red lines that must never be crossed.

Inciting unrest on Earth is already the bottom line!

Once this door is opened, countless ordinary people will live in fear.

Therefore, many ordinary people applauded this outcome.

They saw the determination of the People's Federation and the Court of Judgments to maintain order, and they saw the hope that everyone is equal before the rules.

This can be said to have greatly enhanced the confidence of ordinary people in the extraordinary order of the times.

Lin Yue, who had personally entered the game, initially thought she could easily control Wan Chen.

After all, in her eyes, she and Wan Chen were already in the same boat.

But she didn't understand.

How could a powerful figure like Wan Chen, who has risen step by step from the beginning of the Extraordinary Era, be threatened by someone like her?
Even Wu Zong Nangong Hong couldn't possibly be involved, let alone her.

Therefore, Lin Yue's fate was actually predetermined from the very beginning.

Perhaps she sensed it too.

So in the end, she left most of her savings to the old black man who had been with her for over twenty years.

But in the end, she was too calculating and too lacking in genuine feelings throughout her life.

Perhaps only towards Lao Hei did she truly feel a sliver of warmth, or perhaps she wanted Lao Hei to fulfill the goal she had always pursued in her place.

To become an absolute powerhouse capable of controlling the fate of everyone.
With Lin Yue's death, the organization "Rebel Against Fate" also became a thing of the past.

As time went by and the news about Wanxiang Tianlu continued to spread, the controversy quickly subsided.

Neither Lin Yue nor Wan Chen could compare to the insignificance of the tides of time.

Few people truly lamented their demise.

Because a brand new era is about to begin.

outside the window.

The bells rang quietly for the fortieth year of the Extraordinary Era.
(End of this chapter)