Chapter 176: The Highly Promising Huan Yu World
Bai Hongtu’s methods were nothing special in the Nine Provinces, but in this world where only martial arts existed, it truly was like seeing a ghost.
In the end, it was thanks to Jiang Li’s efforts that the white-robed youth finally believed the four of them were human—just that their techniques were somewhat unusual and stronger than ordinary people.
“But Abu really is your ancestor’s younger brother,” Jiang Li said. He had known from the beginning, using divine sense, that Abu and the white-robed youth shared the same bloodline.
The white-robed youth was named Bu Tian, a young master of the Bu family from Wubu City.
Bu Tian brought the four back to the Bu family.
The Bu family was officially established a hundred years ago and appeared unremarkable—low-key and inconspicuous. No one knew the Bu family was actually the Bu clan, which had a history of over six hundred years.
“Xiao Tian, who are these four?” The Bu clan leader frowned at Jiang Li and the others, sensing they were like ordinary people who hadn’t trained in martial arts.
But how could that be possible? The Twelve Heavenly Kings had decreed that all must practice martial arts—who dared to disobey?
The Bu clan leader had exceptional martial talent and was a Grandmaster above the innate level. There was no way he misjudged.
These four were either peak-level Human Sovereigns or truly ordinary people.
Either case was unbelievable.
Abu really was an ordinary person. Over three hundred years ago, he had been severely injured by the aftermath of the Twelve Kings and lost all his martial abilities. He was then transported to the Nine Provinces, frozen for five hundred years. After being healed by a teacher at the academy, he hadn’t yet begun cultivating martial or immortal arts before Jiang Li brought him back here.
“Father, this is our ancestor’s own younger brother, Bu Dong! I want to let him see our ancestor. He’ll be overjoyed to hear the news!”
“Nonsense!” The Bu clan leader exploded.
How was that possible?!
Even if Bu Dong had somehow survived, he’d be over three hundred years old by now. And now they bring a boy who looks fifteen or sixteen and claim he’s the ancestor’s younger brother?
You’d have to be out of your mind to believe that!
Their ancestor’s survival was the Bu family’s greatest secret—how could they let these people know?
If this information got out, the Imperial Court would immediately send troops to wipe out the Bu family. Their destruction would be imminent!
“You—you—you’ll be the death of me!”
Jiang Li expanded his divine sense to cover the Bu family and easily located Bu Jing in a secret chamber.
To think he was still alive.
“Clan Leader Bu, we come from another world. We’re here to save you. Abu survived because he was frozen for several centuries, and we only recently found him.”
“If you don’t believe us, we can take you to the sky to see what we’re capable of.”
Before the Bu clan leader could react, Jiang Li placed a hand on his shoulder and brought him into the upper atmosphere, looking down at the continent.
The Huan Yu World was a continent world.
The air in the upper atmosphere was thin, and the Bu clan leader struggled to breathe.
“Ah, I forgot—you still need to breathe.” Jiang Li awkwardly placed a barrier over the Bu clan leader’s head, collecting nearby air. Only then did the clan leader feel better.
Flying—how could a person fly?!
That violated everything he knew about martial arts!
After returning to the ground, the Bu clan leader was shaken and believed about eighty percent of what Jiang Li said. He decided to take them to meet the ancestor.
He had no choice—these people’s power was clearly beyond his own, possibly even stronger than the ancestor’s. The fact they were willing to explain things calmly was already a stroke of luck.
If he kept acting stubborn and offended them, he didn’t dare imagine what might happen.
Bu Tian was also stunned. He knew these people had tricks, but he didn’t expect they could fly.
The secret chamber door shifted, revealing a wide underground space. At the end of the chamber stood a hunched old man, his back to them, before a mountain of memorial tablets.
The topmost tablet read:
Ancestor of the Bu Family — Bu Wu, Huang Ya
The second row had two more tablets:
Deceased — Bu Jing
Younger Brother — Bu Dong
“What is it?” The old voice carried deep sorrow.
Abu trembled at the sound—familiar, yet distant. His lips quivered, and he sobbed uncontrollably.
