CHAPTER 1: Cheon Ma Revives!

In a richly maintained garden, a man sat alone, immersed in thought. In front of him was a blue teapot adorned with golden patterns. Each golden line that decorated the teapot pulsed slowly with a deep glow. With a smooth and practiced gesture, the man filled a cup with tea and brought it to his lips. The cold porcelain contrasted with the warmth of his fingers. With a quick sip, he emptied the entire contents. 

Letting out a satisfied sigh, the man leaned back in his chair and slowly opened his eyes. His irises seemed to contain the vastness of the sky itself, glowing with a faint blue light. His gaze shifted forward, and in the blink of an eye, the blue transformed into a deep ruby red. The vast sky turned into swirling black patterns, moving hypnotically. 

For a second, his vision distorted. In front of him, the green trees were replaced by a bloody battlefield. Dozens of immortals flew in all directions, fighting in an orderly chaos. Witnessing the bloodshed did not make him waver. It was not the first time he had watched people slaughter each other. 

Feeling a pull on his consciousness, the man's vision turned inward. Before him, a vast expanse of reddish earth stretched in all directions. Looking further ahead, he noticed a small spatial disturbance at the center of his sky-grotto. 

Turning his gaze downward, he saw three men identical to himself. Sensing his gaze, the three turned in his direction and kneeled in perfect synchronization. 

"Lord Cheon Ma, the preparations have been completed. Awaiting further instructions," they said simultaneously. 

Without saying a word, Cheon Ma lowered his sky-grotto, connecting it to the Five Regions. Soon, mystical phenomena began to emerge. 

'It won't be long before those three realize what's happening and come knocking on my door. They'll likely join forces just to kill me, fearing another player entering the game. Hehehe, it's exactly what I would do.' Despite his cold and indifferent attitude, Cheon Ma's heart pounded like war drums. Even with all his preparations, the chances of living to see tomorrow were incredibly low! 

His strength was far beyond that of any pseudo-Venerable, but it still paled in comparison to a true Venerable—let alone three of them. 

Sensing three massive auras, Cheon Ma snapped out of his thoughts. In mere moments, three figures appeared before him. As they hovered in the air, towering over the mountains like gods, Cheon Ma's heart pounded even harder! 

"Giant Sun Immortal Venerable, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, and Great Love Immortal Venerable, what a pleasant surprise. Please forgive my rudeness. I didn't know I would be receiving visitors, so I haven't had time to prepare anything." Cheon Ma decided to stall for time. 

The first to speak was Giant Sun. "Hmph, I sensed an overwhelming fortune coming from the Southern Border. To think someone so talented had been hiding among the mountains. Immortal Gu, could you at least tell us your name?" 

He was particularly interested in this mysterious Gu Master. Even if he tried to hide, the methods of a Venerable could not be underestimated. Giant Sun used his Luck and Blood Path methods to reveal Cheon Ma's cultivation path. 

The potent bloodthirsty aura was like a beacon to Giant Sun. 

In his thoughts, he began to assess his situation. 'Right now, I might be the weakest Venerable after Fang Yuan. In the future, other Venerables may end up reviving, and my Huang Jin tribe will be at a disadvantage against the forces of the Central Continent. Ideally, I should get my hands on his comprehension of the Blood Path. Becoming a Venerable in two Paths would more than double my strength. Unfortunately, Star Constellation and Fang Yuan would never allow it.' 

"You flatter me, Lord Giant Sun. My name is Li Cheon Ma. Unfortunately, I have spent most of my time cultivating in seclusion and have not made a name for myself in the Five Regions like the esteemed Lord Great Love." 

With each passing second, within the sky-grotto, chaos was slowly but steadily seeping in. 

Hearing that name rang a bell in Fang Yuan's mind. In his past life, when he had just advanced to rank 6, he had heard of a Spatial Path cultivator from the Southern Border. In the old timeline, Li Cheon Ma made a name for himself as a rank 7 capable of fighting on equal footing with a rank 8, just like Feng Jiu Ge. 

