Chapter 51 Go If You Want, Stay If You Please

"Check! Old man, let's see how you get out of this one." Inside the castle of the Starlight Realm, Jung was sitting cross-legged, playing Chinese chess with Master Yideng, when suddenly a dazzling light burst from the room, illuminating almost the entire Starlight Realm through the window. Gradually, the light stabilized, and Fang Xiaoling appeared nearby, kicking over the chessboard with one leg.

"Hey! I finally managed to win a game against him!" Jung jumped up, about to fly into a rage, but noticed Fang Xiaoling's expression was one of agony. "Lord of Light, a whole year has passed here in the Starlight Realm. You... are your wounds still not healed?"

"I should still be in surgery, but I have to meet Roland this morning, so I might as well leave the painful consciousness here for now." Fang Xiaoling looked at the ceiling in utter despair. "It's fine, it's much better than before. Let's hope the real-world me recovers soon..."

"Mr. Jung, this old man will return to my room first." Yideng went back to the adjacent room to continue his meditation.

"Lord of Light, you should hurry back to the real world," Jung advised. "Given the severity of your injuries, the time required to heal in the real world, converted to the Starlight Realm here, gods only know how many years it will take! One day is three years, a hundred days is three hundred years!"

"True, maybe I should..." Before Fang Xiaoling could finish her sentence, the pain suddenly vanished. "Huh? I'm not in pain anymore? Could the anesthesia from the real world be taking effect? No, that shouldn't be right; the anesthesia should have taken effect long ago..."

"Lord of Light, just leave it to the doctors over there, and bring all your consciousness back to the Starlight Realm quickly. Look at what the outside has become." Jung pointed out the window and said, "Men and women have formed separate factions and have been fighting for a whole year. Neither side can actually harm the other, but they insist on fighting anyway, bickering as they go. No matter how anyone tries to persuade them, it's useless!"

Following the direction of Jung's finger, Fang Xiaoling looked out the window to see thick smoke rolling, almost shrouding the entire starry sky.

Due to the effects of the anesthesia, Fang Xiaoling was unable to open her eyes in the real world either, so she decided to bring all her consciousness back to the Starlight Realm first.

Another burst of dazzling light filled the castle room. Fang Xiaoling got up, ran to the window, and shouted outside, "Are you people trying to start a rebellion?!!"

The bickering did not stop, the sound of weapons clashing echoed incessantly, and the deafening roars of explosions could be heard from time to time. However, this time, amidst the chaotic noise, a new sound emerged: "Stop fighting! Stop fighting! The Lord of Light is back!"

Fang Xiaoling jumped straight out of the window, crashing heavily onto the high platform below. Upon landing, she was flattened almost like a paper cutout. She blew air into her thumb, inflating herself back up like a balloon, and then took a deep breath, shouting at the top of her lungs, "All of you, knock it off!"

The spirits stopped in their tracks one after another, gathering in droves toward the high platform.

Fang Xiaoling gazed at the apocalyptic ruins surrounding her and asked angrily, "What is wrong with all of you? Weren't things pretty good at first?"

A clear dividing line was visible right down the middle of the crowd of spirits below, splitting them into two major camps of men and women. Both camps silently glanced sideways at the opposing camp, as if signaling, "It's all their fault!" For a moment, the Starlight Realm lapsed into a silent staring contest.

Seeing no one reply, Fang Xiaoling pointed at a soot-stained woman in the women's camp below and said, "Lady Yu! What is going on with you? Didn't you already reunite with Xiang Yu? Why are you participating in the fight too? Where is Xiang Yu?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a giant sword emerged from deep within the men's camp, and Xiang Yu's voice came from below, "Lord of Light! I'm right here."

Fang Xiaoling put her hands on her hips and shouted, "Xiang Yu! You were crying out for Lady Yu every single day before, and now you're standing in there with a sword—what are you trying to do? Are you going to hack her to pieces?!"

Xiang Yu remained silent for a long time, but Lady Yu couldn't help chiming in, "I haven't wanted to live with him for a long time. Every day, besides eating, drinking, and sleeping, he just has a massive temper—he's practically an ox! Who could possibly go on living with him? I'm a spirit, and I don't rely on him for food. Now that I've finally gained my freedom, why should I wait on him day in and day out?"

"Exactly!" Madame Curie nearby raised the spatula in her hand to express her deep empathy. "Those men only know how to put on an act for the first few days. After a while, they show their true colors—they won't even say goodnight before going to sleep!"

"Ah..." Fang Xiaoling pondered for a moment. "When you touch each other, you don't feel anything, do you?"

"Of course not, we're spirits," said a bull-headed creature in the men's camp. "What did that young lady just say? Having a temper like an ox? This old ox has always been exceptionally attentive to Princess Iron Fan, right? But how has she treated me in return?"

"You're so ugly, looking at you just gives me a headache!" came a voice from the women's side, immediately followed by bursts of laughter from both camps. Everyone who laughed considered themselves to have passed the threshold of good looks.

"What are you laughing at? Are you any good-looking?!" With that, the two camps were split up once again, dividing both sides into factions of the attractive and the unattractive based on appearance.

The spirits were sliced into four pieces like a cake. Before Fang Xiaoling could speak, the attractive faction among those four pieces started bickering again: "What right do you have to stand here?"

"What right do I *not* have to stand here?"

"It's fine for her to stand here, but what is a cat demon like you doing here?"

Alright, now humans and demons were going to split up as well.

Fang Xiaoling clutched her head. Although the Starlight Realm used to have bonfires scattered about in small clusters, at least everyone had been harmonious. The various groups basically kept out of each other's way, knowing that fighting was the most meaningless thing to do since it couldn't cause any actual harm.

Now, all the spirits had a leader in the Lord of Light, shared the same hope and goal, and all wanted to experience the real world. They ought to have been completely united. But what happened? Following this trend of division, I'm afraid all the spirits will eventually end up as "lone spirits."

"Stop arguing..." Fang Xiaoling sighed, but the spirits below ignored her completely and argued even more fiercely.

She took another deep breath, her voice so loud that even the stars in the sky began to sway from side to side, "Stop arguing!!!!!!"

The spirits gradually ceased their quarreling. No matter what, the Lord of Light was the leader of the Starlight Realm; on that point at least, they were still of one mind.

"You are all independent individuals, and every single spirit is a unique existence. How could any two be completely identical?" As soon as she finished speaking, the spirits not far away split apart into several more circular open areas, with a pair of twins standing in the center of each one.

If physical damage existed in the Starlight Realm, Fang Xiaoling probably would have bitten her teeth to pieces by now. Having given up on gentle and earnest persuasion, she said angrily, "I've already made things clear to you all beforehand: whoever can manage to live a normal human life in the real world first will get priority to go experience it! Otherwise, you can just wait for your number to be called! With as many spirits as you are, just think about how high the probability is that I'll actually have a use for you! This is already the fairest method possible. Instead of cherishing and striving for the chance to go to the real world, what are you fighting for? What's the point?!"

Glaring down at the dense crowd of spirits beneath the platform, Fang Xiaoling continued, "Now I'm adding one more rule: any male-female pair that can coexist harmoniously and maintain a good relationship will be placed at the very front of the priority list to experience the real world! Whether you want to go or not is entirely up to you!"

With that, Fang Xiaoling marched back into the castle in a huff. As the saying goes, even an honest official finds it hard to settle family chores, and this was far more complicated than just a single family... She felt exhausted—her soul felt tired. Logically speaking, souls shouldn't be able to feel tired.

Yet, she felt it nonetheless.