Alone!

Su Xiaobai let out a long breath. The Emperor's words were steeped in longing and awe, the memory seared into his soul. He could almost picture the scene: the rain, the violence, the girl's beautiful gaze.

"Sure," Su Xiaobai muttered, rubbing his temples. "Let's ignore the red flags in that story. What could possibly go wrong with chaining yourself to someone who greets you with a dagger?"

Still, as he read further, even Su Xiaobai couldn't deny the Emperor's devotion.

____

"She was no ordinary girl. Yue'er told me that she was dying, a cruel disease had already begun to devour her vitality, consuming her slowly, painfully, from within. It had left her wandering the world, seeking a cure she knew she would never find. How could someone so fierce, so young, be condemned to such a fate?"

"I could not accept it. I bound her with chains at first to keep her by my side—she hated me for it, fought me every step of the way. But over time, we fought side by side. I vowed to find a cure for her as we conquered the North together, and then the South. Together, we united lands, defeated warlords, and brought peace to realms that had known nothing but chaos. Together, we forged the White Jade Sword, and I stole the strings from the heavens themselves to craft the Heavenly Bow as my gift to her. We were unstoppable. I believed, with all the arrogance of a young Emperor, that we could conquer even death itself."

____

Su Xiaobai's fingers tightened around the scroll. The White Jade Sword. The Heavenly Bow.

Artifacts whispered about in the legends of the northern plains, which no longer exist in the world, could be relics potentially dating back hundreds of millions of years.

He blinked, glancing up at the coffin and the embryo above it. A bitter laugh escaped his lips. "So, let me get this straight. While I'm stuck here trying to find a way home, I've stumbled onto the love story of the century—complete with star-crossed lovers, legendary weapons, and a whole lot of unresolved trauma. Yeah, thanks for that."

But the humor couldn't fully mask the pang in his chest.

He read on, compelled by the Emperor's desperation.

_____

"We built the 'Lost City', a monument to our victories, and within it, the 'Heaven's Library', a place where the knowledge of the world could be preserved. But all the knowledge, all the power we had amassed—none of it could save her. As the days passed, I watched helplessly as her vibrant spirit withered. The disease came back fiercer than ever, draining her vitality at a terrifying pace. I... I was powerless to stop it."

"Yue'er, always the stronger of us, made me promise to live on after her. To ascend alone if I must. Even as her strength faded, she smiled at me, telling me to look at the stars and not mourn her. But how could I? How could I live on, knowing the only person I ever loved was taken from me? I vowed that day... I would never let her go. I wouldn't abandon her, not to the cruel hands of fate, not to the heavens."

_____

Su Xiaobai let out a low whistle. "Now that's dedication. Crazy, obsessive, self-destructive dedication, but dedication nonetheless."

The image of Tian Yu, a mighty Emperor brought to his knees by love, flickered vividly in his mind. For all his flaws, the man had been willing to defy heaven itself to keep his promise.

It was foolish.

And yet, Su Xiaobai found it… inspiring. In a twisted, hopeless sort of way.

_____

"I sealed her body in the Fate-Deceiving Coffin, a relic that even the gods themselves would covet. It preserved her, kept her beauty and essence intact, hidden from the prying eyes of the death. But it wasn't enough. It was never enough. I needed to bring her back."

____

Su Xiaobai's eyes flicked to the coffin in the chamber before him. It pulsed faintly, as if responding to the words in the scroll.

He felt a shiver crawl up his spine.

"Nope," he muttered. "Not creepy at all. Definitely not about to bite me in the ass later."

And yet, he kept reading.

_____

"I searched for centuries, no longer an Emperor but a grieving man chasing shadows, until I found mention of the 'Immortal Fetus', a legendary creation said to be born in places rich with qi. To consume it was to gain the strength of a genius who appears once in a million years. I became obsessed. I believed—no, I knew—that if I could create one artificially, I could use it to bring her back to life."

