Chapter 5: The Seed of Memory
The Night After the Battle
Li Yuan couldn't sleep.
Even after defeating the Cursed Root Beast, even after the mist retreated and the soil calmed, his heart refused to rest.
He lay in his modest wooden room, listening to the cicadas outside. The room was plain — a straw mat, a wooden chest, shelves filled with dried herbs and farming tools. The scent of lavender and old parchment lingered in the air.
The system interface pulsed faintly before his eyes.
[Memory Fragment Recovered – Ready to View]
[Do you wish to access the fragment now? Y/N]
He hesitated no longer.
"Yes," he whispered.
The Fragment Awakens
A soundless wind passed through his room.
The world tilted — and suddenly, he wasn't Li Yuan anymore.
He stood beneath a blood-red sky, surrounded by shattered mountains. Fire rained from above. Rivers boiled. The air reeked of ash and iron.
In front of him, thousands of cultivators knelt — trembling, bloodied, and broken. Behind him, titanic corpses of gods and void beasts lay across the horizon like fallen statues. The sky was torn, and stars bled.
He looked down.
His hands were the same.
But older. Scarred. Powerful.
A voice boomed across the battlefield, not from any one direction, but from existence itself.
"Xiao Tianmie. You have won. But at what cost?"
The name echoed. Realities flickered.
And then, he spoke — his past self.
"No more war. No more titles. No more divine blades. Bury the weapons. Seal the sky. Plant the seeds."
"Let me live… as a farmer."
He plunged his hoe, golden and divine, into the battlefield.
The ground shook. A massive seal spread across the land, imprisoning the cursed artifacts, sealing memories, rewriting destiny.
Return to the Present
Li Yuan gasped, jerking upright in bed.
His body was drenched in sweat. His hoe — leaning in the corner of the room — glowed faintly, pulsing in rhythm with his breath.
"I was the one who ended it all..."
"I buried everything. And chose peace."
But something had broken the seal.
And now the fragments of his past were waking up — one by one.
System Alert: Quest Unlocked
[New Questline Initiated: "Reclaim Your Relics"]
Description: Your former self sealed seven divine artifacts — relics of your war, each tied to a fragment of your soul. They now stir, corrupted or lost.]
Reclaim Your Relics: 0/7 Recovered
Relic
Status
Location
1. Rootsplit Hoe
✅ Awakened
Green Mist Valley
2. Sky-Hollow Cloak
❌ Unlocated
???
3. Voice-Severing Bell
❌ Sealed
Temple of Falling Rain
4. Womb of Soil
❌ Corrupted
Deep Roots of the Crimson Grove
5. Lantern of Memory
❌ Fragmented
Dreaming Plateau
6. Crown of Withered Light
❌ Lost
Realm of Broken Heavens
7. The Seed of Final Bloom
❌ Hidden
Unknown
Main Quest Objective: Reclaim all 7 Relics
Reward: Full Memory Restoration, Soul Integration, Multiversal Sovereignty Reinstatement
Warning: Each relic attracts powerful enemies and awakens ancient watchers.
Granny Xue's Secret
The morning sun painted gold across the valley when Granny Xue came to visit.
She stood at the doorway of Li Yuan's hut, holding a worn scroll bound in string and dried leaves. Her eyes were heavy — not with sleep, but with secrets.
"We need to talk."
Li Yuan let her in, saying nothing. She sat across from him, placing the scroll on the table like a fragile heart.
"You're not just waking up, child. The world is remembering you, too."
She unrolled the scroll.
It depicted an ancient battle: skies splitting, a hooded figure with a hoe glowing like a comet, sealing seven objects into the ground.
"This... is you."
Li Yuan's hand trembled.
"You… knew?"
Granny Xue nodded. Her voice trembled with age, but not fear.
"I was one of the Seven Witnesses — cultivators spared by your divine mercy at the end of the Final War."
"You wiped our memories… but the fragments returned, bit by bit."
"So I followed your will. Protected this village. Guarded the first seed."
She touched his hand gently.
"But now, the world is shifting again. Forces who hated you are stirring. You must prepare."
"The seals won't hold forever."
Meanwhile… In the North
On a cold obsidian cliff in the Voidhowl Territories, six cloaked figures stood around a brazier of blue flame. The masked stranger from Chapter 3 knelt before them.
"The Farmer God awakens," he said.
"The first relic has returned to him."
One figure hissed.
"Then it begins again."
Another spoke with a voice like breaking bones.
"He must not reclaim the Seed of Final Bloom. If he does… not even the Heavens will contain him."
The leader raised a hand.
"Send the Ash-Spider Monk. Let's see if the Farmer still remembers how to bleed."