Chapter 57 Death: No one will remember a background character...
"What do you mean? Do you know me?" Shen Cangyu frowned, she had no recollection of the person in front of her.
“The new master of the Kunlun Sword is Shen Cangyu, you’ve forgotten me, but you haven’t forgotten me,” the woman said with a smile.
Only people in Kunlun know that Shen Cangyu inherited the Kunlun Sword. People outside Kunlun are unaware of this. Could it be that she has an informant within Kunlun who secretly found out about it?
Shen Cangyu looked at her and saw that she was not on guard against him and her body was relaxed. If she didn't trust him, then she was very confident in her own strength.
Who exactly is she?
“I told you long ago that the Kunlun Sword is useless, and my Weeping Ghost God is much better,” the woman said. “But you’re too late. My Weeping Ghost God has already been taken away.”
Upon hearing her words, Shen Cangyu quickly grasped the key point in her statement.
She is the master of the famous sword that makes ghosts weep, but in Shen Cangyu's memory, there has only been one master of the sword that makes ghosts weep, and that is the master of the Sword Pavilion.
Shen Cangyu quickly bowed to her, saying, "It was my fault for not recognizing you, senior."
The Sword Pavilion Master raised his hand, and an invisible force lifted Shen Cangyu up: "There's no need for such formalities between you and me."
The tone of her voice when she spoke to Shen Cangyu was so familiar that Shen Cangyu was somewhat dazed. Judging from her words and tone, they must have known each other before, but it was definitely not something that happened in this life.
Could it be that the Sword Pavilion Master in front of her, like her, remembers memories from her previous lives?
Could it be that she also knew about the existence of time travelers?
It should be noted that the Sword Pavilion Master and the Kunlun Immortal Master were cultivators of the same generation. Back then, their levels were comparable, and the Sword Pavilion Master's realm was even slightly superior to that of the Kunlun Immortal Master.
At the time, everyone thought that the Sword Pavilion Master was the one with the best chance of attaining immortality and ascending to heaven. Unexpectedly, the Kunlun Immortal Lord attained immortality and left this world before her.
Even though the Sword Pavilion Master did not successfully ascend, she ultimately remained at the half-step immortal realm. She was the person Shen Cangyu could currently come into contact with who was the closest to immortality.
If she remembers what happened in her previous lives, then she definitely knows a lot of information.
"Senior said the Kunlun Sword is useless. Does that mean you know the truth about the Kunlun Immortal Lord's ascension?" Shen Cangyu thought for a moment and asked the Sword Pavilion Master the question he most wanted to know.
If the Sword Pavilion Master knew how the Kunlun Immortal Lord ascended to immortality and could guide Shen Cangyu, allowing her to progress smoothly on her cultivation path, that would be the best outcome.
In Shen Cangyu's view, the truth behind the ascension of the Kunlun Immortal Master must be complicated, and the person who passed down the Daoist teachings must have missed a crucial link.
The Sword Pavilion Master shook his head and said, "I told you this story before, but you don't remember it, so I have to tell you it again."
In those days, the cultivation world was a vibrant and diverse place, with practitioners of various Taoist methods constantly exploring and developing their beliefs into a complete system.
At that time, people of different schools of thought debated with each other, pointing out the flaws in other schools of thought from their own perspectives, and constantly reflecting on and improving their own theoretical systems when others attacked them, thus growing through contradictions.
At that time, they studied Taoist arts not to become immortals, but to see the world clearly with their own eyes and understand its origin.
Just as they were arguing endlessly and hadn't reached a conclusion, someone suddenly ascended to heaven.
The Immortal Lord of Kunlun ascended to immortality overnight. At that time, strange phenomena appeared in the sky, with clouds filling the sky and boundless spiritual power enveloping Kunlun. From then on, Kunlun became a blessed land.
The Immortal Lord of Kunlun ascended to immortality without warning, and before his ascension, everyone was pessimistic about him, believing his theories were full of flaws. Yet, he was the one who became an immortal.