"For this, I built the Soul Refining Array, a monstrous thing that feeds on the souls of those who wander into this cave, lured by rumors of treasure. I became the monster I once swore to destroy. For thousands of years, I harvested the souls of the foolish, all to fuel the creation of this Immortal Fetus. And yet, I failed. Again and again, I failed."

_____

Su Xiaobai exhaled sharply.

He closed his eyes, letting Tian Yu's words sink in.

So he was right. It had been a trap from the very beginning—everything orchestrated to fuel this immortal fetus that was meant to heal Yue'er?

_____

"Now, even as I write this, I feel it—the Immortal Fetus has begun to devour me as well. The very thing I created to save Yue'er is draining my vitality. My body weakens. My life slips away, just as hers did. The irony of it... I cannot help but laugh bitterly."

"Please. If anyone finds this, I beg you—use the Immortal Fetus to bring her back. If you delay too long, the Fetus will mature into an Immortal Embryo, and it will bring nothing but calamity. But if you act quickly, you can still save her. You must save her. I have failed her, but perhaps... perhaps someone else can succeed where I could not."

_____

The scroll ended abruptly, the final words trailing off as if the Emperor's strength had finally given out.

Su Xiaobai stared at the crumpled parchment in his hands, the silence of the chamber pressing down on him like a suffocating fog.

The sadness of centuries, of grief and failure, seemed to seep from the walls, curling into his thoughts.

"This isn't a trial ground," he muttered finally, his voice hoarse. He glanced at the coffin, the embryo pulsing faintly above it. "This is a tomb. And I'm the latest idiot to stumble into it, thinking I'd get a prize."

His laugh came out hollow, echoing through the cavern. Somewhere in this cursed mess was the treasure he needed to escape—the key to going home.

The reason he'd pushed himself through trap after trap.

But how could he even begin to understand the legacy of an obsession so destructive it had defied heaven itself? A love that had devoured souls, shattered dreams, and consumed a man who once ruled the stars?

Su Xiaobai clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. The desperation that had driven Tian Yu wasn't unfamiliar—it mirrored his own.

"Why…" He exhaled shakily, glaring at the embryo, the coffin, the very aura around him. "Why can't you just give me the treasure and stop playing with me?"

The faint pulse of the embryo offered no answer.

His temples throbbed as frustration and exhaustion flooded him. His entire body felt heavy, as if the universe itself was bearing down on him. He closed his eyes, trying to make sense of the chaos, but the same thought kept surfacing.

Wasn't this entire cave meant for him to get the Spatial Treasure?

Wasn't someone up there planning all this, guiding him toward the next step, like in every other trial he'd faced?

The question burned at the back of his mind, sharp and painful.

"..."

His legs buckled without warning, and he sank to the ground.

Thud.

For a moment, he simply sat there, staring at the floor. The cold stone bit into his skin, but he didn't care. A bitter laugh escaped his lips as a thought, unbidden, crashed into his mind.

"Am I not… the main character?" he whispered.

The words tasted foreign, wrong, like poison on his tongue. But once spoken, they refused to fade.

His eyes widened as the doubt took root, spreading like wildfire through his thoughts. Was he really the center of this grand, cosmic stage?

Or had he just fooled himself into thinking so?

Wasn't it strange? The trials, the dangers, the supposed "help" from the higher-ups—why had he always assumed they cared about him?

Why had he believed, even for a second, that the plot had his survival in mind?

"What if I was never the focus of this story?" he murmured, his voice trembling. His gaze drifted upward, to the shadows of the cavern's ceiling. "What if… no one's even watching?"

The silence offered no comfort, no reassurance.

His mind shook as memories hit him like tidal waves. The Fairy Lianhua. The bizarre coincidences. The narrow escapes. Could those really have been planned?

Or were they just… accidents?

— Flukes of a story that didn't even include him in its pages?

"Is no one there anymore…?"