Chapter 815 - 389: Jiang Lai’s Warning! Fate Still Unresolved

Chapter 815: Chapter 389: Jiang Lai’s Warning! Fate Still Unresolved

Late at night, Hongfu Garden.

Zhang Fan walked into the neighborhood, glanced at his phone; it was already past twelve. The old streetlights buzzed, their dim light flickering on and off.

"Finally, I’m back!"

Zhang Fan exhaled a long breath. The closer he got to home, the more relaxed he felt, even his Primordial Spirit seemed much more at ease.

Back home, there weren’t as many grudges, nor were there so many life-or-death magical combats. Even though he cultivated the Refined Divine Demon Holy Embryo and couldn’t sleep, he could still enjoy a moment of rare tranquility.

But this tranquility wouldn’t last for long, as he would soon need to head to Zhenwu Mountain.

Fortunately, this time’s trip to Zhenwu Mountain was to attend Transcendent Zhenren’s disciple acceptance ceremony. There shouldn’t be any disturbances, and it was just like a previous trip, meant for relaxation.

Thud...thud...thud...

Just then, a series of slow footsteps came from behind. Zhang Fan instinctively stopped, turned around, and looked.

Under the streetlight, a graceful figure slowly emerged, wearing sporty white sneakers, a neatly cut short-sleeve shirt, with shoulder-length short hair, and eyes that seemed ethereal.

"Jiang Lai!?"

In the quiet night, Zhang Fan stood in the shadow while Jiang Lai stood under the streetlight, only about ten steps apart.

At this moment, Zhang Fan was a bit surprised. He hadn’t told Jiang Lai he was coming back today, nor did he expect Jiang Lai to appear in his neighborhood.

"Why are you here? Looking for something?" Zhang Fan regained his composure and asked.

"I came to see you." Jiang Lai whispered, her ethereal eyes revealing no emotion.

"See me? What’s there to see?" Zhang Fan laughed.

"To see if you’re dead." Jiang Lai said sternly.

"..."

Zhang Fan was silent. If someone else had said that, he would think it was a joke or ill-intentioned, but Jiang Lai...

It must be true that she’s here to see if he’s dead.

"Don’t worry, I’m fine." Zhang Fan chuckled lightly, "By the way, next week, I’m going to Zhenwu Mountain for Transcendent Zhenren’s disciple acceptance ceremony. Do you want to come with me?"

Back then, it was at Zhenwu Mountain where he met Jiang Lai, his Primordial Spirit had returned, emerging slowly from the Great Night.

"Don’t go." Jiang Lai shook her head.

"Hmm?" Zhang Fan was taken aback, not understanding her meaning.

"It’s dangerous there!" Jiang Lai said sternly.

"Dangerous?" Zhang Fan frowned, confused.

"You might die!"

"I don’t understand." Zhang Fan was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

"Jiang Lai, there’s a lot I don’t understand about you, you’re not as simple as you seem..."

"Eighty years ago, during the Daoist Sect’s Great Tribulation, you were at Dragon Tiger Mountain too!"

Zhang Fan’s eyes became focused like a line; he had glimpsed a corner of the past in the vast memories of the Three Corpses Primordial Pill.

Eighty years ago, at Dragon Tiger Mountain, during the calamity that swept across the world, five people walked away alive.

The Thousand-Year-Old Demon, Three Corpses Daoist, Chu Chaoran, Zhang Tai Xu, and Jiang Lai.

Not only that, the day he was born, the day he entered the tribulation ten years ago, and even the day he began to escape the tribulation at Zhenwu Mountain... Jiang Lai’s shadow was always there.

She seemed to have traversed time, overlapping with Zhang Fan’s life trajectory.

"Eighty years have passed, and you haven’t changed a bit." Zhang Fan stared at Jiang Lai, asking in a deep voice.

"Who exactly are you?"

"I don’t know."

Jiang Lai’s face still showed no expression. She slowly lifted her head, looking at the night sky, and shook her head.

"From the day I existed, I’ve been waiting."

"Waiting!?" Zhang Fan asked instinctively.

"Waiting... I’m waiting for a person, an event..."

"The purpose of my existence is to meet that person and complete that event." Jiang Lai whispered.

It’s a peculiar feeling, almost instinctual, engraved in absolute consciousness, as natural as humans are born to breathe.

Everyone, or rather every living being, is born into the Red Dust with a purpose for existing.

Just like mayflies, born in the morning and perishing by night, the purpose of their being born is to reproduce, and once that’s done, their life ends.

Jiang Lai’s purpose is to wait.

An endless wait!

"You are the person I’m waiting for." Jiang Lai looked at Zhang Fan, her ethereal gaze incredibly clear.

"From the day you were born, I knew you were the one I was waiting for."

"I don’t understand!"

Zhang Fan shook his head, feeling even more confused.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don’t know."

Jiang Lai’s voice was gentle yet firm, "As long as you’re here, when that crucial time comes, I will know."

"That’s the purpose of my existence."

In Jiang Lai’s consciousness, her existence was meant to fulfill "some event," and the condition to spark this event was Zhang Fan. Once that time point arrives, everything will complete a perfect loop.

Zhang Fan was thoughtful, Jiang Lai held too many secrets and incredible elements; she seemed like an artificially intelligent being with pre-set commands, only executing the next command when conditions are met.

It’s all very strange.

"So you can’t die." Jiang Lai said sternly.

"How could I die? This time I’m going to Zhenwu Mountain, where Transcendent Zhenren resides; he’s at the Pure Yang Wuji Realm." Zhang Fan explained.

With Chu Chaoran’s cultivation level in this era, though not quite a Living Immortal, he was close enough.

"In this Red Dust, as long as one is human, they will die." Jiang Lai slowly turned, looking in the direction of Zhenwu Mountain.

"Even he will die!"

"You say Transcendent Zhenren...will die!?" Zhang Fan’s eyes trembled, showing an expression of astonishment.

"Life and death are the logic of the Dao; as long as one is human, they will die."

Jiang Lai shook her head, softly speaking. In her long years, she had witnessed too many life and death events. In her eyes, the life and death of ordinary people were as predictable as sunrise and sunset, following a pattern, thus devoid of sorrow or joy.