Weapon seller in the world of magic

Mark’s brow furrowed slightly as he observed Lord Hei wiping away tears like a man seeing home after centuries in exile.

”You alright, Elder...?” Mark finally asked, cautiously.

Lord Hei exhaled slowly and composed himself. ”Earth still exists even after 2 million years. Life still moves forward, and the countries I remember still exist. How couldn’t I be moved?”

Mark tilted his head. ”Wait... What era are you from exactly?”

”I left Earth in the year 2004.”

”Huh?” Mark blinked, baffled. ”I’m also from the 21st century, though. Just 40 years from you.”

Lord Hei stiffened.

He turned to Mark slowly, disbelief etched into every feature. ”Impossible,” he muttered. ”More than 2 million years passed since I left Earth,” Lord Hei replied, his voice laced with quiet horror.

Mark’s jaw dropped. ”Wait... What?! That... can’t be right. Are you sure there isn’t some sort of... insane time dilation going on?”

Hei Zhenyu shook his head. ”That’s not possible. Time dilation only occurs near a black hole. There is only one black hole in this plane of existence, which is basically the center, and we are far away from it. Hmm... wait a second...”

And then, he smacked his own forehead as something else clicked inside his head. ”Of course!” he groaned. ”The Void Dimension! Time freezes in the Void Dimension. How could I forget something so obvious? I trained there for 2 million years.”

Mark chuckled nervously, but deep inside, he was reeling. Training for 2 million years? Seriously?

Lord Hei turned toward him again, his expression softening. ”Anyway, forget about it. Tell me your story. How did someone from Earth... someone who doesn’t suppose to have any Qi or cultivation... become an ascendant (demigod/10-circle)? I can sense so many elements inside you, even divinity. And some I couldn’t even figure out? Were you summoned or... were you given powers... or...”

Mark kept his face neutral and replied calmly. ”I died... and reincarnated with my memories intact.”

He didn’t say anything about the system or transmigration. Why would he anyway? Just because this guy is a fellow earthling doesn’t mean he would reveal his secrets.

A moment passed in silence as Lord Hei stared at him, narrowing his eyes

Then, slowly, he nodded. ”I can sense that you are not telling the complete truth.

Mark tensed slightly at that comment.

”But that’s fine,” Lord Hei, however, casually added with a shrug, as if he didn’t care. ”We’re strangers. Everyone has their own secrets, and it’s not like I spilled everything either.”

There was a silence between them, more comfortable this time.

”So what about you, Elder?” Mark then asked him back. ”Are you also reincarnated?”

”No, I’m original,” replied the man. He then looked out toward the horizon through the chamber’s tall windows, going down into the memory lane from millions of years ago.

”My name is Hei Zhenyu,” he began. ”Back on Earth, I was just a college student in China. Nothing special. Born as an orphan, with no relatives except for my grandfather. I lived and studied under a state subsidy. I was in my senior year of high school back then. On a rainy evening in 2004, while returning to the campus from a movie date, something caught me. I just disappeared. One moment I was on the sidewalk; the next, I was kneeling before a princess in a palace.”

Mark blinked. ”Seriously?”

”Oh yeah. The whole ’hero summoning’ trope from those Japanese comics, I don’t remember their name. Anyway, I was a hero summoned to kill the demon lord. I was blessed with a hero sword and given the best treatment.” Hei chuckled darkly. ”I was young, stupid, and caught up in the fantasy, thinking my life had more meaning back then. I trained to death, I fought countless battles, and finally, I killed the demon lord... then I married the princess. It should be a happy ending, but that’s where my story started.”

Mark waited, staring at him interestingly. He suddenly hoped to have popcorn on the side to munch around.

Meanwhile, Hei Zhenyu continued. ”On the first night of our marriage, she tried to kill me with a lethal venom.”

Mark’s eyes widened. ”Damn.”

”Turns out, she already had a lover. She didn’t want to marry me and was forced to marry me,” He said with a hollow laugh. ”I survived and killed her. The King branded me as a traitor, and I became a fugitive. Many rumors passed around, turning me into an evil incarnate. Then, I realized that since the job of killing the demon lord was done, they no longer needed a hero, and even if the princess wouldn’t try to poison me, they planned to kill me in the end, after all.

”What happened next?” Mark asked, eyes focused.

”I ran away and hid myself, as I don’t want to start a war with the kingdom, because that will only make me into a new demon lord. While exploring the wilderness, I accidentally stumbled upon ruins, which were supposedly a gateway to the higher plane of existence. I started my life fresh, I joined sects, fought wars, rose through guilds... and eventually landed in this plane of existence.”

Mark nodded slowly, almost breathless. ”And the Void Dimension?”

”Back then, there was no Lan Clan or the Heavenly Ocean Empire. This place was used to be ruled by only one sect, the Celestial Pavilion. The Blizzard Pegasus, the Immortal Phoenix, the Ice Frost dragon, and many other beasts used to be under the command of the clan lord. I was an outer sect disciple of the Celestial Pavilion, and we had a grand expedition into the Chaos Realm,” Hei said simply, slightly walking a few steps with his gaze still on the horizon. ”An accident occurred due to an invasion of Makhyans, it’s a race filled with powerful but evil mages. As cannon fodder, I was supposed to die, but instead, I got swallowed by a tear in space and ended up in the Void Dimension, where time doesn’t exist. Where the laws act quite differently from here. Where many banished races and beasts run amok crazily. Where there is no order...”

Mark shivered at the thought. But his curiosity increased more on this Void dimension.

Hei Zhenyu continued to reminisce. ”I don’t know how long I was there. Might’ve gone insane a few times. It was only after I made the breakthrough to the God realm did I got the sense of time. Not in the sense of actual time, but I sensed my own bone age. But even after that, I didn’t know how to escape. With the help of a makhyan that was banished there, I managed to come out... When I did, I was already at the third stage, transendant realm expert (14-circle). The Heavenly Ocean Emperor found me shortly, offered me a place in his court. And he poured plenty of resources into helping me break through further to the final stage.

The silence lingered for a while longer as Mark was quite amazed by this guy’s story. However, at the same time, he also had something nagging at the back of his mind.

”The Void Dimension... the place where time stops...” he murmured, almost to himself. ”How do you get there, by the way?”