Chapter 215: Never Forget the Original Intention

"Fusheng Xuanhuang Xianzun."

"You are the One, and you are the Ten Thousand."

"Fusheng Xuanhuang Xianjun."

"You are the beginning, and you are the end."

Prayers came from his left ear and his right ear, and Su Lin felt as though he had forgotten something.

'Why am I here?'

After a long while, Su Lin finally recalled that he seemed to have used some kind of item and walked into some sort of steel hatch.

'So why did I use an item, and what item did I use?'

Su Lin suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his head, and the voices at his ears grew clearer and more resonant.

"You are the true God who created the universe and all things within it!"

"Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun."

The intense pain made cold sweat stream down Su Lin's face; he felt a strange tearing sensation appear within his mind.

"Stop chanting!!!" Su Lin couldn't bear the pain and clutched his head as he roared, but the voices did not vanish—instead, they burrowed deeper into his mind along with the pain, the ache traveling along his nerves to every corner of his body.

He didn't know how long had passed before Su Lin, clutching his head, swayed unsteadily to his feet from the ground. He was somewhat dazed—what on earth was he doing?

Drip.

A sliver of coolness interrupted Su Lin's thoughts; he touched his nose bridge, and a trace of wetness appeared on his hand.

"Rain?"

He raised his head and looked at the gloomy sky.

"Where am I?"

Drip, drip.

That single drop of rain had been only a prelude; a fine, misty drizzle fell in succession, striking every corner of Su Lin's body. He instinctively tried to use spiritual energy to ward off the raindrops, but found nothing changed.

The pain in his head gradually faded, and Su Lin finally regained some of his wits. Standing in the fine drizzle, he began to examine the changes in himself.

"Have I shrunk?"

What met his eyes was a pair of small, childish hands; he was wearing a blue plaid shirt, and a bright red scarf was tied around his neck.

The scenery around him changed at tremendous speed, one figure after another taking shape, and in the blink of an eye the scene around Su Lin had become an old, worn street.

A yellow-green pedicab rang its bell, urging the bustling crowd ahead, while private cars one after another honked their horns, adding a touch of "irritation" to the already congested road.

On the street, vehicles threading through every gap kicked up a layer of pale, hazy rain-mist, like a veil of ethereal white gauze.

"Oh dear, what a young lad—gone just like that," an old woman with an umbrella walked past Su Lin, leading her granddaughter home from school, her expression hurried.

Su Lin felt as though he had seen this scene before, a strange sense of déjà vu. He walked forward, toward the place where the crowd had gathered, where red and blue lights were flashing.

The rain gradually grew heavier; among the dense, pearl-net-like rain threads, the streets, buildings, and pedestrians were all reduced to somewhat blurred silhouettes.

Before long, Su Lin squeezed into the crowd and saw a chaotic accident scene. A pool of blood was being continuously washed by the rain; beside a mangled bicycle and a sedan with a caved-in hood sat an ambulance, the flashing lights emanating from its roof.

The ambulance's rear door had just been opened, and Su Lin saw nurses and an emergency doctor carrying a stretcher into the vehicle. The stretcher was covered with a white cloth.

"Mama, what happened to that big brother?"

"He died."

"What is dying?"

"It means the person can't move anymore. That big brother has gone to another world."

Su Lin stood to one side, and for no reason at all he felt a wave of suffocation.

Death?

Su Lin suddenly recalled some things—this was a day when he was in elementary school, walking home from school, and he had witnessed an accident.

Death.

This was the first time he had come into contact with the concept of death.

Su Lin felt as though he could not catch his breath; a spiritual pressure acting upon his body made him feel as though he could not get enough air.

I shouldn't be thinking about this, I am a 【Cultivator! #】

Countless sharp, stabbing pains erupted from within his mind, and Su Lin once again felt a tearing, excruciating agony. This time the pain made him faint.

When Su Lin woke again, he was on an old, mottled wooden bed. Groggily, he propped himself up, stared at the cobwebs and roof beams above, and fell silent for a moment.

"So, why am I here?"

Su Lin's nose twitched; he smelled the scent of burning incense and candles in the air.

"Awake now? Go outside and kowtow to your grandpa." The wooden door was pushed open, and the person who entered was his father.

Su Lin's eyes suddenly widened. He walked toward the outside; in the main hall, a grey-white photograph sat on the central wooden table, surrounded by relatives he knew well and those he barely knew, all kneeling.

