Chapter 97 - Side Story: The Secret of Chen Zhou
One day after the New Year, Hua Deng met the system again.
"Great, you haven't disappeared after all." The lantern spoke to it as it always had.
"Yes, host. When the main god perished, my connection with this world was severed, and I was recalled by the Transmigration Bureau." The system explained, "Now the Transmigration Bureau has also undergone a major overhaul. We no longer need to extract power from the main god. Our daily work is to maintain the stability of various planes."
“That sounds good,” Hua Deng said. “Thank you for remembering me.”
"I'm sorry, host. I always caused you trouble back then," the system said apologetically. "Although the passage connecting Kyushu to the outside world has been opened, there is a very strong force that keeps the outside world at bay, so no one dares to disturb you. It was only with great difficulty that I was able to get in."
Hua Deng paused for a moment, then asked, "How did you get in?"
The system said, "Didn't you let me in? I can sense your presence."
Hua Deng understood and said, "You could say I let you in. But I don't have any plans to bind you to the system right now."
"I know, I actually came here to give you a gift."
The system conjured a bottle of pills: "This is medicine to help you increase your cultivation. Su Yiqing and Pei Jianming's systems can be redeemed with points, and now I have one too."
"But I don't have any points..."
"I don't want your points."
Hua Deng paused for a moment, then accepted the gift, saying sincerely, "Thank you, I really like this gift."
"That's good," the system said. "Also, my permissions have been greatly improved compared to before. If you still want to go back to that past time and space, I can help you with that too."
Hua Deng paused, then slowly said, "Let me think about it, is that alright?"
"Sure, I can wait three more days."
"It won't take that long."
Hua Deng stood up and knocked on Lie Tian's door.
Without needing to say more, Lie Tian, familiar with the route, arrived at Chen Zhou's side.
Inside the room, Jinze was yelling hoarsely, "Can you please get her sister out of here? This is so annoying! What kind of little brat is she? Am I here to babysit?!"
Shen Zhou said casually, "If you're not satisfied, then go to the Northern Wilderness and expand our territory, and let the Left Protector stay here."
Jinze: "...Damn it!"
He only brought back a few men from the Hehuan Sect, is it really necessary for him to be so vengeful?
Hua Deng only heard Jin Ze's last curse word and asked in surprise, "What are you arguing about?"
Jinze said, feeling aggrieved, "It's nothing, I'm leaving now."
Hua Deng nodded, and after he left, she immediately ran to Chen Zhou's side: "My system is back, did you know that?"
The system huddled in the corner, trembling, not daring to utter a sound.
Shen Zhou naturally hugged her and said with a smile, "I know, what does it want to do?"
“It’s not what it wants to do, it’s what I want to do.” Hua Deng looked at him expectantly. “I want to go back again, just like I told you before, back to your first life.”
Last time she went back, it directly caused her to disappear for seven days. She was afraid that something unexpected might happen this time and make Shen Zhou worry, so she told him in advance.
I thought Shen Zhou wouldn't agree so easily, but he casually said, "Okay, let's go take a look."
Hua Deng asked in disbelief, "Really? You haven't been possessed, have you?"
Shen Zhou squeezed her hand: "Then we won't go back."
"You promised! You can't go back on your word!"
Hua Deng immediately jumped down, escaped his embrace, and ran to the chaise lounge next to him: "I'm going to sleep for a while, don't disturb me."
Shen Zhou clicked his tongue and said, "I know, hurry back."
The lights shone brightly, and the system started its countdown, plunging the view into darkness.
She was going to the last moment before Shen Zhou's reincarnation, something that had always troubled her. Every time she asked Shen Zhou why he hadn't perished with the Heavenly Dao as he had previously said, Shen Zhou would reply, "You will know."
Hua Deng was furious, and now that she finally had the chance, she had to find out what was going on.
When she opened her eyes again, she was standing on a cloud, and the scenery in front of her seemed somewhat familiar.
She quickly realized that this was Tianhan Mountain, the Tianhan Mountain before the construction of the Duanyun Palace.
She walked forward on the clouds and finally saw the figure she longed to see.
He was dressed in a snow-white robe, sitting on a dark rock, with what appeared to be blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
The figure remained upright, with loose black hair and a pale, thin face, as if it were about to be carried away by the wind.