'Perhaps this is the butterfly effect!? If he is close to becoming a Blood Path Venerable, I must assume it is thanks to the destruction of Fate. I shouldn't underestimate him—who knows what Spatial Path methods he might have in his hands? I have the advantage; he doesn't know that I am aware of some of his Spatial Path methods thanks to his biography. The question is: how can I maximize the benefits of this situation?' 

Plans upon plans formed in Fang Yuan's mind. 

Star Constellation began deducing. "Damn it! I already have so much on my plate, and now I have to deal with another demon. Normally, a pseudo-Venerable wouldn't be a problem, but the presence of these two makes everything more complicated. I should take this chance to kill a potential Demon Venerable and seize Fang Yuan's Qi Sea clone body. Once the Primordial Master revives, it will only be a matter of time before the Heavenly Court reaches its peak!" 

Giant Sun broke the momentary silence. He, like the other two Venerables, noticed the small beads of sweat forming on Cheon Ma's forehead. 

"There's no need to apologize, friend Cheon Ma. It is our fault for arriving unannounced. I'll be direct, my friend. Currently, we Venerables are at an impasse, so when we saw signs of a Venerable ascension, we came straight here. We made an agreement to kill you, but I would like to extend an olive branch to you. Join my Huang Jin tribe, and I will help you with your advancement!" 

Giant Sun's voice was confident and friendly, but everyone understood the underlying meaning. 

Cheon Ma went beyond! His 'sixth sense' from the Blood Path roared in his mind. 

'Hmph, does he think I'm an idiot? Submit? Not even in death!' The slight twitch in his right eye revealed Cheon Ma's emotional state. 

"Don't listen to him. Giant Sun alone won't be able to protect you. Why not join the Heavenly Court?" Star Constellation intervened. 

Cheon Ma ignored the argument that followed between the two. His gaze focused on the third Venerable—Fang Yuan. 

Cheon Ma had heard of his feats, even admired him. But that didn't mean he would submit to him. 

Fang Yuan remained unusually silent, something both Star Constellation and Giant Sun noticed. 

'What is this guy planning?' 

"There's no point in trying to convince him," Fang Yuan said. "In my past life, before using the Spring Autumn Cicada, I heard many things about him. His origins as a humble mortal who received a Spatial Path inheritance. Now, I'm no longer sure of the truth in that. What matters is this: in the Grand Era, Cheon Ma was known as the Wandering Space Demon—someone who refused to take a side and plundered everyone indiscriminately. Hehehe, we are quite similar in that regard." 

Giant Sun and Star Constellation exchanged glances before turning their eyes to Cheon Ma, who had a slight smile on his face. They weren't fools to believe Fang Yuan's words completely, but judging by the spatial arrays surrounding the mountain, there was some truth in them. 

'Begin!' 

Cheon Ma gave a mental command.

Immediately, his three clones of the Blood and Soul Path began to act. Inside the grotto-heaven, a massive storm cloud roared. The winds produced by the storm alone were equivalent to a rank 7 move. The torrential rain quickly began to devastate the land. However, the biggest problem had yet to emerge. In the middle of the clouds, a small mass of chaotic energy slithered like a newborn dragon. The pure aura emitted by this chaos made the dao marks inside the aperture vibrate.

A slight frown adorned Cheon Ma's face, but it did little to diminish his appearance. 'I severely underestimated a chaotic tribulation. Dealing with three Venerables along with this is going to be a headache.'

The smile on Cheon Ma's face widened, causing the Venerables to raise an eyebrow.

"Great! He's gone mad," Giant Sun commented.

Slowly, the smile turned into laughter, which then escalated into a full-blown cackle.

"This is it! This is why I embarked on the path of cultivation. Come, Venerables, show me why you are considered the pinnacle of humanity!"

