After Becoming the Hero's Ex-fiancée

Tianluo School (1)

The huge city, the glorious Boundless Ranking, the dozens of wheels forming a huge circle—all this was extremely strange and new to Zheng Wan.

Very quickly, she forgot about those fleeting old friends. Like a mortal who had mistakenly entered the Peach Blossom Paradise, she looked at the constantly shortening procession ahead with curious and innocent eyes.

There was still some difference between the cultivators and the people at the Lantern Festival in the mortal world. Most of them are quiet and restrained; even the young children held themselves well. The entire assessment process was orderly and quiet.

Zheng Wan could clearly hear the chanting of the city guards, and gradually saw more clearly that after the wheel emitted a sudden glow, words appeared on the amber disc that was in the middle of it.

Strangely enough, even though she had come to a different realm, the written language was still the same.

“Wood vital roots, low-grade, bone age seven, middle Gateway stage.”

At the sign of the city guard, the seven-year-old boy walked off the stage with a dejected look, disappearing into the dispersing crowd.

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“Metal vital roots, medium-grade, bone age six, middle Gateway stage. Metal is the element of resolute killing, suitable for sharp and vigorous offensive Ways: Tianzun, Guixu, Taibai.”

The six-year-old girl sporting a double bun bounded joyfully towards the east of the Boundless Ranking, where a bunch of people had already gathered.

Zheng Wan gradually began to understand—for those with better vital roots and younger bone age, the wheel would also kindly give pointers on which sects to apply to after the assessment. This was probably what Granny Jin meant by——

You’ll know when you arrive.

As for those who did not receive any pointers, they had probably been directly eliminated.

According to Granny Jin, she was extremely qualified, but her bones were too old, so what if these dead things didn’t know how to adapt and were brushed off in the first round?

In spite of the clarity she gained, as the line became shorter and shorter, Zheng Wan grew uneasy. According to Granny Jin, her innate qualities were excellent, but her bone age was much older after all. If she was eliminated in the round, what should she do?

Zheng Wan’s anxiety was reflected on her face, which was becoming paler and paler. When Ji Wang turned around and saw her face, his nervousness doubled.

“Wan’niang, if we don’t pass, what will we do?”

“Why won’t we pass?!”

Zheng Wan was annoyed with him for being awed by others yet putting themselves down. Seeing that the city guards were urging—it just so happened to be Li Jin’s turn—she raised her arm and pushed him before the wheel. “Get assessed!”

Li Jin stretched out his hand tremblingly, which was pressed directly into the recessed palm imprint by Zheng Wan. Suddenly, the dim firefly-like light of a moment ago seemed to be lit up by the rising sun, and white light abruptly appeared——

It was so piercing that Zheng Wan had to close her eyes.

“Dong——”

A long chime resounded throughout the square. Zheng Wan opened her eyes and saw that the Boundless Ranking was giving out brilliant rays of light. Underneath “Li Wei Zhenjun “, the words “Fu Sheng Zhenjun” gave a little leap, as if stretching lazily in the air.

“This is……”

Stunned, Zheng Wan looked at the wheel in front of Li Jin. No words had appeared in the glittering amber disc, but the light around the wheel was intensely strong, as if wanting to blind everyone around.

Li Jin looked up at the wheel with his mouth open, looking a little silly.

“Dong——”

A chime rang out again.

The square, which was quiet just now, actually filled with a hubbub of voices; everyone looked towards the spot where Zheng Wan was.

“Did you see that? Just now, the words ‘Fu Sheng Zhenjun’leapt with light.”

“I heard that Fu Sheng Zhenjun hasn’t completed his Third Cycle1 till now, could it be that this person…”

Zheng Wan didn’t understand what they meant, but she knew who this Fu Sheng Zhenjun was. If Cui Wang was the darling of the Heavens in this book, this Fu Sheng Zhenjun was the Heavens’ darling’s stepping stone, the “Yu” in the saying, “Since Yu has already been born, why was Liang born?”2——

The forever Number Two.

…This Fu Sheng Zhenjun seemed to be an eminent monk.

As Zheng Wan mused, she saw that the city guards, who were still utterly indifferent up till a moment ago, had suddenly walked up to Li Jin. They bowed deeply.

“We welcome the return of Fu Sheng Zhenjun’s reincarnation.”

Reincarnation?

Fu Sheng Zhenjun?

“Didn’t you ask me the other day about the Tianluo School?” Granny Jin suddenly piped up. “The Tianluo School practices the attainment of Nirvana through the Realms of Rebirth. To awaken as a Mahayana Buddha, one has to go through ten cycles of rebirth—the first life as a beggar, the second life as a rich man, the third life as a member of the imperial family…”

Zheng Wan listened dazedly.

“Granny, do you mean that Li Jin is Fu Sheng Zhenjun’s third reincarnation?”

She tried to understand it with the mortal world’s logic; so— so… weak?

“There must have been some mistake somewhere,” Granny Jin chuckled. “Oh, here he comes.”

A burst of red sparks shot through the sky, crashing to the ground like a meteor. The red flames dispersed, and before the crowd, appeared a… demon monk.

Footnotes:

1 Third Cycle: Likely a reference to the concept of Saṃsāra. In Buddhism, saṃsāra is the beginningless cycle of repeated birth, mundane existence and dying again. Rebirths occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, ghosts, hellish).

2 Since Yu has already been born, why was Liang born: A quote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by Zhou Yu, a Chinese military general and strategist. Zhou Yu is depicted to be extremely jealous of Zhuge Liang’s (a genius strategist) talent and relentlessly attempt to outwit the latter on several occasions but never succeeds. Zhuge Liang destroyed his battle plans three times. On the third time, he spat out blood and sighed, “If (Zhou) Yu has already been born, why is (Zhuge) Liang to be born?”