No Script for All Beings, Holy Soul Village Reopens

When Xu Zhou woke up, his nostrils were filled with the smell of dirt.

He opened his eyes and saw a cluster of dilapidated wooden houses.

Half the roof had collapsed.

A door panel lay on the ground.

A crooked wooden sign still hung at the corner of a wall.

Holy Soul Village.

Two strokes had already fallen off the three characters.

"You're awake?"

Tang San's voice came from beside him.

Xu Zhou braced himself against the ground and sat up.

Tang San was resting against a rock. His clothes were torn in several places, and there was blood on his forehead.

But he did not seem seriously injured.

"This is Holy Soul Village?"

"It should be."

Tang San pointed into the distance.

There was an old well there.

Several broken tables and chairs sat beside it.

But there was no one in the village.

A little gray dog ran past from afar, glanced at the two of them, then slipped into the ruins.

Xu Zhou stood and slowly walked to the village entrance.

The road outside was still there.

At the end of the road lay the direction of Notting City.

"We're back."

Tang San followed behind him.

"But where are the villagers?"

Xu Zhou did not answer.

He looked up at the sky.

There was no bloody text in the sky.

No system notifications.

No threads of fate.

Even the Script of All Beings had vanished.

Xu Zhou touched his chest.

All that remained there was an ordinary black booklet.

Its cover was blank.

Only three pages remained inside.

The first page bore Xu Zhou's own name.

The second bore Tang San's.

The third had nothing on it.

"My ability is still there,"

Xu Zhou said softly.

"I just can't see anyone else anymore."

Tang San reached out and took the booklet.

He flipped to the first page.

Beneath Xu Zhou's name was only one sentence.

[This person is making a choice.]

Tang San flipped to the second page.

Beneath his own name was the same single sentence.

[This person is making a choice.]

Beyond that was nothing but blankness.

Tang San stared at it for a long time, then suddenly smiled.

"This thing finally learned how to speak like a person."

"What did it write before?"

"Things like becoming a god at twenty-seven, definitely killing someone, or being destined to destroy the continent."

Tang San closed the book.

"This is much better now."

Xu Zhou took it back.

"Aren't you worried that the future has disappeared?"

"I am."

"Then why are you smiling?"

"Worrying is worrying. Does worrying mean I can turn it back on?"

Tang San shot him a glance.

"Teacher, you aren't still thinking about fixing that thing, are you?"

"Am I insane?"

"When you used to study it, your eyes practically glowed."

"That was a scholar's respect for the unknown."

"I think you wanted to control everyone's fate."

"Tang San."

"Here."

"You've become quite the talker lately."

"Thanks for the compliment."

The two stood at the village entrance, bickering.

Suddenly, a cough sounded in the distance.

They both turned around at once.

An elderly man with graying hair emerged from behind the ruins.

He leaned on a cane, his body covered in scrapes, and he carried a wooden box in his arms.

Tang San immediately stepped forward.

"Sir, are there any other people in the village?"

"There are a few children."

The old man pointed toward a cellar behind him.

"They're hiding down there."

"As for everyone else..."

The old man shook his head.

"After the gate opened, a lot of people vanished."

Xu Zhou frowned.

"Where did they go?"

"Some said they went home."

"Some said they went to Spirit Hall."

"Others said they were going to the Star Dou Great Forest to seek opportunities."

As the old man spoke, his expression grew complicated.

"They used to say they knew the future, knew who would become a god, knew where treasures were hidden."

"But after the gate opened, they suddenly remembered none of it."

"Some children cried and asked why their fathers had become different people."

Tang San lowered his head.

Xu Zhou said nothing either.

Forgetting did not mean there was no price to pay.

Those transmigrators had lost their memories of the future, but retained their original personalities, knowledge, and desires.

Some would start over.

Others would go mad after losing that advantage.

But this was still better than having everyone live according to a flawed script.

"Sir."

Xu Zhou took several bottles of healing medicine from his Storage Soul Tool.

"Take these."

The old man accepted the bottles and studied Xu Zhou for a few moments.

"Did you two also come out of the gate?"

"More or less."

"Then do you know what exactly happened?"

Xu Zhou looked toward the ruins behind the village.

"A little."

"Can you tell me?"

"You might not believe it even if I do."

"Someone has to know."

The old man held the wooden box tighter.

"This village has already fallen into chaos once. What happened cannot be forgotten by everyone."

Xu Zhou fell silent for a moment.

