Immortal Paladin 235 False Earth Awaits~!

235 False Earth Awaits~!

The power to see the future was a paradox in itself. If one had true foresight, then what did that an for choice? Could you still call it a decision if the result was already known? There were two prevailing theories about this dilemma. The first held that destiny was fixed, and any glimpse of the future was not just a possibility, but a certainty. The second, more flexible model, believed that knowing the future allowed one to act and alter it, to diverge from what was seen and forge a new path.

Gu Jie’s forr ability, the Sixth Sense Misfortune, adhered to the first theory. It allowed her to detect approaching misfortunes, accumulate them like poisonous threads, and either shoulder them herself or assign them to others. There was no fighting what she sensed, only bracing for it. On the other hand, Nongmin’s Heavenly Eye embodied the second theory. It was a lens into branching tilines, letting him perceive causes and effects across countless divergences, each one a strand of fate he could simulate and analyze.

Now, with both gifts rged into the Destiny Seeking Eyes, Gu Jie stood on the fragile fulcrum of predestination and possibility. Through her, I could look into a destiny both fixed and fluid. A contradiction. A miracle.

Within that fragile window, I reached. I took her hands in mine and invoked Divine Possession, rging my awareness with hers. She shuddered. I anchored her with buffs from my stats. Even then, I knew it wouldn’t be easy.

The world fell away.

I stood in a realm of streaming lights, ribbons of gold, silver, and soft blue twisting in an endless torrent. They spiraled and shifted, each thread a tiline, each spark a life. And when I focused, I could see them clearly. Every thread was a mory, a life I had lived or nearly lived. I saw versions of myself rise as emperors, fall as beggars, die as children, ascend as gods, or vanish as monsters. So were barely shadows, aborted tilines that crumbled as soon as they ford. Others burned bright: choices I nearly made, roads not taken. I reached deeper, searching for one possibility above all others: the ending where I lived, my loved ones lived, and peace reigned.

And I found it.

But it was faint and fragile like glass.

Gu Jie trembled under the strain. I undid the Divine Possession before she shattered completely.

The world returned in a rush.

I blinked and gasped, snapping back to my body. Gu Jie collapsed forward, and I caught her just in ti. Her knees nearly gave out beneath her.

“Big sis…” Ren Jingyi called out, stepping closer with her brows drawn in worry.

Lu Gao steadied himself, glancing at . “Master, what’s the plan?”

Hei Mao, arms folded, said with quiet certainty, “Just so you know, I have no plans of being separated from you again, Master.”

Alice knelt by Gu Jie’s side, brushing hair from her brow. “Gu Jie… can you hear us?”

Gu Jie stirred and exhaled slowly, blood trickling from the corners of her eyes like crimson tears. I’d pushed too far. I reached out and cast Cure, letting a gentle warmth knit her spirit back together.

“That’s better…” she whispered, voice faint but stable.

“How much did you rember?” I asked gently.

Gu Jie’s lips parted, then faltered. “A lot,” she said, “but not enough. I didn’t see us win.”

I leaned back slightly, my voice level. “I did.”

Doubt flickered across the group. I didn’t bla them. With Gu Jie’s cultivation level, her mind wouldn’t retain every sliver of what we saw. Instead, she would only rember fragnts and impressions.

Alice narrowed her eyes. “Are you telling the truth?”

I scoffed. “Of course I am. What do you think of ?”

They all stared at .

“…What’s that about?!” I barked.

Hei Mao tilted his head thoughtfully. “Master, your definition of a ‘win’ is rather questionable.”

Alice smiled. It was a crooked, knowing thing. “Then maybe,” she said sweetly, “you can share with the rest of the class how you plan to win. Preferably without dying?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. No witty coback arrived. My thoughts circled too fast to form words.

Gu Jie spoke next, her tone flat. “This is useless.”

We all turned to her.

She sat up straight, wiping the drying blood from beneath her eyes. “One thing I’ve learned about seeing the future,” she said, “is that the future is always unpredictable. The mont soone knows the future, they change their perception of it. And that change alone causes ripples and effects that weren’t part of the original vision. Soon enough, the future you saw becos sothing that never happened at all.”

She was right. Just by seeing, we had altered it. Fate, it seed, resented being observed. The re act of looking changed the outco. The contradiction burned itself into my chest.

And yet…

That fragile thread remained.

Alice turned slowly and looked at .

“What’s so important about the False Earth,” she asked, her voice asured, “that you must return to it? Isn’t it enough that you’re alive? That you’ve returned here, to the Hollowed World?”

