163: Chapter 160: God’s Sorrow 163: Chapter 160: God’s Sorrow Please support the legitimate version, content will be updated later.
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“It seems I really have traveled through time—”
In the lavishly decorated carriage, Zong Shou looked emotionlessly at the round mirror before him.
The reflection showed a boy, not yet of age, about thirteen, with a pale complexion.
However, his facial features were exceptionally handsome and delicate.
His long, narrow phoenix eyes sparkled, yet they were filled with bitterness and helplessness at the moment.
He remembered that not long ago, his face had been utterly ordinary, the kind that would not stand out in a crowd.
Yet, unexpectedly, upon waking from that dream, his body had turned into that of a handsome young man.
Although slightly looking frail and sickly, he was undeniably attractive.
Even the top male stars known for their looks in television from his previous life could not compare.
If anything was lacking, it was merely his demeanor.
At this moment, however, Zong Shou felt no joy, only a sense of bewilderment and helplessness.
It was as if a fish that had freely swum in the sea was suddenly thrust onto land.
In this world, apart from the suffocating strangeness of death, there was also a sense of fear and solitude.
Unwilling to give up, Zong Shou pinched his face forcefully again, and immediately felt pain.
Naturally, he found no traces of plastic surgery on his face.
—There’s pain; could this mean I’m not dreaming?
But what exactly is my identity now?
And this confounded place, where exactly is it?
‘Zong Shou’ was the name embedded in the memories of his current body.
In his previous life, he had another name, but now, in these circumstances, it was meaningless.
Muttering to himself, Zong Shou sighed and looked away.
His heart was filled with despair, having given up any hope of returning or ‘waking up.’
Actually, he had been in this world for several days already.
Almost each time he woke up, he would repeat the actions just described.
Today was the seventh day.
Looking at the style of the carriage’s interior, it seemed to be from ancient China, yet something was not quite right.
On drawing back the curtain, he saw vast expanses of wilderness outside, an endless stretch of thriving green that was soothing to the soul.
The air was also fresh and crisp, devoid of any pollution like in the modern world.
But if he looked down further, he would find that though the carriage had wheels, it hovered three feet above the ground.
The sixteen single-horned horses in front moved through the air, able to fluctuate up and down.
Thus, though the body of the carriage was large, with just the cabin alone occupying forty square meters, it could traverse any complex terrain as if it were flat ground.
At this moment, no one was steering in front, yet it sped straight forward, rushing towards the distance.
The cuts and sword marks on both sides of the carriage were also very concerning.
Zong Shou felt a wave of dizziness and collapsed onto the velvet-cushioned soft couch.
Then, with slight concentration, a series of fragmented memories surfaced in his mind.
They were all broken and incomplete.
There were many texts, quite a few faces, and also, a towering majestic mountain that pierced the skies and an incredibly large academy that occupied most of an island in a lake.
While it felt foreign, there was also a familiarity, and a vague sense of fear.
These feelings were indeed bizarre and complex to the extreme.
In the deepest part of his mind, the only remaining intact memory fragment contained numerous mysterious characters, assembled together to form a complete book.
These characters, entirely different from any language in his previous world, felt extremely familiar to him, almost as if he had mastered them in his previous life.
“Indeterminate Spirit Emperor Technique?
And this demon language.
Could this place really be the Divine Emperor World?”
Zong Shou’s lips twitched slightly, his face still showing utter confusion.
——”Divine Emperor” was a global online game phenomenon that started in 2012.
Nobody knew which company had developed it, as all the accompanying gaming equipment also appeared suddenly on the market.
It seemed as if overnight, the entire Earth had moved from 2D and 3D online games to the era of virtual, holographic illusions.
Whether it was that academy, that mountain peak, or these demon clan characters in his mind, he had seen them all within Divine Emperor in his former life.
Right, he remembered that in his former life, his last conscious moments were within the “Divine Emperor” game.
In the Cloud Realm, the Seven Emperors competed fiercely.
He alone, with a single sword, fought against many heroes.
But in the final moments, a sudden electric current passed through his body, and he lost all consciousness.
When he woke up, he had switched bodies.
Everything around him was no longer the familiar Earth.
So what was his situation now—was he in a game, or was he in a real world?
Or perhaps, was this world connected to “Divine Emperor” in some way?
Feeling dizzy again, Zong Shou simply gave up on thinking altogether.
Being idle in this carriage, Zong Shou took out a Green Steel Sword about three feet long and began practicing his swordsmanship in the fairly spacious carriage.
His footwork of advancing, retreating, and sidestepping combined with his body movements made the swordlight shimmer within the decent-sized carriage.
Just as in his previous life, every sword form, every step was perfected to the utmost precision, his prowess nearly flawless.
However, this basic swordsmanship had only been practiced for half a moment before Zong Shou was already gasping for breath, his whole body drenched in sweat.
The silhouette of his swordlight inevitably began to warp slightly.
Relying solely on his inherent belief in never giving up, he continued to persevere and managed not to collapse.
Only when all the strength in his body was completely drained did Zong Shou stop the swordlight and sat breathlessly on the couch.
When his intensely focused attention finally dispersed, he could immediately feel every part of his body, every limb and organ, aching as if they were scorched by flames.
This was not merely out of boredom but rather a pure sense of unease.
The world and his own situation made him feel a pressing sense of crisis.
He was desperate to gain some strength, or at the very least, some ability to preserve his life.
In “Divine Emperor,” everything approached reality.
Whether it was martial arts, language, the five senses, combat, or even daily necessities, there was a complete system for everything.
Most players relied on the system’s default settings to play and fight, without seeking further understanding.
However, some people would do their utmost to learn various types of knowledge and language within Divine Emperor, study the principles of martial arts in-depth, and fully understand everything about this world.
They could even break free from the game’s constraints and come up with their own unique strategies on the existing foundation.
Zong Shou was not only one of these people, but he was also among the best of them.
Basic swordsmanship, basic boxing, basic lightness, basic evasion, basic stepping, basic guarding, basic inner strength, he had thoroughly mastered nearly all the foundations of a martial artist, achieving the top level of Return to Simplicity, a master’s level.
Among all the hundreds of millions of players, there were only about a thousand who had achieved this feat.
Actually, Zong Shou had already mastered all the principles, all the changes and developments of basic swordsmanship.
What he needed to do now was to make this body remember it firmly, making it his own instinct.
But his own body was simply too frail.
Just ordinary practice could only support him for the duration of a cup of tea, and his physical strength was even less than half of a normal person’s.
What was even more frustrating was that the basic inner strength couldn’t be cultivated at all.
It’s not that Zong Shou’s body was truly weak.
If you considered strength, flexibility, and agility, he could even surpass an average person.
His root bone and Five Elements Spirit Root likely belonged to the genius level.
It was only his physical strength that was inexplicably weak.
However, after groping around for seven days, Zong Shou had already started to get some clues.
It should be due to the bloodline he carried; being a Half-demon, part Human Fox, that gave him such a handsome face.
Furthermore, if he was not mistaken, both his paternal and maternal families should have extraordinary origins.