Chapter 78

Chapter 78

“My name is Li Daotian, a cultivator hidden in the mortal world. From a young age, I realized I was different. While other kids my age were still engrossed in cartoons, I was already crouching under the overpass near my home, blending in seamlessly with a group of fortune tellers, giving people readings without any sense of incongruity.”

“...Unfortunately, I always ended up being sent to the police station as a suspected kidnapped child, receiving ideological education to break away from feudal superstitions.”

“My parents blamed my grandfather for this. They always felt that this former fortune teller had a bad influence on me. They also constantly suspected that my mind was inherently abnormal.”

“But in fact, this had nothing to do with my grandfather.”

“Being out of place among ordinary people was something I was born with.”

“When I was too young, lacking common sense, I didn’t know why I felt so out of place with others. It wasn’t until I came across the concept of ‘immortals’ that I had an epiphany—”

“—Those immortals in legends who descended to the mortal world to experience hardships must be referring to me! Cultivating to become an immortal is my destiny! I, who am destined to ascend, am inherently different from mortals!”

“How foolish of me to have wasted ten years before this, living a boring life among mortals.”

“I was determined to make up for the wasted time with double effort. I began cultivation with 120% dedication, wholeheartedly striving for my destined immortality!”

“Regrettably, I couldn’t recall any cultivation techniques.”

“It seemed this was an inevitable trial of my mortal experience. Before starting cultivation, I had to create a suitable technique for myself.”

“After spending two months using my library card to read all Taoist scriptures, my exasperated parents sent me to a mental hospital, not only confiscating my books but also depriving me of personal freedom.”

“...The path to immortality was indeed full of twists and turns. Had tribulations descended just as I set foot on the great path?”

“—Damn it, I won’t give up!”

“—Becoming an immortal is a task that goes against the natural order, and I’m prepared for it.”

“As long as I’m alive and can think, I can continue to organize the theories in my mind and create cultivation techniques. However, this tribulation had a significant impact on me. Inner demons took advantage of the situation, causing me to unknowingly stray from the right path in my mental confusion, all while believing I was walking the correct path of the great Dao.”

“During lunchtime, I ecstatically jumped onto a chair in the cafeteria and enthusiastically announced my cultivation system to everyone. Whether they were doctors or patients, I was happy to share my theories with everyone, hoping to gain more fellow cultivators.”

“—But I didn’t know that these were all errors that had strayed from the right path. The tribulation of inner demons was truly terrifying!”

“Fortunately, someone pointed out my mistakes on the spot.”

“—She was a forerunner walking on the correct great path. She became a spiritual mentor I would never forget in this lifetime.”

“—Although she didn’t acknowledge it.”

“She didn’t teach me any cultivation techniques, but she vividly described the scenes of the immortal realm before me: the diverse immortals and gods, the flowing spiritual qi, the extraordinary flowers and herbs that emitted wondrous light when nourished by spiritual qi... It was as if she had truly seen the legendary immortal realm with her own eyes. And I believed her.”

“—If I was an immortal who had descended to experience mortal tribulations, who said there couldn’t be a second one? This must be a reincarnated goddess even more powerful than me, who hadn’t lost all her memories!”

“Through the goddess’s authentic descriptions, I corrected many errors in my own theories and became more confident in treading the great path.”

“Indeed, blessings often come disguised as misfortunes. Although losing freedom was a great tribulation and disaster, it was accompanied by an even greater opportunity!”

“The place where the goddess resided was not a place of disaster, but a place of fortune.”

“I declared that the mental hospital was my home, we were all family, and when I cultivated and ascended in the future, I would take everyone with me, even the chickens and dogs!”

The sky was clear, and sunlight flowed like thick, sweet honey across the windowsill to the table.

The neutral pen that had just finished the last stroke was gently set down. In the sketchbook, a Q-version chibi character wearing a cape made from a white bedsheet made an excessively dramatic declaration to a circle of chibi characters in patient gowns surrounding him.

A hand casually closed the sketchbook.

Bai Yi looked up at the person opposite him, who was also the protagonist of the comic.

“Your mother was indeed the guide on my path of cultivation!”

Rustle... rustle rustle...

