Simulating the primordial era? That's way too extreme.

Chapter 389, Extra Chapter 5: The Person I Miss (Jiao Ming's Story)

In the primordial world of Bird Number Three.

After Zhao Si explained his purpose, Bird Number Three did not speak, but simply looked intently at the Heavenly Dao Incarnation beside him.

The embodiment of the Heavenly Dao, however, fell into deep thought...

Jiao Ming, this familiar yet unfamiliar name, rang in His ears once more, stirring up a myriad of thoughts within Him.

From the moment of His birth, He knew that He was created for only one purpose: to resurrect the man named Jiao Ming!

The Three Incarnations of Hongjun used Jiao Ming's true spirit as the main material, hoping to create a new spirit whose personality and memories were identical to Jiao Ming's. Although he ultimately failed, everything about Jiao Ming had already left an indelible mark on Him.

For example, He might subconsciously transform into Jiao Ming's image; for example, He really likes red clothes; for example, He has a special affinity for the number three little bird...

If He hadn't been absolutely certain that He was merely a new consciousness, He might have fallen into the trap set by the Three Worlds Hongjun and become Jiao Ming's substitute!

Therefore, although He was inseparable from Jiao Ming, He always tried his best to oppose everything about Jiao Ming, including beating up Lao Jun, forbidding Lao Jun from crossing over to the other world, and even deliberately avoiding thinking about Jiao Ming.

He attempted to utilize the protagonist group's talents and skills to completely sever ties with Jiao Ming!

But now, when He hears that Zhao wants to resurrect Jiao Ming, He still can't help but feel complicated...

Joy? Fear? Anticipation? Resistance?

Perhaps both.

He pondered for a long time, and finally sighed deeply:

"it is good."

As he spoke, the avatar of the Heavenly Dao reached out and made a grasping motion, as if it were grabbing something.

Before long, He pulled out a true spirit glowing with red light!

He said slowly:

"I am the Heavenly Dao, and my foundation is no longer that of an ordinary true spirit. Even if I am separated from it, it will not affect my existence."

"You may take this wisp of true spirit..."

His words were calm, but Zhao Si could clearly hear his reluctance.

This is normal. After all, no matter how much it is separated, He still has a certain degree of recognition of Jiao Ming's identity, and the True Spirit is equivalent to the proof of this identity. How could He completely abandon His own identity?

Saying "Take it" might mean secretly thinking, "Return it when you're done!"

However, Zhao Si didn't expose him, but simply nodded gratefully to him:

"Thank you, I'll return it to you later!"

With that, Zhao Si used the system to cross over to another realm, leaving only the Heavenly Dao avatar and Bird Number Three behind...

"What? You can't bear to part with it?"

Bird Number Three's Joyful Talk:

"Don't worry, Jiao Ming is a man who is determined to die. Even if he is resurrected, he will still commit suicide... Your true spirit will definitely be returned."

The avatar of Heaven glanced at him:

"You know him so well?"

"Of course!"

Bird Number Three remarked:

"When I was born, I was instilled with Jiao Ming's memories. If I hadn't known he wasn't me, I probably would have been possessed on the spot..."

"Just like you, you want to cut ties with Jiao Ming and prove that you are independent, and so do I! That's why I made many choices that were the opposite of Jiao Ming's."

"But no matter how I try to separate them, the familiarity and sense of identity brought by those memories still make me feel a special closeness to Jiao Ming."

"I know everything about him—his personality, his thoughts, his feelings… I know what kind of person he is. Since he has chosen to pay for his sins with death, he will not continue to live. Even if he is resurrected, he will still die!"

"No one can save him, not Hongjun, not Zhao Si either..."

As she spoke, the third bird sighed:

"That's the kind of person he was, a man destined to die... so your spirit will definitely be returned."

"Because he is Jiao Ming."

……

Jiao Ming's three lifetimes in the primordial era.

"alright!"

Zhao Si stepped back and waved the Crimson Light True Spirit in his hand at Hongjun:

"He agreed."

"good!"

Upon seeing this, Hongjun, who had been uneasy about whether the Heavenly Dao incarnation would hand over Jiao Ming's true spirit, was overjoyed!

Jiao Ming's true spirit was divided into three parts. One part was used on the Heavenly Dao of the Third Bird World, one part was used on the Heavenly Dao here, and the other part transformed into [Jiao Ming] here to accompany the Ancestral Phoenix.

Now that the most difficult problem—the Heavenly Dao of another world—has been dealt with, the remaining two are much easier to solve…

"Good boy, give me your true spirit."

Hongjun faced the void and spoke in a tone as if coaxing a child.

The foolish Heavenly Dao Will in the void didn't think much of it and obediently handed over a portion of crimson true spirit!

"Okay, now only his portion is left..."

Hongjun repeated the phrase over and over, his expectant gaze fixed on the distant southern volcano...

"Don't bother him."

Just then, Zhao Si shook his head:

"He is Jiao Ming's obsessive corpse, containing very little true spirit. Whether he has it or not, it does not affect Jiao Ming's main consciousness."

