While Yu Sheng was lost in thought, Wen Jiu had already made the final preparations beside him.
According to the plan, the next thing they needed to do was set up the first teleportation array. Not long ago, Zhan Xiaotian had already agreed to cooperate, arranging the first teleportation array in the prison of the Immortal Alliance in the human realm and at the border of the spirit realm.
Additionally, they would send a few of the captured individuals back to test it out.
With the overall situation at hand, all personal matters and emotions were temporarily set aside, allowing Yu Sheng to escape from the confusing and subtle atmosphere for a moment.
Yin Wangzhi stood by with his arms crossed, leaning against a tree, looking incredibly bored and almost falling asleep, completely uninterested in participating.
"Let me make it clear first," Yin Wangzhi said without even looking at them, drawing a line, "the ghost realm hasn’t agreed to this matter; don’t count me in."
Zhan Xiaotian was quite dissatisfied, "I see you’re eager to prove you don’t take your master seriously; the ghost realm is secondary."
"Hmph, you can say such things after you really succeed in setting up the teleportation array."
Wen Jiu tossed aside the temporary magical tools used for the array, interrupting their pointless bickering, "Master, we can start now."
"Wait," Yu Sheng raised his hand to signal, his brows slightly furrowed, "let's wait a moment."
Yin Wangzhi's earlier words reminded him that the teleportation array spanning two realms, especially one that connected directly from the border to key areas in both realms, required long-term operation. Its complexity and energy consumption were far greater than those of common teleportation arrays.
Moreover, both ends of the teleportation array needed two guardians to cooperate tacitly, and there was only one way to succeed while there were countless ways to fail.
If one were to use a metaphor, it was like continuously adding more weights to both sides of a balance scale while maintaining balance throughout, without letting it tip to either side. There should be ways to improve the success rate...
One way was to cultivate a tacit understanding between Zhan Xiaotian and Wen Jiu in advance to ensure they could communicate telepathically when the time came.
Yu Sheng’s gaze swept over their faces, as if plotting something, making his two disciples feel a shiver down their spines.
Zhan Xiaotian looked confused, "Master?"
Yu Sheng shook his head; no, cultivating understanding was possible, but starting now felt a bit too late.
The second option was to have reliable people supervise and assist them while they set up the array.
Using the Shuangli Mirror? That seemed feasible, but still not enough. The best way would be to have the same person appear at both ends of the array, ensuring the "balance" of power.
However, Wen Jiu was the most suitable candidate for this role; having him responsible for this as well might backfire. It was better to...
Yu Sheng retracted his gaze and came up with an idea, asking Wen Jiu for the Linglong Snail back.
He needed to ponder over it carefully and prepare.
"You all try it first. If it doesn’t succeed, then come call me," Yu Sheng said, not elaborating further, "I’ll go rest for a while."
In the blink of an eye, the scenery changed, and he found himself back in front of his cave dwelling. As for how the three disciples outside would cooperate and when Zhan Xiaotian would set off to the human realm to prepare the array, that was up to them to figure out.
He believed in their abilities.
Back in the cave, Yu Sheng found his most familiar spot, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and gathered all his focus in his sea of consciousness, opening the system’s points shop to browse.
If he remembered correctly, there should be a magical tool priced just right to exhaust his remaining points, which he could use for this mission.
The system popped up again: "Host, this item is second-hand, with a high probability of bugs and side effects. Are you sure you want to buy it?"
Yu Sheng pointed at his point balance and then at the price of the new item, asking the system, "Come on, let’s do a math problem called ‘compare sizes.’ Little one, quickly see which number is larger?"
System: ...
Fine.
His host had once been wealthy enough to rival a nation but squandered his wealth, using up his points early on by buying too many items that ultimately went unused. Now it was too late to say anything.
The item was a rare magical tool, with a name too long to remember, but it looked special—a large, wide umbrella with a base that could be fixed to any surface. It came with three pills that matched the magical tool.
Yu Sheng first took out the pills, fiddling with them in his hand and inspecting them against the light. No matter how he looked at it, it resembled a semi-transparent glass bead; it had no medicinal scent, and its smoothness and hardness made it difficult to study its composition.
The three pills were white, black, and red. According to the points shop's description, taking a few would yield effects equivalent to the number taken.
System: "Have you decided?"
Yu Sheng: "To be honest, I'm a bit scared."
The pills and magical tool needed to be used together; if successful, he could split himself into several beings in a short time, just like the protagonist once known as the "Walking Deity," transforming from one into three.
The usage of the pills was either to consume all three to become three individuals or just take one to become two, with the attributes of the split part determined by the consumed pill.
Red, white, and black really resembled his three disciples and the realms they governed. The red pill represented the human realm, which would allow him to split into a physical body; the white pill represented the spirit realm, which would split into a spiritual form; and the black pill represented the ghost realm, which would split into a part of the soul.
If the split succeeded, not only would the teleportation array matter be resolved, but the challenges of the mission might also be easily overcome.
Yu Sheng thought, if he could walk the same path as the protagonist, perhaps he would understand them better. At that time, he wouldn’t be as overwhelmed and flustered as he was now.
The system asked him: "What if you fail?"
Yu Sheng: "Both the back of my hand and my palm are flesh."
System: ?
Yu Sheng: "They want me to make a choice, to see which disciple I prefer more, but I can't do it. If I fail, then so be it; if the three realms are completely separated, the only compensation I can offer them is to stay by their side."
If he was the one who caused this situation, then he should be the one responsible for it. Splitting into three people was nothing; why couldn’t he do what the protagonist could do? Whether it was the magical tool or the pills, even if their effectiveness was originally limited in time, once they expired and no living or non-living beings could pass between the three realms, he wouldn’t be able to return to his current state. Letting nature take its course would be fine too.
