Chapter 225 Traitors in Chaotic Times (Part 1): How to Become a Top-Tier Strategist...
The elders all stared in the direction where Song Ce had disappeared, remaining silent for a long time. The Fifth Elder glanced subconsciously at Cong Yun's physical form and murmured, "He... he's gone already?"
"So what if he leaves? He never belonged to the Jade Balance Sect to begin with." Master Siwen shook his head, then turned to the crowd: "Fellow disciples, let's deal with the funeral arrangements for... Elder He Congyun first!"
"That's true, but alas, who knows what the future holds for my Jade Balance Sect... Never mind, never mind."
“Siwen is right.” Master Yi’an stood aside, gazing at the distant, faintly visible peaks, and sighed, “Congyun! You have indeed taught a good disciple.”
Having done what needed to be done, Song Ce didn't know where to go next. He spent a hundred years raising his cultivation to the Mahayana stage within the underground meteorite cave.
To prevent a war between demons and monsters five hundred years from now, Song Ce simply built a Peace Town at the entrance to the demon realm to protect those demons, monsters, and mortals with weak spiritual power. He used his life's cultivation to set up a protective formation for the Peace Town, which could not be destroyed unless someone's cultivation surpassed his.
Of course, not just anyone is qualified to enter the city. Those who wish to enter must pass through the three restrictions left by Song Ce, and only those without any abnormalities may enter. If anyone stubbornly tries to force their way in, the eighty-one heavenly lightning bolts he set up in the city, each containing the rules of the Heavenly Dao, will be automatically triggered.
At first, no one took the so-called rules of Peace Town seriously, until a demon lord suddenly appeared and gathered four demon kings to provoke Peace Town, triggering the city's heavenly lightning restriction, and was directly blasted into dust in full view of everyone.
After this battle, all the high-level cultivators, demons, and monsters on the continent became extremely wary, and no one dared to act recklessly in Peace Town again.
In just over twenty years, Peace Town became the most famous city on the Kyushu Continent.
...
Time flies, and Song Ce has lived in this world for two hundred years.
Before ascending to immortality, he secretly went back to check on all the original owner's entanglements in this world of cultivation.
In Shanshui Village, all the villagers who had been kind to him with a meal have passed away. Their descendants live and work in peace and contentment here, and they don't need him to do anything anymore.
In Tianshui City, the little beggar A-Cao, whom he had casually saved, had established himself in the Yuheng Sect and gained considerable fame. Sixty years ago, he had already become the master of a peak.
In the Xuantian Sect, A Yao was no longer troubled by her inner demons. She devoted herself to cultivation and broke through to the Golden Core stage a hundred years ago. Now she is a powerful figure in the mid-Nascent Soul stage.
In this world, he has no more attachments.
After Song Ce left the cultivation world, 702's elegant baritone voice rang out at the right time: "Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully completing the additional task with triple rewards! Task settlement is now open, details are as follows: Live well and live on - Task completion 100%, no title, no drops, total Soul Energy gained from this task is 27,000, current total Soul Energy: 72,840! Host, the system will be upgraded for the next task, so it may not be available at any time."
"How long will it take you to level up?"
702: "I'm not entirely sure, it should take about half a month. By then, the original owner's memories will be automatically transferred, and the things you stored in the system space will be unusable. However, I can apply for a less challenging vacation world for you next time. Would you like to apply?"
Song Ce was taken aback. He always felt that after this world was completed, 702's way of expressing itself was becoming more and more like a human... Words like "not sure" and "should" should never appear in a rigorous system.
"No need for a vacation, just normal work."
"Alright, host, we are about to open the next world for you. Please be prepared—"
After a familiar wave of dizziness, Song Ce slowly woke up. The first thing he did upon waking was to mentally call upon the system.
"702, are you there?"
No one responded.
“702?” Song Ce paused, then tried again.
A long silence followed...
Just then, the sound of pattering rain came from outside the window, along with the croaking of frogs from somewhere, which sounded particularly clear in the quiet room. Song Ce propped himself up on the bedpost, his legs feeling a little weak, as if he had been lying in bed for a long time.
As he moved, his slender wrists emerged from his sleeves, and his skin appeared pale, as if it had never seen the sun for many years... It seems that this body is very weak!
Song Ce secretly concluded that the clothing indicated this was an ancient world, so there shouldn't be any major problems... Thinking this, he began to silently receive the memories in his mind.
702 had said that the original owner's memories in this world would be automatically transferred, but after waiting for a long time, all he had in his mind were his own experiences; there were no other memories. Was it just not the right time yet, or... had something gone wrong?
Song Ce frowned and pushed open the wooden door. Cold rain mixed with a cold wind rushed in, making him shiver involuntarily.
It was this tremor that allowed him to vaguely see some of the original owner's memories.
In a daze, Song Ce saw the original owner of the body being roughly dragged out of the prison, his hands bound, and placed on a long bench. A large stone slab was then placed on top of him.
Immediately afterwards, a crowd of people, their faces obscured, gathered around, striking the stone slab with long sticks. Song Ce counted; a total of one hundred and twelve blows were delivered to the original body.
