258: Chapter 258 The Law of Reincarnation

Reincarnation.

When those two words were uttered by Gao De, the entire council hall fell into a deathly silence.

Not fear.

But awe.

Among the three thousand great Daos, each has its own standing.

The Five Elements, Yin and Yang, Life and Death, Time and Space—these are the universally acknowledged 'Upper Three Daos'.

And Reincarnation is precisely one of them.

Ranked alongside Karma, sharing the same Origin as Time and Space.

"Your Majesty..." Ao Xue's voice trembled slightly, "You wish to comprehend the Dao of Reincarnation?"

Gao De nodded.

"Deep within the Gui Xu Eye, while refining that sin dragon's skeleton, I saw something," he said slowly. "Not its memories, not its resentment—but the 'insight' it had in the instant before its death."

"It had lived for who knows how many tens of thousands of years, killed countless beings, its resentment reaching to the heavens. But at the moment it was suppressed by the Dragon Clan and about to perish, it suddenly understood—"

"Everything it had killed would eventually come back for it."

"The sins it had committed would ultimately be repaid by itself."

"That is Reincarnation."

He paused.

"A pity it understood too late."

"But I saw it."

"That sliver of 'insight' is now within me."

He raised his hand and pressed it against his chest.

"Right here."

"Waiting for me to fully comprehend it."

Everyone fell silent.

After a long while, Mysterious Turtle spoke: "Cliff Master, the Dao of Reincarnation is no trivial matter. Throughout the ages, countless geniuses of exceptional talent have attempted to comprehend this Dao. In the end, they either succumbed to Qi Deviation, exhausted their Lifespan, or..."

He paused, not finishing the sentence.

"...or were backlashed by Karma, their Souls Flying Away and Spirit Scattering," Gao De finished for him.

Mysterious Turtle nodded.

But Gao De smiled.

"I know," he said. "But this is my path."

"The first strand of fusion was merging with thunder. The second strand of life was becoming the source of thunder itself. The third strand of slaughter was thunder as killing. The fourth strand of massacre was the Dao of Slaughter itself."

"After these four strands, I faintly sensed that between thunder and slaughter, a link was missing."

"That link is Reincarnation."

He stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the distant, misty expanse of Dongting Lake.

"Thunder is the ultimate Yang, slaughter the ultimate hardness. But no matter how powerful the force, it will ultimately fade, end, be ground away by time."

"But Reincarnation is different."

"Reincarnation is 'coming again'."

"It is a new beginning after fading away."

"It is rebirth after the end."

"If I can fuse Reincarnation into thunder, into slaughter—"

He turned and looked at everyone.

"Then those I kill will ultimately serve me."

"Then what I lose will ultimately return."

"Then every step I take will not be in vain."

"That is the true—Great Dao."

The room was utterly silent.

Everyone was digesting his words.

After a long while, Ao Xue spoke: "Your Majesty, how long will you need to go into seclusion?"

Gao De shook his head.

"I don't know."

"Perhaps a year, perhaps ten, perhaps a hundred."

"The Dao of Reincarnation is not something one can comprehend through arduous cultivation alone. It requires Opportunity, requires insight, requires—experience."

He paused.

"Therefore, I do not plan to go into closed-door seclusion."

"I intend to travel."

Everyone was taken aback.

Gao De said, "In this world, what best allows one to comprehend the Dao is not sitting in stillness, not pondering hard, but—the space between life and death."

"I will go to some places."

"Some... places where I can see 'Reincarnation'."

He looked at Mysterious Turtle.

"At the original site of that cave-heaven beneath Dongting Lake, when it collapsed back then, did anything remain?"

Mysterious Turtle thought for a moment: "There are some residual spatial rifts, but they have long been unstable. Entering recklessly would be dangerous."

"Danger?" Gao De smiled. "The thing I fear least right now is danger."

He then looked at Dragon Peach.

"That Peach Blossom Spring in Lesser Qingqiu, how was it formed back then?"

Dragon Peach pondered and said: "That is a place of 'death and rebirth'. From what I sense, a great battle once occurred there, where countless living beings perished. Later, after who knows how many years, the Essence Blood and resentment of those who fell merged into the earth veins, nourishing that peach forest."

"When the peach trees bloom, I can occasionally sense some... residual 'obsessions'."

Gao De's eyes lit up.

"Death and rebirth... residual obsessions..."

"Those are the traces of Reincarnation."

He made a decisive decision.

"Tomorrow, I will first go to the original cave-heaven site."

"Then to Lesser Qingqiu."

