Li Jingming seized the opportunity—or rather, he knew precisely what mories he needed to record. His eyes blazed as he looked at Cheng Shi and posed the question he'd been most eager to ask:
"What happened in that trial? And why did Prosperity... fall?"
Cheng Shi had more or less expected this. He chuckled, lips curling upward: "Does that count as two questions?"
"?" Li Jingming considered for a mont, then nodded. "Then consider it two."
'Generous!'
Cheng Shi grinned—brilliantly. This ti, he held nothing back and recounted the trial from start to finish. He only obscured the parts involving the Destined Ones and Big Cat, and attributed the reason for the gods' mass descent to "unknown causes."
"Prosperity went mad and tried to Assimilate Decay. The gods descended to uphold the Convention's justice and imprisoned Prosperity—who then destroyed itself. That's the full sequence of events.
But I didn't witness it personally. My Benefactor told
everything."
"Fate!"
"Correct. My Benefactor. I don't know why I was granted an audience, but he said it was an accident—an accident driven by change."
Li Jingming felt profound shock. He'd already known about Prosperity's fall, but hearing that it had destroyed itself under divine siege stirred a surprising sense of respect.
Yes, respect—he seed to be earnestly appreciating the nature of its "devotion."
Noticing this, Cheng Shi felt the Dragon King's mindset was slightly off. He clicked his tongue and said abruptly:
"Dragon King, aren't you a bit too devout toward mory? The sll of it is practically wafting up my nose. I've t plenty of people, and everyone's devotion has at least a trace of personal desire mixed in. But you're different.
I can sense your devotion, but as for whether that devotion is directed at it..."
Before Cheng Shi could finish, Li Jingming smiled: "You want to know why I walk the path of mory so unwaveringly?"
"Tch. 'Unwaveringly' is a fine word. You've already switched to Deceit's banner—how is that unwavering?"
"..." The Dragon King ignored Cheng Shi's quip and spoke with a hint of gravity: "I simply want to do sothing for this world."
"?" Cheng Shi froze, thinking he'd misheard.
Li Jingming repeated himself and elaborated:
"Life is fragile. Civilizations are brief. Since I was born here and grew up in this era, I naturally want to leave sothing behind before it all passes away.
And recording mories is the best thod I can think of."
"You..." Cheng Shi was dumbfounded. He'd never expected the Dragon King to suddenly get philosophical. But the tone, the expression, the delivery—it all sounded far too genuine.
'Bro—are you serious?'
Li Jingming seed lost in recollection. His voice turned nostalgic:
"I was an orphan from birth—abandoned on the side of a highway. My master found
and brought
back to Cloud Field Temple, where he raised ."
"What temple? Wait—you're actually a Daoist?!" Cheng Shi blinked.
"Naturally. Plenty of your Deceit folks mock
for putting on airs, never realizing this outfit is who I actually am.
Cloud Field Temple was tiny—just my master and .
Yet it was also vast—because the temple held the complete records of every patriarch and ancestor from antiquity to the modern era.
As strange as it sounds, no matter how many tis the land changed rulers and seas turned to fields, the temple's single-line succession remained unbroken to this day.
My daily chores, besides stoking the fire and cooking als, were reading through the lives of those patriarchs—so extraordinary, so ordinary. Perhaps that's where I developed the habit of rembering..."
Cheng Shi had been listening casually at first, but gradually sothing felt off. The Dragon King was... leaving behind his own past.
He was recording others, while simultaneously ensuring others recorded him?
'Interesting idea—but wrong audience.' Cheng Shi pursed his lips and unceremoniously cut him off:
"Enough, enough. Who isn't an orphan these days?
Nothing to sigh about.
And this doesn't count as trade content. I didn't ask—you volunteered. Don't try to sneak it onto the bill."
Li Jingming laughed softly and nodded: "A person's past, present, and future all deserve to be recorded. Cheng Shi—if you ever want to leave sothing behind for this world, my mory can help you."
"I'll pass.
You Existence followers really are cunning—always finding new ways to pull people toward Existence.
We Void walkers are different. This world inherently has no aning."
As the words left his mouth, Cheng Shi silently added: 'Because the person who gave this world aning is no longer here.'
Li Jingming was perceptive. He caught the flash of sorrow in Cheng Shi's eyes, paused briefly, then nodded and dropped the subject.
"Your turn, Cheng Shi. The mories you've provided are extraordinarily valuable, but I should warn you—mory exchange is voluntary, and I won't always be this generous."
"..."
Cheng Shi understood. The Dragon King was telling him he couldn't trade a bunch of small questions for one large answer. Watching the exploit he'd just discovered get "officially patched," Cheng Shi rolled his eyes.
"Fine. But I answered two of your questions, so naturally I get two of my own.
Hmm... let
think. Tell
about them—about Lu Xia and Yu Go."
"?"
"Birth Holy Voice Lu Xia and Vulture King of Decay Yu Go?
Those two have absolutely nothing in common. No connection whatsoever. Why suddenly ask about both?"
'Why?' Because he needed to keep tabs on his allies' leads.
Hu Xuan had taken Zhen Xin to find the so-called Lu Xia. Big Cat had only asked about Yu Go during her conversation with Aph Ros. Both won had their targets, and while Cheng Shi couldn't help directly, he at least needed to know these figures' backgrounds—so he could adapt when new developnts arose.
But he naturally couldn't voice his reasoning. Instead, he deflected with his trademark redirect:
"Is that a new question?"
"..." Li Jingming was montarily stumped. He gave Cheng Shi a strange look, shook his head, and after a mont of reflection began:
"Lu Xia was an orphan born in the Grand Tribunal. As a child, he was taken by a rchant from the Nature Alliance to a tribe that worshipped Birth, where he grew up. When he ca of age, he traveled to the Tower of Logic and beca a key mber of the Church of Life based there."
'Wait—another orphan?'
'No, that's not the point. The point is the Church of Life. This prototype organization—the one that players used as reference when founding the Nature Sect—seems to have produced quite a few notable figures. The Grand Scholar Selius had been a mber too.'
"His childhood mories are untraceable. All I know is that before ascending to godhood, he was a... midwife in Tusnat."
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