Chapter 119: For Every Me That Falls, Thousands More Shall Rise

"An afterlife?" She sneered. "I haven't lived enough in this life, and you're talking about an afterlife! Jabbering away, so noisy—I can't even get a decent sleep."

The many versions of herself watching the scene seemed stunned, as if they hadn't expected her to emerge.

The clouds shifted gradually, resembling a blurred human face trying to squeeze through. "Diviner, is it? I've memorized your name. In the next life, I will ruin you!"

On the ground, the Diviner smiled, the lingering bitterness in his heart seemingly released. Soon after, he closed his eyes and passed away completely.

"You—how did you return?"

"I told you, you're all fools. I proposed the method myself; do you really think I wouldn't leave a backup?" She looked at that version of herself with mockery. Time seemed to hit a pause button. "Fool, since you love making decisions for me so much, why don't you help me test a new method?"

"You, what do you want us to do..."

"You primordial gods are really something." She let out a breath. "You can't even rest in peace after death. I’m just a baby, and babies don't understand anything. How could I possibly command you to do anything?"

"We... are also you from the past..."

"Then tell me, were you as troublesome as I am now when you were me? Delusional!" After saying this, she left, and the clouds returned to their chaotic state, as if she had never been there at all.

Darkness continued to spread. Soon, this space felt as if it had sunk into the divine realm beneath the sea, and not a single sound could be heard.

When the light reappeared, she found the Diviner again. "Is the matter settled?"

"Wait a little longer. The Monk under the Moon says he wants to watch his two disciples grow into adulthood, and the matter of the Demon race has always been the straw that broke his back."

"Then I will go and speak to him myself."

"Very well."

She left in such a hurry that she failed to see the mocking smirk lingering on the Diviner's lips. "Grandmaster, why are your personalities so drastically different?"

"The fake can never become the real."

She sipped the tea the Diviner had served. "You are quite clever, actually capturing the world's turning point through her and preserving all the memories from the past. I truly underestimated the juniors of this world."

"Then, Grandmaster, must you still become a demon?"

"Is being a demon supposed to be fun?" Wen Jinge toyed with half a longevity tablet, sitting with her legs crossed in a cavalier manner, looking nothing like a deity. "Fate—is that sort of thing really changeable?"

"This junior does not know."

"Then let us see if this newly accepted disciple of yours can change it!" She didn't seem to care whether she would remember this encounter. "The version of me in this timeline should be in another realm. The tea is drunk, the wine is finished; you decide who to give this tablet to. If I have to let you kill me again, I fear you will die carrying these memories before I can even make my move."

"Is it that serious?" The Diviner felt a lingering fear.

"Who do you think you are killing?" She sneered. "That is the Heavenly Dao!"

"The... the Heavenly Dao?"

"To confront the Heavenly Dao with a mortal body is something even the gods of the past could not achieve. I'm giving you a hint because I like you: The Heavenly Dao can only be countered by the Heavenly Dao."

"The Heavenly Dao can only be countered by the Heavenly Dao?"

"Yes." She stood up and looked at the Xuan Yun Sect behind her. "Two hundred years. We shall meet again in two hundred years."

"Then, if she enters the demonic path, should I kill her or not?"

"If she doesn't enter the demonic path, can't you force her to?"

The Diviner felt a wave of shame.

"Don't have any psychological burden. There were tens of thousands of 'me' who cried and begged me to intervene at my palace doors! Dying once is nothing; there are millions more." She said dismissively, her figure flickering and vanishing from his sight.

This was why the Diviner trusted that she was his true Grandmaster—not just because of the memories of his past life, but because of the way they departed. One came and went as she pleased, while the other required him to help her commit suicide.

To kill the same person a hundred times, only for her to come back in the near future to assign you another task—you can imagine how soul-crushing that is.

As for the Grandmaster he recognized in this life, she mostly came to drink tea, admire flowers, and enjoy the scenery, only rarely offering guidance on his cultivation. Naturally, the place both held in his heart became quite distinct.

"Why! Why! Why must you treat me this way?" She looked at them. "I... I once wanted to be a qualified Xuan master. Since you all want to see me become a demon, then, I shall perform it for you."

"Grandmaster, should we kill her?" The Diviner touched his forehead; just a moment ago, he had almost blurted out "kill you."

"Let's watch." She closed her eyes and looked up at the sky, but there was nothing there. "It's too quiet."

"It's not quiet! They are fighting fiercely down there. By the way, Master, I am considered dead in their eyes, so I cannot act personally. May I have someone else do it?"

"Who?" Her disciple, a sword-blank just like me, should be able to succeed.

She fell silent. Her head began to swim, and she felt unsteady on her feet. A vague sense of unease settled in her heart, yet no anomalies appeared in the sky.

"Is there anything unusual?"

"No, Grandmaster. Wen Jinge has been captured alive by the disciple."

"Captured alive?" She looked at the events unfolding in the distance in disbelief. Wen Jinge had indeed been captured alive, and along with her, many other demon lords. "How is that possible? A mortal?"

"No, I was once a mortal, too. The two swords in his hands—

One is Gouchen, forged from Fusang wood, a substance of extreme Yang. It originally belonged to Wen Jinge; it is a case of the sword spirit abandoning its master, a stab in the back.

The other is the broken sword transformed from that jade tablet, named 'Lingering Regret.'

For the current Wen Jinge, these two swords are immensely powerful. It is a miracle she isn't dead yet."

"Fool!" She flicked her sleeves and left. "It had to be you! Why give the opportunity to others?"

"Grandmaster..." The Diviner smiled with a hint of bitterness.

Did I misunderstand?

The Heavenly Dao can only be countered by the Heavenly Dao?

But Grandmaster warned me that I must not be the one to strike that blow!

Heavenly Dao, Heavenly Dao... Is that thing in the Monk under the Moon's head that forces him to complete tasks an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao?

Is that why this—no, why this group of fake Grandmasters was fighting over it?

The Diviner looked at the sky. This time, the Grandmaster did not appear; she did not seem to care about the outcome.

"Heavenly Dao, what if the thing in the Monk under the Moon's head were moved into the head of the Grandmaster who is destined to be his disciple in the future?"

"Achoo!" Wen Jinge sneezed.

Everything around her was pitch black, much like the dream she had earlier.

She tried to roll over, only to find the space was quite cramped. She tapped the walls around her, generally confirming that this was likely a coffin.

"My head is still attached, so I haven't gone back, have I? Am I being buried alive? No, no, I wouldn't be buried alive; it should have been cremation."

"To hell with the Heavenly Dao, the brain-damaged, the Monk under the Moon, the Diviner, the Grandmaster, and the Ancestor! All of you, go to hell!" She formed a hand seal. "Mani Mani Hum! Overturning the mountains and the seas!"