"I'd almost forgotten. You've been this good at deceiving girls since you were little."
Her long black hair rose and fell slightly with the scorching waves of air. Dressed in a white gown, she possessed a cool, serene temperament, like an Azure Lotus in the mortal world. Her slender waist was as delicate as a willow leaf.
"Xun'er, you know me."
Within the Endless Fire Domain, Xiao Yan stretched out an arm and drew his beloved into his embrace.
"I've always been quite honest."
Gu Xun'er, mistress of the Fire Domain, leaned against Xiao Yan's shoulder and said with dissatisfaction:
"One big liar and one little liar."
Xiao Yan lovingly stroked the beautiful hair of the woman in his arms. He owed Xun'er far too much.
If possible, he truly wished he could have spent more time with Xun'er in those bygone days.
It was hard to have the best of both worlds. If he had not cultivated diligently, how could he have been worthy of Xun'er, or protected his beloved family and friends amid the great tide?
"Have you figured it out?" Gu Xun'er asked softly. "That unknown thing that appeared on your past self?"
"Perhaps it was a stroke of fortune." After pondering for a moment, Xiao Yan said, "I once thought the Great Ruler was the pinnacle of the Great Thousand World. Mu Chen, Lin Dong, and I searched for countless years, yet never found a path forward."
"Can that thing help you break through?"
"I don't know." Xiao Yan denied it. A tool for communication across worlds did not possess that kind of capability.
"Could there be some scheme behind it?"
"It can't be determined... but I saw a trace and a patch of Nihility."
Great Rulers, blessed and favored by the consciousness of the Great Thousand World, could trace back the time of the Great Thousand World and the Small Thousand Worlds, observe the spacetime of the past, and make minute changes to the past, forming different branches.
The names of the three of them had already been recorded on the Firmament Board. So long as a possibility existed within the Great Thousand World or its related Small Thousand Worlds, it would ultimately converge from the worlds of the past upon their present selves.
"Among those people accompanying my past self, there was a past incarnation above the Dominion Realm." Xiao Yan recalled how, when he had used himself as a medium to deduce those people's origins, a gaze had crossed the endless layers of spacetime and fallen upon him.
"He does not rule over the past, present, and future, but exists beyond time... No, I can't comprehend it."
With just one glance, Xiao Yan understood that if that being wished it, he could revive at any point in time in his peak state.
Though "revive" was not quite accurate. He was existence itself as a concept. At any point in time, in any world where a possibility existed, every version of him was the same being, with no distinction between them.
He was both a Spectator and an actor on the stage. The difference lay in whether he wished to awaken and take part in the current story.
"There's another person I can't see through either. There seems to be something on him."
That person called Su Lin seemed to exist, yet also seemed not to exist. His state was rather strange. The matters involved were likely numerous, perhaps even touching upon the arrangements of certain beings.
There was another existence as well. Xiao Yan had noticed a few clues, but the other party seemed to be deliberately avoiding him, so he could not investigate too deeply.
They were being a little too cautious. They were all group members—wouldn't it be nice to meet up and chat?
Beyond the Great Thousand World, there were countless other worlds as well. Risks and opportunities coexisted.
"No matter what, at least we've learned one thing." Xiao Yan smiled. "The road ahead is still very long."
"What road is very long?" Cai Lin toyed with an empty bottle in her hand. She had originally come to ask Xiao Yan to refine some pills. "Am I interrupting you two?"
"No, Cai Lin. You came at just the right time." Xiao Yan opened his other arm.
Water Mirror Peak
Ye Fan found it rather absurd. Parallel worlds truly contained every kind of oddity.
Someone actually crossed star domains to collect a parking fee debt, chasing someone from Earth all the way to the Big Dipper.
What kind of bizarre Worldline was this...
Forget it.
His future self did not even show his face. How boring.
After the novelty wore off, Ye Fan handed the Dayan Pearl to Lu Mingfei.
"..."
Lu Mingfei actually no longer wanted to use this thing. What if his parallel-world self did something embarrassing? He, Lu Mingfei, would truly suffer social death across worlds.
Maybe he should just forget it...
Yeah, forget it.
Whatever his parallel-world self was like, that was how he was. But his current self was an immortal cultivator. Immortal Cultivation! Could Lu Mingfei from a parallel spacetime do that?
With the Chat Group in one hand and cultivation techniques in the other, while his other selves were still playing games, he had already begun cultivating. Had he ever seen Kassel at three in the morning? Actually, he had not either.
"You're not chickening out, are you?" Su Lin's voice was not loud, but everyone present could hear it. "To fulfill your wish, I specially brought out one of my most treasured possessions."
Lu Mingfei felt a set of shackles called guilt bind the hand that wanted to put down the Dayan Pearl.
"Xiao Yan openly showed everyone his romantic history. Surely no one's chickening out, right?"
Don't compare yourself to others, Lu Mingfei. Comparing was bad behavior.
"No way, no way, surely someone wouldn't really..."
Before he could finish, a dazzling light appeared in Lu Mingfei's palm.
Lu Mingfei's face went ashen. All he could do now was pray that his self in the other world would do him proud and not be too ridiculous. As long as there was no scene of him holding some senior sister's photo book and getting a nosebleed, it would be fine.
"How could we lose with the Flying Dragon right in our faces?!"
"Raise the trophy, Lu Mingfei!"
Inside an arena, several computers sat on the stage while the audience below cheered wildly for Lu Mingfei.
The youthful innocence had yet to fade from his face. Filled with excitement and wearing a proud smile, the young man raised a trophy and roared amid the cheers of his teammates and coach.
Bang—
Bang—
Confetti from the celebration cannons drifted through the air. Before the interview cameras, Lu Mingfei hugged the championship trophy and shed tears.
"An esports player?!"
Right, he could have taken this path! There was no need to attend Kassel Academy at all. He could have become a professional esports player or streamer and made money.
He was jealous...
Looking at himself in the scene, Lu Mingfei felt that this version of himself should have been living quite well. At least he would not have gotten tangled up in dragon slaying.
Compared to the parallel worlds of the previous two, the Worldline reflected by Lu Mingfei was much simpler. There was no cultivation or conflict, only an ordinary life.
Perhaps ordinary was the only answer.
Switch.
With a thought from Lu Mingfei, the image changed.
He would just show them two more Worldlines to kill time, Lu Mingfei silently thought.
He glanced longingly at the food cooking in the pot, then swept his gaze over everyone else present.
These people were all waiting to watch the show while they ate.
"Please, other me! Do me proud!"
The sky was golden—not because it had always been golden, but because something had dyed it with a layer of gold.
A Golden Tree canopy blotted out the sky, its golden leaves slowly falling in the breeze.
What an enormous golden trunk it was. A Western medieval-style city appeared exceptionally tiny before that towering tree.
Upon a throne at the summit, someone sat quietly above, neither sorrow nor joy visible on his face as he silently gazed ahead.
Klein looked at this scene, seemingly wanting to speak but stopping himself. His gaze shifted back and forth between Lu Mingfei and the scene reflected by the Dayan Pearl.
(End of Chapter)