1 Prologue

Modern humans always wish for one more day when on their deathbed. They all know death comes for them at some point, but they always resist when it's their time.

They even want to resist death when their time is nowhere near, seeking to continue living in a cruel world than face the emptiness of death.

Yet modern humans forgot their predecessors' teachings to indulge in their greed and tyranny. Teachings that allowed them to slip even the grasps of death.

They even so much as deemed the concepts of immortality as impossible, despite having an immortal amongst their people for millennia.

"And despite them having an immortal to teach them the way to immortality, they rejected the teachings and called me crazy…"

Emptiness filled the space before my eyes, with only the light from distant stars and planets to brighten the void.

"Yet here I float, the 'craziest human to live on Earth' being the last human to exist. It's pretty ironic."

Behind me floated millions of planetary shards with a half-destroyed moon filled with meteor holes slowly drifting apart. All illuminated by the single sun burning in the distance.

The planet that became those millions of shards was once called Earth, home to humanity before it's destruction. For most of its existence, Earth faced many hardships at the hands of humanity, from countless wars to its resources being exhausted over the years.

But nearly a thousand years before its destruction, humanity changed.

They realized that the planet was on the brink of destruction after an entire continent and its population were swallowed back into the mantle.

The loss of one continent showed them the truth, that despite being divided amongst countries and continents, they were all one civilization. And that they shouldn't be fighting over petty things like land and political or religious power.

Science and technology evolved to become environmentally friendly, and life began to truly prosper on Earth for the first time in millennia.

Though that prosperity lasted long in terms of human time, in the eyes of the universe the prosperity lasted for not but a few minutes, as a thousand years later the Earth became what is behind me now.

"Untold heavens before me and shattered Earth behind me, the good of the heavens and the evils of the Earth, between two I alone stand true…"

Such is the ways of immortality, we seek to reach Ascension* by becoming immortal and gaining the attention of the heavens, abandoning our earthly desires along the way.

But immortality just binds you to the planet you're trying to escape from, immortality was never the goal, but just a step along the path.

I could never let go of my earthly attachments, despite outliving everyone I would ever know. I couldn't bring myself to let go, but now there's no choice.

Still floating in the void, I folded my legs into the lotus position and recited the sutra I failed to complete millennia ago.

"Peaceful mind of empty concern. True spirit of sacred arts. Detachment signs at the loss of the loved. Bringing forth the true light."

The qi within my Golden Core* began to flow and mix with the energies of my middle and upper cores before being released into the void around me.

The ultimate step of Ascension is to become one with the universe. Martial arts itself relies on separating energy from nature to consolidate one's power. However, that exact reason is why most martial artists never ascend, they refuse to give up the power they worked so hard to cultivate.

Kwaang!!

As the last of my energy left my body, I felt all the muscles in my body relax as if there was nothing, not even the pressure of the void around me was affecting me.

However, the relaxation I felt was disturbed by a voice, a voice I was all too familiar with. Despite how long it had been since I last heard it.

"Ryu Il, you've finally returned to my side."

I opened my eyes and was astonished by the pure white space around me.

"Where am I?"

Despite nobody being around me, the voice I knew calmly echoed around me.

"This the Other Side Ryu Il, the place where all the masters from our time ascended to."

The Other Side? So after five thousand years of living as an immortal I finally made it.

A figure began to emerge out of the pure white space and form the shape of the man who set me on this journey.

"Master, I've finally returned."

"You've lived a hard life Ryu Il, but now that you've finally joined me in the Other Side we can finally relax and be free of worry."

I bowed deeply toward my master, Ryom Un-Ju as I recalled all the memories from when I was training under him and smiled.

"Thank you, Master."

"Please Ryu Il, don't call me master anymore, you're far more experienced than I ever was during my life." Ryom Un-Ju replied, placing his hand on my back.

"If it wasn't for your teachings, I never would have made it here, Master."

Ryom Un-Ju had ascended to the Other Side after I reached the Golden Core Formation stage*. Leaving me only with his written teachings to make my way to Ascension.

"You would have found your way eventually, Ryu Il. You spent millennia amongst humanity, you had all the time in the world to find your way here, literally."

I stood up and chuckled at my master's joke with the events of Earth's destruction still fresh in my mind.

"I had all the time in the world and then some to make it here you mean." I snapped back with a smug grin.

"Hahaha, I guess you did!"

I looked around the pure white space in astonishment, I had finally reached the place I've been aiming for after five thousand years. Who wouldn't be happy after that much time had passed?

Though one question lingered in my mind despite my astonishment.

"Master, where is everyone else?"

"They're still waiting for us to fully enter the Other Side; this is only the waiting grounds to enter."

The waiting grounds? Have I not fully been accepted into the Other Side yet?

The pure white space around me began to shake as my master's eyes filled with sorrow.

"Ryu Il, I'm glad we got to meet again, but it seems like the Other Side doesn't want you to enter its ranks yet. You will have to return to Earth and redo the process, but do not worry, regardless of the change we will still be here."

Kwaang!!

The pure white space before my eyes began to diverge into halves. Leaving me stranded in the separated black void as the pure white space of the Other Side shook and drifted away from me.

"Master!"

I shot up off my back as I called for my master once more, I had been kicked out from the Other Side and been told to try again despite my life's efforts.

But the feeling I now feel is strange, my arms are short and skinny, my hands small and free of blemishes, my hair feels shorter than it was.

But the most concerning thing of all, I was lying in a bed I had not seen in over five thousand years.

"What the hell!?"

Author's notes:

Ascension: The art of becoming one with the Universe and reaching the Other Side.

Golden Core: Similar to a Dantian, the golden core replaces the lower Dantian and provides nearly unlimited energy to the beholder depending on its size. This core is required for Immortals as its energy is what keeps them immortal.

Golden Core Formation stage: The stage of refining ones Dantian into a Golden Core through rigorous meditation and compression of their qi.