Cliffs of Fidelity. It was a well-known place in this fantastical world.

These cliffs were said to have been one of the hands of a giant golem that reached towards the heavens, it stood at such a fantastical height that it was almost above the planet’s atmosphere. It was such an unrealistic place with an impossible story, and despite all that, it existed anyways.

Just like the man that sat at the edge.

He wore a simple purple robe, and yet the way he wore them made it seem like they were imperial robes fit for an emperor.

He had quite the handsome and chiseled face, with not a single sign of aging on it, yet this man was ten thousand years old.

The only thing about his physical appearance that signified his old age was his hair that was done in queue, a tradition that was long abolished, as the hairstyle was impractical.

He stood at the starry sky, which reflected in his black eyes, his expression was that of a deep sense of longing, like a man whose dreams were forever out of his reach.

He stared down at the horizon; there was a large structure that was so massive a mortal could see it from that point, provided they didn’t die due to being this high up. It was the ruins of the gates to heaven.

He stretched out a hand, as if to reach for the heavens, just like the giant that was said to lay here.

That was the only place not within his grasp.

This world was one of cultivation, where the hierarchy was based on strength; this man was at the very top.

To the world, he had the perfect foundation, the perfect path, and the perfect techniques.

He simply scoffed at this, if he was so perfect, why couldn’t he ascend?

He couldn’t fix the gate to heaven, he couldn’t take the test of the immortals, and he couldn’t ascend. He was far from perfect.

So if he couldn’t grasp the firmament, he grasped what he could. He conquered the world, from the Far East to the Western mounts; there was not a mortal nor beast that did not know his name.

Dai  Gengrui.¹"Geng" part of his name means bright, "rui" means sharp.

The might of his empire was heard, and his enemies were many, his equals none. Each of his foes fell, each conquest more ruthless than the last.

To his foes, he was the vilest of men, he humiliated his enemies, he slaughtered men and women, he brainwashed children and he crushed countless dreams.

To his people, he was the opposite: he brought prosperity to those under his rule, he rooted out corruption and he improved the living conditions of all the territory under his commands.

He was a great ruler, he was.

But he could not stand the test of time.

Eventually, his territory grew too vast to control himself, as powerful as he was. He had to delegate that to the officials he trusted. Most of them did their job well, but some were corrupt, and undid all his hard work. At first, he slaughtered them to keep the status quo, but after hundreds of years, he could not control all of them anymore.

The empire he conquered has grown all too large, and was collapsing from the inside.

Perhaps he could’ve formulated a plan to instill peace and order again, but he ultimately gave up, he secluded himself in the imperial palace, and he never showed his face unless it concerned matters of sheer importance.

This time, there is a matter of great importance, the empire he built, was coming to an end.

It was because of an upstart.

A boy who had only cultivated for a hundred years and yet he had slain officials that did for thousands, he had profound powers that even allowed him to cross realms. In fact, there were rumors that he may be as strong as Dai Gengrui.

Why did the man in question not kill the boy?

It was because of one reason: he had expectations, he had a gamble.

Perhaps the boy could do what he could never do, and unlock the secret to ascendance.

That’s why he allowed his empire to be damned, he let the boy live for a chance to unlock the secret, for that small chance, but that was crushed when he found out the boy was out to kill him, apparently, one of his great grandsons had slaughtered the boys clan, so now he’s out for revenge. His gamble had failed.

‘It can’t be helped then.’

To him, his Empire and everyone he loved had been gone long ago, he had one person left.

“Father, I thought you’d be here”

And that person was right behind him.

He had many men and women that could be considered his sons and daughters, but there was perhaps only one that he could truly consider his descendant.

He had many dear friends in life, but this one was the only one he could consider his daughter.

By this world’s standards, she could only be described as a ‘country-toppling beauty’. She had all the qualities that the common man of this world found pleasant, whether it was the curvaceous body or jade-like beauty. Of course, that was not what made her unique to Dai Gengrui.

She was one of his many daughters of a concubine from another empire, as Dai Gengrui had used forced marriage multiple times in order to form alliances, although as politics advanced it became less necessary.