"Grandpa."

This was the old house at his grandfather's home; it was now the time when he was in middle school, the night his grandfather had passed away. His parents had driven for an entire day to bring him here.

Su Lin felt his heart trembling ceaselessly; beyond grief, there was also a fear, and these emotions, like a tide, drowned him. His body began to twitch involuntarily.

His uncle said from the side, "Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the way of human life—don't take it too hard."

Su Lin turned his head to look at him and asked, "Is there no way?"

"Unless you're an immortal, but even the Daoist Priests on the mountain don't cultivate immortality." His uncle smiled wearily and said, "Go kowtow to your grandpa."

Su Lin felt all strength drain from his body; kneeling on the cushion, his mind went blank.

After finishing the kowtows, he sat on a bench nearby, gazing at the starry sky beyond the courtyard, and recalled the first time he had come into contact with the concept of death. That lingering scene, yet a voice within his heart told him he should not be so uneasy.

That sense of suffocation still lingered around him; Su Lin grew ever more attached to every moment of life, greedily drawing in every second and every minute of being alive, as if only this way could he catch his breath, could he breathe.

"Cultivate immortality. A cultivator."

The stabbing pain came again, but Su Lin was already able to gradually adapt. Enduring the pain, he saw the surrounding scene being engulfed by a wave of data.

This time, it was the familiar campus, the familiar classroom, the familiar evening self-study.

Desks were piled high with textbooks like small mountains; the homeroom teacher on the podium was encouraging everyone to "strive for a hundred days."

Su Lin ignored the homeroom teacher and his desk mate asking where he was going, walking straight to the playground to gaze at the starry sky—he remembered many things: his life stretching endlessly ahead, his transmigration, his system.

"My longing for cultivation stems from transcending worldly constraints, from a free and unbound posture."

"But my desire for cultivation comes from resentment toward an ordinary life, from fear of death."

Su Lin's memories gradually returned—he remembered the Lord's World, the Outer Gods, the One-Time Fusion Evolution Device.

He walked into that 【One-Time Fusion Evolution Device】 carrying those "materials," and then a torrent of green, code-like data streams enveloped his entire body.

Su Lin smiled bitterly as a towering figure appeared in the sky—he used the night sky as his body, contained all the stars within himself, clad in a Star Emperor Robe, crowned with a Star Emperor Crown, his feet spread with starlight, descending from myth into reality amid infinite divine radiance.

He looked exactly like Su Lin, but his face was like eternal, unchanging ice, his eyes devoid of any human emotion—no joy, no anger, no sorrow, no fear, no arrogance—only the unceasing flow of Heavenly Dao's eternal principles.

At that moment, a cold mechanical voice echoed from the sky.

"Respected user, hello. Due to insufficient energy, your ultimate form, matched to your traits, has been changed from a fixed template to a trait-completion fusion evolution scheme."

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but there is no alternative—your composition is too complex, and you are not an Eternal Divine Clan member unable to provide sufficient energy."

"What is currently being displayed to you is the final form achieved by advancing your existing immortal cultivation technique to its peak."

At this moment, Su Lin's memories had fully returned; he looked up and asked:

"So, what exactly were those memory scenes I just saw?"

No. 217 replied:

"To prevent boredom during the loading period for your trait-completion form, we have prepared a 'Remember Your Original Aspiration' memory flashback segment."

"These scenes were originally meant to play inside your mind during ultimate evolution, but due to your excessive complexity, data loading would take too long—so we played them early."

"As for why this segment was designed at all—it's to instill proper moral values in the Eternal Divine Clan's blossoms from childhood."

Su Lin's eyebrows twitched uncontrollably; he immediately interrupted this loquacious AI:

"Enough! So after all this, you've only loaded the first one?"

"No, all have been loaded. Since this is the one most closely related to your core self, it is the final one." No. 217 had barely finished speaking when the surrounding scene vanished rapidly: "Would you like to proceed with fusion evolution?"

"Yes." Su Lin exhaled in relief—thankfully, loading was complete; otherwise, outside, the flowers would have withered long ago while he was still stuck on the progress bar.

The data-formed scene dissolved away; the figure clad in the Star Emperor Robe stepped forward and merged with his body.

A vast stream of information began merging into his soul and every strand of flesh and blood; Su Lin's body began radiating brilliant light.

"Gu Tianwang?!"

