Thousands of years ago.
Southern Border, Renyan Mountain.
At the mountain's peak, the cave entrance silently opened, and an ancient, decrepit Gu Immortal stepped out.
His complexion was ashen and lifeless.
In his prime, he had never managed to procure Life Span Gu, and had been forced to rely on other methods to extend his lifespan. Now that his life had run out again, even if he could find Life Span Gu or resort to other methods once more, it would be pointless.
"Here I stand — Chai Fu, a lone cultivator who rose to the Eighth Transformation through nothing but his own strength — yet in the end, I am still defeated by my lifespan. How wretched! How hateful!"
Chai Fu's heart was filled with fury, mingled with sorrow vast as an ocean.
He descended the mountain in a daze, but the village at its foot took him by surprise.
"Before I entered seclusion, there wasn't a single soul here. How, after only a few years, has it become so lively?"
"I — Chai Fu, the Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal whose name is known throughout the Southern Border's Gu Immortal world — cannot live much longer. And yet you mortals live on, vibrant and carefree!"
Watching the men and women toiling in the village, the children running about and playing, the hatred and rage in Chai Fu's heart swelled rapidly, nearly driving him to slaughter every last villager.
But the next instant, he forcefully shut his eyes. His entire body shuddered for a moment before he gradually calmed himself.
Chai Fu suppressed the evil thoughts in his heart and let out a bitter laugh. "I, Chai Fu, may not be any kind of good person, but I have always lived by the principle that I do not strike unless struck first. I would never stoop to slaughtering the innocent."
"Sigh, so be it if I die. What else can be done?"
"Even the Ten Great Reverends cannot escape death, can they?"
"Eternal life is easy enough for a Gu Immortal to obtain, but true immortality — how impossibly difficult that is!"
Chai Fu had long since reviewed his entire life during his seclusion. He had no regrets remaining, and now he faced the end with nothing to his name, perfectly at ease.
With nothing else to occupy himself, Chai Fu took on the guise of an itinerant old Gu Master and made his way toward the village.
"Are you a traveling physician who walks the mountains?" The mountain folk in the village misunderstood his identity.
Chai Fu simply played along, and in return received a warm welcome from the villagers.
Though the village had Gu Masters among them, the highest cultivation among them was only the Third Transformation, and none were skilled in healing.
Many mountain folk came to Chai Fu for help. With his abilities, a casual display of his skills was more than enough to cure every ailment.
Chai Fu thus earned even greater reverence, and at the same time, he learned the origin of this village.
"So these people are actually my descendants — blood of my blood from over a century ago!"
This discovery filled Chai Fu with lingering fear and immense relief. It was a good thing he had not struck down the innocent back then.
Presently, Chai Fu began to contemplate the meaning of his life. "Perhaps this arrangement by fate is meant to leave something of me behind."
Chai Fu had already considered leaving behind his legacy, and now his thinking had taken another step forward.
"As it happens, during my seclusion I was struck by a burst of inspiration and conceived of a Human Path killer move. It seems fate never acts without purpose — it wants me to use this move here."
That killer move was Talent Trap!
Chai Fu had originally been trying to devise a method of life extension. He never expected the final result to be this.
Talent Trap was a Human Path Immortal killer move that could secretly concentrate the Aptitude of the vast majority of humans into a select few.
Using this move as its foundation and Renyan Mountain as its territorial advantage, Chai Fu established his super force — the Chai Family.
From its founding, the Chai Family had actively raised and bred out-clan humans. Then, through the Talent Trap killer move, they transferred the enormous Aptitude of their masses of out-clan members onto the Chai Family's own bloodline.
As a result, the Chai Family had always produced talented successors generation after generation, with geniuses emerging in succession.
Meanwhile, those out-clan humans were all mediocre in Aptitude and had never been able to stir up any trouble.
Originally, with this tremendous advantage, the Chai Family could have risen continuously, vying for the throne of the Southern Border's number one super force. However, flanking the Chai Family were the Ba Family and the Xia Family.
The three families were too close to one another, and they had been locked in a perpetual tangle. Whenever any one family grew strong, the other two would join forces against it.
On top of that, the Chai Family had once relied against the Five Regions Barrier, which left their territory small and their resources relatively scarce. Even with a large number of talented successors, they lacked sufficient resources for cultivation.
When the Five Regions Barrier disappeared, the entire Chai Family was elated. They could now march toward Central Continent.
But not long after the barrier vanished, the Qi Tide swept across the world. And after the Qi Tide came a succession of true inheritances emerging one after another. Super forces and rogue demon immortals across the entire Five Regions were all making their moves, scrambling everywhere to seize them.
In truth, even once this storm subsided, the Chai Family's situation would remain awkward.
Would they dare make a move against Central Continent?
Central Continent had the Ten Great Ancient Sects stationed there. In terms of strength, it was far more powerful than the Southern Border. And what was truly terrifying was that the Ten Great Ancient Sects of Central Continent shared a single superior sect — Heavenly Court!
The Ten Great Ancient Sects fought among themselves, but should an external enemy appear, they would unite as one.
And now, the Chai Family was facing its greatest crisis in recent years —
Fang Yuan!
Fang Yuan had dispatched three Eighth Transformation variant humans to the Chai Family to negotiate a trade, and the terms he proposed were indeed outrageously excessive.