Chapter 205: So I’m the Protagonist After All (1)
The illusion shattered, and the fabricated reality dissipated completely.
At the moment her soul was restored, Su Mingxiu finally returned to the world she originally belonged to. She opened her eyes to a sky filled with fire, falling like meteors, cruelly tearing through the azure expanse, leaving behind a chaotic tapestry of black and red. It resembled a canvas slashed by a madman, the paint smeared haphazardly into a disturbing, grotesque scene.
But those fiery stars were frozen in mid-air. The sky mirrored the earth below, which was covered in a blanket of white, like a giant snow-covered mirror. The pine needles were frozen into tiny icicles, and the surface of an unnamed lake was smooth and flat, faithfully reflecting the impending doom of this small world, as indifferent as it had been to any conflict for thousands of years.
The sky was a scene of destructive chaos, while the icy earth was pristine, even spotless. It was as if two worlds with vastly different styles had been forcibly stitched together.
Su Mingxiu, dressed in a robe of ice-blue, slowly descended from the sky, like a snow fairy gracefully landing.
She saw that the figures standing on the frozen lake, resembling frozen bubbles, were actually countless cultivators. They were all looking up at the apocalyptic scene in the sky, their faces a mixture of solemnity, terror, and resolute determination…
So she followed their gaze, looking up at the scene of divine punishment. Time was clearly frozen, but she knew this world was completely different from the game world she had been in before.
But there were some similarities.
For example… both were controlled by the system.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be called a system anymore, Su Mingxiu thought. Her face, illuminated by the fractured sunlight in the freezing cold, was as white as snow. The single mole beneath her deep black eyes was the finishing touch on this masterpiece, causing anyone who looked at her to hold their breath, except for the being she was now addressing: “So it was you…”
Her clear voice was measured, like the melting water of this ancient frozen lake, her lips and teeth filled with an unending chill. “Heavenly Dao.”
No wonder it could reverse time and give her the opportunity to repair her soul.
No wonder it had such an unparalleled desire to control the fate of others. Because the Heavenly Dao had long since determined the life, death, and reincarnation of all things, and would not tolerate any challenge to this order.
And no wonder it could send her to so many different worlds for repeated trials. Because for the Heavenly Dao, whether it was setting up illusions to test her or throwing her consciousness into one of its three thousand subordinate worlds, it was all too easy.
All the mysteries surrounding the system that had puzzled Su Mingxiu were answered when she returned to this original world and saw the truth.
The Heavenly Dao, which had never responded to anything, responded to Su Mingxiu when she revealed its identity, using the same indifferent tone it always used as the system, “Congratulations on your rebirth, Venerable Zhaolin.”
Her soul was restored, but her past memories were not. However, at this moment, time was paused for everything, and the only person who could respond to the Heavenly Dao was Su Mingxiu. But there was no joy of rebirth on her face, only a cold question, “You control the laws of heaven and earth. Heaven is impartial, treating all things as straw dogs. What have I done to deserve this rebirth?”
Su Mingxiu did not believe she possessed the charm to reverse the flow of rivers and mountains or to move heaven and earth. Even cultivators knew that all they could do was cultivate diligently to extend their lifespan.
As for the techniques of resurrection and immortality, they were never used by the righteous path. Even “resurrection” was so difficult in the cultivation world, so how could Su Mingxiu be reborn after her soul had shattered?
What price had she paid?
Or rather, what price had someone else paid for her?
“You should have the answer in your heart.” The Heavenly Dao still used the mechanical voice of the system that Su Mingxiu was most familiar with, as if it didn’t find it strange at all. It only asked her, “In these eight small worlds, who is the one you are most deeply connected to?”
Even though she had already guessed the answer, Su Mingxiu, in the first moment of learning the truth, tried to find that familiar face among the countless frozen figures around her, but to no avail.
No matter how carefully she looked when she returned here, she did not see the person who should have been celebrating this joy with her and who should have been answering her questions.
“Where is she?”
Su Mingxiu couldn’t recall her past memories, and her voice was somewhat hoarse when she asked this question.
“All things in the world are born and die, but the Dao is eternal. Since you are reborn, someone must die in your place, their soul dissipating. Who do you think it is?”
The person standing alone on the frozen lake finally fell silent.
Because Su Mingxiu was unwilling to accept such a heavy price. She hadn’t even remembered the true name of the protagonist she had met so many times and inevitably fallen in love with, yet she discovered that the other person was going to disappear from this world forever. How could this be?
If breaking those fleeting, beautiful dreams time and again was only to wake up and live forever in this reality more terrifying than any nightmare, then she would rather remain lost in the dream.
So she showed a slightly mocking expression. “When did the Heavenly Dao learn to pity mortals? She wants me to live, so you let me live. How many people in this world are filled with regret and pain, having lost their loved ones? Are you going to make this deal with each of them?”
“There is a reason I agreed to your rebirth. Currently, this world is suffering from the war waged by the demon race. Your rebirth can save countless lives. The Demon Lord has fallen, and with your current cultivation level, you can turn the tide and bring peace back to this world.”