The system fell silent for a moment. It should be operating at speeds comparable to a supercomputer; it didn’t need such silence to contemplate any problem. Yu Sheng reasonably suspected it had crashed and couldn’t help but call out.
System: "It's fine. I just suddenly feel that everything makes sense again."
Yu Sheng: "Makes sense? Again?"
System: "The kind of master produces the kind of disciple. I previously thought the host was adaptable, easygoing, and laid-back. Normally, a disciple shouldn't be so reckless and lose their character so easily. Now it seems... they truly deserve it."
Yu Sheng was unsure whether it meant he deserved it or if it was referring to the protagonists. It might be a self-deprecating remark, perhaps the system felt it had misjudged people and its data analysis capabilities were too weak, leading to poor performance.
How pitiful.
Unable to help himself, Yu Sheng comforted it: "Before I suddenly died, I stayed cooped up at home for several years, forsaking a bright future and the vibrant world outside. To those around me, that was an extreme and irrational decision."
After saying this, he felt it didn’t really offer any comfort and fell silent.
In his past life, he could give up everything for the sake of solitude and pursuing what he wanted. Even dying didn’t deter him from his ways, so in this life, he could similarly make bold moves for something else, putting everything else on the line again.
Yu Sheng thought that was quite normal and should have been within the system's predictive scope from the start.
Before long, the system came to a realization, stating that since the situation couldn’t get worse and the apocalypse was approaching, the host could do whatever they wanted.
Yu Sheng chuckled, letting his emotions show on his face.
"Master."
As he opened his eyes, the smile lingered, and another person appeared in the room.
It was his eldest disciple, Zhan Xiaotian, who didn’t know when he had entered the shell, now kneeling respectfully on one knee in front of the bed.
Yu Sheng sighed quietly, secretly putting the pills he had in his palm into his space. "What’s happened?"
Zhan Xiaotian lowered his head, "The teleportation array... encountered some issues."
Yu Sheng: "As expected."
Such a result was anticipated; given the current relationship among the three protagonists, let alone their tacit understanding, even basic coordination was doubtful. One moment they might be in sync, and the next, they could easily mess things up.
Seeing Zhan Xiaotian's guilt-ridden expression, he raised his hand and helped him stand up. "It's not your fault. Where are we now?"
Zhan Xiaotian refused to get up, keeping his head lowered as he obediently replied, "We are in the human realm, at the headquarters of the Immortal Alliance."
Yu Sheng reached out and patted the top of his head. "Don’t be afraid; no one will blame you."
"Master."
Yu Sheng continued, "I’ve already found a way. Whether it’s the teleportation array, the prophecy, or the separation of the three realms... everything will be fine."
Zhan Xiaotian finally raised his head, his eyes sparkling as he stared intently at his master. "Disciple doesn’t understand."
"It’s fine that you don’t understand." Yu Sheng chuckled, rising from the bed and helping him up. "Since you’re here, let’s have a few drinks before you go."
Zhan Xiaotian blinked, a smile spreading across his face as he obediently followed Yu Sheng, setting the table, bringing snacks, pouring wine, and then sitting beside him.
Yu Sheng elbowed him. "Sit opposite me; how can you sit beside me to drink?"
Zhan Xiaotian put on an innocent face. "I wanted to sit next to Master, but the table is too wide; I don’t want to sit so far apart."
There was nothing he could do about it.
Zhan Xiaotian added, "Don’t you want to ask about the other two junior brothers? Aren’t you worried they’ll rush in?"
"Do you really think I’m such a fool?" Yu Sheng said helplessly. "Do you both think I'm an idiot?"
"Hehe, I wouldn’t dare." Zhan Xiaotian held the wine glass, sniffing it. "This is that guy’s wine, Drunken Time... Master, I’ve kept them outside; they can’t come in for a while. There’s bound to be conflict when they go out again; won’t you be angry?"
"If being angry were useful, that would be great." Yu Sheng replied nonchalantly, clinking his glass with Zhan Xiaotian's. "It doesn’t matter anymore. You won’t have to worry about such things in the future, and you won’t have to hide things from the three of them, fighting and bickering."
Zhan Xiaotian’s grip on the glass trembled, his body involuntarily tensing up. After Yu Sheng finished the first glass, he tentatively asked, "Master... have you perhaps already made the final decision?"
The final decision? Yu Sheng thought for a moment and realized Zhan Xiaotian had misunderstood, believing his calm demeanor meant he had chosen a favorite among the three disciples and decided where he would spend his retirement in the three realms.
However, while his understanding differed from Zhan Xiaotian's, it was somewhat close. Before taking any action, Yu Sheng didn’t want to reveal or explain his plans prematurely, so he decided to let Zhan Xiaotian misunderstand and simply nodded.
Yu Sheng exhaled a heavy breath of alcohol and replied ambiguously.
"You could say that."
It could be said that he had made a decision; he didn’t want to slight any of his three disciples or make any of them feel wronged.
Whether it was the end of the three realms or the success or failure of the task, he would do his best and leave the outcome to fate. If in the end, everything couldn’t be salvaged, then so be it; if they couldn’t come together, then they couldn’t. At worst, he would split alongside these disciples.
He refused to believe that even if he divided himself into three parts and risked his life for his disciples, they wouldn’t be able to settle down.
As they continued to drink, suddenly, his hand holding the wine glass was grasped tightly, both the hand and the cup fixed in place, unable to move.
"Master, you’re drinking too quickly."
Comments