RE - Ascension

Gazing at the vast grassy plain that seemingly unending in front of his vision, the "Young Master" was a bit of absentminded.

His handsome face was cold and indifferent, his striking violet eyes also looked a little lost. His body was frozen on top of the horse he had riding on since getting off from the ship a few hours ago.

Nearby, his companions were all busy preparing lunches and the place to rest, but the Young Master himself keeps ignoring them as if they didn't even exist, while he continues staring silly at the horizon.

His mind was in the middle of accessing a memory that he hadn't thought about for years. The memory of his previous life.

Back when he was still one of the most powerful people to have ever existed in the entire Grand Primal Chaos.

'It's been 30 years since my rebirth... Somehow, those years felt like an eternity...' the Young Master spoke in his mind.

That's right, this Young Master was, in fact, the former Elusive Divine Emperor who had managed to reincarnated with all of his memories intact.

'Heaven Defying Rebirth Sutra... It really was heaven-defying.' He praised the most precious martial technique in his possession.

Actually, Heaven Defying Rebirth Sutra was not originally belonged to him. He took it from one of his nemesis he had killed before he became a Divine Emperor.

He was flabbergasted when he investigated the sutra's content as it delves into one of the most taboo laws of the Grand Primal Chaos itself, the Law of Reincarnation.

When a living being died, its soul will be cleansed from every worldly impurity, including memories of its previous life, and will be reverted to its most pure state before it would be allowed to reincarnate. This was the absolute truth regarding the life and death of every living thing in this universe. Nothing and no one could ever defy it.

But the Heaven Defying Rebirth Sutra was so heaven-defying, it could prevent a soul from being "Recycled" and allows it to reincarnate with its memories intact if the condition has been fulfilled.

Although the original sutra was already groundbreaking, it still possessed too many imperfections and errors. Elusive assumed it must be because the original creator has a very insufficient knowledge regarding how the soul works or it may be because the creator simply didn't have enough time to research it.

Elusive spends most of his time after he became a Divine Emperor to study as well as perfecting the sutra. And one of the perks being a Divine Emperor with a long lifespan, he didn't lack time at all.

Elusive actually didn't have a clue whether the sutra will work or not as he never tested it before. In fact, there was no way to actually know if it will succeed or not, except if he tests it on himself.

He finally utilized the sutra for real, when he knew he was about to fall during the battle against the metallic serpent that had invaded the universe.

However, the combination of employing the sutra's technique, and at the same time joining forces with other Divine Emperors in sealing the invader would actually damage his soul almost beyond repair.

After his physical body was destroyed, it took hundreds of thousands of years for him to repair his divine soul, while also being forced into the state of dormancy.

He finally able to reincarnate after a mortal body that can resonate well with his soul has been found.

31 years ago, he was reborn as a member of the third generation of a clan in the Central Profound Continent. His current name was Gareth Dorian.

Dorian clan could be said one of the powerhouses which possessed a famous reputation across the central continent. They were wealthy, influential, and they have formidable private military strength under their command.

Basically, Elusive or currently known as Gareth was born with a silver spoon and he could be considered a nouveau riche.

Gareth's father, Vardy Dorian, was the second son of the clan's current patriarch. Vardy used to be one of the most formidable warriors the clan ever produced.

He was talented, brave, and loyal. Not only that, he has good relationsh.i.p.s with many people as he was also kind and generous.

Regrettably, he died relatively young. It happened when Gareth was only 3 years old as the news of Vardy's death suddenly came to the clan's palace and his lifeless body arrived a few days later.

The circ.u.mstances around Vardy's death still remain a mystery even to this day.

Vardy had married two women during his life. Carla Regios and Ellia Rostok.

Carla was Gareth's mother. She was a member of Regios clan, a clan that could be said comparable in terms of strength to the Dorian.

She was a beautiful but not-so gentle woman if Gareth would describe her. She talked like a man, a bit of stubborn and brash. But beyond that, she was still kind and very much loved her children.

Gareth was her only child, so it can be imagined how affectionate she was to him.

Different from Carla, Ellia was a gentle, elegant, and upright woman. She was a princess of the empire where the Dorian make their home. Ellia has a daughter from her union with Vardy, and her name was Melissa.

Melissa was a bit older than Gareth, and her personality was kind of problematic. In that regard, she resembled Carla the most than her own mother.

