The Dao of Reincarnation (418-420) (Patreon)

Chapter 418: The Ancient and Modern Recorder (Part 29)

Endless seas of clouds appeared around Su Chen, yet what coiled about him was not lightning but countless crystalline, glittering threads.

Karmic ties… grudges… merits and faults… destiny…

All the affairs of living beings took concrete form at this moment.

Su Chen closed the Book of Karma in his hands.

He had understood one thing.

To become a True Immortal was to leap beyond the Five Elements, existing outside past and future.

In other words, once one became a True Immortal, one possessed uniqueness across the nodes of past, present, and future on the current timeline.

True Immortals already possessed the characteristic of immortality, yet that immortality was still incomplete. It was limited to a single spacetime. Different spacetimes held different possibilities. All the shattered fragments of spacetime were the countless possibilities that had evolved from the shattering of that once-complete spacetime.

Why had Su Chen never heard of an Immortal King being born, yet later a Lord of Primus had appeared?

The countless possibilities that evolved from the shattered spacetimes had given everyone a chance.

A so-called Immortal King was unique across spacetime. It was not that one proved the Dao of Immortal King and thereby became one; rather, one was already an Immortal King, and thus could become an Immortal King!

Originally, there had been no variables, and none could exist. That was why so many True Immortal giants simply idled away their days until they lost themselves. They knew that no matter what they did, they could never become Immortal Kings. In the eyes of Immortal Kings, their struggles were nothing more than farces.

Knowing the truth, they fell into despair.

Yet now the complete spacetime had shattered. The uniqueness of Immortal Kings had developed a flaw. The original closed loop of beginning and end had undergone a change, causing spacetime to lose its uniqueness. True Immortals who originally could never have proven the Dao of Immortal King now possessed a path forward.

Across infinite spacetimes and infinite timelines, variables might arise that allowed one to become an Immortal King. That was why the Lord of Primus had sought out Su Chen. Because Su Chen possessed a future identity as an Immortal King, he would become one. Yet that Immortal King could not be considered a true Immortal King; he could only be regarded as a false one, for he would be killed by a great enemy and perish on this timeline.

A true Immortal King was unique across all spacetimes of the past, present, and future. Even in weakness, the future self who had already become an Immortal King would come to assist the present self in completing the closed loop of the Immortal King logic. Yet the future self had never appeared to help complete that loop. This led Su Chen to consider one possibility.

A struggle for the Dao!

He possessed a future of becoming an Immortal King, and naturally, other True Immortals who cultivated the Dao of Karma also possessed the possibility of becoming Immortal Kings… Therefore, an Immortal King who had proven the Dao of Karma had blocked the version of him from another timeline and even sought to eliminate him. Fortunately, he still possessed a backup. The existence of the Lord of Primus had helped him resolve the crisis.

His repeated deaths were no coincidence. Someone did not wish him to successfully prove the Dao of a Karma Immortal King… This was an opponent from the future, seeking to reverse the logic for another Immortal King who had lost the struggle for the Dao against him, and to seize his Immortal King Dao Fruit. Such methods could only be accomplished by an existence above the Immortal King realm.

Yet that existence, for all his calculations, had miscalculated one thing… Su Chen possessed the Reverse Fate Scripture. Even if he were eliminated in advance, he would still return. Across the countless spacetimes that derived from this, he would still become an Immortal King. That existence simply possessed sufficient patience to eliminate him again and again.

In this life, he had not died… In truth, he had already died. Someone had simply acted to alter his life and death, intercepting a thread of vitality for him from the hands of that terrifying existence behind the scenes. The future self who would become an Immortal King had also entrusted the Lord of Primus to help intercept the variables.

Having understood everything, he faced the tribulation gathered from the karma of the heavens. He did not resist it. Instead, he formed his fingers into a blade and lightly drew it across himself.

"Sever the cause and seize the fruit… Today I shall achieve the Dao."

At that moment, Su Chen's figure completely vanished. The gathered karma of the heavens and the condensed punishment suddenly lost their target. Everyone who had ever seen Su Chen forgot him entirely…

In a distant time, the young girl in the ice and snow squatted on the ground, lost and bewildered.

Just now… what had she been doing?

The old man behind her wore the same blank expression.

The two of them returned to the carriage and continued onward.