"How dare you lowly slaves plot against me?"
"Prime Minister Song, Lord Song, times have changed. Do you still remember the hardship of copying and studying books in the winter? Do you still remember the ambitions you once held in your heart?"
The dying original body clung tightly to the wooden plank beneath him, declaring with unwavering conviction: "The rules of this world have long since changed. To escape this sea of suffering and rise to the top, there is no other way but to use any means necessary."
"It's true that being a good official is not easy, but is being a bad official really that despicable? Infamy? What does infamy matter? As long as I'm riding high, naturally no one will dare to mess with me! Even if history records my scorn in the future, I'll have been dead for a long time by then!"
"What business is it of mine if a mere scholar is indignant?"
After a long while, those people silently added a few stone slabs to the original body, and just watched him slowly breathe his last.
After receiving the fragments of memory, Song Ce was speechless.
Without the original owner's complete memories, it means he doesn't know who the wisher is, the details of the mission, where to go, the original owner's family situation, or even his identity and the timeline of this world.
In other words, aside from knowing that the original owner of this body was also named Song Ce, that he would become prime minister in the future, and that he was killed, he had no other useful information. It seems he needs to figure out the current situation before making any plans.
He made up his mind, turned around, went back into the house, picked up the raincoat from the corner of the wall, put it on, and walked into the drizzle without hesitation.
Before long, Song Ce encountered two short-sleeved men, half-soaked from the rain, at the end of the path. One of them saw him approaching and greeted him with a smile, "It's you, Ce! How are you feeling?"
Song Ce's heart skipped a beat, and he nodded vaguely, trying to make his tone sound as natural as possible: "Yes, much better."
"That's good, that's good! We were so worried when we saw you lying on the kang (heated brick bed) half asleep the other day. Don't blame your parents, they've had a hard time too."
“Yes!” the man wearing a straw hat chimed in, “You’re not very healthy, you shouldn’t go out in the rain, you should go back quickly!”
Don't blame your parents?
Song Ce silently noted this information, and then casually said, "Go back? I don't know what to do if I go back..."
"Sigh, Ce, try to take it easy! After all, your older brother is gone, and the family still depends on you to support them!"
"Big brother is gone?" Song Ce was about to ask again when he heard a boy standing at the door of a house not far away shouting to the two of them, "Dad, Uncle, come home quickly! Grandma has made some hot soup for you!"
"Hey! They're here!"
The two men responded loudly, then patted Song Ce on the shoulder, "Don't be angry, go home quickly."
"Um……"
Watching their hurried departure, Song Ce sighed inwardly. It seemed he still needed to gather information about this world as soon as possible! He tightened his raincoat and slowly walked along the muddy path.
The village is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is not large, with only a few dozen households. The fields by the roadside are sparsely planted with rice, and it is obvious that this year's harvest will not be very good.
Song Ce trudged through the mud, his feet slipping frequently, forcing him to slow his pace. Just then, a young woman in a blue cloth shirt, carrying a bamboo basket, hurried towards him.
"A-Ce!"
The girl's eyes immediately welled up with tears when she saw him.
"You're still sick, why are you out in the rain? Come on, come back with me."
Song Ce: "..."
The girl was so excited to see him and even wanted to take him home; they must be quite familiar with each other. However… seeing the worried look on her face, I could try to probe her a bit.
"I...I'm not going back."
Upon hearing this, the girl's hand, which was pulling at him, froze. She sniffed and said softly, "A-Ce, we grew up together. If you really don't want to, I'll talk to our parents. They were just confused and came up with this idea. You... don't blame them. You've never experienced hardship. How can you take care of yourself if you just run off to live alone?"
Song Ce paused, lowered his eyelashes, and stared silently at the muddy dirt road beneath his feet, without saying another word.
Seeing that he didn't speak, the girl anxiously reached out to tug at his sleeve, but then withdrew as if afraid of angering him. "A-Ce, I know you dislike me. Even though your older brother is gone, I am still your sister-in-law in name... Let's pretend that day never happened, okay?"
Her words carried a hint of pleading, "Don't send me away, A-Ce. I have nowhere else to go but the Song family."
Wow, Song Ce got a lot of useful information from this girl.
The original owner's elder brother died from some sudden illness or accident, and the girl who should have been her sister-in-law likely had some unspeakable affair with her. Her parents were aware of this and were involved. As a result, the original owner had a falling out with her family, moved out, and even tried to kick her out.
This girl grew up with the original owner of this body and called the original owner's parents "father" and "mother," so her identity is obvious—a child bride who was bought by the original owner's parents and was prepared to become the wife of the original owner's older brother when she grew up.
Song Ce took a half-step forward without changing his expression. "That day? I can't remember anything from that day..."
The girl froze upon hearing this. She could no longer hold back her tears, which fell onto the back of her hand with a "plop." She murmured, "Can't remember? You, how could you..." She stopped abruptly.
"Fine, if I can't remember, I can't remember! That's... fine too."
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Author's Note: [Peeking while covering face]
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