Well… shit. That’s fucking sad. Since I have only experienced the actual tear-jerker scene and not the entire thing, my emotional connections with the characters have not been built up enough. Honestly, if Wei Song was the main character and the author was trying to get the readers to cry or be emotional, then they should’ve started somewhere else. Therefore, these aren’t tears… there just, a ninja… cutting onions…

Haah… While I did cry, if this situation was described in a novel, I probably wouldn’t cry. Maybe I would have some tears in my eyes, but that’s all. Experiencing it in reality cannot be compared to reading words off a page. Damn, I really need to fix my emotions. I’ve entered a world where the weak are food for the strong. Any weakness in my heart needs to be immediately expelled, or else the price for my weakness will be my life.

The scene faded away, the last thing to be seen was Wei Song holding his family in his arms as he cried. Now, there was nothing but the vast expanse of darkness before me. I have no choice but to wait, as I still can’t move my body. Slowly, a feeling of heat spreads through my body. As if I was hanging, my body suddenly falls, and on instinct, I move my arms. The… “floor” wasn’t that far below me, so I landed fine. I moved my fingers a bit, making sure I had control of my body again.

In front of me, a warm, red wisp of fire flickered to life. I stared at it. It seemed to be a simple fire, a torchlight, to be exact. However, it slowly grew bigger, and more intense. It whipped around, swayed by an invisible wind. It grew and grew, until it became as tall as a mountain. From my position, I should be feeling an intense amount of heat from it, but in fact, I felt slightly cold. As the fire grew, it eventually stopped. Suddenly, it split in two, both of which began to immediately shrink.

One fire shrunk until it became nothing more than a spark, then went out. When that happened, it felt as though someone had punched me right in the heart. I held my chest and staggered back, but my feet were suddenly encased in ice, and were unable to move. It didn’t grow, so I just waited. It was impossible to escape anyway. I turned my attention to the other flame, which had shrunk at a slower pace than the other flame. Instead of disappearing, it turned blue and stopped shrinking. It wasn’t as cold as before; instead of a chilling cold that pierced one’s bones, it felt as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on me.

Then, the fire got stronger, once again becoming as tall as a mountain, before shrinking once more, at an even slower pace than before. It began to change color once more, this time to an even darker blue, before repeating the process once more. This went on for many times. From blue, it became indigo, then purple, then, quite suddenly, to white, then to green… After that, I lost track. With each change in flame color, the cold it emitted became warmer and warmer. When the flame reached a golden color, it was warm, no trace of cold could be felt from it. However, this golden flame could only grow, and not shrink.

The flame began to come together, forming into the shape of a phoenix. The flame stayed like that for a while, before vanishing from existence. While I had no idea what the hell was going on, I felt as though I knew what was happening. It was like rereading an old book you haven’t read in many years. It was certain that I had never seen this in my previous life, so what could this be?

As I was thinking, a comfortable heat spread from my chest. It spread through my body, melting the ice holding my feet. The ice did not turn into water, but turned the darkness around me a sky blue. I looked below me, and saw clouds being pushed by the wind. I looked around me, and saw wisps of clouds that were hardly held together. I looked above me and saw the stars. I had never really seen them before. Not like this. It was surprising that looking up at the sky could be so stunning. A clear sky like never before. A world out there filled with bright lights.

I remember watching something which had a scene like this. The calm, quiet night sky, filled with stars aplenty, shining their light unto the world below. It’s beautiful. A sound entered my ears, breaking me out of my stupor. I turned my head to look at it, only for my face to go pale. It’s a fucking airplane coming right at me!

“AAAAAAAHHH!” I scream, knowing that if I were to get hit, it wouldn’t feel good.

I try flailing my arms, but I could hardly move my body. I close my eyes as the plane approaches, but it passes harmlessly by. I open my eyes slowly, and let out a breath of relief after seeing it passed by. So, this is probably Earth, seeing as how there’s an airplane.

Hmm… No, not Earth, but probably an illusion based on my memories? Yeah, that’s probably it. I continue looking up at the starry sky, before noticing something wrong.

“Are the stars… vanishing?”

I look closely. Yes, one by one, the stars wink out of existence. It was slow at first, but it began to get faster and faster. A cold fear crept into my hear. Although it probably wouldn’t kill me, it’s certainly scary. All I can do is wait, as the darkness that approaches washes over me.

…

…

…

“To replace my world with your own, you are quite talented, junior.” A voice echoes in the darkness.

Huh?

“Wei Song? The Phoenix?” I ask.

“Yes, that is me.”

“Then… this is some sort of shard of your divine will or something talking to me right now?”

“Ho? You are quite perceptive, junior. This is indeed a shard of my divine will.”

“You overpraise me, senior. I’ve simply read a lot of novels.”

“Novels? Do people write novels about their journey through cultivation these days?”

“No, they’re all fiction. None of the events in the book are real, it’s only that the cultivation type novels also describe cliches like this.”

“???”

“Senior, if I may be so rude, what might you want from me?”

“Ah, right. I do indeed have something I wish to pass onto you.”

A glowing ball of fire came to life in front of me. Somehow having regain control of my body, I reached out for it. Upon touching it, a rush of information filled my head, causing me a splitting headache. Though it was information giving, it wasn’t like the system, which spoke words one at a time, this was like all the entire lecture was spoken all at once, while I understood the entire thing.

“This is my one of my personal techniques, Everlasting Flame. Your cultivation method is something I have never seen before, but I can tell that it would allow you to reach the basic level of requirement to join my Phoenix clan. When you awake, you will find a jade token before you. You may use that to join my clan. As your strength increase, I will pass more techniques onto you.”

“Senior, does this mean...”

“Yes, you shall inherit my legacy.”

“Then, senior, who were those three-eyed giants that your Phoenix clan fought?”

“Them? Do not concern yourself with them, they have already been destroyed by my Phoenix clan.”

“Senior, that’s a flag.”

“A flag?”

“Yes, if a flag is raised, then that means a certain event will happen. The flag you raised was the “exterminated enemies are not dead” flag. This means that, because you said those words, there are certain to be at least one three-eyed giant that will still be alive. Moreover, there are sure to attempt to block my path.”

“I’m sure why you are so convinced that there is still some Gigants alive, but fine, I will listen to your request. Gigants are known for their outstanding physical strength, and although their speed in understanding the Dao is slower than normal, they still prove a threat to any normal cultivator on the same level.”

“So they’re the ones with just brute strength… Senior, are they easy to manipulate, or do they just hate other races?”

“Hmm… While most of the Gigants have a low level of intelligence, a few members of their race will occasionally have intelligence that rivals that of humans. I can assume you are asking this to see why they attacked our Phoenix race?”

“Yes. It is with this information that I can hope to find a weakness.”

“It amazes me how assured of their existence you are. Well, the Phoenixes and Gigants had built up countless grudges over many trillions of years, a war was inevitable. The Gigants were the ones to initiate the war, so you can assume that they were manipulated into doing this even though they had lacked the proper strength to exterminate our Phoenix race.”

“Thank you senior.”

“It is of no problem. With my techniques, may you ascend to immortality and find my Phoenix race’s home world. Remember, use that jade token to gain entry.”

“Of course, senior.”

“Then, goodbye for now.”

The voice fades away, and the darkness world around me begins to fill with light. In the real world, I open my eyes, the Phoenix blood having merged with my blood. I clench my fist, already feeling a far more powerful physical strength then I had before. I break into a grin. Receiving a legacy of a Phoenix, how wonderful is that?

“Hahahahaha!” I laugh aloud, greatly pleased with my gains.