“Big Brother!”
Abu blurted it out—in the original language of the Huan Yu World.
The old man’s body shook. He turned his head slowly, eyes dull and clearly blind.
Though blind, the title “Big Brother” had echoed in his mind for three centuries—he could never mistake it.
“Xiao Dong, is that you?” The old man couldn’t believe it. His mind had become increasingly foggy, his sleep growing longer. He often dreamed of his father, mother, and younger brother calling his name.
Each time he woke, two murky tears would flow down.
Abu stumbled forward and threw himself into the old man’s arms, sobbing bitterly.
“Big Brother, it’s me—Xiao Dong.”
The old man touched Abu’s face, revealing a few remaining teeth in his emotional smile. “It’s Xiao Dong! It’s really Xiao Dong!”
“Big Brother, your eyes…”
Abu noticed his brother’s lifeless gaze—unable to see anything, relying only on sound and touch to recognize him.
“I tried to forcefully break through the Human Sovereign Peak and failed. I survived, but going blind was the best outcome.”
“Make way.” Jiang Li covered the old man’s eyes and then removed his hand.
The old man had his guard up, but before Jiang Li, that was meaningless.
He found that the world was no longer pitch black. Color returned. He could clearly see the younger brother crying in his arms, clearly see Jiang Li who had healed him, and clearly see Bai Hongtu and Yu Yin standing to the side.
“Immortal… Are you an immortal?” The old man recalled a family legend—an immortal had once favored the Bu clan and left behind a Realm-Breaking Talisman.
“I’m no immortal. Just an ordinary Mahayana Stage cultivator.”
The Bu clan leader and Bu Tian were dumbfounded. With just a touch, this man healed their ancestor’s eyes—this was divine-level power.
The old man didn’t know what the Mahayana Stage was. He was about to ask when Abu spoke first.
“Big Brother, you’ve lived till now because you reached the Human Sovereign Peak?”
That realm could live over three hundred years.
The old man nodded lightly, his tone somber.
“After Father gave you the Realm-Breaking Talisman, he knew he couldn’t defeat the Twelve Heavenly Kings. He passed all his cultivation to me, forcibly pushed me into the Human Sovereign Peak, and made me go into hiding to escape the Twelve Kings’ hunt.”
“There were only ten at the Human Sovereign Peak then. After the Heavenly Kings killed Father, they counted the bodies and believed all ten had died. They relaxed their guard, and I survived.”
“But the Twelve Kings never left. When they altered history and changed the language, I had to stay hidden. I told my descendants to keep a low profile and not reveal we were the Bu family.”
“I’m a coward!” the old man cursed himself.
“I know—the only way to defeat the Twelve Kings is to surpass the Human Sovereign Peak and reach a higher level. But even Father, a peerless genius, failed. How could I possibly succeed?”
“Now, with death approaching, seeing my little brother again—I can die without regret.”
“This world’s martial arts really do have something valuable in them,” Jiang Li said. Seeing the old man gave him his first true glimpse of Huan Yu’s top-tier power and a sense of what their martial path was truly like.
Though it didn’t grant as much lifespan as immortal cultivation, it was still quite impressive.
The martial manuals published by the Heavenly Kings, in Jiang Li’s view, didn’t even count as martial arts.
“If the Twelve Kings weren’t around and this world had a few more centuries to develop, I think it could reach entirely new realms,” Bai Hongtu judged. He believed Huan Yu’s martial path was on the right track. “This world has huge potential. In a few thousand years, reaching the Fusion Stage equivalent wouldn’t be impossible.”
That was high praise.
Among the Nine Great Dynasties, the Martial Kingdom was one that revered martial arts. But they weren’t as pure—they combined martial and immortal arts to achieve ascension through martial cultivation.
Even so, in the Martial Kingdom’s tens of thousands of years of history, only two people ever ascended via martial arts. Their current strongest force was just at the Fusion Stage.
Bai Hongtu believed that with a few thousand more years, Huan Yu could match the current Martial Kingdom.
Of course, that was assuming the Martial Kingdom didn’t use their Nation’s Fortune.