Inside the world of the Tome of Life and Death.
“Show yourself.” Lu Yun glanced at the Imperial Seal and sat down on the ground. “In this Land of Reincarnation, existence rises to fall and to rise again. Life always follows death, which also always follows life. Round and round we go—destiny itself runs in a never-ending loop. The Imperial Seal is the only constant throughout it all.
“There have been countless Lu Yuns through countless reincarnation cycles, but only one Imperial Seal. If you don’t come out, I’ll refine you with the Tome of Life and Death.” He cast another serious look at the seal.
A black ripple wafted out from it and manifested as a nun in daoist robes in front of Lu Yun.
“Mo Yi’s senior sister?” The young man shook his head at the sight. “Don’t try to confuse me, you’re not her.”
“How do you know I’m not?” The nun covered her mouth as she chuckled. “Perhaps she’s just one of my identities.”
“Because there’s no meaning to any of this if you’re her,” Lu Yun continued shaking his head. “If the nun had the ability to be the only constant in these cycles, she wouldn’t have died. I’ve derived the trajectory of her fortune. Her disciple was the cause of her death.”
Lu Yun had guessed Moran Dongning’s identity because the girl had dropped one too many hints in their conversation. However, he continued to feign ignorance. Both of them understood what the other knew and neither of the two said anything aloud.
“I’m not very interested in your identity, to be honest. I’m sure that I know you, but all I need to do is to kill you.”
Mo Yi had died with the thing inside the seal in every one of the endless cycles. Lu Yun believed that whatever influenced her and Chu Xingran came from the thing as well. Perhaps it was a prodigious personage, but even the mightiest being was just a name in his eyes.
He’d filled out his wings enough in the Land of Reincarnation that he could see everything in his world. The outside realm and those who dwelled in it had nothing to do with him. He didn’t know any of them either.
“You can keep your peace since you’re not willing to say anything.” Lu Yun snapped his fingers before the nun could respond. A tremendous surge of black and white energy gathered inside the Tome of Life and Death and careened toward the Imperial Seal.
“Wait!” The nun was highly dismayed. “I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you everything!”
“I’m not interested anymore.”
Rumble.
The black and white strength represented life and death. In the presence of the order of opposition, it became the most important order for living beings—the order of life and death.
“The original emperor isn’t dead!” The nun’s form was crushed by the power of life and death and a strong outpouring of emotion came from the seal.
“I know.” Lu Yun remained unmoved and continued dismantling the seal.
‘I know where he is now!” The thought ripple agitated.
“I don’t want to know.” Lu Yun was expressionless.
“He’s dying! If you don’t save him, he’ll die!” The thought ripple grew more distraught as the Imperial Seal began to collapse. Once it was demolished, the thing inside would die as well.
“You want me, a Nihil World Sovereign, to save an eighteenth level sequence expert? You really do want me to die, don’t you?!” Lu Yun curled his lip with a huff. The power of life and death deepened and assembled into a massive black and white whetstone that engulfed the Imperial Seal.
“Is that woman this important to you?!” a hoarse voice rasped out.
“So it is you.” Lu Yun smiled and withdrew his power.
An immensely injured demonic shadow drifted out of the seal, staring fixedly at Lu Yun with a pair of scarlet eyes.
The demon of immortal dao!
Though Lu Yun hadn’t been able to determine what precisely was inside the seal, he’d more or less guessed it. The last era of every cycle was an era of demonic dao from this particular demon. The era threw all orders into a jumble and ultimately destroyed them, heralding the great devastation and curtains on that particular cycle.
According to conventional logic, the collapse of order would result in an invasion from the darkness. The land of darkness would devour the fourth realm and assimilate it—such was decreed by the order of opposition and nirvana.
But the demon’s demonic dao upended everything, causing everything to collapse, including the land of darkness!
That was a true devastation, one that destroyed all existence, including the order of nirvana that exceeded the six orders of the highest degree. Everything was wiped clean for it all to take place again.
Such were the demon’s methods to dictate the cycles of the Land of Reincarnation. The Imperial Seal was the only thing that existed throughout everything, so Lu Yun was firmly convinced that there was a connection between the two.
“Fine, I’m out, what do you want?!” The demon was a black shadow, but his scarlet eyes were particularly piercing.
“Why do you want to kill Mo Yi?” Lu Yun recalled her words, that everything they knew would end if the entity inside the seal remained alive. True enough, the demon of immortal dao was the one behind the final devastation. The version of him in the world of immortals was likely just a small fragment of his power; his true body was inside the seal all along.
“Do you really want to know?” The demon smiled superciliously.
Black and white energy appeared at the first hint of attitude. They turned into a large whetstone that would grind him out of existence.
“I won’t want to know anymore if you keep bullshitting me,” Lu Yun sneered.
“Because she will end the loops unless she dies! Her goal is to end the Land of Reincarnation!” the demon forced out through grit teeth. “I am the guardian of this land, so what else am I supposed to do other than try to kill her?
“Thankfully, she’s lost herself in the endless cycles of death and rebirth. She’s forgotten her mission and who she is.”
“You’re not lying?” Lu Yun was rather skeptical. “So who was she before?” He’d always been very curious about Mo Yi’s background.
“I don’t know, I’m just a watchdog, how would I know that much? I just know that if Mo Yi isn’t eliminated, she’ll terminate the Land of Reincarnation,” the demon harrumphed.
“Who… describes themself as a watchdog?” Lu Yun suppressed an eyeroll.
“I am a dog to begin with. Someone turned me into this state and set me the mission of guarding this land,” the demon responded dejectedly.
Lu Yun curled his lip, not believing a word. “My goal is to end the loops too, and I know the truth of this world. Why haven’t you moved against me?”
“When have I not?” the demon sneered. “Do you really think a puny Chu Xingran can set up so many things by himself? Have you ever entertained the thought that I’m the one who ensures you’ll accompany the withering of immortal dao?
“Some accidents have occurred in this cycle, that’s all. You’ve become an anomaly, and so have two other things.
“For some reason, that broken Major Cycle World turned into a realm monster and broke through the world barrier around the Land of Reincarnation. It fled to the outside realm and… came back with a great god.
“The second is that the world of sequence fully matured and impacted the fates of countless people. All of their fortunes have changed slightly and they’re now inside this tomb.” The demon was rather glum. “I exhausted the last bit of my strength to set up the barrier outside the tomb.”
etvolare’s Thoughts
Did that realm monster… bring back Mazu?? No way, she wouldn’t have almost died trying to kill it? Or maybe it ran back here when it came across Mazu, which is what the demon means by bringing back a god.
