Chapter 784 - 732: Six Paths! (1)
At this moment, the middle-aged man was struggling. He was desperately searching for a way to return to the Cangqiong Continent, as he saw no hope for his pursuits here. However, the Lord of Prison Suppressing had now suddenly appeared before him, which shook his previous conviction.
On one hand, there was returning to the Cangqiong Continent. On the other, there was following the Lord of Prison Suppressing to find the legendary shortcut. Amid his conflicting emotions, he desired both! That was why he was now staring so intently into Qin Fan’s eyes, hoping to see some kind of reaction to the mention of the Cangqiong Continent.
Unfortunately, he was disappointed. Not only did Qin Fan’s eyes show no sign of being moved by the words "return to the Cangqiong Continent," but on the contrary, they held a mocking smile. He even shook his head and chuckled, "Haha!"
"What are you laughing at?" the middle-aged man asked, his expression tensing in astonishment.
"I’m laughing at how amusing you are!" Qin Fan replied with a laugh.
Amusing? The middle-aged man froze upon hearing this, clearly taken by surprise at the response. Before he could react to his astonishment, Qin Fan continued, "You, an Independent Immortal, can’t find the way back, yet you come looking for me? Do you expect me to take you back? Sorry, I don’t have that kind of power!"
"Then how did you get here from there?" the middle-aged man grew tense. Qin Fan had been his last glimmer of hope, but this admission of powerlessness seemed to shatter the hope that was already on the verge of collapsing in his heart. If his hope of returning to the Cangqiong Continent was gone, what other choice did he have? Search for the Heavenly Mechanism Path in this mortal world? What a joke!
"If I told you I was struck dead by the Ascension Heavenly Tribulation and was somehow reborn here, would you believe me?" Qin Fan said earnestly, casting a sidelong glance. He had been holding these words in for a long time, and it had been agonizing. He could never speak of this to anyone. But now, with someone of his own kind—someone with a similar experience—standing before him, he no longer had to hold back.
"Ascension Heavenly Tribulation? But your Cultivation is only at the Golden Core stage! How is that possible!" The middle-aged man’s eyes widened as he exclaimed in utter shock. In the short time he had known Qin Fan, he had lost his composure more times than in the past five hundred years combined.
"How should I know! I thought I was going to be obliterated, but I never expected the thieving Heavens to grant me a second chance at life! Heh!" Qin Fan shrugged and said with a casual smile. Even knowing he was facing an Independent Immortal, he felt no pressure at all. He had been uneasy before, when he was unsure of the man’s Cultivation, but now, that feeling had vanished like smoke into thin air. This was because the other party didn’t dare kill him, nor did he dare harbor even a hint of murderous intent!
Hearing Qin Fan’s reply, the middle-aged man’s brow furrowed tightly, his expression turning somewhat terrifying. Struck by the Heavenly Tribulation and sent to this plane? Was such an explanation far-fetched? Logically, it did seem quite contrived. Yet, the middle-aged man had no grounds to question it. After all, he had also arrived here in a state of confusion, passing through a Barrier he had mistaken for an opportunity for Ascension, only to step into another world entirely. Compared to his own experience, Qin Fan being struck by a heavenly tribulation and sent to another world didn’t seem all that different in nature. However, he didn’t consider another possibility. He simply assumed Qin Fan had been reincarnated by possessing another body and never once considered that Qin Fan might still be the same soul in the same body.
"How did you get here?" Qin Fan asked, seeing the middle-aged man frowning in deep thought.
"If I said I just walked and ended up here, would you believe me?"
Believe you? Forget just walking here; I’d believe you even if you said you dreamed your way here! Though he scoffed inwardly, Qin Fan still nodded and said seriously, "I believe you!"
However, the middle-aged man’s next words stunned him. The man suddenly snapped out of his deep thoughts, his gaze sharp. Looking directly into Qin Fan’s eyes, he asked, "Do you want to go back?"
At those words, Qin Fan froze completely!
This was the question he had to face, the one he had been avoiding for half a year! On Earth, becoming an Ascension Immortal was an utter impossibility. The only way was to return to the Cangqiong Continent! But if he returned to the Cangqiong Continent, what about his parents, Yinuo, and his other friends and family? What would become of them without him? Qin Fan didn’t dare imagine the answer to a question that made him tremble.
Perhaps taking everyone with him was an option. But the Cangqiong Continent was nothing like Earth. With his current Cultivation, bringing them along? That would be no different from pushing all his loved ones into the Hell Abyss! There, how many people hated him? How many wanted him dead? How many enemies did he have? Qin Fan couldn’t even begin to count them all! Under those circumstances, forget his loved ones—even with his own meager Golden Core Cultivation, going back would be suicide, like a moth to a flame!
"No!" With trembling brows, Qin Fan shook his head, giving his only possible answer.
"You won’t go back?" the middle-aged man’s voice became urgent. "You’ll just watch as the people around you experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, leaving you one by one? I know you have ways to prolong their lives, but for how many years? They’re ordinary people, different from us! Maybe they can live to be two hundred, or three hundred, but in the end, they will all die! Do you know what it feels like to watch the people you care about die one by one? I do. In these damned five hundred years, I have experienced it far too many times!
"Do you know what that feeling is? I do! It is loneliness, endless loneliness! You’ll remain alone, drowning in numbness. You’ll grow numb to the life and death of those around you until you become a walking corpse! Endless years await you, and with them, endless, ongoing torment.
"There are only two worlds for people like us: the Cangqiong Continent and the Heavenly World of Ascension! Not this Earth! Qin Fan, do you really want to cling to these attachments, only to watch all this tragedy unfold?"
He had searched for five hundred years without finding a way back. Now, he could only place all his hope in Qin Fan, in this Lord of Prison Suppressing. Perhaps this was the arrangement of the Heavenly Dao. Perhaps this was his only chance! He was fanatical about Qin Fan’s identity as the Lord of Prison Suppressing, but if Qin Fan was truly unwilling to return, then the Prison Suppressing Body was useless! The legendary shortcut for an Independent Immortal’s Ascension was only effective on the Cangqiong Continent. Here on Earth? Impossible!
Qin Fan’s expression turned savage. "Go back and die? Take my whole family with me to become moths in a flame? I’m not thinking about Ascension right now. Birth, aging, sickness, and death... those are at least one or two hundred years away. I’m confident I can make them happen only after a century! Even if I do go back, I’ll consider it then! I know Earth’s resources are not enough for my Cultivation to advance much further; the Nascent Soul realm is likely my limit. But so what? I just want to enjoy this hard-won peace! If I go back to the Cangqiong Continent with my current Cultivation, the only thing waiting for me is death! Death!"
How could he not understand everything the middle-aged man had said? How could he not have considered it? But what choice did he have? Since there was none, he would let this peace continue in enjoyment for now! Two hundred, three hundred years... that was enough!
With that, his mind in turmoil, he turned to leave. But just as he took a step, he seemed to think of something and suddenly stopped. With his back still to the middle-aged man, he asked, "May I know your name?"
Looking at Qin Fan’s somewhat slender back, the middle-aged man swallowed and slowly enunciated, "Six Paths!"
The moment those two words were spoken, Qin Fan’s expression changed dramatically. He turned as pale as if he had been struck by lightning.