The crowd below, upon hearing the name spoken by Su Mu, was immediately stunned.
"Why does this storyteller kid feel different from the previous one?"
"Just the name is interesting, but I wonder how good the story itself will be."
"Stop messing around. What kind of immortal-demon nonsense is this? The so-called cultivation civilization, don't we Otsutsuki have it? We planted the God Tree and wiped out everyone, didn't we?"
"Quiet down, everyone. Let's focus on the story. The handsome young man on stage has been waiting for a long time!"
After a period of discussion and noise, the crowd finally quieted down. Hundreds of pairs of eyes stared fixedly at Su Mu, awaiting the start of the story.
Su Mu had never imagined that a cultivation civilization truly existed in the universe, and that even the Otsutsuki clan had planted a God Tree there.
No doubt, it must have been a devious plan, similar to Black Zetsu's...
"Then, today's story begins."
"If you were to talk about the most tragic man in this world, it would have to be Su Ming from the story 'Seeking the Demon'."
"His life is like his name, Su Ming – representing molding the netherworld, and fate. Three homophones, one life."
"Everything that happened to him was a tragedy, all of it a lie, and the world he was in was like a nightmare from Inception."
The crowd below immediately let out sighs of sorrow.
"It starts this tragically? A person must have profound misfortune to experience such things."
"Isn't that right? It's like going to the toilet, eating, even sleeping could be fake. Living in such an environment every day, just thinking about it is unbearable..."
A table of stout Otsutsuki members clicked their tongues.
Su Mu's opening was very simple, drawing everyone into the atmosphere with just a few sentences.
Everyone forgot to put down the wine cups they were holding, their eyes fixed on Su Mu, waiting for him to recount what happened next.
Seeing that the introduction had been effective, Su Mu smiled and continued.
"He pushed aside the fog, and when he thought he had woken up, he was still deeply immersed in the dream."
"Su Ming's dream began in Wushan, where he had the familial love of his grandfather, the romantic love of Bai Ling, and the friendship of Lei Chen. But in the end, it was all just a Wushan dream woven by Di Tian for him."
"His true memories were either sealed or deliberately guided and altered. He didn't even know that he was merely a pawn."
"He struggled within the destined reincarnation designed for him by Di Tian, and this reincarnation had already occurred thirty-six times. This meant that he had been manipulated and had exterminated others thirty-six times without realizing it."
"I'm sure many of you present have experienced rebirth, like how a 'Qi' can gain a second life through transference."
"But Su Ming was completely controlled, unaware of it himself. Dozens of continuous nightmares, circling back to the same spot, even for hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of years. The pain of this is unimaginable!"
Some people in the audience already had tears in their eyes, lamenting Su Ming's tragic fate.
The emotions were perfectly evoked.
"So sad... He approached the truth again and again, only to find it was all a dream. But upon waking, he still had to repeat the same actions..."
"Rebirth is certainly wonderful, but to have one's memory erased and be controlled by others is too painful..."
"I can completely feel how desperate Su Ming must have been, unable to escape, and having to put on a smile upon waking, knowing nothing!"
Several Otsutsuki members raised their wine cups and took large gulps.
In dreams within dreams, all felt like reality, but at least there was a time to wake up. But what about Su Ming?
"Come, a toast to Su Ming's tragic fate!"
Su Mu coughed lightly twice, and the entire bar instantly fell silent.
"Through countless rebirths, he once again embarked on his path of growth and struggle against fate, but this time, he was destined to go much further."
"He ravaged the Eastern Barrens and the Southern Dawn, challenged Di Tian and the Barbarian Soul, became the fourth generation Barbarian God, and conquered the Fifth Crucible."
"But when he thought he had cleared the dark fog and awakened from the dream, he discovered he was merely a remnant soul. He never imagined that besides Di Tian, another person guiding his destiny was Su Xuan Yi."
"His so-called original physical body was actually refined from ten billion corpses by someone using forbidden techniques, fused with a drop of his own blood."
"The real him had died as an infant, leaving behind only a wisp of a remnant soul that Su Xuan Yi utilized, making him a pawn in Su Xuan Yi's grand scheme. His perception collapsed at this moment."
