Chapter 632 - 569: The Long-lost Era

Chapter 632: Chapter 569: The Long-lost Era

"A glimmer of Spiritual Radiance illuminates the spiritual altar, so... the True Spirit remains undeluded?"

In the cramped room, a nearly inaudible whisper slowly arose.

The voice was level, yet the surprise in its tone was unmistakable.

A faint smile touched the corners of his lips as Chu Mu surveyed his surroundings. The cramped room came into sharp focus.

The room wasn’t large. A single bed took up most of the space, and a modest wardrobe made the already narrow area feel even more crowded.

It was a perfectly ordinary room, but for him...

The smile slowly faded, and a dazed look appeared on Chu Mu’s face.

The memories were so distant. In his already hazy recollection, this type of room seemed to have a specific name.

’A studio? A rental?’

Chu Mu wasn’t sure if he remembered correctly, but at this moment, it was hardly something to dwell on.

He slowly rose from the bed, and the windowpane clearly reflected his current appearance.

He was dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and long pants, clothes that felt somewhat unfamiliar, and his face was both familiar and strange.

Through the window, he could also get a clear glimpse of the scene outside.

A clear glimpse of a scene from his memory that had very nearly been forgotten completely.

A vibrant city of dazzling lights and bustling traffic.

The splendor of technology, devoid of any fluctuations of aura, possessed only the coldness of inanimate objects.

Forged from cold steel, it did little to conceal the city’s bustling prosperity.

Compared to the hustle and bustle of the Cultivation Immortal Realm, the brilliant lights before him undoubtedly held a level of... tranquility rarely seen there.

This was a prosperity born of order. Rules and regulations permeated every facet of human life, restraining and deterring the darkness in every heart.

This sort of bustling prosperity was clearly a completely different product from that of the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

Chu Mu watched in silence for a long, long time before slowly retracting his gaze. At that moment, he seemed to have come to a realization.

He... was not a person from the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

Strictly speaking, he was a stowaway.

’To corrupt my spirit, it must strike at the very root of my being. This root, evidently, can only be corrupted at its source.’

’That source, clearly, wasn’t the ’him’ who practiced Cultivation Immortal.’

’But rather... this version of ’him,’ the one who had already become a hazy memory.’

’And this ’him’...’

Chu Mu closed his eyes, trying to sense his own body.

As expected, he was just as mundane, just as ordinary.

The immense Divine Power and Divine Techniques that had allowed him to dominate a corner of the Cultivation Immortal Realm and live freely were nowhere to be found.

A weakness and powerlessness that felt almost foreign to him now washed over his heart with undeniable clarity.

In his current state, if he were in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, even the lowest of Low Tier Demon Beasts, even an untransformed Mortal Beast, could easily end his life.

A current of Spiritual Radiance flowed through him. Chu Mu slowly opened his eyes and glanced around thoughtfully. After a moment of contemplation, he walked toward the door.

The long-forgotten sensation of walking step-by-step on solid ground felt somewhat foreign to him, even a little strange.

This environment, already hazy in his memory, only added to that strangeness.

He pushed open the door to reveal a dim hallway. A faint, musty smell lingered in the air, a testament to the building’s age.

If he remembered correctly, this room was in an "urban village," a rental unit converted from a residential building.

The environment wasn’t great, and neither was the location.

Its only advantage—if it could even be called that—was that the rent was, at least, a good match for his ordinary station in life.

And he had been renting here for many years.

Day after day, he languished in this city, his meager salary unable to keep up with the metropolis’s rapid development.

But it seemed he had no chance of changing his fate.

He could only go on like this, day after day.

If he hadn’t crossed over to the Cultivation Immortal Realm, perhaps his only goal would have been to secure a place of his own in this metropolis.

It was just that, for him, this goal felt far too distant and unattainable.

Distant memories flashed through his mind, and Chu Mu couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.

He wasn’t sure if he was laughing at the state of the world or at his former self.

"Chu Mu, can you help me with something? The light in my room is broken. I bought a new one, but I don’t know how to replace it."

Just then, a clear voice suddenly broke the silence of the hallway.

Chu Mu turned to see a woman in a short skirt and tall boots looking at him from the doorway of the adjacent room.

Chu Mu frowned slightly, but his brow quickly smoothed out again.

"I have to trouble you. My boyfriend is on a business trip for a few days, and I’ve been struggling with it for a while. I have no idea how to do it. I think it needs some wiring... could you see if you know how?"

"If not, I’ll just have to call a repairman..."

The woman seemed to be the talkative type. She ushered Chu Mu into her room, muttering nonstop as she handed him the replacement ceiling light and some tools.

Chu Mu remained silent. He took the items and got to work, only occasionally stealing a subtle glance at the woman, as if observing something.

"Why are you so quiet today? Is your throat sore?"

Seeing Chu Mu remain silent for so long, the woman asked curiously.

"It’s done."

Just then, Chu Mu put down his tools and uttered two terse words.

The woman frowned. Just as she was about to say something, she felt an inexplicable pull from Chu Mu as he set down the tools. His every move seemed to capture her full attention. Gradually, her consciousness began to blur...

In the end, the woman seemed to fall asleep, yet she remained standing eerily in front of Chu Mu.

Chu Mu glanced at the woman, then at the room. Its layout was exactly as he remembered it.

He recalled correctly that this woman’s name was Xia Jie. She and her boyfriend both worked at a sales company in the city.

They had been living together here for many years.

Although he hadn’t been particularly close with her back then, they naturally had some interactions over the long years.

The thought vanished as quickly as it came, and Chu Mu turned his attention back to Xia Jie, who stood before him like one of the living dead.

In this Spiritual World, although he no longer possessed his world-shaking Divine Power, his True Spirit remained undeluded by the mind, protected by the "Spiritual Radiance."

With his True Spirit undeluded, his Cultivation might be gone, leaving him an ordinary mortal, but the knowledge and experience he had accumulated over hundreds of years on his Immortal Path undoubtedly remained in his mind.

Knowledge, at any time and in any place, is a power that cannot be erased.

A few simple hand gestures, leveraging his understanding of the Divine Soul, were more than enough to effortlessly mesmerize the mind of an ordinary person...

...