The relationship between Carla, Ellia, and their children has been really harmonious, especially after the time of Vardy's death. Gareth regarded Ellia like his own mother, while in turn Ellia also gave her motherly affection to him.

And Melissa adored her little brother dearly and constantly teased him whenever she has a chance, which sometimes makes Gareth feels annoyed.

For a former Divine Emperor like him, who had lived alone for millions of years, the idea of having parents and family again was really weird initially. But he already got used to it and even started to actually care for them.

In summary, Elusive or Gareth now had begun starting over his life.

His life goal was to immediately return to the peak of cultivation. As he had an unfinished business that was still underway in his previous life but has been interrupted by his untimely death.

He was unwilling to succ.u.mb to fate and had decided to use the Heaven Defying Rebirth Sutra to reincarnate, even though he doesn't know about the sutra's risk.

"Young Master are you alright?" Suddenly, a soft and lovely voice resounded.

And it woke Gareth who was still absentminded.

He looked to where the voice was coming from and saw Diandra who standing there while staring at him worriedly.

Gareth then lightly smiled, "I'm fine, Diandra. I'm just daydreaming a little, that's all."

Hearing Gareth's words, Diandra's worried face became relaxed.

"Why didn't you come down, then? The food is ready... It's better to eat first before resuming our journey." Said Diandra again before she returned to the resting place.

Looking at her back, Gareth began feeling a bit nostalgic.

It has been 17 years since the first time he met Diandra. He could still remember that day very well.

The day when he saved her along with five other children from a group of slavers.

At that time, the 14 years old Gareth just had a breakthrough in his cultivation, so he wanted to test his newly gained strength immediately. Coincidently, he received a report concerning a certain slavers' hideout located near Dorian's territory. Therefore, he decided to have those slavers as his practice targets.

After eliminating every slaver he could find, he discovered a cage full of captives deep inside the hideout. These captives originally will be turned into slaves, so that the slavers could sell them to every corner of the continent.

As most of the captives still have families or homes somewhere else, once Gareth released them, they quickly conveyed their gratitude and immediately left.

Only six teenagers were left behind, three girls and three boys, and all of them have the same age as Gareth. Diandra and the twin guards were amongst them.

Since each of them was orphans and didn't have a single relative anymore, they didn't have anywhere else to go. So, they begged Gareth to take them with him, to which he easily agreed.

Ever since then, Gareth has been the person who was taking care of them. He guaranteed their lives, granted them a safe haven, introduced them to cultivation and even guide them. As a result, he had gained their undying loyalty.

And now, all six of them have grown up and served under him.

The twin guards, whose name was Heinz and Zeke, had become Gareth's personal guard. Both of them mostly stay with him, while they also in charge of his protection.

Diandra had become something akin to Gareth's secretary. She always followed him around while aiding him and taking care of all his needs.

And she was a very capable woman to having around.

Gareth didn't bring the rest of his subordinate with him this time, so they stayed at the central continent. Besides, the other three also have their own jobs which keep them busy.

Thus, Gareth only brought Diandra, Heinz, Zeke and the silver-haired boy.

The silver-haired boy's identity was Arda Dorian. He was Gareth's little cousin due to him being the child of the clan's patriarch's first son, Rooney Dorian.

Initially, Gareth wanted this journey to be a clandestine one. That's why he and his group had left the clan's base secretly and without informing anyone else.

But to Gareth's surprise, Arda had followed him and of course, he blackmailed Gareth too. Gareth had no choice but to bring him along.

He also thinks it's fine for the boy to follow him as Arda may gain and able to learn something from this journey.

Arda had just turned 13 years old this year. According to Gareth's assessment, he was very talented in cultivation just like his father who was a cultivation maniac. However, Arda seems can't focus on a single matter at one time and he was an active kid that always loved to playing around, thus his cultivation progress was not up to his real potential.

But besides that, he was a brilliant and intelligent kid, even though sometimes he can be really mischievous.

Regarding cultivation, it must be known that martial cultivation in this world of mortals has six realms in total: Elementary Warrior, Martial Master, Martial Grandmaster, Martial Saint, Martial Sage, and Martial Emperor.

