……
Not just this time.
Reincarnation Ended.
……
There would be next time, and the time after that.
No matter how much effort he made, no matter what methods he tried—whether fleeing or hiding, exhausting every possible means—the final outcome remained the same.
That is, Cheng Ziying would die in her nineteenth year.
Reincarnation Ended.
Not only that, but the reincarnation ratings were the same too.
If he relied solely on cultivation, no matter what, Chen Yan could not advance further in his cultivation level.
The reason was brutally realistic: such was his innate talent.
Reincarnation rating.
Only by improving the reincarnation rating could there be a possibility for him to become stronger.
……
Reincarnation Ended.
This Reincarnation Rating: D (Meaningless sacrifice, over and over again)
Accumulated Cultivation: Qi Circulation Realm peak
Reincarnation Reward: None
Reincarnation settlement complete. Host will return to the previous reincarnation record point, inherit the accumulated cultivation from this reincarnation, and restart life.
……
"Senior Brother Chen."
"......"
"Senior Brother Chen?"
When he opened his eyes again, Chen Yan, leaning against the large tree, looked at the young girl before him with an increasingly resolute gaze.
"Senior Brother Chen, Instructor Lu's scripture lecture..."
"Ziying."
"...Senior Brother Chen?"
Cheng Ziying, suddenly interrupted by Chen Yan, showed a somewhat confused expression.
"Can you stay away from me?"
Chen Yan said in a calm tone.
"Ah, okay..."
Cheng Ziying took two steps back.
"That's not what I meant."
Chen Yan shook his head:
"What I mean is, from now on, can you stay away from me?"
"Ah?"
With a face full of astonishment, Cheng Ziying widened her eyes, like a child at a complete loss:
"What did I do, Senior Brother Chen..."
"Stay away from me."
She opened her mouth again, as if wanting to say something, but no words came out.
The young girl lowered her eyes and brows, making it impossible to see her expression clearly.
"Well, I'll go to the Scripture Hall first, Senior Brother Chen, you should hurry too. If we're any later, there won't be any seats left in the Scripture Hall..."
Cheng Ziying's voice grew softer and softer, then she turned and jogged away.
Only this time, her retreating figure seemed lonelier than ever before.
But Chen Yan had no choice; he could only do this.
Because after so many attempts, Chen Yan had come to clearly understand one fact.
Cheng Ziying would inevitably die in her nineteenth year.
Initially, Chen Yan just wanted to see if he could change Cheng Ziying's fate.
But gradually, he himself became more and more deeply entangled.
He had tried many methods, including following the actions of his first life, and even leaving the sect a month early.
But Cheng Ziying's final outcome was always death.
As if it were fate itself.
As for how exactly to improve the reincarnation rating, Chen Yan hadn't figured out a method yet.
He had also tried to replicate that one reincarnation with a D+ rating, but the final reincarnation rating was still D.
[Since when does the world offer free lunches?]
That was the reincarnation rating from that particular cycle.
He could no longer continue struggling in this five-year quagmire.
This was Chen Yan's rational judgment.
He decided to distance himself from Cheng Ziying for the time being.
Because Chen Yan feared that if Cheng Ziying remained by his side, five years later he would still be unable to resist trying to save her.
Even if he did that, it would all be futile effort.
He needed to find a way to use the reincarnation rewards to make himself stronger.
Perhaps then he could find a method to change Cheng Ziying's fate.
……
Chen Yan had a dream.
He dreamed he was on a completely dark stage, with the audience seats empty.
A spotlight directly in front of him suddenly lit up, and standing in the center of the spotlight was Cheng Ziying at age nineteen.
"Senior Brother Chen..."
The graceful young girl standing before him called out toward Chen Yan's direction, her demeanor as stiff and hollow as a puppet's.
"......"
Subconsciously, Chen Yan took a step toward Cheng Ziying.
The moment his foot landed, Cheng Ziying under the spotlight—her eyes rapidly filled with blood, her head began to turn crimson and swell, and then her entire body suddenly exploded, turning into a mist of blood.
"Senior Brother Chen?"
From behind Chen Yan, Cheng Ziying's light voice sounded again.
Chen Yan turned his head and saw a pale-faced Cheng Ziying with a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth, her pupils gradually dilating and losing focus.
"Senior Brother!"
Turning his head again, what Chen Yan saw was Cheng Ziying running toward him, a dark red blood line appearing on her neck.
As she ran, her head began to slide toward the ground.
"Senior Brother Chen!"
"Senior Brother!"
"Senior Brother?"
"Se...nior Brother"
Cheng Ziying, who had died in various different ways across the reincarnations, appeared before Chen Yan one after another under the spotlight.
Chen Yan's expression gradually turned panicked, and his breathing became rapid.
"Hah!"
Finally, Chen Yan abruptly sat up from his bed, gasping for breath.
Realizing that everything that had just happened was only a dream brought Chen Yan no sense of relief.
Because everything that occurred in the dream had indeed happened in reality.
Chen Yan looked out the window of his room; a cold white full moon hung above the mountain peaks.
There would be no more sleep tonight.
So Chen Yan got up from his bed, put on his outer sect disciple's robe, and walked out the door.
He wanted to clear his mind, solely because the dream he had just experienced left his heart in turmoil.
It was the Hour of Yin; converted to the units from Chen Yan's previous life, the time would be between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Chen Yan walked toward the mountain near the outer sect. He knew there was a pavilion on that mountain—the highest point in the Kongshan Sect's outer sect—from which he could see the entire outer sect spread out below.
Standing in the pavilion, Chen Yan looked down at the outer sect below the mountain. The streets of the outer sect were empty; seeing such a desolate scene inevitably made him feel somewhat desolate in his heart.
Two years had passed.
Now, he and Cheng Ziying were like complete strangers, and Chen Yan had no interest whatsoever in befriending other fellow disciples.
Therefore, throughout these two years, no matter what he did, Chen Yan was always alone.
Just then, Chen Yan suddenly heard light footsteps approaching from behind him.
"Why are you here so late?"
A cool voice sounded, like mint by a stream on a silent summer night.
Chen Yan turned around.
Dressed in white robes, her black hair like ink.
Ethereal and aloof, serene and transcendent from the worldly dust.
Chen Yan's pupils contracted sharply.
Because he had seen her before, several reincarnations ago.
She was the young girl who had appeared at the Training Grounds with the inner sect elder on the day the calamity occurred.
Her words clearly held a degree of wariness toward Chen Yan.
"Couldn't sleep, just came out for some air."
Chen Yan replied:
"But this inner sect senior sister, why are you wandering around the outer sect so late yourself?"
"Are you familiar with the outer sect?"
The aloof young woman in white did not answer Chen Yan's question, instead posing the next one to him.
"Fairly familiar."
Chen Yan replied.
Over a total of more than twenty reincarnations, Chen Yan had lived in the outer sect for hundreds of years.
One could even say that no other disciple or elder in the outer sect was as familiar with its layout as he was.
"Take me to the detention center at the Enforcement Hall."
The young woman in white said.
The detention center, as the name implies, was the place where the sect imprisoned disciples who had committed major offenses, as well as external enemies.
Chen Yan's eyebrow twitched slightly.
He knew where the detention center was, but that was all.
But why would someone want to go to the detention center so late at night?