The Prodigies War

The Realm of All Mysteries gradually fell silent. Within this vast expanse, Lin Xun slowly opened his eyes. In that instant, it was as though heaven and earth trembled, and the boundless world surged with newfound vitality, as if life itself had been rekindled.

However, looking at Lin Xun, nothing about him seemed to have changed. Not even the faintest trace of aura could be sensed from him. Before, one could still perceive a trace of that divine presence, vast as primal chaos yet empty as the void. Now, even that presence had vanished. All aura had returned to nothingness.

Seeing this, the golden cicada’s expression dimmed. He murmured inwardly, almost to himself, “This destined opportunity...was never mine.”

In the distance, Alpha Origin’s primordial spirit ceased its struggle. He stared at Lin Xun in silence, as though gazing upon a dao path he had pursued for countless ages. After a long while, he let out a quiet sigh, “In this game...I have indeed lost.”

“Master!” Black Crow could no longer hold back. She rushed over, tears streaming down her face.

“Why are you crying?” Alpha Origin looked at her and smiled faintly. “Since it is a game, there are winners and losers. As I said before...there are no absolutes in this world. No matter how meticulously one plans over countless years, it cannot outweigh the change brought by a single variable.”

Black Crow lowered her head, tears falling without end. Alpha Origin reached out and gently patted her head, his voice soft, “Don’t cry. You know I can’t bear to see tears.”

Black Crow wiped the corners of her eyes, forcing down the grief in her heart. Then she lifted her tear-streaked face and said, “Master...in my heart, you have not lost!”

Alpha Origin smiled faintly. Then his gaze turned toward Lin Xun in the distance. “Will you simply stand there and watch...or do you want me to end my own life?”

Lin Xun shook his head. “I would rather you didn’t die.”

Alpha Origin was momentarily stunned. He fell silent, then suddenly burst into laughter. “Do you feel no resentment?” he asked. “Earlier, the golden cicada threatened you with Bodhi’s life, causing you to falter for a moment. That allowed me to seize the opportunity to deal you a heavy blow. You nearly lost your life.”

“That was my tribulation.” Lin Xun’s voice was calm. “If not for that, how could I have become who I am now?”

He paused, then continued, “Besides, even if the golden cicada had truly killed my master, I would still have the confidence to bring him back.”

After a moment, he let out a soft sigh, “I simply never imagined that someone I had always respected and trusted would not walk the same path as me.”

A faint trace of melancholy lingered in his voice. Indeed, when the golden cicada had threatened him with Bodhi’s life, what shook Lin Xun was not fear for his master’s survival, but the sense of betrayal. That was the true reason his composure had faltered in that instant.

In the distance, Chen Xi spoke coldly, “Golden Cicada, now that things have come to this...do you still intend to offer no explanation?”

Chen Linkong also turned his gaze toward him, his eyes cold yet filled with complicated emotions. If he had a choice, he would never have wished for the golden cicada to become a traitor.

Bodhi and Xia Zhi too fixed their gaze on him.

“There is nothing to explain.” The golden cicada pondered briefly, then said calmly, “I lost because I tried to forcibly seize a destined opportunity. I accept that defeat.”

Lin Xun frowned slightly. As he looked at the golden cicada’s gentle and composed expression, memories of the past surged within him like waves. After a long silence, he finally spoke, “Senior...do you still remember the first time we met, in the Mulberry Woodland? You spoke to me about ‘chatting,’ and told me of the past life of the Ten Thousand Tribulation Great Emperor... Do you remember?”

The golden cicada nodded, a trace of reminiscence passing through his eyes. “I remember...I once said that our meeting was a matter of fate, requiring no reason.”

Lin Xun looked at him steadily. “Back then...did you already foresee this day?”

The golden cicada fell silent for a moment before saying, “I once listened to your master expound the great dao for thirty years outside Fangchun Mountain. I once journeyed to the Return Dominion in search of the lost Nirvana origin of the All-Wonder Tree of Life. I have also heard the dao verse your master left behind...the one that speaks of the lotus...”

He took a deep breath before continuing, “Given that...from the very first moment I met you, I already had a premonition that you might one day become that lotus and that the profound meaning of Nirvana would ultimately fall into your hands.”

Lin Xun frowned slightly. “If your goal all along was the power of Nirvana, why didn’t you kill me back then?”

The golden cicada let out a light laugh. “Young friend, in your eyes, am I the kind of person who would go to such lengths?”

Lin Xun shook his head without hesitation. “Of course not. That’s precisely why I can’t understand and why I find it hard to believe you would do such a thing in this game.”

The golden cicada gave a bitter smile, but said nothing more.

Bodhi, who had remained silent all this time, finally spoke. “Golden Cicada...let me ask you this: through all those years, did you truly regard us as friends?”

The golden cicada looked at him, a faint smile on his lips. “The great dao and friendship cannot be held at the same time. This is the source of my greatest pain today.”

Bodhi seemed to understand. The tension in his expression gradually eased. “In that case...I can rest easy.”

Chen Linkong’s voice turned cold. “Golden Cicada, you have already admitted defeat. Why, then, do you still refuse to explain yourself?” There was unmistakable anger in his tone.

Chen Xi frowned as well. It was clear to him that there was far more beneath the surface.

Lin Xun asked quietly, “Then...when did you and Alpha form an alliance?”

Before the golden cicada could respond, Alpha Origin suddenly laughed. “He and I...have always been one and the same.”

That single sentence struck like a thunderclap! Everyone was taken aback. The golden cicada remained silent.

