Three days left…
As the planets, continental flat earths, Solar Stars and lunar satellites kept revolving, pushing forward in a starfield with almost no long left to admire their radiance or vast presence, a lone figure arrived on a small continent that floated in the Dark Void.
The Myriad Yore Continent.
Within a floating tower that housed a Void Gate, Wei Wuyin appeared. Despite the Void Gates losing their functionality due to the World-Shifting Net, for Wei Wuyin who achieved the ten-ringed Spatial Resonance and possessed void energies, reinitiating them was but a mild inconvenience.
Wei Wuyin observed his present location, a wisp of emotion flickered within his eyes. This was the Wu Astral Tower that his brother had always dreamed of reaching, of seeing with his own two eyes, and yet could never do so. A beacon, he believed it was.
Yet the truth was even more wondrous than his brother could've ever imagined. It housed a Void Gate that allowed cultivators to travel anywhere and any place. A truly breathtaking invention that redesigned the entire cultivation world, allowing connections to form.
"If only you knew," Wei Wuyin wistfully shifted out of the tower, arriving above the Heavenly Wu City.
Observing the once bustling streets and lively atmosphere that had become desolate and lacking all signs of life, Wei Wuyin let loose an internal sigh. He learned from Su Mei about the fate of the Wu Country.
After Wu Jiao had claimed ownership of the Myriad Yore Continent, his rule was incredibly brief due to Long Chen. That day, Wu Jiao had turned numerous allies of Long Chen into a bloody mist, killing them without the slightest hesitation. Xiang Ling hadn't inferered.
It was the first sign of Long Chen's deficient karmic luck value.
But Long Chen's oath was still upheld in the end. When his strength reached a sufficient level, Su Mei had informed him that Long Chen had thundered to the Myriad Yore Continent, and challenged Wu Jiao to Imperial Combat. The fight was fierce, but Long Chen claimed victory and crushed Wu Jiao into bloody paste out of revenge.
His son, Wu Chen, who had supported Long Chen's actions to free Lin Ziyan from the Crown Prince's grip, ascended as King soon after. With Long Chen's support, no one questioned or fought against his authority. It seemed the country was filled with flourishing fortune, far beyond what he saw before.
Wu Chen was a good ruler.
Wei Wuyin didn't spatial shift this time, flying manually through the air as he was immersed in his memories once again. He traveled backwards, recalling his first ever face-to-face meeting with the emerald beauty, Qing Qiumu. He had assumed she was Jiu Lang due to her aura being extremely similar.
Jiu Lang…
A beautiful yet lethal femme fatale that was the central antagonist of his early years as a Core Disciple. They clashed many times, both in the open and behind closed doors. Her belief that he had some ungodly cultivation treasure brought endless suffering to his life.
Yet all he had was an astounding talent and a little bit of luck.
It was shortly after that meeting that he met Long Chen, the man who killed him in another time. Yet in this one, Long Chen was the one beheaded by his saber. He never realized the irony within it until this very moment, and how life can sometimes be flipped entirely on its head.
His flight carried him through the various territories of the Wu Country, and while everything was the Wu Country after Wu Jiao's ascent, he found himself in the territory of the once well-established Xin Country, south of the old Wu Country.
A decade or so ago, an incredibly tall, wide, and majestic tree was once present for the entire continent to see. It reached for the skies with all its desires. It had collapsed after losing its spirit, taking down the millions of lifeforms that selfishly used it as a home, burrowing into its body without permission despite its pain and reluctance.
"..." Wei Wuyin felt the pulsating ripples from Eden within his Sea of Consciousness. The level of emotions he felt was indescribable. This had been Eden's home for so many years. It was its birthplace. Its home. Its past.
A young man entered into the Eden Earth Sect and willingly allowed Eden's sentient mind to enter his own in hopes of helping it escape its predicament. While Eden intended to take over as the central consciousness, the fact Wei Wuyin's other self allowed it was telling that he sympathized with Eden's fate.
"Do you miss it?" Wei Wuyin asked. He didn't know why, but he felt this question needed to be asked.
"...Yes. But I'm living my greatest dream, my best life, with the best souls as my family. I have no regrets." Eden's words were slow, yet it contained an unfathomable steel-like firmness. It was a mere slave to others, ignored and abused, yet it still missed the days it grew without limit, basked under the sun, and the quiet of its early days.
It was alone then, but now and until its death, it would never be. This was its greatest dream.
"Hehe. Best soul! I'm the bestest!" Ori chimed in with a joyous laughter.
"Tch," King made its signature sound yet it came out a little strange, as if it was stifling a sniffle.
"..." Kratos remained silent, but the erratic beating of the heart betrayed its emotions.
Out of all his Astral Souls, Eden was the only one that existed before him, had a set of memories that belonged solely to it. When he first formed Eden, he was suspicious that Eden might have ill-intentions, might be out of his own objectives, due to this strange individuality but after their continuous trials and tribulations, he realized his thinking was far too naive and ignorant.
Eden's wish was always to find its family. Even when it was just a tree, it tried to grow as tall as possible to touch the Solar Star and the Lunar Satellite in the sky, treating it as the family waiting for it. In the end, it found them.
Orianna.
King.
Kratos.
And himself.
Thinking about it, even before Eden became a part of him, they were kindred spirits.
That day, he lost everything. And left with nothing, he cultivated for the sake of surviving and vengeance, nothing more. It was only after he completed his greatest goal, got his greatest desire, that he felt truly alone. Yet cultivation directed him with continued purpose, and allowed him to thrive forward for his dreams.
It took a while before he realized that his everything, through cultivation, was slowly being rebuilt. Without the engulfing despair, he fought to survive and thrive against all odds for himself, no one else.
Now, he too had found his family. He found that cultivation had granted him the power that he lacked, the freedom that he desired, and the fact that as long as he lived, he'd never be alone again.
He soon found himself in a city. The city that held his greatest and most impactful memories within.
Red Dove City.
Where, for him, it all began.
