“Welcome to the fairy tale!” thought Xu Qing as he focused his senses on the world around him. He couldn’t say for sure what the Immortal Paragon’s canon was, but it seemed likely it was something close to what he had been thinking. As for the specifics….

I’ll probably find out more when I get into the immortal capital.

Stowing all of his questions and suspicions, he focused on the mirror ahead. It looked like an ordinary mirror. It wasn’t fancy in any way, nor was there anything special about it. It seemed just like any other mirror you would expect to find in someone’s house in the mortal world.

The thread of black dots just seemed to be feeding endlessly into it. After a black dot entered the mirror, it would disappear. There were absolutely no reflections in the mirror. There was only… pure white.

Is this the exit of the first world?

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment. After considering the situation for a time, he headed straight toward the mirror. He experienced no obstruction, and went in very smoothly.

However… as soon as he entered the mirror, his thoughts trembled. And that was because what he saw in front of him was an endless thread of black dots. He was still in the first world. He had not left it. From the look of it, he had gone back to the beginning.

Up ahead… he saw no mirror, just the thread going on and on. It was the same behind him. There was only one way to find out what was going on. He started moving forward. Eventually, he encountered the freaks. Then he found the mirror again. He entered it. And… went back to the beginning.

It was a cycle. He tried to break the cycle, but was unable to. He went to the mirror and then tried to sink into one of the dots, and enter the mirror that way. He went back to the beginning.

Immortal Lord Aurora must have had space-time canon. It’s the same dao as my own. But his space-time canon works differently. I rely on the five elements merged into space and time. That’s how I produced space-time. I went about it a different way, by producing something from nothing. And that led to further developments and change. In that case… perhaps there’s another way for me to get out of here.

Xu Qing focused his thoughts on the thread.

What if I became one of the black dots? It would be like stepping into a painting instead of just looking at it. Then my thoughts could be part of the world as I experienced everything happening.

Then I would be part of the cycle. I would really be going through it instead of just observing. There are risks, but I could still try it!

After considering the matter for a while, he caused his thoughts to descend until he was inside the thread as one of the countless dots.

He became part of the world. He instantly felt something completely different. Any concept of up or down were peeled away. Any concept of left or right were similarly gone. None of them existed any longer. He quickly forgot about them. It was as if the privilege of going up, down, left, or right had never even existed.

All he could do was follow the tug forward, and send his fate ahead. At the same time, having lost any concept of up, down, left, or right, it was only natural that he lost any sense of height. And thus, he lost the ‘sight’ of his canon.

He was ‘flat.’ The black dots were ‘flat.’ Therefore, his thinking was also ‘flat.’

As a result, he couldn’t see. There was only forward and backward. Those were the only things he could faintly sense. It was a much more limiting sensation than anything from before. All Xu Qing could do now was allow himself to be pulled forward.

Gradually, his thoughts began to grow disorganized. It was as if the power of thought wasn’t permitted. He was slowly being erased and assimilated by the world.

But Xu Qing chose not to resist. He relaxed his thoughts and let everything happen. He just went along with the world. He had no idea how much time passed. Time had long since lost any meaning.

His thoughts gradually scattered as he was pulled along through the endless world. And then, as a black dot, Xu Qing encountered the freaks. However, the order they appeared and the way he perceived them were different.

Using his limited thinking to ‘look’ at the freak, he saw countless circles. They got increasingly smaller, and as they swirled around each other, they almost resembled fingerprints. They seemed to have no beginning and no end, and they completely occupied Xu Qing’s senses going forward and backward.

That was how he sensed them in this lower realm of existence. He wasn’t able to sense anything beyond that. Being in this lower existence meant that he had no way to sense the true appearance of a higher existence. As a result, higher existences imparted the sense of being creators.

It was very shocking. It was so shocking, in fact, that it overturned everything else. Even voices became a source of shattering chaos.

“Run, run….”

The arrival of the voice brought a sense of collapse. In the form of a black dot, Xu Qing passed by this particular freak. It was like traveling through death itself. Some of the black dots were actually peeled away and destroyed, but they were always replaced by other black dots.

Luckily, Xu Qing was never destroyed. Eventually, the destructive voice faded away. He proceeded onward.

Later… he heard crying. This time, he didn’t see anything. But the crying entered his limited thoughts. The crying made him feel like he was melting. Strangely, though, he felt no fear or regret. Without him even realizing it, his emotions had vanished.