He did not tell him everything about the red crystal. He only briefly explained the transmigrators, the false memories, and the second gate.

The old man listened intently.

Tang San stood beside him, adding a few words now and then.

When they finished, the old man opened the wooden box in his hands.

There were no Gold Soul Coins inside, nor were there any Soul Tools.

There was only an old village chronicle, already yellowed with age.

The old man pulled out a sheet of paper from it.

A crooked line of writing was scrawled across the page.

[Holy Soul Village is not responsible for raising saints, nor for creating gods.]

[This place only takes in those willing to walk on their own.]

Xu Zhou stared at those words for a long time without speaking.

This was something the red crystal had never recorded.

It was also the true meaning of Holy Soul Village's existence.

It had never been the beginning of Tang San's story.

Nor had it been a birthplace arranged by some god.

Still less was it a chessboard where everyone fought over fate.

It was simply an ordinary village.

Ordinary enough that people were born there, and people grew old there.

Ordinary enough that children fell in the mud and villagers argued over a sack of grain.

And precisely because it was ordinary, it should not be replaced by anyone's script.

"Teacher."

Tang San suddenly spoke.

"Where are we going next?"

Xu Zhou turned around.

"Didn't you always want to go to Nuoding Academy?"

"Is there still any point in going there?"

"Of course there is."

"There are no more hints about the future."

"Then you should go even more."

Xu Zhou put away the black booklet.

"Before, you went to the academy because the script said you would become a Soul Master."

"Now, you'll go because you want to."

Tang San looked at him.

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Will you still be my teacher from now on?"

Xu Zhou was stunned by the question for a moment.

"What, are you having second thoughts?"

"Not that."

Tang San shook his head.

"It's just that there are no system rewards, no script prompts, and none of those opportunities prepared in advance."

"You might become very ordinary."

"I was ordinary to begin with."

Xu Zhou said seriously.

"A Soul Master in his thirties, unable to defeat a Title Douluo, with no notable background to speak of."

"That's not what you said before."

"Before, I had the Script of All Beings."

"And now?"

"Now I have you as my disciple."

Tang San froze for a moment.

Xu Zhou patted him on the shoulder.

"Isn't a disciple a teacher's greatest cheat?"

Tang San's mouth twitched.

"Teacher, why does that sound a little improper?"

"How is it improper?"

"Like you're planning to sell me for money."

"Don't worry. Before selling you, I'll definitely ask whether you're willing."

"..."

The old man stood nearby, and hearing their conversation, he could not help but laugh.

The village cellar was soon opened.

Several children crawled out from inside, timidly studying Xu Zhou and Tang San.

Tang San crouched down and took several pieces of candy from his Soul Tool.

The children quickly gathered around him.

This scene was never recorded in any words.

No one knew what impact it would have.

Nor did anyone arrange their future for them.

Yet as Xu Zhou looked at those children, he suddenly felt that this was the real story.

The next moment.

The black booklet opened on its own.

A line of words slowly appeared on the third page.

[New destiny detected.]

Xu Zhou raised an eyebrow.

"It's not over yet?"

Tang San immediately got to his feet.

"What is it this time?"

Xu Zhou stared at that line.

[Source of destiny: all beings themselves.]

[Current status: unpredictable.]

[Recommendation: cease recording.]

"At least it knows when to behave this time."

Xu Zhou closed the booklet.

Then, he threw it into the old well at the village entrance.

The black booklet fell into the well water, sending ripples across the surface.

Those three names gradually scattered.

At last, they vanished completely.

Tang San looked at the old well.

"Teacher, you threw away your own ability?"

"Mm."

"Could you bear to?"

"No."

"Then why throw it away?"

Xu Zhou turned and walked toward Notting City.

"Even if I can't bear to, I still have to throw it away."

"I can't spend all that time teaching you, only to end up being led around by the nose by this thing myself, can I?"

Tang San followed him.

"Teacher."

"What now?"

"What if I really become a god someday?"

"Then fly on your own."

"What if I don't become a god?"

"Then keep cultivating."

"What if I take the wrong path?"

Xu Zhou did not stop walking.

"Then turn back."

"What if I can't turn back?"

"Then take another road."

Tang San was silent for a while.

"It sounds so simple."

"It was never that complicated."

Xu Zhou looked into the distance.

The outline of Notting City had already appeared on the horizon.

"What's complicated is that there are always people who like to write simple things as if they were predestined."