Honkai Double Transmigration, Taking Xilian to Honkai Impact 3rd

Jiang Cheng opened his eyes as wide as he could, his expression earnest.

It was as if he were truly seeing this world for the first time, taking in everything around him.

"Me?"

"I cannot pierce Finality, nor can I burn Omphalos, but there is at least one thing—"

"That I, even I, can do."

At the edge between Earth and Omphalos.

In the crevice between the two.

It was the gap where the blockades intersected, the only place not surrounded by the seal.

Things that should have remained hidden.

Emerged clearly within the ripples of time.

Amidst a vision that flickered with blinding white light due to the excruciating pain and the collapse of his body—eighteen brilliant, dazzling ribbons of light that pierced the universe appeared, clearer than ever before.

"Please witness it, magnificent existence."

"My..."

"—wrath!"

Destruction and The Hunt, I have no regrets!

Billions of stars adorned the deep, dark night sky.

It was as if a veil, crafted by a master artisan, had been decorated with every gemstone in the world.

The starlight cascaded like a flowing stream, connecting the heavens to the earth. Flawless light transformed into the shape of spray, scattering silver stars that were tinted into a dreamlike, deep blue.

Yet, even the entire starry sky, with its rotating myriad of stars and celestial bodies, could only serve as a backdrop.

One could see—

A man with dark skin;

A wounded figure, infinitely vast and towering, yet pierced and carved with countless scars;

Flowing with scorching, molten golden blood, each drop rolling down from that infinitely majestic body.

One could see—

An arrowhead pointed straight at the high heavens;

Infinitely swift, infinitely sharp, the radiance of the arrowhead seeming to lock onto everything in the world at every moment;

Drawing the bow, releasing the arrow, a streak of light that seemed to pierce heaven and earth tore through the entire night sky in an instant, flying forward at an extreme speed that was absolutely unimaginable and beyond description, piercing—

—him.

"----"

"First arrow, Dust Sees Shadow!"

Jiang Cheng could perceive that he had already moved forward, taking several steps from the base of the infinite roots of light.

This feeling might sound abstract, but if translated into reality, it was:

Power.

His vision, which had originally been at the level of an ordinary person and only initially surpassed human limits after being reinforced by Honkai Energy in a desperate, self-destructive manner, underwent its most thorough sublimation at this moment.

This allowed Jiang Cheng to see the details within the brilliant stars that flickered like a mere backdrop.

It was not a tall tale of being able to cross countless light-years in a glance to see the life upon them, but rather capturing something more core, more acute.

It was real, it possessed life.

It was a paradise that one could enter, a place one could reach as long as one sprinted forward with all their might.

He could return right now and torture those damned pieces of trash—those arrogant and utterly stupid fools—in the most brutal way possible!

He could exact revenge, an eye for an eye!

But...

Was there any point in going back?

An unbidden thought surfaced in Jiang Cheng's mind.

Having attained this keenness of [The Hunt], the things of the past appeared even more clearly before his eyes.

For the first time, he saw clearly that the path was covered in spikes and flames; even if he were to enter another path that seemed completely parallel and unrelated, it would merely mean fewer flames and more thorns to make him bleed.

Fate could be changed—from a swift death to a lingering one, from being killed in an instant to bleeding out while still moving forward.

Truly, is it necessary to face such a cruel destiny?

Omphalos has Laigushi, but is Earth in the Solar System really any better off?

Honkai, Finality.

The Cocoon.

The King of Destiny, who integrates quantum and imaginary, omniscient and omnipotent, the imaginary singularity above infinite space.

This is, in reality, an enemy that cannot be rivaled no matter what. Countless worlds, countless timelines, countless possibilities—everything is firmly held in Its grasp. Even though Elysia destroyed the threads of fate at the cost of her own life, to the scale of the Cocoon, it was still...

Insignificant.

The subsequent crossing was a phenomenon closer to a miracle.

After fifty thousand years of relay between the previous and current civilizations, another event occurred that transcended the scope of understanding.

Something incomprehensible turned a human into a god.

But can he truly claim to have completely solved the Honkai?