Even though he said this, Cheon Ma did not act recklessly. He had to be careful if he wanted to see tomorrow.

The Venerables exchanged glances and, without a word, launched their killer moves.

(A/N: I don't remember most of the killer moves introduced, and I'm too lazy to look them up, so ignore any mistakes in rank classifications.)

Despite Fang Yuan's words, Star Constellation and Giant Sun did not immediately go for the kill.

Star Constellation's intuition told her there was an opportunity here. And for Giant Sun, it was even more pronounced. His Luck Path told him that once he had Cheon Ma—alive or dead—his future path would be paved with blessings.

Fang Yuan noticed this and also decided to test the waters. He couldn't go all out or he would ruin his disguise.

Rank 8 Killer Move—Myriad Dragon Sword Qi!

Several silver dragons appeared and unleashed a breath of sword qi toward Cheon Ma.

Seeing the attack, Cheon Ma's smile vanished. Even though he could easily handle rank 8 and below killer moves, the tribulation only grew stronger the more immortal essence and Gu he used.

Swinging his right arm horizontally, Cheon Ma counterattacked.

Rank 8 Killer Move—Transform Energy into Blood!

At the core of this move was the rank 8 Blood Gu, an immortal Gu capable of controlling and amplifying Blood Path attacks.

The clash between the two attacks made the Venerables sigh. Even though he was not yet a Dao Lord, Cheon Ma was able to utilize the Blood Path dao marks within the animals around the area to amplify the effects of his killer move. The sword qi turned red before converging and focusing on Fang Yuan!

"Hmph, an interesting trick."

With a snap of his fingers, Fang Yuan refined the Blood Dao marks and sent them back at Cheon Ma in the form of a highly condensed red beam.

Cheon Ma looked at the beam indifferently before waving his hand, causing it to turn and head straight toward Star Constellation. The beautiful lady made a casual gesture with her hand, intercepting the attack in mid-air before making it dissipate into a red-violet mist.

"Friend Giant Sun and Friend Star Constellation, you're not planning on letting me do all the work, are you? You both know that I have the least immortal essence among us. Why don't we join forces and end this quickly?" Fang Yuan said.

"Friend Fang Yuan, stop acting! Even if you only had ten drops of yellow apricot essence, it would still be as if you had a thousand white lychee beads. And that's without considering the boosts given by your Dao marks," Giant Sun responded.

Cheon Ma's expression darkened. They were right. Normally, it would be impossible for a mere rank 8 to even dream of dealing with a Venerable. However, he had a trump card that would allow him to possess rank 9 combat power.

As his aperture reached a critical point, the storm cloud inside began to move, unleashing black lightning across his grotto-heaven. Every passing second meant losing more of his sanity and strength, so he had to act quickly.

"To think I'd be forced to use this so soon. Sigh Hahaha, even if I die, I will go without regrets!"

Rank 9 Immortal Killer Move—Harmony Born from Chaos!

This move combined the paths of Soul, Blood, Space, Sword, and Celestial! It required four immortal Gu for support and used the Heavenly Harmony Gu as its core. With this, the original body gained the ability to use all these paths without suffering from interference caused by Dao marks. Unfortunately, the cost of immortal essence was colossal—he could only maintain this move for fifteen minutes before completely exhausting his white lychee beads.

It was a suicidal move!

Because they had underestimated Cheon Ma, it was already too late to stop the activation!

Feeling the rank 9 aura he emitted, the Venerables were momentarily left speechless.

"Star Constellation!"

"Star Constellation!"

Fang Yuan and Giant Sun shouted in unison.

Understanding her role, Star Constellation quickly retreated and began deducing.

But Cheon Ma didn't stay idle! Disappearing from his position, he reappeared before Giant Sun, who barely had time to set up a killer move before being struck by a spatial blade. If not for his body's dense concentration of Dao marks, not only his body but also his soul would have been split in two!

