CHAPTER 777: CHAPTER 002: THE PLAIN LADY, WEAVER STAR

In the hospital room, the smell of disinfectant was strong.

The warm air blown from the air conditioner couldn’t bring the slightest sense of warmth.

Through the window beside the hospital bed, Jiang Ningxin could see the bare branches outside and the silver icicles hanging from them.

The cold between heaven and earth was incredibly biting, and so were people’s hearts.

"The brainwave activity is becoming more frequent; he must be about to awaken... After awakening, will he fully recover? Or will he still be the fool from before?"

Jiang Ningxin couldn’t help but think this.

Since the last time Lin Qianqian learned of Lin Yuxi’s identity, she had visited Lee Sha in the hospital. After that, she never came back here, nor did she keep in touch with Jiang Ningxin.

The good sisterly affection seemed to have abruptly ceased.

Then, as a sophomore, she transferred schools, completely leaving this city.

Jiang Ningxin did not ask why.

She knew everyone has their own difficulties.

She also knew every large family had their countless reasons and motives.

But these were not what she liked.

For three years, she had used up all her savings, barely managing to cover Lee Sha Zhou Yan’s medical care expenses. Fortunately, Lee Sha was about to recover—perhaps he would wake up any day now.

So, even in her busiest days, she insisted on visiting daily.

The first time she came here, she thought the hospital’s landscaping was done very well, very beautifully. But after getting used to it over the years, a familiar place held no scenery anymore.

...

Heavy.

An immensely heavy feeling, as if oppressive enough to make one unable to breathe.

Zhou Yan returned to his physical body, but it was as if he had donned a mountainous shackle, rendering him immobile, even lacking the strength to move a finger.

The realm of his soul’s Sword Void Nine Changes was still present, not regressing in the slightest, but the suppression of the Tai Chu Rune in this realm was terrifyingly formidable!

Here, Zhou Yan’s soul power was suppressed to the point where not even a billionth of his strength could be manifested.

Yet even so, Zhou Yan’s soul power still emitted strands of Soul Path Vast Qi, utilizing the Nirvana Rebirth Technique, little by little transforming his body to better unify it with his soul.

After a long while, Zhou Yan’s soul power trembled with exhaustion, his body barely adjusting from its debilitated state, and time, surprisingly, had consumed more than two hours.

"The people here naturally possess Three Souls and Seven Spirits, but the local Sealing is so powerful that the Three Souls and Seven Spirits cannot escape the physical shackles. Once they leave, one would likely lose all life potential, and within three to five days, death would undoubtedly follow."

"This is an era of degeneration, but humanity has been brainwashed by technology, forsaking their own cultivation, invaded by it."

"Such an Ancestor Land, yet it couldn’t escape the clutches of the Mechanical Clan."

"The scenes in my memory, they are all ancient buildings. When I left, this city didn’t have so many skyscrapers. But upon my return, I saw vast stretches of towering buildings, devoid of any familiarity."

"This world, humans live such sorrowful lives."

"My journey of Ancestor Worship doesn’t belong in this bustling Red Dust, but in those ancient lands of our ancestors, where I’ll explore celebrated mountains and rivers, head west on the Asking Dao, perceive the Heavenly Heart, gather Qi Fortune, and unite the Xuanyuan Sword Soul."

"Coming to this planet, all at once, I understood so much."

"Just, where is my brother? Once I’m accustomed to the integration with my physical body and have opened the Soul Sea within it, I’ll be able to use the Soul Path Vast Qi to sense this realm and locate my brother’s traces."

Thinking over these issues, Zhou Yan slowly opened his eyes.

His physical eyes were ordinary, light-sensitive.

The world they revealed was mundane, lacking the hospital’s pervasive aura of death and resentment, devoid of the ashes and dirt between heaven and earth.

"You’re awake? Feeling better? I brought one of your favorite ancient books, ’Su Nu Pian,’ which I found at a street stall."

A delicate girl in a pink down jacket, holding a thin faux-antique book with the characters "Su Nu Pian" prominently written in clerical script, offered it.

Zhou Yan looked at the woman before him, who wasn’t beautiful but could only be described as delicate, her body emanating a faint hint of spiritual energy yet surrounded by a heavy aura of death.

Her bodily functions were poor, and although she naturally possessed the Three Souls and Seven Spirits, they seemed nailed down within her physical body, like all other humans, devoid of further opportunities.

Looking at this woman, Zhou Yan’s inherent memories gradually surged like a tidal wave—the twenty-three years of time, every detail, were all recalled.

Zhou Yan’s gaze shifted from momentary vacancy to clarity, complexity, surprise, indifference, and finally, it became like a stagnant pool.

"I... in this life, am I named ’Lee Ran’? Is my identity that of my brother? Lee Yi died at the age of three?"

"I’m Lee Ran? Driven away by the family, my mother remarried Zhou Wen? He was a professor of history? He has died? My mother Lin Yuxi also died?"

"What exactly is going on? Brother... what is he hiding? Or... is all this an illusion? No, my Soul Path Vast Qi is still usable, even if this world has powerful Sealing, I can still fly and escape the earth... This proves that everything from the Sword Burial Ancestor Star and beyond is real, so what about what my brother said?"

Zhou Yan’s heart was filled with endless confusion, seeming to know some things, yet upon arriving on Earth, he still did not know.