Naruto looked up at the nine divine eyes. The light within them swirled as though it could see through his past, present, and future.
"So when you said 'you're the only one left'..." Naruto suddenly realized something. "You didn't mean you were going to kill me."
"Right. I meant you were the only one who hadn't heard what I had to say." Yang Jian tilted his head. "Now you have."
He turned away. The golden pillar of light began to shrink, and his figure started to fade.
"Wait," Naruto called.
Yang Jian stopped.
"You said Fo Ye's scooter battery would definitely be stolen tomorrow. Was that true?"
Yang Jian's back stiffened.
"Yes."
"You're a Celestial Venerable, and you're stealing an ordinary man's battery?"
"It isn't theft. It's a sentence." Yang Jian looked back, an extraordinarily petty glint flashing through his nine divine eyes. "He's followed my life story for free. Sentencing him to lose one battery isn't too much, is it?"
Naruto opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"Besides," Yang Jian added, "he follows my story every day for the drama. I'm letting him take part in it. That's a two-way relationship."
"Is that really what that means?"
"It is because I say it is."
Yang Jian vanished completely. The golden pillar disappeared with him, and darkness reclaimed the ruins.
Naruto stood in the dark, Yang Jian's last words still echoing in his head. Then he laughed—loudly, until tears nearly came to his eyes.
Twelve hundred million reincarnations. World Lords. Creation. Primordial Unity. Limitless. Heavenly Venerables. Primordial Chaos. Blue Star. A scooter battery. This world was fucking insane.
Blue Star, four in the morning.
The city still slept. Yellow streetlight spilled across the empty roads.
Every so often, a night-shift taxi drove past, its tires hitting a puddle