Inside the Record Pavilion, everything was empty. In the end, it became the History Pavilion.

Having become a True Immortal and traveled beyond spacetime, Dongfang Yunxiao seemed to realize that he had forgotten something.

At the foot of the mountain, the briefly glimpsed masked figure completely vanished from his memory…

Across the many spacetimes Su Chen had walked, there was no longer any trace of him. Only a Book of Karma remained, held in Su Chen's hands. He stood at the summit of countless different spacetimes and different timelines, becoming an "error" recorded above all things.

At the same time, at the forefront of an unknown spacetime, a figure wearing a bronze mask slowly appeared. He held an ancient book and crossed the surging torrent.

In that place, a human silhouette gradually coalesced.

"You… how can you still have reached this step?"

Su Chen smiled.

"Your path began here, so it shall end here!"

Su Chen raised his hand and lightly flicked a finger.

A crack suddenly appeared in the Dao heart of the false Immortal King who sought to achieve the Dao. Terror filled his eyes. No matter how hard he struggled, that simple finger felt like Mount Tai pressing down upon a single straw. He was suppressed at once.

His heart was filled with boundless regret and simultaneous dread. He knew the terrifying consequences of this person completing the closed loop once more!

"I am the Immortal King! I am the true Immortal King!"

He was utterly unwilling!

Su Chen paid him no attention and began to trace the prior causes.

"So that is how it was…"

Su Chen narrowed his eyes. Having already become an Immortal King, his status stood above that of True Immortals. He could already easily alter the process by which a True Immortal achieved the Dao. A True Immortal could not be killed.

Yet… Su Chen was now an Immortal King of the Karma Dao, while this person was merely a True Immortal of the Karma Dao. Since there was no way to kill him, he simply rewrote the other's experience of achieving the Dao and turned it into someone else's fruit. For an Immortal King of a direct Great Dao, it was nothing more than changing a name.

Su Chen saw that after his twentieth reincarnation, he had not died directly. Instead, he had been reborn into a small world.

After the battle to besiege the Imperial Extremity Immortal King, the timeline had contracted. Because the Imperial Extremity Immortal King had been defeated, Su Chen easily recovered all his paths… and thus he had lived until that great war…

The scene shattered. The matter involved far too much. A True Immortal could not fully trace it to its roots. When Su Chen attempted to continue examining it, an invisible force blocked him. The great enemy of the past was directly erased and vanished.

As for that great enemy… he had once been defeated by Su Chen, then voluntarily pledged himself to "Scourge" in hopes of proving the Dao of Immortal King. Taking advantage of that great war, "Scourge" had acted against Su Chen, cutting him down and directly altering the experience of his path to the Dao. Unfortunately… Su Chen's fate did not rest in a single lifetime. The repeated attempts to erase him had ultimately given others the chance to rescue him!

Su Chen looked ahead.

He had returned. It was time to once more rush to the battlefield!

Chapter 419: The Ancient and Modern Recorder (Part 30)

Su Chen crossed many spacetimes and then crossed endless time. An unseen force guided him forward. He sensed the auras of two supreme existences locked in combat. One of those auras felt quite familiar.

"You have returned?"

Su Chen arrived at the battlefield. One of the figures was the Lord of Primus. The other, locked in combat with him, resembled a scholar.

Their exchanges produced no phenomena of destroying heaven and earth. Each of their clashes took place in the present, yet the turbulence occurred across different spacetimes and different times!

When the Lord of Primus saw Su Chen walking over, joy appeared on his face. The one who had appeared here was the Witness rather than an unfamiliar Immortal King. This meant he had succeeded!

Su Chen nodded. "I have returned!"

Seeing Su Chen's return, the scholar let out a long sigh. "In the end, I still failed. A Karma Law Immortal King is truly difficult to erase completely."

His figure vanished from this spacetime. The moment Su Chen appeared, he understood that the plan had failed. Continuing the entanglement would only give the two opposite them an opportunity, and he himself might no longer be able to escape.

Neither the Lord of Primus nor Su Chen moved to stop him. Their cultivations were not greatly different. If an Immortal King wished to flee, the two of them could not completely detain him.

What mattered most now was to rush to the final battlefield!

