Even though Chen Kuang couldn't ask directly, through subtle probing and indirect questioning, he still managed to piece together quite a bit about these so-called "Heavenly Demons."
For instance, on Earth, the number of conscious, fully aware "Heavenly Demons" like George only numbered in the hundreds.
These were the true "Heavenly Demons."
As for the Night Barbarians, it seemed that every time the passage between Earth and Cangyuan was opened, they would naturally be generated.
To draw an analogy: if the "Heavenly Demons" were greedy, monstrous beasts marching in hordes from Earth to Cangyuan, then the Night Barbarians were the lice that fell from their bodies along the way.
Just as humans do not live among birds and beasts, so too were the great beasts and lice not of the same kind.
But that didn't mean that "Heavenly Demons" were born as such.
They had once been something else, though what they were, or what turned them into demons, even they had forgotten.
The thing Chen Kuang now found most difficult to understand was:
What happens to a "Heavenly Demon" when they die?
On Earth, the strength of the flesh was heavily restricted. Even for someone like Chen Kuang, his limit was at most the pinnacle of Tower Ascension Realm, unable to exceed that fabled 800-year lifespan.
In Cangyuan, only Saints were exempt from the cycle of reincarnation. Everyone else, be they mortals or cultivators, would return to the natural order upon death, becoming part of all things again.
But on Earth?
Was there such a thing as reincarnation?
The legends of the Demon King Māra had been passed down in Cangyuan since ancient times.
And Māra... still existed.
If "Heavenly Demons" were bound by samsara, they would've long since disappeared from the world.
....
Chen Kuang handed a shopping bag to Shen Xingzhu.
She gave him a sidelong glance, pulled out the clothes inside, and her eyes immediately narrowed as she turned toward him.
Chen Kuang smiled:
"What? Surprised?"
Inside were five items: a black athletic tank top, a graffiti-covered windbreaker, loose beige cargo pants with silver chains, and a simple set of underwear.
Plain and practical, yet modest.
Shen Xingzhu truly was surprised. She looked out at the passersby hurrying through the storm, hesitated, then said:
"On the way here, I saw how the women of this world dressed... All of them revealing, with barely enough cloth to cover themselves."
Chen Kuang plopped down beside her with a long sigh:
"So in Fairy Shen's eyes, I'm actually the type to kick someone while they're down and take advantage of the situation?"
Shen Xingzhu shook her head slightly:
"You're not a lowly man who strikes the fallen or loots the drowning.
You're a treacherous, double-tongued scoundrel who breaks his promises."
Chen Kuang: "..."
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but her tone now seemed a bit gentler than before, despite the words still being just as barbed.
"Tsk. Even if you're a righteous fairy, you can't just sling slander around. When did I ever break a promise?"
Shen Xingzhu gave him a long, steady look:
"At Eastern Court Lake, you once promised me something."
Like a flash of lightning across his mind, Chen Kuang was stunned into silence.
Indeed, he had once promised her he would not lay a finger on Shen Meinan.
Back then, he hadn't known that the two sisters could swap consciousness, and had found her obsession with the matter somewhat strange.
But now, of course, he understood.
Since Shen Xingzhu and Shen Meinan could share thoughts, it stood to reason that they could share sensations too.
Which meant... that kiss he'd shared with Shen Meinan...
Shen Xingzhu might have felt it too.
It would've been better had she never brought it up. Now that she had, he couldn't ignore that she was currently using Shen Meinan's body.
The memory of that kiss was crystal clear in his mind.
Chen Kuang's gaze dropped, landing unconsciously on her lips.
He chuckled:
"But back then, didn't you already plan to break your end of the deal? Before I even left Liang, you'd already contacted people from the Department of Shennong, trying to intercept Chu Wenruo."
"Clearly, you didn't plan to let me leave alive."
Shen Xingzhu's tone was calm:
"I only promised not to lay a hand on you.
I never said anything about not acting against that great demon."
"It was Mu Zhao who tried to kill you. What does that have to do with me?"
Chen Kuang spread his hands:
"If that doesn't count as breaking the deal, then what does?"