"And then to some other places."

"Any place related to 'life and death', any matter related to 'Reincarnation'—I will go and see them all."

Everyone acknowledged the orders one after another.

Only Ao Xue remained silent.

It wasn't until the meeting ended and everyone had dispersed that she walked to Gao De's side.

"Your Majesty," she said.

Gao De turned to look at her.

Ao Xue was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked: "This time... will you be gone for a long time?"

Gao De was momentarily stunned.

He suddenly realized what Ao Xue was worried about.

Not worried about his failure to comprehend the Dao.

Not worried about him succumbing to Qi Deviation.

But worried—that he would go far away and not return.

He recalled that moment years ago in the Dragon Transformation Pool, when he saved Ao Xue.

That little dragon girl, covered in blood and on the verge of death, her eyes filled only with despair and hatred.

Later, she followed him, walking all the way to today.

From a fugitive of the dragon palace, to a Protector of Qianjiao Cliff.

From the Early Stage of the fourth rank, to the Middle Stage of the fourth rank.

From being alone, to having a group of comrades she could entrust her back to.

What she feared had never been the enemy.

What she feared was—being abandoned again.

Gao De fell silent for a moment.

Then, he raised his hand and gently patted her head.

Just like he had done many times before.

"No," he said.

"Wherever I go, I will tell you."

"No matter how long I'm gone, I will return."

Ao Xue looked up at him.

In her blood-red eyes, there was a faint, almost imperceptible glimmer of moisture.

But she said nothing.

She merely nodded.

"Alright," she said.

---

The next day.

The original site of the cave-heaven at the bottom of Dongting Lake.

Gao De stood alone atop the ruins.

Once, this place had been the entrance to a Secret Realm with Spiritual Qi soaring to the heavens. Now, only devastation remained.

Mysterious Turtle had said there were some residual spatial rifts here.

He closed his eyes, spreading his Divine Sense.

Soon, he sensed it.

A hundred zhang directly beneath the ruins, there was an extremely fine rift.

The rift was only as thick as a thumb, yet it emitted an eerie aura—as if it connected to a completely different space.

"This is the place."

He circulated his Thunder Origin, his body transforming into light as he dove into the rift.

---

Darkness.

Endless darkness.

But unlike the Gui Xu Eye, the darkness here was not empty.

There were things inside it.

Gao De opened his eyes, finding himself standing within a void.

There was nothing around—no sky, no earth, no direction.

But countless points of light floated around him.

Those points of light were of various colors, some large, some small, some bright, some dim.

He reached out and touched one of them.

Boom—

In an instant, countless images flooded into his mind!

It was a great battle.

Countless members of the Yao Race and Human Cultivators slaughtered each other, rivers of blood flowing, corpses littering the fields.

He saw a giant Turtle Demon, besieged by three Golden Core Cultivators, finally collapsing from exhaustion.

Before its death, the Turtle Demon's eyes were filled with unwillingness and fury.

The images dissipated.

Gao De came back to himself, finding he was covered in cold sweat.

"These are... memories?"

He touched another point of light.

This time, it was a flood.

Colossal waves swallowed villages, countless Mortals drowned.

A mother clung desperately to her child, trying to lift him onto a rooftop, but the waves were too powerful. She exhausted her strength, and mother and child sank together into the depths.

Before her death, the mother's eyes held only despair.

The images faded again.

Gao De fell silent.

He finally understood.

These points of light were the final "obsessions" of the living beings who had perished here.

After their deaths, their obsessions did not disperse, transforming into these points of light, floating within this spatial rift.

"These are... the traces of Reincarnation?"

He closed his eyes, quietly sensing.

Those obsessions—some were angry, some unwilling, some despairing, some regretful, some—

Some were simply peaceful.

As if saying: It's finally over.

Gao De suddenly understood one thing.

Reincarnation is not about where one goes after death.

Reincarnation is about what is left behind after death.

It is those obsessions one cannot let go of.

It is those unfulfilled wishes.

It is that unwillingness, anger, regret, despair—

And also, love.

He opened his eyes.

"So that's how it is."

He no longer touched the points of light.

He simply sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and entered meditation.

Letting those obsessions surround him.

Letting himself feel them.

Letting himself—

Become them.

---

An unknown amount of time passed.

Perhaps a day, perhaps a year.

Gao De opened his eyes.

Deep within his pupils, an extremely faint trace of gray had appeared.

It was not the pitch-black of slaughter, nor the violet-gold of thunder.

But a kind of nothingness—between existence and non-existence.

