[When the stars fall and all things come to an end, the return to the void descends, countless worlds step into death, and the Principle of All Things withers.]
Bai Yi clearly knew this was a dream.
He plunged into that boundless dark sea, yet surprisingly felt no suffocation. Instead, he opened his eyes with ease, seeing countless star fragments in the deep sea converging towards his direction.
Each star fragment emitted a faint glow, illuminating the pitch-black ocean with countless specks of light.
He saw flashes of images within the star fragments. They were traces of the lives and deaths of countless beings from innumerable worlds. Even as the worlds returned to the void, remnants of their original existence lingered.
There were sky-piercing towers connecting earth and heaven, where mages invited far-traveled guests to marvel at magical miracles. They studied, researched, and held gatherings in these towers, while ordinary people lived and worked outside, providing endless resources for the construction of tower after tower. Magical items and research findings from the towers, in turn, influenced the lives of common folk…
There was a vast desert continent where extreme surface conditions precluded the survival of living beings. Thriving underground kingdoms developed beneath the continent. In underground tunnels stretching in all directions, steam trains whistled, giving birth to a unique technological civilization system of the underworld…
There was a prosperous dynasty ruling over vast territories, where top generals could single-handedly face thousands of troops, and scholarly advisors could calculate astrology and fate with a wave of their fans. The emperor carried the fortune of the nation; in times of prosperity, all evil retreated, and those with ill intentions could not approach. In times of national downfall, when all people under heaven shared their grievances, even the ruler of a nation could not escape death…
There were demons commanding the world, where all manner of sinister and strange occurrences were rampant. Great demons divided up states and prefectures, establishing demonic dynasties and nations, nurturing an alternative form of civilization…
There were fairy godmothers’ pumpkin carriages traversing the sky, bestowing blessings upon all who harbored good intentions. Elven songs spread across the continent through the wanderings of bards…There were dark skeletons covering the netherworld, with armies of the undead crawling out of the sea of bones to roam the endless territories…
He saw the pinnacle of civilizations flourishing in countless worlds, with all beings walking along their respective paths of destiny.
Then came the descent of the void, and everything stepped into destruction and death.
The mages’ towers broke from the sky, underground kingdoms were annihilated by plagues and floods, countless demons disintegrated into dust under an eerie sunlight, elven songs turned into the most terrifying curses, and the undead armies were devoured by nothingness in the instant the netherworld shattered…
Death, death, death, destruction, destruction, destruction…
Bai Yi witnessed the death and destruction of endless worlds.
“Is that the returning to the void…” This thought flashed through his mind, and he seemed to face the terror brought by the word “void” for the first time.
He seemed to see stars falling in the cosmic sea, with fragments of broken stars carrying the resentment of all beings’ deaths in a world, plunging into the deepest part of the nightmare, turning into a nightmare within a nightmare.
The lingering obsessions of the dead were still re-enacting their destinies from life in the nightmare, completely unaware of the truth of their death.
Immortal techniques, magic, martial arts… The withering Principles of All Things from each world evolved in the illusory nightmare. Even though they had become illusory paths, they were the only remaining roots and imprints of those worlds.
[The death of all beings does not mean the death of a world, and the destruction of a world does not mean eternal sinking. Only when the Principle of All Things of a world withers away completely, without a trace left, can the world be said to have disappeared from its roots, with no chance of reappearance.]
[As long as the Principle of All Things has not disappeared, the world is not considered completely dead, and there is still a possibility of reappearing in the river of time.]
[Even though returning to the void is the inevitable fate of every world, the inevitable end of this cosmic sea, under the laws of heaven, there is always a glimmer of hope. When countless worlds are destroyed, this only world that has not yet entered the void carries the hope from innumerable worlds, giving birth to the sole thread of life.]
[This is hope born from the deepest despair. It is the desire for life from countless dead beings across countless worlds. It is the final power and blessing transmitted by the innumerable dead worlds as their Principles of All Things wither away completely.]
[Over thirty years ago, in this sole surviving world, there was an ordinary little girl who, due to her extraordinary spiritual sensitivity, heard in her sleep the pleas and desires from countless worlds. She seemed to empathize with the consciousness of innumerable worlds, seeing the shining figures in those worlds embark on their destined paths, witnessing countless worlds from prosperity to destruction… Solitary since childhood, she gradually blurred the line between reality and dreams, regarding every world she saw and every shining person in those worlds as her friends.]
[The countless dead worlds seemed to foretell the fate of this world – that one day, it too would face destruction and death.]
[She wanted to save her friends, and also save this world that created her.]
[For this, she made a decision.]
[She would become the nurturer of hope.]
Countless star fragments bloomed in the deep sea. Bai Yi emerged from the depths, and the lone star suspended in the sky seemed to respond, shining infinite radiance upon his face.
[Special Reality Task Triggered: Bearer of Destiny]
[As the convergence of blessings and hopes from countless dead worlds, shaped by the final roots of each world, born as the last chance of life in the only surviving world…]
[You are the absolute hope carrying the fate of infinite worlds.]
[— You are the born savior of this world.]
[Please carry on with destiny.]
[— Save this last remaining world, and awaken the withered Principles of All Things of infinite worlds, giving each dead world a chance to reappear in the river of time.]
