805: Chapter 803 The Tribulation of Reincarnation is Unspeakable

"The Flame Hall Master has summoned me."

Lin Yang paused, informed Clear Source, and went to meet the Flame Hall Master.

The Flame Hall Master was on another floor of the Human Ancestor Hall building. Seeing Lin Yang approach, he revealed a smile and said:

"Lin Yang, your breakthrough went quite smoothly and your speed wasn't slow. From now on, our Human Ancestor Hall has another Heng Realm expert. This is a rare occurrence; it has been many years since a new Heng Realm practitioner appeared."

Continuing, he asked, "As a newly promoted Heng Realm Elder, you may make one request. As long as it isn't too excessive, we will do our best to satisfy you, whether it be a Dharma Treasure or something else."

Lin Yang cupped his fists and said, "Thank you, Hall Master. However, I do not want material things. I would like to ask for some information, if I may?"

"Oh? And what is it you wish to know?" the Flame Hall Master asked with a smile.

Lin Yang spoke directly, "Just now, I learned some things about the Ancient Ruins from Fellow Daoist Clear Source, but his knowledge was limited."

"May I ask, Hall Master, who exactly are the entities slumbering within those Ancient Ruins? Why do they engage in such wanton slaughter? Also, I would like to know about the situation regarding the Ancient Ruins, if possible."

He currently truly had no need for things like Dharma Treasures.

The Silver Dragon Spear was still usable. Although it was slightly falling behind, there were no suitable spear treasures within the Human Ancestor Hall either.

Compared to other material rewards, he wanted to know certain information more.

This was an excellent opportunity to gain intelligence, and he did not want to miss it.

The Flame Hall Master laughed. "You are quite direct, and your curiosity is not small. Very well, since you are already in the Heng Realm, there is no harm in telling you some things, though they must not be spread to outsiders."

Lin Yang immediately said, "Understood! Thank you for granting my request, Hall Master!"

Flame waved his hand, his gaze looking into the depths of the void, seemingly staring at a certain Ancient Ruin, his voice sounding distant as he said:

"Before telling you who exactly those fellows in the Ancient Ruins are, you first need to know about the existence of the Samsara Tribulation."

"Samsara Tribulation?" Lin Yang murmured. He had never heard of this before, but from the name, it did not sound like anything good.

Flame continued, "The Samsara Tribulation is the final tribulation that marks the end of a Samsara Era. When time reaches the end of such an era, the Samsara Tribulation will appear."

"The Samsara Tribulation is formed by the infinite power of Heaven and Earth. Its purpose is to eliminate the majority of living beings within that Samsara Era to nourish the next era."

"To put it simply, it is a periodic cleansing of living beings by Heaven and Earth."

"Theoretically, the Samsara Tribulation is unsolvable. Aside from the vast majority of ordinary cultivators being wiped out, the higher one's cultivation, the more dangerous it becomes. The Samsara Tribulation specifically targets those with profound cultivation; practitioners at the Dao Wulou Realm and above are targets that must be eliminated."

"However, upon reaching the Heng Realm or above, one gains the preliminary ability to evade the Samsara Tribulation."

"But evading the Samsara Tribulation comes with a price, and a very heavy one at that."

"The longer one lives and the more times one evades it, the difficulty and the price of avoiding the Samsara Tribulation will increase exponentially."

At this point, Flame paused, glanced at Lin Yang, smiled, and said:

"For example, you are a newly ascended Heng Realm of this era. Your state is currently at its peak. When you evade your first Samsara Tribulation, you can do so with almost no cost."

"But as you live through more Samsara Eras, your state will inevitably decline. To survive more eras, your condition will worsen after each evasion of the Samsara Tribulation, until your vital energy is exhausted and you die, no longer able to evade the tribulation."

"Yet there are always some Old Monsters who, in order to live longer and unwilling to die, have conducted many experiments. Eventually, they discovered a method."

"That is to harvest the life force of living beings. As long as they harvest enough life force, they can withstand the weakness following the Samsara Tribulation until the next era begins, repeating the cycle over and over."

"Therefore..."

Flame looked at Lin Yang again:

"Those inside the Ancient Ruins are those undying old fools. They awaken before the Samsara Tribulation descends and harvest the life force of others to extend their own."

"Every single one of them is an Old Monster who has lived through an unknown number of Samsara Eras."

"..."

Lin Yang's mind shook as he listened.

Samsara Tribulation?

Heaven and Earth cleansing living beings?

The entities in the Ancient Ruins were Old Monsters who had evaded the Samsara Tribulation many times?

This information was too shocking, making Lin Yang's scalp tingle.