Despite her few resources and questionable talent, she managed to rise to prominence hundreds of years ago due to her cleverness, intelligence and leadership, the combination of these three things was surprisingly rarer than heaven-defying geniuses.

“Li’er, you should go back to Colossal Flag City, those idiots at the drawing table will need your help if they want to escort the imperial clan-“

Naturally, ‘Li’er’ was not the first to possess these traits, but she was the first one to not betray or work against her father in all those years. This formed a deep parental bond between them, aside from their relationship as ruler and trusted adviser.

She scoffed.

“Why should I work for an empire that was abandoned by its very ruler?”

Dai Gengrui turned around, staring at Li’er in the face, and raised an eyebrow.

“Do you not wish for the safety of the imperial family?”

“My brother has already crossed the Great Trial, I don’t care about those schemers. How about you father, do you not wish for the safety of the imperial family?”

Dai Gengrui laughed uproariously and stood up.

“Silly girl, if me and that boy were to fight-“

He threw his arms in a wide arc, as if gesturing towards the whole world.

“There will be no world left for the imperial family.” His expression grew dim.

What was the point of conquering when there was nowhere to conquer, what was the point of ascending with no home to return to?

He relaxed, and gestured towards the ruins of the Heaven’s Gate

“At least here, there’s hope.”

Li’er gave him a thoughtful look “You could use that ritual.”

“I told you, I would never deliberately hurt those of my own bloodline.”

Indeed, there was an option that involved sacrificing Li’er.

His words were the words you’d expect from an ordinary father, but Dai Gengrui was no ordinary father. Li’er was not convinced.

“So slaughtering entire clans is acceptable? Using your progeny as political tools is acceptable? But killing a single woman is not?” She said with a shaking voice.

“This and that are two different things.”

To his words, LI’er bit her lips, clearly distressed.

“It’s always this and that! You old hypocrite.”

Dai Gengrui could only smile weakly.

“Then let this old man be hypocritical for a little bit more.”

Li’er sighed.

“Father, care for a cup of tea, one last time?”

Dai Gengrui nodded, and was about to wave his hand, but Li’er caught his hand and smiled.

“Let me do it this time.”

She waved her hand, producing a table and a tea set.

She then proceeded to boil water and make some tea.

The process only took a while, but for the two of them, it felt like ages.

Li’er slowly poured some tea for her father.

He raised his teacup and took a sniff.

“Chamomile, eh? Your mother’s favorite.”

Li’er was surprised.

“You remember?”

Dai Gengrui chuckled.

“At my level, it’s hard not to.”

Li’er smiled and took a seat opposite to her father.

“And yet, you forget-“

“*cough* Nothing like hot tea in a place where it should evaporate immediately, right?”

Dai Gengrui took a sip of his tea, and his expression grew serious.

“Do you truly believe so much in that boy?”

This time, Li’er was truly shocked; to the point she spilt her tea, which immediately boiled up due to lack of pressure.

“You… know?”

“Of course, do you think you can hide the affairs from this old man, kid? I may have been in seclusion for a while but that doesn’t mean I don’t get information from the outside, between that incident in the bath to your little ‘offer’ to him in that one sect, it’s easy to deduce what’s happening.” Dai Gengrui simply shook his head.

Feeling completely and utterly defeated, Li’er simply fell back in her seat.

“Well, I’m glad I’m not dead yet. It’s an emotion you wouldn’t know of father.”

Dai Gengrui simply slammed the table.

“Don’t joke with me, Li’er, you wouldn’t be here if it was merely love.”

Li’er threw her hands up.

“Ok fine! I’m confident he can open Heaven’s Gate, but you need to perish first.”

Dai Gengrui was annoyed.

“So he has one legacy or another huh, and it can open the gate, what do I have to do with this?”

“Basically, he needs the energy of the world, and since you conquered it, all that energy is in your flag.”

“Oh, it’s in this little thing?”

Dai Gengrui took out a red flag from his pocket and grabbed it by the pole, when he waved it, an immense pressure was suddenly released, as if a world was contained within the flag. Li’er grimaced, about to be crushed by it, but a translucent blue dome protected her from the pressure.