"Wushan was fake, Bai Ling's love was fake, his childhood companions were also fake. After pursuing for a lifetime, even his own physical body was an illusion."
As he reached this point, Su Mu sighed heavily. Despite sharing the same surname, Su Ming's fate was truly too tragic.
Each life lasted for hundreds, even millions of years, only to end in nothingness.
Especially those he cherished, they were also fake. If it were him, he might have already broken down.
The few female Otsutsuki who had caused trouble earlier were now weeping from Su Mu's narration of 'Seeking the Demon.'
They had likely never imagined that a living person could be tortured through dozens of reincarnations like this.
The bar was deathly quiet. One Otsutsuki seemed drunk and was humming a tune to himself with his eyes closed.
Those around him immediately cast angry glances at her.
Her friend, however, acted decisively, delivering a swift slap that knocked her unconscious.
"So damn annoying! Don't think you're off the hook just because you're knocked out!"
"Waiter, she's paying the bill later!"
"Handsome young man on stage, don't stop. Sorry about that just now, please continue!"
Su Mu smiled awkwardly, waved his fan, and the surroundings gradually dissipated.
As a gentle breeze swept by, scenes of Su Ming's experiences appeared before their eyes.
Everyone stared in astonishment, feeling as if they had been integrated into 'Seeking the Demon'!
In the Eastern Barrens, beasts roared, and strange birds flew.
Even though they had seen much of the world, they were completely awestruck by Su Mu's maneuver.
"This handsome young man really has something!"
"I can't take it. If he doesn't come back to tell stories tomorrow, I fear I'll die!"
The bar owner was also dumbfounded.
How could his bar disappear with a wave of a fan? Where was he now?
He walked to a wild fruit tree and gently poked its bark.
"Damn it, it's real!"
The owner was on the verge of tears: "My bar is gone?"
Su Mu looked at the owner's bewildered expression and couldn't help but sigh, waving his fan again.
Everyone was back in the bar. The world they had just been in seemed to have completely vanished, like a dream.
The owner smiled gleefully. The bar was back!
This was secondary; the key point was how incredibly skilled Su Mu was at storytelling!
"I'm telling you, tomorrow, I'm going to get rich!"
"Fire all those singers and dancers. Tomorrow belongs to this kid!"
The manager nearby quickly bowed his head in agreement: "Yes, when this is over, I'll talk to him!"
"Ladies and gentlemen, you tell me, was what we just witnessed real or fake?"
Su Mu gently fanned himself and looked teasingly at the crowd.
"Putting it aside, I must arrange ten cases of drinks for this handsome young man. He told the story so well!"
The table closest to the stage, where the person who had initially intended to prank Su Mu sat, suddenly switched sides.
He praised Su Mu, but why still offer drinks?
"Oh, stop it. It's not easy for the handsome young man to tell stories. If you get him drunk, who will tell us stories?"
"Hehe... I was just kidding."
Su Mu's expression was full of sorrow, as if he had merged with Su Ming of 'Seeking the Demon.' Every word he spoke pierced the hearts of everyone present.
The audience even felt, for a fleeting moment, that Su Mu *was* Su Ming!
"He was so tired. The endless confusion and bitterness made him choose to escape for the first time, to choose... to accept his fate..."
The pain radiating from Su Mu's face permeated everyone present.
"His flame of life dimmed, almost falling into eternal oblivion, but his tragedy did not end there."
"The so-called karmic connection from past lives, accumulated over thousands of years, can only be exchanged for a single oar to personally paddle for you, taking you across the river called the River of Oblivion."
"Before the Three Desolation Tribulation, he sent those he cherished to the other shore, whether it existed or not, just to seize a sliver of hope. But fate played another trick on him."
"The River of Oblivion flowed backward, and the people he cherished turned to ashes. Endless despair drove Su Ming completely mad. He used his innate talent to possess Xuan Zang, hoping to open the Nether Gate together and resurrect all his relatives..."
"After three thousand years, he succeeded in his possession, stepping into the Dao of Boundlessness, but he was utterly alone in the vast expanse..."