Deep in the middle of winter, in the northern region.
The night sky was clear like water while the moonlight was bright like frost, illuminating the vast sea of trees. The glow of snow surged through the land.
A single mountain stood among the sea of trees and among the snowy tundra. Five colossal words, “Sword Sect of the World”, were carved deeply into the cliff, facing the south and overlooking the world.
There was a disturbance in the sea of trees, and a young man leapt out. He gazed at the five large words and smiled smugly.
He was handsome, with some golden shades within his short, black hair. His eyes were perfectly round and filled with intelligence.
Afterwards, he landed on the ground gently without leaving behind a single trace. His eyes landed on the large figure of a man standing beneath the cliff, immediately becoming filled with mixed emotions. There was both respect and intimacy from the bottom of his heart, as well as some unavoidable resentment and dissatisfaction.
But at the very least, there was one thing he could not deny. This man was far more towering than the lone mountain in his heart, perhaps even a little unattainable.
As such, he walked over and bowed. “Father.”
Li Qingshan looked back with a smile. “Yao’er, sure enough, you’re the first one to arrive.’
The young man was his youngest monkey child.
“Father summoned me, so how can I not get here early?”
“In the past, you would definitely throw yourself on my back.”
A sliver of reminisce appeared in Li Qingshan’s eyes. He was not a blade of grass or a tree. He too had feelings.
“Father, a- are you really going to be leaving?”
The young man suddenly became extremely unwilling to see him go. The person standing before him was not just the renowned hero king but also his father.
Li Qingshan waved his hand. “Your brothers and sisters will probably take a while before they get here. Go catch some game. I want to have a cup.”
The young man obliged and dove into the trees again, but before long, he returned with a great brown bear on his shoulders.
Another three people had appeared beside Li Qingshan. They all greeted him with a smile. One of them said, “Old Yao, you sure are enthusiastic!”
The young man snorted and began butchering the bear by himself.
Li Qingshan ordered the other three to go fetch some firewood.
By the time they had started a fire and the bear meat began radiating with fragrance, multiple figures had already appeared beneath the cliff, including both males and females. They were all people of outstanding talent. Either sitting or standing, they maintained their distance from each other.
They were all princes and princesses, having inherited the most outstanding bloodline of this world. They all possessed wondrous powers that regular people did not. Even people with a greater cultivation than them struggled to defeat them, not to mention the fact that most of them already possessed cultivation at the apex. They would definitely become rulers of the world in the future.
The only reason why they still were not yet was because the current ruler, or their father, was still seated here. However, all of them knew he would not be staying here for too long.
Half a year ago, the leader of the World’s society, Gu Yanying, transferred her power and authority, ending a rule that lasted several decades. Afterwards, she announced they would be leaving this world soon, throwing the entire world into unrest. Fortunately, the laws she had established maintained basic stability, and the hero king was still around, so who would dare to cause trouble?
However, the work that she had once undertaken alone now required the combined efforts of several dozen people to complete. Most importantly, they lacked a decision master. The world needed a new king.
They were the qualified ones, and it was not just because of their identities. This was a world where the strong ruled after all. If they were not sufficiently powerful, they could not consolidate their power no matter how able they were.
As a result, only they could contend for this position.
Just like that, let alone siblings of different mothers, even siblings of the same parents would grow wary of each other. On top of that, they were certain that Li Qingshan had gathered all of his children tonight to choose someone to inherit the throne from among them, so they found each other to be even more unpleasant to the eye now.
Li Qingshan seemed to be unaware of all of this. He ordered with a smile, “Huchen, you cut the meat! Fengxian, come and fill my cup!”
A bare-chested man with a full beard walked over and drew the blade from his waist, cutting out the bear’s heart that was still bloody and offering it up to Li Qingshan. Afterwards, he cut off one of the bear’s paws and began stuffing his face like no one was around. Apart from Li Qingshan, no one could accept his service.
The others were all unhappy with this, but they knew his personality was like that. His cultivation was not the strongest among the siblings, but no one believed they could defeat him in an individual battle.
A woman with a phoenix crown of pure gold, dressed in a lovely dress, walked over while pouting. Clearly, she was very reluctant to do something like filling his cup. She did not want to be some hero king anyway, so why would she want to suck up to the “old man”?
Li Huchen and Li Fengxian had inherited the bloodlines of the tiger demon and the phoenix respectively. They were unique even among the many children, and they were also the proudest, so Li Qingshan loved ordering them around the most. He said it was to keep their arrogance in check, but no one believed that explanation. They truly believed the “old man” was just harassing them.
