Dao of Time: Awakening of The Timeless Immortal

"Zishan Yao, come. Come sit on grandpa's lap." 

A man so old… someone who had lived a thousand years or ten thousand years. He stared as the little Yao ran into his embrace. The boy had white long hair, and purple pupils— some kind of ancient genetic trait he had gotten from one of the Zishan ancestors. 

Zishan Yao's large eyes looked excited, his white hair bouncing over his shoulders. But then, he tripped on his feet, falling down on his face. 

"Ouff…" 

The old man's eyes widened and then, like a flash in the sky, he disappeared and àppeared before Yao in an instant. 

All it took was a split second and he was before Yao like the wind, his ancient eyes, worried as he stared into Zishan Yao's eyes.

"Are you alright?" 

He helped him stand on his feet but then, there was a huge gash on his wrist leaking out blood. 

"Don't worry, the pain would be gone in a single breath. Do you believe it?" 

Yao's eyes remained fixed on his grandfather like the pain he felt doesn't affect him and yet, he did not give any response staring down at his wounded hands so keenly. 

Yao is like an old man in the weak and frail body of a child. Some characteristics he exhibits atimes startle even old man Zishan Sheng and Yao's parents. 

Old man Sheng sighed and whispered softly. 

"Life often cancels out time to an extent…" 

His two fingers held out and drew on the void. 

倒帶 dáo dái¹. 

These inscriptions glowed a thick color of gray. 

Normally, this technique is supposed to rewind time to an exaggerated extent however, Old master Sheng wrapped his hands around Yao's injury and then— 

The wounded area sealed up. 

Zishan Yao was stunned.

All he has seen is his grandpa drawing something and then his injury is healed. 

It felt strange, so he wandered too close and eventually sat on Old master Sheng's lap. 

"Grandpa— my hand." 

Yao is not the kind of child to talk too much. Not that he couldn't talk, but because his speech is somewhat in a broken form which makes it difficult to put words together. 

Old master Sheng smiled.

"You want to know how you were healed?" 

Yao did not talk, he nodded instead.

Zishan Sheng grinned from ear to ear. 

"Under the six universes, we have the mainline river of time. Then at the borderline of every universe, there's a branch river of time. These rivers flow in an endless cycle to meet with the main river and flow back again."

Little Yao, only three years old, felt drowsy at this moment— the ancient story was probably boring. Zishan Sheng knew this but continued talking.

"The rivers is manipulated by only those it chooses. And it can only choose from those lucky few that had successfully unlocked their inner world… the vast World where even the strongest of all spirit energy can be stored, developed and expanded."

Yao yawned, but old man Sheng ignored him. 

"But the only path towards Immortality is the path of the heart, the seven forbidden zones and karma." 

At this moment, Yao's already drowsy eyes widened, the purple in it, sparking with an intense flame. 

Immortality? 

Is it hard? It definitely is. But as long as he had been shown the path to take then, he wouldn't worry. But his grandpa had already given him three important paths to complete… 

His heart, the seven forbidden zones and karma. 

These three conditions must be met or else he would simply become like every other ordinary cultivator.

"Grandpa, how, do- I, cultivate." Yao struggled to come up with longer sentences as a three years but Old master Sheng laughed. 

"You'd definitely learn that when you are of age. For now, even your spirit essence is pure and unnoticeable. So channeling that energy would be impossible."

Old master Sheng turned towards Yao, only to be surprised that he was actually listening. 

He smiled, however that smile was instantly wiped away from his face the moment the sky overhead trembled. 

His expression turned grim and he muttered. "It's starting." 

Zishan Yao's eyes glimmered. 

"What's—starting—grandpa?"

Instead of answering the question, he muttered something else, strange and confusing.

"Humanity truly hopes that you are the one Yao." This time his smile appeared, although they were forced, Yao did not see anything wrong due to naivety.

Zishan Yao stared at his grandpa and simply listened.

"Break the shackles binding the six universes together, protect the six universes from external harm and harness the power of the mainline river of time…" 

"Wield the unbreakable sceptre of time, the one that conforms to the very laws of invincibility. And then— free us from bondage." 

And then, Yao's expression finally changed and that is because of the sudden displacement in space.

Old master Sheng kept on mumbling to himself.

"Unbreakable will!" 

"The will of the entire constellation itself— the will of the cosmos. That is the first step to Immortality. Your will!" 

Then the earth started to split, the entire ground being swallowed up by something terrifying underneath it.

Then, Old master Sheng's eyes grew sharp. 

His hands moved.

"Sealing formation!" 

A strange inscription hovered on the void, and locked it away.

密封形成

"Mìfēng xìngshèng."

His voice wavered. 

"I activate this array with my life!" 

Yao's eyes suddenly widened drastically. 

"No grandpa!!!" 

The old man threw Yao away from him as he spat out a mouthful of blood. The array suddenly manifested in golden color. The formation was already working then, Zishan Yao was sealed in a sculpture and hidden somewhere under the star, to be released only after fifteen years.

Old master Sheng looked at the sudden red sky and smiled. "At least, I've hidden away the chosen one— so that the enemy's hidden agenda can never be fulfilled." 

And then his body flickered away like dust escaping forever in a fleeting moment.

After the old man died, the devastation did not end there—

Instead, it rolled like the doomsday of earth.