A different life

Zhuge Xiang, with his thin frame, stood at the entrance of the Town in the dead of night, looking back. He couldn't explain why, but he always felt that someone would come, someone very important to him, someone who could change his life.

This feeling was very strong. Although it came out of nowhere, it made Zhuge Xiang stand quietly alone in the rainy night, waiting.

Tap tap tap...

As if in response to Zhuge Xiang's waiting, a series of footsteps suddenly sounded in the quiet rainy night. The footsteps were initially very faint and almost inaudible under the patter of the rain, but they quickly became clearer, and Zhuge Xiang could see more clearly that a figure had emerged from the darkness and was standing directly in front of Zhuge Xiang.

Zhuge Xiang, a boy of only twelve or thirteen, looked up at the figure that walked up to him, but could not see his face clearly. In the darkness, a slightly hoarse voice rang out. "You little rascal, not bad. Do you want to become a superior person and not be bullied by others? Do you want to no longer have to worry about your food and clothing every day? Do you want to eat fish and meat every day?"

"Yes!" Zhuge Xiang nodded without hesitation, his youthful face showing determination.

"Alright, follow me, Asura Sect..." The mysterious figure nodded in satisfaction with Zhuge Xiang's answer, and then led Zhuge Xiang away from the Town.

"Is this the Asura Sect?" Zhuge Xiang, a newcomer, muttered to himself as he arrived at the Outer Sect Base of the Asura Sect.

Zhuge Xiang was certain that this was his first time here. But why did he feel a sense of familiarity with every building here? It was as if he had lived here before.

Following his intuition, Zhuge Xiang strolled over and walked directly to a small Courtyard. Pushing open the wooden door, he found two boys of similar age already there. They would be his roommates for the next year...

One of the boys had a somewhat pointed face and monkey-like features, but his face was full of smiles. However, in Zhuge Xiang, these smiles seemed somewhat hypocritical.

The other was a robust young man, half a head taller than Zhuge Xiang, with a simple, honest smile on his face, looking like a big, goofy guy.

"This must be our companion? My name is Li Bin. I hope you'll take good care of me for the next year," the short boy said, extending his hand to greet Zhuge Xiang as he pushed open the door.

"Hehe, my name is..." Looking at Zhuge Xiang who pushed open the door, the robust young man scratched his head sheepishly and introduced himself as well.

"Niu Geng..." As if possessed, a name burst from Zhuge Xiang's mouth.

"Huh? How did you know?" Upon hearing Zhuge Xiang say his name, the honest-looking young man looked at Zhuge Xiang in surprise and asked.

Shaking his head, Zhuge Xiang ignored them and turned to leave the Courtyard.

Ever since that day when he woke up in the dilapidated temple, Zhuge Xiang has felt that something is wrong with his life, but he can't quite put his finger on what it is.

Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. I was originally an orphan, adopted by an old Beggar. Then, I was begging at a wealthy family's house when someone let their dog attack and kill me. I took Dagger and secretly killed the entire wealthy family that night, and then I was brought to the Asura Sect.

This is all I've experienced in my life, but why do I always feel that my life shouldn't be like this? It's as if I've forgotten many important things.

With a furrowed brow, Zhuge Xiang left the Courtyard step by step. Inside the room, Niu Geng and Li Bin exchanged glances. Finally, Li Bin somewhat reluctantly withdrew his outstretched hand, muttering under his breath, "What a strange person."

Zhuge Xiang walked alone on a mountain path, his mind blank. He felt that his life shouldn't be like this, but Zhuge Xiang didn't know exactly what should be done...

Unbeknownst to him, Zhuge Xiang arrived at a secluded Small Lake. For some unknown reason, Zhuge Xiang jumped into the water and began to dive to the bottom...

"Oh no! Someone has jumped into the lake to commit suicide!" However, Zhuge Xiang had only jumped in a short while when a scream rang out. Immediately, strong arms pulled Zhuge Xiang out of the lake.

Zhuge Xiang recognized him; he was the steward who had Deacon his group into the base for cultivation. Because of the incident of someone drowning themselves in the lake, many of the boys and girls, who were only twelve or thirteen years old, had come to investigate.

"You want to commit suicide?" The Deacon's expression was clearly unpleasant as he pulled Zhuge Xiang up.

"I don't want to," Zhuge Xiang shook his head.

"If you didn't want to, why did you jump?" the Deacon, his face grim.

"I don't know..." Zhuge Xiang shook his head, still confused.

