You Came from Nonbirth; You Must Go to Immortality

The doors slowly closed. Zhao Fangxu took a deep breath, tenser than he had ever been before. Looking at Feng Baobao and Lin Xian, he said in a deep voice, "From this point on, I, Zhao Fangxu, speak only for myself as I ask the two of you three questions."

"Depending on the severity, I will report it to the company level by level and place it in the top-secret archives."

"Perhaps never to be declassified."

"Old Zhao, you..." Xu Xiang's eyes widened. As one of the company's old guard, he knew very well what Zhao Fangxu was doing.

He was staging a rebellion against himself. If he were not the company chairman, Xu Xiang would have suspected him of being a traitor and had Xu San and Xu Si come in to tie him up and drag him away for a reward.

"Old Xu, there's no need to be surprised."

Zhao Fangxu adjusted his glasses, lowered his head, and said softly, "I understand the meaning of the company's existence better than you do. It is to preserve the balance and stability of the Inhuman World. Nothing is more important than that."

"I will not allow anyone to destroy this hard-won peace."

"Anyone." Xu Xiang repeated the words, his voice somewhat hoarse. There was fear in his eyes as he looked at Zhao Fangxu. After all these decades, it seemed he had never truly seen through this colleague.

"Yes. Anyone."

Zhao Fangxu remained calm. Only those who had emerged from an era of raging war could understand the yearning for peace and know the weight of life. Once someone died, they were simply dead.

Anyone who wished to shatter this peaceful state was his enemy—whether they stood above or below, whether they were ordinary people or Inhumans, even if that person was Zhao Fangxu himself.

This peace had been forged inch by inch from flesh and blood, from one unyielding soul after another.

"I volunteer..."

The echoes poured into his marrow like a scorching current. Zhao Fangxu straightened his back and slowly sat down. His aged soul gradually lifted its head, moving slowly, yet it felt as though time were howling past his ears.

When he had fully straightened himself, his voice rang with force. It was as if a young warrior in his prime sat alone at the negotiating table and declared firmly, "Zhao Fangxu requests a dialogue with the two immortals."

"There are no immortals in the mortal world." Lin Xian shook his head. "There is only one person who transformed from mortal to immortal—a real person."

Zhao Fangxu's expression remained calm and unruffled. He merely nodded and changed his wording. "Then, Perfected Lin, may I ask where Immortal Feng came from?"

"She came from Wugensheng." Xu Xiang was dancing back and forth on the line between life and death. Though weak and near death, he still struggled to speak. "But all these years, Awu has always been with the company. Old Zhao, you know that perfectly well. Why ask when you already know?"

"Wugensheng, the Eight Extraordinary Skills, the Jia Shen Turmoil..." Zhao Fangxu's gaze darkened before he nodded. "It is merely routine procedure, a reconfirmation. Old Xu, you are one of the company's old hands too. I hope you can understand."

Then he asked his second question. "Feng Baobao, who do you think you are?"

"Who am I?" Feng Baobao pointed blankly at herself, seeming somewhat uncertain.

"That's right." Zhao Fangxu asked again without expression, though his gaze drifted toward Lin Xian. In his heart, he broke out in a cold sweat for himself and for everyone else.

Who was I? Who am I? It was not merely a philosophical question, but a question of allegiance.

"I... I'm Awu." Feng Baobao thought for a moment, then looked at Xu Xiang without hesitation and revealed a radiant smile. "Gou Wazi knows me. If you don't believe me, ask him."

"I see."

Zhao Fangxu removed his glasses and let out a breath of relief. The situation seemed far better than he had imagined.

After wiping his glasses, Zhao Fangxu put them back on and posed his final question. "You found your past, Awu. Where do you plan to go?"

"I don't know. I've always followed Gou Wazi." Feng Baobao shook her head blankly. A pure heart only needed to live; others had far more to consider.

"Xu Xiang is about to die." Zhao Fangxu sighed and looked toward Lin Xian. "Will you go with this Perfected One?"

"I don't know." Feng Baobao was always like this. Just three words: she didn't know.

Lin Xian stood and rubbed Feng Baobao's head. "If you don't know, how about I show you a path?"

"Sure." Feng Baobao nodded haphazardly, her dark hair flying loose and cascading down to her waist.

Seeing this, Lin Xian shook his head and gathered her hair, binding it bit by bit. His voice was solemn, carrying a hint of majesty. "You came from Nonbirth; you must go to Immortality."

She was Feng Baobao, and she was also Awu.

She came from Nonbirth and had to go to Immortality.

That was her path.

"Then... where is Immortality?" Feng Baobao asked instinctively.

The room instantly fell silent, and everyone held their breath.

This was the key to all the questions, the source of every conflict. Immortality could trigger enormous chaos and destroy more than just the Inhuman World.

This was also why Zhao Fangxu had come.

"Where is Immortality?" A brilliant smile suddenly appeared on Lin Xian's lips. He turned back and asked, "Old Zhao, have you heard of Amway?"

"Amway?" Within Zhao Fangxu's bloated body, that unyielding and valiant soul froze. What the hell was that?

"Come, come, come. Old Zhao, as the saying goes, blocking is worse than dredging, and dredging is worse than guiding..." Lin Xian's voice was low. He no longer sounded like an immortal, but like a devil tempting someone. "Rather than let secrets related to immortals brew a storm in the shadows, why not pour them out and create an iconic scene?"

"An iconic scene?" Zhao Fangxu froze again. What the hell was that?

No one knew how much time had passed—so long that Xu San and Xu Si had nearly started fighting the guards, convinced that something had happened to their father and Feng Baobao.

At last, the doors opened, and Zhao Fangxu slowly walked out.

"President Zhao, how's my dad?"

"President Zhao, where's Baobao?"

"Old Xu does not have much time left." Zhao Fangxu sighed. "Spend more time with him."

"Dad!"

The brothers cried out and rushed into the hospital room, only to be violently beaten by a vigorous and lively Xu Xiang.

"Dad, y-you're not dead..." Xu Si stammered incomparably.

"You little bastard, you're the one who's dead!" Xu Xiang cursed. "This is my final burst of vitality, the last stage of my life."

"A final burst this fierce?"

The brothers were dumbfounded. Wasn't this a little too abnormal for a final burst?

"Shut up, both of you. Perfected Lin stimulated the last trace of my Innate Qi. I may look energetic now, but I'm actually an empty shell." Xu Xiang said gravely, "Come here. I need to give my last words."

The two brothers, who normally clashed like needle against wheat awn, obediently knelt beside the hospital bed and listened to his final words.

Zhao Fangxu shook his head at the sight, then looked out the window at that fleeting golden bridge. In a soft voice, deeply puzzled, he asked, "Is ascension truly possible?"