127: Chapter 128 The Deadly Sword of Cause and Effect

"The Spiritual Qi of the Great Qǐ plane is sparse, and the Heavenly Dao's suppression is weak; it's just a D-rank plane. This kind of environment is actually a natural cover. Establishing a cross-Realm teleportation node here means that unless one specifically deduces it, no one would notice this place."

Shen Moyan sneered as he performed his deductions, "It seems this water is much deeper than I imagined."

"However, that's fine too. The muddier the water, the more expensive the fish..."

After careful consideration, Shen Moyan still decided to ascend to Langya Prefecture.

There was no other reason than it being profitable.

He still needed to join the All Heavens Department.

Perfecting his Holy Court Purple Mansion required observing and visiting various departments of the Holy Court, and the All Heavens Department was the one with the most frequent interactions with the others.

It just so happened that his Scripture of Severing All Manifestations was completed up to the Guizang Realm; if everything went as planned, one more trip to the Di Lin Prefecture should complete it up to the Calamity Law Realm.

"This time, I'll change my approach and not plot for that nascent soul dao fruit."

Shen Moyan wanted to see who the nascent soul dao fruit would fall into the hands of under normal circumstances without his interference.

"According to the life where Great Qǐ fell, Zheng Quan and Gao Sheng definitely didn't succeed."

"Master Xingxiang's plan was only for the Jiang Family's death exemption gold plaque, and Ni Gaoyuan couldn't summon the Demon Venerable. Without the Demon Venerable and without Siming, who exactly did the nascent soul dao fruit end up with?"

This was what Shen Moyan found strange.

In the end, the nascent soul dao fruit should have been completed, and it even had the Wild Goose Formation True Monarch's Restriction on it. Why didn't Zheng Quan get what he wanted?

Was there another expert hidden in the shadows who snatched the nascent soul dao fruit, making everyone's efforts a waste?

"Forget it, let's just watch."

A day later, at Blackwood Cliff, the void shattered... Shen Moyan transformed into a streak of light and appeared in the sky above Dongshan City, where he had first arrived in this world and had many entanglements.

When his Divine Sense habitually swept over the familiar street scenes below, he saw Ni Gaoyuan looking at his red gourd with a strange expression. The people beside him were, naturally, He Qiaoer and Meng Chen.

The three were sitting together, discussing something in low voices, filled with confusion.

They were likely tinkering with some ultimate move to assassinate the City Lord.

Without looking further, Shen Moyan's destination this time was the Langya Prefecture government.

Suddenly, an unprecedented fatal warning sign surged within his Sea of Consciousness.

"What's going on?!" Shen Moyan's hair stood on end.

This feeling was somewhat familiar, as if he had felt it somewhere before.

He looked at the karma line on his body, and an unprecedented killing calamity line suddenly appeared.

Shen Moyan didn't even have time to activate the Record of Misfortune and Fortune Karma for deduction, nor did he have time to think about the reason.

Buzz—!

Above his head, the originally clear sky suddenly tore open.

A pitch-black remnant sword phantom, covered in cracks yet emitting a terrifying aura of slaughtering through the ages and illuminating the nine netherworlds, ignored the distance of time and space, ignored space itself, and descended from the end of the firmament.

The heaven-slaying nether-illuminating sword!

Shen Moyan's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks; this was a karmic killing calamity! It was coming after his very existence!

What Purple Mansion or Golden Core cultivation, what Scripture of Severing All Manifestations—before this karmic killing sword that involved the Origin, they were all like paper!

Resisting it head-on would only result in the total annihilation of his body and soul.

Run? Where could he run?

This sword of Karma was locked onto his "existence"; even if he fled to the ends of the earth, it would be to no avail!

The only way to survive was... "Final Stroke!"

Shen Moyan roared in his heart, his thoughts communicating with that book, "As I Have Written," in the deepest part of his Sea of Consciousness at an unprecedented speed.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

The edge of the remnant sword had already touched his brow, and that destructive Dao Rhyme even began to erode his Divine Soul.

Swish!

The pages of "As I Have Written" flipped.

Shen Moyan's figure, along with all his aura, Karma, and traces of existence, disappeared from the sky above Dongshan City like handwriting erased by an eraser.

That heaven-slaying nether-illuminating sword phantom, carrying endless killing Karma, struck empty space and let out an unwilling sword hum before slowly dissipating into nothingness.

The cracks in the sky mended as if nothing had ever happened.

Below in Dongshan City, some Cultivators with keen senses felt a mysterious heart palpitation; they looked up at the sky, but saw only drifting white clouds.

[Final Stroke used, no achievement earned during this writing session.]

...Shen Moyan was somewhat speechless.

In this life, he had gained nothing.

"But it's good news; an accident actually tested out the true baseline of [As I Have Written]."

For the first time, Shen Moyan was incredibly grateful for his cheat.

There would be no achievement, but he could repeat a life.

"What is the price?"

Shen Moyan checked his entire body; after inheriting the cultivation from the Bookmarks again, he wasn't lacking anything.

[Realm 1: Golden Core Peak (Immortal Path)]

[Realm 2: Purple Mansion Middle Stage (Twisted Immortal Path)]

Scanning his Sea of Consciousness and communicating with "As I Have Written," his gaze froze when he looked at the status of the Bookmarks.

His consciousness landed on the bookmark at the end of "As I Have Written" that carried the [Achievement].

That [Supreme Martial Artist] bookmark was dim and lusterless.

The handwriting on it was blurred, and the Dao Rhyme had dissipated. Like a candle flickering in the wind, it struggled and flashed a few times before it actually shattered inch by inch like a collapsing sand tower, turning into silver-gray light particles and completely dissipating from the page.

A slot among the Bookmarks became empty.

The achievement, [Supreme Martial Artist], was gone!

[(Current Bookmarks: 4/9)]

Under the mental connection, Shen Moyan's face instantly turned as pale as paper, and a sense of fragmentation and loss appeared deep within his Dao Heart.

"So the price of using 'Final Stroke' without making any achievements is the attrition of the accumulation of achievements from past lives."

Shen Moyan's voice was hoarse, carrying a hint of bitterness that was hard to hide.

When you escape, your past achievements will leave you.

The Bookmarks of [As I Have Written] are not a cheat tool for infinite retries; in reality, they are a more cruel resource manager.

"Final Stroke" is using "past accumulation" to trade for a "future opportunity."

If one cannot reach an achievement in a lifetime, frequent use of "Final Stroke" will only continuously consume one's foundation, eventually leading to the loss of all achievements and becoming completely mediocre!

Thinking up to this point, Shen Moyan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and forced himself to accept this cruel reality.

He had underestimated the price of "Final Stroke" and had relied too much on this Heaven-Defying ability.

The loss was irreversible; what mattered now was how to face it.

"The heaven-slaying nether-illuminating sword... how could it suddenly appear? Who is activating it? The Demon Venerable hasn't even resurrected yet, so who else could activate it?"

"Also, in the previous life, I clearly used [mastermind] to cover all my Karma; no one should know of Shen Moyan's existence."

"That sword's karmic lock carried a sense of inevitability; it didn't seem like a temporary curse, but more like a... long-predestined fate."

"This means that the person who activated that sword knows my name."

"And the only one I've encountered who knows karmic killing moves is the Demon Sect True Disciple, Yi Shukuang."

Shen Moyan's brain worked rapidly, and combining his previous experiences, he suddenly thought of a possibility.

After eliminating all that is possible, only one impossible thing remains.

Something followed him through time and space back to the anchor point.

Shen Moyan entered the qingming inkstone and looked at that yi mo gourd he had obtained two lives ago, his expression dark.