The conqueror’s flag, the proof that Dai Gengrui had conquered the world; it also allowed him to unleash his full potential as the man who conquered the world.

It was indeed enough to use up all the energy of the world, but even if he did, he was unsure that he could ascend.

The flag was not something that could simply be given away, it needed to be cut from his soul, and that meant he had to perish in one way or another.

“If he uses the world energy, people will have trouble cultivating.”

Li’er shook her head.

“It’s going into the heaven’s gate, all that would be affected is the areas away from the gate, people can simply move closer to the hotspot.”

“I see. Enough of this pathetic last meal.”

Dai Gengrui finished his tea in one gulp, he stood up from his chair and set it aside. He slowly walked towards the edge of the cliffs, with each of his steps emanating a sense of heaviness. He straightened his back and simply stood there like a dumb man, absentmindedly staring at the rubble of the Heaven’s Gate, the rubble that he may never see fixed. Right now, he looked like a lonely monarch that stood above the world.

“Did he send you here to kill me?”

The conversation had reached its climax.

Li’er also finished her tea in one gulp, standing up from her chair; she waved her hand and set aside the table and the tea set. She stood right beside her father, she was about the same height as him, and she had a pained expression on her face as if she lost someone important.

“No, that man would be too stupid to even think of emotionally manipulating you, I came here of my own volition.”

She paused for a while, and continued.

“So Great Conqueror, is this where you wish to die?”

She had never betrayed her father, until now.

Dai Gengrui shook his head.

“No, the Great Conqueror is dead, the Empire fell, Dai Lirui, the only one that stands before you is but a simple man, a man who is your father.”

A tear drop streamed out of Dai Lirui’s face.

“Father, know that I did this not for that upstart, but to free you from your pain, to free you from this twisted world.”

Dai Gengrui smiled at his daughter.

“How thoughtful of you.”

Indeed, his ten thousand years in this world was full of pain. Everyone he knew and love died in his conquest. Even with all the sacrifice, he was unable to reach his dreams, and settled for a lower one. Only to have it crushed by the boy that possessed everything he wanted to be.

The world was twisted indeed.

Did he regret things? Of course he did. Ultimately, he was content. Very few people could conquer and entire world after all. 

Li’er hugged her father tightly, tears streaming from her eyes like a dam. She bit her lips hard, her face turning pale from the pain.

She thought of some long, touching speech that she could tell her father, words that can express everything she felt over the years about him, but nothing came up.

“Goodbye, father.”  Those two words were the only thing she could say,

She took out her hairclip from her hair, the sharp end laced with a poison that forced one to reincarnate.

She stabbed her father’s spinal cord. He did not resist.

The poison ran its course, and Dai Gengrui’s body was slowly rejecting his soul. Without the connection to his soul, his physical body began to shrivel up and wither, letting go of the flag.

In a few seconds, he would be forced to reincarnate, but for him, that was enough.

“Tell me, was I a good father?” He spoke to his daughter’s soul.

“Hell no.” Li’er immediately replied.

Dai Gengrui laughed weakly

“But, you were the one I deserved.” Those were the last exchange of words the father and daughter had.

‘How ironic, to be killed by my own daughter in the Cliffs of Fidelity.’

That day, the empire was surrounded and destroyed. Most of the imperial family and civilians escaped through the Great Trial. The search for the imperial family was ordered, the Great Conqueror’s flag was found at the bottom of the Cliffs of Fidelity, with the world energy ready to be harvested. His body was never found,  it was assumed he committed suicide, completely destroying both his body and soul. The Heaven’s Gate was activated, and everyone was finally able to ascend.

As for the Great Conqueror himself…

He was ready for whatever awaits him, whether it was the yellow springs or whatever other thing fate had in store for those who reincarnate.

Perhaps he would be punished for his actions, perhaps his memory would be wiped clean.

It didn’t matter; he was ready for whatever came next.

Well, except what actually came next.

Somehow, his soul survived the trip throughout the river of reincarnation without drinking Granny Meng’s soup.

And he was reborn that day in a world of swords and magic.

Specifically, the ducal house of de Leon in a country called:

Invicta.² Latin for "Unconquered"