The Lord of Primus and Su Chen exchanged a few words. The two of them directly crossed the torrent of years formed by the gathering of many spacetimes. These forbidden domains would cause any True Immortal to become lost, yet they could not obstruct the steps of Su Chen and the Lord of Primus.

Gradually, the two of them also began to feel strained. Yet soon, multicolored light suddenly appeared before their eyes. It was a scene of the heavens before they had shattered. Many Immortal Kings who had not yet turned to void had already gathered here.

One Immortal King saw Su Chen and the Lord of Primus and smiled. "Lord of Primus, Witness, for the two of you to successfully return is truly not easy."

The Lord of Primus sighed upon seeing him. "I nearly became lost. I never expected 'Scourge' to place such importance on the matter, sending that fellow Profound Yin to obstruct the Witness's return."

The Immortal King was somewhat startled upon hearing the name Profound Yin. "It was actually such a dangerous fellow. It seems 'Scourge' truly places great importance on the Witness."

The Lord of Primus nodded in agreement.

At this moment, Su Chen roughly estimated that more than a hundred Immortal Kings had gathered here.

Past, present, and future had converged in one place.

No…

Su Chen's pupils suddenly contracted.

The Immortal King conversing with the Lord of Primus smiled. "It is as you think. This place is both the battlefield and the final barrier… The power of 'Scourge' is blocked above these myriad spacetimes. If this place collapses, the most terrifying consequence will follow. 'Scourge' will return, and at that time nothing will exist. We too will perish completely.

"Immortal Kings who prove the Dao hereafter will rush here at the first opportunity. Our task is to prevent 'Scourge' from forming, from nonexistence into existence."

Su Chen's heart was greatly shaken. The existence of Immortal Kings was the foundation of the existence of the heavens. It could be compared to a ring whose beginning and end are connected; one proof completed all. Yet that ring had now been broken. Not only had the ring of the Immortal King's existence been shattered, but the very origin of the heavens' existence had been broken as well. A complete ring had become an unknown spiral ascending upward.

Thus, others could take advantage of this to prove the Dao of Immortal King, and the Immortal Kings who achieved the Dao in later generations would eventually arrive here to jointly resist the 'Scourge.'

What a grand scheme this was!

"The next impact is about to begin. Witness, you must prepare yourself!"

That Immortal King cautioned Su Chen.

The Lord of Primus said, "The next impact? It has only been a short time since the previous one!"

He felt the situation was somewhat troublesome.

The Immortal King continued, "In the previous battle, the First Seat successfully suppressed the Imperial Extremity Immortal King and even severed the Dao Fruit of one of his Immortal King Dao bodies… yet he allowed the Imperial Extremity Immortal King to obtain an item from 'Scourge.' The First Seat has deduced that this item is certainly of vital importance. Otherwise, the Imperial Extremity Immortal King would never have paid such a great price."

The moment the words fell, that Immortal King's expression turned strange.

He raised his head and looked toward a certain place.

At that very moment, many Immortal Kings, including Su Chen, turned their gazes in the same direction.

This was the so-called impact!

One after another, different Immortal Kings arrived from different spacetimes. Though they stood in the present, they all shared the same goal: to ascend upward and reach that unknown place where 'Scourge' existed!

The power of those Immortal Kings would assimilate with 'Scourge,' allowing 'Scourge' to gain a vessel in this spacetime!

Su Chen understood their mission.

It was to intercept these people on this inevitable path and prevent them from completing their purpose!

The Lord of Primus said, "The Dao Fruits they once carried belonged to comrades who once fought side by side with us. Yet their pasts were rewritten by the power of 'Scourge,' turning them into enemies.

"What they now seek is to create a future dominated by 'Scourge.' If they succeed, we will vanish. If they fail, it is they who will vanish!"

It was simple. This was a struggle between existence and nonexistence, a life-and-death contest of the Dao.

And they were here to form an airtight great net.

Su Chen also saw familiar faces here.

The 'Heavenly Gang Immortal King,' or rather, the Imperial Extremity Immortal King.

And also that white-robed scholar, the Profound Yin Immortal King.

Apart from them, the numbers were not large—twenty-three Immortal Kings in total.

"This is truly troublesome…"

The Imperial Extremity Immortal King appeared and saw that everyone was still intercepting them here, with several new faces among them. He rubbed his temples.

At that moment, Su Chen narrowed his eyes. The Book of Karma in his hands flipped open and stopped on a certain page.

