"It seems you, Senior, are acquainted with our Crouching Dragon Martial Sect's predecessors?" Chu Feng asked.
"We've all been active in the Martial Realm, so naturally we've met."
At these words, Shangguan Huangquan suddenly grew melancholic.
"If those two were still alive, your Crouching Dragon Martial Sect would never have fallen to its current state."
"In truth, the entire Martial Realm owes your Crouching Dragon Martial Sect a debt of gratitude."
Hearing this, not only Chu Feng but even Sikong Changsheng looked on with curiosity.
They could both tell that Shangguan Huangquan knew certain things that others did not.
"The Primordial God Domain was the most brilliant of the Nine Heavenly Rivers."
"How could any cultivator not yearn for it?"
"Long ago, cultivators ventured into the Ninth Heavenly River, but without exception, none ever returned."
"Thus arose the tale of the Ancient Purgatory."
"After that, fewer and fewer dared to enter the Ninth Heavenly River."
"By our era, it appeared that the Martial Realm had reached its zenith."
"But in truth, all the major powers knew that the relics the Martial Realm could explore had grown scarce, and resources were nearing exhaustion."
"Whether it was us old bones or the younger generation, our cultivation progress had slowed dramatically."
"If things continued this way, every power would inevitably decline."
"Seeking change, all the factions reopened the matter of exploring the Ninth Heavenly River."
"But despite the most thorough preparations, the result was still that no one returned."
"Even the carefully prepared means of communication proved useless."
"The Ninth Heavenly River was like an entirely separate place, completely isolated from the current Martial Realm."
"At this point, all factions again intended to abandon the endeavor."
"Until something happened."
"A mysterious set of ruins suddenly appeared in the Martial Realm."
"The appearance of those ruins shook the entire Martial Realm."
"The spectacle was nearly as grand as the current Divine Era, yet it was something never recorded in any historical text."
"This gave all factions renewed hope."
"They believed that perhaps the Martial Realm still held vast resources — they simply hadn't been able to uncover them yet."
"But the difficulty of opening those ruins was immense, so the factions set aside their grudges and formed an unprecedented alliance."
"In the end, they succeeded."
"However, once the ruins were opened, they discovered that what lay within was not treasure or opportunity."
"It was a bizarre and terrifying force, one powerful enough to destroy the entire Martial Realm."
"And by opening the ruins, we had unwittingly awakened that force."
"Realizing something was wrong, we did our utmost to make amends, but the force was too powerful — even our combined strength could barely suppress it."
"In the end, it was two powerhouses from the Crouching Dragon Martial Sect who used a forbidden technique, sacrificing their lives, to eliminate that force."
Hearing this, Sikong Changsheng grew emotional: "Sect Master, so that incident back then was quelled by the predecessors of the Crouching Dragon Martial Sect?"
Although Sikong Changsheng had been young at the time, the crisis emanating from those ruins was so intense that everyone in the Martial Realm had felt it.
Even he had believed the Martial Realm was about to be destroyed.
But that aura had suddenly vanished, as though nothing had ever happened.
Yet the participants who had been at the ruins claimed it was their combined effort that had eliminated the force within.
And so the Ancestral Martial Realm Sect, the Myriad Dao Sect, the Immortal Sea Fish Clan, the Seven Realm Holy Mansion, and other factions became heroes of the Martial Realm.
As for the mysterious sect — what would later become the Crouching Dragon Martial Sect — no one mentioned it.
Not even the Ancestral Martial Realm Sect brought it up.
Shangguan Huangquan did not explain to Sikong Changsheng, but instead looked at Chu Feng: "Chu Feng, the reason the truth was not revealed to the world was not because we sought to steal the credit."
"It was at the wish of those two Crouching Dragon Martial Sect seniors."
"They cared nothing for the world's opinion — they only wanted to quietly protect Ancestral Martial."
"They told us not to speak of this matter to anyone."
Shangguan Huangquan said.