The First Cultivator - Changing Existence

News spread around, garnering the attention of even more people than before.

Before this event, the Horse Riding Swordsman was merely known within a small area of the Sword Region, and not many powerful people paid him any attention.

This all changed when news spread that he defeated a first rank Sword Master with apparent ease.

Although not everyone in the Sword Region would know his name or of the legends spread, all of the powerful people in the Sword Region would.

He was not only as strong as a first rank Sword Master, but even stronger than one.

Skymender did not pay any attention to this. He had one goal, to understand the world and see if it was true or false.

It was hard to tell if he was making any progress or not. He could only continue onwards.

Another year passed as Skymender traveled around.

People rarely fought him now. Those who did were either ignorant of who he was or first rank Sword Masters.

Nobody had beaten him, but there were some strong enough to force him to put in some effort.

The strongest had made him go all out, though not to the point of fighting with his life on the line.

That man had truly been strong.

But he had lost in the end.

Skymender treated every first rank Sword Master he defeated the same way. He wouldn't kill them, instead telling them that they had one chance to get revenge.

Only one person had taken him up on his offer, naturally losing once again.

Skymender had spared him and sent him off.

If he tried again, Skymender would kill him.

Despite everything everyone knew about him relating to his title as the Horse Riding Sword Master, Skymender shoved all of that to the back of his mind. He was entirely focused on his goal. Only then would he possibly achieve it.

One day, an old man came up to him. There was nothing special about this old man, besides the fact that his eyes seemed exceptionally clear.

He spoke to Skymender.

"Sir, I would like to receive your teachings." He said.

Skymender would usually ignore someone, but seeing the clearness in the old man's eyes, a sign of great wisdom, he spoke.

"I do not teach Swordsmanship, as I am no Swordsman." Skymender said.

"I do not wish to learn Swordsmanship. I too am no Swordsman. I have observed your state of mind for a while, and I admire it. Clearly, you are someone of great intelligence and wisdom, whose thoughts are deeper than oceans, who can see through the falsehoods of this world and understand the truth. I wish to receive your teachings of your state of mind."

Skymender looked at the old man. From his tone, it seemed he was receiving flattery, something rare.

This situation momentarily reminded him of the Western Monks.

He shook his head. "I am no teacher. I have my goals to accomplish, and I cannot waste any time with nonsense."

The man was clearly surprised.

His face changed, looking as though he was being insulted.

"Sir, I understand and accept your refusal, but what goal could you possibly have, riding around on a horse never staying somewhere?"

"If you can't understand, then you can't understand. Don't question me. Question yourself." Skymender said before leaving.

The man thought, but eventually shook his head and left.

Time passed quickly for Skymender. Although he was still famed in some minor places, the excitement surrounding him slowly faded away.

He did not make any large moves, and in fact, nothing had changed since the first time he had been spotted.

In such a way of life, three more years passed. This made five years since he had started this journey.

The world slowly started to change in Skymender's eyes. The once natural and pure world seemed to slowly gloss over, as if he was starting to see beyond it. It was so slight it was hard to notice, but it made Skymender's heart drop.

This made it almost certain that this world was fake. There really wasn't much of an explanation.

This fueled Skymender's ambitions.

Another three years passed. Skymender had become less of a legend, and more of a regular. He was like a rare sighting. People would point at him and say his name, but not much else.

Even after all this time, there had been no major moves between the Empire and the Mainland.

It seemed that the Emperor was preparing thoroughly, perhaps aiming to take everything out at once.

The world around Skymender was slowly showing impurities.

Skymender continued as always. Two more years passed.

It had been ten years in total, a vast amount of time for anyone in this world. Skymender's vision was far different from before.

Every now and then, he saw black spots around him, as if his vision was flawed. Only he knew that it was far better than ever.

Although it would remain unknown to anyone, Skymender's vision changing affected not only him, but the world itself.

An imperceptible trembling moved across the vast world, leaving no exceptions.

Only one being picked this up. In the deepest depths of the Western Desert, where no life could survive due to the harsh condition, a tree stood.

This tree was large, far larger than this world's tallest mountain, far larger than the World Serpent or the Plains Bull.

As this imperceptible shaking occurred, the roots of this tree, spread throughout the Western Desert, began to move around wildly.

The world began to shake again, but this time, not so imperceptibly. All around the world, a few select figures' faces paled.

One of them was the Emperor.

"Impossible. How could the Treant be triggered this early?" He said loudly, unbecoming of himself.

Those around him looked at him weirdly, when Sword Grandmaster Shang appeared. He instantly sent them out of the room, leaving only him in the Emperor.

The wide eyed Emperor fell deep into thought.

In just a moment, it clicked. "Skymender!"