After returning to its true form as the Heavenly Dao, Su Mingxiu discovered that this damn system had lost even the last bit of its human-like emotions. It had become so indifferent, neither holding a grudge against her for her transgressions in those worlds nor settling any old scores.
But just because it didn’t care didn’t mean Su Mingxiu would forget their past conflicts.
“What if I don’t save them?”
“Then you will be buried with this world.” The Heavenly Dao was even more indifferent than her, completely unmoved by her threat.
Su Mingxiu responded very simply, “Fine.”
She didn’t move a single bit of spiritual energy. She simply sat down cross-legged on the eternally frozen lake, not even looking at the falling stars about to crash down from the sky. She propped up her chin with one hand, looking with interest at the fish frozen in the transparent ice of the lake and the strings of bubbles frozen as they rose from the bottom, creating a surprisingly beautiful scene from above.
The Heavenly Dao did not doubt the truth of her words for a second. In the previous small worlds, Su Mingxiu had always carried out her threats against it.
Now, when she said she wouldn’t care, she really meant it.
It was just that it couldn’t help but feel angry, not understanding why she had become so willful in the face of the lives of countless people in this world.
The two of them were thus at an impasse.
Until the sky became even more bizarre, with rolling thunder that seemed to threaten, “Will you bear the wrongful deaths of countless beings in this world as your karma? Now that your soul is restored, if you create more karma, you will be thrown into the six paths of reincarnation, to be reborn as the lowest of beasts for countless lifetimes, suffering the harshest punishments. Even so, you still won’t save them?”
“If they are meant to die, even if I wanted to save them, you wouldn’t allow it. You threaten me like this because they are not meant to die, right?”
Su Mingxiu looked up at the sky. Although she was the one looking up, there was not a hint of subservience in her expression. “By the same logic, if I was meant to die, not to mention one Demon Lord, even if all the demons in the Demon Abyss committed suicide, you wouldn’t let me be reborn.”
“The fact that I agreed to her condition means I wasn’t meant to die. In that case, why should she sacrifice herself for me in vain? Since you’ve already resurrected one person, what’s one more? Why don’t you resurrect her as well, and I’ll save this world for you, how about that?”
Heavenly Dao: ?
Perhaps it had never encountered someone who bargained with it as if they were in a marketplace. For a moment, it was speechless, and even the rolling thunder in the sky paused for a moment.
“What do you take the laws of heaven and earth for? The demon race committed heinous crimes tens of thousands of years ago, and now they have started a war to destroy the world. The instigator should die. If you insist on resurrecting her out of a moment’s willfulness, you will only add more sin to this world.”
“If the laws of heaven and earth are so inflexible, then what about my resurrection?” Su Mingxiu looked directly at the rolling thunder in the chaotic sky, her expression firm. “If this war shouldn’t have happened, if these people shouldn’t have died, why didn’t you intervene sooner? Now you want someone else to die for me, is this your law? Then you are truly negligent and immoral.”
Hearing her words—
A bolt of lightning thicker than a person rolled towards her from the sky, striking the previously untouched frozen lake, instantly shattering the ice and creating a terrifying vortex in front of Su Mingxiu.
The Heavenly Dao was furious at her indifference. “If not for the two of you forcibly changing fate, why would this world be plunged into misery? This world is the evil consequence of your actions. I showed you mercy by giving you a chance to redeem yourself, and you accuse me instead?”
Mercy?
Su Mingxiu discovered that this damn system, even with its elevated status, could never change its true nature. It seemed to always believe that only the arrangements it made were the best. But how many traps were hidden within these so-called best arrangements?
Initially, it wanted Su Mingxiu to toy with the female lead’s emotions, claiming it was to temper her. Later, when it discovered that they always fell in love, it still created obstacles and tried to prevent them. No matter whether Su Mingxiu ultimately completed the task or not, it was never satisfied. But it was precisely their love that allowed Su Mingxiu to find her soul fragments time and again.
Su Mingxiu couldn’t even imagine whether she would have had this chance at rebirth if her love had not been firm enough, if the female lead’s love for her had not been able to withstand the system’s repeated temptations and tests.
But all their efforts were described by the Heavenly Dao as its mercy.
How ridiculous.
“If this so-called fate means being your puppet from birth, then I’d rather not live.”
Cultivation was about defying the heavens, about forging one’s own path. There was no such thing as a predetermined fate.
But she wouldn’t just sit here and wait for death. After all, someone else had given her this chance at life. Su Mingxiu thought for a moment and discovered that she could actually summon her own natal sword. The bright sword, upon seeing the light of day, emitted a brilliant light that illuminated the nine continents. And with this sword, Su Mingxiu—
Pointed it at the sky.
The Heavenly Dao had governed the world for many years and should have been without emotion or desire. But it had developed this desire to control everything, which was intolerable.
The sword light, carrying boundless coldness, seemed capable of splitting heaven and earth, spanning the nine continents, aiming to break through the sky.
And in this sharp, unstoppable momentum, Su Mingxiu narrowed her eyes, her voice capable of shattering gold and stone, “But… you have stood above the heavens for tens of thousands of years, too arrogant.”
And too much of an eyesore.
Making one want to slash it a few times.
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