Chapter 695 : The Mayfly's Epiphany

In his first life, Eldrin Chen awoke from a state of profound obscurity, finding the four directions shrouded in a sea of Primordial Chaos [the formless, primordial state before the creation of the cosmos].

All things within the Primordial Chaos were dim and indistinct. At the distant horizon where heaven and earth met, a peerless Myth [a legendary, primordial sun] rose slowly from the Nine Heavens Above [the highest, most sacred celestial realm].

The world was vast and boundless. The sun was a colossal entity that blotted out the sky, its infinite light flooding the entirety of creation.

He found himself unable to speak, only able to tremble within the haze. As the sun journeyed westward, he molted and grew a pair of wings.

He strained to spread his wings, yearning to fly towards the sun, yet he realized, without quite knowing how, that he could never touch even a fraction of its glory.

Only when he was exhausted, when not a shred of strength remained and he had alighted upon the vast earth, did he notice the setting sun. The vitality within himself had aged and faded away.

He jolted awake with a start, finally perceiving the giant, mountain-sized insects in the distance, the butterflies whose wings could veil the sky, and the human-like silhouettes that pierced the clouds.

"So that's it," he murmured.

"The Mayfly [an ephemeral insect], born at dawn and dead by dusk, forever ignorant of the distinction between day and night... this is what it is like."

In a moment of dawning clarity, Eldrin Chen attained a profound understanding. What he had experienced was the entire lifespan of a Mayfly. For the best reading experience, visit audio-novel.com (official site).

In his second life, he was reborn as a cicada, slumbering in the earth for twenty-one years. Upon awakening, he found himself in the blazing heat of midsummer, unaware of the passage of the seasons.

In his third life, he became a tree, enduring wind and rain in a silent corner, watching the shifting clouds with a silent laugh. Each passing season carved another ring into his being, until a woodsman felled him and he was burned as firewood.

The fourth life…

Eldrin Chen cycled through these dreams, continuously experiencing different existences. His understanding of life and the myriad things of the world gradually deepened, stirring profound feelings within him.

Sometimes he was reborn as a human, other times as a fish, or again as a sapling.

He simply observed and comprehended in silence, walking alone through the mortal dust. He quietly perceived the heavens, the earth, and all living things, letting lifetime after lifetime pass by.

Meanwhile, within a void at the location known as the End of the Demonic Abyss…

Garuda Heavenly Demon sat cross-legged before a wooden hut, his expression grave as he regarded the figure before him.

Before the Garuda Demon Monarch stood a woman of utterly bewitching figure. She wore a gown of sheer, translucent red silk, her form beneath nearly completely visible—a display of brazen licentiousness.

Yet the Garuda Demon Monarch dared not look upon her for long. Lowering his gaze, he asked with solemn gravity, "Nightmare, the matter I entrusted to you… can it truly be accomplished?"

"What is the hurry?"

The Nightmare Heaven-Demon gazed calmly at the portrait of Eldrin Chen, her eyes shimmering with a hint of bewitching allure.

She unconsciously licked her lips, then suddenly giggled coquettishly, saying, "I had no intention of helping you initially. However, this man's countenance and bearing are the most exquisite I have ever witnessed in my life. Taking him as a Furnace Cauldron [a living vessel used in certain unorthodox cultivation arts to refine one's own power] would not be a bad idea."

"But let us be clear beforehand—once the deed is done, you must hand him over to me."

The Garuda Heavenly Demon furrowed his brow, yet he understood the nature of the woman before him. He thus spoke, "You may have the physical body, but I *must* annihilate his soul essence!"

"What I desire is merely the vessel; what use have I for his soul?"

Shaking her head, the Nightmare Heaven-Demon carefully retrieved a Treasure Box from within her robes.

As the Treasure Box opened, a magnificently large and dazzling crimson flower blossomed forth from within.

"What is this?"

The Garuda Heavenly Demon's expression shifted dramatically, and he could not suppress his astonishment as he spoke.

The woman nodded, her expression tinged with yearning as she spoke: "The Other Shore Flower [a legendary flower from the underworld], its blossoms last for one Millennium, its leaves fall for one Millennium. Blossoms and leaves are forever out of sync, destined never to meet for all eternity."

"This flower grows only within the Netherworld Hell [the deepest realms of the underworld], possessing the two extreme forces of life and death. It is a thing almost impossible to find in the mortal world."

"I obtained this very flower long ago when I accompanied Lord Demon God on business to the Netherworld Underworld [the realm of the dead]. It cost no small price to acquire. Using it against a mere Nascent Soul [the realm of spiritual embryo formation] minor cultivator is an endeavor that simply cannot fail."

Upon hearing this, the Garuda Heavenly Demon [a powerful demonic being] revealed a smile and could not help but add: "Using this flower as a medium allows one to bypass the defenses of most Divine Ability [supernatural powers] and Spiritual Treasure [enchanted artifacts]. It is certain to curse him so that for three lives and seven lifetimes he cannot escape calamity, forever falling into the depths of Yama's [the King of Hell's] realm, never to awaken."

A single year in the mortal realm, yet another lifetime passed within the dream.

