After performing the ultimate technique of the Heaven-Sealing Dao Immortal, Wang Xuanyi fell into a deep sleep. His consciousness was like a pebble in a pitch-black deep sea, constantly sinking deeper until it was completely swallowed by the darkness.
Many times, he also asked himself.
Was there any meaning to everything he was doing?
From the excitement, hot-bloodedness, longevity, and invincibility across all worlds upon first stepping into the cultivation world—all those hot-blooded tropes he had fantasized about in his youth.
To the resistance he put up when he recognized his own fate.
The first time he killed someone, the discomfort he felt when the blade pierced a cultivator's heart, the constant scrubbing of his hands, the vomiting...
To the numbness that followed later...
Risking his life to contest opportunities in his youth, cultivating with a conviction that risked qi deviation, all just to avoid repeating the tragic ending in the original work...
But reality seemed to have played a huge joke on him.
“Hehe... By not following the main storyline, I can't even live past eighty years.”
“How truly pathetic.”
“I'm clearly just a minor character in a book. Why work so hard? Why do the things the protagonists are supposed to do...?”
“Wouldn't it have been fine to just leave everything to them...?”
Wang Xuanyi's consciousness was extremely heavy. His eyes lost their luster and color as he kept falling toward the darkest depths, even forgetting everything.
“That is because you are also a protagonist.”
A crisp and bright voice rang out, its tone filled with warmth.
Within the pitch-black sea of consciousness, a ray of light pierced through the boundless darkness. A brilliant hand, resembling that of a True Immortal, reached out and grabbed Wang Xuanyi just as he was about to fall into the abyss.
“Am I also... a protagonist?”
Wang Xuanyi asked himself, before being pulled out of the dark abyss by that hand, arriving in a world that was like a clear mirror where the water met the sky.
This realm was bright and quiet, like a spring breeze brushing past after a severe winter, making one feel peaceful and soothing all unpleasant emotions.
Sitting cross-legged opposite him was a man dressed in white robes, with immortal aura swirling around his body.
“What, have you lost confidence in yourself?”
The white-robed man chuckled, his voice carrying a gentle warmth like rain falling on a dry riverbed, bringing comfort.
“Hiss!”
Wang Xuanyi's face instantly contorted in pain. He clutched his splitting head with both hands, as if something were devouring his consciousness and memory!
The white-robed man lightly tapped Wang Xuanyi's forehead with his finger. A rich immortal aura surged into his body. With a gag, a clump of black demonic qi spewed from his mouth, gradually morphing into a woman's face.
If Huangfu Cheng were here, he would definitely recognize this face as the half-step Tribulation Transcendence Realm demonic cultivator whom he had cut down from the starry sky.
“You monster!!!”
The demonic cultivator's face contorted with rage, her body twisting as she tried to flee, but she was grabbed by Wang Xuanyi, who had regained his senses, and incinerated by a breath of True Dragon Fire.
“Phew... Tha—”
Having done all this, Wang Xuanyi felt much better. He turned to thank the white-robed man, only to freeze upon seeing his face.
“Hmm? Why did you stop thanking me?”
The white-robed man chuckled, knowing full well why this kid had frozen in place.
“Wait, why do you look exactly like me? Are you my long-lost twin brother?”
Wang Xuanyi was truly dumbfounded. The otherworldly, unfathomably powerful man in front of him actually looked exactly like him. Even his aura and his eyes were identical, like a reflection in a mirror.
“Turn around and look.”
The white-robed man chuckled.
As if possessed, Wang Xuanyi turned around, nearly jumping out of his skin in fright.
Hundreds, thousands of “Wang Xuanyis” were all sitting cross-legged there. Different auras swirled around them, yet they all possessed the same origin qi as him.
Within their bodies, there were also the auras of the Dao Palace and Dao-Transforming Realms. Pure power flooded their limbs. Just like him, they walked the same path, the same Dao journey.
“This is...”
“These are you, and they are also me...” the white-robed Wang Xuanyi said, finally leading the hundreds and thousands of “Wang Xuanyis” to speak in unison: “Or rather, us!”
“Oh my, you've finally arrived. We've been waiting so long we're about to grow grass.” One of the “Wang Xuanyis” came to Wang Xuanyi's side and laughed heartily.
“No kidding. We've finally met a normal one.”
Another “Wang Xuanyi” said.
“Exactly, exactly. He's so much better than that love-brain from the previous life, who forced us to wait through another cycle and almost wiped us all out.” A third “Wang Xuanyi” said, his face extremely excited, as if he had run into something incredibly fortunate.
“This...”
Looking at the thousands of identical versions of himself, Wang Xuanyi felt his head grow big. It was a dizzying sight, and he could hardly distinguish himself from them.
“Dazed?”
The white-robed “Wang Xuanyi” patted Wang Xuanyi's shoulder and grinned mischievously. “How about it? Were you startled by yourself?”
“No duh! Who wouldn't be startled!”
“Hahaha...”
The thousands of “Wang Xuanyis” laughed in unison, highly satisfied with his reaction.
“What on earth is going on here?”
Wang Xuanyi asked with a frown. He could sense that these “Wang Xuanyis” were practically cast from the exact same mold. He had reason to suspect if some powerhouse was playing a trick on him, deliberately pulling a prank.
Of course, the moment this question surfaced in his mind, the other “Wang Xuanyis” also heard his inner thoughts.
“Let me explain,” the white-robed “Wang Xuanyi” said, stopping his laughter.
“OK.”
“No problem.”
“...”
The crowd of “Wang Xuanyis” stopped their ruckus, their gazes burning as they looked at the only living Wang Xuanyi!
The white-robed Wang Xuanyi smiled faintly and, facing the deeply perplexed Wang Xuanyi, explained, “We are all Wang Xuanyi. It's just that they are already dead, and only you are still alive. As for me, I am you from downstream of the River of Time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hmm...” The white-robed Wang Xuanyi pondered for a moment before saying, “To change a certain event, the first-lifetime you reversed time, overturned reincarnation, and retraced history. However, you were contaminated by a massive karma because of this, resulting in your physical death and the dissipation of your Dao...”
“But it was also a blessing in disguise, allowing you to live out a second lifetime... a third lifetime...”
“Wait, don't go into so much detail. Just hit the key points.”
Wang Xuanyi felt his head throbbing. Was his future self really this long-winded?
“In short, because of the actions of the first lifetime, we were tainted by a massive karma, which caused this place to form a world of its own. It is completely unaffected by time, the Great Dao, or karma... yet we cannot leave this place either. Every time we die, those of us named Wang Xuanyi will ultimately return here,” the white-robed Wang Xuanyi explained.
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