Shen Xingzhu looked up. Her gaze reflected the rain and shifting light from outside, making her expression seem distant and blurred:
"Only if I personally killed you... would it count."
Chen Kuang chuckled lightly:
"Too bad. Not only can you not kill me now, you have to make sure I stay alive.
Otherwise, you'll either be killed by those 'Heavenly Demons'-or be stuck in this strange world forever."
"Anyway, get dressed. We only have seven days to investigate the truth. After that, when the Heavenly Demon army marches into Cangyuan, that will be when the real crisis begins."
Shen Xingzhu picked up the clothes, glanced sideways at Chen Kuang, and opened her mouth.
But before she could speak, he lazily added:
"What kind of puppet has a master who waits outside for them to change clothes?
That'd be too... respectful of human rights, don't you think?"
Shen Xingzhu fell silent. Her grip on the clothes tightened.
Chen Kuang turned around, closed his eyes, and smirked:
"Fool yourself a little. Pretend I'm still that blind man in the Heavenly Prison, Fairy Shen."
Fool herself?
Shen Xingzhu glared at his back, her frustration and anger reaching a boiling point. But she still couldn't attack him.
Because what he said was true.
She not only couldn't kill him, she had to rely on him.
It felt like every time she encountered this man, she ended up like this.
He was like her natural nemesis!
She closed her eyes, then calmly began to remove her blood-soaked black robe.
In Cangyuan, female cultivators weren't bound by excessively rigid moral codes. Otherwise, after every duel they'd have to marry off half the sect.
Still, moral conventions built up over thousands of years didn't just vanish overnight.
Clothing that revealed too much might not be immoral, but it was certainly disrespectful.
Though these new clothes were different, the principle was the same. And with her intelligence, it didn't take her long to figure it out.
Just like she had figured out how to use a handgun.
Once she was dressed, she understood how to use the zipper on the windbreaker, but after a moment's thought, she didn't zip it up.
When Chen Kuang turned around, he saw the cold and aloof hip-hop style girl standing before him.
Except for the excessive iciness of her expression, she now blended in perfectly with the modern Earth aesthetic.
Chen Kuang couldn't help but think: if this were Shen Meinan here instead, she'd probably love these clothes.
Shen Xingzhu finished putting on her socks and shoes, instinctively reached for her sword, only to remember she had already handed it over.
She lowered her hand and stood up:
"What's next?"
Chen Kuang walked to the door:
"Let's take a walk around."
Shen Xingzhu didn't object. She followed him outside.
She too wanted to observe this world and understand what it truly was, why the "Heavenly Demon" stronghold was so different from what she had imagined.
No, it had far surpassed the bounds of her imagination.
Everything here was the complete opposite of Cangyuan.
And that, in theory, should have been impossible. After all, these two worlds were connected. How could they be so utterly unrelated?
Chen Kuang took an umbrella and opened it in the rain. He turned to look at Shen Xingzhu.
The fairy glanced back at him, then turned and borrowed one from the front desk nurse.
Chen Kuang smiled silently.
The two of them walked, one in front and one behind, slowly wandering through the rainy city.
Chen Kuang continued walking at an unhurried pace, casually explaining everything they passed.
This wasn't just to help Shen Xingzhu understand the world..
To him, it was also a reunion with a place long gone. A sense of returning to something that now felt like another lifetime.
After a long silence, Shen Xingzhu finally voiced the question that had been gnawing at her most.
"Why are you so familiar with this world?"
Chen Kuang blinked.
"Because... I'm from here."
Shen Xingzhu's pupils shrank.
The cold rain trickled off the edge of her umbrella, soaking her shoulders..
Yet it could not compare to the sudden chill that surged in her heart.
"What's wrong? Finally afraid, Fairy Shen?"
Chen Kuang chuckled with mock cheerfulness:
"Worried that I really am a 'Heavenly Demon'?
That everything I said before was just a ploy, just to toy with you for revenge?
And now, in this unfamiliar world, you're just some naive, out-of-place native of Cangyuan?"
