Necropolis Immortal

Chu Xingran smiled. “Chen Xiao, Qing Buyi, and Lu Feng all became spacetime travelers during this reincarnation cycle. Thus, they’re able to dim their presence in previous cycles and erase the karmic ties between themselves and this land.”

“Spacetime travelers?” Lu Yun’s heart raced. Chu Xingran had mentioned that the spacetime travelers were loosely connected to the primeval heavenly court, and that Moran Dongning had become one because of him.

“Correct,” the man nodded. “I used the heritage of the heavenly court to help Moran Dongning become a traveler, then sent that thing to the start of the Land of Reincarnation. I wanted to give it to the god of Mount Tai or the owner of the land.

“But whether it was the mountain god or the now corpse god, neither of them held much ambition about it. And so, it remained unrefined all this time and just a tool to scheme against Mo Yi with.”

“Mo Yi again.” Lu Yun rubbed his forehead. He really wanted to know who Mo Yi was—she’d created Ruina with a wave of her hand!

Chu Xingran spread out his hands, indicating that it hadn’t been his idea to enter the Land of Reincarnation either. While he did possess the primeval heavenly court’s heritage, his own strength wasn’t all that.

“So you created the four spacetime travelers?” Lu Yun asked curiously.

“Not quite,” Chu Xingran shook his head. “Chen Xiao, Qing Buyi, and Lu Feng had their own encounters with fortune. Their ascension had nothing to do with me. I gave only Moran Dongning the chance to become a spacetime traveler. The fourth one should’ve been me, but I pitied her for having a similar fate as mine.

“I’m at least the crown prince of a divine nation and have my own subordinates—she has no one but herself. Thus, I gave the opportunity to her so she would have the ability to protect herself.

“The caveat was that she needed to travel through space and time to deliver that item at the start of the Land of Reincarnation. After that… she somehow became the land’s Time Guard. Spacetime travelers are supposed to be unfettered by karma so they can freely travel through space and time. Neither was there anything like that item in the Land of Reincarnation.

“But when Moran Dongning brought that item to the beginning of this land, it became the constant of this locale,” Chu Xingran concluded helplessly as he looked at Lu Yun.

Moran Dongning lived in a constant state of fear before she received the Imperial Seal. After she traded trepidation and anxiety for endless monotony, she took shelter in Lu Yun’s Disordered Hell when she could and refused to come out.

“I don’t get it,” Lu Yun firmly shook his head. Karma tied to time was the most complicated of all. A slight shift in any detail could affect the entire situation; the bigger picture was irrevocably altered once certain things changed.

Take Lu Yun, for example. He was an anomaly in this loop and anything or anyone who came in contact with him saw their destinies adjusted in an unknown direction. All of it built up into a tidal wave that permanently ended the loops.

Try as he might, he couldn’t understand why the only constant of the land had appeared in the middle of the loops, traveled back to the beginning, lived through the cycles again, yet didn’t change anything about the Land of Reincarnation. It didn’t make any sense, but that was what had happened.

“I’m baffled myself,” Chu Xingran chuckled ruefully. “Anyway, you have the Imperial Seal and that seal belonged to the primeval heavenly court of the chief worlds. It’s essentially the token of the court, which is why those old fellows outside want it.

“The oldest farts don’t care about the seed of nothing or the world of sequence. They want the Imperial Seal.”

Chu Xingran had sent the seal to the very beginning to hide it in the Land of Reincarnation. He even wanted to borrow the land’s strength to destroy it if he could—he didn’t want to inherit some moldy old court. But since he’d already refined the treasure, it would always be his as long as he was alive. Hence, he had to think of another plan.

The Curse King had been his identity of choice because the Curse King was destined to die in Lu Yun’s hands. The Imperial Seal was Lu Yun’s greatest treasure, so Chu Xingran’s plan had been to let the seal’s wielder kill him—thereby continuously eroding the connection between him and the treasure.

He’d succeeded, in a manner of sorts. In this loop, the Tome of Life and Death subdued the Imperial Seal and its connection to Chu Xingran was no more.

However, he still possessed the cultivation methods and combat arts of the primeval heavenly emperor. He knew all of the court’s secrets, which were damning enough by themselves.

Meanwhile, all Lu Yun knew was that it felt like thousands of divine beasts were charging across his heart in complete harmony.

“You kept all of that hidden well! Aren’t you afraid of being captured if you go to the Firmament Prison ruins now?” he asked with a frown.

Chu Xingran shook his head. “If your hell dao reaches great perfection and the Firmament Prison, Ruina, and hells are all in your hand, that will revitalize the primeval heavenly court. Since you wield the Imperial Seal, it will be yours then.”

“So you basically shoved whatever you didn’t want onto me,” Lu Yun snorted. “Do not do unto others what you would not wish upon yourself—don’t you know that saying?”

“I do,” Chu Xingran nodded. “But I didn’t mean to give you the seal. I just tried to keep as far away from it as possible.”

That stopped Lu Yun’s indignation in its tracks. Hongjun and Fuxi had probably known about the seal, which was why they’d forced it upon him. It wasn’t until this loop that the Tome of Life and Death’s sudden appearance replaced the seal. In the previous loops, Lu Yun saw not a bronze scroll in the Han Dynasty tomb, but a square seal.

“Alright, enough of this topic for now!” Chu Xingran cut off the conversation. “Certain developments might take place if we discuss it any more. Only the seal itself can explain its secrets, why it wandered into the Land of Reincarnation midway, and why it’s existed all this time.”

Lu Yun nodded.

……

In the thirty-thousand and three hundred sixtieth year of the Xuanhuang calendar, the three hundred and twenty-five supremes besieging the Star Formula Academy withdrew.

The Star Sect suffered immense casualties as numerous sequence experts had fallen on their side. Apart from some sequence experts on the chief worlds’ side, none of the supremes endured a scratch.

The Demonic Vine was hopping mad at this. When she challenged the supremes, she’d fought to the first blow. She never injured them or took a life because the projections were formed by will. If they died in the Land of Reincarnation, the primary body would be injured as well.

In the next issue of the spirit paper.

“Doing One Thing Under The Cover Of Another! Chief World Experts Surround Star Formula Academy With Ulterior Motives In Mind!”

The report first explained the origin of the saying and then pointed out how the chief worlds created a major distraction by attacking the Star Sect, creating space for them to secretly conquer thirty-six plane clusters. With these clusters as key points, they set up a true Nihil Homeland.

The paper also described how the Demonic Vine had defeated a dozen supremes in a row—attaching recordings of her battles—and contrasted it to the chief worlds taking the Star Sect hostage, preventing fourth realm experts from relieving the thirty-six clusters under attack.

The power of heaven and earth from the chief worlds flowed into the Land of Reincarnation and all-out war was a hair\'s breadth away. There was no further room for discussion or negotiation. Lu Yun would no longer need to show these supremes any face.