The Root of the Predicament

Cang Ming lightly bit her lip. City of Flowing Moon had a sparse population, and as the city lord's daughter, she held a lofty status. Few people her age ever approached her, and Shen Ye was her only friend.

Shen Ye suffering because of her was naturally an incomparably painful matter for her.

Seeing that Cang Ming was still lost in wild thoughts, Shen Ye changed the subject. "Did the City Lord find a way to cure your illness from Xiao Xi and me?"

Cang Ming gently shook her head, affecting an easy tone. "Who knows? Adults are always so mysterious!"

Seeing Shen Ye's grave expression, it was Cang Ming's turn to change the subject. "You're going to see Little Sister Xiao Xi, right? Let's go together!"

An exquisite, brightly lit room filled with fairy-tale fantasy.

"Big Sister Jing Ping, after today, will this Xiao Xi from these past three days be gone, and will I turn back into that Xiao Xi who knows nothing?" The little girl, delicate and adorable as a porcelain doll, sat on the edge of the bed, swinging her little legs as she asked.

The maid beside her had pity filling her eyes. "Don't let your thoughts run wild. Xiao Xi is Xiao Xi; you won't change!"

Xiao Xi nodded listlessly. "I wonder when Brother will wake up. Xiao Xi hasn't forgotten Brother, so Brother can't forget Xiao Xi either..."

The door was pushed open, and Shen Ye and Cang Ming walked in side by side.

Seeing Xiao Xi again, even Shen Ye found it somewhat difficult to contain himself.

After all, in his previous life, he had personally killed Xiao Xi with his own hands!

"Brother!" Xiao Xi cried out joyfully, flinging herself at Shen Ye like a swallow returning to its nest. She clung to him and asked with expectation in her eyes, "Brother, do you still remember Xiao Xi?"

Shen Ye suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his heart and stroked Xiao Xi's head. "Of course. How could Brother possibly forget Xiao Xi?"

"Hehe." Xiao Xi jumped down from Shen Ye, then looked behind him somewhat fearfully. "Father... Father didn't come, did he?"

"Don't worry. Brother won't let you be taken away again!"

After leaving the room, a bone-piercing cold wind rushed straight at them.

Xiao Xi, Cang Ming, City of Flowing Moon... Shen Ye murmured inwardly, the faint restlessness brought by his rebirth already dissipating.

In a sense, he had nearly done everything to perfection in his previous life.

Even if he did it all over again, he might not achieve a better result.

He returned to his room deep in thought. Hua Yue closed the door and stood quietly at his side.

Shen Ye sat in a chair, his fingertips lightly tapping the tabletop.

Though he possessed the memories of his first life, he did not regret what he had done in his previous life.

It was like his first life: if the Hua Clan faced a crisis on the brink of extinction and had to sacrifice other races for a sliver of hope—say, some Angsa race—he would not hesitate in the slightest!

Of course, he was not some monster devoid of humanity. If there were a better solution, he would naturally be willing to take it.

Unfortunately, judging from the current situation, there was hardly any other way to break the deadlock.

City of Flowing Moon currently faced two predicaments.

First, City of Flowing Moon was sealed within a barrier set by the Heavenly Emperor.

Second, its people could not adapt to turbid qi.

Looking at only these two points, there was not no way to resolve them.

The Fuxi Barrier could be broken by restoring the Zhaoming Divine Sword that Fuxi had discarded.

As for turbid qi, even without relying on the corrosion of Demonic Qi, they could settle their people in places rich in Pure Qi, such as the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands, by finding or seizing them.

What truly gave him a headache was the attitude of the one in the heavens!

Although that Heavenly Emperor had set a barrier around City of Flowing Moon on the grounds of preventing secrets such as the Five-Colored Stones and Jumu from leaking out, isolating the city from the world ever since, no matter how Shen Ye thought about it, he felt that the other party was trying to diminish the influence of Great God Shennong.

In ancient times, the Three Sovereigns stood side by side.

Yet now, only the Heavenly Sovereign's name was heard throughout the world. The Earthly Sovereign and Human Sovereign had long become legends.

Even after the Beast Race was defeated in ancient times, the Divine Race had not wiped them out completely. Instead, they had allowed them to retreat into another spacetime, where they eventually developed into the Devil Race. As the creator of the Beast Race, Shennong naturally bore some rather unsavory reputations.

Even the Nüwa Descendants were branded as demons in many regions.

In his previous life, he might not have understood Fuxi's intentions in doing this. But with the memories of two lives combined, he now had some guesses.

After Great God Pangu opened the heavens, his essence, qi, and spirit divided into the Primordial Three Sovereigns, but the legacy he left behind went far beyond that.

If someone could inherit Pangu's true orthodoxy, perhaps they could receive the remaining Destiny and foundation.

Of course, this was only part of his speculation. Moreover, he did not believe that someone of the Heavenly Emperor's standing would pay much attention to little shrimps like them.

But sometimes, the attitude of those in high positions already decided everything.

Even if Fuxi did not care much about them, those beneath him would still try to divine his intentions in order to curry favor with him.

Part of the reason he had turned his people into devils in his previous life was this consideration. To cause a tribe that worshipped Great God Shennong to fall into the Devil Race, staining its name with disgrace—for the one in the heavens, perhaps only such a "negative example" had any need to exist.

