Chapter 494: Seems Like I Came at the Wrong Time
At the very center of an expanse of void filled with countless floating cubic platforms stood a mountain peak that looked strangely out of place in this space. At its summit grew a massive ancient tree with crimson leaves, fallen foliage carpeting the mountaintop.
Beneath the tree, a hand firmly gripped a pen and began writing on the pages of a small notebook.
"Right now… hmm, I'm not even sure how much time has passed since the day of the Netherkin chaos. This damned place doesn't even have a single reference point to mark the passage of time. When I chose this respawn point, I forgot to consider that problem… Well, not that I'm complaining about this place. At least its concealment is top-tier. Several times, the Dao of Causality let me sense someone trying to divine my location, but every attempt ended without result."
"As expected, that bald donkey still hasn't given up on me. But he shouldn't have come out of this lightly either. That sword strike of mine—even if it can't compare to the Sword Ancestor's strike—should've at least reached the level of a Sword Emperor's blow."
"Thinking about it that way, in this battle, that bald donkey lost the Buddhist Sect's Delusion Attachment and a corporeal avatar unaffected by the Immortal Tribulation. His true body also suffered injuries linked through karmic connection. A total blood loss for him."
"Serves him right. Who told him to set his sights on me?"
"But looking at it now, the so-called 'I am the manifested form of his cultivated fruition' that he mentioned has quite a few holes in it. At the very least, this time when I underwent rebirth, I re-evolved starting from an embryonic state. I've never heard of a manifestation beginning from an embryo…"
"So he was lying back then? Still, something feels off."
"The only possible source of the issue must be that cheap master of mine… The Sect Master of the Demon Sect, he's far more mysterious than I imagined."
"Back when I didn't pay attention, nothing seemed strange. But once I started focusing on him, I suddenly realized his very existence is filled with a sense of dissonance."
"It's almost as if he's a conceptual being straight out of a book—becoming the Sect Master of the Demon Sect, reforming the Sect's former chaos, whimsically establishing the position of Demon Sect Holy Maiden… I can list all these things that person did, yet I can't say anything more. Even though we should have had contact before, I can't even remember what he looked like. It's as if all that information has been deliberately blurred…"
"But thinking about it now, my awakening of memories is probably related to him too. I left the Three Thousand Demon Domains that very day, and a bald coachman appeared in the royal city on the same day… If that's the case, could it be that Little Yuli being casually brought into the Three Thousand Demon Domains by Bai Xiaoyao also happened because he turned a blind eye—or even deliberately facilitated it?"
The writing pen paused. Luo Wusheng drew circles over the crooked lines of text, then finally turned to a new page.
"If I were to speculate, based on the information I have now, I can already infer quite a lot."
"For instance, the Demon Sect Master is probably connected to the Ancient Heavenly Gate, or at the very least, connected to the Sword Emperor. Otherwise, he couldn't have orchestrated the previous Soulblade Specter incident, nor would the Sword Emperor's secret realm have been so easily discovered."
"If I could return to the Ancient Heavenly Gate once more, I should be able to find plenty of clues… As for going back to the Three Thousand Demon Domains, I have a vague premonition that now is not the time."
"As for that man and the white-haired loli's objective… It seems that linking me to the protagonist's group was merely a means. Letting me borrow cheat-like power from them this time was one purpose; more importantly, my fate has now completely broken away from the original story. Is this what you call breaking destiny and defining one's own fate?"
"But what meaning does that hold for them?"
"Forget it. As long as they are not asking anything too outrageous, I won't hold back when they are asking for my help."
He stopped writing.
The small notebook was gently closed, then vanished from sight.
A full moon hung in the sky, flickering faintly at the moment the notebook disappeared.
"Hoo… After leveling up this time, my methods have certainly become much more varied."
Luo Wusheng stood up from beneath the tree, brushed the fallen red leaves off his black robes, and looked up at the sky.
His appearance looked a few years more youthful, like he had grown two or three years younger.
"I wonder how far my physical body has been reconstructed… Come to think of it, all my belongings were stored in the Demon Moon space. I'm not going to make my grand reappearance completely naked, am I?"
"Mm, well… it's not a big problem. As long as no acquaintances see me."
"Hehe~ After reviving this time, I can finally go to the Sword Sect to see my big wife and little wife. I still haven't figured out how to come clean, but somehow it feels like a beautiful tomorrow is waiting for me…"
"Shuangxue~ my Shuangxue~"
"Little Yuli~ my Little Yuli~"
"Ahem~ that said, my performance during the Netherkin chaos wasn't bad, right? In the original story, Little Yuli didn't even accomplish this much yet was still able to win over the Empress. Considering what I had done, will Her Majesty offer herself to me in gratitude…? What a headache. I honestly never thought about something like that before I made my move."
Eh? Or maybe it wasn't completely absent from his mind?
Luo Wusheng stretched lazily, but suddenly looked forward.
Flames ignited in the void, transforming into a pair of long, narrow golden eyes. Within them was a godlike indifference as they silently observed him.
Luo Wusheng looked utterly accustomed to the sight.
Ever since he began his rebirth, this scene had appeared more than once.
And when he had retrieved the red thread hidden within the hollow of the giant tree behind him and infused it with the Ancient Phoenix Essence, he had seen these same eyes as well.
