ATAVID CH110

“At the very least, before today, I didn’t expect this kind of outcome,” Jiang Qunyu said.

He had thought that he had truly just transmigrated into an 18+ restricted novel.

But after staying here for so long, he had long ceased to regard this place as a fictional novel. Everything here was far too real. Whether it was the long years he had walked through, the people he had met, or the various past experiences he had personally gone through, Jiang Qunyu had never once felt a sense of detached superiority just because he knew the general direction of the story beforehand.

Since he harbored this doubt in his heart, he went ahead and asked.

The Heavenly Dao’s tone was gentle as he slowly explained: “It is only natural for you to have such a doubt. The trajectories of many worlds in existence often reflect upon the present world in another form, just like the novels you spoke of. To put it in the context of the Cultivation World, perhaps those mortal storybooks you used to enjoy reading in your spare time are also past events that truly transpired in other worlds.”

On the surface, Jiang Qunyu nodded: “So that’s how it is.”

In reality, he couldn’t help but think to himself: It seems my friend’s sister must have been possessed by Xuan Jin at that time to write over a million words so fluidly.

Another thought was that if the stories in those storybooks he read truly existed, then those other worlds lived through far too much melodrama.

In contrast to Jiang Qunyu’s shock, Wei Xun had calmly watched the entire regression illusion from beginning to end. He even didn’t forget to coldly mock his past self from the previous round of regression: “Fortunately, I wasn’t stupid to the very end.”

Jiang Qunyu couldn’t help but raise his hand to cover Wei Xun’s mouth: “Shut up, you in the last cycle of reincarnation was already miserable enough.”

Wei Xun, however, didn’t feel there was anything miserable about it. He wanted to curl his lips to utter a few more sarcastic remarks, after all, he had been influenced by an consciousness that didn’t belong to him for so long.

But in the next instant, he thought about it—in the last cycle of reincarnation, that Wei Xun had not met Jiang Qunyu, but he had.

Tsk, indeed quite pitiable.

Wei Xun’s brow twitched slightly, which could be considered reluctantly accepting Jiang Qunyu’s consoling. In the next moment, he shed the coldness around his body and, with an affectionate and natural posture, reached out to hold Jiang Qunyu’s hand that had just slipped from his grasp.

Jiang Qunyu felt a bit embarrassed, but he let him be. Meeting the Heavenly Dao’s teasing gaze, he cleared his throat lightly to hide his embarrassment and changed the subject: “Oh, so in the last regression, Wei Xun’s later awakening was because Xuan Jin’s divine power had depleted?”

“Yes,” the Heavenly Dao said. “Every time Xuan Jin regressed time, his divine power would be mostly damaged. His insistence on breaking into the Deity’s Fall Ground this time was originally aimed at that lost divine bone.

“As long as he seizes the divine bone, he can stabilize his divine core which is on the verge of collapsing. He has already harbored the mindset of burning his bridges; if he still fails in this lifetime, he will exhaust his divine power once more to regress and start over.”

Jiang Qunyu paused, frowning as he asked: “Last time in that secret realm, I heard Su Fuyao say that the divine bone could bring someone back to life. Was Xuan Jin lying to him too?”

The Heavenly Dao nodded: “The divine bone cannot bring people back to life. As for that system Su Fuyao spoke of, from beginning to end, it was merely a puppet conjured by Xuan Jin using his own divine power.”

He paused for a brief moment, changing to a more direct wording, and added calmly: “In essence, it is no different from the divine power imprint Xuan Jin forcefully left deep within Wei Xun’s soul in the previous round.”

Jiang Qunyu said with sincere sympathy: “Then Su Fuyao is truly quite miserable.”

Although the white lotus was indeed a bit of a white lotus, he was just as miserable as him—both had worked for free for so many years.

Oh wait, his luck was slightly better. He got himself a wife—ah, pah, a boyfriend.

He quietly scoffed in his mind, dismissing those chaotic thoughts, and looked up at the Heavenly Dao with a more serious expression: “After saying all this, what is your true purpose in showing yourself this time?”

Surely he didn’t make a special trip just to show them a memory of Xuan Jin’s past.

Although this illusion had indeed resolved all the doubts that had weighed heavily on his mind for a long time, the Heavenly Dao, as the manifestation of the world’s rules, would never do such meaningless chores.

The Heavenly Dao’s voice remained gentle: “Just as I said earlier, Xuan Jin regressed time over and over again. While his own divine power was depleted, the providence of this world also grew thinner with each cycle of his reincarnation.