The Immortal Lord of Kunlun ascended to immortality too suddenly, leaving no last words. His descendants could only gather his belongings and organize his manuscripts, hoping to use the spiritual energy he left behind to expand and strengthen Kunlun and promote the "Return of All Things to the Heart" tradition.
Kunlun is rich in spiritual energy. Later, many Taoist disciples moved their families to Kunlun and benefited from its influence, thus also becoming known as "Kunlun disciples".
Finally, Kunlun became the place it is today, a gathering place for various Daoist sects.
But to this day, no one has been able to explain why the Kunlun Immortal Master became an immortal.
The Daoist technique of "All Things Return to the Heart" created by the Immortal Master of Kunlun is revered as a sacred text by cultivators, and many people want to replicate his success and embark on the path to immortality.
They studied the sacred texts carefully, but they couldn't figure it out no matter how hard they tried.
The Daoist notes left by the Kunlun Immortal Master are only fragmentary fragments, with unclear wording. Later generations have continued to study their mysteries, but have been unable to grasp their essence.
The theory of "all things returning to the heart" is immature and far inferior to other Taoist methods, but unfortunately it is the only one that has been proven to lead to immortality.
The followers of "All Things Return to the Heart" gradually went from initial fervor to confusion, and then to skepticism.
Of course, if someone were to carefully analyze this rumor, they would find that it clearly carries a hint of Taoist magic and glimpsing the secrets of heaven.
In the process of evolution, the Dao and its teachings inevitably influence each other; this is inevitable.
The Taoist practitioners who sought to understand the secrets of heaven placed their faith in the Goddess of Heavenly Fragrance, believing that as long as their faith was strong enough, she could bless her followers. Just as the saying goes, "An immortal touched my head, and I received eternal life," the Goddess of Heavenly Fragrance took her loyal followers as her attendants, granting them divine power and enabling them to ascend to immortality.
If they carefully analyze the rumor about the reason for the ascension of the Kunlun Immortal Lord, they will find that they have deified the sword spirits, regarding them as beings like the Heavenly Fragrance Goddess, and believing that they have the ability to enlighten sword cultivators.
However, this theory is clearly the opposite of the core concept of "all things returning to the heart" left by the Kunlun Immortal Master.
One achieves immortality through external forces, while the other achieves it through self-cultivation, mental refinement, and enlightenment. How can these two be the same?
"They can understand the theories left behind by Kunlun, but no one can replicate them, so they made up this story," said the Sword Pavilion Master.
After listening to the words of the Sword Pavilion Master, Shen Cangyu guessed that there was something fishy about the ascension of the Kunlun Immortal Lord.
Otherwise, why hasn't he reappeared after so many years since his ascension? Only the spiritual energy left in Kunlun proves that he once ascended. The Kunlun sword in Shen Cangyu's hand is the same; apart from being full of spiritual energy, it has no other characteristics. The sword spirit of the Kunlun sword, along with the Kunlun Immortal Lord, has disappeared completely.
"That's because Kunlun's ascension was not his wish, but a scheme deliberately orchestrated by the Heavenly Dao."
“The Heavenly Dao,” the Sword Pavilion Master gave a mocking smile, “or rather, the manipulator of this world. If the Heavenly Dao wants him to become an immortal, he will immediately ‘ascend’ without being allowed to stay for even a moment.”
Shen Cangyu's eyelids suddenly twitched, and a bad feeling arose in his heart.
"Becoming an immortal is just a gimmick. Heaven wants this story to develop perfectly, so it singled out Kunlun as a background character. Since Heaven wants him to become an immortal, he can only play his part to ensure the story's integrity..."
Suddenly, the once sunny sky changed color, with thick black clouds looming in from all directions, accompanied by rumbling thunder.
Shen Cangyu originally only wanted to know the truth about the Kunlun Immortal Lord's ascension, but she did not expect that the Sword Pavilion Master knew far more than she imagined.
She actually knew about the relationship between this world and the Heavenly Dao, and she also knew that this world was just a story.
