Dan Feng had grown weary of the long-standing political corruption that festered within the ranks of the Luofu's Vidyadhara. With an iron resolve he purged the internal hierarchy, casting several radical Preceptors into the cycle of reincarnation.
Afterward, in order to heal Baiheng's injuries, he performed the Transmutation Arcanum upon her after obtaining her full consent.
This desperate act triggered violent upheaval throughout the Vidyadhara. By the time the remaining Preceptors realized what had occurred, the process had already become irreversible.
When representatives of the Six Charioteers arrived at the scene, they found only two Vidyadhara eggs.
Through specialized testing conducted by the Alchemy Commission and the Preceptors, it was confirmed that one of the eggs contained the High Elder who had entered reincarnation.
But the aura of the High Elder within that egg was completely different from that of the former Imbibitor Lunae.
When the time for hatching arrived, the Preceptors were shocked to discover that the reincarnation of the Luofu's successive High Elders had emerged as a girl of completely different appearance.
The other Vidyadhara egg nurtured the original childhood form.
The die had been cast. There was no turning back.
The matter alarmed the High Elder of the Xianzhou Fanghu, Glaciator Marum, who personally traveled to the Luofu to pass judgment.
Years later, a young girl with lavender hair and majestic horns upon her forehead assumed the position of High Elder of the Luofu's Vidyadhara.
The former Imbibitor Lunae, Dan Feng, lost the High Elder inheritance and retained no knowledge of the deeds he had committed in his previous life.
In the end he was given the name Dan Heng.
No one anticipated that, as time passed, Dan Heng would gradually begin to display the features of a High Elder.
After tedious and meticulous testing, an even more startling truth came to light.
Dan Feng had succeeded in duplicating the Dragon Heart through the Transmutation Arcanum.
Had the inheritance not been non-replicable, the Luofu might have possessed two High Elders of the Vidyadhara at the same time.
After joint discussion between Jing Yuan, Glaciator Marum, and even the Marshal, it was decided that both would receive the Injection of Past Life in Dreams, a method capable of awakening memories of previous lives.
The Transmutation Arcanum had transformed Baiheng—who had originally been a Foxian—into a Vidyadhara. This held profound significance for a race unable to reproduce by ordinary means.
No matter the cost, the method had to be extracted from Dan Feng… or rather, from Dan Heng.
The good news was that both of them recovered memories of their past lives.
The bad news was that those memories remained incomplete.
Neither Dan Heng nor Baiheng retained any recollection of the specific process of the Transmutation Arcanum.
A test was conducted to determine whether the claim was a lie. The result left Glaciator Marum deeply disappointed.
Although Dan Heng could not recall the Transmutation Arcanum, he was fully aware that many of his past life's actions had seriously violated the Alliance's regulations.
The internal purge, the destruction of the past-life memories of several radical Preceptors, the unauthorized use of the Transmutation Arcanum… Now that the High Elder inheritance rested with Baiheng—renamed Bailu—Dan Heng possessed the Dragon Heart and could still draw upon the power of the Path of Permanence, yet he remained nothing more than a false High Elder.
Therefore Dan Heng petitioned the Marshal for hatching rebirth, willing to accept punishment, become an ordinary person, live out a mortal lifespan, and then enter extinction in peace.
The Marshal refused. Glaciator Marum refused as well.
Dan Heng's final fate was to conceal his dragon horns and leave the Luofu, just as Yingxing had done in the past. He was forbidden from returning at will.
The Preceptors were naturally dissatisfied with this arrangement, yet the most radical among them had already been effectively erased by Dan Feng. The remaining Preceptors had no choice but to submit memorials of protest.
In the end Dan Heng departed peacefully, setting out alone.
At this point, of the legendary High-Cloud Quintet, only Jingliu and Jing Yuan remained in this world. The other three had all taken on new identities.
Two had left. One had bid farewell to the past, renamed Bailu, and taken up the duties of High Elder of the Vidyadhara to watch over the Ambrosial Arbor.
Bailu had always missed her old friends. She also missed her friend's master—the man who seemed stern on the surface yet would generously offer guests fine wine.
The Plum Blossom Wine made by his hand existed no more… It was a pity that things had changed and people were gone. Tomomu Kanzaki's end was something that still brought quiet sighs.