"The fifth strand," he said softly. "Karmic Origin."

He stood up.

The points of light still floated around him.

But this time, he could feel—they were no longer merely "memories".

They were "Karma".

They were the most subtle connections between him and this world.

He raised his hand and gently grasped.

A point of light fell into his palm.

It was the obsession of a minor demon—its greatest regret before death was not being able to eat one more bowl of the fish stew its mother made.

Gao De focused his mind.

A wisp of Chaos Lightning flowed into the point of light.

The point of light trembled slightly, then—

Transformed into a faint, illusory shadow.

It was a small fish.

It swam a circle in Gao De's palm, then dissipated into nothingness.

Gao De looked down at his palm for a long time without speaking.

"Reincarnation," he said softly.

"Is not about bringing the dead back to life."

"It is about allowing obsessions—to find peace."

He turned and left this spatial rift.

---

For the next month.

Gao De traveled all over Dongting Lake, Yunmeng Great Marsh, and the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range.

He visited ancient battlefields, witnessing the resentment of countless fallen warriors.

He went to villages ravaged by plague, feeling the despair of those innocent people.

He went to places struck by Heavenly Tribulation, seeing the unwillingness of those who failed their tribulation.

He went to—

Lesser Qingqiu.

That Peach Blossom Spring was indeed, as Dragon Peach had said, a place of "death and rebirth".

Countless years ago, this had been the battlefield of a great war. Countless living beings perished here, their Essence Blood merging into the earth veins, nourishing that peach forest.

When the peach trees bloomed, Gao De sat quietly among them.

He felt the obsessions merged into the earth veins—they were no longer resentment, but had transformed into a gentle power.

Making the flowers bloom more brilliantly.

Making the fruits sweeter.

Making this land full of vitality.

"So," he murmured, "the end of Reincarnation is rebirth."

He closed his eyes.

After the fifth strand, "Karmic Origin", the sixth strand finally began to take shape.

---

Another month later.

Qianjiao Cliff Water Mansion, meditation chamber.

Gao De sat cross-legged on the Dark Ice Jade Couch.

The aura surrounding him had completely changed.

No longer violet-gold and crystalline.

Nor a mix of violet-gold and pitch-black.

But a kind of—

Chaos.

As if the primordial, chaotic Origin before the separation of heaven and earth.

He opened his eyes.

Deep within his pupils, that trace of gray had transformed into a faint wisp of mist.

"The sixth strand," he said softly. "Karmic End."

Karmic Origin, Karmic End.

Karma and Reincarnation.

He finally understood.

The Dao of Reincarnation lies not in life, nor in death.

But in "connection".

The connection between him and this world.

The connection between him and those obsessions.

The connection between him and Ao Xue, Mysterious Turtle, Dragon Peach, Turtle Three Thousand—everyone who followed him.

Those connections are Reincarnation.

He raised his hand.

In his palm, a wisp of Chaos Lightning appeared.

Within that thunder-light, countless intricate patterns could faintly be seen—those were the traces of Karma.

He focused his mind.

The thunder-light transformed into a lotus flower.

The lotus bloomed, with twenty-four petals.

On each petal was a faint silhouette.

They were all the people he had met, fought alongside, battled against, and killed—on his journey thus far.

"Reincarnation," he said softly.

"Is not power."

"It is—remembering."

He stood up.

Walked to the window.

Outside, moonlight like water bathed the Lake.

He suddenly remembered that moment years ago when he first saw Ao Xue.

That little dragon girl, covered in blood and on the verge of death, her eyes filled only with despair and hatred.

Now she stood by his side, light in her eyes.

That was Reincarnation.

It was the cause he had sown.

And also the effect he had reaped.

"The seventh strand," he murmured. "Only the final strand remains."

"A complete thread of the Great Dao."

"What else is needed?"

He fell silent.

After a long while, he suddenly smiled.

"What is still needed is—" he said, "a brush with life and death."

He turned.

Pushed open the door of the meditation chamber.

Outside, Ao Xue was standing guard.

Seeing him come out, she was slightly taken aback.

"Your Majesty?"

Gao De looked at her.

"Ao Xue," he said.

"Yes."

"Accompany me on a journey."

"Where to?"

Gao De looked up, gazing into the distance.

In that direction—

Was Bewitching Ghost Swamp.

No.

Deeper into Bewitching Ghost Swamp.

The most dangerous place in Yunmeng Great Marsh.

A place even the Heavenly Demon Cult Master dared not tread lightly in the past.

It was—

The Nine Nether Dragon Tomb.