Ten days have passed since the great battle, during which Li Xiaotian had been staying with his wife and daughters in Gu Zihang Village.
It is worth mentioning that within these ten days, Heavenly-tier powerhouses from various regions of the Nine Provinces came to pay their respects to Li Xiaotian.
After all, Li Xiaotian was now considered the foremost powerhouse in the Nine Provinces, the sole invincible existence in tens of thousands of years.
Fortunately, those who came knew their place and departed after a brief visit, not consuming much of Li Xiaotian's time.
On this day, Li Xiaotian received a message from the Demon Lord, summoning him to Jian Ge for a discussion.
In the deepest part of the Jian Ge sect, there stood a towering peak resembling a sword. Li Xiaotian instantly appeared.
Besides him, present were the Tongtian Sword Master, the Demon Lord, Anan, and the Golden Lioness.
"Greetings, seniors," Li Xiaotian bowed slightly. Except for the Demon Lord who remained unmoved, the other four returned the gesture.
After all, Li Xiaotian was now an invincible powerhouse, not the same as before. The respect due to a strong individual was still necessary.
As for the Demon Lord, he was merely leveraging his status as Li Xiaotian's master to put on airs.
"Heh heh, brat, how's it feel to be invincible? Is it lonely?" the Demon Lord asked with a lewd glint in his eyes.
Li Xiaotian was speechless. Lonely? After absorbing the Blood Ancestor and breaking through to invincibility, he honestly hadn't fully grasped this realm yet.
Moreover, he felt that his invincible realm was not perfect; it lacked many things.
"Master, all seniors, you should be able to sense my current state. Although I am invincible, I feel that if I had encountered Qiong in his prime that day, I would not have been his match."
Li Xiaotian said after some thought. These individuals present had lived for countless years and should understand his situation.
"Indeed, young friend Li. Your current realm, to be precise, is half-step invincible. You are stronger than us, but weaker than a true invincible powerhouse," the Tongtian Sword Master stated, then glanced at the Demon Lord before continuing.
"In the previous battle, the Demon Lord went with a desperate mindset. Either Qiong and the Blood Ancestor would die, or the Nine Provinces would be annihilated."
"His only confidence stemmed from gambling that you could successfully absorb the Blood Ancestor and reach half-step invincibility."
"Furthermore, he calculated all of us present, and even the Heavenly-tiers of the entire Nine Provinces, forcing us to gamble alongside him."
"But fortunately, we won, and his gamble paid off."
The Demon Lord chuckled awkwardly, a rare occurrence, clearly embarrassed at having his hidden motives exposed so openly.
The Tongtian Sword Master paused before continuing.
"As for your current realm, it can be said that your strength and physique have reached invincibility, but your comprehension of the Great Dao is still far from sufficient."
"It's like a cup half-filled with water; the water is not yet full."
Upon hearing the Tongtian Sword Master's explanation, Li Xiaotian understood immediately. He had felt this way himself these past few days. Although he had broken through to the invincible realm, he felt that his control over the Devouring Great Dao had not improved significantly.
"Brat, you don't need to worry too much about your situation. Just find some time to comprehend the Devouring Great Dao properly, and your realm will eventually become perfect," the Demon Lord said.
"I've summoned you here today to discuss something."
Li Xiaotian adopted a posture of attentive listening. He no longer worried about his realm; after all, once the cause was understood, a solution could be found.
"Young friend Li, it's like this. How much do you know about the origin of the Blood Sea? And the reason why so many invincible powerhouses of the Nine Provinces disappeared in ancient times, have you looked into these matters?" the Tongtian Sword Master inquired. Originally, once they reached the peak Heavenly-tier realm, they would reveal all truths.
However, Li Xiaotian had directly leaped to invincibility, bypassing this stage, so he hadn't had the chance to learn about these things.
"Returning to senior, I can roughly guess the origin of the Blood Sea. It comes from another world, and the Blood Sea I absorbed was merely a clone," Li Xiaotian replied, recalling the faint sensation he experienced after absorbing the Blood Sea, and continued.
"The Blood Sea is like a nail in our world, preventing our world from ever being complete and unable to birth new invincible powerhouses."
"The Blood Sea and the Celestial Demons of the Eighteen Levels of Hell in Fo Province likely originate from the same world."
"Indeed. They all hail from a great world called the Myriad Races. Of course, that's our designation for them; they refer to themselves as the God Realm."
The Tongtian Sword Master said, his gaze falling into memory as he continued speaking to Li Xiaotian.
"This was a long, long time ago. Our world was still a wilderness, and humanity was a very weak race."
"At that time, natural disasters were constant, and wild beasts roamed everywhere. Humanity was at the very bottom of the food chain."
"Life for humans back then was incredibly difficult. Despite countless uprisings, they were too weak against the demonic beasts that instinctively absorbed energy to strengthen themselves from birth."
"Humanity's repeated resistance only resulted in repeated ruthless slaughters; human lives were as insignificant as grass."
At this moment, a trace of sadness appeared on the faces of everyone present.
Li Xiaotian was also somewhat touched. Although he had not experienced that era, from the Tongtian Sword Master's description, he could imagine how difficult life was for humans then.
"Until one day, a massive stone tablet descended from the heavens. It came from the void, and at that time, no existence could discern its origin."
Saying this, the Tongtian Sword Master looked at Li Xiaotian.
"This was the Heavenly Stele, the foundation of humanity's rise, and also the origin of the calamities for our Nine Provinces world."