“Over thousands of years, the order of heaven and earth lost its balance. Resentment gathered into miasma, and turbid breath spread across the three realms, causing the current Cultivation World to possess only a glamorous exterior. The immortal sects have lost their noble and clear energy, carrying turbid yin energy everywhere instead.

“Although Shen Peiqiu has reorganized the Immortal Alliance and cleansed the turbid energy over these years, barely stabilizing the situation, it is merely lingering on the brink. This world is already riddled with holes and can absolutely not withstand another regression. If Xuan Jin regresses time once more, this world will likely collapse entirely, and all things in the five realms will turn to nothingness.

“I am formed by the chaotic energy of heaven and earth and only guard the rules of heaven and earth; I cannot casually interfere with the established karma of the five realms. Moreover, the root of this catastrophe is not caused by Xuan Jin’s personal selfish desires alone. I am bound by the rules and cannot constrain him.”

With that, he stopped speaking further.

Jiang Qunyu silently complained, wanting to say that the cultivation world hadn’t actually been much better before, otherwise Xuan Jin wouldn’t have regressed so many times.

But right now, he had no time to dwell on these old grievances. He pointed to himself and Wei Xun: “So you are waiting for us to stop him?”

The Heavenly Dao looked quite appreciative: “Yes.”

Jiang Qunyu lamented: “My goodness, after going in such a huge circle, you’ve also come to drag us into working for you for free?”

In fact, even if the Heavenly Dao hadn’t appeared, he and Wei Xun were destined to step into Tiandu and face Xuan Jin head-on.

But since an opportunity had presented itself to pluck a feather from the Heavenly Dao, it would be a waste not to. What’s more, this was the Heavenly Dao, the manifestation of the world’s rules; being able to get even a fraction of a benefit from him was a guaranteed profitable deal.

The Heavenly Dao chuckled: “Naturally not. Haven’t you already obtained him?”

Jiang Qunyu silently blocked in front of Wei Xun, cricking his neck as he said: “This doesn’t count!”

Wei Xun was already his!

Wei Xun was startled, then raised his eyes to look faintly at the Heavenly Dao.

The Heavenly Dao: “…”

He sighed: “That was not my meaning.”

Before his voice fell, he lightly lifted his fingertips. A brilliant white light wrapped in the clear energy of heaven and earth drifted from his palm and sank into Jiang Qunyu’s forehead.

Wei Xun didn’t sense any malice, so he didn’t stop it.

Just as Jiang Qunyu was about to ask what that was, the cosmic bag in his embrace, which had been quiet all along, suddenly trembled gently.

In the next second, a fluffy little sprite flapping its semi-transparent thin wings abruptly dashed out of the bag’s opening. It circled around the top of his head, shouting and screaming with grievance: “I was suffocating! I was almost suffocated to death! Jiang Qunyu, do you want to smother me to death inside?”

Jiang Qunyu reached out his hand to poke away the sprite that was about to stick to his cheek, marveling: “So you’re actually still alive.”

The sprite crossed its arms and raised its head: “Of course!”

He tugged at the sprite’s wing before turning back to look at the Heavenly Dao, somewhat disdainfully: “You don’t want to tell me that this round-bellied, flapping moth is some rare heavenly spiritual treasure, do you?”

The sprite plucked at its own wings and snorted: “I’m not some heavenly spiritual treasure!”

Jiang Qunyu felt relieved: “I knew it, you don’t look that smart.”

The sprite: “…”

It was furious, struggling to fly in the direction of the Heavenly Dao: “I don’t want to acknowledge Jiang Qunyu as my master! He has no sincerity at all!”

Ignoring the sprite’s words, the Heavenly Dao said to Jiang Qunyu: “Doesn’t it look like it?”

Jiang Qunyu let go of the hand holding Wei Xun, grabbed one wing in each hand, and held the lifeless sprite forward: “Where does it look like it?”

The Heavenly Dao curved his lips and smiled: “It is formed by the third divine bone.”

Jiang Qunyu raised his eyebrows: “It? The divine bone?”

The sprite shook its pointed ears: “Who are you looking down on?”

“Sorry,” Jiang Qunyu said curiously. “I thought you could only read storybooks. Besides, wasn’t it said before that there is only one divine bone in the Deity’s Fall Ground?”

He remembered that cultivator telling him before that there was only one complete divine bone. Xuan Jin took one a thousand years ago, and now he had taken another one. The sprite was also one; how could there be so many?!

What happened to things being precious when they are rare!

The Heavenly Dao explained: “Originally, there were only two. When one of them fell into the secret realm, it was hit by the chaotic energy and split into two, so it could not take shape.”

The sprite instantly became smug, proudly shaking its wings and introducing itself: “I am the only complete and flawless divine bone in the world. I am born with the ability to take shape, a unique existence!”

