Chapter 777 - 543: The Reborn
The setting sun is like blood, casting its glow on the mottled desk, reflected upon a calendar.
Zhang Baiduan sits at the desk, his youthful features still apparent, a clean school uniform accentuating the steadiness and wistfulness in his eyes.
Within this thirteen-year-old middle school student’s body lies a soul tempered by the frost and turmoil of five hundred years of chaotic times.
He reaches out with trembling hands, brushing over the clear numbers on the calendar.
So familiar, yet so distant!
"This is... five hundred years ago!"
"I... have been reborn!"
The tumultuous scenes of five hundred years of chaos surge into his mind, vivid as if yesterday.
Suffering, struggle, despair, rising...
"Changes among the stars, the Mecha Catastrophe, the shattering of Earth Star, ancient immortals of foreign realms..."
He murmurs inwardly, each word weighed with endless sighs.
"Truly, it was disaster upon disaster, heaven collapsing, earth shattering!"
"In my past life, I wandered in that chaotic world, narrowly escaping death multiple times, while friends and family all perished..."
"Only I survived each cataclysm to live until my longevity was exhausted..."
He slowly closes his eyes, taking a deep breath to quell the waves in his heart.
"But now, none of it has happened yet."
He opens his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing within like a sword:
"The Celestial Emperor of Blood Sun is still just a common Mecha Master at this time, yet to show his brilliance, seemingly still studying quietly at the Federation Mecha Academy."
With this thought, the light in his eyes blazes even brighter, musing inwardly:
"This is precisely the moment when chaos is yet to unfold, and opportunities lie hidden—are there any great opportunities I can seize ahead of time?"
His brow furrows slightly, as his mind swiftly reviews the long river of memories spanning five hundred years, seeking out hidden opportunities of this era.
But after a long contemplation, he slowly shakes his head, a hint of loss flashing across his eyes.
This moment is too calm, so calm it’s almost lifeless, offering no grand opportunities to change fate or defy destiny.
To be precise, before the arrival of the Changes among the Stars and the upheaval of heaven and earth’s Qi, this world had only one true grand opportunity—the Star God.
"Later revelations revealed that the Celestial Emperor of Blood Sun managed to break free and rise against the odds after the Mecha Catastrophe because he obtained the legacy of a Star God."
"But such an opportunity is incredibly perilous, and now I am just a normal person—completely beyond my reach."
The Star God is an opportunity, but also a calamity!
Reflecting on his past life, a complex expression flickers in Zhang Bai’s eyes.
Though he endured the collapse during the Changes among the Stars, the brutal Mecha Catastrophe, the displacement from Earth Star’s shattering, and the invasion of ancient immortals from other realms, he also happened to catch the tide of the era.
After the Celestial Emperor of Blood Sun’s Transmission, he practiced diligently step by step, ultimately achieving the Golden Core, not too high nor too low, yet able to enjoy a lifespan of five hundred years.
"But now, the passage between worlds has yet to be established, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is depleted, and the path of the Blood Immortal is currently impassable, even with a legacy, there’s no way to cultivate."
"Alas, I have come too early!"
"Even the next tier of opportunities won’t appear for another seven or eight years, utterly out of reach at this moment."
"Moreover, I’m still just a middle school student, making it inconvenient to act."
Zhang Bai shakes his head, flipping his fingers, and taking out a pen from the desk drawer, spreading a sheet of letter paper, the pen nib landing as he meticulously combs through the major events over the next five hundred years according to his five-century memory timeline.
He silently organizes the hidden opportunities amid chaos, the fallen legends, the rising powers.
What he writes isn’t ordinary text, but encrypted runes he created through countless life-and-death experiences in later years.
Even if outsiders saw it, they would dismiss it as childish scribbles, unable to decipher its secrets in the slightest, only he could understand each character and hidden passage.
The pen’s tip swiftly dances across the paper, leaving ink marks concentrated at the tip.
While writing, writing, his pen suddenly pauses, his brows unfurling, eyes abruptly lighting up with a brilliant glow:
"Mecha Dawn!"
He suddenly slaps the desk:
"Right! Mecha Masterpiece!"
"He symbolizes the epitome of late bloomers!"
"Amid the Mecha Catastrophe, he single-handedly bore the last glory of the era’s mecha, hailed as the ’Mecha Masterpiece’!"
"It’s said he paved a new path."
Speaking of this legendary figure, Zhang Bai feels some admiration:
"It’s a pity this legendary Mecha Master, like a brief bloom, mysteriously perished at his peak, leaving no complete legacy."
"Subsequent generations of Mecha Masters lamented, holding endless imaginations."
The simple reason for not recalling this legendary figure first—there were simply too many legends in later years!
Throughout the illustrious five hundred years of chaos, heroes emerged and strong powers rose like clouds.
One Emperor!
Ten Kings!
A hundred rulers!
Each shook the ancient, each rose against fate with legendary tales, each filled with stirring stories.
In such a dazzling era, each figure sang their part before the next took the stage, each commanding their time’s elegance.
And Mecha Dawn Jiang Ming, who rose in the old era and fell at the dawn of chaos, was ultimately overshadowed by the later stars.
Were it not for Zhang Bai himself being a firsthand witness of chaos, having heard that legendary tale firsthand, this hero of the old era might have truly been forgotten amid history’s dust.
Zhang Bai raises his hand, the light in his eyes growing increasingly firm, his heart making a decisive resolution:
"It is now the year 3216 A.D., Jiang Ming should currently only be a Martial Arts Master, seemingly teaching and guiding the young in a small city’s martial hall."