Chapter 1 – Tales of the Gu World
Chapter 1 – Tales of the Gu World
Southern Border.
The warm afternoon sun filtered through a wooden window, bathing the small room in a gentle golden glow.
Dust drifted lazily through the air.
A young boy slowly closed the ancient book resting in his hands.
Its pages had yellowed with age, while the cover had long since faded. It had likely been forgotten in some dusty corner for decades.
Four worn characters were still barely legible.
Tales of the Gu World.
"...What a joke."
Li Tianyu chuckled softly before placing the book onto the wooden table.
According to the tale, countless years ago, the Gu World had entered its greatest era.
Every Venerable in history had returned.
Even more terrifying, countless new Venerables had risen one after another.
The entire Gu World became their battlefield.
Mountains crumbled.
The Spectral Heaven shattered.
The Five Regions descended into chaos.
Space fractured.
Time collapsed.
The Great Dao itself trembled beneath their battles.
Gu Immortals fought without restraint while mortals became nothing more than ants trampled beneath their feet.
In the end...
Every living being perished.
Humans.
Variant humans.
Beasts.
Plants.
Even the countless lifeforms hidden within Heaven and Earth Mystic Realms.
Nothing survived.
With every trace of life extinguished, the countless fragments of Fate that had once been distributed among all living beings returned to their source.
Rank Nine Fate Gu was reborn.
Then...
Another war erupted.
The Demon Venerables, led by Heaven Refining Demon Venerable.
Against the Immortal Venerables, led by Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable.
The final battle eclipsed every conflict that had come before.
The already dying Gu World was pushed to the brink of complete destruction.
At the very moment the world was about to collapse...
Rank Nine Fate Gu underwent its final transformation.
Having gathered the fate of every living being in existence...
It advanced.
Rank Ten.
Destiny Gu.
Yet instead of saving the world...
It erased it.
Everything returned to nothingness.
Time itself reversed.
The Gu World was born anew.
The shattered Nine Heavens became whole once more.
The Five Regions returned.
The rivers flowed again.
The mountains rose once more.
Life was given another beginning.
The story claimed that after advancing to Rank Ten, Destiny Gu had subtly rewritten part of the Great Dao.
Countless Gu worms changed.
Some vanished forever.
Some acquired completely different abilities.
Others became far stronger than before.
Entire cultivation paths evolved.
The Gu World itself had become different.
And thus...
The current era was born.
Humans still struggled against variant humans.
The various races still possessed their own territories.
The world appeared no different from the ancient records.
"So everyone believes it's merely a fairy tale..."
Li Tianyu smiled faintly.
"If only they knew."
He leaned back against his chair.
Unlike everyone else in this world...
He knew.
Every word recorded in that book was true.
Because he was an Otherworldly Demon.
In his previous life, he had read Reverend Insanity many times.
Although this world differed from the one in the novel in many places...
The conclusion was obvious.
The Gu World had restarted.
History had become legend.
The previous era had become nothing more than a bedtime story told to children.
"...Those Venerables truly were fools."
Li Tianyu slowly shook his head.
"They called themselves righteous."
"They called themselves demonic."
"They fought for countless years."
"In the end..."
"They destroyed the very world that allowed them to exist."
"They killed the goose that laid the golden eggs."
"No..."
"They were even more foolish."
"They destroyed the goose itself."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"This era..."
"I'll do better."
"I'll become the first Venerable of this new world."
His voice remained calm.
Without excitement.
Without arrogance.
Only unwavering certainty.
His gaze drifted beyond the window.
Smoke rose peacefully from village chimneys.
Children laughed as they chased one another through the dirt roads.
The village was tranquil.
Yet Li Tianyu knew that such peace was only temporary.
The Gu World had never been kind.
"Still..."
"The people here are unbelievably rigid."
"They divide everyone into righteous and demonic."
"What a ridiculous notion."
To Li Tianyu, people were simply people.
Greed existed among the righteous.
Kindness existed among the demonic.
The so-called distinction was merely a title created by history.
Yet generation after generation had accepted those labels without question.
Eventually, even the Venerables themselves became prisoners of their own identities.
Neither side was willing to coexist.
Neither side was willing to compromise.
In the end...
Their endless conflict dragged the entire Gu World into destruction.
His thoughts slowly returned to his own circumstances.
His father had been nothing more than an ordinary Rank One Gu Master.
D-grade aptitude.
No status.
No background.
No extraordinary fortune.
He had died years ago while carrying out a clan mission.
His mother had passed away shortly after giving birth.
Following his father's death, the Hei Shi Clan confiscated his modest inheritance as compensation for raising the orphan.
A clan Gu Master had been assigned to care for him.
There had never been much affection between them.
Few conversations.
Few emotions.
Neither owed the other anything.
One had paid the price.
The other had fulfilled his duty.
Nothing more.
Li Tianyu looked toward the setting sun beyond the distant mountains.
Its crimson light reflected within his calm eyes.
"Tomorrow..."
"The awakening ceremony begins."
"The first step toward becoming a Gu Master."
He slowly rose from his chair.
"No..."
"The first step toward surpassing every Venerable in history."
"Rank Ten..."
"That is where my journey begins."
