Edge of the World

This was the name given to the punishing grounds of the Mystical Heaven Sect, a colossal existence that has been in existence for the last 20 million years blessing the world with countless heroes and prodigies.

In these past millions of years, at least a million disciples have been punished by throwing them off the Edge of the World.

As the name might imply, the edge of the world is nothing but the edge of a mountain down which there exists a sinkhole under the earth. The sinkhole is nothing short of an unending abyss.

It is said that anyone who’s thrown into the abyss has to go through eternal torture of time and decay and that they will find themselves never die no matter how much time has passed.

The disciples who had committed severe crimes against the sect were decreed to be punished here and right now one such disciple was being dragged to the edge by his collar by a young-looking scholar who had a resolute expression on his face.

“Never in a million years did I ever imagine that a disciple of mine would ever commit treason against the sect!”, the scholar said with a pained expression on his face, his eyes looked teary and his voice sounded a bit croaky.

“How could I be betrayed?”, he muttered in a low voice and closed his eyes.

On the other hand, the person being dragged to the ground didn’t say anything, he just had his head hanging low with his eyes as wide as full moons.

He couldn’t comprehend how he even ended up in this situation.

The last thing he remembered was going to meet the young sect master in his office but after that everything sort of blanked out, as if someone or something was purposefully obstructing him to recall what happened.

But even so, he still couldn’t bring himself to believe that his master would punish him without even listening to his plea. After all, he wasn’t even given a single chance to defend himself, not to mention that for someone like him with no place to call home or people to call family, the sect was everything for him.

He truly had no reason to betray the sect.

‘I am sure that master and all the officials at the sect know of this too then why won’t anyone believe me!?’, he found asking himself the same question over and over again but still couldn’t come up with any answer until now when suddenly a thought passed by his head.

‘Could it be… that master and the sect officials are purposely trying to throw me out of the sect?’,

As soon as this thought crossed his mind the boy felt a chill crawl down his spine.

His breath quickened and blood rushed away from his head.

Quickly composing himself he checked his condition or to be precise, his bloodline and the moment he did so he found himself gasping for death.

His special bloodline that was unique amongst his clan was nowhere to be found inside him, not to mention, he also noticed his Qi rapidly leaking out of his pores, meaning that he had also been crippled.

Now even if he survived, he would no longer be able to practice cultivation, he would live and die like a mortal, like an insignificant insect that could be crushed anytime. He, who once was the brightest star of the Mystic Heaven sect was now nothing more than a piece of trash in the eyes of everyone around him.

He did not want to live a life like that, he would much rather be dead than live as an ant.

He had finally realized what had happened to him, the young master of the sect, a mere boy who was around 12 years of age had drugged him and extracted his bloodline. Not only that, he even framed him as the traitor of the sect.

For even a single second the boy didn’t believe that it was all the work of a 9-year-old boy, no, even though he knew that the young master of the sect, Xia Zheng was an unprecedented genius who had brains far beyond his years, he still knew that he couldn’t have pulled this stunt off without the assistance of the sect itself.

‘I guess, this could be considered as me repaying the sect’, he thought as he resolved himself for death.

Even though he too wanted to live his life as an invincible existence, right now he had no choice but to embrace the reality that was before him.

Coming closer to the edge he had finally realized his fate and had closed off his eyes, not wanting to witness his demise.

‘I guess this is the end’

Bracing himself for death the boy let out a deep breath, At this moment he didn’t feel sad or angry, on the contrary, what he felt was warmth and peace, as if he had reached nirvana, as if he had finally been free of all his shackles.

‘I am sorry, Fuyuki, I couldn’t help you, but trust me, your master will at least save your life. Trust me, my dear disciple… my dear son!’

But just as he had found himself getting free from everything, he, all of a sudden heard a voice transmission from his master, and a thousand new chains once again bound him with his burdens.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Opening his eyes wide in shock, he screamed.

“Master!!!”

And extended his hand towards the fatherly figure only for him to grasp the cold air that brushed past him as he descended down the abyss.

“Master!!!!”

Soon darkness enveloped his vision and his voice and he disappeared from everyone’s view.

Fuyuki Hayashi, the Holy Son of the Mystic Heaven Sect, died tragically at the hands of his own master on the account of his being the spy of an enemy sect.

***

The young-looking master looked at the abyss for a moment and shook his head in disappointment.

Taking a deep breath, he turned backward but the moment he did so, an enormous palm appeared from the sky and fell toward the abyss, thereby shaking the ground and destroying everything in the vicinity.