Yao’er had already reached his teenage years too. He was at his rebellious phase.
Many of them had already reached their middle ages if measured according to the lifespan of regular people. They were no longer the naive, innocent children of the past. Even when Li Qingshan ordered them, he could not make them comply wholeheartedly.
Of course, that was exactly what Li Qingshan wanted. Loyal and filial children were the most boring.
He shook his head with a smile and ate a third of the bear’s heart in a single bite. He chewed it without much thought and washed it down with a cup of alcohol. “Guinian, you split the meat!”
“Yes, father.”
The young man who had once helped Yang Miaozhen pass on the message stood forward. After a slight thought, he wielded his fingers like a blade, splitting the bear meat between his siblings piece by piece. No one was dissatisfied with their portion, clearly not just because he was thorough with his considerations, ensuring that there would be no disputes in the allocation.
Li Guinian was the only one who inherited the bloodline of the spirit turtle, as well as the only one who was disinterested in authority over the world. Instead, he bore a great resemblance to his mother, Yang Miaozhen, devoting himself to cultivation without any other desires. On top of that, he had the spirit turtle’s forbearance and strategy, so despite his age among his siblings, he was the only one without a rival.
Li Qingshan glanced past his many children. Apart from the three of them, most of the others were monkey children, obviously because the ape demon’s bloodline had gained the upper hand. They were lively and could not be tethered down.
The rest were a bunch of calves. They were much milder when it came to their personalities, but every single one of them were very stubborn.
One of them was bald. He was the only one who did not receive any bear meat, as he was a monk. Who knew how many times Li Qingshan had given him a beating, but he still ended up becoming a monk, adhering to the precepts very strictly. At this moment, he had his palms brought together as he chanted under his breath, expiating the soul of the poor bear.
Li Qingshan wondered why he had given birth to a “strange one” like him. Perhaps it was because he had a destiny with the buddha but had not become a monk in the end. He grabbed a clump of snow and cleaned off his hands before standing up and gazing at the top of the mountain. “Children, you’ve had something to eat and drink, and you’ve warmed up, so get ready to climb the mountain with me. Be careful not to fall down. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you’re not heading up, then stay here. You better not say I didn’t warn you as your father if you end up falling to your deaths.”
All of the children thought he was joking. It was a mere mountain. How could they fall off it?
Even the youngest child who happened to possess the worst cultivation did not think this would be particularly difficult. After all, he had spent his childhood climbing trees.
Suddenly, Li Guinian looked towards the north. He lowered his head and said, “Father, I want to stay here.”
“My damned turtle of a son, you’re still the cleverest.” Li Qingshan still treated him like a little boy and rubbed his head. “However, not everything can be divined. You miss a lot of fascinating parts of life if you blindly avoid trouble.”
Li Guinian sank into his thoughts. He abruptly raised his head and looked at him as if he had understood something. “Then I’ll come along too!”
A simple climb up the mountains did not pose any problems to him, but as he said that, dark clouds rapidly swept over from the north, obscuring the stars and moon and making snow fall.
“Let’s set off then!”
Li Qingshan leapt onto the cliff with his children following close behind him. Only Li Fengxian spread her wings and flew through the surroundings with ease. Those who could fly were always so complacent. However, as the light snow turned into great snow and eventually heavy snow, she could not fly like that anymore as the fierce winds screamed through the world.
She was not a true phoenix after all. With her current cultivation, her body as a human was still too heavy, so all she could do was land on the cliff again. She yelled at Li Qingshan, “You must have had this all in mind!”
Li Qingshan laughed aloud and spread his arms at the sky. “”Make the blizzard a little more intense!”
As if the heavens heard his voice, the wind became even fiercer. The entire sea of trees swayed violently. The snow was no longer falling either, surging through the surroundings recklessly instead. Even the thick layers of accumulated snow were lifted into the air.
With a crack, a tree that towered over the forest was forcefully snapped apart, sucked into the sky by the winds. It landed several dozen kilometres away loudly.
Before such might of nature, even the princes and princesses became as insignificant as mortals. Not only did the climb become extremely difficult, but the sudden drop in temperature made things even worse.
Originally, no one had taken the cold seriously. With their bodies, they were completely impervious to the usual winter cold, so none of them wore winter clothes. By now, even their breaths turned to ice, which made them understand the dangers. They could only unleash their true qi to ward off the coldness, but it would rapidly deplete their true qi.
Li Qingshan just happened to choose the most dangerous route as well. He even took twists and turns intentionally.