At once, Lin Xun was reminded of the relationship between the Eternal Night Divine Emperor and Xia Zhi. They had once been a single entity, but now no trace of that bond remained.

“Or rather,” Alpha Origin continued, “Taishang, Golden Cicada, and I...have always been one and the same.”

He spoke calmly, yet each word struck like thunder. “However, we are not reincarnations who, upon attaining the dao, cut off all connection with their former selves. Rather, we are three ‘incarnations’ split from the golden cicada’s original body. Have you all heard the legend of ‘One Qi Transforming into Three Pure Ones’? The profound truth behind it is no different from the relationship between me, the golden cicada, and Taishang.”

This revelation struck even deeper. Even Chen Xi and Lin Xun were shaken to the core.

“Even before this game began, I had already said that since this was a contest for supremacy over the great dao, I would leave myself no path of retreat. If I wished to leave one, the golden cicada and Taishang could both have served as my escape.”

A faint sigh escaped him. “But...even I did not foresee that, despite holding every advantage, we would still be unable to overcome a single variable.”

The atmosphere fell into silence. Golden Cicada, Alpha Origin, and Taishang all originated from a single entity! The truth felt abrupt and utterly unexpected.

However, upon reflection, it made perfect sense. After all, in today’s contest, the golden cicada, Alpha Origin, and Taishang had indeed stood on the same side.

“Golden Cicada, why remain silent at a moment like this? Are you afraid these fellow daoists will uncover the truth of your connection with me and Taishang?” Alpha Origin demanded loudly.

The golden cicada’s gaze grew complicated. “We’ve already lost...why bother digging into this any further?”

“If you will not speak, then I will,” Alpha Origin said coldly.

The golden cicada’s voice turned bitter. “Alpha Origin...are you blaming me for not using my full strength in this game?”

Alpha Origin fell silent for a moment, then he replied, his expression unreadable, “If you had struck without hesitation from the very beginning, killing Bodhi, Xia Zhi, and Chen Linkong, do you think Chen Xi and Lin Xun would have had any chance to turn the tide?”

That single question made everyone’s pupils contract. Given the strength that the golden cicada had displayed earlier, he had more than enough opportunities to kill Bodhi, Xia Zhi, and Chen Linkong. However, he chose not to.

“Have you still not seen through it? Young Friend Lin has already integrated the profound meaning of Nirvana into his very being. Even if I had killed them, with his mastery over the Dao of Life and his comprehension of the power of this entire Primal Chaos Epoch, he could have brought them back, one by one.”

The golden cicada said softly, “Even if we had done so, it would not have changed anything. Young Friend Lin’s path of Nirvana cannot be cut off. His dao attainment was never something that could be taken by force.”

Alpha Origin’s expression flickered as light and shadow shifted across his face. “I did not understand it before, but even now that I do, I still cannot accept it!”

Lin Xun’s self-destruction gave rise to a nirvana path of ‘finding life in the face of death,’ and only then did Alpha Origin truly understand what the golden cicada had meant: this nirvana dao attainment was never something that could be seized by force.

Even so, he still could not accept it! That was why, at this moment, Alpha Origin turned to golden cicada and demanded, “Taishang is dead. You and I have both lost. So tell me, what is it we have been waiting for all these ages? All for nothing?”

The golden cicada’s voice sank even lower. “This is what is called fate. It cannot be forced.”

“Fate? What utter nonsense!” Alpha Origin’s expression darkened, agitation rising within him. “Only cowards blame their failures on fate!”

The golden cicada merely sighed and said nothing more.

Lin Xun, Chen Xi, and the others watched in silence, their emotions tangled and complex. It was now clear that although Alpha Origin, the golden cicada, and Taishang shared the same origin, each had walked a different path and each carried a different heart.

However, one thing could not be denied: the golden cicada had never truly schemed against or harmed his fellow daoists such as Bodhi, Chen Linkong, or Lin Xun until this very moment. Even in today’s confrontation, he had only used Bodhi’s life to threaten Lin Xun and prevented Chen Xi from interfering in the clash between Lin Xun and Alpha Origin.

He had long foreseen that even if Bodhi was killed, Lin Xun, who had grasped the profound truth of Nirvana, would still be able to bring him back. His so-called ‘betrayal’ was precisely what led to Lin Xun’s injury.

Of course, the root of that betrayal lay elsewhere. From the very beginning, he had stood in the same camp as Alpha Origin and Taishang. After all, they were, in essence, one and the same. So in truth, it was never truly betrayal at all. In the end, it all came down to the words he had spoken before: two dao paths cannot coexist.

After a long silence, the golden cicada looked at Alpha Origin and said softly, “Alpha Origin, defeat is defeat. No one in this world is invincible. My mistake lay in never truly acknowledging the path you and Taishang pursued. But now...there is little point in speaking of it any longer.”

He paused, then added softly, “I have never regretted what I did today.”

Alpha Origin stared at him, his expression shifting repeatedly, then he finally shook his head and fell silent.

“All arising and ceasing have settled today. Farewell...everyone.”

The golden cicada’s gaze swept slowly over Lin Xun, Bodhi, Chen Linkong, Xia Zhi, and Chen Xi.

At last, he withdrew his gaze and smiled faintly. It was a calm, tranquil smile. Then his figure seemed to ignite like fire. In an instant, he crumbled into drifting ashes, vanishing into the void.

Faintly, it seemed as though a lone cicada’s cry echoed through the air, carrying a sense of release and quiet liberation.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!