He took a deep breath. He had many questions in his heart, but for a moment, he didn't know how to speak. After a moment of silence, he asked again:

"Hall Master, reaching the Heng Realm doesn't mean true eternal life? One still has to evade the Samsara Tribulation, and if one fails, they die? And they are even the mandatory targets for elimination by the tribulation?"

This was different from the information he had previously obtained.

Reaching the Heng Realm was supposed to be eternity, but now it sounded like that wasn't the case, as one could still die.

Flame smiled. "That is where the problem lies. The higher the cultivation, the more one must endure the elimination force of the Samsara Tribulation. The Heng Realm is only theoretical eternity. Theoretically, as long as you can evade the Samsara Tribulation, you can live forever. But in reality, it is almost impossible to keep evading it forever."

Lin Yang couldn't help but ask again, "Then what is the reason for the power of Heaven and Earth to form the Samsara Tribulation? Is it purely to cleanse living beings? Or is it because there are too many cultivators taking too much power from Heaven and Earth, causing a shortage, so it needs to reclaim a portion of their power?"

Flame said pensively, "It's likely a bit of both. But actually, it is said that many Samsara Eras ago, there was no Samsara Tribulation. Upon reaching the Heng Realm, as long as one wasn't killed by others, their lifespan was essentially infinite. But later, for some unknown reason, the Samsara Tribulation appeared, causing cultivators to lose true eternal life."

"What? There was no Samsara Tribulation before?" Lin Yang was greatly shocked.

"Yes, but that period was too long ago, so distant it's hard to trace. Some have tried to trace it, but that era seems to be sealed away, impossible to peer into. Therefore, the reason for the appearance of the Samsara Tribulation remains unknown," Flame sighed.

"This..." Lin Yang couldn't help but think of the scene he encountered in the River of Time.

At that time, as he walked upstream along the River of Time, a mysterious will had warned him at a certain stage, saying, 'Ancient history of the previous era, forbidden to descendants.'

Now, combining that with the words of Hall Master Yanhuo, Lin Yang vaguely seemed to understand something, but he couldn't fully grasp the thread of thought for a moment.

He could only say, "Hall Master, can those Old Monsters in the Ancient Ruins live indefinitely by relying on plundering life force? If so, doesn't that mean as long as one reaches the Heng Realm and is ruthless enough, they can also ignore the Samsara Tribulation?"

Flame shook his head. "It's not that simple. First, to rely on plundering life force to survive the Samsara Tribulation, there are extremely high requirements for one's own strength. Ordinary Ancient Realm practitioners can't do it, meaning ordinary Hall Masters can't rely on plundering life force to repeatedly endure the Samsara Tribulation."

"Secondly, there are other restrictions. In short, it's not as simple as you think. Not all existences above the Heng Realm can rely on plundering life force to survive the Samsara Tribulation."

"Otherwise, there wouldn't be so few Fierce Ancient Ruins since ancient times. So, do you understand how terrifying the Old Monsters in those Fierce Ancient Ruins are?"

Lin Yang fell silent.

Even ordinary Hall Masters couldn't survive the Samsara Tribulation multiple times by plundering life force, yet the Old Monsters of the Fierce Ancient Ruins could. This was staggering.

He finally understood why no one stopped the Fierce Ancient Ruins, whether they were expanding or rioting.

The Hall Masters likely had no way to easily stop them.

"Is there really no way to deal with those Old Monsters?" Lin Yang couldn't help but ask.

Flame laughed loudly. "Naturally there is, but the price is too high. It would require a Hall Master to trade their life one-for-one, or even two or three-for-one to possibly eliminate one. But those Old Monsters are very united and won't give the Hall Masters a chance to attack a single Ancient Ruin alone. So, there's basically no way to deal with them."

Lin Yang's heart immediately sank.

This price was indeed enormous.

At the same time, he understood that it wasn't that the Hall Masters were unwilling to sacrifice themselves to deal with the Ancient Ruins, but that there were too few Hall Masters; they couldn't afford the sacrifice.

Take the Human Ancestor Hall for example: there were only five Hall Masters in total, but there were seven Fierce Ancient Ruins within the human territory.

Even with a one-for-one trade, all five Hall Masters would perish.

And if the Hall Masters all died, the other six clans, especially the Ancient Night Clan, would likely strike immediately.

Therefore, the Hall Masters could not afford to die!

They must not die!

Furthermore, if the Hall Masters died to deal with the Old Monsters in the Ancient Ruins on the Primal Ancient Continent, there would be no one to guard the Dingbian Ancient Pass, and powerhouses from the Foreign Realm would invade the entire Primal Ancient Continent.

In that case, all the cultivators on the Primal Ancient Continent would still die in the end.

It was an unsolvable vicious cycle.

