Chapter 54: An Ending 1

After Lu Mingfei fell into a deep sleep, nothing much actually changed on Water Mirror Peak.

Those who should cultivate went on cultivating, those who should join in the fun kept joining in the fun, those who should drink tea drank tea.

Lu Mingfei had been laid under a tree by a few people, a blanket draped over him, snoring away in deep slumber.

Su Lin stir-fried two small dishes, carried them to the stone table, the sky gradually dimming — time for dinner.

Originally it was just a group lunch, but they had gotten too wild playing with the Dayan Pearl, and now the time had already reached evening.

Fine then — normally he couldn't use it, but at least it was something he'd exchanged for 5000 system points, and now it was shattered like the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls.

The Sacred Jewel of Four Souls could piece itself back together — could the Dayan Pearl do that?

"Sorry, sorry." Lu Mingfei apologized while picking vegetables into his own bowl: "I happened to need a medium, and your pearl has the trait of spatiotemporal interference, and the quality's pretty good, so I made use of it."

"Right, is there any alcohol?"

"Have a couple sips?" Su Lin took out a few bottles of beer and set them on the table.

Han Li wasn't used to the taste of this horse piss, waved it away in refusal, and took out the medicinal wine he had brewed himself; the others each took a bottle.

"At least bring the real thing, what's with the projection?" Lu Mingfei was a bit dissatisfied.

Miss Kelaien curiously looked at the beer in his hand, the cool touch transmitting from his palm — a projection? If he remembered correctly, once he reached Sequence 3 he'd have a similar ability.

"That's enough from you, letting you get a taste is already plenty good!" Su Lin said, annoyed.

Plop—

The bottle cap flew off, and Lu Mingfei picked up the bottle and took a swig.

"Haaah, it's been so many years since I touched this stuff." Lu Mingfei set down the bottle, a touch wistful: "The last time I drank beer was the last time."

"You and your 'last time'." Xiao Yan said, speechless.

"Hahaha, because I can't quite remember how long it's actually been." Lu Mingfei let out a few hearty laughs: "Maybe 790,000 years ago?"

"This kind of old-fashioned drink has been out of print in the Milky Way galaxy for ages."

"Good lord." Su Lin blurted out good lord.

"That pearl business…" Lu Mingfei rubbed his own bird's-nest hair, glancing at his other self sleeping soundly not far away: "Let him pay me back later."

"Anyway, I'm broke right now — no money, and not even a life to give."

"What about all those cultivation manuals, resources, treasures you have?" Su Lin was a bit tempted. According to what this Lu Mingfei had said, all those bizarre Parallel Worlds they had seen were arranged single-handedly by him.

Knock knock knock—

Lu Mingfei knocked on his own head.

"Empty."

"Gave it all to him."

Su Lin glanced at Lu Mingfei with drool at the corner of his mouth, and suddenly felt as if he'd eaten a few lemons: "So after he wakes up he'll just fly straight up to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the sun, Primordial Unrivaled?"

"Don't!" the Lu Mingfei in the white shirt and bird's-nest hair hurriedly waved his hands: "I myself wouldn't dare claim Primordial Unrivaled — with the one next to you here, how would I dare."

Su Lin looked at the calm and composed Ye Fan, and on second thought, that one seemed to be the truly invincible one.

In the blink of an eye, how had everyone just taken off like that.

One second ago, the Dao Palace Sacred Body was bitterly seeking the Four Extremes path.

The next second, above Sacrificial Dao, the past body returned.

Su Lin took out that system contract, and tentatively said to this Lu Mingfei who had lived for a very, very long time:

"How about we have him sign this? The Dayan Pearl debt will be written off."

Ye Fan glanced at the contract, the corner of his mouth curving into a slight smile.

So that thing on this person called Su Lin — it turned out to be walking this path.

Lu Mingfei took the contract, quickly scanned it, and nodded in agreement: "I'll agree on his behalf. When he wakes up, just figure out a way to get him to sign it. If he won't sign, use some methods — I know my own personality, he gets itchy."

"Can I even beat him…" Su Lin said sheepishly: "Seen One-Punch Man? He won't just break his limiter the moment he wakes up, right?"

"Hahaha, burp—! You're overthinking it." Lu Mingfei let out a beer burp, squinted at his other self, a trace of envy in his eyes: "Everything of mine isn't that easy to absorb. If he doesn't cultivate, and there's no external interference, let me think…"

"Mm, probably 1,500 years before he can fully merge with everything of mine."

"In cultivation terms, naturally refining the Dao Fruit would take fifteen hundred years."

Han Li and Su Lin both fell somewhat silent. 1500 years… how long would traditional cultivators like them need to reach that level?

Lu Mingfei explained to the crowd, and after finishing, picked up his bottle toward Ye Fan, who was sitting upright by the lake: "Brother Ye, this bottle's a toast to you — thank you for giving me this chance!"

Glug glug glug

"If you regret it, there's still time." Ye Fan watched the glug-glug-glugging Lu Mingfei and said: "For you to have cultivated to this step was already no easy feat."

Clunk.

Lu Mingfei set down the bottle, the bottle body striking the stone table with a crisp sound.

"Heh, what I did doesn't even count as cultivation." Lu Mingfei showed a self-mocking smile: "My brother gave me all his authority, and I just kept living on the dragon race's near-permanent lifespan."

"Just like he said, I grasped the world's power and authority." A flash of memory crossed Lu Mingfei's eyes — how long ago was that? — but he remembered it clearly: "Everyone was gone… I was the only one enjoying the mansions, villas, champagne, sports cars, the world's top figures all bowing and scraping to me, heh!"

"Simply boring as hell."

"Every weekend I'd hold champagne pool parties like Caesar did, pretty Misses in bikinis surrounding me, trying to please me, desperately trying to tempt me."

Su Lin listened, his eyes going wide.

Miss Kelaien was thinking to himself how much that must have cost.

"But it was utterly boring. A few months later I got sick of it, so I went back to my old hometown and became a shut-in. The one consolation was that Uncle, Aunt, and that little chubby cousin who shared my brother's name were still alive."

"But they were just ordinary people…"

They were too weak to endure the high-concentration dragon blood enhancement, and 200 years later, he was alone again.

The first parting was hard to bear, so he restarted some of the time.

The second time, the third time…

It wasn't until his uncle noticed something was off.

Later, human-made entertainment could no longer keep up with his consumption speed, so he even buried his identity and spent a stretch as a genius esports pro; whatever the game, he could effortlessly reach the top.

"You've seen Sword Art Online, right? They came up with similar tech, and I tossed everything aside again and happily played for about three hundred years." Lu Mingfei described the technology of that era — all you had to do was put on a helmet and lie down, and you'd enter a whole new world.

No matter how delicious, eat too much and you get sick of it.

Having savored everything the world had to offer, Lu Mingfei saw humanity's Mars city construction plan one night and decided to find himself some new fun.

"Learning. Learning makes me happy."

Through the long, long years, he — who possessed an endless life — grew weary of mere material pleasures and began to pursue spiritual fulfillment.

Learning, accumulating, dissecting, evolving.

The knowledge of humans, of hybrids, of dragons — he already stood at the very pinnacle of the world; everything he wanted was laid out before his eyes.

Time was the one thing he lacked least.

And so… a figure stepped out from the front of the era.