Ch. 160 - My Name Is Liu Pingfan

“I don’t have a name,” the young man shook his head. “But you can tell me yours.”

“Where’s your home?” Little Gui continued asking.

“I don’t have a home either. But right now, I’m working on something truly great,” the young man replied with a grin.

“What is it?” Little Gui asked curiously.

“I’ll tell you, but you mustn’t share it with anyone else,” the youth said with a sheepish smile, then whispered, “Actually, the world we live in is round, like an orange.”

“Round? The world is endless,” Little Gui argued.

Xu Zimo glanced at Little Gui, then at the young man.

The truth is, the nature of this world had been debated and explored since ancient times, even by many Grand Emperors. One of the most famous was Grand Emperor Shen Xing.

After accepting his destiny, Grand Emperor Shen Xing vanished. Before he left, he left behind a single line:

With my feet, I will walk the brilliance of all mountains and rivers.

He set off in one direction. After an extremely long journey, he reached the easternmost end of the world, a literal boundary.

The myth that the world was infinite was completely shattered.

There, Grand Emperor Shen Xing encountered a barrier. No matter what he tried, not even a full-powered strike with a Grand Emperor True Treasure, could damage it in the slightest.

Eventually, he returned to the True Martial Sacred Ground and wrote one final sentence at the end of his travel logs: We live in a cage.

After he ascended, his records were stored by the sect. Apart from the upper echelons, few disciples ever saw them.

As a result, many on the Primordial Heartlands still believed the world was limitless.

…

“What makes you say the world is round?” Little Gui asked the young man.

“The horizon is curved. When a ship comes in over the sea, the mast is the first thing we see, then the hull follows,” the young man explained with a grin.

Back in the Desolate Era, the Titan Race was believed to have been wiped out.

Legend says they died resisting a great threat to the Primordial Heartlands.

After the Desolate Era, the Imperial Era came and went.

Then one day, a single titan awoke to the world. From the moment he had consciousness, he had been alone.

He had no family. No name.

He began trying to understand the world, and discovered that his body was hundreds of times larger than a human’s. He was an outcast.

He lived in remote mountains, spending his days training and playing with desolate beasts.

Then one day, as he looked at the sky with sunlight spilling gently through the clouds, he was struck by a sudden thought:

He wanted to explore the shape of the world.

…

“Believe me,” the young man said, “if I start from the Grand Myriad Mountains and keep going in one direction, one day I’ll circle the world and return to where I began.”

Little Gui fell silent for a moment, then muttered, “What’s the point of debating whether the world is round? Why not spend that time cultivating? If we hadn’t shown up today, you might’ve been captured and had your Essence of Life ripped out.”

“No. I have to prove it myself,” the young man insisted. “Anyone want to come with me?”

“We’re not interested in that,” Xu Zimo shook his head, smiling. “But I believe your theory.”

“Then I’ll be on my way. I hope we meet again someday,” the young man said, laughing.

With that, he transformed back into his towering, giant form. With a single step spanning nearly 100 meters, the ground thundered as he strode away.

Little Gui chuckled and turned to look at Chi Qianxue. “Senior Brother, what about her?”

“We’re taking her to the Eastern Continent’s core,” Xu Zimo replied.

During the earlier battle, the Tiger Tribe villagers had scattered like birds and beasts, fleeing into the mountains. Not a soul remained.

Xu Zimo and Little Gui rested for half the night. At dawn, they mounted up and continued their journey.

Xu Zimo rode the Darksky Tiger, while Little Gui rode a Green Flood-Stallion.

Chi Qianxue was tied to the flying horse she’d arrived on, which was in turn tethered to the Darksky Tiger’s neck.

“Untie me. I won’t run. Besides, with you here, I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to,” Chi Qianxue said to Xu Zimo.

“Prisoners don’t get to make demands,” Little Gui snorted. “Once we reach the Eastern Continent, if there’s no worthwhile ransom, you might not even survive.”

The winding mountain range was long and rugged. The terrain around them grew steep.

Golden sunlight spilled across the peaks, and from above, the entire range looked like a coiled golden dragon.

…

The long river flows gently.

The sky fades into dusk.

A sword of three feet in hand,

I’ll sweep away the world’s dust.

I walk while singing my song,

And my sword descends from the heavens.

A young man in a light cyan robe walked leisurely through the mountains, a green sword strapped to his back. A wine gourd hung at his waist, and he hummed, unclear whether it was poetry or a tune.

The Darksky Tiger thundered through the distance.

The young man stopped, curiously watching Xu Zimo’s group. He smiled and said softly,

“I’ve been in the Grand Myriad Mountains for ten days. This is the first time I’ve seen another person.”

Xu Zimo looked at the man’s clothes and suddenly recalled someone, a legendary figure from his previous life.

“Lady,” the young man said, looking at Chi Qianxue, “please don’t gaze at me with such intense possessiveness. Ah, this damned unparalleled beauty of mine.”

Chi Qianxue looked utterly confused, as if ten thousand mythical beasts were stampeding through her mind.

“Friend, what’s your name?” Little Gui asked warily.

“I’m called Liu Pingfan,” the man said with a grin. “Ping as in ‘ordinary,’ and Fan as in divine descending from heaven.”

Then Liu Pingfan glanced at Little Gui and gasped, clicking his tongue. “Friend, I see great destiny in your forehead, a once-in-ten-thousand sword genius! I happen to have a peerless divine sword. Since fate has brought us together, I’ll sell it to you at a discount.”

Xu Zimo dismounted and asked with a smile, “What divine sword? Let us see.”

Liu Pingfan chuckled, plucked a blade of grass from the roadside, and said solemnly, “This, my friend, is the sword I speak of.”

“You think I’m stupid, or are you just messing around?” Little Gui snorted. “That’s a piece of grass.”

“My friend, do you know the highest realm of swordsmanship?” Liu Pingfan asked.

“What is it?” Little Gui blinked.

“Grass, trees, bamboo, and stone, all can be swords,” Liu Pingfan said, smiling. “This blade of grass is a divine sword. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Then he casually tossed the grass into the air.

A torrent of sword light fell from the heavens.

BOOM!

The mountain beside them was cleaved in half.

Comments