MTL - Heart of Empire - Chapter 131 Elemental Elder

“What does it feel like to be a shadow?”People say it's bondage — the absence of light, of freedom. But what is freedom, really?The ability to choose whatever you want?Or... just a beautiful illusion masking the void?Strange question, I know.But you'll understand soon enough.Because my lives?They've always been a little... enlightening.— Kaiser

It always starts with an accident.That’s how all these stories go. One moment, you’re minding your own business, and the next, you wake up in someone else’s body. For Caspian, his accident started earlier than he even knew.Maybe it began when his sister got him into romance novels? Or when he started really sympathizing with the villains at the ends of books? He’d never know. It was too late to worry about it now.For now, he had to find a way to fix this nightmare, or rehabilitate his image, all while trying to free himself from the fate set out for him. All because of the damn “gods” who he'd cut a deal with.These were the only two options he had available, and he wasn’t sure he could succeed at either. The man he had taken over for had been…a true piece of work. And the secret villain of the book he had been reading before he passed.It had been a harem novel. A reverse harem novel.He was trapped in a huge ass CASTLE with a bunch of men who hated him because he was taking affection and time away from their shared wife. All Cass wanted to do was be a good person, not mess around with this poor woman and her far too handsome husbands.But why would no one leave him alone? Was he too suspicious? And why, after going out of his way to avoid them like they had asked, did they keep pestering him?And where did the heroine go?How was he going to manage three, handsome men without the heroine?

The mortal body, metamorphosis, longevity, immortality, and eternal life. These five realms, step by step, reveal themselves in front of you. As a normal person, how can one try step by step to reach and open the door to eternal life?

Between the heaven and the earth lies the mortal body, the mysteries of metamorphosis, freedom of longevity, the power of immortality, and the hope of eternal life. A story filled with endless new magic, a new world of immortal styles, people, demons, gods, fairies, magic, kings and emperors. A world of love and hatred, revenge, and mystical battle, all in “Eternal Life.”

- Description from Novelupdates

...[Inside an underground basement]“You are going to die for nothing, hahahaha,” the old man's voice thundered through the room, sending chills down my spine.Step.With a swift and ruthless motion, he lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air and slashing my throat, crimson droplets staining the darkness.“We'll see,” I whispered defiantly, my final words escaping as a mere breath against the impending darkness.Slowly, inexorably, my consciousness slipped away, and I descended into a deep, unfathomable slumber.“Huh!?” My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself seated in a bustling tavern, the air thick with laughter and the clinking of glasses.In front of me stood a captivating lady, her beauty juxtaposed with an angry furrow upon her brow, threatening to shatter the harmony of the jovial scene.“Don't follow me around!” Her words pierced the air like shards of ice, the intensity of her emotions palpable as she cast a resentful glare in my direction, before swiftly departing from the tavern....Am I trapped within the confines of a game? The fragments of my shattered common sense scattered before me, leaving me to question the very fabric of my reality.