Chapter 402

The girl with pigtail braids was the youngest, about five years old.

Her childlike, innocent words nearly made the child with double pupils choke on the sweet potato he'd just eaten; he coughed once, his face flushed with embarrassment.

"I don't need to know—I just need to work hard, become stronger, and be the strongest, right?"

The girl with pigtail braids and the other children thought the big-eyed child's words made perfect sense: just keep getting stronger.

"I know about other double-pupiled people—my master told me."

At this moment, the oldest child finished eating his sweet potato and sucked on his fingers:

"My master heard a great figure say that besides big-eyed, and your father (the double-pupiled child's father), there were several other double-pupiled people—but not from this era, from later ages. They were said to be extremely powerful."

"Even the weakest reached the Immortal Lord level."

Immortal Lord? That must mean Immortal Demon—so they were at least at the fourth step of godhood.

That really is impressive.

Kamikawa Mitsu continued listening to the child speak.

"My master told me their names, too many to remember—I only remembered one: Xiang Yu. It's said Xiang Yu ranked among the top in strength among double-pupiled people."

"How strong exactly? I forgot. My master mentioned too many double-pupiled people's strengths—I got confused in my head."

"Anyway, Xiang Yu was incredibly powerful. Later generations even passed down a saying: 'Xiang's divine valor, unmatched through all ages.' Just from that line, you know how powerful he was."

"Oh, my master also said Xiang Yu almost established a great legacy for all time."

"Almost?"

The child holding the small milk jar asked curiously.

The older child nodded:

"Yes, almost. I asked my master why he almost didn't, since someone so powerful should've established a great legacy. I forgot his exact words, but he basically said that powerful people don't necessarily establish great legacies."

I've forgotten Master's exact words, but roughly it was that a powerful person doesn't necessarily establish an epoch-making great undertaking."

the older child recalled something, his face filled with confusion.

"Come to think of it, the double-pupiled people my master mentioned seemed many like Xiang Yu—strong, yes, but their later years were tragic. For example, Xiang Yu ended by slashing his own throat."

"What I really don't get is why my master, after saying double pupils are so amazing, always sighs."

"You don't need to think—it's obvious. Your master is jealous—he envies how naturally powerful double pupils are."

The child with the milk jar finished his sweet potato, then drank from the jar's animal milk, sharing it with the other children.

The older child nodded half-heartedly: "Maybe."

He wasn't sure, because he always felt his master's sigh wasn't one of envy—he was only ten, couldn't name the expression, couldn't fathom the thought behind it.

He didn't dare be too certain, because he always felt that Master didn't sound like he was sighing out of envy; at only ten years old, he couldn't quite articulate that expression, couldn't fathom the thought behind it.

Bai Mang receded; Kamikawa Mitsu returned to the meteor-light space.

The child's words stirred his contemplation.

The child's words stirred him into deep thought.

The information mentioned Xiang Yu—so they really were ancient Chinese.

So it was true: just as he had imagined the Primordial World, Earth once had an unimaginably brilliant ancient civilization, even more glorious than today's—a true era of Immortals and Demons roaming freely.

It turned out to be just like the Primordial Realm he had shaped—Earth truly had unimaginably brilliant civilizations in ancient times, their splendor even surpassing the present; it was a true era where immortals and demons roamed freely.

Atlantis legends, how the Jin Zita were built, Qin Shi Huang's terracotta warriors…

These mysteries remain unsolved, beyond scientific explanation.

But if ancient times were a brilliant civilization of Immortals and Gods, then everything made sense.

For the transcendent, building Jin Zita and such things would be effortless.

Kamikawa Mitsu recalled the world within the mysterious mist—the world identical to the Chinese mythological depiction of the Underworld and reincarnation. Chinese mythological Underworld and reincarnation were not modern inventions; they had been passed down since ancient times.

The origins of this belief were untraceable, stretching back to an extremely distant age.

