Chapter 3: The Wandering Butterfly
The destructive energy storm triggered by the system crash not only tore his soul apart but also violently hurled half of his soul and three beams of golden light into the chaotic currents of an unknown void.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself in this bizarre, peril-filled forest.
Worse still, having lost the anchor of his physical body and existing solely as a soul, he could clearly sense that his existence was as fragile as a candle in the wind. His soul had grown thin and transparent, on the verge of vanishing completely into the void.
Just as his consciousness teetered on the brink of oblivion, one of the three golden beams cast here alongside him suddenly grew incredibly gentle.
The light was no longer blindingly intense; instead, it flowed like a babbling brook beneath the moon, warmly and peacefully enveloping the source of his soul as it was about to disintegrate.
Immediately afterward, that golden light slowly coalesced and took shape before his eyes, eventually forming the outline of a flawless, tiny girl's body.
Silver hair, violet eyes, and delicate pointed ears—it was exactly the form he now possessed.
And it was precisely during this process that a faint yet crystal-clear thought, accompanied by gentle goodwill, reached his consciousness on the brink of extinction:
"Please… use my body."
No questioning, no hesitation—only the purest, most selfless devotion.
It was at this very moment that Yin Chen finally realized the true nature of that golden light.
She was none other than Xia Die, a character from a game in his past life—the Demigod of Death.
She was also one of his paper-doll wives.
Only Die Bao, with her character so gentle and kind to the extreme, would, upon sensing that half of his soul was on the verge of vanishing, unhesitatingly choose to offer her own body as a sanctuary, dedicating it entirely to him.
Yinchen's fading consciousness was drawn and guided almost instinctively, like a fledgling returning to its nest, merging into this vessel that had opened itself to him.
His soul and the new physical body quickly fused, instantly averting the crisis of dissolution, and a grounded sense of existence returned.
Yet he also clearly sensed that the very moment he took possession of this body, Xiadie's consciousness—already weakened by resisting the system's explosive impact—had fallen into a deep slumber.
To ensure his survival, she had sacrificed everything, including herself.
At first, controlling two bodies with a single soul proved an agonizing ordeal for Yinchen.
The body at home was stiff and mechanical; he could only remain motionless in his room. Fortunately, Uncle Gray assumed he had shut himself away due to the shock of his parents' deaths.
Meanwhile, Xiaodie's body in the forest stumbled and fell repeatedly.
The pain from these falls was felt distinctly by both his original body and Xiaodie's body.
Two sets of vision, two sets of hearing, two sets of touch… it was nearly enough to twist his thoughts into a tangled mess.
However, perhaps because his soul had been forcibly split in two, some sort of compensatory mechanism had been activated.
Or perhaps, having survived an impact on the scale of a system explosion, the resilience of his soul had long since surpassed all reason.
After the initial fluster, sensory confusion, and intense mental discomfort, Yin Chen was surprised to discover that he seemed… to be adapting rapidly.
Just as the brain is naturally capable of processing the slightly different images seen by each eye and integrating them into clear, three-dimensional vision, his split yet unified core consciousness began instinctively learning how to process these two parallel streams of sensory information.
He attempted to construct an invisible barrier within his consciousness.
At first, this barrier was fragile and riddled with gaps; information from both sides continued to seep through uncontrollably.
But gradually, as he focused his mind, the barrier grew more solid.
He could now choose to block out the sensations from the other body, gradually adapting to controlling two distinct bodies—a perfect case of multitasking.
Once he had adjusted to the dual sensory onslaught, another, more intimate and embarrassing issue came to the fore—the discomfort of this sudden female body.
When he looked down, he saw a flat chest, slender arms, and the soft fingertips of a girl.
As he walked, he could feel the empty space between his legs—a physical structure entirely different from what he was used to.
When the forest breeze brushed against the side of his neck and his arms, the sensation on his skin seemed to grow more acute and… strange.
Every sensation reminded him that he was now a girl.
Yinchen held her breath, pressing her petite body tightly against the back of an ancient tree covered in moss and exuding a musty, decaying scent, her heart nearly stopping.
She could clearly sense a violent, scorching aura moving slowly nearby; with every step, the ground trembled slightly, and withered branches and fallen leaves cracked under the strain.
It was at least a thousand-year-old Soul Beast—the exact species unknown—but certainly not something she, unarmed as she was, could possibly stand against.
"To the left, behind that tree—go around it."
A cold, detached yet strangely authoritative female voice rang out directly in the depths of her mind, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
Without a moment's hesitation, Yin Chen moved like the most agile of cats, following the instructions to the letter. Using the twisted trees and dense, strange vegetation as cover, she silently altered her route, gradually putting distance between herself and that terrifying aura.
Only when that suffocating sense of oppression had completely vanished from her perception did she dare to breathe a faint sigh of relief, sliding down to sit against a cold boulder.
"Thanks, Ronava."
She murmured silently in her mind.
From the corner of her mind—the realm belonging to the other occupant—came a barely perceptible ripple, serving as a response.
This was her greatest source of strength, allowing her to survive to this day on the perilous edge of the forest.
It was not the "Power of Death" possessed by Xiadie, the original owner of this body—a power that required physical contact to activate and was somewhat ineffective against powerful soul beasts—but rather the Demon God who had descended alongside her soul and had now become her martial soul: the Ruler of Death, Ronawa.
Yes, just as the Time Regent Istaru awakened alongside her main body, Yinchen, this half of her soul—born when she fused with Xiadie's body and completed the awakening of her innate martial soul—is none other than the Death Regent, who symbolizes ultimate tranquility and the end of all things.
And Rona Va is also one of the three golden lights; as for the final golden light, just like on the side of the main body, it remains utterly elusive.
Of the five golden legends, three are Xiadie, Rona Va, and Istaru; the other two are concealed within the bodies of Yinchen and Xiadie, respectively.
Rona Wa's form of existence is extremely unique.
She is neither completely asleep nor fully awake.
She herself seems unable to directly intervene in reality or wield her immense power to defend Yin Chen against enemies—at least not for now.
End of this chapter...