Chapter 157 - 121: Return to the Main World

Chapter 157: Chapter 121: Return to the Main World

Chen Ye saw them to the door.

Everyone boarded the carriages one after another, ready to depart.

"Wait!"

Lu Jinghong, who had been in a bit of a daze, suddenly jumped down from her carriage.

As everyone watched in astonishment, she rushed over to Chen Ye, threw her arms around him, and held him tight.

She buried her face in Chen Ye’s chest, her voice a murmur laced with alcohol and a sob she couldn’t suppress.

"Safe travels."

"And... if it’s possible, on that long road ahead, I hope you’ll remember me."

Chen Ye was stunned.

He hadn’t expected that Lu Jinghong, who seemed so carefree and brash, actually understood everything.

She was just playing along with him, in her own way, for this final act.

Then Chen Ye sighed. He raised a hand and gently patted her on the back, his voice softer than she had ever heard it.

"Of course I won’t forget you."

At his words, Lu Jinghong snapped her head up, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears in the Moonlight.

"You... Where are you going? Can you take me with you?"

Chen Ye smiled and shook his head.

He couldn’t explain that he didn’t belong to this world, so he could only say, "I’m going to a place very, very far away."

"Then will you come back?" Lu Jinghong pressed. It was her last shred of hope.

Chen Ye froze.

Come back...

’But can I really come back?’

It was this moment of hesitation that made Lu Jinghong understand completely.

In that brief moment of silence, all her hopes popped like a bubble.

She nodded, the tears she had been holding back finally spilling down her cheeks.

But she smiled, even though it was a smile more painful than tears.

"I understand."

"I wish you... a bright and prosperous future."

With that, she let go, turned away crestfallen, and climbed into the carriage without a backward glance.

The driver cracked the whip, and the carriage slowly drove away, eventually disappearing at the end of the long street.

Chen Ye stood alone before the door for a long time before letting out a long sigh.

He turned, closed the main gate, and began to clear away the cups and plates in the courtyard. It was completely unnecessary, but Chen Ye did it meticulously, as if performing a final ritual of farewell.

After finishing all this, Chen Ye returned to his room, sat down cross-legged, and sank his Heart Spirit into his Sea of Consciousness.

The Boat of the Other Shore, suspended in his Sea of Consciousness, was radiating a light more brilliant than ever before.

[Ready to carry the Dao Fruit and return.]

[Return immediately?]

Chen Ye looked at the prompt, and on a strange impulse, he asked a question in his mind.

’Is it... possible for me to return to the worlds I’ve already experienced?’

The Boat of the Other Shore did not respond, seemingly performing some kind of complex calculation.

Just as Chen Ye thought he wouldn’t get an answer, a new line of golden text slowly materialized before his eyes.

[Special conditions must be met.]

’It’s possible!’

When he saw the line of golden text appear before him, Chen Ye’s heart skipped a beat.

Although the Boat of the Other Shore didn’t specify what special conditions were needed, this affirmative answer was enough.

He suppressed his excitement, walked to the desk, and after a moment’s hesitation, finally picked up a brush to write a letter.

In the letter, Chen Ye told Lu Jinghong that if he had the chance, he would definitely come back to see her.

After leaving the letter on the desk, Chen Ye once again sank into his Sea of Consciousness and chose to return.

In an instant, the light from the Boat of the Other Shore in his Sea of Consciousness flared, and it began the final evaluation of his journey.

Scene after scene flashed by like a revolving lantern.

From a naive apprentice first joining the Qingchun Troupe, to the Soul-Stealing Diva singing a duet with a ghost on stage; from the stunning performance of Farewell My Concubine that awed the audience, to the Mirage Palace Actor judging Yan Xun within an Illusion Realm; and finally, to the Peach Garden Celestial Official who gave everything to summon a deity and slay a ghost...

Finally, all the light and shadows converged. The form of the Boat of the Other Shore began to change dramatically, rapidly expanding from a simple skiff into a magnificent painted barge, complete with distinct pavilions and ornate, carved beams.

Then, light flickered over the hull as the imprints of his Professions flashed past one by one: [Cao Tai Longtao], [Soul-Stealing Diva], [Mirage Palace Actor], [Peach Garden Celestial Official]...

The light flickered several times before finally settling.

Three words, written in an ancient script, slowly materialized: [Mirage Palace Actor].

Chen Ye wasn’t surprised by this result. In fact, he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although that final performance had been world-shaking, it had come at the cost of countless sacrifices from his Liyuan colleagues. It had also severely depleted the Primordial Qi of the city of Sea Guardian Guard, resulting in heavy casualties.

So, it was perfectly normal that his evaluation wasn’t as high as the one from his second world, the Martial Dao Realm.

Moreover, although the Peach Garden Celestial Official’s Illusion as Truth Talent could be called a Divine Skill, the Wish Power it required was also massive.

In the Opera Realm, he had the Wish Power of the masses, accumulated by the General Temple over a century. He had the rekindled faith of the entire city’s population, and moreover, he had the burning heroic souls of countless Liyuan colleagues to use as fuel. Only with all that was he able to summon the Dharma Aspect of Zhong Kui.

’But in Black Water Lake—a place teeming with Sinful People, where everyone lives in constant peril and faith has long since collapsed—where could I possibly find such a vast amount of Wish Power?’

So in comparison, the Mirage Palace Actor’s Talent, Illusionary Performance, was much more practical.

It used his own Divine Thought to weave illusory realms that blurred the line between truth and fiction, consuming his own Spiritual Power. For confusing enemies, performing mental assassinations, or concealing his presence, it was far more practical than the Peach Garden Celestial Official’s abilities for staying low-key in the perilous Main World.

As he was thinking, the painted barge beneath his feet suddenly shuddered and carried him into a vast river that ran through the endless void.

Even though he had seen it several times before, Chen Ye was still filled with awe every time he saw this river—a river that seemed to fall from the source of the universe itself and flow toward the very end of time.