So, it’s not fortune. It’s payment and offset.

Xu Qing’s thoughts were weakening. Many of the black dots disappeared within the crying. He proceeded onward.

Eventually, he heard the sound of running water and the frog. That sound caused Xu Qing to lose even more of his perceptions and thoughts. Soon, the only thing left behind was confusion.

In that manner, he went further and further down the path.

***

Xu Qing couldn’t remember what happened after that. His fleeting sensations were the price he paid to proceed. He gradually became increasingly powerless and increasingly tired. Thankfully… even the weakness and exhaustion ceased to exist. And then, finally, he heard a voice.

“Nice death. Nice death….”

The voice came with a power that was impossible to resist, which invaded him and took away his name. Normally speaking, the nameless him should have continued onward toward the distant mirror. He should have entered it and left this world. But the power that took away his name violated procedure and came back.

It emanated an evil aura that became a powerful invasion. And when it landed on him, it sought… to thoroughly erase him! It wanted to completely take away all that remained of his weakened thoughts.

However, in that moment of crisis, when the nameless him was about to disappear completely….

The voice of an old man echoed through space-time.

“Tell me about nightcorpse morning glory…. Kid, you answer.”

When the voice came, time stirred and space rippled. A space-time tempest built up in Xu Qing’s thoughts, rumbling loudly. And it dredged up a name that had long been hidden in his memories.

The Kid!

That name became a support. An anchor!

The Kid’s weak thoughts began to fade away, but then a deafening sound erupted. It was like thunder, cracking loudly, the sounds of heaven. His thoughts once again began to expand. It was like a tsunami.

Next, without even thinking about it, the Kid began to recite some words that he couldn’t ever possibly forget.

“Nightcorpse morning glory, also known as toxic mountain rootmottle, refers to the stalk and root of feverfew veined turtledove chrysanthemums. It is a woody vine-type plant found in ravines of the Corpse Mountains, usually in chilly streams or jungle thickets. It’s astringent but feels warm in the mouth. It also imparts a sensation of decay. It’s particularly useful in protecting against drafts and inducing perspiration. That said, it’s extremely toxic, and is a typical example of the polarity of yin and yang in medicinal plants.” [1]

As the words left his mouth, the Kid’s scattered state began to reverse. The perceptions he had lost began to come back, slowly but surely. Before, he couldn’t ‘see’ at all. But now, his sight was slowly returning!

The old man’s voice continued.

“What are the symptoms of overdose?”

The storm raged inside Xu Qing, and he instinctively said, “Symptoms include stomach pain, dizziness, and hallucinations. If the toxin isn’t counteracted within fifteen minutes, the result is death.”

“How do you counteract the toxin?”

“Induce vomiting and pump the stomach. Then use a combination of egg whites and redthorn stamens, treating the symptoms at noon when the sun is bright. The treatment time should last for no more than an hour, and should continue for three days.”

Xu Qing’s trembling voice seemed to be coming from outside that tent so many years ago.

The old man’s voice contained a smile as he said, “Well done!”

Xu Qing wanted to ‘see’ in that moment, but the pull forward was so strong that all he could do was allow his thoughts to be dragged closer and closer to the mirror. Yet his thoughts were astir. Although the exit was right in front of him, he couldn’t bear to lose this opportunity. He wanted to go back again. He wanted to once again enter space-time canon to ‘see’ the person who had spoken those words.

“Don’t be silly. Remember what I told you…? The world is a tavern for living beings. And the timescape is an old guest. As long as we don’t die, we’ll meet again. By now, you’ve already made something of yourself.”[2]

The voice faded away, and a gentle force appeared, landing on the black dot that was Xu Qing, and pushing him forward. Xu Qing got closer and closer… until he was right about to enter the mirror. At the last moment, he looked back.

Just barely visible outside the mirror was a medicinal decocting pot with a white beard and a faint smile. The smile was very warm and kind. The facial features. The smile. They were like something from a lifetime ago, but at the same time, like something from yesterday.

Scenes. Experiences. Just like the past.

1. Nightcorpse morning glory came up quite a few times in early chapters. The details of the plant, as stated here, were mentioned in three specific chapters, all of which were pivotal chapters. Specifically, they are chapter 25, 207, and 352. ☜

2. These words echo what happened in chapter 29. ☜