The Reincarnated Divine Child and Destiny Across Three Lifetimes (Part 2)

"Reincarnated Divine Child?!" A bunch of people blurted out in perfect harmony, even the junior sentries couldn't help but sneak a peek over here. In this day and age, that's just too explosive a headline—atheism isn't even a thing yet. Every so often, the Daoist cultivators drop some wild story, like someone somewhere surviving a heavenly tribulation and joining the ranks of the immortals, and the whole martial world eats it up like it's trending on Weibo, boosting their follower count and leaving regular folks dizzy with awe.

As martial artists, we're not clueless about cultivation, and we're basically in the same business as today's so-called cultivators. We know how tough it is to actually make progress, and most of those 'immortal newsflashes' are total baloney. So we've got way more resistance to ghost and god stories than your average believer. If it were any other gang of fighters here, they'd probably roll their eyes at this kid's claim, toss out a snarky comeback, or just give him a good whack and say, "Quit spouting nonsense, you brat."

But the Tianshan Sect? They're a different breed.

Is cultivating hard? Sure, it's tough, but not totally impossible. Don't believe it? Just look at our Empress Tianshan—she's ninety-six, does the whole Benjamin Button routine on schedule, and lately she's been getting younger by the day. Or check out our Young Boss: when she was born, golden light lit up the whole place, and even her haircut gets treated like a sacred relic. A single drop of her blood could turn Empress Tianshan from a cool big sister into an adorable little girl.

Still skeptical? Let's cut to our live segment—it's time for an exclusive interview with Lady Simone. Here’s how it goes:

[Simone, hi! Can you tell us how you managed to travel through time and space from South Wasteland Holy Mountain to the Freewind Sect?]

[I took my team out of the city, set off some poison smoke, played a tune, got knocked flat with a thud, and the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and someone had me by the collar. Blinked once, and bam—here I was.]

With all this hard evidence, the Freewind Sect folks have a 'don't talk about it, but secretly believe it' attitude toward gods and immortals. Lady Simone barely dares to rebel, and that's partly why. So when the little furball dropped the words 'Reincarnated Divine Child,' everyone’s face got real complicated.

"Rein-car-nated... Di-vine... Child..." Compared to the rest, Jill Young was the calmest. She squinted, pinched her chin, and stared at the kid for a good long while, her eyes practically spelling out 'sharp.' Then, with a skeptical drawl, she said, "Sure, Golden Wheel’s half a monk, but with all these high monks around, I’ve never heard of actual reincarnation. Even if it’s real, Golden Wheel spent his whole life swinging sticks and barely cracked a sutra—how would he get picked for the next round? Are you really the old man’s reincarnation? If you’re fibbing at your age, you’re due for a good spanking."

The little furball looked like he’d handled this question a hundred times. Eyes half-open, half-closed, face solemn and dignified, he recited: "One flower wilts, another blooms; autumn birds fly away, spring returns. Pond fish leap, the waterwheel spins; the wheel touches shore, then circles back again..."