Su Lin took out a small black box and let out a long breath. It seemed it was time to sort through his miscellaneous... collectibles.
Things related to system points were better kept in the system storage...
"You just said you found it. Did you mean..."
Lu Mingfei pointed tremblingly at the wooden box in Su Lin's hand.
Su Lin flipped open the lid. Inside lay a transparent pearl. He picked it up between his thumb and forefinger, then casually tossed the box onto the ground.
"I don't have If Phone Booth."
"Dayan Pearl: Reflection. I'll lend it to you, useless Mingfei."
Gulp—
Lu Mingfei swallowed, his blood racing as his heart thudded wildly in his chest.
"Can this thing create a perfect parallel world like If Phone Booth?"
"You think it's as easy as eating peaches?" Su Lin said mercilessly.
"Whew, you scared me." Hearing that, Ye Fan continued sipping his hot soup. Spiritual energy flowed down his throat into his stomach, and a warm power spread through every meridian in his body.
Lu Mingfei took the transparent pearl and examined it, but could not make heads or tails of it.
"What does this pearl do?"
"It lets you observe parallel worlds."
Su Lin served himself a bowl of hot soup and slowly blew on it twice. With an immortal cultivator's physique, he naturally would not be scalded; it was simply an unconscious habit.
When Su Lin looked up, he discovered that the pearl in Lu Mingfei's hand had already ended up in Ye Fan's.
"Little Lu, I'm afraid you can't handle this. Let me test the waters for you first." Ye Fan covered Lu Mingfei's mouth with one hand and moved his eye toward the Dayan Pearl with the other.
Xiao Yan grabbed Ye Fan's hand.
"Hold on." Xiao Yan stood there with an air of righteousness, having somehow appeared beside Ye Fan without anyone noticing.
"Let me cut in line."
The instant Xiao Yan finished speaking, the Dayan Pearl in Ye Fan's hand was already in his own.
"You bastard!"
"Old Su, how do I use this thing?" Xiao Yan shouted.
"Hold it in your palm and feed it a little power."
"Got it."
The Dayan Pearl in Xiao Yan's hand immediately emitted a light that seemed to pierce through flesh.
Multicolored energy surged from Xiao Yan's palm. The dazzling power scattered and danced through the air before converging in one place.
"That's external display mode." Su Lin snorted. Normally, one only needed to hold it to receive information from parallel worlds. Feeding it energy activated its external playback mode.
"Where on earth did you get all this stuff?" Xiao Yan stared in astonishment. "Can I trade you the old man in my ring for a cheat?"
"You unfilial disciple!"
Xiao Yan received a slap on the head and nearly lost his balance.
"Ow, Teacher, you misunderstood." Xiao Yan hurriedly covered his head. "There are so many old men. I never said it was you."
A few seconds later, a scene appeared in the sky before them.
Amid the endless yellow sand, a figure draped in a black cloak walked step by step toward the distance.
"That's me from a parallel world?" Xiao Yan's face was full of curiosity. What would his parallel-world self be like? Would it be just like the story described in the book? Where had things progressed to by now—the Black-Corner Region?
An elderly man in white brocade robes flew over with wings on his back and blocked Xiao Yan's path.
He was actually a Dou Wang expert.
"Yun Ling, you old dog!"
Was his parallel-world self really that unlucky? Had his whereabouts been discovered?
"Lord Protector."
Yun Ling withdrew his Dou Qi Transformation Wings and respectfully bowed to Xiao Yan before him.
"By order of Sect Leader Yun Shan, I have come to assist Lord Protector in acquiring the Heavenly Flames."
"Hehehehe..." Black-robed Xiao Yan laughed in a low voice. "Do you think I need your help?"
"I... would not dare." Yun Ling lowered his head even further, showing unreserved obedience and awe.
"..."
Xiao Yan watched this scene as countless alpacas stampeded through his mind.
Han Li teased, "So this is Soul Palace Xiao Yan?"
"Shirou, that person looks like a villain." Illya tugged on Shirou Emiya's sleeve.
"..."
"Hehehehe." Ye Fan gave a strange laugh, imitating him perfectly. "Protector Xiao, what impressive authority."
Xiao Yan fell silent for two seconds, then shifted the scene with a thought.
This time, it was in a Bamboo Forest. Xiao Yan was holding a young woman's hand as they strolled through it.
"After I leave this time, I don't know how long it will be before I can return." Xiao Yan's tone was low. "Xiao Yi Xian, do you really not mind that I still love another girl?"
Xiao Yi Xian said nothing and embraced him...
"Why'd you cut it off right when it was getting good? Keep going," Lu Mingfei muttered.
The image flickered and changed again.
"Hehehehe."
Cut again.
"Thirty years east of the river..."
Cut!
"Yun Yun, I..."
Another one!
Beneath a waterfall, the Xiao Yan in the image let the rushing water pound against his body, his muscular physique displayed before everyone.
Dou Qi covered his body in a thin layer of armor.
"Whew..."
Xiao Yan let out a breath of relief. Finally, something normal.
Was there not a more reliable version of himself in a parallel world?
The Xiao Yan in the image closed his eyes to rest. Birds sang and flowers bloomed around him, nature existing in peaceful harmony.
"Change the channel. This one's boring," Su Lin said teasingly.
Xiao Yan's face darkened. The novelty had worn off too. His parallel-world self was not much to look at, and he had even exposed all those private matters.
It was fine. It was a parallel world anyway; it had nothing to do with him.
Yeah, as long as his skin was thick enough, what did it have to do with Xiao Yan from this world?
"Then what do you think is worth watching?"
Xiao Yan's voice rang out.
Huh?
Xiao Yan froze. I didn't say anything.
He abruptly looked up.
The scenery in the image gradually faded into gray and white, leaving only the projected Xiao Yan in color.
Then one Heavenly Flame appeared, then two... countless different flames of heaven and earth bloomed around the other Xiao Yan like stars surrounding the moon.
Everything changed. There was no longer any waterfall or nature, nor was there a youth cultivating.
Golden clouds hung in the high sky. A majestic figure stood amid auspicious radiance, while surging, violent spiritual power became almost visible to the naked eye, turning into liquid streams that slowly fell.
"Young brother, you still haven't answered me. What is it you want to watch?" the majestic figure asked, his voice gentle and calm.
"..." How could Su Lin fail to guess it? This was the future master of the Endless Fire Domain, Xiao Yan the Great Ruler...
He was numb...
Even across worlds and time, he could feel the pressure of that higher-dimensional lifeform—perfect and flawless.
This should not have happened...
"I want to see how comfortably Xiao Yan has spent these past three years, and how exciting his romantic entanglements have been."
Did they think he would back down?
What a joke. He was super brave!
Xiao Yan's expression in the image abruptly changed. He truly had not expected Su Lin to be this bold. His widened eyes seemed to have seen something utterly horrifying.
The next second, he vanished from the image.
The scene displayed by the Dayan Pearl became like an old television with a poor signal.
After a while.
The future Xiao Yan appeared in the image again. His eyelid twitched as he forced a smile and said:
"What romantic entanglements? There's only a young man enduring bitter cultivation, right?"
(End of Chapter)