Everyone turned their eyes to , waiting expectantly for an answer.

I pointed at the sky, the light above filtered through thin clouds and flickering formations of spiritual wind, and said, “Beyond the sun, the clouds, and those fractured flows above the firmant… There is a world called the False Earth. And there are people I cherished there, people I vowed to protect.”

Alice’s voice sliced through my mont like a whip, sharp and imdiate. “And what about us?”

My hand faltered in the air. The words I wanted to say coiled behind my teeth. “You can’t make choose, Alice…”

“That’s the problem with you, David.” Her tone was calm, but beneath it was a burn like cold iron. “You want to save everyone.”

“I surely wouldn’t fail for lack of trying,” I muttered, almost defensively.

“And you’ll still fail,” she snapped, “because you lack prioritization. Do you even care about Losten? Do you care about us?”

The words struck deeper than I expected. I felt a heavy knot twist in my chest, a pressure behind my ribs, like bile rising. I knew it wasn’t her voice in truth. It was my own guilt echoing in her tone, but the distinction didn’t ease the weight. My voice ca out low. “That’s not fair.”

“Fair?” she repeated, eyes narrowing. “Was it fair when you suddenly died on us?”

It was just one ti! But I couldn’t say that. I knew how it sounded. I shut up.

Gu Jie stepped forward, her tone calm but certain. “This has to happen,” she said. “There’s sothing in the False Earth… sothing important enough to determine the fate of the Hollowed World.”

"Great," Alice scoffed, "An intervention..."

Gu Jie looked guilty, trying to avoid Alice's eyes.

Hei Mao leaned his weight on one leg, arms crossed loosely. “What’s the plan then?”

Gu Jie nodded to herself before gesturing toward the gatron. “I’ve seen fragnts, threads of it unfolding, even before this reunion. But now, it seems more plausible than I expected. We’ll rely on the gatron to breach the divide and climb toward the False Earth. With Master’s power, we have a chance to succeed. But it won’t be easy. We’ll be risking our lives.”

A deliberate cough broke through the tension.

It was Nongmin.

“I hope you’re not forgetting about ,” he said dryly.

I walked to him without hesitation, pulling him into a firm, unapologetic hug. “I’m really sorry,” I said quietly. “Sorry for dragging you into this, for pulling the Empire into danger just by being associated with .”

He returned the gesture, giving my back a solid pat. “I’d foreseen this much,” he admitted, “though I didn’t expect you to be the one who’d cause it.”

I pulled back slightly, brow creasing. “What do you an?”

“The Empire was always in a precarious position,” Nongmin said, adjusting his collar. “Isolated. Neutral. Surrounded by greater powers kept in check by balance. At so point, one of them… or all of them… was going to make a move. It’s not your fault. It’s fate catching up.”

I hadn’t expected him to comfort . Out of everyone, I thought Nongmin would hold the most resentnt. Yet here he was, calm and resolute.

“Are you not angry?” I asked.

“Did I ever tell you about my life’s purpose?”

“I assud it was being Emperor.”

“You know that isn’t true,” he said gently. “You saw my mories. You saw the life I led. No... In fact, you experienced them...”

I did. I rembered.

He sighed. “For a long ti, I thought my purpose was to save the world from you. Then, it shifted to saving you from yourself. But eventually, it changed again… to sothing smaller. Sothing simpler. I just wanted a happy ending. To grow old. To be with those I love. To live, and be… happy.”

He glanced upward, as if searching for a future he knew wasn’t likely.

“The Heavenly Eye never allowed that. I thought its ability to loop and simulate was a feature. But maybe it was a restriction and a chanism to keep from dying, so I couldn’t end the loop. But now that I gave that up… I feel free.”

“You’re not dying,” I said, but my throat caught as I said it.

Nongmin just smiled.

I placed my hand on his chest and pulled forth a glowing thread from my body, my Human Soul, the one that embodied compassion, desire, and growth. With reverence, I imbued it into him through Divine Possession, letting the essence root deep into his spirit.

With my other hand raised, I declared, “Nongmin, under my divine mandate, I proclaim you Emperor not by birthright, nor title, but by destiny and by soul.”

The winds shifted slightly, carrying the words with weight even the Heavens acknowledged.

Then I turned to Alice, her expression unreadable.

“You’ve been very patient with ,” I said softly. “Thank you. Without you, I wouldn’t still be standing. I have no plans to die. I blundered hard fighting Aixin, and the Summit paid the price. Now, the burden lies on … every mistake, every casualty. The world’s still kicking , and I probably deserve it. But I’m sorry, Alice.”

