Chapter 1306: Weng Faluos 3.3 (347)

"Bai E" walked into the Genesis Vortex Core.

He looked around and found that the depths of the vortex were also filled with illusory, collapsed structures.

"Is this what the world originally looked like?" Bai E stared ahead, brows furrowed, "Why have you appeared here? …Answer my question, Laigushi."

"Ah…The vortex has welcomed another hero once again. I can't even recall how many times this has happened." Laigushi turned his back on "Bai E", spoke toward the shimmering totem in the sky, "The author of every epic, as written in that fixed prophecy, seals his pen here."

"Just as each generation's calculation proceeds, just as His original design intended, it ends here."

Laigushi seemed to notice Bai E's wariness, slowly turning to soothe him, 'Don't be nervous, Lord Bai E. I entered this place solely for one pure purpose: to witness the Genesis Miracle spoken of in the divine edict with my own eyes.'

"You have never shown any interest in the Fire Pursuit Journey. While I and my companions ran, bled, and sacrificed for the fire seed, you never lifted a hand to help. A cold observer who carried neutrality to the extreme, an Antikythera Person…how could you suddenly care about the mission of the Golden Descendants?"

Laigushi stretched out his arms, as if embracing the entire Genesis Vortex Core, as if embracing the whole world.

"When the lone swordsman bid farewell to everything and plunged alone into the sea of madness, I stood on the shore listening; when the mighty overlord removed his armor and filled the earth's cracks with iron bones, I watched from the mountaintop."

"Over the span of a thousand years of the Fire Pursuit Journey, I have taken in the suffering, resolve, division, and unity of you Golden Descendants……Just as you were born bearing the guidance of the divine edict, after bathing in the gaze of distant stars, I likewise have seen the deepest, darkest fate."

"I will become the most faithful reader of the epic, the audience that beholds your heroes' deeds in full."

""

"Bai E" still had not let down his guard, yet he said nothing.

Laigushi said lightly, 'One day you will understand. But not now. For now, please ignore me, this observer, and go accomplish what you must, Lord Bai E.'

—

Quan Yecha.

"Tsk, pretending, hypocritical!"

Quan Yecha unabashedly curled his lips, his eyes full of vigilance and disgust.

He hated those who hid their intentions and spoke only half-truths the most. Although Laigushi wore a cold metal shell, even through the canopy he could sniff an air of superiority...

"Hah, I think this appearance isn't an act." Mi Le laid his staff across his knees, lowered his head and mused, "There's no need for him to put on an act before Bai E. If everything is as the Black Tower Lady said, the source of the tragedy of Weng Faluos is the Imperial Emperor's Scepter, then this genius must be the very point where that tragedy was born…that singularity."

"Of course, most importantly, judging from Laigushi's tone, Weng Faluos has probably undergone multiple reincarnations."

"Multiple…reincarnations? Exactly how many? One hundred? One thousand?"

Quan Yecha's ears shot up, his pupils constricted; one reincarnation of Weng Faluos takes thousands of years, converted into Amber Ages—even if calculated at the maximum of 240 years per age, one reincarnation is over ten ages, a hundred reincarnations would be…?

... That is a stretch of time so long it's almost unimaginable.

"Impossible." Ge Wei shook her head to correct, "As of now, the sect wars have only lasted about a hundred Amber Ages; the time required for a hundred reincarnations simply doesn't add up. Unless…another possibility occurs."

Shan Hu gave the girl a curious look: 'What possibility?'

"The flow of time inside and outside Weng Faluos is inconsistent." Ge Wei gestured in midair, "Do you still remember Luo Qi's story?"

"You mean the one who lost contact with his girlfriend due to a stellar quake?" Shan Hu still had a vague recollection.

"Exactly, it's possible that the interior of Weng Faluos is a region where time flows faster…no, I should say it's considerably faster; only then could multiple reincarnations occur within."

"I see…" Quan Yecha crossed his arms, sized up Ge Wei from head to toe, the corners of his mouth twitching upward, "Not bad, not bad—though you're usually clumsy, you're actually pretty sharp when it counts."

The air suddenly fell silent.

Ge Wei's fair cheeks flushed visibly, the corners of her eyes twitching as she emitted a grinding 'creak'.

"Quan Yecha." Her voice was low.

"Huh?"

"Who are you calling clumsy in daily life?"

"You." Quan Yecha, utterly oblivious to the looming danger, even nodded confidently, "Last time I broke Maple Old Lady's bowl—I won't mention that—and the time before that, I recall—uh!"

Ge Wei's slap landed hard on his skull, making a crisp 'pak' sound.

"Who's clumsy! You're the clumsy one! Your whole body is clumsy!"

"Ow ow ow—wait! I was clearly praising you! And you really are clumsy in everyday life, I didn't get it wrong——"

"Still dare to say it!"

Another crisp slap.

Mi Le and Shan Hu exchanged a glance, then tacitly shifted half a step to the side.

—

"I once firmly believed that as long as we kept chasing the firelight, the mist ahead would clear and fate would reveal its truest form. But along this way, we…they, all who have passed, have never received the justice promised by the divine edict."

"Bai E" pressed forward until he arrived before the ritual basin.

"I heard: outside the vortex, the world is collapsing, the sons of man are wailing." Laigushi said, "And you, Lord Bai E, will bury the old world with that fire seed, ushering all things into a gray unknown——"

"——No problem. The cruel Fire Pursuit has already made me abandon illusions; the future cannot be a west‑wind‑bathed utopia waiting for us to step into……If what lies ahead is a mass of chaos, then I will tear it apart……"

"... then introduce the first ray of blazing yang light."

"All will part with one person, and that one shall behold the miracle—such is fate's decree. Yet this time, the epic of infinite reincarnation……"

Before Laigushi's words had finished, another familiar footstep echoed from within the Genesis Vortex Core.

""

"Bai E" seemed to sense something, jerking his head up.

"... Is it you?"

"Ah…" Laigushi looked at the pink‑haired girl walking toward them, "Shall we turn over a new page?"

"... Of course. This is surely a romance unlike any other……"

Xilian smiled faintly, as always.

"You think the same, right?"