This was Gu Tianwang's ultimate form—entirely mimicking the movement of heaven and earth, his body filled with boundless solar radiance from the Six Yang Spirit Sky True Scripture.

Su Lin felt his emotions being suppressed, gradually shifting toward coldness and desirelessness; fortunately, he had already set a timer to undo it.

He closed his eyes and accepted the changes brought by this form.

Meanwhile, No. 217's voice sounded again:

"Fused personal traits: Supreme Authority's Immortal Art, Buddhist-Daoist, and Magic forms."

"Fused item derivatives: Light God King form."

"Fused participants: Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun, God."

"Beginning evolution special effects playback."

"O chosen salaryman, shine with the light of your dreams~"

Su Lin's body slowly rose into the sky; he snapped his eyes open, his eyelids twitching violently: "Who did you just say were the participants?"

"They call themselves Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun, God." No. 217's voice echoed: "This service has concluded. One-Time Guidance-Type Intelligent Unit No. 217 is pleased to have served you."

"Please be sure to give this terminal a perfect five-star review in the Cosmic Union Hall after your experience ends."

"Looking forward to our next meeting. Goodbye."

Su Lin watched several figures floating into the sky beside him; three had faces identical to his own, but two were peculiar.

One wore a semi-transparent dark cloak, face masked with a cold, eerie visage; countless strange light-gates adorned his brow and surroundings, while slimy, sinister tentacles slithered from the cloak, writhing ceaselessly.

The other was composed of pure light—his body radiated blindingly bright, scorching brilliance, within which oceans churned and thunder roared; his face and form were indiscernible—or rather, unseen—but the instant he was seen, all things in the world seemed to appear before the eyes.

They were drawn by an invisible force, floating in midair, locking gazes with Su Lin, all moving together toward the gradually shattering dome of space.

"No. 217, you—" Su Lin had not finished speaking when—*whoosh! *—a colossal beam of light shattered space and pulled him skyward.

————————

The Mother's primordial essence had completely dissolved, transmitted into Zhong Li's body; with partial replenishment of primordial essence, the shadow formed from part of the "First" Creator's will and dominance of aggregation received a tremendous elevation in status.

The earth's roar pierced through the barrier of the Chaos Sea, erupting from the realm of darkness—black rock spears rained down, exuding distorted, destructive crimson radiance.

Each rock spear could annihilate an entire planet's ecosystem; every falling dark celestial star transformed into the most twisted corruption, dragging all into darkness.

The Chaos Sea, embracing all colors, surged in endless waves, swallowing the spears; thunder and storms became an insurmountable fortress, blocking and consuming the corrupted celestial stars.

Occasionally, various calamities formed cages to imprison Zhong Li, but soon he would shatter the seals from within—his mastery of space had not vanished due to the "First's" corruption; instead, it had merged with the Mother's traits.

The universe's yin energy was inexhaustible, replacing Zhong Li's spiritual power; every spell he had ever learned—even those he had not mastered—could be twisted into mutated versions.

"If this continues, I'll have to retreat," Amon pinched the monocle on his right eye socket, shifting the target of a spell to collide with a rock spear.

"His aggregation effect on primordial essence has intensified, and that fake world is about to overwrite the real one."

The false plane created by the High-Dimensional Observer was about to ascend successfully; those present could even see the faces of tragic characters in that world smirking with venomous malice, as if wanting to make their real-world originals feel the same pain.

"Can we just leave the Light God here?" Amon smiled. "That patch of space seems pretty sturdy."

"The only issue is whether he'll have enough power to handle everything after he emerges—those spectators above seem indifferent to this change."

Those terrifying giant faces pressed against the barrier beyond Earth, openly directing their gaze toward the God-Forsaken Land.

Under the High-Dimensional Observer's manipulation, the Chaos Sea's suppression of the plane gradually weakened, while Adam and Miss Kelaien had to divert energy to resist aggregation.

Adam was fine; Miss Kelaien had already lost partial control of the Source Altar—the battlefield now saw forces from the Source Altar opposing the Chaos Sea.

The situation was irrevocably heading toward the First's awakening.

Just then, a long staircase made of pure light shot up into the sky from within the twisted space, accompanied by three-dimensional green data code, as a milky-white beam of light descended from the heavens.

If I don't make up for yesterday's chapter tomorrow, I'm a dog… seriously freaking done… I came back today for my brother's wedding, and I thought I'd be able to write at noon…

Bang bang bang— Red bean paste, sumimasen

(End of chapter)