He didn't look at the streetlights immediately as he usually did. Instead, he lowered his eyes and looked at Jin Yue, who was kneeling on the ground, wailing loudly.
Hua Deng paused, and despite being prepared, Jin Yue's heart-wrenching cries still clenched her heart.
But Chen Zhou remained unmoved and said calmly, "Don't worry, Jin Yue. I will protect your descendants for every generation until I return to nothingness."
Jin Yue choked up and said, "Your Majesty, this path is blocked! Do you really want to do this?"
Shen Zhou didn't answer, but waved his hand lightly: "Go, go and be your leader."
Jin Yue was speechless. He could not disobey Shen Zhou's orders. He kowtowed three times in sorrow, and finally turned away with tears streaming down his face.
He passed by the streetlights without reacting.
Hua Deng said, "Can't he see me?"
The system said, "Only the person you want to see can see you."
As Hua Deng looked up, Chen Zhou indeed looked at her and calmly nodded: "You've come."
She walked over, sat down beside him, and whispered, "Did you win?"
"I lost," he said casually, as if it wasn't the dream he pursued.
"Losing to the will of Heaven?"
For some reason, he gazed at her silently, then shook his head.
"Do you want to reincarnate?"
"yes."
"Why?"
Hua Deng finally asked the question.
Shen Zhou didn't look at her; his gaze was fixed on the distant horizon, and he said in a faint voice, "Because I see the future."
Many years passed after she left.
At first, everything was the same as before.
He seemed to have forgotten about the person who had suddenly entered his life, and spent his days cultivating nothing but cultivation.
One day, as he stood by the window of Guiyi Hall, he suddenly saw camellias in full bloom outside.
Why are these flowers here?
He remembered that he had personally transplanted it, for someone who always complained that Guiyi Hall was cold and boring.
She loves soft beds, bright jewels, beautiful clothes and jewelry, and having many people play with her.
With a loud bang, Shen Zhou waved his hand and closed the window, leaving expressionlessly. He never opened that window again.
But from that day on, something seemed to have changed.
He saw the only white garment in the closet and reached out to destroy it, but each time he couldn't find a way to do so.
He saw a bed that shouldn't have been in the room, and inexplicably lay down on it, as if to sleep.
However, since falling into demonic possession, he has been attacked by demonic energy day and night, suffering from splitting headaches and being unable to sleep at all.
He saw the game she left behind called Flying Chess, and called Jin Yue and others to play together, but they forgot the rules and the person who taught them how to play.
He was bored and dismissed everyone. Alone in the dead of night, he rolled the dice. He was unlucky and often rolled a one, which she had mocked.
Sometime some time later, he adopted a cat.
It was an ordinary cat with a short lifespan that lasted only a few decades. The cat was buried by Jin Yue a dozen years later, but he forgot what the cat looked like.
One day, he brought a few Vermilion Fruit seedlings from the Demon Realm and planted them in the Purple Sun Sect. However, Vermilion Fruits only grow in the Demon Realm, and after a short time, all the seedlings withered. Annoyed by this, he simply cleared them away and pretended nothing had happened.
But how could nothing have happened?
Some things simply existed, and their traces can never be erased.
One hundred years later, on the day his cultivation returned to its peak as expected, he opened the window of Guiyi Hall and looked at the camellias in full bloom.
He belatedly realized that those moments he once thought insignificant had long since transformed into silent, sharp blades in his life, slowly torturing his heart day and night.
When he realized this, he was tired of it all.
Without hesitation, he drew his sword and pointed it at the heavens, attempting to end everything as quickly as possible, to end his absurd life.
He did not want to wait, did not want to repeat the same mistakes, and did not want to repeatedly seek a hope that did not exist.
In the process of confronting the Heavenly Dao, as if by flashback, he walked in the darkness and saw many people from the past.
He saw himself as a child, holding a wooden sword, and asked expectantly, "Did you become a great hero?"
He walked indifferently through the illusion, and ahead stood his father's figure. The man asked gently, "Do you still remember why you wielded the sword?"
He remained silent. His mother's phantom looked over and asked softly, "Have you been practicing the righteous path?"
Shen Zhou didn't turn her head as she passed Chen Xi's illusory figure. Her gaze was calm, and she said nothing.
Just as he was about to walk over, he suddenly called out, "Brother."
He didn't stop walking, and finally Yin Zejing asked with a hearty laugh, "When are you going to make up for the pot of wine you owe me?"
