When he was five, snow fell thickly as his master left him at the most dilapidated sect in the Eastern Wilderness. He asked his master what level of cultivation he had reached. The middle-aged man in a blue robe held out one finger and touched the space between his brows, leaving him with a sentence that took eleven years to truly understand: "I'm only a tiny bit stronger than your System."
But the most painful stab came from the person he trusted most.
His second disciple, Dan Huang, was the champion of the Central Province's alchemy tournament, a brilliant and gifted talent, gentle and modest. Chen Tian had planned to pass on to him all the secrets of the System's alchemy module. Then, at the most critical moment of Chen Tian's tribulation, Dan Huang laid a poison formation and joined forces with an extraterrestrial being to kill his master. He had only one goal: to seize the Myriad Daos Devouring System.
"I was this close to getting it!" Dan Huang roared.
A pillar of azure light descended from the heavens. A clone of the Sage of the Dao descended across worlds. At the most dangerous moment for his disciple, the master who had left Chen Tian in the servant's quarters for eleven years without a word tore through the void and came to his aid.
"You dare lay a hand on my disciple?"
Until his dying breath, Dan Huang couldn't understand one thing: Why had he lost, even after calculating every step?
Because he had calculated for the System. He hadn't counted on Chen Tian having a master whose cultivation was just a little stronger than the System's.
"A cultivator who has lived for thousands of years doesn't necessarily understand life better than an ordinary person who has lived for only a few decades."
That was the lesson she taught him with her entire life.
That handkerchief still rests in the deepest part of the Chaos Pearl, together with the ring of Chen Tian's ancestor and his master's first sword aura.
The strong seek the Dao, but the question is not one of power. It's why we live.
