Listen While Reading: Path through the Ridges and Paddies

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Zero Two started eating all the things offered to her; she took bites, swallowed, took bites, swallowed. And in between, she was constantly complaining.

“Ugh, disgusting!”

She said as she ate a soup dumpling.

“What a strange, alien sensation this is!”

She said this after she drank a delicious chicken soup.

“So soft, warm, and dry! How could I ever enjoy this?!”

She said this after eating a big, boiled potato.

“Ugh, this salted thing is not good either!”

And then she said that after eating a big grilled, salted fish.

Everyone was watching her in silence…

“Isn’t this girl quite annoying? Can’t we kick her out of the palace?” the Heavenly Demon was the first to speak. “To say such things about your food, yet she enjoys and eats them all! Isn’t she way two-faced?! She’s courting death!”

“Calm down,” sighed the Heavenly Empress. “She’s simply being a bit shy about accepting and admitting her own experiences. But… I can see it in her eyes.”

Then, I also noticed what Master said.

Indeed, Zero Two was crying as she ate, and they weren’t tears of pain or something.

“Why is it all so… so bad…” She continued crying. “This is… I want more… Can I have seconds?”

“Hehe, of course!” giggled Zero One. “There you go, please eat your fill, sis! Feel alive!”

Eating was one of the most basic needs of any living being. It’s also something that brightened the day of many. Even the most unfortunate person looks forward to a meal. It is something basic we all must do, every day until the day we die.

To make her eat this food, she experiences what is being alive; she might actually hate it, but the feeling of her body moving, digesting, and accepting these nutrients is what makes her cry; it made her realize she’s more than a machine made to kill.

She’s a person.

“Why…”

She muttered, looking at me.

“Why do I feel so strange? Why is water leaking from my eyes?” she asked. “Am I not a machine? A Mechanoid? So why? Why am I… going through such things?”

“You’re specially packed with everything humans did,” I said. “Crying, feeling emotions, questioning yourself, even depression and anger issues! And of course, you can eat. Your body is equipped with the ability to eat and absorb nutrients from food to continue working even better than usual.”

“T-That’s…” Zero Two was shocked. “I was never informed of such… a thing! Sister, is this true with you too then?”

“Of course, why do you think I enjoy living?” giggled Zero One. “If there’s a tasty meal always waiting for me at the end of an arduous day, it all feels worth it! Well, of course, food only tastes good when you eat it with dear friends.”

“Dammit…” Zero Two groaned. “I guess… I guess I understand you better, even if a bit, sister…”

It’ll take her a bit more time to get used to her own capabilities and how human-like she truly is.

But it was a nice sight to see her change, definitely.

Anyway, I also dove into the food, eating to my heart’s content.

The stronger the body, the more energy it requires, and the faster it digests and absorbs it all!

So I ended up eating several plates of food—delicious fried rice, seafood, dumplings, and more—all really good.

Until I felt stuffed…

I wanted to just go to sleep; tomorrow and the next days in the Inner Realm will be long ones, lots to do before the next Mechanical Tree inquisition.

“Anna.”

“Hm?”

As I was making my way to my room, my two masters called for me. I noticed Song wasn’t around, probably sleeping in his room already.

I walked to the hall where the two were sitting next to one another, like the two Emperors of a vast Empire.

“You called, masters?”

I sat down right in front of me; the atmosphere seemed slightly serious, so I remained in silence.

“Tomorrow, and for the next week, your final training will begin,” said the Heavenly Empress.

“Oh…”

“You will obtain the two next Cursed Seals,” said the Heavenly Demon. “And I will ingrain upon you the special Techniques that I use to fully bring out the power of the Demonic Cursed Seals. You must have already seen a few of them, right? The Demonic Cursed Seals aren’t just some power you activate and gain a little enhancement. No, their true power lies in the combination of their effects, auras, and powers and their condensation into techniques. My unique series of techniques, Heavenly Demonic Arts.”

Heavenly Demonic Arts…

That sounds so badass; what the hell.

“And I will also teach you several techniques,” said the Heavenly Empress. “The true manipulation of the Heart of Hope and its flames, and how to properly meld them with your swordsmanship, which still seems rather… well, not so good.”