"Besides, he was a vessel left by Jiao Ming to express his feelings, born from his obsession with Zu Feng... Let him continue to bear the obsession left by Jiao Ming, and don't disturb him."

Once Zhao Si spoke, Hongjun naturally couldn't refute him. After pondering for a moment, He finally nodded...

In front of Hongjun's anxious face, Zhao Si presented two portions of true spirit.

These two originally one true spirits finally reunited after countless years. Under the call of their shared origin, the two true spirits merged together without any obstruction, transforming into a single, radiant red true spirit.

Looking at it, Zhao Si was also filled with emotion:

Lao Jiao was a terrible protagonist; he died before completing the system's mission.

But Lao Jiao was very successful because he touched the hearts of countless people. In every ancient land he had visited, there were people waiting for and remembering him.

Even after his death, he had a close friend like Lao Jun who tried every means to resurrect him, even setting his sights on the Heavenly Dao, intending to use it as a shell company for a backdoor listing...

Now, I will bring him back to life, carrying the memories of everyone who remembers him!

With this in mind, Zhao Si said softly:

"System, revive Jiao Ming."

[Ding! Player's revival request detected, system has accepted.]

[Target for resurrection: Jiao Ming, the second-generation protagonist!]

[Currently revived...]

With the system notification sound, a mysterious power descended upon Zhao Si's hands!

That power is the power of miracles, the power to transform the false into the true, the power to create something from nothing, a power that even saints cannot attain.

There has never been such a thing as turning something fake into something real in this world, unless the power is not a product of this world...

Clearly, it comes from that mysterious being!

Carrying its will, and using the system as its agent, it forcibly intervened in the operation of this world, and bestowed upon it an unprecedented miracle...

Under the watchful eyes of Zhao Si and Hongjun, each with a different expression, Jiao Mingzhen's spirit, enveloped in power, suddenly trembled, and then gradually formed a mysterious substance outside his body:

It's called a soul!

Logically speaking, each true spirit can only give birth to a soul once in its lifetime. Therefore, if the soul is scattered, the remaining pure true spirit cannot generate a soul again.

But now, this common sense has been broken.

An old true spirit has regenerated its soul a second time, its aura just as it was back then...

……

Jiao Ming had a dream.

In his dream, he was the sole protagonist in the world, so from the day he was born, he shouldered a mission from the depths of his being:

Survive, live freely!

This task is very simple. As long as he is willing to endure the darkness, he doesn't even need to do anything. He just needs to wait for his fellow Daoist to break through the Primordial Era, and then he can ascend to the Sainthood with his fellow Daoist and step into infinite light.

Immortality is as easy as pie!

But he just can't do this easy thing; he's the kind of person who can't even win by doing nothing...

Why is that?

He asked himself.

"Perhaps I'm just too sentimental..."

He thought about it.

He didn't need to get involved in worldly affairs; he could have just been a free bird. What did the lives and deaths of other people have to do with him? They weren't caused by him.

But because of his sentimentality, he took the initiative to get involved in worldly disputes that had nothing to do with him. He wanted to end this war that had caused countless deaths and injuries with his own strength!

And he did indeed do that.

After three lifetimes, he finally achieved his initial goal: to nip the war between the three races in the bud and create a peaceful new world!

But after he had done all that, he was bewildered to find that his act of stopping the killing had actually caused even more problems...

In the end, under pressure from the overall situation, he had no choice but to go against his conscience and let Qiankun and Yinyang create disasters in the prehistoric world in order to gather enough true spirits to create the Heavenly Dao.

Now, sins that had nothing to do with him have all been pinned on him!

Under immense psychological pressure, his already fragile mental state could only lead him to atone for his sins with death, or even to completely give up on life...

"A laughable life."

This is his self-assessment.

It was a sure win, but because of a moment of weakness, he fell into the trap of worldly desires and ultimately failed... It's ridiculous, and he only has himself to blame!

but……

I have no regrets.

He said.

"I cannot bear to see the chaos of the world, nor can I sit idly by amidst the chaos... Flying alone with my eyes closed may be a kind of freedom, but this is not the freedom I want."

"The freedom I want is freedom for everyone. If others are not free, then I will help them achieve freedom..."

"But, there's no such thing as a free lunch."

"Humans living in this world are bound to have a thousand kinds of constraints. I can save one person, a hundred people, or ten thousand people, but how can I possibly save billions upon billions of people in the entire world?"

"By going against this basic fact and trying to save everyone in the world, I will only be futile and may even end up hurting myself..."

"The idea of ​​everyone being free is a delusion; true and complete freedom can only be achieved through death."

"If a person does not exist in this world, they will naturally not be subject to any of the world's constraints and sufferings; death is the most complete freedom and liberation..."

He was thinking this...

"Fellow Daoist!"

Suddenly, a call came from afar, hard to distinguish, and the call was filled with uncontrollable joy and excitement!

Jiao Ming could tell that it was the voice of the old man Hongjun.

But he was not happy about it; instead, he sighed inwardly.

"I'm not free anymore..."

……

(End of this chapter)