Chapter 1: The Daily Life of a Retired Void Hunter (Patreon)

New Eridu, Sixth Street. A bookstore beside a record store.

Musachi sat casually at the counter, flipping through the pages of a book in front of him. Sunlight spilled across his handsome face, gilding it with a faint glow. Outside, high school girls passing by kept sneaking glances, just to get one more look at him.

But the footage playing on the television mounted on the wall nearby made him raise an eyebrow.

[TOPS Alliance has recently made major progress exploring Hollow Zero. For reasons yet unknown, Nineveh's activity has declined of late, and TOPS seized the opportunity to push its exploration forward. The group has now successfully reached the ruins of Old Eridu, where they discovered traces of an extraordinary battle. According to TOPS's investigation, this site was once the battlefield of the Taixu Sovereign, a hero-class Void Hunter who vanished ten years ago. The discovery of these ruins will make a tremendous contribution to tracing New Eridu's origins!]

[During the Fall of the Old City, the Taixu Sovereign made an enormous contribution to protecting the people, including but not limited to single-handedly holding back a charging wave of thousands of Ethereals. In that same catastrophe, he alone drove back the Dark Wall and held off Hollow Zero's expansion for ten hours, buying precious time for residents to evacuate... During the construction era of New Eridu, he single-handedly foiled a plot by the The Exaltists, shattering their scheme to infiltrate the city and dealing them a devastating blow!]

[The Hoshimi family has issued a bounty: anyone with verified information on the Taixu Sovereign's whereabouts will receive a generous reward.]

[Yi Jiang, the twelfth-generation Sect Master of Yunkui Mountain, has stated that the Taixu Sovereign shares a deep connection with Yunkui Mountain. Anyone who discovers the whereabouts of the Sect Master of Mount Taixu is asked to notify Yunkui Mountain immediately, and a generous reward will follow.]

[A TOPS Alliance representative stated: The Taixu Sovereign is a hero of New Eridu. However, during that battle, he ventured alone deep into Hollow Zero and has never returned. We continue our search for him to this day, and we remain convinced that a hero of his caliber is still alive somewhere out there!]

[Mayor Mayflower stated: With the people and our Hollow Hunters leading the way, humanity will ultimately triumph over the Hollows!]

[For reasons still unclear, Delin Hollow, a large Hollow previously known for its stability, experienced violent Ether fluctuations today. A subsequent investigation revealed that the Hollow is now shrinking at a rate of dozens of meters per day, and accelerating — it is projected to vanish completely within three months.]

[Delin Caesar Hollow first appeared without warning ten years ago and has since grown into a large Hollow. Throughout that time, its Ether activity remained stable, with no infamous Ethereals ever emerging from it. New Eridu has kept the Hollow under continuous monitoring ever since, and TOPS Alliance has now stepped in to investigate, hoping to uncover the truth behind it!]

...

Listening to the broadcast, Musachi let out a lazy yawn. It was early afternoon — prime napping hours.

If he hadn't had something to do later, he'd probably already be sprawled in his chair, sleeping like a log.

Unfortunately, he needed to buckle down lately. If he didn't start working harder, he wouldn't be able to make rent...

Musachi had to admit he had no head for business — otherwise the shop wouldn't be losing money...

The Taixu Sovereign? A Void Hunter?

What did some legendary figure like that have to do with an ordinary bookstore owner like him?

Fighting for your life out there sounded exhausting. Much better to run a little shop, pet the occasional cat or dog, and flirt now and then with his pink-haired employee.

"Where did that Mount Taixu Sect Master even go? I heard even the mayor doesn't know where he is."

In a nearby seat, a lively little boy listening to the broadcast piped up curiously.

"My dad told me that after the Mount Taixu Sect Master foiled the The Exaltists's plot, he attained enlightenment and ascended to immortality! Once you become an immortal, you can't stay in the mortal world anymore — that Sect Master's gone off to wander the great Void!"

the other little boy said, practically vibrating with excitement.

"Whoa, so cool! I heard that lord nearly cleaved Hollow Zero apart single-handedly! How does that line go again? 'His sword-qi ranged thirty thousand meters, one strike chilled nine streets with its light!'"

"Still, I heard Lady Hoshimi Miyabi is really strong too these days. She wiped out every Ethereal in a newborn Hollow in a single day and stopped its expansion completely! So which of the two Hollow Hunters do you think is stronger?"

"Hehe, Lady Hoshimi Miyabi's strong, sure, but she can't compare to the Mount Taixu Sect Master! He was a Void Hunter from way back in the day. Isn't that always how it goes in novels — the earlier, the stronger?"

Listening to the two kids' conversation, Musachi's mouth twitched. "Isn't it possible that the Mount Taixu Sect Master just got tired of all the fighting and killing, and decided to go live quietly among ordinary people?"

"No way! That heroic lord cares about the whole world — there's no way he'd do something like that!"

"Hollow Hunters are people too..."

"No way! Who understands the Mount Taixu Sect Master better, you or me!?"

Musachi couldn't be bothered arguing with the kid and just shook his head helplessly.

Sometimes, faced with fans this fervent and all the rumors flying around, even he started to wonder whether there was some other Mount Taixu Sect Master out there besides himself...

Mostly because the rumors were just too outlandish...

If he'd really been able to clear Hollow Zero solo back then, would he have ended up gravely wounded and asleep for ten years, only waking up recently?

Musachi was a transmigrator — though he'd crossed over ten years ago, and with terrible luck at that. When he transmigrated, he'd landed, of all places, inside a Hollow.

Just like that, he became a mindless Ethereal.

As an Ethereal, he kept growing stronger, until one day he found that his consciousness had returned — and his body had become far more powerful than before. The catch was, he still couldn't leave the Hollow.

Only after a long period of adjustment was he finally able to move freely.

But before he could even enjoy his newfound freedom, Hollow Zero began expanding, and the Old City fell.

Musachi had charged deep into Hollow Zero back then, trying to clear it in one go, when something went wrong — and he ended up asleep for ten years.

When he woke again, he was in no hurry to reveal who he was. Instead, he settled quietly into Sixth Street, becoming an unremarkable shopkeeper just like everyone else there.

As for the Hoshimi family and Yunkui Mountain searching for him?

Musachi did remember a few things.

Back when the Old City fell, the Hoshimi estate had sat right on the edge of Hollow Zero and was overrun the instant it began expanding. He recalled saving a mother and daughter there on a whim...

Judging by how they were dressed, they'd probably been somebody important.

As for Yunkui Mountain, his memory of that was much clearer. Back when he'd charged into Hollow Zero, he'd lacked a decent weapon, so he'd made up "Mount Taixu" on the spot and borrowed the Qingming Sword off them. Afterward, to show his gratitude, he'd casually cured Yi Jiang's illness as well.

That was the origin of the "Taixu" in "Taixu Sovereign."

But he'd saved so many people back then that he'd never given it a second thought.

He hadn't expected that ten years later, these people would still be looking for him.

As for TOPS... he honestly had no idea why they were so fixated on him.

Back then, he'd never had much contact with people like the mayor — politics was far too troublesome and brain-draining for his taste. Sure, he was strong in a fight, but when it came to scheming, he was no match for those old foxes.

Just as he was pondering how to drum up more business for the shop—

"The boss sure seems to know a lot about this Taixu Sovereign~"

A stunningly beautiful winged young woman, a pair of pure white wings folded behind her back, smiled as she looked at Musachi behind the counter.

It was Remielle, his employee — a young woman who'd been hired not long ago.

These days, she lived under the same roof as him.