[Current Progress: Awakened the Principle of All Things of one world, and developed a brand new martial arts system.]
The star in the sky radiated brilliantly. Bathed in starlight, Bai Yi seemed to see a world at the pinnacle of prosperity, with immortal cultivators riding swords through the sky, and celestial cranes drifting among clouds… It was the world that should have progressed from low-level martial arts and spiritual energy revival to the flourishing of immortal cultivation.
— The arrival of the returning to the void destroyed everything. All the dead beings repeated their obsessions in nightmares.
Until Bai Yi entered the obsession of someone who was once the world’s number one, and changed the nightmare according to their wishes, instead creating a brand new martial arts system. When he recreated martial arts on Blue Star, the supposedly withered Principle of All Things of that world was awakened in the new world, gaining new life from death.
In the radiance of the star, countless figures flickered, practicing sword techniques, palm techniques, fist techniques, and blade techniques. It seemed as if myriad spirits and beings were demonstrating the ultimate martial arts in Bai Yi’s mind. This was the naturally formed image of the awakened Principle of All Things, the essence of the entire martial arts system.
At this moment, Bai Yi had fully comprehended the essence of the entire path, standing at the pinnacle of the martial arts system.
He opened his eyes again.
Everything in the dream receded like a tide.
The deep sea, starlight, and the remnants of countless worlds trapped in nightmares all dissipated like illusions.
The morning light gently fell through the window, and unknown birds flew by, creating imperceptible ripples that spread through the air like water waves. Everything within hundreds of meters was as clear in Bai Yi’s perception as if seen with his own eyes.
He rose from the bed and clenched his fist. A powerful sensation spread from his arm all the way to his heart. Even the sound of blood rushing through his veins sounded like roaring rivers in his ears, filled with an incredible vitality.
He spread his palm against the sunlight streaming in. His slender fingers were purer than jade. The light shone through the gaps between his fingers onto the youth’s pitch-black eyes, like illuminating a calm, deep sea. It made Bai Yi’s inhuman qualities even more apparent.
Even the Rhythm of All Things talent on his status panel had unknowingly evolved, with its awakening reaching 50%.
“It seems I’ve… transcended again?” he thought.
“Meow~” A soft voice interrupted Bai Yi’s contemplation. He concealed his aura, dispersing all his inhuman qualities, and tilted his head to look at the “culprit” who had disrupted his thoughts.
A jet-black cat crouched on the windowsill, looking down at him.
It had rained heavily the night before. This free-spirited cat, who made the old town its “home,” had gently tapped on the windowsill during the downpour. When Bai Yi opened the window wide in invitation, it had sought shelter in his home.
Likely due to long-term feeding of exotic cuisine, its fur was now soft and fluffy, its eyes like gemstones – bright and intelligent, gleaming with a wisdom not found in other animals.
The cat, having developed sentience, clearly knew the source of all this. Without any feline pride, it let out a soft meow and gracefully leapt from the windowsill into Bai Yi’s arms, affectionately rubbing its head against him. “Meow~”
Bai Yi reached out and gently stroked the black cat’s soft fur.
The cat offered no resistance, its meows becoming even softer, sounding almost like it was coquettishly acting spoiled. Bai Yi couldn’t help but smile.
“Are you planning to make me your permanent meal ticket?” he asked.
“Meow~”
“You’re quite the little clever one, aren’t you?”
He carried the cat as he walked out, speaking as he went.
“Since you’ve accepted my domestication, I don’t think I’ve given you a name yet, have I? What should I call you? Hope? … Bai Xiaoxi?”
“Meow meow~”
The youth’s amused voice intertwined with the cat’s meows in the apartment.
“…You’ve witnessed the birth of hope firsthand, after all.”
“What birth of hope?” On the ground floor of the apartment, Xia Jiajia, who had just returned from her morning exercise, looked up to see the young man coming down the stairs with a black cat in his arms. She asked curiously.
“Why, this cat, of course!” Bai Yi smiled, lifting the black cat high and waving its paw at Xia Jiajia. “Let me introduce you – this is our hope kitty, Bai Xiaoxi.”
Xia Jiajia’s eyes immediately lit up with stars as she hurried over to admire the cat. No one could resist a cute cat, no one!
Although the cat’s appearance had changed dramatically, differing greatly from before, Xia Jiajia still recognized it. After all, in this neighborhood where stray cats and dogs kept their distance, the only cat that wandered about freely was hard to miss.
After observing for a while, Xia Jiajia had a sudden realization. “I was wondering why it looked cleaner and prettier each time I saw it recently. So it was because you adopted it, Bai Yi.”
Xia Jiajia wanted to reach out and pet the cat, but the feline, which had been so well-behaved in Bai Yi’s arms, coldly and mercilessly rejected her. She lowered her hand dejectedly, her eyes full of envy as she looked at Bai Yi. But after a moment’s thought, she came to terms with it.
This stray cat had been wandering this neighborhood for a long time, and she had seen it many times, but only Bai Yi had chosen to adopt it…
“Bai Xiaoxi? Does it mean ‘hope’? That’s such a special name. Being able to meet you and be adopted by you, maybe in its heart, you really are the embodiment of hope,” she mused.
TN:
Bai 白- white, same 白 in ‘Bai Yi”
Xiao 小-small
Xi 希-hope
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