Volume Five: Ancient Legends Chapter Sixty: Ancient Legends

Chen Chen's journey of wandering gradually began to shift. Having traveled to many places, weary of drifting and wandering, he once again cast off his mortal flesh and entered the Gates of Hell.

The Road to the Underworld, the Bridge of Helplessness, Meng Po's Village...

When Chen Chen wandered to a place called the Stone of Three Lifetimes, he remembered that he still had worldly ties left unfulfilled. The beautiful woman of that lifetime perhaps only belonged to the romance between the man of that era and that fair maiden. At the time, Chen Chen was merely a book spirit and a passing traveler. The name Chen Chen was how we understood and addressed him back then, and he shared an unfinished destiny with Mu Qingcheng.

The red thread connecting Chen Chen and Mu Qingcheng bore no visible origin, yet it was finally untied before the Stone of Three Lifetimes. The status represented by the name Chen Chen and his past and present lives with Mu Qingcheng came to an end right here. Mu Qingcheng lived in blissful union with the man she had wed in ceremonial marriage all those years ago, and so the story concluded its ending.

Bidding farewell to the Gates of Hell, Chen Chen finally resolved a lingering matter before the Stone of Three Lifetimes in the form of a spiritual entity. The reincarnated Chen Chen remained in a spiritual state, but he was no longer bound by the red thread.

Carrying a free body and a free soul, Chen Chen stepped onto the righteous path of the mortal world.

After several lifetimes of flourishing blossoms, there is always a flowering branch to look forward to. After several lifetimes of glory, that glory ultimately serves all living beings. Chen Chen's past had long since fallen behind the curtain. By this lifetime, he finally found a brief pause, a moment of fleeting rest.

Having cycled through several lifetimes of reincarnation, those shackles of destiny followed him like a shadow. As it happened, Chen Chen had Chen Chen's own destiny; he could not covet people and things that did not belong to him. Wandering through the mortal realm as a spiritual entity, it was only upon awakening that he finally remembered his past and present lives, realizing that love across three lifetimes could never truly be continued.

The story of Chen Chen in "God-Level Prisoner" had already become the past. Chen Chen forced nothing upon anyone, simply striving to do his best. By a twist of fate, after regaining a clear mind and understanding how different species ought to be matched, the author dissolved the ill-fated entanglements that should never have been touched.

When Chen Chen returned to the mortal world once more, the mortal realm was perhaps the pursuit he had chased all along. After several cycles of reincarnation, he set forth upon the road without shackles.

In his first lifetime, the physical body was not his; he was merely a book spirit. Under the author's pen, Chen Chen played out a tale of right and wrong, merit and demerit, love and hatred. Even the body that happened to be linked with his physical vessel back then may not have truly been named Chen Chen.

Chen Chen was simply the name we used to address him in the beginning, when the author was still ignorant of taboos, unaware of the truth and the consequences.

To this day, the author has witnessed the boundless splendor of the myriad worlds. Just as the shackles of fate bound him once more, Chen Chen bade farewell to his numerous past lives, resolving the karmic debts of yesteryear in the present day.

The wedding back in the Tianwu Continent seemed to have been held specifically for him and Mu Qingcheng, yet the two parties getting married should have been those two physical bodies that possessed flesh and blood at the time.

Walking through the mortal world in the form of a book spirit, Chen Chen rested for a long time before he was finally able to pause. Following yet another shackle of destiny, Chen Chen was simply Chen Chen, no longer representing any particular person in this mortal world.

This time, every soul returned to its proper body—an adjustment that came about because Chen Chen had formed physical ties with others. No longer crowding out the souls of others, no longer wreaking havoc on the flesh of others, the physical bodies and souls that had been thrown into chaos by his arrival were finally reorganized.

It was vital that every body, soul, and will achieve harmonious unity—a trinity—free from entanglements and disorder, causing no greater chaos, and refusing to be manipulated by others.

Through Chen Chen's multiple reincarnations, how many people had sought to manipulate his body and soul in the palm of their hands using their supreme techniques? And regarding the romance he had forged back then, how many had reached out to meddle, plotting against their physical vessels?

At the time, Chen Chen was merely a book spirit. When his life drifted aimlessly in mediocrity, a sober awakening accompanied him through the mortal world, reminding him that the mundane world is fraught with vicissitudes.

That existence which provoked the wrath of gods and men alike was not the one to untie the bell he had tied. Instead, upon discovering the romance between Chen Chen and Mu Qingcheng, he had intentionally exploited it. Dragging about the soul or the status of Mu Qingcheng and Chen Chen the book spirit, he ran amok, bullying the innocent and scheming to seize other men's beautiful wives or handsome partners.