Previously, even though he'd noticed that world resembled the Underworld reincarnation, Kamikawa Mitsu dared not be certain—he thought ancient Chinese had merely stumbled into it and passed down the legend.

In the past, even though he had discovered that world resembled the cycles of the netherworld, Kamikawa Mitsu still didn't dare be too certain, only assuming that ancient people of Hua Country had accidentally stumbled into it, and that was how the tales spread.

In ancient times, in China—and very likely across the entire Earth, even the entire universe—there truly had been a civilization of Immortals and Gods, practicing transcendence like other realms.

Thus, they came to know the Underworld reincarnation.

More likely, unlike other worlds, the Underworld realm was not connected to others—or perhaps, forbidden to the living—but on Earth, the Underworld realm may have been linked since ancient times.

That's why Earth had detailed legends of the Underworld and reincarnation, unlike other worlds, which only had fragmented tales of the Underworld and the Other Shore Flower, incomplete and sparse.

Kamikawa Mitsu recalled the six Divine Demons he'd met within the mysterious mist; they told stories of their worlds about the Other Shore Flower, leading him to this conclusion.

In truth, Kamikawa Mitsu had long been puzzled.

Why did every other realm have cultivation and transcendence, yet Earth had none—ordinary, mundane, the sole exception?

The truth was, Earth once had transcendence too—only, for some reason, it vanished.

"Could it be related to that battle in the Yin Soil?" Kamikawa Mitsu pondered.

From the children's conversation mentioning Xiang Yu, the double-pupiled children were almost certainly ancient Chinese.

That Yin Soil had witnessed a brutal war; if Earth was connected to it, it must have been affected—and that would explain why the immortal corpses died there.

"They called Xiang Yu a person of later ages—so their era must predate Xiang Yu."

Kamikawa Mitsu murmured.

Though rare, double-pupiled people were never singular—there were multiple. To identify the immortal corpse's identity, he needed to narrow the range. This information narrowed it: the original owner of the immortal corpse was a double-pupiled person older than Xiang Yu.

Fewer double-pupiled people existed before Xiang Yu—only a handful.

Those with double pupils older than Xiang Yu were far fewer in number—only a handful.

Kamikawa Mitsu fell into thought, repeatedly recalling the children's conversation.

Kamikawa Mitsu fell into thought, pacing back and forth as he repeatedly replayed the conversation with the double-pupiled child in his mind.

Then a scene surfaced in his mind—the undying corpse, with red hair growing all over its body…

This red hair growth—does it have something to do with the double pupils, or is it simply that the undying corpse had been infected by the yin-soil aura for too long and undergone some change?

He had a nagging feeling that the double pupils were connected to the red hair on the undying corpse.

"Xiang Yu." Kamikawa Mitsu murmured the name, then searched for the historical records about Xiang Yu.

Legend has it that Xiang Yu committed suicide by the Wu River.

In the past, learning that Xiang Yu had killed himself at the Wu River wouldn't have struck Kamikawa Mitsu as anything special—he'd have simply thought it was a hero's end, refusing to die on his knees.

But now things were different. Xiang Yu was a double-pupil wielder, and also a powerful cultivator—at the very least, an immortal-demon level being.

For such a being to commit suicide—no matter how he thought about it, it felt absurd.

As for just how absurd?

It was like writing a book and somehow losing money doing it—there was nothing more absurd than that.

But the Big Child had stated clearly that Xiang Yu had slit his own throat.

And for an immortal-demon level being to slit his own throat, it surely wasn't something as simple as a hero's final chapter—there had to be some other reason behind it.

Kamikawa Mitsu recalled the Big Child's master saying that the double pupils were terribly powerful yet he was always sighing, and also his remark that double-pupil wielders all seemed to meet rather miserable ends.

He thought over the double-pupil wielders he knew of from the history of Hua Country.

Not long passed.

Kamikawa Mitsu was surprised—it really did seem to be the case.

……