His voice turned low and eerie:
"No one knows where you came from.
No one's going to help you.
From the moment you arrived here, you were destined to become an unclaimed corpse in a dark alley."
"In seven days, the Heavenly Demons will occupy Cangyuan.
And that land will become a wasteland soaked in blood."
Shen Xingzhu stood frozen in place.
The fingers gripping her umbrella turned pale from tension.
Chen Kuang paused, then said:
"Strange. I thought your Dao would be something like the 'Dao of Killing' or the 'Dao of Heartlessness.'
But it seems... you actually care a lot about Cangyuan."
Shen Xingzhu replied coldly:
"Are you testing me?"
Chen Kuang shrugged:
"Not really.
I'm indeed from here.
I've only been in Cangyuan for about half a year."
"But honestly, I'm not sure what exactly I am either. One thing's for sure though: I'm not with those sick freaks."
His tone lowered:
"Since we're working together now, of course I need to know what's truly in your heart."
Shen Xingzhu gave a light snort:
"Do you even know what 'heartlessness' truly means?"
Chen Kuang shook his head.
In this world, anyone could forge a Dao Foundation called "Heartlessness."
But what answer they gave to Heaven and Earth was something unique to each cultivator.
Shen Xingzhu spoke softly:
"Heaven and Earth are unkind, treating all things as straw dogs;
The Sage is unkind, treating the people as straw dogs."
"Between Heaven and Earth, is it not like a great bellows? Empty, yet never exhausted;
The more it moves, the more it yields.
Better to hold to the center than chase a multitude of knowledge."
The girl looked up at the endless curtain of rain and the night sky, her tone cold and distant:
"This... is Heartlessness."
Chen Kuang's pupils contracted.
As one who wielded the Great Dao of Time, he instantly sensed it:
In that moment, a flash of Dao presence surged from Shen Xingzhu's body.
The phrase "Heaven and Earth are unkind" didn't literally mean Heaven saw all things as dogs, or that Sages saw people as dogs.
Rather, it meant that Heaven and Earth treated all things equally, without preference or intervention.
Her Dao was one that let nature run its course, allowing life to grow and pass in an endless cycle.
This... was Shen Xingzhu's "Dao of Heartlessness."
But only so long as the world followed its rules and no one broke those rules.
Thus, her Dao was to "guard the center,"
To maintain balance.
To become a keeper of the world's order.
Chen Kuang's heart was shaken.
This wasn't just her proving her Dao.
She was attempting to become the Dao itself!
He recalled their first meeting.
How Shen Xingzhu had blamed him for the bloodshed outside the imperial capital, where two armies had clashed for seven days with no victor.
She had claimed it was because Chen Kuang delayed Li Hongling for those seven days that such carnage had unfolded.
Back then, Chen Kuang had thought she was insane.
But now... he finally understood.
To her, he was the bug in the system she sought to protect.
If not for Chen Kuang, the war might've ended swiftly.
Li Hongling's true motives would've been exposed.
And she could've acted as the righteous executioner.
But because of him, that "process" had been disrupted, and unnecessary suffering ensued.
So she made the only logical decision: eliminate the bug.
That... was her true Dao.
Chen Kuang murmured:
"So that's how it is."
Shen Xingzhu looked at him and said calmly:
"You said you wanted to cooperate with me.
But I fail to see why.
You're familiar with this world.
Those 'Heavenly Demons' treat you as one of their own. I, on the other hand, am just a burden to you."
Chen Kuang sighed:
"I will."
He didn't explain.
But from the moment he returned to Earth, his passive skill, Blood Premonition, had been ringing warning bells.
Danger.
He couldn't tell where it was coming from, but the sensation had grown more intense by the minute.
Just now, it had reached the point where his whole body ached, as if thousands of needles were suspended in the air around him, ready to stab through his flesh at any second.
This level of warning...
Was far more intense than anything he'd felt even when facing Saints.
But this was Earth.
A world where all cultivation was suppressed to its lowest.
An End of Dharma era.
How could there be something more terrifying than Saints here?
It didn't make sense.
