220: The cycle of reincarnation continues
A thousand years later, in a barren Star Domain located at the edge of the Universe, where the Laws were incomplete and Spiritual Qi was thin. On a Desolate Planet nearing death, there were no signs of life, only raging energy storms and eternal silence.
However, at the bottom of the deepest, darkest canyon fissure on this planet, a tiny, imperceptible hint of green quietly broke through the hard rock layers and stubbornly poked its head out.
It was a seedling, dark green with the color of Chaos. Its leaves resembled willow leaves but were not quite, and they were surrounded by an extremely faint aura of Return to Void that seemed capable of devouring light. Furthermore, a wisp of subtle... Reincarnation Dao Charm flowed around it.
It absorbed the fragmented Laws and thin energy of this Star Domain, growing slowly and steadily.
One year, ten years, a hundred years... The seedling gradually grew into a small tree about three feet tall. Its trunk twisted like a Dragon, and as its leaves swayed, countless worlds seemed to be born and destroyed. The deathly silence in the canyon where it resided was gradually dispelled, replaced instead by a unique Domain containing the Concept of life and death Reincarnation.
On this day, when the small tree reached a height of nine feet and nine inches, it stopped growing. All its leaves rustled without wind, making a soft sound that seemed to pierce through eternal time and space, carrying endless vicissitudes and enlightenment.
Above the trunk, a faint human-shaped phantom slowly condensed.
The phantom gradually solidified, revealing the appearance of... Liu Qingtian!
But he was completely different from before. In his eyes, the left held the Darkness of Return to Void, encompassing Myriad Phenomena and leading ultimately to annihilation; the right held the Light of Reincarnation, cyclical and ceaseless. His aura was no longer merely the overbearing presence of a Demon Venerable, but became vast, ancient, and profound, as if merged with the Laws of creation and destruction of the entire Universe.
He lowered his head, looking at his hands transitioning from illusory to solid, feeling the surging, ceaseless new power within his body—a power many times greater than the Star Plucking Realm. He murmured softly to himself, his voice seeming to come from the distant past and echoing into the future:
“Between life and death lies great terror, but also great Opportunity... So, this is the true 'Myriad Phenomena Return to Void'... The end of annihilation is also the starting point of new life... Reincarnation never ends.”
He succeeded.
He achieved complete annihilation in death, and through the ultimate annihilation, he comprehended the True Meaning of Reincarnation, breaking the boundary between life and death. Using this Chaos Willow Seedling, which contained his final Origin and a sliver of Reincarnation Catalyst, as his anchor, he crossed a thousand years of time, reshaped his body, and returned to the world!
Moreover, his Realm had already broken through the shackles that plagued countless Prodigies, stepping into a brand new level capable of overlooking the Sea of Stars—the Star River Realm!
He gently raised his hand and casually flicked a finger toward a colossal Galactic Great Wall in the distance, which was composed of hundreds of thousands of star systems and spanned hundreds of thousands of light-years.
There was no light, no sound.
The endless Galactic Great Wall, its existence across "history," "present," and "future," seemed to be forcibly erased from the River of Time and Space by an invisible massive hand. In an instant, along with the countless stars, civilizations, and lives within it, everything reverted to the most primordial Chaos Energy and returned to nothingness.
With a flick of a finger, the Star River was annihilated!
At the same time, in a Realm of Absolute Nothingness, infinitely far away and transcending the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Realms.
A figure sat quietly cross-legged. His body was devoid of flesh and blood, composed entirely of bones that shimmered with Annihilation Starlight. It was precisely Luo Jiuxuan. He seemed to have transformed into the Incarnation of the Universe's Annihilation Law.
Just as Liu Qingtian woke up in the Barren Star Domain and annihilated the Galactic Great Wall with a flick of his finger, Luo Jiuxuan's skull, composed entirely of bone, slowly lifted. His empty eye sockets "gazed" toward Liu Qingtian's location, and his jawbone moved slightly, emitting a thought wave that crossed endless time and space, perceivable only by those who reached a specific level:
“Finally... you have returned.”
“Life and death, Reincarnation never ends. After your death, I used the power of Temporal Paradox from your future Quasi-Immortal Emperor self to influence your Karma. Without the 'dead you' of the present, there would be no 'you who revives in death, comprehends Reincarnation, and steps into the Star River Realm' in the future. Yet, the 'effect' of your future existence was predestined even before the 'cause' of my past intervention...”
“Time and space have now become a closed-loop paradox.”
“The current you has broken free from predetermined destiny, shattered the cycle of life and death Reincarnation, and now possesses... the possibility of ascending to the Supreme Immortal Emperor Realm.”
“My promise... is fulfilled.”
His thought wave was calm and placid, as if stating a long-predetermined fact.
As his voice faded, a seemingly innate shackles deep within Liu Qingtian's Dao Heart shattered! A clear and distinct path, leading straight to the Immortal Emperor Realm—the state of commanding creation, transcending all, and being eternally free—was clearly revealed within his perception!
Only at this moment did Liu Qingtian truly understand what Luo Jiuxuan's "Thousand Moves Pact" and the promise to "guarantee a Breakthrough to Immortal Emperor" actually meant. It was not merely a trial; it was a shocking scheme spanning time and space, forcibly twisting Karma using his own Quasi-Immortal Emperor Might to create the Opportunity for Liu Qingtian's ascension!
He said nothing, merely bowing deeply toward the direction where Luo Jiuxuan was located.
This bow thanked him for the grace of imparting the Dao, and for the kindness of breaking the shackles.
Straightening up, Liu Qingtian cast his gaze toward the boundless, Vast Deep Space, which held infinite possibilities and dangers.
The road ahead was clear, the Dao path was open.
The path forward was now his alone to walk.
The Immortal Emperor Realm—he had arrived.
(The End)