"The Qing family? Could it be that the origin of Qingzhou's very name is due to this Qing family?"
"That's right. The names of the Nine Provinces today indeed originated from the nine great cultivation families of that time."
"The nine families possessed comparable strength, forming a tripartite balance where each occupied one province and none encroached upon the others. This state of equilibrium lasted for approximately two hundred years, but it was changed by an incident,"
"An incident? What incident?" Chu Feng grew more curious.
"During that year, the Qing family bore a son. On the day of his birth, golden light appeared in the sky, enveloping the entire heavens. Four enormous beasts galloped and roared in the air, shaking the entire continent."
"Moreover, the child was remarkably gifted. Legend has it that within a month of being born, he could already speak. By the second month, he was walking upright. At the age of one, he began learning music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. By five, he had read all the ancient books under heaven," Su Mei said.
"There are actually such prodigies in the world?" Chu Feng was astonished. Such a rate of growth truly exceeded common understanding.
"That's not even the most significant part. The most crucial thing was that by the time this child was seven, his physical structure and bones were already exceptional, equivalent to that of a normal twelve-year-old. Therefore, at the age of seven, he began cultivating martial arts."
"What was truly terrifying was that in the path of cultivation, he was also incredibly powerful. At nine, he stepped into the Yuan Martial Realm. At eleven, he entered the Xuan Martial Realm. By thirteen, he had already reached the Heaven Martial Realm. He swept across the Nine Provinces, making the Qing family the undisputed overlord of the
"That formidable? Stepped into the Heaven Martial Realm at thirteen, swept across the Nine Provinces and unified the continent?"
Chu Feng was shocked again. The Heaven Martial Realm was, to date, the pinnacle of cultivation known to mankind. For someone to have entered it at the mere age of thirteen was simply too terrifying. Chu Feng was already fifteen, with a cultivation at the Spirit Martial Eighth Stage, which many already considered genius-level. But that individual had reached the Heaven Martial Realm at thirteen – it was almost unbelievable. Even Chu Feng was utterly astonished, because compared to that person, he himself seemed utterly mediocre.
"Impressive? The most impressive part is yet to come. At the age of fifteen, he stepped into an entirely new realm of cultivation."
"An entirely new cultivation realm?"
"A realm possessing the majesty of a king ruling over the world, with the power to move mountains and drain seas. A mere wave of his hand could destroy a city, and slaughtering lives was as trivial to him as crushing ants. He was the true sovereign of the world, the arbiter of all living destinies. Therefore, people called this realm the Martial Monarch!"
"Martial Monarch? So after the Heaven Martial Realm, there is the Martial Monarch?" Chu Feng was utterly astonished. He couldn't help but ask, "What exactly was this person's name?"
"His name was
"Qing Xuantian." Chu Feng engraved this name deeply in his mind, for he had to remember such a figure – a true genius, a truly great personage.
"Qing Xuantian is the most formidable figure that has ever appeared on our Nine Provinces Continent. However, this matter occurred far too long ago, and the Nine Provinces Continent has undergone many changes since, so few people today know of it."
"What is most peculiar, though, is that shortly after Qing Xuantian became a Martial Monarch, he suddenly vanished. Theories about his disappearance abound. Some say he left, because the Nine Provinces Continent could no longer contain him."
"Others claim he cultivated against the heavens, violating the martial path, and suffered divine retribution, dying the very year he became a Martial Monarch. Currently, the theory of his death seems the most plausible."
"Did he really die? Such a powerful figure, just died like that?" Chu Feng found it hard to believe. How could someone so powerful simply die?