Jiang Qunyu: “Oh.”

Extremely dissatisfied with his attitude, the sprite flapped its gripped wings and urged: “Hurry up and praise me.”

Jiang Qunyu perfunctorily said: “You are really amazing.”

Having received a compliment, the sprite was satisfied, and its wings flapped much faster.

Seeing that the two got along reasonably well, the Heavenly Dao continued: “A trace of my power remains in its body. Once the matter here is resolved, I can unlock the seal of the Heavenly Demon phase inside Wei Xun’s body.”

Jiang Qunyu had originally planned to pluck more feathers, but upon hearing the Heavenly Dao’s latter half of the sentence, he turned back to look at Wei Xun, asking for his opinion.

Wei Xun lowered his gaze to meet his. His ink-dark eyes were calm and steady without any hesitation. He nodded gently and said, “Alright.”

A smile spread across the Heavenly Dao’s lips, and he said warmly: “Then I wish you two a smooth journey ahead, and may you be free of worries.”

As his voice fell, Jiang Qunyu and Wei Xun turned around side by side and walked toward the depths of Tiandu.

The heavy gates of Tiandu opened halfway behind them. The light of day spilled over the mottled city bricks, casting a long shadow of their figures on the ground.

The Heavenly Dao stood quietly beneath the gates of Tiandu. As the wind blew, his plain white sleeves fluttered, his gaze distantly following the two figures until they shrank into a faint outline and finally vanished at the end of the path.

Looking toward the direction where they could no longer be seen, a very faint expectation and melancholy flitted through his eyes. He sighed softly: “The cycles of reincarnation have ended, and destiny should have its destination. The thousand-year entanglement of reincarnation should come to an end here.”

As they walked forward, Jiang Qunyu’s ears ached from the sprite’s noisy chatter. He simply reached out to grab it, planning to stuff it back into the cosmic bag first.

The sprite refused to comply: “I’m not living in your broken bag! If I’m living anywhere, I’m living in your consciousness!”

Jiang Qunyu nodded: “Then go on in.”

“I was suffocating in your broken cosmic bag for several days. Now that I’m finally out, I need to get some fresh air for a bit.” The sprite immediately went back on its word, flapping its wings and spinning around.

It wanted to find a comfortable spot to land on Jiang Qunyu’s head, but a hand with distinct knuckles reached out first and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck.

Caught off guard, the sprite hung in mid-air, staring blankly at Wei Xun.

It froze for several breaths, and along with Wei Xun, tilted its head to look at Jiang Qunyu beside them.

The sprite’s fur instantly stood on end, and it cried out in shock: “Who is he?!”

It had been out for so long, yet it hadn’t noticed that there was another person beside Jiang Qunyu!

Wei Xun was quite disdainful: “Ugly.”

Jiang Qunyu nodded in agreement while holding his red sickle, instantly slicing through several wisps of resentful spirits that attempted to wrap around them, his tone calm: “Indeed ugly.”

The sprite: “…”

Seeing that the sprite was about to collapse from anger again, Jiang Qunyu smiled and said to it: “He is my Dao companion.”

The sprite was horrified, then tilted its head: “Jiang Qunyu, you weren’t wrong. Your Dao companion is indeed a great devil!”

Jiang Qunyu almost stumbled.

Wei Xun expressionlessly threw the sprite away. He then summoned Soul-Eater, and thousands of ice swords rained down, causing the resentful spirits within a hundred-meter radius to instantly scatter and flee.

Jiang Qunyu had originally wanted to sharpen his red sickle before the battle started. He had finally seen a few resentful spirits that weren’t afraid of Wei Xun drifting over, only for them to be scared away by him. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say, feeling so annoyed that he wanted to bite him.

But since the sprite had just exposed his secret, he could only mumble: “Dao companion is the key point.”

The sprite that had been thrown far away flew back, complaining: “This devil truly…”

Before its voice fell, Jiang Qunyu quickly reached out to grab it, covering its mouth, and threatened fiercely: “If you curse my Dao companion again, I’ll tear your wings!”

The sprite: “?”

A shallow smile rippled in Wei Xun’s eyes. He curved his lips and said: “What are you feeling guilty about? It’s not like you haven’t said worse.”

Jiang Qunyu refused to admit it: “When did I ever curse you?”

Wei Xun raised his eyebrows, his thin lips opening and closing in an extremely good mood: “In bed.”

Jiang Qunyu choked.

The sprite: “…”

Shameless couple!

It flapped its wings in protest, escaped from Jiang Qunyu’s palm, and perched on his shoulder, covering its ears with its wings, too lazy to listen to them talk anymore.