"This fellow…"

That page was erased and suddenly transformed into the appearance of the white-robed scholar. At this moment, the Profound Yin Immortal King, in the form of that white-robed scholar, was smiling as he looked at Su Chen.

Su Chen's expression remained unchanged. He extended two fingers, joined them into a sword, and lightly drew them across that page.

A single thought covered many spacetimes. The Profound Yin Immortal King had actually intended to erase the existence of Dongfang Yunxiao!

This forced Su Chen to confront him directly.

At that same moment, the Imperial Extremity Immortal King began his charge, seeking to tear through the impregnable great net.

The Profound Yin Immortal King showed no surprise at Su Chen's simultaneous appearance.

"Imperial Extremity told me to keep you trapped here. Since you have come, my task is complete."

The Profound Yin Immortal King had expected Su Chen to chase after him. He gave a soft laugh. A circular disc appeared in his hand. As the disc shattered, the surrounding spacetime began to slowly close.

He intended to completely trap Su Chen here!

"What plans do you have that make you regard me with such caution?"

Su Chen spoke.

The Profound Yin Immortal King sat cross-legged on the ground, scratched his head, and smiled. "Actually, I do not know the specifics myself. That fellow Imperial Extremity said you are truly an unkillable cockroach… Since there is no way to kill you, the only option is to make you 'disappear,' even if it means I must disappear together with you."

Chapter 420: The Ancient and Modern Recorder (Finale)

Su Chen closed the Book of Karma.

"So that is how it is. You regard me with such caution. It seems the future me will cause you no small amount of trouble."

The Profound Yin Immortal King said nothing.

Su Chen took his silence as acknowledgment.

"You wish for me to remain here with you forever… yet on this matter, you should first ask whether I am willing."

The Profound Yin Immortal King's expression turned strange. "Although I look down on that fellow Imperial Extremity, the present spacetime has already formed a closed loop. No matter what you do, you will still remain here. So forgive me for not seeking your opinion. Your opinion is simply not important."

Su Chen placed the Book of Karma at his waist.

"Since you cannot kill me and can only keep me trapped here… then, in other words, if I kill you here, I will be able to leave?"

The Profound Yin Immortal King looked startled for a moment, then burst into loud laughter. "You want to kill me? Do you know the gap between us? Even if you die ten thousand times or a hundred million times, the outcome will never change!"

...

"The Witness has disappeared!"

"This is bad. That fellow Profound Yin has also disappeared!"

When the Lord of Primus saw Su Chen and the Profound Yin Immortal King vanish together, a bad premonition rose in his heart.

Across one spacetime after another, Immortal Kings of the 'Scourge' side attempted to slip through, yet most were intercepted by other Immortal Kings and forced to clash in unknown spacetimes.

Yet with the appearance of the Imperial Extremity Immortal King, even though four of his ten lifetimes of Immortal King Dao Fruits had been severed—nearly half of them—still no one could stop him.

As ripples appeared one after another, an enormous eyeball suddenly opened. It held not the slightest emotion.

It was the Lord of the Heavenly Dao of the Heavenly Dao Court, the incarnation of the Heavenly Dao that existed across the heavens, a powerhouse infinitely close to the Quasi-Immortal Emperor realm.

"Imperial Extremity Immortal King, you should stop here!"

The Imperial Extremity Immortal King sneered with disdain. "Lord of the Heavenly Dao, even you dare to block this King!"

In his prime, he had never needed to pay much attention to the Lord of the Heavenly Dao.

The Lord of the Heavenly Dao remained without joy or sorrow.

The Imperial Extremity Immortal King continued, "Actually, the one launching the charge this time is not this King. If you wish to block this King, then block me… At least I only have to face you rather than Him."

The gaze of the Lord of the Heavenly Dao froze.

At the far end of the interwoven great net, only black and white remained. A single figure seemed to separate two worlds.

He suddenly opened his eyes.

At that moment, faint cracks began to appear within the interwoven great net…

A light, cheerful voice rang out. From the other side of the cracks in the great net, a radiance surged forth, interweaving and reforming into a figure that looked toward the existence seated above the net.

"The Fourth Scourge Lord…"

At that moment, the pupils of the Lord of Primus sharply contracted.

