"A Heavenly Trial?"
The thought surfaced instinctively, like a reflex drilled into his bones since childhood.
This, was Xianlu Zhou. He stood in a pitch black space. There was no ground beneath his feet, yet he did not fall. No air, yet he could breathe. No direction, yet he remained upright.
He tilted his head slightly, frowning.
He tried to remember:
Where he was.
What he had been doing.
Why he was here.
Nothing came.
He started thinking this most likely was a Heavenly Betting Trail. Before he could dwell on it further, a voice spoke.
"Incorrect. This is not a Heavenly Trial."
The voice was calm. Certain.
It carried no echo, yet it did not feel close.
"Xianlu," it continued softly. "Or should I say… me."
A man suddenly appeared.
Not gradually. Not with footsteps, nor sound, nor warning. One moment there was nothing. The next, he was simply there.
His presence did not disturb the darkness.
Xianlu stiffened.
The man looked young. Younger than thirty, surely.
His posture was straight, his shoulders relaxed, his body unburdened by age or injury. His face was sharp and refined, carrying the quiet arrogance of someone in their prime.
But his eyes…
His eyes were different.
They were deep in a way that suggested erosion.
Like cliffs worn down by endless tides. Like stars that had burned long enough to forget their own birth.
Those eyes settled onto Xianlu with unsettling familiarity.
Recognition, of a sort.
Xianlu's throat felt dry.
"…Who are you?" he asked.
His voice sounded distant to his own ears.
Smaller than it should have been.
He turned his head, scanning the void again. Endless darkness stretched in every direction. No sky. No earth. No wind. No sound. Just the two of them.
"And where am I? Senior?" he added.
The man smiled.
It was not warm.
It was not cruel. It was the smile of someone standing at the end of a road no one else had walked.
"You are nowhere," the man said calmly. "And you are everywhere."
Xianlu frowned.
"That makes no sense....Senior."
The man's smile did not fade.
"Of course it does not," he said. "Understanding was never your strength at the beginning."
Xianlu's frown deepened.
"Then please explain it."
The man shook his head slowly.
"I am not here to explain," he said quietly. "I am here to plead."
Xianlu blinked.
"…Plead?"
The word felt wrong. This man did not look like someone who pleaded.
"For what?" Xianlu asked. "And who are you Senior?
The man inhaled slowly.
For the first time, something flickered in his expression. Fatigue.
"Sigh… so be it," he murmured.
He stepped forward.
"I am Xianlu Zhou."
Silence.
"You may call me Silk Dragon," he continued. "As for my age… I stopped counting."
His eyes locked onto Xianlu's.
"I am you."
He paused.
"But older."
Another step.
"Stronger."
Another.
"And Immortal."
The word struck like lightning.
Xianlu's eyes widened.
"…Immortal?"
The word escaped him as a breath, fragile and disbelieving. Then something ignited behind his eyes.
A mix of hope, joy and vindication.
"So it works…" he whispered. His hands clenched. "It's real. Immortality is real."
His breathing quickened.
"You… you're me. Which means I succeeded."
A laugh escaped him. Light. Disbelieving. "I knew it. I knew it wasn't a lie."
His voice grew stronger. "Mother… Father…"
His lips trembled, curling into a smile. "I'll become Immortal." he closed his eyes. "And then—"
"NO!"
The word exploded from Silk Dragon.
"NO! DON'T!"
The sound tore through the void like a blade.
For the first time, the immortal's composure shattered. His breathing was uneven. His hands trembled. "Please," he said.
Not commanded.
Not declared.
Literally begged.
"Please… this is why I'm here."
He lowered his gaze to his own hands.
They were steady. Unchanging. "This immortality…" he whispered.
His fingers curled slightly. "…it is a curse."
Silence swallowed his words.
"At first, it was everything we dreamed of," he continued softly.
"I was free. Untouchable. Eternal." His jaw tightened. "I watched our enemies die."
A pause.
"I watched our friends die." Longer pause. "I watched our parents die."
His voice grew quieter.
"I remember holding our mother's hand."
His brow furrowed. "…I don't remember what it felt like anymore."
His eyes darkened. "Kingdoms rose. Kingdoms fell and yet i remained."
"I walked through centuries like rain." His voice cracked. "And it never stopped."
He looked at Xianlu again. "I stopped changing." His lips trembled slightly. "The world moved forward."
"I remained."
His hand slowly reached out, gripping Xianlu's shoulder. His grip was firm and desperate.
"What is life, Xianlu?" he asked quietly.
Xianlu could not answer.
Silk Dragon gave a faint, hollow smile. "It is not eternity." His grip tightened slightly.
"It is the fact that it ends."
Xianlu's expression hardened.
"No," he said.
Silk Dragon stilled.
"No," Xianlu repeated, firmer now. "You are not me."
Silk Dragon's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I was raised in the Arez Malt Immortality Sect," Xianlu said.
His voice grew steadier.
"My entire life… I was taught to chase immortality."
He met Silk Dragon's gaze. "And I will."