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Damn.

I guess it’s finally here… the final training montage!

Okay, no, but on a more serious note, it seems this is finally the end of my journey with them.

Everything seems to be slowly coming to that climax.

It’ll be just the second tree, and then… everything that comes afterwards will be a series of events that may lead to the end.

Including me being sent away from this world, perhaps.

And I guess they know that.

“As you may know, this entire time, what you’ve been doing is mostly the foundation,” said the Heavenly Empress. “As much as I would wish to, teaching you everything I know would take hundreds of years. And we have no such time, so I had to prioritize the foundations. Also, we’ll have to skip most of the basics and go to my ultimate ways of using Heart of Hope immediately. It’ll be arduous, but you will learn. I know you will.”

“I will be ruthless too,” said the Heavenly Demon. “The last two souls… You’ll suffer a lot to get them. You can no longer walk back either. I’ll make you go through hell… But then, I’ll also make you come back from hell, Anna. You will become stronger than ever before.”

“If everything goes well… you will be this world’s greatest cultivator,” said the Heavenly Empress.

“T-The greatest?” I asked.

“Perhaps the greatest of every other world, haha!” laughed the Heavenly Demon.

“Really?!” I was in disbelief.

“Yes, after all, you will be carrying the legacies that we created over tens of thousands of years,” said the Heavenly Empress.

“You should feel honored! There has never been such a being in this world!” said the Heavenly Demon. “Anna! Even when the time for you to leave back to your world comes… You will be carrying the world of Bestia’s entire Legacy with you!”

“Indeed,” the Heavenly Empress nodded. “Not just our martial arts, but what made them. The result of our own martial arts is the culmination of millions of years of this world’s history and creation. Of every cultivation technique, of every martial art. We embody the two spectrums of all, Yin and Yang.”

“When you walk to that other world and use those martial arts…” the heavenly demon said. “Always remember where you learned them! Always remember who are your two and only masters… And always remember this world because… because this is your home too, Anna.”

“E-Eh?”

“Please, think of this world as your home as well…” the heavenly empress said. “You deserve it. This is your world as well.”

“Wait… This is…”

I never thought they would say such a thing.

It was like saying that I was welcome here to stay for all my life if I wanted.

“You’re one of us; you’re family,” she said. “You now belong to this world… as much as you belong to your own.”

“So… make damn sure you never forget us, understood?!” roared the heavenly demon. “Or I will not forgive you, my foolish disciple!”

“Of course!” I nodded, feeling moved as I started crying. “Thank you! Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me… I’ve learned… so much here, that indeed! It feels like a second home. There’s still so much to learn too, but it’s palpable in the air, the atmosphere… We’re already reaching the end.”

“And we’ll face it together,” said the heavenly demon. “As disciple and master!”

“That’s right,” the heavenly empress nodded. “Now go to sleep, Anna. Tomorrow is a big day.”

They have done so much for me…

It’s only natural that I also do everything I can to save them.

These two people.

The beautiful white crane, the heavenly empress of hope, Hue Xian.

The ruthless black crow, the heavenly demon of curses, Han Zhenye.

I will never forget you for as long as I live!

I will always keep you close in my heart.

Because you…

You are my beloved masters.

Although since the beginning of my journey that I felt like I had a purpose and what I had to do.

I lacked something, something that I always noticed.

Perhaps it was something to do with inner strength.

Although I had the drive and the intention.

I lacked this…

Having masters that taught me what I lacked.

Forging new friends in another world entirely, who were also apprentices of these masters.

These feelings, these experiences…

I needed them to… well, maybe mature a bit.

It’s weird…

How much more complete I feel now compared to before.

I’ve indeed become much different than before.

I hope my brother, Baihe, and Annabelle don’t mind it…

“Then I’ll get going!” I said, cleaning my tears. “Sorry for crying, I just… I felt a bit moved.”

“It’s fine; go to sleep already,” the crow said.

“Go on, rest well, Anna,” smiled the crane lady.

To be honest, I think I also understand something about them…

I guess they are like…

The father and mother figures I’ve lacked this entire time.