Those who are ignorant may still be granted some leniency, but those who know better and scheme along these loopholes, repeatedly refusing to mend their ways, deserve a heavier punishment.

Those who harbor such malicious intentions have always been viewed as wicked and heretical, utterly intolerable to the righteous path.

Now, he who tied the bell must untie it, and the one who tied it has indeed untied it. What punishment awaits the one who abused the bell?

There are countless virtuous, pure, and beautiful women in this world. Do not imagine that by mastering a few tricks, taking advantage of others' inattention, you can drag the book spirit around at will, exploiting the bondage of the red thread to scheme against the lives of women in this mortal realm.

In the end, guilty bodies must be reckoned with, and guilty hearts must face retribution. Kindness still exists in the mortal world, and justice still prevails among humanity.

The grievances Chen Chen suffered over several lifetimes finally found a day of vindication. Bearing the grudges of his past and present lives, Chen Chen began to exact revenge upon those despicable and shameless scoundrels—those who exploited the red thread tied to his body or his identity to scheme against ignorant maidens.

Chen Chen had appeared in many places, and in every single location, he seemed to encounter similar misdeeds where malicious individuals utilized him to plot for wealth and lust.

This was a grave issue. Using his name, his story, and his identity to scheme for wealth and lust constituted a monstrous crime.

As the protagonist of the story, Chen Chen began to wander the mortal world. The first place he visited was a prosperous town once known as Ancient City Guanhai, where a man surnamed Yan resided.

Around thirty years of age, he had joined an evil syndicate in those years. Believing that he could rely on the crooked ways of sorcery mastered in the mortal world, along with his connections and high technology, he scoured the mortal realm for handsome men and beautiful women. Men were beaten down to become male prostitutes, and women were forced into prostitution, causing an uproar throughout the city.

This individual was dealt with by Chen Chen according to all the deeds he had committed in the mortal realm throughout his life.

Good deeds are met with good rewards, and evil deeds with evil retribution; if retribution has not yet come, the time simply has not arrived.

As for the evil gang that worked alongside him—the criminal syndicates that defrauded, bound, and trafficked both men and women—they were tracked down one by one, marked by him, and left for the proper authorities to handle when they came knocking.

The human trafficking market was vast, and syndicates organizing sex trade networks were rampant. According to the crimes they had committed in life, Chen Chen administered fitting punishments in the mortal realm.

From that moment on, whenever the hearts of the people turned toward righteousness and the human path, criminals would be brought to justice with no crimes left to commit.

When broad and righteous avenues are laid out in the mortal world, can one dare to call them sinful simply because they provided convenience to criminal syndicates?

Chen Chen merely acted in accordance with human kindness and malice, seeking a settling of accounts for his name and status in this lifetime within the mortal world. He sought to restore a clear and bright cosmos to the mortal realm and justice to the people.

As the saying goes: in human conduct, never deceive your own conscience, for three feet above your head dwell the gods. If evil deeds went unpunished, wicked scoundrels across the world would devour one another.

The myriad facets of the mortal world defy simple judgments of right and wrong, yet the rules of life are far too numerous to count.

Kindness will always lead the way in the mortal world, teaching people to accumulate virtue and perform good deeds to receive rewards. Sin will always face punishment in the mortal world, warning humanity against committing evil lest they suffer retribution.

Chen Chen walked through the mortal world time and time again, finally tracking down those romantic and hedonistic scoundrels. Rather than keeping peace at home, they sowed wild oats everywhere. But grievances have their heads and debts have their masters, and human ethics ultimately govern the world.

Whatever suffering they deserved to endure, they endured.

Those who lurked in the shadows, scheming behind the scenes, could ultimately never escape the reckoning of cause and effect. No matter how much wealth or supreme power they possessed, it was all nothing more than a passing flash in the pan.

On the exquisite journey of life, there are bound to be scenes that manifest in the mortal world, and one's body will inevitably be measured by the five afflictions and three shortcomings. In the end, reincarnation will question past lives, and past deeds will determine whether one may attain rebirth. Ultimately, merits will elevate one to the three domains of goodness, while sins will strip away any chance of transcendence.

Having settled the causes and effects of these past years, Chen Chen gradually drifted into slumber amidst the divine manifestations of reincarnation.

Ancient legends speak of gods who possess temples, and temples built in the mortal world. Within those temples stand divine images, and within those images dwell the spirits.