Everyone was certain that this was a test. Even if it was not for the authority over the world, none of them gave up for the sake of their pride as princes and princesses.
The group gradually formed a long, twisted line. The lips of the young man at the very end had already turned blue, and both his arms had grown numb. The figures of his elder brothers and sisters blurred in the snow, making it even more impossible to see his father at the very front.
Glancing down, he could not see anything apart from wind and snow. Who knew how high he had climbed already. If he fell down from here, he would definitely be smashed to pieces, so all he could do was grit his teeth and continue onwards.
At that instant, all of the figures in front of him vanished. Apart from the whistling wind, there were no other sounds, so it seemed as if only he remained in the world. All of the blood in his body almost seemed to freeze.
Suddenly, the rock he was holding onto loosened. Originally, this was something that happened very frequently when climbing, but his rigid body prevented him from adjusting in time. He lost his balance immediately and began to plummet.
“Ahh!”
“Old Yao!”
Abruptly, Li Fengxian looked back. She spread her wings and leapt down, grabbing the young man before trying to return to the cliff.
However, even flying alone was impossible in the snowstorm, let alone when she was carrying another person with her. She was like a broken kite, thrown around in the wild wind. Right when they were both about to fall, another figure leapt off from the cliff and called out, “The monkey scoops the moon!”
This was not the name of some powerful move, but the name of a game that all the monkey children had played in their youth. Li Qingshan had told the story about the monkey scooping the moon to them all.
Seven or eight figures threw themselves at the wind and snow one after another. The first one grabbed Li Fengxian and felt his legs tighten at the same time. In the end, they formed a huge human ladder, swaying in the snowstorm.
Li Huchen let out a tiger’s roar and sliced through the winds with his blade.
The bald prince and the other brothers worked together and pulled everyone back forcefully. He constantly uttered the buddha’s name, “Amitābha, amitābha!”
The young man returned to his senses. He felt several powerful arms pressing him against the cliff firmly as true qi was injected into his body. The concerned faces all pressed up against his. For a moment, he was unable to tell which arm was whose. His chest was filled with warmth as tears poured down from his eyes, immediately freezing into ice.
When he had fallen off the cliff earlier, if any of them had hesitated even in the slightest, he would have fallen to his death already.
“You fool, why’re you crying? If you couldn’t hold on, couldn’t you just tell us?”
Li Fengxian said, “Li Yuanfei, you were just in front of old Yao before. Don’t you know how to take care of him?”
“Fucking hell, I almost couldn’t hold on myself, so how am I supposed to care about him? Speaking of which, if I hadn’t responded quickly enough, you all would have been done for.”
Li Yuanfei felt aggrieved. Earlier, it was him who lunged out and called out, “The monkey scoops the moon!” gathering his siblings to help out.
“Hahahaha!”
A clear, hearty smile rang out over them. Everyone looked up, only to see Li Qingshan with his arms crossed, standing horizontally on the cliff like none of it had anything to do with him. He even said complacently, “How’s that? It’s all thanks to me that I taught you this move!”
Everyone glared at him furiously.
Li Qingshan curled his hand at them. “C’mon, I’ll give the position of hero king to whoever makes it to the top of the mountain first.”
They looked at each other. In the snowstorm, their faces had instead become so clear to one another. A long-lost sense of family flowed through them.
Li Guinian said, “I’ll cover your backs!” Li Fengxian said, “I’ll go with you. What sh*tty hero king? I have no interest at all!”
As a result, they reorganised the group. The strongest took turns in leading and opening up a path, producing footholds in the hard, icy-cold cliff. They did not chase after Li Qingshan desperately, instead climbing straight up the mountain.
Li Qingshan shook his head with a smile. With a leap, he shot straight to the top of the mountain, vanishing into the wind and snow.
With his disappearance, the storm began to weaken. All of the princes and princesses were certain he was behind the unnaturally violent blizzard earlier. They did not know how he could control this vast power of the world, but that was what they believed in. They even began to fume over this.
Perhaps fathers were just all-powerful in the eyes of all children, except most children would realise that was not the case after they grew up. However, Li Qingshan continued to give off that feeling. No matter how close or easygoing he seemed, he was still like a great, mysterious mountain, standing at the end of the world, such that they could only look at him from afar, unable to approach him.
When they approached the top of the mountain, it was Li Huchen’s turn to lead the group. His beard had turned frosty-white, and his bare chest was covered in a layer of ice too. He reached out and grabbed the edge of the cliff before moving to one side and giving way. He said, “Whoever wants to be the hero king can just go be the hero king!”