Another lifetime of Eldrin Chen came to an end, and he entered the next dream of reincarnation, poised to begin a new life. Find thousands of chapters at audio-novel dot com.

And it was precisely at this moment that within Eldrin Chen's sea of consciousness [the mental realm of a cultivator], a dazzlingly brilliant crimson exotic flower bloomed, forcefully invading his very soul.

This Other Shore Flower [a legendary flower from the underworld] is a thing of the underworld, exceedingly rare to find within the mortal dust. It possesses an aura of death capable of extinguishing all things.

Once completely tainted by its deathly intent, even a Nascent Soul Dao Lord [a master of the Nascent Soul realm] might find their soul utterly annihilated, leaving behind only an empty husk in the mortal world.

Yet, at this critical juncture, a startling transformation began to unfold within Eldrin Chen's sea of consciousness.

The method from the Immortal Realm [the realm of true immortals], belonging to an Immortal [a being who has ascended beyond mortality], transformed into a hazy, illusory Red Dust Dream Butterfly [a mystical butterfly that navigates the dreams and illusions of the mortal world]. It fluttered its wings and alighted upon the petal of a Manjusaka [the legendary flower of the underworld, also known as the Spider Lily].

The Red Dust Dream Butterfly gathered the essence of the strange bloom from the Netherworld Hell [the realm of the dead and departed souls], instantly triggering a breathtaking and wondrous spectacle.

Behold, the infinite aura of death within the flower was utterly consumed by the Red Dust Dream Butterfly. Upon the Manjusaka, flecks of emerald-green leaves began to unfurl.

The Other Shore Flower [another name for the Manjusaka, symbolizing eternal separation], whose blossom and leaves were fated never to meet—the flower blooming as the leaves fall, missing each other for eternity—now displayed the miraculous sight of flower and leaf coexisting.

"Hmm—"

Perhaps having absorbed sufficient power, the Red Dust Butterfly gave a faint tremble of its wings. This subtle motion introduced a variable into the dream of Eldrin Chen's next life within the dreamscape.

Eldrin Chen walked along a dimly lit Yellow Springs Road [the mythical road leading to the underworld]. On either side of the path grew blood-red flowers, stretching toward the horizon's end in a vista so hauntingly beautiful and dazzling that it could root one's feet to the spot.

He plucked a single blossom, brought it to his nose with detached calm, inhaled its scent, and then continued walking with serene composure toward the next incarnation within the dream of mortal dust.

This particular path felt exceptionally long, as if traversing an immeasurable span of time and space, before he finally arrived before a shimmering, illusory gateway.

This lifetime felt different, anomalous. Eldrin Chen raised his hand, hesitated for what seemed an age, and then, with finality, pushed the gate open.

"Eldrin, Eldrin!"

The call at his ear came suddenly, and Eldrin Chen abruptly opened his eyes.

He lifted his head and saw a figure, somewhat distant in memory yet also familiar, with bright eyes and gleaming teeth.

"Seraphina Xia!"

He was stunned for a long moment before finally offering a faint smile, deigning to speak her name.

He shook his head with a rueful laugh. What a distant name it was. He had been submerged in the cycle of reincarnation and tribulations for eight hundred years now, never expecting to see her again within this mortal dream of a butterfly.

"What's wrong with you?"

Seraphina Xia reached out to feel his forehead, unable to hold back her words. "No fever... Why are you acting so strange today?"

"It's nothing," Eldrin Chen shook his head, speaking with calm detachment. "It's just that seeing you again stirs a certain... sentiment."

It was as if Eldrin Chen had returned to the life before his tribulations of reincarnation, continuing to live out his days alongside Seraphina Xia.

This life felt exceptionally real, so real that it made Eldrin Chen doubt and wonder whether the life he had experienced on The Other Shore [a metaphysical realm beyond the mortal world] had ever truly been.

He was even touched by a profound sense of uncertainty, questioning whether all that myself had endured was merely a dream.

Was it that the Red Dust Dream Butterfly [a mystical artifact said to traverse dreams and realities] had carried him across the boundless The Other Shore, delivering him to a time before his previous transmigration, or was all of this just an illusory fantasy?

Eldrin Chen did not know how long he had spent within the dream. Unconsciously, a certain power seemed to be at work, causing his memories of the Purple Realm [a higher plane of existence associated with cultivation] to grow increasingly faint.

This continued until one day, when he was aged and frail, he could scarcely distinguish between dream and reality.

As his life seemed to draw to its final close, he finally spoke to Seraphina Xia: "Over these years, I once had a dream."

He recounted everything to her, his voice calm and measured.

Seraphina Xia listened in silence. Only after a long while did she speak: "In truth, I too had a remarkably vivid dream some years ago."

"In the dream, you died suddenly. Overwhelmed by grief, I followed you in death. Then, I was inexplicably reborn into a bizarre and kaleidoscopic world, until a great cataclysm submerged everything... and I could no longer remember what happened after that."

Eldrin Chen's heart trembled. He could not help but ask, "In that dream... what was your name?" Read the full novel exclusively on site: audio-novel.com.