With him perishing alongside Shuhu, the members of the High-Cloud Quintet had gone their separate ways.
All good things must come to an end. The joyful times once spent in the Qingxin Residence now belonged only to the past…
===
System Soul Realm.
Kanzaki lay resting in the starry expanse for a full year before he finally recovered from the end of his second life. Slowly, he opened his eyes.
A life of nearly 1,679 years, filled with emotional bonds and feelings far beyond anything his first life of secluded living had contained, settled heavily within him.
"Jingliu… Xueyi… Hanya…"
Kanzaki let out a long breath toward the endless sky, calming the turbulent thoughts in his heart, and raised a hand to lightly press against his aching head.
"I shouldn't have let anyone down… and I should have kept most of the vows I made, right?"
The system did not answer him.
Kanzaki did not mind. He looked at the system panel.
[Second Life, Ended]
[Main Gains of This Life:]
[1. Biological Knowledge (Advanced)]
[2. Damaged Silver Moon Jade Pendant (Cannot be discarded, currently cannot be repaired)]
[3. Ancient Xianzhou Acupuncture]
[4. Bajiquan Mastery]
[5. Cloud Knight Swordplay]
[The above gains will be carried into the next reincarnation. Please select the memories you wish to forget; if there are none, please ignore this.]
"There are none I need to forget."
[Given that the memories of this life are too complex and the emotional feedback exceeds the threshold of normal human endurance, it is recommended to temporarily seal the memories of your past life before starting the next one.]
"Temporarily?"
[If you reunite with important people from your past in the next life, the connection can be renewed, and the corresponding memories will automatically unseal, thereby reducing the mental burden.]
[According to the system's assessment, if you carry past life memories into the next reincarnation, there is a 71% probability of suffering from Hyperthymesia.]
Kanzaki understood at once.
Hyperthymesia—as someone who had studied medicine, he naturally knew of it. Rather than a disease, it was more like an innate talent, yet that talent was a double-edged sword.
Those who possessed Hyperthymesia forgot nothing. They easily fell into memories and found it difficult to pull free, especially from the negative ones. Those memories surfaced again and again, leading to depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress reactions.
If the Xianzhou's long-life species were born with Hyperthymesia, they would rarely survive past three hundred years and would almost certainly fall mara-struck long before then.
"Then seal them temporarily."
Kanzaki did not hesitate.
After all, there was no guarantee of meeting again in the next life. When Kanzaki died in each life, the bonds of relationship passed away with him.
Just as in the second life there had been no further news of Yu Qingtu and Clarice, so too in the third life he might never cross paths with Jingliu and the others again.
One should be open-hearted in life and composed in death.
Carrying no obsessions, untainted by worldly sorrow, facing karma with equanimity.
"Begin the next life."
[Timeline anchoring… Locked: Azure Star.]
[Inconsistent with current timeline, correction completed.]
[Starting to generate Talent Cards and Destiny Cards. Note: Talents cannot be retained after death.]
[Talent levels are, in order: Iridescent, Gold, Purple, Blue, White, Black.]
[A Beginning Without an End (Black)]: You will be born into a wealthy family with no worries about food or clothing, but you will not live to adulthood.
[Abundance Fortune (Purple)]: Sudden accidents cannot easily take your life; the probability of treading the Path of Abundance is slightly increased.
[Dwarf (Black)]: Your height will never exceed 130 centimeters in your lifetime.
[Clear Sight (Blue)]: Your vision will not decline, but your eyes are easily injured; remember to protect them.
[A Thousand Faces (White)]: Your face will change every two days, but it is completely random; your appearance might scare people to death.
[Inverted Charm (White)]: Compared to the opposite sex, you will more easily attract the same sex.
[Give and Take (Purple)]: Give up the two taels of flesh between your legs, and you can tread the Path of Destruction.
[Unlucky Masked Fool (Blue)]: You will become a Masked Fool occasionally targeted by Aha, but the outcome of events will be unpredictable.
[Friend of Animals (White)]: You have a natural affinity for the vast majority of animals.
[Please select three to start your next life.]
"What bad luck…" Kanzaki sighed quietly.
The Azure Star was a world never heard of even within the Xianzhou Alliance. It was likely unremarkable.
"I choose Abundance Fortune, Clear Sight, and…"
After the final choice was confirmed, his consciousness quickly blurred.