Chapter 82 Just a Pawn 01
[Host, I was wrong.]
The system's voice was somber, almost tearful.
Ren Yi: [...]
He remained silent for a long while before finally saying with difficulty, "No, this has nothing to do with you."
The reason for this conversation about "one person unifying the world" is that the flag set by the system in the previous world has come true, and the situation Ren Yi encountered in this world was far more difficult than he had imagined.
To be honest, judging from his current situation alone, Ren Yi's situation is not bad at all; in fact, he started with top-tier resources.
In the nine heavens of the immortal realm, he was at the very top, in the ninth heaven where the immortal spiritual power was most concentrated.
Behind him stood a young man with a terrifying aura and unfathomable cultivation; he was none other than the Emperor, who stood at the pinnacle of the Immortal Realm.
At this very moment, the Emperor's hand, which could destroy half a small world with the slightest lift, was gently combing his hair, stroke by stroke.
If you were to ask Ren Yi how he feels right now, there would only be three words: "I dare not move."
He really didn't dare to move an inch, afraid that something would be discovered.
Ren Yi is not in his own disguise now, but in a puppet, a lifelike puppet that is no different from a real person.
The reason for this situation is that both of his identities in this world have been destroyed: one merged with the Dao to fill the loopholes in the Heavenly Dao, and the other jumped off the Execution Platform, resulting in the annihilation of both body and soul. Therefore, when he arrived in this world this time, he somehow landed in the body of this puppet with whom he had some connection.
If the system fragments could also land on the puppet through this connection, things would be much easier. He could come quietly, merge with the system fragments, and then leave quietly, without alerting anyone.
But the problem is, the system fragments aren't here!
The system fragment is in another location.
Ren Yi's alternate account that merged with the Dao back then, which was the former Emperor, although the disguise was destroyed, still left behind a piece of immortal soul crystal, and the system fragment was left there.
This piece of immortal soul is currently in the hands of the current emperor behind Ren Yi, who looks like a young man but has actually lived for thousands or tens of thousands of years. Even the system cannot sense the exact location of the fragment. Ren Yi guesses that the immortal soul is probably placed in the mustard seed space that Xuan Wei created. No one can enter that place except the master or by invitation from the master.
The dire situation made Ren Yi want to sigh. Xuan Wei behind him seemed to sense something and suddenly stopped combing her hair. In the tension that made Ren Yi's soul tense, he lowered his body little by little until he was half-bent over and his eyes were level with the sitting puppet. As if searching for something, his gaze swept over the flawless face inch by inch.
The puppet, shaped like a young boy, was exquisitely crafted, with arched eyebrows, a high nose, and naturally red lips. However, its beautifully shaped peach blossom eyes were devoid of any spirit.
Xuanwei searched carefully for a long time, but still found nothing, as if the feeling he had just experienced was just an illusion.
He called out softly, unwilling to give up, "A-Que?"
There was no response.
The glimmer of light that had just appeared in Xuanwei's eyes gradually faded away: Had he misjudged?
As the emperor residing at the pinnacle of the Nine Heavens, Xuanwei's eyes could see through most of the world's causes and effects; "misjudging" was something that shouldn't happen to him. However, his expectations were too high, and even the slightest fluctuation made him unable to resist harboring fantasies. This wasn't the first time he had misjudged.
Xuanwei gently stroked the puppet's cheek and repeated the name in a low voice again: "...A-Que".
The puppet still didn't give him any response.
...
It wasn't until Xuanwei stood up straight again that Ren Yi's tense mind finally relaxed: he was really scared to death, he almost thought he had been exposed.
Once he breathed a sigh of relief, Ren Yi was able to think about other things.
I don't know how long it's been since I last saw Xuanwei, but he's changed his appearance, and he even has a super stylish white-haired look...
No, that's not important!
Ren Yi pulled his scattered thoughts back from the state of excessive tension and began to think about his current situation.
First, the first question: Xuanwei just referred to this puppet as "Aque," so who exactly is this puppet? Or is Xuanwei looking at someone through this puppet? Is it him?
Originally, Ren Yi used his real name as his main name in this world, but as a boy picked up from the mortal realm by the Emperor, no one cared about his original name. He was given a new name, "Xun Que," personally chosen by the Emperor, which was an immense favor he should be grateful for. Fortunately, this wasn't the first time Ren Yi had changed his name in this small world, so he accepted the situation well. However, the name "Xun Que" was quite meaningful, as the Emperor had a runaway disciple named "Yuan Que."
The character “阙” is interchangeable with “缺”, and it is self-evident who “寻” is referring to.
Yes, that's right. This is a novel about a substitute. Ren Yi's real name is the substitute who is the tool that drives the relationship between the main characters.
It's not as simple as just a stand-in.
The Heavenly Dao of this world is flawed. Back then, the former Emperor—who was also Ren Yi's alternate name—repaired the Heavenly Dao with his immortal body, divine soul, and all his cultivation. But that was not the end. Every ten thousand years thereafter, a certain immortal with a specific destiny would exhaust his cultivation to maintain it. The Emperor's little disciple was that destined person.
However, after raising his disciple for so many years, when the crucial moment arrived, the cold-hearted emperor couldn't bear to part with him.
