"Went down the wrong path?"
Xue Yunlan softly spoke those four words, ripples stirring in her eyes.
Having confirmed that she had truly been resurrected, she no longer doubted Chen Luo's identity.
She raised her eyes toward that transcendent figure and asked softly,
"May I ask, Senior, what does it mean to have gone down the wrong path?"
Chen Luo stood with his hands behind his back, his robes fluttering lightly in the breeze.
"With your talent, you should have transcended the shackles of this world. Yet you were bound to the mortal realm by obsession, and in the end, could not escape birth, aging, sickness, and death."
His gaze was piercing, every word clear.
"You belonged to a broader world."
Xue Yunlan's body trembled slightly.
In a daze, she seemed to see herself from two thousand years ago, reviewing memorials in the imperial study until deep into the night, yet still forcing herself to make time for cultivation.
"Did I... truly choose the wrong path?"
Xue Yunlan murmured to herself.
Chen Luo flicked his sleeve, and a stream of light suddenly appeared.
A thousand years of rise and decline unfolded like a scroll—
After her death, the Heaven Dou Empire had gradually declined from its peak.
By the time of Xue Ye's reign, the empire that had once looked down upon all directions was already wavering amid wind and rain.
"The realm you built with your own hands is now on the brink of collapse."
"The emperor is incompetent, parasites lurk within the court, and the vast Heaven Dou Empire does not even possess a Titled Douluo of its own."
"The labor of your entire life will ultimately wither away."
His voice suddenly grew heavy.
"You were a wise ruler unmatched by any monarch of ancient or modern times,