The Fourth Scourge Lord had appeared once more.

"How is this possible… Was He not already nonexistent?"

The Fourth Scourge Lord had reappeared. No wonder the Imperial Extremity Immortal King had dared to launch the impact so quickly. He had been creating an opportunity for the Fourth Scourge Lord!

In the pupils of the figure seated at the end of the great net was reflected the Fourth Scourge Lord. He murmured, "So that is how it is… From the very beginning, the target of all this was you."

No one dared underestimate the Fourth Scourge Lord. After all, this existence had once faced those several beings directly!

Although the previous great war had ended in a hasty conclusion.

Across the heavens, certain traces seemed to begin being erased. With the appearance of the Fourth Scourge Lord, some error was being corrected!

...

The Profound Yin Immortal King looked at the masked existence before him and said, "You are too late. He has already returned. The Lord of Life and Death has been entangled by Him. Before long, you will gradually be corrected and become one of us, jointly witnessing a new world that belongs to the existence of 'Scourge'!"

Su Chen looked at the Profound Yin Immortal King and had to admit that this fellow was indeed extremely strong. Neither of them could kill the other.

Su Chen paid no attention to the Profound Yin Immortal King's words. At this moment, his mind seemed submerged in a certain place, and he had no heart to respond.

For he had discovered something.

He could actually sense the existence of the Reverse Fate Scripture!

Previously, he had only been able to enter the Reverse Fate Space after death. Now he found that this rule seemed to have been broken!

...

Inside the Reverse Fate Space, Su Chen opened his eyes.

He had indeed returned here!

No. More accurately, a portion of him had returned here. The part that belonged to the Witness was still confronting the Profound Yin Immortal King.

Su Chen's expression turned strange.

The Profound Yin Immortal King was delaying him? Now who exactly was delaying whom?

"The current me can actually grasp a portion of the authority of the Reverse Fate Scripture. It is no longer like before, when I could only return to the Reverse Fate Scripture after death. Now I can control the Reverse Fate Scripture and open a new lifetime. That new lifetime will become the new me, while the old lifetime will still exist, only as the old me. Only the me who holds the Reverse Fate Scripture will possess infinite futures."

The path walked by the Imperial Extremity Immortal King allowed ten Immortal King Dao Fruits to possess a status surpassing ordinary Immortal Kings. Su Chen discovered that he seemed able to do the same… if he could find the spacetime line sealed by the Profound Yin Immortal King.

"The Imperial Extremity Immortal King tried to kill me, yet after countless attempts using the power of 'Scourge,' he still failed. That is why he called me an unkillable cockroach… He could only think of a way to trap me, believing this would completely 'erase' me.

"Perhaps he merely regarded me as an existence of the same status as the Fourth Scourge Lord.

"Yet he never expected that I possessed the Reverse Fate Scripture. The existence of the Reverse Fate Scripture grants me countless destinies and the possibility of rewriting fate."

Su Chen looked at the Reverse Fate Scripture before him. Hundreds of thousands of lifetimes had already passed, representing that he had indeed died that many times.

Su Chen opened a new chapter.

[You have not died, yet your influence in this life is significant. Do you wish to settle?]

Su Chen chose to settle.

[In the two hundred forty-five thousand three hundred sixty-first lifetime, you began by being born in a world of ice and snow and nearly froze to death. Fortunately, through the kindness of good people, you successfully survived. Knowing that a great enemy was secretly obstructing your cultivation, you chose another path. You entrusted someone to forge a bronze mask. Upon that bronze mask, you carved a simple formation with your final hope, ensuring the mask could not be easily destroyed.

The existence of this mask spanned countless years and witnessed countless experiences, transforming into an object interwoven with karma. That karmic object therefore contained infinite profundities, and from it a 'He' would be born… This 'He' was a collective of infinite wills. Relying on an indestructible will, you stood out among the wills formed by the infinite living beings and seized the dominant position. You succeeded and obtained a new life.

Thereafter, you experienced many things, planting causes and reaping fruits. In the end, under the guidance of an old acquaintance from the past, you severed the cause and seized the fruit, returning once more to the position of Immortal King.

You have preliminarily grasped the Reverse Fate Scripture.

Evaluation: One Star (Colorful)

Reward: Ten million Reverse Fate Points]

AN: The next update is in two days.