CHAPTER 47: LEGACY

Tian Lei raised a brow. "What, missed me?"

"You promised me the full version of the Great Void Art, brat," Haiyun said, the edge in his tone sharper than the Void Qi coiling around him. "Then you got snatched up by the Sect Master and vanished like a fart in a storm cloud. I figured you’d forgotten."

Tian Lei blinked, then winced slightly. "...Okay, that’s fair. I did forget."

Haiyun barked a laugh. "I’ll carve that into your tombstone."

"But I brought it now, didn’t I?" Tian Lei said, reaching into his sleeve. "You’re lucky I even remembered where I stashed the thing."

From the folds of his robe, he pulled out a weathered book, wrapped in protective seals and humming faintly with Void Qi. "Here. The final three refinements, straight from my reconstructed notes."

Haiyun’s expression shifted from mock irritation to genuine interest. He extended his hand, and the book floated over, carried on a silent breeze of spatial distortion. As he opened it, the room grew quieter, as if the air itself leaned in to read.

"Yes... this is it," he murmured. "The missing sections. With this, I can finally evolve the full Grand Void Art to its Sixth Return... the full Grand void Art."

He shut the book with reverent care, fingers lingering on the cover. Then, with a sideways glance at Tian Lei, he added, "I’ll forgive your idiocy. This time."

Tian Lei chuckled. "I knew you were still clinging to your grudge. Sent that icy little fairy Meixue to escort me like I was some runaway son."

Haiyun snorted. "Didn’t think you’d come otherwise."

Tian Lei turned to leave but paused, cocking his head. "One last thing. That legacy you used to build Void Peak... what exactly was it?"

Haiyun raised a brow. "Why do you care?"

"I’ve been learning the sect’s internal structure," Tian Lei replied, arms folded. "To establish a true peak, you need at least a hundred cultivation technique and among them three must be Heaven-Rank cultivation techniques. So what kind of ancient inheritance gave you that foundation?"

Haiyun shrugged, as if recalling something that barely deserved the breath to recount. "Found it in a spatial ring," he said casually.

Tian Lei blinked. "That’s it?"

The old man chuckled. "You want romance and thunder? Fine. In my youth, I stumbled into a secret realm while running for my life from a Void Behemoth. Beast was faster than it had any right to be. I thought I was done for. So I dove headfirst into a fissure in the cliffside, hoping to at least die somewhere scenic."

His eyes gleamed faintly with nostalgia.

"Instead, I landed in a hidden cavern, untouched by anyone. And there, nestled between crystalized roots and ancient ruins... was a skeleton. Still sitting in meditation posture. Ring still on his finger."

Tian Lei tilted his head, curiosity piqued. "And inside that ring?"

"Everything," Haiyun said, voice low. "Dozens of void-path techniques, not just three but whole nine Heaven-Rank arts, blueprints for a Void Convergence Formation, and fragmentary manuals related to both Void and Spatial Laws. Even cultivation pills so aged their Qi had vaporated into mist. That was the foundation."

"And the corpse?" Tian Lei asked.

Haiyun’s gaze turned distant. "I searched everything. Based on the sect badges and faded jade tokens, I pieced it together. That man... was the heir of a fallen sect. A sect that once specialized in both Void and Spatial Dao. Probably annihilated in some ancient war or betrayal."

He tapped the air with his finger, a moted image of a broken crest appearing—twin rings overlapping, surrounded by stars.

"The inheritance was meant for his disciples. He probably took it with him, thinking he’d pass it on. But he didn’t make it. Instead, it ended up in my hands. The legacy of a dead lineage... powering Void Peak."

Tian Lei exhaled, lips curling in half-respect, half-wonder. "So you just stumbled on it by accident."

Haiyun grinned. "As all great cultivators do. Right place, wrong beast, near-death opportunity."

Tian Lei gave a low chuckle. "And here I thought Void Peak was born from years of precise planning and ruthless ambition."

"Oh, it was," Haiyun smirked, leaning back with the smugness of a man who’d rolled the heavens’ dice and come up with a full set of dragon pearls.

Tian Lei exhaled slowly, shaking his head as he turned toward the door. "Lucky, you old man... You sound like a protagonist from a cheap tavern scroll."

"I am going back to my own cultivation" after some more talk Tian lei said as he began to leave.

But Haiyun’s voice called out once more, filled with mirth. "By the way—how do you like Meixue? If you’re interested, I can help you woo her. I may be old, but I’ve still got techniques they don’t print anymore!"

Tian Lei didn’t even turn around. His voice echoed back, dry and sharp as a sword’s edge. "I don’t need help wooing a woman."

And with that, he vanished into the wind—leaving behind only the flutter of his robes and a room that seemed a little emptier than before.

Haiyun burst into wheezing laughter, wiping his eye as if Tian Lei’s bluntness had physically struck him. "Shameless brat," he muttered affectionately. "Too proud for his own good... or maybe just too sharp."

But then his eyes dropped to the tome now lying open before him—the complete Grand Void Art. The missing segments had finally returned. Ink pulsed faintly with Void Qi, runes shifting like liquid stars across the page. His smile faded, replaced by focused reverence.

He inhaled deeply, the room trembling as spatial lines twisted subtly around him. The very air seemed to bend toward the text.

"...So this is the Fourth Stage," he whispered.

He has been stuck at third stage all this decades and finallt he can learn not just the next stage but whole rest of the art, he was feeling so happy that he alsmot cried and then sat cross legged as he began to comprehend the rest of the Great Void art.