“Wrath of the Buddha Palm!”, an indifferent voice came up from the sky as the palm probably reached the bottom of the abyss and destroyed everything inside the abyss.

“Hou Yang!!”, the scholarly-looking master shouted at the top of his lungs and shot towards a certain figure in the air. Unsheathing his sword that was radiating with his violent Qi, the master slashed his sword at the figure hovering in the air.

A white beam of condensed light shot out of his sword and rushed toward the figure floating in the air.

Looking at the incoming attack, the figure in the air panicked and unleashed an attack of his own.

“Fist of Resolve!”, that’s what he said as he punched out with his full strength but his attack didn’t amount to anything before the colossal attack that was coming towards him.

Giving up all hope the man didn’t know what to do and was almost ready to give up on his life as the attack was so fast and big that he did not have anywhere to run but just as he was about to give up an indifferent voice once again sounded in his ears.

“Stop”, that’s what the voice said and a wall made up of gold got erected before the man and stopped the incoming beam of light that was aiming for his life.

The scholarly master also stopped and looked somewhere in the void.

“Is that you, grand elder?”, he said, his voice sounding a bit respectful as he stared directly into the void.

“Arata… why must you risk it all for a single child who is nothing but dead bones by now? I know how you feel, but this was all for the best of the sect, you must know that Zheng’er is different from everyone and that he has the highest chance amongst all the youths in the universe to break through the cultivation boundary set on us by the heavens”

The voice sounded a bit old but had a majestic and authoritative ring to it.

“My great-grandchild has the potential to become the overlord of the human race and to lead it to victory against the various other races in the universe, tell me, Arata, why do you still try to help someone who might turn his fangs against us in the future, could it be because you two have the same origin? Or could it be that you oppose Zheng’er because of his origins? I know that my granddaughter was engaged to you and she unexpectedly left you for someone else... but… if it’s just about that then please let it go for this old man, that child was impulsive in the past”

The voice sounded once again and waited for the man to reply.

Taking a deep breath, the man shook his head.

“It has nothing to do with the commonality of our origins, and it sure as hell doesn’t have anything to do with my lady… no Xia Yan, no, I am happy that she married the one she truly loved and even though it still pains my heart to see her with someone else, I don’t hold any grudge against the young master. He is nothing but a child after all, and I don't think children should be held accountable for their parents' deeds.”

The scholarly-looking man said and took a deep breath.

“But what I do not like about all of this is the arrangement all of you made for my disciple. There clearly was no reason for you to have him killed. But all of you pushed in that direction because you feared that he might turn against us. For that I will never forgive anyone, even if it's you, Grand Elder”, the man said and looked at the void, his face full of resolution reflected in the eyes of everyone that looked at him.

“Sigh… I guess, it cannot be helped, I am very sorry Arata, no Arata Hayashi, but I cannot let you live any longer.”, the old voice sounded once again and a gaping hole formed on the middle-aged man’s chest out of nowhere.

*Koff* *Koff*

Blood seeped out from the chest hole as the man kept on coughing out blood with pain apparent on his face.

But his eyes, they were a different story altogether.

They looked lively, to say the least.

‘My plan worked, hah?’

‘Looks like even the grand elder cannot deceive the law of time’

‘Fuyuki, my dear Fuyuki, make sure you cash everything out of this chance that I have provided you with.’

He thought as the light faded away from his eyes and he fell to the ground.

But just before his body could touch the ground, a middle-aged man appeared out of nowhere and caught his body in midair.

He too looked at the void with a piercing gaze.

“Father, was it truly necessary? This man, he has done so much for our sect. Sigh… if it weren’t for that foolish granddaughter of mine, Arata would have still been with us. Grandfather, couldn’t we have avoided this situation if we were to just not kill the boy, after all, Arata too agreed with us on taking out his bloodline, didn’t he?”

No reply came from the void even after waiting for some time.

Eventually giving up, the middle-aged man shook his head and carried the body in his arms towards a certain pagoda.

“I couldn’t do anything for you when you were alive, the least I could do for you right now is to bring you to a great resting place. Don’t worry, you won’t be alone, I will make sure to come by regularly”

***

Meanwhile,

A figure that looked to be in his 50s appeared from the void and walked off in a certain direction.

Walking for a bit he reached what appeared to be a pond and proceeded to hover above it as he looked at its clear surface.

What reflected in it was a pattern of stars, looking at the pattern the old master let out a deep breath.

“Looks like the sect has now gotten rid of its disaster. I hope Zheng’er grows to be strong enough to easily replace that child Fuyuki, otherwise, we will become a laughingstock amongst all the sects in the divine realm,”

He said and went back to the void.