Chapter 1893: The Longevity Realm |
Trinity Venerable glanced at the unresponsive ritual, and his facial expression turned grim. He tried a few times, but after seeing no success, Trinity Venerable was suddenly overcome with rage and began destroying everything around him.
"What a bunch of useless people. You plan my life, treat me like a fruit to be reaped once it's ripe, and now that the fruit is about to be destroyed, why can't you show up to save it? What a bunch of useless things."
Trinity Venerable exhaled to calm down. His previous rage-filled demeanor was gone, replaced by his usual sagacious appearance. His gaze shifted, penetrating countless distances to gaze upon countless mortals and cultivators living in this isolated, protected world divided into two.
Trinity Venerable ignored the side of the world in which most of the expeditioners lived. Instead, he focused on the other side, filled with ordinary mortals. Everything looked normal — well, except for the constant fear of having one's lifespan run out — except that everybody was cultivating one technique passed down by a Saint: the Condensing Life Core Method.
Trinity Venerable sensed the dissipating life force in his body, and with one thought, trillions of mortal cultivators had their lifespans absorbed by their cores. The life force was then purified into [Life Essence] before the Taoist Priest absorbed it.
"As expected, my body is already building a high immunity with this method," Trinity Venerable thought. "However, this is not even the greatest issue. These mortals are too weak. If I could absorb the life essence of a couple of Saints."
Trinity Venerable squinted. Many of these Saints had a karmic thread he did not dare touch, but a few were pawns of other Tribunal Lords — people he didn't care about offending. "It would be better if I could mass-produce Saints — even if it's 1-pillar. But that's not possible — at least, in the short period remaining."
Trinity Venerable sighed before looking toward the Karma Root Monarch and the Slaughter Ancestor. The best option would be to swallow those two, or any other Tribunal Lords. However, he came to understand better how terrible it would be for him to turn on his allies at a time when they were crucial to his survival.
After exhaling to regain his composure, Trinity Venerable focused on developing additional methods to extend his lifespan. Time passed, and without anyone noticing, 12 Yuan Epochs had gone by. Everybody, well, to be precise, the Tribunal Lords, could no longer hold on. The first to move was the Infinite Divine Court; they sent an avatar into the Longevity Realm, and to everyone's surprise, the clone entered and left the premises without issue.
"They are indeed hypocritical," Avatar A stated as he watched the court enter the Longevity Realm with a group of Mortal Cultivators and Primordial Chaos Saints.
"In the face of death, few people can preserve their morality. And, at the very least, they are better than the expeditioners who didn't even spare the mortals," Wang Wei replied. Avatar sneered at those words, and Wang Wei shrugged. They did not remain focused on the Longevity Realm. As Death Reverence's creation, it was unwise to spy on it; who knows what kind of information they might accidentally reveal?
So, after learning the rules governing that realm, Wang Wei and Avatar A returned to their work, paying attention only to signs of Death. With Death Reverence in power, there will be no visions of the deaths of any Primordial Chaos Saints. However, Avatar A can use his [Authority] for detection. Saints have a unique connection to the hidden rules, and their death will result in some resonance.
And it didn't take long for the first victim to appear. Less than 500 years after the great migration to the Longevity Realm, Wang Wei sensed changes in the hidden rules: a Saint had their lifespan plundered — that's right, plundered. The rules of the Longevity Realm allow individuals to plunder others' lifespans after killing them, turning the realm into a free-for-all battle.
"I wonder who it is?" Avatar A sighed. However, he did not dwell on it too much. According to his calculation, this is just the first in a long list. And once again, he was right. Soon afterward, more and more signs of the Saints' deaths kept occurring. In just over 100,000 years, Avatar A predicted that 90% of all the Saints — including both the expeditioners and the Infinite Divine Court — would be killed.
"Is it me, or is this death beam looking more dangerous than before?" Avatar A stated. "Ai, what do you think?"
"According to my calculation, the beam's aura is 17.65% higher than before."
"It seems time is running out."
Time continued to flow like an endless river; five yuan epochs passed, and the signs of death became intermittent, a sign that there were few Primordial Chaos Saints left, or that the survivors were good at hiding their trail. Wang Wei had completed the third layer of the [Deceiving Heaven Longevity Art], and he was now working on another method of immortality. With the duchess's Enlightenment Pyramid, he had Ai imitate his wife's Dao Quintessence Prototype. He used it as a semi-independent Dao Source to bypass — no, limit — the effect of Heaven and Earth's rules.
Bang!
"Such intense tremor," Avatar A muttered after Ai warned him of this change. "A Tribunal Lord finally died."
Bang! Bang!
"What? Three of them died in such rapid succession? What kind of battle is happening in that realm?" The avatar's eyes were glued to that sphere calmly floating in Primordial Chaos. However, no matter how curious he was, he didn't dare check.
Swish! Someone flew out from the Longevity Realm, clad in a red aura with three faces.
"Is that Star Manifestation?" Wang Wei thought, immediately controlling and focusing the array for a better look. "It's indeed him, and he seemed to be surrounded by the obsessions of his comrades. Did they sacrifice themselves so he could survive?"
No one would answer Wang Wei's inquiry, but he was sure he was close to the truth. Given how quickly these three died and the three obsession spirits around him, it was the most logical explanation he could think of.
After his escape, Star Manifestations returned to the court's previous abode, and with a single thought, the entire dimension disappeared — hidden from all sights — including Death Reverence. That is the power of obsession — capable of creating miracles. The Infinite Divine Courts desperately want one of their kind to survive this ordeal — to return to the Highest Sovereign and recount their story. They want their tale to be remembered so that their families, loved ones, and factions may receive the honor of [Heroes] from the court. More importantly, they want their friend to survive.
Wang Wei turned to the Death Beam and frowned; the physical changes were obvious: the beam was rapidly condensing into something. Its presence or aura could no longer be felt from anywhere in the universe, but that wasn't due to weakness. On the contrary, it was a sign that it was now reaching the final phase of whatever purpose it was designed for.
Wang Wei had the urge to contact the Erudite Duchess, but he controlled himself. The plan was in the final phase, and establishing contact now would increase the chances of being discovered. Instead, he visited his old friend, Maitreya, while keeping an eye on the Longevity Realm.
"I didn't expect you to come," Maitreya smiled.
Wang Wei glanced at her old and feeble appearance. There was no need for her to appear in this state, but preserving her youth required too much energy, and since it could extend her lifespan by a few thousand years, Maitreya chose a more practical approach.
"I know you still have plenty of lifespan left, but I don't like seeing you like this."
"Birth, age, sickness, and death are a natural part of life," Maitreya smiled. She calmly brewed a new pot of tea. "Because of this experience, I'm beginning to question whether eternity is such a good thing."
"Really? Although Buddhism doesn't pursue longevity as Taoism does, it still seeks detachment from the cycles of reincarnation. So, why do you suddenly feel like eternity is wrong?"
"I don't know, but I just couldn't help feeling that eternal life is wrong, that our existence is an anomaly. Life is supposed to end, not go for eternity until you've become a shell of your former self, until you become cold and indifferent to life itself, willing to do anything for your ambition."
<
1 / 1
Home Info Add Library
