The transition between realms was silent.
No wind, no light—just an expanse that bent reality itself.
Lu Fan stepped forward and felt the air shift.
Each movement rippled across space like water disturbed by a divine hand.
The crimson lotus on his back dimmed, the golden glow in his eyes steadied, and even his breath seemed to fade into nothingness.
> "This place…" he murmured.
"It doesn't exist."
Yet it did.
A faint hum resonated, and before him appeared a colossal structure of pure light and void—endless shelves stretching into infinity. Each shelf held not books, but memories: glowing fragments of existence.
The Universal Library.
It was alive. Breathing. Aware.
> "Welcome back, Origin."
The voice wasn't mechanical this time.
It was human—and ancient.
Lu Fan looked around sharply.
From the depths of the Library, a figure emerged: tall, robed in black and white, his hair a mix of silver and shadow. His face… familiar.
Almost identical to Lu Fan's.
> "Who are you?"
"The question," the being said with a faint smile, "is not who I am… but who you were."
The walls of the Library pulsed with energy, and suddenly, memories flooded Lu Fan's mind—images of a being standing at the edge of creation, forging realms, scripting destinies, planting the seeds of cultivation across infinite universes.
That being… was him.
---
The First Sovereign
Long before worlds, before qi and heavens, there was one consciousness—a formless will wandering through eternal emptiness. It sought meaning. It created stars, then life, then paths for life to ascend.
It was the First Sovereign, the Creator of the Paths.
But when the being looked upon its creations, it realized the truth:
without struggle, no being could surpass it.
So it split itself into fragments—each fragment becoming a soul, a fate, a reincarnation.
> "You," said the echo of the First Sovereign, "were my final fragment. The one sent to walk the mortal path, to understand imperfection."
Lu Fan's breath shook. "So all this time… I've been living the life of a god who forgot himself?"
> "No."
The being stepped closer, placing a hand on his chest.
"You were the proof that divinity must earn its place through mortality. Every life, every death, every loss carved you into balance."
The Library trembled. Thousands of glowing memories rose from the shelves, orbiting around them like galaxies.
> "The Universal Library," the being continued, "is not a tool. It's my heart—our heart. It holds every truth, every law, every possibility. You used it to grow… but it used you to remember."
Lu Fan's eyes widened as realization struck.
> "You mean—"
"Yes."
"You are me, and I… am the Library."
---
The truth shattered the boundaries of his understanding.
Light flooded the void as Lu Fan's body began to dissolve into threads of energy—each thread connecting to the shelves, the memories, the fragments of life he'd once lived.
> [Final Synchronization – Soul and System Integration Initiated]
[Sovereign Protocol: VOID ORIGIN Awakening]
The Library's walls unfolded like wings, and the void around them turned into a tapestry of universes. Each realm he had visited, each life he had touched, appeared as shining constellations.
> "This is what I created," the First Sovereign said quietly.
"But you—Lu Fan—are what I became."
The voice grew softer, fading into Lu Fan's heartbeat.
> "Now… it is time for you to decide. Reclaim the Library, and rule as the Creator once more—or let it go, and live as the man who earned freedom."
Lu Fan closed his eyes.
For the first time, he truly felt the weight of eternity—the infinite knowledge, the boundless power, the loneliness of godhood.
He thought of his father.
Of the friends he'd lost.
Of the countless souls who believed in him.
He opened his eyes.
> "A god who forgets compassion becomes a tyrant. A man who forgets truth becomes lost. I will be both—and neither."
He stepped forward, merging with the light.
The Library pulsed violently—its glow turning from white to silver, then to brilliant crimson-gold.
> [Universal Library Reforged → Void Archive of Balance]
[New Title Granted: The Void Origin Sovereign]
The shelves folded into his soul. The knowledge became his blood. The power, his will.
And when he opened his eyes again, he was standing not in the void—but above an entire multiverse of cultivation realms. Worlds shone below like stars, each breathing life, death, and rebirth.
A faint smile crossed his lips.
> "This time," he whispered, "I'll write a story that never ends in ruin."
The stars answered with silence—and then, with reverence.
---
✨ End of Volume 2: The White-Haired Sovereign
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