Chapter Eighty-Three: The Horn of Awakening!

“Is this what will be available once the game is released?”
Li Shang’s eyes lit up at the prompt that appeared before him.
It seemed that one had to accumulate experience through trial after trial to finally reach the ultimate ending.
“Because every memory is different each time, so the experience must be different as well.”
“That way, people won’t grow tired of the plot.”
“No wonder ‘Force Me’ came up with such a genius concept.”
Li Shang felt a surge of pride at the thought, for he had watched ‘You All Force Me’ grow step by step to this point.
“I’m actually looking forward to this.”
With anticipation, Li Shang couldn’t wait any longer and chose to use his opportunity.
The moment he made his choice,
His consciousness and memories were linked and shielded.
The scene before his eyes shifted.
A few seconds later, a quaint stone road appeared before him.
“Hurry up, hurry up! Today’s the family’s progress inspection—don’t be late!”
Hearing the urging voice beside him, Li Shang’s unfocused pupils quickly contracted.
In just an instant, they returned to normal size.
He looked around in confusion.
“Wasn’t I dead?”
Seeing the Li family disciples rushing to the arena, Li Shang muttered under his breath.
At this moment, memories from both his lives were rapidly fusing in his mind. Yet because the memories were so similar, he found it hard to distinguish whether the extra memories were illusions or had truly happened.
Once the memories finished merging, the confusion faded from Li Shang’s eyes, replaced by clarity.
He glanced toward the training hall.
Then he turned and headed toward the cliff of reflection beside the Li family grounds.
He needed to verify the authenticity of these memories.
If they were real—
Li Shang clenched his fists.
“If all of this is true, I’ll make them pay in blood.”
He gritted his teeth and quickened his pace.
Soon, guided by his memories, he arrived at the top of the cliff of reflection.
He scanned the surroundings, comparing every detail to what he remembered.
A barren cliff top, a ruined stone hut, a raging river below the precipice…
Every element matched perfectly with the images in his memory.
“Reborn? Or foresight?”
Both possibilities flashed through Li Shang’s mind. He quickly composed himself, hands clasped behind his back, and walked slowly toward the edge of the cliff.

He still had one thing to confirm.
At the very edge, he closed his eyes and gazed upward.
A sense of solitude rose within him.
“Come out.”
After a long silence, his indifferent voice echoed across the cliff.
From a crevice in the stone, a shadow that had been observing Li Shang’s movements was startled by his words.
“Is there someone else here?”
It hadn’t expected to be discovered, so its first thought was that Li Shang was talking to someone else.
It scanned the surroundings with its spiritual sense several times, yet still couldn’t find anyone else.
“Could someone stronger than me be hiding?!”
“No, impossible—even if the Emperor of the Mystics came, he couldn’t evade my spiritual probe.”
“Did this boy sense my presence? Impossible. He’s only a third-level Mystic Qi novice…”
Suspicion and uncertainty filled its mind, and for a moment, it felt as if it couldn’t see through Li Shang at all.
Li Shang, seeing nothing happen, began to feel uneasy, once again doubting the authenticity of his memories.
However, though his faith was wavering, his expression remained unchanged, maintaining the demeanor of a lonely master.
After a brief pause, he spoke again:
“No need to guess. I’m not talking about anyone else, but you.”
“…”
“Child, how did you discover me?”
Wisps of black vapor emerged from the stone crevice, forming the image of an elderly phantom.
He gazed at Li Shang’s back, his raspy voice tinged with confusion and a chilling murderous intent.
Having his disguise seen through, he now sensed a threat from Li Shang.
If the answer didn’t satisfy him, he would eliminate this uncertain factor at its root.
Hearing the old voice behind him, Li Shang’s body tensed, then quickly relaxed.
“It seems those memories are all real.”
With the shadow’s appearance, he could finally confirm the authenticity of the memories in his mind.
A surge of anger rose in his heart.
Yet he showed none of this outwardly.
Maintaining his previous posture, he calmly replied to the shadow’s question:
“You don’t need to know that. What matters is that I can help you.”
He intended to seize the initiative.
“Help me? With your third-level Mystic Qi strength? And do you even know what I want?” The old shadow’s tone was full of disdain.
Li Shang smirked and countered, “Is it so hard to guess? And how do you know I can’t help you?”

The old shadow fell silent for a long time before finally replying, “Very well. What price must I pay?”
“Protect me until I am strong enough to help you.”
After weighing the pros and cons, the old shadow nodded in agreement:
“All right, but only against enemies below the sixth level of Mystic.”
He had waited twenty years here and wasn’t willing to relinquish his chance to see the light again.
Li Shang breathed a sigh of relief when the old shadow agreed.
This was a gamble.
After what had happened in his previous life, Li Shang knew the old shadow was no saint.
Getting involved with him promised a grim outcome.
But if he didn’t take the risk, he doubted he could stand against the power of the Li family on his own.
Still, high risks bring high rewards.
The strongest in Soaring City was only at the third Mystic level.
From the old shadow’s words, he was clearly at least a sixth-level Mystic.
With such a powerful backer, Li Shang could walk unchallenged throughout Soaring City.
With these thoughts, Li Shang turned to face the old man.
“How should I address you?”
“Jiao Buqi. You may call me Elder Jiao.”
Jiao Buqi studied the young man before him—plain appearance, weak strength, nothing remarkable.
Precisely because of this, he felt there was something inscrutable about him.
Ultimate ordinariness was the most extraordinary.
After observing for a while, Jiao Buqi still found nothing unusual about Li Shang and finally gave up. He waved his hand, sending a tiny black horn, no bigger than a coin, toward Li Shang.
“Take it. Let’s leave.”
With that, the shadow’s body dissipated completely,
becoming wisps of black smoke that merged into the floating black horn before Li Shang.
Li Shang took the horn, examined it carefully, found nothing special, and tucked it into his waistband.
He then walked to the steps on the cliff, his gaze sweeping down toward the Li family grounds at the foot.
In this life, Li Shang would repay the suffering of his previous life tenfold!
“If heaven does not give birth to me, Li Shang, Mystic practitioners will forever be as lost in the night. Today, I shall make the heavens—blah blah blah…”
Inside the horn, listening to Li Shang’s nonsensical words, Jiao Buqi couldn’t shake the feeling he had made a rather foolish decision.
“Must be an illusion…”
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