Lin Yang was silent for a while, then asked again, "Hall Master, what about the Ancient Ruins? What's the situation with the Ancient Ruins?"

"The situation with the Ancient Ruins is more complex. I don't know the specifics either. Like the Samsara Tribulation, it dates back to before the distant eras, a period too remote to trace," Hall Master Yanhuo said.

Lin Yang was speechless.

The Ancient Ruins were also something from that untraceable era.

"Hall Master, then do you know about the Yin Realm?" Lin Yang asked once more.

"Yin Realm? You actually know about the Yin Realm??" This time, it was Hall Master Yanhuo's turn to be surprised.

He was very surprised that Lin Yang knew about the Yin Realm.

Lin Yang was startled, then said, "I learned of it by chance."

Hall Master Yanhuo had no intention of prying and simply said, "Regrettably, the Yin Realm is also a matter from that untraceable era."

"Uh..." Lin Yang was completely at a loss for words.

The most crucial information was actually all untraceable.

"Do you have anything else you want to ask?" Hall Master Yanhuo said.

"Two more questions." Lin Yang didn't stand on ceremony and asked directly, "May I ask, Hall Master, how much longer until this Samsara Era ends? And why have I never heard anyone mention the Samsara Tribulation before? Logically, such a great tribulation of Heaven and Earth should be known to everyone, right? Or was it also deliberately concealed?"

He was very puzzled, especially since he had never heard of the Samsara Tribulation before.

Something like this, logically speaking, even if deliberately hidden, shouldn't be kept so airtight. Yet before this, he had never heard a word of it.

Flame smiled:

"To answer your second doubt first, the matter of the Samsara Tribulation is indeed deliberately concealed."

"Furthermore, the Hall Masters specifically handle this matter, applying seals and restrictions at the level of the Dao, so that ordinary cultivators are completely unaware of it."

"Even if those in the Heng Realm know, they cannot mention it to others. This is a rule of Heaven and Earth imposed by the Hall Masters; otherwise, it would surely cause widespread panic and chaos in the world."

"As for the question of how much longer this Samsara Era will last, to be honest, I cannot give you an accurate time for now."

"Because the duration of each Samsara Era varies. However, judging by the simultaneous riots of the Ancient Ruins, there shouldn't be much time left."

"Those old fools are more sensitive to the Samsara Tribulation than we are. It's probably less than ten million years."

At this point, he couldn't help but smile. "You are also lucky to have reached the Heng Realm at the end of this Samsara Era."

Lin Yang's expression was complex.

No wonder ordinary cultivators knew nothing about the Samsara Tribulation.

It was actually a restriction imposed by the Hall Masters at the level of the Dao and the rules of Heaven and Earth!

"Why impose such a restriction? Is it merely for fear of chaos?" Lin Yang couldn't help but whisper.

Flame said slowly, "That is one reason. Another reason is that if people knew about the Samsara Tribulation, a large portion of them would die, and the higher the cultivation, the greater the probability of death. If so, how many people would still cultivate with peace of mind and focus?"

Lin Yang was taken aback.

Flame continued:

"Although reaching the Heng Realm allows one to preliminarily evade the Samsara Tribulation, not everyone can reach it. For the vast majority of people, higher cultivation only increases the likelihood of their death exponentially."

"Therefore, it cannot be spoken of, and cannot be known."

"Because we need new powerhouses and even Hall Master-level figures to appear."

"The path of cultivation is full of variables. Many people might lack talent initially, but with great opportunities, they might eventually stand out."

"But if they were told from the beginning that they would die if they didn't reach the Heng Realm, then many people who might have great opportunities but lack initial talent would give up hope from the start."

"Because opportunities are unpredictable and unknown to the person themselves. Once the world's cultivators learn of the Samsara Tribulation, many with insufficient talent will think they can't reach the Heng Realm and simply stop trying, to avoid the inevitable death."

"In this way, we might lose Hall Masters who could have appeared in the future."

"Do you understand now?"

Lin Yang's eyes narrowed, and he nodded. "I understand."

Flame also nodded:

"Yes, this is also why the Human Ancestor Hall does its best to provide resources and guidance, and to create a safe enough cultivation environment for the general public. It's to discover as many talents as possible."

Flame's words also happened to solve another of Lin Yang's doubts.

When he first arrived at the Primal Ancient Continent, he was also surprised why it wasn't like the Endless Spacetime where cultivators slaughtered each other, but instead had a relatively complete legal system.

The reason was right here.

"Alright, Lin Yang, you should have finished all your questions. Go back then, and continue to work hard to see if you can take another step forward before the Samsara Tribulation descends. As for the resources you need, the Human Ancestor Hall will provide them with full effort."

"Thank you, Hall Master," Lin Yang immediately thanked him. (End of Chapter)