The Holy Ancestor Mountain Range stretched endlessly across the horizon. Sunlight streamed through the gaps between mountain peaks, pouring into the deep canyon below. Patches of ice and snow still clung to the mountainside beside the ravine.
It was already early summer, yet the ice and snow had yet to melt. The cold here lasted far longer than anywhere else. From time to time, the roars of Demon Beasts echoed between the peaks.
A magnificent city stood upon the plains within the canyon.
The world beyond the Holy Ancestor Mountain Range had long been overrun by Demon Beasts. The people here had not had any contact with the outside world for several hundred years.
No one in the city truly knew what was left out there. Legend held that during humanity's most glorious era, there had been thousands of Legendary Demon Spirit Masters and Legendary Warriors, who had built vast empires across the enormous continent. But those empires had all crumbled to dust and ceased to exist. They did not even know whether they were the last survivors.
Because of its secluded location, this city had become one of the best-preserved cities to survive from the Dark Age. Though it still suffered occasional attacks from the powerful Wind Snow Demon Beasts within the Holy Ancestor Mountain Range, it had weathered several near-apocalyptic wars and been rebuilt time and again.
Those weathered city walls were an immortal monument.
This city was called the City of Radiance—a name that symbolized the hope of the human race.
Sheng Lan Academy, Warrior Junior Class.
More than thirty students sat upright, attentively listening to a female teacher lecture on Demon Spirit knowledge. They were all Warrior apprentices, students of the City of Radiance's Sheng Lan Academy.
"I heard the new Teacher Shen comes from a Sacred Family and is a Silver Three-Star Demon Spirit Master!" a few students whispered among themselves.
The students' eyes all focused on that Teacher Shen. She was tall and striking, wearing a pink dress. Her figure was voluptuous, her face heavily made up. An expression of haughtiness sat on her features—lips slightly curled, eyes glancing sideways with disdain, arms folded loosely across her chest. Everything about her radiated a cold aloofness that kept people at arm's length, and the corners of her eyes and brows were tinged with an arrogant allure. The Sacred Family was one of the three most powerful noble families in the City of Radiance. Born into high status and already a Silver Three-Star Demon Spirit Master, Shen Xiu certainly had the right to be proud.
To have reached the Silver Three-Star realm at thirty—had it not been for her nephew Shen Yue being in this class, she never would have come to teach here.
"Both Demon Spirit Masters and Warriors have five ranks: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Black Gold, and Legendary. Each rank is further divided into five star levels."
"Demon Spirit Masters exist above Warriors. They are the truly noble ones. A Demon Spirit Master can form a Soul Sea within their dantian and capture Demon Spirits to place inside it. In battle, they can channel a Demon Spirit to merge with their body, granting them immensely powerful strength—a level of power that Warriors of the same rank cannot even begin to rival," Shen Xiu explained eloquently. "Take me, for example. My Demon Spirit is the Flame Demon Fox!"
As she spoke, Shen Xiu's face and hands underwent a dramatic transformation. Her eyebrows grew thinner and more elongated, her face tapered into a sharper point, her teeth became razor-sharp, and her fingernails sharpened into claws. A vivid red tail sprouted from her lower back.
"After Spirit Possession, I can wield the Flame Demon Fox's power, agility, and fire abilities. Among all Demon Spirits, the Flame Demon Fox ranks as a Gold-tier Demon Beast—which means I have the potential to train up to the rank of Gold Demon Spirit Master!" Shen Xiu's pride deepened as she spoke of her cultivation.
Her words drew gasps of amazement from the students. A Gold Demon Spirit Master—that was something most of them could never hope to reach in their entire lives.
While Shen Xiu lectured at the front of the room, Nie Li sat in the back row in a daze, his soul drifting through the void with nowhere to land.
A sliver of piercing sunlight forced Nie Li's eyes open. The scene before him left him stunned and bewildered.
"Where am I?" Nie Li was stunned. He discovered in astonishment that his hands had shrunk and his skin had become incredibly smooth and tender.
At the front, Shen Xiu continued her lecture without pause. Nie Li remembered this clearly—it was the year he had first enrolled at Sheng Lan Academy. The female instructor lecturing now was a Silver-rank Demon Spirit Master, exceedingly arrogant and rude, and cruel in her manner. Because of this Shen Xiu, Nie Li had lost all desire to study for a long time.
"I've been reborn?" The shock hit him like a bolt of lightning. He had been ambushed by the Sacred Emperor and six God-tier Demon Beasts, fighting to his death—yet he had somehow returned, his soul reborn to the age of thirteen.
Nie Li looked around. One by one, familiar faces came into view—Lu Piao, Du Ze, these brothers who had fought beside him through life and death. None of them had died yet, though their appearances were all still young and boyish.
And then—her. Nie Li turned to his left. Just a few meters away, a face of flawless beauty entered his field of vision. Her name was Ye Ziyun. Though she looked only thirteen or fourteen, she was exquisitely lovely, as if carved from jade. Her purple hair cascaded like a waterfall down to her waist. Her delicate brows arched gracefully, and her luminous eyes sparkled with intelligence. When she smiled, a pair of deep dimples appeared at the corners of her lips.
Even at thirteen, she was already captivating—impossible to imagine how stunning she would become with age.
She wore a white silk dress, radiating an ineffable serenity and elegance. In his previous life, starting from his early teens, Nie Li had harbored deep feelings of admiration for her.
She was alive too!
Nie Li's heart surged with emotion, nearly choking him up.
"I've really gone back in time. Is this real? Am I dreaming?" Nie Li pinched himself hard. The sharp pain told him this was no dream. Suddenly, something clicked. "Right—the Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit! It must be the Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit!" Nie Li immediately looked down to search for it but could not find it anywhere.
Nie Li could hardly believe that something as extraordinary as reincarnation had happened to him. It had to be connected to that mysterious Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit!