I started by slashing through the enemy's territory, and I drew so many affixes that my hands w

Su Lingwei used to be so dazzling. Although she was never high-profile, both Chen Xiaohu and Jiang Qin could see the pride in her heart. But now, that pride has been completely shattered by what was once her so-called family.

The bloodstains all over her body and the meager spiritual energy clearly indicated that Su Lingwei's martial arts realm had been destroyed.

Not only that.

Her right arm was empty; the arm itself was nowhere to be found.

For martial arts practitioners, physical disability means broken meridians. Even if they could find miraculous medicine to heal Su Lingwei's injuries now, her physical disability would mean she would never have a chance to turn her life around.

"How dare you! How could you do this?!"

Faced with Chen Xiaohu's anger, the two Su family elders didn't take it seriously and said indifferently:

"Su Lingwei violated the rules of our Su family and has been punished."

"You've been given the person. You have ten minutes to leave Lingxi Mountain. Otherwise, even if he's the last promising talent of Zhenling Academy, my Su family has nothing to fear!"

Chen Xiaohu wanted to say something more, but the weak Su Lingwei grabbed his arm.

She shook her head silently.

Seeing this, Chen Xiaohu had no choice but to first stuff two healing pills into her mouth, then carry Su Lingwei on his back, glance back at the Su family members, his gaze sweeping over them one by one, and then strode down the mountain.

That look was both a threat and a consequence.

The two elders of the Su family didn't take it to heart. With ferocious beasts ravaging the country, it was hard to say whether the two of them would survive. As for the missing Jiang Qin... others might not know, but how could they not know?

The entire city of Tianyun was wiped out by the gods, and even Jiang Qin, a peerless genius, died in that battle.

Therefore, they have nothing to fear.

If it weren't for the lingering influence of the Zhenling Bureau, there would be no way we would let these two leave today.

...

At this moment, within the Cangling Realm.

Jiang Qin's soul fell into a deep sleep.

His consciousness was drawn by a force to a special space.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a palace. The surrounding buildings were laid out in an ancient style. On the steps at the front, a man sat on a dragon throne, leaning back lazily with his eyes lowered.

Dressed in a golden dragon robe, lifelike and exuding imperial grandeur.

Upon seeing his face, Jiang Qin immediately recalled all the memories of this man's life and knew his identity.

The First Ancestor of the Cangling Realm, the first emperor born in the tens of thousands of years of history of this world.

He started the war against the gods and ultimately died at their hands.

A deep, thunderous voice echoed through the palace, belonging to the First Ancestor of Cangling.

"What do you, future generations, consider to be 'human'?"

"Standing tall and upright!"

"Humans are born weak, while Heaven is supreme and can decide the life and death of countless beings with a single thought. How can we stand tall and upright?"

Jiang Qin remained silent for a moment, then, after thinking for a while, cupped his hands and said:

"All living beings must face life and death. The body may be destroyed, and the soul may be annihilated, but the human will will continue from generation to generation, never yielding. By accumulating the strength of several generations, success can be achieved sooner or later. This is the passing down of the torch."

"The torch..."

The First Ancestor of Cangling murmured this word, finding it particularly easy to pronounce.

The surrounding scenery began to change rapidly, and the palace was reduced to scorched earth.

The heavens fell as divine punishment for humanity's disrespect, turning millions of miles into scorched earth, with people wailing everywhere. Heaven thought this would break the backbone of humanity, but free will had already taken root in the minds of every human being.

Heaven is ruthless; it treats all things like straw dogs.

The human race was unwilling to accept this, so they turned their military might towards the heavens.

An invisible pressure descended upon Jiang Qin, causing him to bend over halfway. He gritted his teeth and stubbornly refused to kneel down.

The First Ancestor of Cangling stepped out and stood before him.

"What good is passing the torch from generation to generation? To the Heaven, even if our human race accumulates for thousands of generations, we still cannot contend with Him, we cannot contend with the gods. In the end, we will become livestock. If we had known this would be the result, what would have been the use of our efforts? We are all failures."

"No, the Cangling human race has failed." Jiang Qin raised his head with difficulty to deny it, his attitude firm: "The Cangling human race has failed, but the human race has not failed!"

"All you can do now is to bet everything on me. I will shoulder the millennia-old ambition of the Cangling human race and completely end the era of [Heaven's] dictatorship!"

A mocking smile appeared on the lips of the Cangling Ancestor. "With your current abilities, you don't even have a physical body. Anyone can talk big, and your so-called will is completely meaningless."

If the result is a failure, then who would be foolish enough to repeat the same mistake?

That familiar burning sensation resurfaced, warming Jiang Qin's consciousness.

He straightened up slowly, his eyes burning with a flame: "Some things, even if they're meaningless, still have to be done! Just like knowing you're destined to fail, you still choose to raise a blade against the sky. If failure is inevitable no matter what you do, it's not that fate has ordained our failure, but that we've chosen a fate of failure!"

"And I believe that one day, humanity will be able to control its own destiny, and no one will be able to stop it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the pressure on him vanished instantly.

The surrounding environment and the Cangling Ancestor began to dissipate, and a hearty laugh echoed in this space.

"What a perfect saying! It's not that fate ordained our failure, but rather that we chose a fate of failure!"

"Freedom and power belong to all living beings. If Heaven wants to deprive humanity of its freedom and control our thoughts, then—even if He is Heaven, our human race will still shine with our own brilliance. Even Heaven cannot reverse the eternal will etched into our blood!"

Jiang Qin's answer satisfied the illusory soul of the Cangling Ancestor.

He acknowledged that this person from later generations possessed the potential to become the "Emperor" of the human race.

The next test will follow immediately...

He answered one question after another, and met hundreds of extraordinary figures of the Cangling race. For some, he only needed to give them a satisfactory answer, while for others, Jiang Qin had to experience their entire lives.

I don't know how many years have passed.

A thousand years or ten thousand years?

What Jiang Qin didn't notice was that every time he passed a test, his illusory consciousness would solidify a little more.

He witnessed the Cangling human race rise from decline to glory, giving birth to countless brilliant and talented individuals.

Until the surrounding scenery disappeared again.

When Jiang Qin opened his eyes, he was already in a dilapidated wooden house. The surroundings were deathly silent, and the only thing he could feel was the sand and dust blowing in from the window from time to time.

Jiang Qin had become somewhat accustomed to such things.

Among the ancient sages of the Cangling human race, there were always those who liked to test people's willpower with time. It was believed that once people had completely died of old age, the test would end, and then the next test would begin.

Jiang Qin numbly surveyed his surroundings, then silently began tidying up the wooden house...