Silk Dragon's expression broke. Not with anger. With grief. He floated forward.
Slowly and carefully. He raised his hand.
And pressed his thumb against Xianlu's forehead.
The world shattered.
Not into darkness.
Into memories.
Funeral smoke rising into a gray sky.
A father's unmoving body.
A mother's laughter he could no longer hear.
Cities crumbling into dust.
Friends turning into bones.
Centuries passing.
Alone.
Always alone.
Always the same.
Xianlu collapsed to his knees.
His hands trembled violently.
His breathing shattered.
A tear fell.
Then another.
Then he screamed. He surged upward, grabbing Silk Dragon by the collar. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" he roared.
His voice broke. "What is this hell!?"
His hands shook. "…Is that my future?"
Silk Dragon did not resist.
"…Yes," he whispered.
Silence.
Xianlu released him slowly.
His chest rose and fell unevenly.
His mind reeled beneath the weight of lives he had not yet lived. Minutes passed. Or seconds. Or centuries. It was impossible to tell.
Finally, Xianlu straightened.
His eyes were different now.
Older.
"We both know cultivation isn't the problem," he said quietly.
Silk Dragon nodded.
"…Yes."
"The problem," Xianlu continued, "is The Curse."
Silk Dragon closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them again, there was
something fragile inside them.
Hope.
"I see only one path forward," Xianlu said.
Silk Dragon studied him carefully.
Then, slowly… He nodded.
"I have spent one hundred years preparing it." Silk Dragon said.
He stepped closer.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"Listen very carefully."
...
..
.
"So. This is it?" Xianlu said. "So this curse of mine… the only way around it is to die a natural death. Old age."
Silk Dragon did not interrupt.
He had spent what felt like eons explaining the plan. Layer by layer. Risk by risk. The loopholes. The traps. The mathematics of survival.
Xianlu already knew. The memories were still settling inside him like ash after a wildfire.
"Exactly," Silk Dragon replied. "No unnatural death."
His gaze sharpened. "No murder. No poison. No execution. No battlefield accident."
A pause.
"And certainly no suicide."
Xianlu let out a short laugh. "Hahaha… and why would I kill myself?"
He shook his head slowly. "It is well."
His eyes darkened. "This curse that turns me immortal the moment I die… that is the true enemy. And out there, anyone can kill for a loaf of bread."
He looked into the void as if he could already see the world beyond it. "One slip. One blade. One moment of weakness."
"And I ascend into eternity again."
Silk Dragon nodded once. "Which is why you must cultivate." He raised a finger. "Just enough. Strong enough to survive. Strong enough to eliminate threats. But never so strong that you touch immortality through cultivation itself."
The balance hung between them like a blade suspended by a single thread.
Xianlu exhaled slowly.
"And the Heavenly Betting Trials."
His eyes flicked upward.
"I know." Silk Dragon replied.
The knowledge Xianlu did not feel foreign. It felt inherited."You cannot take them anymore."
Silk Dragon's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
"And you don't control the Trials."
Which meant—
"There is someone who does," Xianlu finished.
Silence.
Then, slowly, Silk Dragon smirked.
He had tried before. Failed before. Countless times. He had attempted to outmaneuver the curse through brute force. Through isolation. Through apathy. Through reckless risk.
Each time, fate had curved back toward immortality.
But this…
This felt different.
"Yes," Silk Dragon said quietly. "There is someone at the pinnacle."
His eyes turned distant.
"I do not know who."
"But they are watching."
"And they have never intervened, and althoughchancesare low they are probablyout there. In the real world."
His gaze sharpened again.
"I suspect they know about the curse."
"And I intend to make it their problem."
Xianlu absorbed that without flinching.
"So," he said calmly, "everything I do from the moment I leave this place marks the beginning."
There was no excitement in his voice now.
No naive glow.
Only intention.
"I have seen your memories."
"I have seen the centuries."
He looked at Silk Dragon directly.
"Now send me back."
His voice lowered. "And let me help us finally rest."
For a moment, the void felt less empty. Silk Dragon floated closer. Close enough that they stood face to face.
Young and unchanged.
Old and unending.
He extended his hand. Xianlu took it. Their grips were identical.
"Before you leave," Silk Dragon said softly, "remember what this truly requires."
His eyes did not waver.
"You will spill blood."
"You will manipulate people."
"You will twist outcomes."
"You will endure wounds."
"Look out for the entity above us."
"And all the while… you must avoid dying."
His grip tightened slightly.
"One mistake, and the curse activates."
"And all of this resets into eternity." He released Xianlu's hand and placed a palm against his shoulder.
"All of this," he said quietly, "for the selfish desire of a grave."
Not glory.
Not legacy.
A grave.
A place to end.
His hand lingered for a breath longer.
"Be strong," Silk Dragon murmured. "It will not be easy." His expression softened in a way that almost resembled peace.
"But it is necessary…"
"Oh, and wha-"
Xianlu began however he was interrupted by Silk Dragon with a push square into his chest.
"Begone!"