[As the spiritual tide surged, the “Martial Realm” that descended along with Hanguang’s master Pei Hefeng materialized with the input of massive nightmare crystals, randomly grabbing a batch of lucky viewers into it.]

[As a reward for changing the direction of an entire world’s progress, the martial world that had evolved to its peak was the scene template carried by the man without a path, Pei Hefeng himself.]

[In that prosperous martial world, dynasties had long been eliminated, replaced by top sects and powerful individuals dividing different territories. Towering above countless martial geniuses, the creator of this glorious era, Hanguang’s master Pei Hefeng, owned the twelve central cities of the world, which was his “Martial Realm”.]

[The scene template “Martial Realm” materialized by consuming a large number of nightmare crystals, combined with the massive collective consciousness absorbed by the “Web of Thoughts”, was enough to vividly and flexibly simulate one non-existent false character after another within it. It made every missing person who stumbled into it treat it as a real existence.]

[—As if they had really crossed through time and space to a glorious martial world. Or perhaps they had entered a time-space rift in the mist, arriving at a secluded paradise.]

[This vivid world and those lifelike people would not let anyone doubt that this was a fictional fabrication.]

[—When they naturally accept this setting and develop curiosity and desire to explore this glorious martial world, it’s time to guide them to discover the truth step by step.]

[After all, secrets discovered through great efforts and facts witnessed firsthand are always easier for people to believe than stories fabricated out of thin air by others, right?]

The pitch-black notebook flickered with an extraordinary light imperceptible to the naked eye. This was because after multiple instances of “what was written down came true” and the condensation of legendary status, it had begun to transform into something extraordinary, starting to give birth to extraordinary power.

Perhaps in some distant future, this notebook would truly acquire the characteristic of “whatever is written becomes reality”?

For now, this notebook that had just birthed a bit of extraordinary spirit could only automatically record some events that had already occurred—the greater the causal connection between an event and the notebook’s owner, the more likely it was to be automatically recorded by the notebook.

For instance, the disappearances into the fog area that Bai Yi had a hand in orchestrating.

In the faint extraordinary spiritual light, the words on the page seemed to emit light as well. A hand gently brushed over the writing, finally resting on a passage that had appeared not long ago—

[...Li Fufeng and his companion, who accidentally fell into the fog area while searching for missing persons and traversed to a strange world, gained the appreciation of the city lord of Daliang City with their knowledge and learning.]

[They thus settled down in Daliang City.]

[As time flew by, three years passed. The two investigators from the Special Case Investigation Team unknowingly became accustomed to this world, even reaching a decent level in martial arts cultivation.]

[Through various channels, they had gathered 71 “transmigrators” in Daliang City. Among them were missing persons from the five domains, as well as investigators sent by various countries initially. More transmigrators were scattered in other cities. And in places unknown to them, quite a few transmigrators had died in dangerous situations.]

[Some were executed for breaking the law, some were casually killed for offending the powerful, some died from accidents during exploration, some were inexplicably killed by beasts or bandits in the wilderness...]

This “Puppet Master’s Diary”, which had already birthed an extraordinary spiritual light, continued to reveal new writing. It said—

[—But these people do not deserve sympathy.]

[—Even on Blue Star, they were nothing but scum, garbage polluting the environment.]

[Their deaths seemed diverse, full of accidents and coincidences. But the entire Martial Realm, and the beings within it, were nothing but fabrications in the creator’s hands. Everyone was under the creator’s watch. Therefore, there were no accidental deaths. All who died were necessarily in accordance with the creator’s will.]

[They were just garbage that needed to be cleared away.]

After spouting a segment of over-the-top praise with chuunibyou values off the charts, this diary that had started to become strange seemed to return to normal—

[...Unaware of all this, the transmigrators seemed to have become accustomed to life in the Martial Realm. The elites among them had even climbed to relatively high positions in various cities, or become trusted individuals beside important figures.]

[At this time, a mysterious summons was sent to the twelve cities, and transmigrators with wide information networks all learned of the news.]

[—This summons came from the legendary capital.]

[—It might touch upon the deepest secrets of this world.]

[—Perhaps it was the opportunity for them to return home.]

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