Jiang Cheng looked at the deep space that served as a backdrop, looking at that infinitely vast, magnificent, and beautiful paradise.

He suddenly realized—

He could leave.

Now is the best time, the only opportunity. The fluke of entering the Path Interstice is unlikely to be repeated, but right now, he could sprint toward the starry sky.

The vacuum is of no consequence; there is no Pathstrider who cannot walk in a vacuum.

Relying on that single glance from the gaze of The Hunt, he could thrive anywhere in the galaxy.

If he wanted to live in seclusion, he could find any interstellar civilization and become a hermit or join an army as a high-ranking official. If he wanted to participate in the main plot, he could go to the Xianzhou, or even join the Legion.

He is still very young; the future holds infinite possibilities.

—As long as he moves forward, he can leave this cruel world, leave the thorns and the flames behind.

◇

"Second arrow, Lost Sheep at the Crossroads!"

◇

Others and himself—there is no need to choose, is there?

He knows better than anyone what death represents.

—Nothingness.

Jiang Cheng felt as if he could see that blackness swallowing everything. All things would be utterly crushed and devoured. For It, so-called light is not even a point worth boasting about, because even the universe itself is shrouded in Its shadow, and everything in the world replicates an eternal, endless cycle.

Everything except the Aeons cannot escape Its capture; it is merely a matter of being faster or slower.

Compared to that, Welt is utterly insignificant.

To face death and nothingness for such a reason is simply not worth it.

This world has never had a concept of existence after death; death represents the extinction of consciousness, the shattering of the soul, and all sensory experiences reduced to the dregs of nothingness.

Thump.

—Jiang Cheng took a step forward.

He, who knows the outcome of death better than anyone, walked toward that towering, brilliant giant god who lit up the endless starry sky with arrows—toward the "god/result of chaos/entropy" that seemed to burn everything away, looking down with indifference upon all living beings in the universe.

This is truly a very, very stupid thing to do.

It will ruin his entire life.

"Perhaps one day in the future, I will hate the version of myself from today. I will hate why I chose to walk toward the flames and the thorns, and hate why I didn't choose the life I could have had."

"But I still feel that this is what I should do right now."

"My future regret will be real, but my current anger and sorrow are certainly not fake."

"In Xilian's eyes, I suppose I, who am always telling all sorts of stories, might seem quite clever. But in truth, I am a great fool. And the greatest characteristic of a fool is that, even when they could make a calm and rational decision, they choose to let their anger burn. Even when they have a grander future, they still indulge their emotions for a moment."

But...

I suppose I still like being a fool.

Clever people, always haggling over every ounce, weighing interests—doesn't that feel too exhausting?

So-called reason, so-called calmness—at this moment, they have been completely swallowed by anger—

One step.

Two steps.

With every step, he could feel the temperature rising sharply.

The intensity was enough to make anyone feel terror. In just two steps, he went from a gentle breeze to an unbearable, scorching heat. If he were to go any further, it would be no different from bathing inside a star.

However—

Jiang Cheng's footsteps never faltered because of this.

It was as if the entire world shifted in tandem with this sudden surge of thought; even the surrounding stars, shining bright, were nothing more than a static backdrop within the Path Interstice.

--It moved.

An incomprehensible phenomenon manifested, the distance between them collapsed, and in that moment, Jiang Cheng saw His face.

No.

He was permitted to see His face.

White hair that seemed to have burned away its own life, consuming everything that could possibly be set aflame.

Pupils hotter than flowing gold.

And a body that no warrior, even one who had endured thousands of the most brutal battles, could ever possess.

Dazzling blood, as hot and scalding as molten gold, rolled down from that battered, wounded frame; it did not dissipate into the endless, deep stars, but fell instead upon—

His body.

"Sizzle—"

Even though they were in the Path Interstice, the sensation was so searing that it felt as if his very soul were being burned to ash, clearly affecting every part of his body capable of feeling.

There was no need to describe the pain anymore, for all the rage and all the repression would be converted into power—

A scorching flame seemed to replace his blood.

He instinctively raised his head; the meteors that had been flickering across the sky like mere background scenery now descended.

And then.

The light-arrow that tore through the universe arrived once more.