But the pain wasn't a hallucination.
So even though Shen Xingzhu had once been his enemy, Chen Kuang still chose to save her.
Because in the face of the coming storm,
Shen Xingzhu was the only trustworthy ally he had left.
If he died, she'd die too.
So he had to help her understand the rules of Earth, to survive.
And if they really did face something catastrophic, then maybe, just maybe, they'd have a fighting chance.
After wandering around for a while, they returned to the hospital.
Chen Kuang saw Xiuzhu waiting outside.
Xiuzhu's gaze lingered briefly on Shen Xingzhu, then turned to Chen Kuang with a raised brow and one of his usual twisted smirks:
"You seem to be enjoying yourself."
At this moment, the smile finally matched his new appearance as a hulking, bald thug.
Back when he was still a gentle, mild-mannered little monk, that same sinister smile had always looked absurdly out of place.
Chen Kuang responded coolly:
"We've got nothing better to do, why not have a little fun?"
Xiuzhu nodded.
"Fair enough."
He walked over, patted Chen Kuang's shoulder, and gave him a deep, meaningful look:
"As long as you don't forget the real mission."
After Xiuzhu left, Chen Kuang turned to Shen Xingzhu:
"Over the next couple days, I'll teach you everything you need to know about this world.
Once you're caught up, I might be gone for a little while."
Shen Xingzhu frowned:
"Where are you going?"
Chen Kuang smiled:
"To test a theory. Don't worry, I won't just ditch you and run."
Shen Xingzhu snorted softly:
"Even if you did, so what?
To be reborn after death isn't something only you can do."
Chen Kuang said nothing.
If she really could do it, then he'd probably not only have to bury the hatchet but apologize profusely.
...
Over the next two days, Chen Kuang kept his word and taught Shen Xingzhu the basic knowledge of this world.
Time was short, so he focused on the essentials.
He also went through a gray-market channel to get her an ID.
Most importantly, he bought her a smartphone and taught her how to use it.
Then, he even linked it to one of his own bank accounts.
In less than an hour, Shen Xingzhu had already figured out how to read web novels...
To his surprise, she wasn't interested in xianxia or fantasy stories.
Instead, she had a strong preference for cliché, melodramatic romance.
This, of course, was something Chen Kuang discovered while snooping through her browsing history when she still didn't fully know how the phone worked.
Chen Kuang couldn't help but roast her in his heart:
No wonder you always confiscated the romance books Shen Meinan used to sneak around with...
Turns out you were the one who liked them all along!
Classic case of the magistrate lighting the fire while forbidding the peasants to light lamps...
Sometimes, he'd even take her out for some "field study."
But more often than not, it ended up turning into shopping trips, once, they even wandered into an amusement park.
Chen Kuang, full of mischief, tricked Shen Xingzhu into riding the carousel.
Watching her sit stiffly upright on a slowly spinning rainbow pony with a deadly serious face, he couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
Realizing she'd been duped, Shen Xingzhu got off the ride expressionlessly, just in time to see Chen Kuang doubled over in laughter, handing her an ice cream cone from across the railing.
"Here, my apologies. Please forgive me, great and merciful Fairy Shen."
Shen Xingzhu took the cone, her gaze flickering slightly.
She was quiet for a moment, then asked:
"You seem... happy?"
Chen Kuang paused.
He looked at the other ice cream in his own hand, then gave a rare honest reply to his "enemy":
"I've never been here before.
The last time I came to a place like this... was probably three years ago."
He said flatly:
"Back then, I was still working as a debt collector.
The guy I was after was in his thirties, had a five-year-old daughter.
That day, he brought her here to the amusement park."
"We caught up to him while she was on the carousel."
"He begged me to let him stay until the ride was over. Said he'd pay me afterward."
"But that day was the final deadline.
If he didn't pay up... I'd be the one in trouble."
Shen Xingzhu said nothing.
Chen Kuang finished his ice cream, dusted off his hands, and smiled:
"Next time we've got some free time, I'll take you to see my place."
Shen Xingzhu expressionlessly tossed her ice cream into the trash and shook her head:
"You're bringing the wrong person.