At this thought, Shen Ye gently shook his head, casting aside these distracting thoughts and reconsidering a way out. My comprehension now far surpasses that of my previous life. Is it possible to raise my strength to a level where I can break the deadlock through sheer force?

In his previous life, he had not cared much about his own cultivation. After all, the divine blood within Jumu could last at most one or two hundred years before being exhausted. Unless he could gain the power to contend against the Divine Realm within that brief span, no amount of cultivation would be of use.

It was precisely because of this that, after reaching the pinnacle of the Human Realm in barely more than a decade in his previous life, he had turned to studying construct armor, talismans, formations, and alchemy, hoping to find a sliver of life through these "unorthodox paths."

But he soon shook his head. "No, this is simply impossible!"

He was not being overly modest; the mighty grandeur of the Primordial Three Sovereigns was simply too vast and towering.

Although he had never seen the Three Sovereigns make a move, he had wielded the divine sword Zhaoming for a time in his previous life. As the Heavenly Emperor's former personal sword, the divine sword Zhaoming still retained scattered traces of Fuxi's Dao imprints.

That boundless, desolate might was something he could never reach, even if he became hundreds of millions of times stronger!

"Although I reached the utmost extreme in many aspects in my previous life, that was only within the rules. If I want to find a new path forward, I must broaden my horizons!" Shen Ye unconsciously rubbed his right fingers across the tabletop as he thought, I need to cast my gaze over the entire Six Realms. It would be best if I could stir up chaos throughout the Six Realms. That way, the God Realm won't spare too much attention for a small pawn like me...

Just as he was considering how to throw the Six Realms into turmoil, the Life Palace between his brows suddenly trembled.

The Life Palace was the palace of one's life, where essence, qi, spirit, and will gathered. Shen Ye naturally did not dare neglect it and swiftly projected his Divine Sense into his Life Palace.

His Life Palace was a vast, boundless sea of stars, dotted with countless stars. The various star domains were faintly linked, outlining a brilliant star map.

This was precisely the legacy left behind by Great God Pangu—the Star Soul Map.

In this world, every soul possessed a unique memory imprint passed down from ancient times. This imprint contained the secrets of ancient spiritual power and life itself, and was known as a Star Soul Map.

Cultivating spiritual power, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, and awakening the power hidden within the Life Palace was one of this world's mainstream methods of cultivation.

In a sense, this was also a bloodline cultivation system. As long as one continuously unearthed their own power, anyone could become Pangu's true orthodox descendant.

Shen Ye's Star Soul Map was the Purple Forbidden Enclosure, one of the Three Enclosures. It had originally remained unlit, and the Purple Star Main Star, which should have been dim and lightless, now had a pearl emitting a milky-white glow floating above it.

This pearl seemed to possess an extraordinarily lofty status. Even Shennong's Essence Blood, which had always been overbearing, had been squeezed to one side, trembling like a little girl being bullied.

At the sight, Shen Ye's mind stirred. "Could it be... that it wasn't Great God Shennong's power that caused my rebirth, but this pearl..."

With the memories of his first life, his capacity to accept such things was naturally tremendous, and he quickly began making connections.

"And this pearl suddenly became restless—could it be because of those unruly thoughts I just had..."

As if confirming his conjecture, the milky-white motes of light that had been circling the pearl like a gauzy garment suddenly blazed with brilliance. They spread out from the Life Palace and instantly engulfed the two people in the room before they could evade them.

PS1: The first world will be a relatively weak one, and also the only low-powered world in this book. All the worlds traveled to afterward will be high-level worlds (since it's the first journey, he definitely needs to figure out the various mechanics of his cheat on his own; if he went to a high-level world, it would be really hard to make use of it, and would be a bit like courting death).

PS2: Bringing people along while traveling can be said to be a sore point for most Myriad Heavens Genre stories. I know that too, which is why I specifically emphasized that Hua Yue is wholly devoted to the protagonist and can even be considered his weapon. There absolutely will not be any disgusting plotlines. Also, as I wrote at the end of this chapter, bringing someone along is not the protagonist's subjective wish—it was a plot point forcibly arranged by this idiot author. So please don't blame the protagonist; it's all this idiot author's fault. Of course, some readers will definitely ask, was it necessary to go to all this trouble? Good question! First, for showing off on more levels and in every possible way; second, it really is necessary because it relates to certain mechanics in the second world; third, I'll also raise a mount later on (the mount will not take human form, nor will it call the protagonist its brother; it will simply be a capable fighter and a tool for showing off), and this mount will travel along with him too. To keep everyone from feeling annoyed about bringing someone along when that happens, I'm revealing this sore point in advance. If any readers still can't accept it, you can cut your losses early, so you won't be unhappy later.

PS3: Some comparisons between the realms in this book will be pinned in the comments section. Please take a look. If you truly can't accept them, it would be better to remove the book from your library early (there is no absolute equivalence between realms; this is only a rough comparison. If I didn't know that some readers would definitely argue over power levels, I honestly wouldn't want to make one. The main appeal of the Myriad Heavens Genre lies in the plot and in showing off across the various worlds, so please, please don't argue over this. If you can't accept it, just read another book instead. Thank you).

I used to update as soon as midnight passed, but quite a few readers said it was too late and made them stay up waiting. So this time, updates will be set for noon every day.