I turned to the others, my voice steady. “I’m sorry to all of you. And thank you for sticking with this long.”

Alice stepped forward, eyes gleaming. “Then make a promise that you’ll rely on us, that you won’t shoulder everything alone. And that we’ll never be separated again.”

Lu Gao raised a hand with a wide grin. “I might be weak compared to your greatness, Master, but I’ll gladly die for you. And if I do, you’ll just bring back, right?”

Ren Jingyi puffed out her cheeks. “I’ll help too! I’m going to beco a dragon! A real one this ti!”

Hei Mao casually brushed dust from his sleeve. “As the strongest among your current disciples, of course, I’m coming.”

Then Gu Jie cleared her throat.

“Uuuh… sorry, everyone…” She winced, avoiding Hei Mao and Ren Jingyi’s stares. “But you two can’t co along. Hei Mao… Ren Jingyi… The two of you must stay…”

“What the hell?” Hei Mao’s tone dropped in disbelief.

Ren Jingyi’s eyes welled with imdiate betrayal. “Big sis… are you going to abandon ?!”

I rubbed my nose, more out of reflex than thought, trying to hide the mix of pity and secondhand embarrassnt washing over . It wasn’t just that Hei Mao and Ren Jingyi were being left behind. It was the looks they were giving , wide-eyed and betrayed, like I’d just denied them their favorite candy. No, worse. Like I’d stepped on their dreams, chewed them up, and spat them back out with a sigh.

Gu Jie’s voice, calm and cutting, broke through. “Master, explain it to them.”

I balked, stepping back as if she’d tossed a live demonic toad. “Why !?”

Her eyes narrowed, sharp as a blade in winter.

I cleared my throat. “Right, of course. As the responsible adult here…”

Through Gu Jie’s Divine Seeking Eyes, I learned a lot and I already knew a lot, so that was alot of alot.

Faking composure, I addressed the two with as much gravity as I could muster. “Sothing strange happened in the False Earth after I got expelled.... The Human Law is being enforced there… sothing ancient, oppressive, and incredibly specific. It rewrites the rules of who belongs and who doesn’t. And as a result…”

I turned to Hei Mao, bracing myself.

“You’ll lose your ghostly constitution, turn human, and then be devoured by your own shadow.”

Hei Mao blinked. “Wait, what?”

Gu Jie stepped in, her tone clinical. “Yes, that would definitely happen. Your essence was cultivated through ghostly thods. Without it, the Human Law will consu your shadow’s anchor. You’ll be reduced to soul shards within a week.”

Then I turned to the one soul I knew would take it harder.

“Jingyi’er…”

She looked up, still hopeful.

“You’ll lose your spark of wisdom and revert… to a goldfish.”

She stared at , aghast. “No way…”

Gu Jie sighed softly, reaching forward to pat her head. “I’m sorry, Jingyi’er. But it’s the truth. The Human Law will identify you as a beast and forcibly correct your evolution. You won’t even rember who you were.”

Ren Jingyi teared up, her lips quivering. “I want to co along too…”

I knelt, squeezing her shoulders gently. “And I want you with us. I really do. But not if it ans losing you.”

I turned to Nongmin, offering a deep nod. “We’ll be going now. Please, take care of them for .”

He returned the gesture with a reassuring nod. “Of course.”

I looked at Hei Mao, trying not to let my own sadness seep into my voice. “Take care of Jingyi, okay?”

And then to Jingyi. “You take care of Mao.”

She pouted, crossing her arms. “This is so unfair…”

Yeah. It really was.

A thick silence lingered until, like a splash in still water, it was broken by the soft shuffling of boots and whispered words.

Phoenix Guard Xue Xin stood close to Lu Gao, the two exchanging glances like teenagers trying to sneak kisses behind a schoolhouse. Lu Gao looked flustered, like he didn’t know what to do with his hands. Xue Xin didn’t have the sa problem as her hand found his, and she pulled him close with a practiced elegance. They kissed, briefly but unmistakably.

And then, as if the mont had finally caught up to them, they parted.

Lu Gao turned to us, red-faced but grinning. “Wait… no one knew?”

Dead silence.

Then, without another word, Xue Xin turned and jogged back toward Nongmin, reclaiming her place at the Emperor’s side like nothing had happened.

Hei Mao blinked, slowly raising a hand. “So, uh… when’s the wedding?”

“Let’s go,” said Gu Jie. “The False Earth awaits…”