Don't mistake me for someone else."
Then she turned and walked away.
Chen Kuang silently watched the sway of her long hair as she left.
He knew Shen Xingzhu had definitely realized something.
Even he felt like he was preparing for a final farewell, like a man arranging his last words.
And yet, he still had no idea what kind of danger awaited him.
....
The morning of the third day.
Chen Kuang stood atop the hospital rooftop.
The new passives he had unlocked over the past couple of days were all trivial:
One prevented him from losing money,
Another made any ice cream he held taste like "happiness."
"A pity... I did want to see what someone like Shen Xingzhu would look like if she ever felt happy."
A cold wind rustled his clothes.
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.. Then vanished on the spot.
...
Chen Kuang's current cultivation didn't allow for long-distance movement.
But with his mastery of the Great Dao of Time, he could shift his position in an instant.
When he reappeared, he was in the stratosphere, ten thousand meters above ground.
The thin air stung briefly, but his Tower Ascension Realm physique quickly adapted.
Even a mortal body could handle this altitude.
But any higher and he'd be breaching human limits.
Still, he didn't need to sustain the pressure for long.
Just for a moment at a time.
Because ever since he returned to Earth, his Blood Premonition had flared up and along with it came an inexplicable tugging at his spirit.
He had sensed it instantly..
It was his original body, the one that had gone missing for half a year, the one Chu Wenruo had taken away!
Chen Kuang had been horrified at first.
But then, it all made sense.
He should've felt something from his own body, no matter where it was taken.
But all this time, he hadn't sensed a thing.
Now he understood:
Chu Wenruo had brought his body back to the Realm of Desire, to Earth!
Chen Kuang had a gut feeling.
If he could find that body, he'd uncover the truth about Chu Wenruo's identity.
And perhaps... the truth about this world itself.
"From the pull of my spirit...
It's directly above, in that night sky!"
"Heaven is murky, Earth is round. The sun and moon are false...Maybe now I'll finally understand what that means."
His idea was simple:
Leap forward with the Dao of Time to extreme distances.
The moment his body couldn't take it, he'd activate Bound by Nothing to return to Earth and recover.
Since "Bound by Nothing" allowed him to return to any location he had visited, he could repeat this cycle endlessly, each time returning to the exact space in outer orbit.
He didn't need vast reserves of Spiritual Energy.
He only needed persistence.
But there was one major obstacle:
The farther he traveled, the stronger the cosmic forces and gravitational pulls.
Soon, his body couldn't even endure ten seconds before risking rupture.
Eventually, he was half-conscious, his soul and flesh torn in cycles, only held together by the activation of various passive abilities.
After an entire day, he reached his absolute limit.
But the cosmos still had no end.
Just when despair was about to set in, on his final leap forward-
Bang.
He slammed into an invisible wall.
Like glass.
He froze.
Then his pupils constricted and his entire expression stiffened.
Because before him...was not some barrier..
But a beam of moonlight.
Chen Kuang reached out with a trembling hand.
His fingers passed through the moonbeam.
Then he looked up:
Floating in that boundless black void..
Hung a radiant, full moon.
Just then-
A notification appeared in his system UI.
...
[You have perceived the truth of the world. Passive acquired: "Celestial Five Decays."]
[Within five days, you will undergo:
Spiritual Decay,
Divine Decay,
Meridian Decay,
Physical Decay,
Consciousness Decay.
At the end, you will fall into annihilation and be reborn into the perfected Celestial.
If you die midway, you will dissolve and become the "Singularity Celestial."]
...
Chen Kuang's face froze before it turned ghostly pale and filled with dread.
Because at the moment he gained this passive, all of his Spiritual Energy began to vanish.
------
Author's Note:
It's nearing the end... Though I suspect most of you already saw it coming.
I regret a lot about this book. The passive-a-day mechanic clashed with long-form plot structure.
Many arcs were scrapped. I lost motivation, especially after my injury.
All I can do now is try my best to tie up every loose end and give you a proper conclusion.
(Raises shield and runs)