Chapter 1: Always Moving Forward (Please bookmark and follow)

[Do you want to return to the beginning and change everything?]

It was the turn of autumn and winter, and the cold was biting.

In the dilapidated City God Temple, Lu Shaoheng couldn't help but hunch her shoulders against the howling wind, doing her best to wrap the straw mat around herself.

Just as she was enduring the hunger in her belly, she suddenly heard this voice.

A divine voice that could not be distinguished as male or female, nor could one tell if it held joy or aversion.

"What are you?"

The voice did not ring in her ears, but reached directly into the depths of her heart. Lu Shaoheng immediately retorted.

[You need not concern yourself with that; you only need to know one thing.]

[Life is like a play, and you are destined to be Jiang Yunjiang’s foil, an eternal clown. But you now have the choice to return to the past and turn the tides.]

[Return to the beginning, and you can offer everything to Jiang Yunjiang in exchange for a decent future. Or, you can plot anew and compete once more.]

These two sentences made Lu Shaoheng’s face darken, her fists clenching tight.

"What do you know?"

It continued, speaking to itself.

[You were born into the illustrious Pingnan Marquis Mansion of the Great Yan Dynasty. For fourteen years, your parents doted on you, and your elder brother and younger brother treated you like a treasure. But a clown is a clown after all; ever since your parents adopted Jiang Yunjiang, the orphan of a close friend, you began to have everything taken from you. The friends you held dear, the affection of your kin, your reputation throughout the capital... all drifted away from you. You have even been driven out of the Marquis Mansion, reduced to this state of destitution.]

[How pitiful.]

Though the divine voice lacked emotion, the end of its words was dripping with acidity, like fine needles piercing ruthlessly into an open wound.

Lu Shaoheng trembled all over, unsure if it was from the cold or from irritation.

But she did not reply.

[Since you cannot defeat Jiang Yunjiang, why not return to the beginning and fight for a glimmer of hope? You have already lost everything, yet you dare not take a gamble? Are you truly so cowardly?]

Lu Shaoheng took a deep breath, a cold sneer appearing on her face.

"Are you... provoking me?"

The voice in her mind fell silent.

Lu Shaoheng did not say another word, her expression returning to calm.

About half a quarter of an hour later, it seemed as if something major had happened in Bianjing City. Even from the remote City God Temple, Lu Shaoheng could hear a vague, bustling clamor of voices.

Her heart settled.

"There are cultivators in this world. The three great dynasties of today—Great Yan, Great Xia, and Great Liang—are nothing but dust in the mortal realm before them."

"It is rumored that there are hundreds of immortal sects, but only forty-nine are considered the elite: the thirteen sects of the Upper Qian and the thirty-six schools of the Lower Kun. Each sect only sends disciples to what cultivators call the 'mortal realm' once every twenty years."

"The reason Bianjing City is so lively right now is because it happens to be the turn for the immortal sects to come and recruit disciples."

Lu Shaoheng stood up and walked toward the temple entrance.

"I don't need to return to the past; this is the opportunity we have been waiting for!"

[Giving up the chance to return to the past—will you not regret it?]

[Everything was taken from you, yet now you have the chance to change it all and turn the tides. Starting over, you would possess an absolute advantage.]

Lu Shaoheng did not pause, retorting sharply.

"How laughable. Things aren't going well now, so it seems as if starting over would make everything go smoothly. But I would still be the same Lu Shaoheng."

"Go back to the past to be a dog for Jiang Yunjiang? That is entirely unnecessary!"

"And besides, I never regret anything, so why would I need to start over?"

She stepped over the withered, scattered straw and broken wooden blocks on the ground, and once she exited the City God Temple, she looked up.

Her eyesight had been stronger than an ordinary person's since birth. Looking toward the center of Bianjing City, she could see the thick haze in the high clouds dispersing.

Lu Shaoheng had never seen such a scene.

Spirit boats of various colors, long swords, silk ribbons, and precious gourds hung in the air... Men and women dressed in the robes of immortal disciples rode upon them, each one possessing an elegant demeanor and the appearance of a deity.

They looked down from above, surveying the crowded masses.

The slightest movement of their brows or eyes was enough to make the mortals below tremble, stirring up endless speculation and anxiety.

But by what right?

One mouth, two eyes—everyone clearly possessed the same human form.

Lu Shaoheng switched from walking to running, charging toward the center of Bianjing with all her might.

Hunger left her body weak, yet every step she took was steady.

"I don't know what you are, but clearly, you are not omniscient or omnipotent. You made one critical mistake: I will never lose everything."

Lu Shaoheng stared at the sect cultivators in the clouds.

Watching them act with arrogance.

Watching them hold themselves high above.

Watching them use their immortality to look down upon the dust.

Her eyes were brilliantly bright!

She felt her heart pounding, her whole body heating up.

Lu Shaoheng sprinted forward, and that divine voice sounded in her heart once more.

[You think cultivation can change everything? It’s useless. Let me tell you, Jiang Yunjiang was born with innate supernatural powers. Her aptitude is superior, her fortune is flourishing, and she will obtain all sorts of miraculous encounters and opportunities.]

[How will you compete with her?]

The reappearance of this voice confirmed her previous hypothesis.

Lu Shaoheng looked ahead, where there was nothing.

"To be honest, I have already experienced enough of the strangeness surrounding Jiang Yunjiang. If those things don't disappear, returning to the past is useless."

"And what I find most strange now is you."

She stopped to catch her breath, gasping heavily.

"If a person were to truly be reborn, even a tiny change—like the flapping of a butterfly's wings—would stir up massive waves for those around them, spreading and snowballing until it grew larger and larger. Creating a new future is, in a sense, creating a new world."

"And you, possessing such power, every word you say reveals that you 'really want me to return to the past,' yet you actually have to ask for my consent? Therefore, you must be under some kind of restriction."

Lu Shaoheng was never a puppet to be toyed with.

"I can reasonably assume that returning to the past requires a price. At the same time, willingness is another manifestation of desire; I have no doubt that you must want to gain something from me!"

"So, the price of returning to the past would be borne by 'me,' and it would also allow you to benefit."

"Am I right?"

No voice answered.

But silence was also an answer.

The mockery on Lu Shaoheng's face faded. She looked disheveled, but she still held her chin high, just as arrogant as she had been for the past dozen years.

"And let me tell you, even if I set aside the weighing of pros and cons, even if time could truly flow backward, I, Shaoheng, live my life without regrets, always moving forward!"

"Pop."

Lu Shaoheng heard a sound of something shattering.

And when the divine voice appeared again, it sounded as if two different tones were interwoven and overlapped.

"I wish you to always move forward."

Lu Shaoheng raised her eyebrows. The next moment, she felt as if something had been added to her body.

The most powerful proof was that she had been exhausted from hunger, but now she felt much more comfortable, and her strength had returned in full.

"This divine voice—the change before and after is truly huge. At first, it provoked me, wanting me to return to the past, but the meaning of that last sentence seems to suggest it is happy to see my choice..."

"What on earth is it?"

Lu Shaoheng could not figure out the mystery, but she never made things difficult for herself, and her furrowed brows smoothed out.

Now was not the time to stand still, hesitating and pondering.

She ran toward the center of Bianjing City.

The immortal sect recruitment, held once every twenty years, was right before her eyes!