As Shen Zhou reached the end of darkness, all the illusions vanished, and he pointed his sword at the heavens, his soul surging with power.
No one in this world could stop him; he vowed to slay the Heavenly Dao and perish together with it.
He did it.
He almost perished along with the will of Heaven.
However, just as he was on the verge of self-destruction, the Heavenly Dao broke down and spacetime shattered. He unexpectedly borrowed the power of the Heavenly Dao and saw the so-called "future".
Legend has it that there are three thousand universes in the world, and now he has seen them.
In the future he glimpsed, he chose to perish together with the Heavenly Dao in most of his timelines.
In a small portion of time and space, after fighting against the Heavenly Dao, he was fortunate enough to survive and left Kyushu for an unknown world, where his fate was uncertain.
There is only one, a single, unique image.
He sat by the window, watching a woman. He couldn't see her face clearly; she was playing with a plump lynx under a locust tree. He wondered how they raised it; the lynx was so fat.
Later, the woman, carrying the lynx, ran towards him, her dress swaying in the light like a blooming flower.
He still couldn't see her face clearly, but he guessed she must be laughing because he heard himself laughing.
He said something with a smile, and the woman pretended to be angry, shoved the lynx into his arms, and ran away, lifting her skirt.
But the next second, she appeared behind him, covering his eyes and playing around with him.
He turned around, but before he could see her face, the image disappeared.
Shen Zhou stood in the darkness, and Lie Tianzheng roared. Suddenly, his arm felt incredibly heavy, and he could no longer swing his sword.
He should die here.
From beginning to end, all he craved was death, nothing else.
What exactly led him to where he is today?
Why do you want revenge for your family and friends?
Those people abandoned him, leaving him to eke out a living for hundreds of years, and now he has to give his life for them?
Time dragged on, perhaps for a long time, or perhaps in an instant, until he lowered his hand that held the sword.
"Never mind," he said.
Admit it, admit it, you just want to see her one more time.
Three thousand universes, countless futures, so what?
If such an ending truly exists, why shouldn't he receive it?
He deserves what he wants eventually.
Without any hesitation, he spread his arms and fell from the sky, saying in the darkness, "I will not kill you today. I will save your life for another day."
The voice of Heaven was weak, like that of a weathered old man: "I will give you a chance to leave. Leave this place, or you will be trapped in the cycle of reincarnation, going through cycles of eight hundred years and dying miserably in every lifetime."
Shen Zhou crashed to the ground, covered in blood, but a smile he hadn't seen in years appeared on his face—a smile of unbridled joy and unbridled freedom.
"Then let me be condemned to eternal reincarnation, never to meet a peaceful end in any lifetime!"
...
In Shen Zhou's description, this event was only mentioned in a few words.
Hua Deng hugged her knees, remained silent for a long time, and then opened her eyes again to look at him. Her eyes seemed to be filled with tears, and she said in a hoarse voice, "Why did you never tell me this?"
The man tilted his head slightly, raised a finger in a shushing gesture, and replied with a smile, "Of course he won't tell you; it's his secret."
Hua Deng forced a smile, tears streaming down her face, oblivious to her own tears. She whispered, "Now it's my secret too."
That day, the heavenly calamity destroyed everything, causing turmoil throughout the land and leaving a profound mark on history.
The person who tore apart the lightning tribulation did not leave behind a single word.
Some speculate that he is the Sword Master Yuanhe, while others believe that such a person does not exist at all and has perished due to the self-destruction of the Heavenly Dao.
Some speculate that he has restarted the Ascension Ladder and ascended to heaven alone.
Only the streetlights know.
He did not become an immortal; he returned to the mortal realm.
Shen Zhou smiled faintly, closed his eyes, and sat steadily on the rock, as if he were meditating and cultivating normally.
Hua Deng asked him, "Are you going to sleep?"
Shen Zhou said, "Yes, I haven't slept in a long time."
In those years, he also tried to suppress his headaches and managed to get some sleep a few times.
But later he realized that he couldn't see her in his dreams either, so he never did such a ridiculous thing again.
Her thoughts drifted away, and suddenly two soft hands appeared on her temples, their warmth spreading. She gently laid him down, letting him rest his head on her lap—a position that would allow him to sleep peacefully.
At the same time, she lifted his hand and put a familiar colorful rope on it.
He said nothing and quietly closed his eyes.