Just then, the youngest disciple yearned for the mortal world and ran away from home. When the Emperor descended to the mortal realm to search for him, he found another person with a similar fate. He brought him back to the immortal realm, personally cleansed his marrow and used various rare and precious treasures to improve his cultivation, hoping that he could replace the youngest disciple in repairing the flaws in the Heavenly Dao.
This unlucky fellow is Ren Yi, who was forcibly renamed "Xun Que".
Xun Que is not merely a substitute for his junior apprentice, but also a pawn used by the Emperor to mend the Heavenly Dao.
For this reason, even after the young disciple returned, he constantly targeted this new disciple brought back by his master and tried several times to send him back to the mortal realm, but failed. Seeing how much his master protected the newcomer, the young disciple became jealous and threw tantrums, turning the immortal realm, which had been dead and silent for thousands of years, into chaos.
However, this commotion stirred up ripples in the Emperor's heart, which had remained calm for ten thousand years. The Emperor then realized that he had such feelings for his little disciple.
Despite understanding, the Emperor remained the aloof and unapproachable figure he always was, maintaining his taciturn and cold persona from beginning to end.
Not only that, but he also severely punished his little apprentice for damaging the substitute's cultivation, and personally healed the substitute's injuries.
The Emperor's actions were indeed for a reason.
The time to repair the Heavenly Dao is approaching. Xun Que's cultivation was forcibly pulled up, and his foundation is unstable. If it is damaged, his little disciple will have to personally repair the rest.
Yuan Que's loss was not in the substitute's cultivation, but clearly in his own, which explains why the Emperor was so furious.
But the Emperor's deep affection and care were beyond the comprehension of his young disciple, Yuan Que. All he knew was: Master punished him! He actually punished him!! He was punished for that wretched woman!!!
The apprentice was both aggrieved and angry, and began the next round of even bigger trouble.
The emperor, who already felt indebted to his disciple after the punishment, simply said, "Let it be," upon hearing this.
What can we do now that the Emperor has spoken?
So no matter how much they were tormented, the immortals in the Nine Heavens could only grit their teeth and bear it.
#The aloof emperor and his quirky little disciple#
Ren Yi's role as a tool is to occasionally provoke his little disciple, letting him cause all sorts of trouble (in fact, Ren Yi doesn't need to provoke him much, his very existence is a huge source of provocation), and then the Emperor silently cleans up the mess his little disciple makes.
What is pampering? This is pampering!
What is sweetness? This is sweetness!!
Anyway, as long as Ren Yi, this tool, plays his role fully, he can push the Emperor and his little disciple through hundreds of chapters of emotional entanglement, with lines like "I spoil you, but I won't say it" and "Why aren't you coaxing me yet? I'm going to make a scene if you don't coax me soon."
When the time finally came to mend the Heavenly Dao, the substitute, whose heart was with the Emperor, suddenly learned the whole truth and realized that he was just a pawn used by the Emperor to mend the Heavenly Dao. All the preferential treatment he had received in the past was just his wishful thinking.
Xun Que suddenly felt disheartened and his heart was as cold as ashes.
After exhausting his cultivation to repair the Heavenly Dao, he leaped off the Execution Platform.
Ren Yi's scenes have officially wrapped up filming. (Applause)
However, the emotional entanglement between the Emperor and his little disciple is not over yet.
Upon learning of the substitute's actions, the Emperor simply said, "I know," without any reaction. This response infuriated his young disciple, who accused him of being indifferent and demanded, "If I were the one in trouble, would you have acted the same way?!"
The two engaged in hundreds more chapters of back-and-forth, a series of philosophical discussions about whether the other person truly loved them. Finally, the young disciple realized that the substitute was merely a pawn the Emperor had picked up to sacrifice himself in his place. Since it was all a scheme from the start, genuine feelings were impossible. As long as the pawn served its purpose, the Emperor didn't care about its fate.
The misunderstanding was finally cleared up, and the young apprentice was so moved that he burst into tears. The two had a happy ending.
Ren Yi, who was dragged out of the dead and had his corpse whipped: ...What the hell?!
Forget it, forget it, isn't that what a tool person does?
Calm down, calm down.
When Ren Yi did this mission back then, he was still inexperienced and would often be overwhelmed by the plot, so much so that he can still clearly recall many details. However, after so many years of completing missions, his mentality has long been honed to be as steady as a rock and as immovable as a mountain. If he were to go through it again now, he would definitely not even flinch... probably?
In short, after going through the plot he could remember from beginning to end, Ren Yi was certain that Xuan Wei's "A Que" could not have been calling him, but must have been his precious little apprentice. Perhaps it was because their fates were too similar that he was unexpectedly drawn to this puppet.
Although Ren Yi vaguely felt that the puppet in the mirror looked more like his alternate identity, since this was a substitute story, aside from the destiny, the appearance of the alternate identity would naturally be seven or eight parts similar to his little apprentice; "similar" was to be expected. The system's information about this small world was all on that fragment that hadn't been pieced back together, and so much time had passed without photos for comparison, so it was normal for him to be mistaken.
Ren Yi guessed the current situation: his little apprentice had run away from home again, and the Emperor was so lovesick that he made a puppet to comfort himself.
The divine soul in his sea of consciousness transformed into human form. Ren Yi touched the goosebumps on his arm, feeling that this behavior was really hard to describe.
However, he quickly gave up on dwelling on it.
That's just the protagonist's romantic escapades; it has nothing to do with him. He should just focus on figuring out how to get his hands on the Immortal Soul.
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