At this moment, the golden eyes began to evolve further.
A mass of golden flame ignited and in an instant spread across a vast region of the void.
The fire gradually condensed, taking on a phantom shape, forming into a golden phoenix wreathed in flowing flames.
Luo Wusheng grinned and greeted it cheerfully.
"Yo, Phoenix-chan~"
Golden Phoenix: "?"
If it possessed its own will, it would probably be thinking something like:
[What kind of bird language is this human speaking?]
[Is there something wrong with his brain?]
[Better not talk to someone with brain problems!]
Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have such a clearly defined consciousness.
At least, judging from Luo Wusheng's several attempts to make contact, this golden phoenix felt more like a prewritten program.
It would appear at regular intervals, glance at him—the "outsider"—then silently use its flames to burn away the fallen red leaves scattered on the ground before flying up to the parasol tree branch to sleep.
One thing was clear: this was a phoenix with a cleanliness obsession.
At this moment, the golden phoenix had already completed its routine as usual. It retracted its flames and flew back up onto the parasol branch.
Luo Wusheng was unaffected. His initial curiosity had long since faded… Given that he already knew this place was connected to the ancient phoenix, seeing a phantom phoenix didn't seem like such a big deal.
At least, nothing seemed particularly special about it for now.
On the contrary, having a "roommate" that came and went added a bit of color to his currently dull life, which was so dull he had started writing things down to pass the time.
'After forty-nine days like this, I'll be revived… Why do I keep feeling like something's a bit off?'
According to what he originally understood about the Ancient Phoenix Essence, it should take forty-nine days for one's origin to re-evolve their entire life from scratch. The moment it reached the instant before death would be the moment of revival.
But he had already evolved to the appearance of sixteen or seventeen years old…
Had forty-nine days passed that quickly? Or was it that… His mere eighteen years of life were too short to require that much time?
As he was thinking, an invisible flame suddenly ignited around him.
As if time itself were rapidly flowing, Luo Wusheng's appearance and physique matured in an instant, returning to exactly how he had looked before his death.
"…Damn."
The realization of his premonition had come with astonishing speed.
A wave of weightlessness struck him, and Luo Wusheng's figure vanished from the void.
On the red-leaf parasol tree, the golden phoenix that had been sleeping with its flames withdrawn suddenly opened its eyes, looking toward the spot beneath the tree where Luo Wusheng had disappeared.
This phoenix—once thought by Luo to be devoid of consciousness—now showed a trace of liveliness in its gaze.
After a long while, it closed its eyes again.
The mountain peak that stood out so starkly from the surrounding void gradually faded away, as though slipping into a crack between spaces.
…
When Luo Wusheng opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a soft bed. A faint, enticing fragrance lingered in the air.
He tried to move, only to discover that his entire body felt drained and weak, his limbs sore and powerless.
The moment he sensed this, Luo Wusheng realized that his resurrection was complete.
The rebirth granted by the ancient phoenix essence didn't leave any side effects once completed. However, before dying, Luo Wusheng had pushed himself too far—he had even disintegrated and sacrificed part of his origin. The restored origin and the reconstructed body were currently experiencing slight rejection, so he would remain weak for a short time.
Not to mention that before his death he had repeatedly wielded power far beyond his own realm. Even now that he had merely returned to normal, there was still a hollow sense of emptiness, like falling from something immense back to nothing.
He had already anticipated this before reviving.
Staring at the unfamiliar ceiling above him, illuminated by a ray of sunlight streaming in from outside the window, he saw that every decorative detail was exquisitely luxurious.
Slowly propping himself up, he shifted his gaze.
Only after clearly seeing his surroundings did Luo Wusheng realize how extraordinary this room was… The furnishings were not only beautiful but also imbued with various effects—calming the mind, gathering spiritual energy, healing injuries, nourishing vitality… The enhancements surpassed even those of his own bedchamber in the Netherworld Domain, which he had filled with rare spirit stones.
'Looks like some kind of palace… a bedchamber?'
As he pondered, he suddenly felt a chill.
Only then did he realize he wasn't wearing any clothes—he was merely wrapped in a quilt.
His lips twitched… This was almost exactly what he had predicted before reviving, wasn't it?
Letting out a soft sigh, he extended one hand forward—
"Hmm?"
Luo Wusheng suddenly noticed that aside from himself wrapped in the quilt, there seemed to be something else casually tossed on top of the blanket.
The faint, enticing fragrance he had sensed earlier appeared to be coming from that object.
He reached out and lightly grabbed it, drawing it into his hand.
It felt cool to the touch, yet as soft as a woman's intimate garment.
Bringing it to his nose, he caught its scent—it carried the same delicate fragrance as a woman's intimate garment.
So this thing was…
Crack!
The sound of floor tiles shattering echoed through the room.
Luo Wusheng stiffly turned his head and saw a young girl stepping out of the void, clad in imperial robes and a crown. She stared at him expressionlessly.
A cold—no, icy—female voice entered his ears.
"…It seems I've arrived at an inopportune time."
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Note: Link to the character Illustration:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD
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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 571: To See or Not to See?[1]
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/u93297024/posts/chapter-571-to-163855664
[2] https://www.patreon.com/u93297024/posts/chapter-571-to-163855664