In a flash of black light, Cheon Ma appeared behind Fang Yuan. Before he could land a strike, he was suddenly thrown backward. Regaining his balance mid-air, Cheon Ma noticed a black mark on the left side of his abdomen. He could sense remnants of Strength Path, Wind Path, and Space Path within it.

Utilizing Blood Path, his skin rapidly regained a healthy pink hue.

Fang Yuan's mind spun wildly.

"It's impossible that he cleared his chaotic tribulation so quickly. I can only assume this is some kind of killer move. But what kind of killer move could allow such efficient use of all Dao marks and Gu? It's almost like my Sovereign Body."

"I understand!"

Star Constellation's voice cut through his thoughts.

Cheon Ma moved.

Rank 8 Killer Move—Omnipresent!

Four Cheon Mas surrounded Star Constellation. With no other choice, she was forced to activate her home Gu—Star Constellation Chessboard!

After merging with the home Gu and turning into light, she activated all of her defensive methods. Star Constellation was no fool—if it relied on the other two, she would die today!

Cheon Ma unleashed relentless attacks. He used the Space Path to isolate the two from the other Venerables, the Blood and Soul Paths to carve a path, and the Sword Path to cut through her!

A deep blue, almost black cloud, with thousands of stars inside, surrounded Star Constellation's body. With each attack, more stars appeared, and her defense grew stronger.

On the outside, Fang Yuan and a wounded Giant Sun were conversing.

"What do you think? Should we let them kill each other?" Giant Sun asked.

"I can tell this move is powerful, encompassing all aspects, but it must be very costly to maintain. Once his primordial essence runs out, he's dead. There's no way he can survive a war of attrition and deal with the chaotic tribulation at the same time. My plan is as follows…" Fang Yuan began to plan with Giant Sun. If their plan succeeded, only two Venerables would live to see the next day.

Inside the pseudo-battlefield,

Cheon Ma was starting to show signs of fatigue. His mortal essence had already dropped to 30% and was still depleting. He knew there was no chance of survival left; he had already accepted that he would die today.

Apparently giving up his advantage, Cheon Ma freed Star Constellation from the pseudo-battlefield. This action thwarted Fang Yuan and Giant Sun's first plan.

The two immediately began preparing their strongest methods.

"What's the meaning of this, Giant Sun and Heaven Refining?" Star Constellation had already guessed what was happening. The two were betraying her!

Before even reaching the southern border, Fang Yuan had already used a killer move: stealing celestial secrets to know which important phenomenon would occur.

After learning that someone would face a chaotic tribulation, Fang Yuan contacted Star Constellation and Giant Sun as soon as the Celestial Dao understood that someone would undergo a tribulation. At first, Star Constellation thought it was some twisted scheme by Fang Yuan to drive her out of the Celestial Court.

(At this moment, the Qi Sea Ancestor had already been captured.)

But after witnessing it herself, she left, leaving behind a will with many Gu and immortal essence.

She was growing tired of dealing with Fang Yuan—another demon from the southern border would be too much.

'Now!' Fang Yuan said in Giant Sun's mind.

Giant Sun watched as a tear in space opened, from which an extremely sharp sword emerged. Its presence alone was enough to bring a rank 8 to its knees. He chose to trust Fang Yuan and activated his defensive method of the Path of Luck to direct the force of the attack toward all living beings in the area.

As soon as Cheon Ma changed targets, Giant Sun began to recover slowly. Even though he defended, the power behind the attack was akin to a rank 9 move.

Back to the present moment.

Without giving any explanation, Giant Sun and Fang Yuan began bombarding the two.

Cheon Ma activated his Space Path and Sword Path methods to create equally powerful counterattacks. In this exchange, the entire surrounding area was obliterated, killing thousands in the process.

Unnoticed, thousands of Soul Gathering Arrays were activated and deactivated simultaneously. All of them were rank 5, designed to avoid drawing the attention of the Venerables.