Each realm starting from Elementary Warrior to Martial Saint was further divided into 9 sub-rank, while Martial Sage and Martial Emperor realm were divided into stages; Early, Middle, High and Half-step.

Breaking through the ranks and raising their cultivation was terribly hard for the majority of cultivators. The higher the realm, the harder the difficulty was.

Gifted mortals who can sense and absorb Martial Essences, a type of energy that naturally produced by nature, could commence their journey on the path of cultivation.

These kinds of people were extremely lucky because not everyone could sense or even absorb Martial Essences, the unlucky one can only be cursed by being mortals for the rest of their lives.

Once a person can sense and absorb Martial Essences, the energy they had absorbed will strengthen and purify their body until it reaches the limit of any ordinary mortal body could handle. If they somehow successfully broke through, then their cultivation will enter the so-called Elementary Warrior realm.

Elementary Warrior represents the first step in the path of cultivation. People in this cultivation realm could not learn any combat skills as those skills required a deeper level of Martial Essences' control, and they also must have the ability to project those essences outside their own body, which was an ability that only cultivators at Martial Master realm or above could have.

It was the reason why they're still could not be regarded as genuine cultivators, and due to the fact that they also have the lifespans similar to mortals, which was really short.

What they could do was to keep absorbing the essences by meditating and strengthening their body through practicing their cultivation arts until they reach the 9th rank of Elementary Warrior. By that time, they could start preparing to break through to Martial Master realm.

After cultivators have entered the Martial Master realm, they could finally learn combat skills. This realm was also a major hurdle in the early part of the cultivation journey.

In order for Martial Master cultivators to successfully breaking through to the Martial Grandmaster realm, not only they would require a tremendous amount of luck, but they also must have a firm and strong foundation.

Martial Masters' lifespan was a bit longer than mortals, they could have between 100 to 150 years of lifespans.

The next realm was the Martial Grandmaster realm. Cultivators who can enter this realm were able to communicate spiritually with the nature and the laws of the universe.

From this stage onward, cultivators could not only rely on absorbing Martial Essences into their bodies to raise their ranks, but they would also need to comprehend certain things regarding the universe and the martial cultivation itself.

Martial Grandmaster cultivators have the lifespans of 200 years.

When 9th rank Martial Grandmasters want to become Martial Saints, they need to form the so-called Proto-Core.

Proto-Core was the condensation of Martial Essences inside cultivators' body that has been acc.u.mulated for a long time. To form one, cultivators need to have strong foundations, a deep comprehension of the universe's laws, and proper guidance.

With this Proto-Core, the circulation and utilization of Martial Essences within Martial Saints' bodies will be faster and more efficient. As a result, even a 1st rank Martial Saint was probably 10 or 20 times much stronger than 9th rank Martial Grandmasters.

Furthermore, thanks to the Proto-Core, Saints have the ability to fly for a short period of time. This could give them a huge advantage during combat. And Saints could also lived up to 300 years old.

But it was extremely difficult to form a Proto-Core. The majority of Martial Grandmasters would be unable to form their own core, and they will be stuck for as long as they were alive. The gap between Grandmasters and Saints was simply like an huge insurmountable mountain for many cultivators, making them feel despaired and helpless.

Only the brightest and the most talented cultivators who could reach the Martial Saint realm.

Then, what about Martial Sage and Martial Emperor?

These two realms were even more difficult to reach than Martial Saints, almost impossible in fact.

Every cultivator wants to experience a smooth journey in their cultivations' path. But the reality was harsh and unforgiving, sometimes undesirable things could suddenly happen. Several factors could determine the success of one's cultivation such as luck, talents, mentality, and willpower.

Without those four factors, one could just forget about becoming a cultivator. Cultivation was arduous, difficult, and perilous, it needs to be taken seriously, patiently, and meticulously.

One could not just rush in for an immediate result, lest they stumble into unforeseen consequences.

"Hey, Big Bro! What the hell are you doing there? C'mon, let's eat..." Arda voiced resounded as he called Gareth who was still on top of his horse.

Gareth was surprised again. He realized that he has been really lost since earlier.

Heinz, Zeke and Diandra also looking at him strangely. They all thoughts, there was something wrong with their young master today.

It was rare for him, who always calm and collected, to be absentminded and daydreaming like that.

He could only shake his head slightly, then he come down from the horse and joined the other people to rest for a while.