Closing the small notebook, Ling Ye leaned back deeply into his chair.
His head tilted upward, his gaze fixed on the white ceiling above, while his thoughts drifted aimlessly through his mind, circling again and again around what he had just read and at first, he had been intrigued, even very curious.
The early parts of the notebook had captured his full attention, filled with ideas that were both fascinating and exciting, but as he read further and that feeling changed.
The later entries became strange and very bizarre, even unsettling.
Now, sitting there in silence, Ling Ye glanced once more at the notebook before placing it gently back onto the table. Then he leaned back again, his body sinking into the chair.
He had always considered himself a calm and composed person, even collected and rational. Yet what he had just read had shaken him, with the knowledge within the notebook twisted his understanding of some things, turning familiar concepts into something unfamiliar, even something uncertain.
Ling Ye's heart began to race, his thoughts grew louder and more chaotic, each idea leading to another, spiraling further out of control.
He could feel it and the more he thought, the worse it became. Recognizing this, Ling Ye forced himself to stop, closing his eyes and took a slow, deep breath.
Then another and another.
Gradually, his racing heart began to calm. The storm within his mind settled, his thoughts becoming clearer, steadier and once again, Ling Ye regained his normal calm.
At first, the notebook did not contain anything particularly noteworthy.
It mostly described the lands outside the Ling territory, simple observations of places the owner had visited, along with fragments of his daily life and the experiences he had while wandering.
Ling Ye quickly noticed something else as well, the notebook was old, very old.
The earliest entries had been written when the owner was still a child. Back then, the writing was sparse short, simple notes, lacking depth or detail, but as the owner grew older, the entries changed.
They became longer, richer and then more vivid.
As an adult, the notebook's owner began to write much more, recording his thoughts, his travels, and the things that caught his interest.
At first, the content remained relatively simple, mentions of good food he had tasted, women he had met and enjoyed spending time with, and conversations he had with various people along his journey.
Though none of it was described in great detail, the tone of the writing made one thing clear, the owner was an wanderer, an outgoing man who embraced the world without restraint.
Through his words, Ling Ye was given a glimpse of the world beyond his own, a world far wider than the one he knew. And for a time, that alone was enough to capture his interest, but that wasn't what had shaken him, it is the later entries.
As the notebook continued, the tone began to shift, with the owner writing about discovering swordsmanship.
At first, it was nothing more than a growing interest, a fondness he developed after meeting someone during his travels. That person had taught him the basics, sparking a passion that slowly took root.
From that point on, the entries began to change again and less about wandering and more about the swordmanship.
He started recording techniques, small insights, and bits of advice he had gathered, notes on swordsmanship that, while not overly detailed, showed a steady and genuine progression.
That was how the notebook began, up to the middle, everything felt normal, but the owner wrote about meeting people, enjoying food, recounting small pieces of history from the lands he passed through, and steadily training his swordsmanship. It was the life of a wandering mortal, nothing unusual, or out of place.
But then, that sense of normality slowly began to fade and what followed was what truly shocked Ling Ye, as the tone of the writing changed.
The owner became more extreme, more aggressive amd more obsessed, with his focus shifted almost entirely toward strength and yet strangely, there was no explanation for this change. The notebook gave no reason or event and no turning point.
Instead, the entries became sparse, often listing only travel routes, cautionary notes, and the occasional mention of swordsmanship. As if something had changed within him, but he never wrote what it was.
As time passed, his obsession deepened. Swordsmanship was no longer just an interest, passion or even a craft, it had become a tool for him, a means to gain strength, but that phase did not last, as eventually, even the detailed notes about swordsmanship began to disappear.
What remained were only brief mentions of travel paths and nothing more, It was as if the owner no longer cared about danger and no longer cared about caution.
Ling Ye could only guess that the man had grown stronger, strong enough to no longer need such concerns, but even that ended.
As the notebook reached its final pages, everything changed once again and the later entries were the most bizarre, almost unsettling.
So there was no mention of swordsmanship, no mention of traveling anylonger. Nothing of the world he had once wandered.
All of it all began with just two words, Seeking and Believing.
These two words, seeking and believing, soon became the central focus of the notebook's owner.
Strangely, his writing began to resemble his earlier style again, recording conversations he had with others, but this time, everything revolved around those two ideas.
He seemed to ask people about what they sought, with the answers varied. One person said that seeking meant finding the best way to become wealthy and another spoke of happiness of wanting a loving wife and children.
Others desired power and yet, for some reason, the notebook's owner had crossed out many of these answers, marking them as incorrect or perhaps insufficient. Ling Ye couldn't be certain what the owner truly thought of them, but then, one answer remained.
It was not crossed out.
Someone had said they wished to control their own life and death, to no longer have their fate decided by others and that answer stood alone and uncrossed.
From this, Ling Ye could only conclude that the notebook's owner had finally found an answer he agreed with and after that point, the writing changed again.
He stopped recording other people's thoughts. Instead, he turned inward. If that was what he sought, then how could it be achieved? That question became his focus.
The entries grew shorter, more fragmented, as if he were too absorbed in thinking to properly write. Whole stretches passed with barely anything recorded, suggesting that his mind was occupied far beyond what the page could hold.
Yet, the notebook did not end there. There were still a few pages left and whatever came next, Ling Ye knew, would be far from ordinary.
The final page spoke of two things, a travel route and, surprisingly, the rise of humans.
Ling Ye could somewhat understand the first.
From the way it was written, he could guess that the route led toward the Great Forest, the very place where the notebook's owner had likely met his end, but the second part, The rise of humans, that was something Ling Ye could neither comprehend nor even begin to speculate about.
It far too vague for him and too grand. He simply couldn't make sense of it.
Unable to fully understand what had happened to the notebook's owner or what the man had truly been thinking in his final moments, Ling Ye could only piece together fragments.
The Great Forest had clearly been the man's destination.
He had come all the way to the Ling territory, driven by something strong enough to push him forward… even daring to enter the forest itself.
That alone spoke volumes and yet, the final lines of the notebook didn't describe fear, struggle, or even death.
Instead, they spoke only of one thing, the rise of humanity to its peak.
Though Ling Ye could not fully understand what the notebook's owner had been thinking in those final moments, nor how the man connected his desire to control life and death with the rise of humanity, he was left deeply puzzled and confused.
There was something there… something important, but it remained just out of reach.
Still, one thing Ling Ye could understand was the man's strength.
To travel from lands beyond, all the way to the outskirts of the Great Forest, was no small feat. That alone proved that the notebook's owner was no ordinary mortal.
Even if he had ultimately died there, the journey itself was extraordinary. For a mortal, reaching that place was something one could boast about for an entire lifetime and if he had lived on, his descendants might be able to proudly called themselves the descendants of a conqueror.
With those thoughts lingering in his mind, Ling Ye leaned forward and reached for his glass, taking a slow sip of water before placing it back on the table.
Ling Ye leaned into his chair once more and his gaze drifted upward, settling on the ceiling, unfocused and for a while, he said nothing and simply thought.
He couldn't help but wonder, what had the notebook's owner experienced in the end? Had he found what he was seeking? Had he felt satisfaction or regret?
Ling Ye found himself wanting to ask those questions, but in the end, there would be no answers, afterall the man was already long dead.
Whatever he had felt, whatever he had realized in his final moments it was all buried with him and so, whether he regretted his path or not, It no longer mattered.