"Hahaha..." As Zhuge Xiang finished speaking, many of the onlookers, both young and old, couldn't help but burst into laughter. The Deacon's face darkened, and he shook his head and left.

He didn't punish Zhuge Xiang, but muttered to himself, "What's going on? How come there's such a crazy guy among the new recruits this time?"

With even the Deacon gone and no more excitement to watch, the young men and women naturally dispersed as well. However, they chattered amongst themselves as they walked, and soon news spread from the Outer Sect Base of the Asura Sect that a madman among the new recruits had inexplicably attempted suicide by drowning.

"Have I lost my mind?" Hearing these guys' discussions, Zhuge Xiang asked himself honestly. He didn't know if he had really lost his mind. But in his heart, there seemed to be a voice constantly urging him to do something. Zhuge Xiang was just listening to the voice in his heart.

Everyone had left. Zhuge Xiang, soaking wet, sat by the lake. After thinking for a moment, Zhuge Xiang still didn't give up and plunged headfirst into the water. There was no particular reason; Zhuge Xiang only knew that he had to go down there, and that he should be able to find something down there.

With his wet hair, he would surface in the lake and then dive back down, repeating this dozens of times. Many young men and women who had just arrived at the Asura Sect, full of curiosity, noticed that Zhuge Xiang always stayed in the lake and didn't come out, which made the story spread even more widely.

"Hey, do you think you should be a fish?" someone teased Zhuge Xiang from the lakeside. Their slightly insulting remarks always elicited bursts of laughter.

Zhuge Xiang ignored what these people were saying and just kept searching at the bottom of the lake. Finally, Zhuge Xiang touched something.

It was hard, and holding it in his hand, Zhuge Xiang felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if this thing should have always been his...

Emerging from the water, Zhuge Xiang his palm, revealing a jet-black Ring. The simple Ring seemed unremarkable, yet Zhuge Xiang felt a deep connection, a familiar feeling. Wearing it on his finger felt incredibly comfortable, as if something lost had returned.

From that day on, rumors of a mad newcomer began circulating in the Outer Sect Base of the Asura Sect. Zhuge Xiang became a celebrity there. For the next year, Zhuge Xiang simply wore a black Ring but did not cultivate. He always felt that he should not cultivate like these young men and women.

He went insane and never practiced the Qi Nourishing Fist passed down in the Cultivation Sect. A year passed in the blink of an eye, and Zhuge Xiang naturally hadn't grasped any so-called Qi Sense. Then, he was directly expelled from the Outer Sect Base by the Asura Sect...

On the way down the mountain, Zhuge Xiang looked up at the Asura Warship, carrying thousands of accomplished disciples, flying joyfully towards headquarters. Then he shook his head and continued down the mountain...

Still wearing the jet-black Ring, Zhuge Xiang descended the mountain, still without any skills, drifting aimlessly through the days, returning to his life as Beggar, begging and living in a dilapidated mountain temple, experiencing the harsh realities of Mortal World...

"I must become someone superior, I must..." Every night, Zhuge Xiang would gaze at the black Ring on his finger under the Moonlight. Zhuge Xiang always felt that his turning point lay in this Ring, but this Ring had never changed...

Every night, the bright moon in the sky has an eye that looks down upon the entire world, its gaze always fixed on Zhuge Xiang...

"Strange, how could his life have been so chaotic and aimless? What exactly is that Ring of his? Why can't I reproduce its function..." Hidden in the darkness of this world, gazing at Zhuge Xiang's life over the past few years, the Illusionary Nether King was filled with doubt.

The Illusionary Nether King can pull people into an environment, control their five senses, and directly search the Memory in their minds, making them relive their lives. From these Memory, he can find the people the target cares about and then use every means to Memory them, in order to achieve his goal of tormenting his target.

For example, if Zhuge Xiang's life were truly the same as the one he Memory, then people like Qin Qing, Mo Lingna, and even Niu Geng, Lu Yuling, Wu Zhao would all be tormented to the point of wishing they were dead by the Illusionary Nether King.

However, Zhuge Xiang's strength comes from the Ring in his hand, the Data Cultivation System. And the Illusionary Nether King discovered that he could no longer reflect the power of this Ring in the Illusionary Realm. As a result, Zhuge Xiang's life has changed drastically from his original Memory.

Furthermore, the presence of the Sword Soul allowed him to constantly recall things that already existed within him. Therefore, Zhuge Xiang in the Illusionary Realm kept hoping the Ring would grant him power, to the point that no important person appeared, thus thwarting the Illusionary Nether King's plan to find someone to torment... (To be continued...)