The lanterns stroked his hair and sang him a ballad.
Just like the songs that Chen Zhou sang for her on many nights.
Shen Zhou only knows this one song and can't remember the lyrics. It is said that his mother sang it to him when he was very young.
She sang fairly smoothly, but she seemed a little unsure about the melody for the last line.
Before she could recall the correct way to sing, the person in her arms suddenly opened his eyes, struggled to sit up straight, and refused to look at her face: "Go, go find him, don't stay here."
The lights responded, and she silently got up and left. After walking a long way, she looked back.
The dark rock was empty, with only a few twinkling stars, encircling a faded, colorful rope, as if lingering for the last time.
...
When he awoke from his dream, Hua Deng's consciousness returned to the Broken Cloud Palace.
She said goodbye to the system and turned to look at the man who had been waiting for her to wake up.
He remained calm, smiling as he met her gaze from behind the headboard.
"You knew what I was going to see?" she couldn't help but ask. "You always remembered?"
"Of course I remember."
"When did you remember this? After you transcended the tribulation?"
"Um."
Hua Deng opened her mouth, with a thousand and one questions, but all her words turned into a murmur: "How could this be?"
How could this be?
Shen Zhou reached out and touched her brow, dispelling her sadness and self-blame, and said gently, "Hua Deng, I've said it before, you are the starting point of my reincarnation."
The starting point of his reincarnation.
It is also the end of his cycle of reincarnation.
The streetlights fell silent for a moment. She nestled quietly into his arms and asked in a muffled voice after a long pause, "And then? What else happened? You have to tell me everything today."
Shen Zhou said, "What happened next was a long story."
Later, he entered the cycle of reincarnation, and his cultivation indeed weakened with each life, just as the Heavenly Dao had predicted.
However, starting from his third life, he found a way to reverse the decline in his cultivation level, and thus his realm was raised again. By his fifth life, he had obtained power that surpassed the Heavenly Dao.
He could slay the Heavenly Dao without having to die.
But if she kills the Heavenly Dao, will she still appear?
He still remembered her saying that she was from outer space and did not belong to this world.
What will happen if she kills the Heavenly Dao?
But if he doesn't kill the Heavenly Dao, does he really have to wait thousands of years?
What if all of that is fake? Was all he pursued in his life just an unrealistic fantasy?
He couldn't control his thoughts, and every time he did, he would show signs of being possessed.
That was the lifetime in which he became the leader of the Immortal Alliance, and also the only lifetime in which he did not engage in killing.
However, he went mad.
He resigned from his position as leader of the alliance, completed his tribulation, and, disregarding the decline in his cultivation, traveled all over the Nine Provinces.
He traveled through the northern plains, the eastern sea, the southern border, and the western regions.
I've been walking for many, many years, and my madness has only gotten worse.
One day, he suddenly regained his senses for a moment.
In that instant, he sealed away all memories of her and restarted the cycle of reincarnation.
He set up a puppet technique for himself, hypnotizing himself into believing that he would only have a chance to kill the Heavenly Dao alive in his fifteenth incarnation.
The fifteenth generation.
If she still doesn't appear after fifteen lifetimes, he will sever this space-time and search for her existence in the three thousand universes.
For thousands of years, until death do us part.
Shen Zhou said, "Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long."
Hua Deng smiled and said, "Isn't ten thousand years a long time?"
He said, "Since you agreed, it hasn't been long."
"What did I promise?"
"I promise that we will meet again in ten thousand years."
The lanterns rested on his chest, and his heartbeat echoed in her voice. She said, "From now on, you won't have to wait anymore. I will never make you wait again."
"You think you'll have a second chance to leave me?"
"...Don't ruin the atmosphere, or I'll kick you out of Duan Yun Palace!"
Shen Zhou chuckled a few times, picked her up, and they stepped out of the room. The night was dark outside, with stars twinkling overhead.
He said, "With you here, I can go anywhere."
The lamplight of yesteryear enters my dreams.
From then on, I spent the long nights with the bright lamp.
[Author's Note]
I'm writing this a bit late, I'm useless, this chapter has 66 red envelopes.
The next part is about a childhood sweetheart emperor and his concubine. Some readers asked why it's a concubine, and honestly, I don't know either. But since everyone requested it in the comments, I wrote it this way. She'll become the empress later. [clumsy dog emoji]
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