Maybe a bit twisted with the heavenly demon, but definitely with the heavenly empress.

Ugh, it’s embarrassing, but I really love them…

As if I had always been their child.

What’s wrong with me, seriously?

“Um…”

“What?”

“Anna?”

I ended walking back to them, and then I spread my arms and…

Hugged them both.

“W-What are you…?!” the crow immediately felt flustered. “Get off me!”

“Anna…” meanwhile, Lady White Crane seemed slightly surprised.

“Thank you for taking care of me…” I said. “You two are like… the father and the mother I lost.”

Their eyes slightly widened; I had never truly told them about this.

“You lost… your family?” wondered the empress.

“Hm…” the heavenly demon remained in silence.

“Yes, it was in the great catastrophe of my world,” I said. “When portals to other fragmented worlds opened, and monsters came pouring from them… It was a great tragedy; only my brother remained. So since I woke up from my coma that… Well, I always felt like something was missing. Maybe they died when I was a bit too young or something.”

And well, in my previous life, even before Anna… I was an orphan; I never had parents, not even in my childhood.

I was always alone, so alone…

The only thing that could bring me any happiness was reading books.

Immersing myself in these stories to escape into worlds I wish were real.

Worlds where I was happy.

Where I wasn’t alone…

Where I had family.

And now, it’s so bizarre.

How it has become true, somewhat.

“There is a deeper trauma than that, isn’t it?” The heavenly empress wondered. “I can tell.”

“You haven’t told us the complete truth of who you are, my disciple,” said the heavenly demon. “Tell us now, please… Anna, stop keeping this for yourself.”

Would they be able to hear it?

Wouldn’t the system censor it if I said it?

But I really want to say it.

I want to tell them the truth, to trust them even more.

Something I haven’t even told my brother…

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I am a reincarnated soul, from perhaps… another reality.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“The world I came from… was a book I read, a novel,” I said. “And through this reincarnation. I became Anna, the brother of this novel’s protagonist, my brother.”

There, I said it!

“T-This is… ridiculous,” said the heavenly demon. “Yet you are not lying?!”

“Her soul remains sincere,” smiled my master. “So that’s… why you’re the way you are. A reincarnated soul! And… into a book? Haha… Hahahah! Anna! You never cease to amaze me.”

“Y-You’re not weirded out?” I wondered.

“I sure am, but what else can I do?!” asked the heavenly demon. “Is this why you know so much about everything? Incredible…”

“I am shocked you can hear everything I’m saying; usually it’s censored, but… maybe it’s because you never appeared in the original story?!” I wondered. “Maybe…”

“So we are not even extras; our world was simply never featured?” wondered the empress. “Then, Anna, who sent you here?”

“The one that gave me the system most likely… Either the Author or… whoever is in charge of the System I have,” I said.

“The System, the origin of your strength?” The empress asked

“Yeah… Ahh, there’s so much to talk about now, but…” I yawned. “I’m so sleepy.. I just feel relieved I have someone I can talk to about these things… Thanks!”

I hugged them again; the empress giggled while the emperor seemed annoyed.

“Anna, were you an orphan in this first life?” asked the empress.

“Ah?! Y-Yeah…” I sighed.

“Makes sense now!” said the emperor.

Geez, do you have to rub it like that though?

“Although my first and only son is Song…” said the Heavenly Empress. “I am more than happy to know you see me as a mother figure. And I… I would gladly adopt you as my daughter too, Anna.”

“R-Really?” I gasped.

“Hmph! Can’t be helped; you’re so damn clingy… Damn brat, I could do the same!” said the Heavenly Demon.

“But this is… Wait, it’s so embarrassing!”

I ended up covering my face.

“It’s not like it’ll be easy either,” said the empress. “To earn it, you must first master Heart of Hope.”

“And if you ever want me to call you daughter,” said the demon. “You better master the Seven Demonic Cursed Seals.”

“So there are conditions, huh?” I wondered. “Well, at the end, this is all just my selfish requests; they have nothing to do with saving the worlds… But thank you. This gives me even more motivation to surpass you two, masters.”

One day, I’ll call you mother and father.

But until then, I’ll gladly call you masters.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep