Marrying Wives and Attaining Immortality in a Chaotic World

Chapter 268: The Choice

Xu Lian felt a dizzying sensation as he appeared in a vast, white space.

There was nothing else, just two stone gates standing alone.

Was this some kind of nested puzzle? Xu Lian’s eyes narrowed as he noticed that the two stone gates were slightly different, each with a line of small text.

The left gate read: Choose this gate, and you will receive the reward of Unity Realm cultivation resources – the Root of Passage.

The right gate read: Choose this gate and you will resurrect your deceased loved ones.

Xu Lian was stunned.

Resurrect his deceased loved ones? What did this mean?

Did it mean that the Marquis of Yong’an and his wife, who had passed away in the illusory world, could be brought back to life? Or perhaps his descendants?

This made him deeply conflicted. After all, the illusory world was just that – illusory. Even if they were resurrected, what would it really mean?

Yet, if he didn’t choose to resurrect his loved ones, he would feel a deep sense of guilt. The opportunity was right in front of him. How could he ignore it?

“And how does the broken world know that I need the Root of Passage?” Xu Lian’s heart tightened. Could there be someone manipulating the Ruined World behind the scenes? Or perhaps the Ruined World had sensed his Unity Realm cultivation and determined that he needed the Root of Passage?

He paced back and forth between the two gates, feeling torn.

The Root of Passage was something he desired.

The resurrection of his loved ones was also something he desired.

But he couldn’t have both. It was like choosing between fish and bear paws.

“Maybe I should choose to resurrect my loved ones. Even though they are from the illusory world, they are still my family. Family is priceless and cannot be measured by anything. If I lose the Root of Passage, I can always search for it elsewhere”.

Xu Lian closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and made his decision, comforting himself with this reasoning.

Without any further hesitation, he stepped through the right gate.

Another wave of dizziness washed over him.

He appeared in an unknown place.

What he saw shocked him.

The sky was dark and gloomy, and the ground was littered with broken bones as far as the eye could see. It was as if he had entered a kingdom of bones.

“Is this the true appearance of the ruined world?”

He had a vague suspicion that this might be the aftermath of the legendary ancient sacred land’s punishment by Heaven, where its disciples had perished.

“How can I resurrect my loved ones?”

He looked around in confusion, taking one step at a time.

As he walked, he suddenly felt a strange sensation, as if a piece of bone near his feet was connected to him by blood, giving him a sense of familiarity.

“Whose bone is this?”

He crouched down and picked up the bone.

He continued to wander, looking for bones that gave him the same feeling.

After what felt like an eternity, he found another one.

And so he continued, piece by piece.

After covering dozens of miles, he discovered a small pool. The water was deep blue, and beside it stood a small stone tablet with the words “Pool of Life” carved into it.

“If I place the collected bones in the Pool of Life, will they be resurrected?”

The thought came to him.

He couldn’t think of any other way to achieve resurrection.

So, he decided to place the collected bones into the pool.

“First, I’ll take some water from the pool.”

He took out some pill bottles and wanted to pour out some of the reincarnation pool water he had collected earlier to make room for the life pool water.

But when he opened the bottles, he found that the water of the reincarnation pool had completely disappeared!

What was going on? Could the reincarnation pool water not be taken away?

If so, could the water from the pool of life be taken away?

Xu Lian pondered for a moment, but decided not to overthink it. He would take some first.

He didn’t dare to take too much, so he only filled three small bottles for fear that the small pool might not have enough water to resurrect the bones.

After storing the three bottles, he placed the assembled bones into the Pool of Life.

A miraculous phenomenon occurred!

The dull, lifeless bones began to glow, and the broken parts slowly began to repair and heal. Although the process was slow, it was clearly effective.

“This Pool of Life is like a divine medicine. These bones have been dead for who knows how many years, yet they can still slowly recover?”

He was deeply shocked.

After what felt like days, or maybe even weeks, the bones began to emit faint traces of life.

“Lian’er, thank you.”

A faint thought emanated from one of the bones – it was the voice of the Marchioness.

Upon hearing this familiar voice, Xu Lian’s eyes welled up with tears. “Mother?”

The Marchioness’ voice came again, “It’s me.”

Another bone emitted the voice of the Marquis of Yong’an, “Lian’er, our dear child.”

Xu Lian’s heart was shaken. “What is going on? Weren’t you from the illusory world?”

The Marquis’ voice replied, “We are disciples of the ancient Sacred Land. The Sacred Land attempted to create a realm akin to the immortal world, but it incurred the wrath of Heaven. The strongest among us bore the brunt of heavenly punishment, while the rest of us were only struck by its residual force. Our bodies were destroyed, but our consciousness remained.

“But our consciousness had no place to go. So all the disciples worked together to create an illusory world as a place for our consciousness to dwell.

“In the illusory world, we had no memory of our true self and could only live according to the rules of that world.

“If an outsider unified the illusory world, he would receive a reward. Only those who willingly gave up the reward and developed genuine feelings for us could bring our consciousness here, reassemble our broken bodies, and give us a chance to be reborn.”

Xu Lian was astonished. “So the water in this pool can bring you back to life?”

The Marquis replied, “This Pool of Life is a treasure of our ancient holy land. It can repair our broken bones and regenerate our flesh. Although the process is slow, we will eventually be reunited.”

Xu Lian’s feelings were complex. He never expected that his parents could become real from the illusory world.

It was like characters from a game appearing in real life. How should he feel about that?

“Who do the other two bones belong to?”

Xu Lian looked at the other two sets of bones besides those of the Marquis and the Marquise.

The two bones also emitted thoughts.

“Husband, it’s me, the princess.”

“And I am Ling Ran.”

“…” Xu Lian was speechless.

After a long silence, he asked, “If you are resurrected one day, what will our relationship be like?”

The princess replied, “Of course, we will still be husband and wife. We lived together for decades in the illusory world. How can that not count?”

Ling Ran added, “Before we died, we were still young and had no partners. From now on, you will be our mate.”

The Marquisess said, “Lian’er, don’t feel burdened. Our cultivation is still strong, and we won’t be a hindrance to you.”

Xu Lian quickly replied, “That’s not what I meant. I just never expected to see you again.”

The Marchioness said, “You willingly gave up the reward for us, which shows that you have genuine feelings for us. Since those feelings are real, why should it matter whether they came from the illusory world or the real world?”

Xu Lian thought about it and realized that she was right. “I was overcomplicating things.”

In other words, he had been thinking too small… Having a pair of powerful figures from the legendary ancient sacred land as his parents and two women from the sacred land as his partners, wasn’t that a good thing?