Cheon Ma took advantage of this situation to distance himself more and more from the Venerables. His intention was clear: let them fight while he dealt with his tribulation.

Fang Yuan anticipated this and sent several near-rank 9 moves in his direction. He knew that defending would cost a lot of immortal essence and that dodging would end up hitting Star Constellation.

Having to deal with the two at once, Star Constellation sent a message to Cheon Ma.

"Friend Cheon Ma, why don't you give me a hand here? I swear that once this is all over, I'll help you advance to rank 9 and give you a seat as one of the immortal kings of the Celestial Court. Not bad, huh?"

"Lady Constellation, I'd love to help, but the tribulation has already devastated 60% of my aperture, and I'm reaching my limit. I fear I won't survive long enough to be helped."

Slowly, but steadily, Cheon Ma redirected the various killer moves toward the more populous mountains.

Suddenly, Cheon Ma spat out a mouthful of blood. His skin began to crack like glass, and his body became wrinkled, as if he were an 80-year-old man. There was no trace of his previous youthful beauty.

"Hahahahahaha, so this is how my time in the Gu World ends. Hmph, I wish I could have taken at least one with me. Eh, we don't always get what we want. Hahahahaha!"

Cheon Ma cracked more and more, until he eventually exploded.

The Venerables watched in stunned silence. It wasn't every day that a rank 8 could stand against a Venerable.

A blinding light erupted where Cheon Ma's body had been. Before the Venerables, who had stopped fighting, there stood a lingering will.

"I died, but not before dealing with the chaotic tribulation! So here's my gift to the Gu World: a rank 9 aperture with hundreds of thousands of Dao Marks with no attribute!"

"Since chaos swept away the Dao Marks of the Blood Path and any other Dao Marks from the paths of time and space, there was no chance of transforming these Dao Marks into a specific path. And since there is no Celestial Spirit, think of it as a dimension that can extend your own aperture with hundreds of thousands of Dao Marks waiting to be refined into any path! There are no requirements. The first to grab it takes the prize!"

Such an opportunity was too good even for the Venerables, especially for Fang Yuan, who needed apertures of the same rank as his to feed.

While the Venerables were too busy deciding who would claim the prize, Cheon Ma's soul traveled toward an unknown place in the Gu World.

Upon arrival, Cheon Ma saw a blue sea stretching as far as the eye could see. It was the isolated domain of heaven and earth, the Blue Sea of Life—the place where all living beings originated.

Above the sea, Cheon Ma positioned himself on a translucent blue magical circle.

Cheon Ma took a deep breath, even though he didn't need to, and jumped into the sea. As he descended deeper, countless fragments of light shone in the dark. As a soul, Cheon Ma felt the sea rejecting him every time he went deeper.

Thank the heavens his soul was indestructible.

Reaching the bottom of the sea, Cheon Ma found what he was looking for.

It was a translucent Gu that resembled a fetus. Its color was a blend of all the colors of the rainbow.

Cheon Ma had the idea of refining a Gu of the human path when he was in a very special dream realm. It was the dream realm of the last human to see the Blue Sea of Life, Ren Zu!

In it, Cheon Ma discovered how life came into existence and elevated his understanding of the human path to quasi-great grandmaster.

The Gu refined by Cheon Ma was made using his supernatural Dao Marks and the soul and consciousness of countless humans and beasts.

Cheon Ma called it: Supernatural Physique of the Pure Blood Demon!

(A/N: Send suggestions for names for this physique)

After taking the fetus and swallowing it, Cheon Ma was sucked out of the Gu World. His soul wandered through the void until he found a light, a new life awaited him!

The light became so dazzling that Cheon Ma's eyes began to burn.

"I did it! I made it! I saved the lives of their babies!" an aged voice reached Cheon Ma's ears. Cheon Ma was currently being lifted by an old woman. He was in a wooden cabin, surrounded by people dressed in rags that could only be called clothes if they were taken from a renaissance fair themed around the year 1000AD.