The Sword Pavilion Master said, "Those who can become immortals are not so easily blinded by the Heavenly Dao of this world. Even though I am only half a step into immortality, I can still see things clearly."
Thunder roared, one after another. The sky seemed to have a hole in it, and torrential rain poured down relentlessly. The surrounding mountains collapsed, the trees withered, and everything was crumbling.
Shen Cangyu realized something was wrong.
But the Sword Pavilion Master's voice did not stop: "This world is not the world we originally lived in. It is a world created for the protagonist, and we are just unlucky people captured by the Heavenly Dao. The core of this world's operation is the protagonist, and our existence is to help him perform the whole story well. Those who oppose the protagonist will not have a good ending. The protagonist will never die. Once you kill him, this world will restart, and no matter how many times you kill him, he will not die."
A bolt of lightning struck them, but was blocked by the sword floating in the air.
Countless swords surged toward them, forming a barrier above their heads that blocked the dense lightning.
Braving the dense lightning, the Sword Pavilion Master said, "This world has restarted hundreds of times. We've tried every method, but none of them can kill the protagonist. I had already given up until I saw you again. I remember you, but you've never appeared in the past hundreds of story cycles."
Shen Cangyu felt a chill run down his spine, and a sense of dread arose spontaneously.
It turns out that the scenes in her memory were not events from her previous life.
Her existence was erased by the Heavenly Dao. She had disappeared from this story hundreds of times until her previous life when she came to Kunlun and accidentally became involved with Pei Wenjing, which allowed her to return to this story.
She thought she had forgotten the memories of one lifetime, but it turned out that she had forgotten the memories of hundreds of lifetimes that had been repeated over and over again.
[Abnormal data detected, deleting...]
[Abnormal data detected, deleting...]
Suddenly, a series of red pop-up windows appeared beside Shen Cangyu. Shen Cangyu anxiously grabbed the arm of the Sword Pavilion Master: "I saw the warning. Are you going to die?"
"Warning?" The Sword Pavilion Master looked to the side, but his gaze didn't land. "As expected, I knew that with your return this time, the outcome would definitely change."
Suddenly, red lines appeared beneath the feet of the Sword Pavilion Master. She was like a rag doll that had been dismantled, breaking apart from bottom to top and scattering into red lines.
Her cause and effect are fading away, her existence is being erased.
"No! Stop!" Shen Cangyu clung tightly to the Sword Pavilion Master, trying to keep her there.
“I’ve watched the world restart again and again, and I’m exhausted. Now I can finally rest,” she said with a smile. “It’s good that you’re back. I can tell you everything I know. I hope you can carry my will, defeat the protagonist, and stop this world. But this is my last chance. If the world restarts again, you won’t be able to see me anymore.”
[The anomaly has been removed; risk scanning is in progress...]
[The storyline is being optimized, please wait...]
[Optimized potential risks, fixing a total of 2 abnormal data items.]
The person in his arms turned into fluttering red threads and disappeared. The thunder and lightning in his ears seemed to have been paused and vanished, but the surrounding scene was collapsing.
The Sword Pavilion was originally formed by the power of the Sword Pavilion Master's divine consciousness when she perished. Now that the Sword Pavilion Master has disappeared, the Sword Pavilion has collapsed along with her.
"Why..." Why can't the protagonist die? Why do they have to act out this play with the protagonist again and again? Why does this world have to repeat itself over and over again? Why do they have to endure this torment?
The thick fog enveloped Shen Cangyu's body, carrying her away from the Sword Pavilion.
Shen Cangyu returned to reality along with the myriad swords in the Sword Pavilion. Amid the gasps of the crowd, she raised her hand and summoned the myriad swords, their tips pointing at Shen Qingyan in the crowd.
This time, she did not hide the hatred in her eyes.
At this moment, she hated him more than ever before, and wished she could kill him.
But he is an immortal protagonist, and if she kills him, she cannot guarantee that she will retain her memories in her next life.
If everything disappears, then the death of the Sword Pavilion Master will have no meaning.
No one will remember a background character.
There is no one.
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