Chapter 1103: The Xuanhuang Rivers of Rebirth
Ignoring the bewildered stares of the crowd, Chang Ji respectfully bowed low to the heavens.
Then, transforming into a streak of light, he vanished.
His parting words immediately caught the attention of the more perceptive cultivators in the crowd.
A brief investigation soon revealed a startling fact: this same Chang Ji was supposed to have died, unequivocally, a year prior.
While exploring the ruins of a remote sect, he had apparently triggered a protective array and was instantly obliterated, leaving not even a complete corpse behind.
More than a dozen cultivators who had been with him at the time could attest to this fact; it was no fabrication.
And yet, here he was, inexplicably resurrected.
The site of his miraculous return? The largest river nearest to where he had perished.
This shocking discovery spread like wildfire throughout the entire Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Chang Ji himself did not deny it. Instead, he openly admitted that he had indeed been brought back to life.
"It is all thanks to the divine power of the Heavenly Venerate!" he declared piously, not forgetting to credit the source of his miracle in front of them all.
Previously, whenever cultivators in the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance mentioned a "Heavenly Venerate," they were invariably referring to the Dharma Spreader.
But now, hearing it from Chang Ji's lips, everyone understood he meant the other one—the Longevity Heavenly Venerate who had quietly reversed the very cycle of life and death.
Seeing that his friends and family were still skeptical, Chang Ji simply invited them into his personal space within the Tianxuan Mirror.
It was common knowledge that a cultivator's Tianxuan Mirror space was bound to their soul, and only they could grant access.
With the Tianxuan Mirror serving as undeniable proof, everyone finally accepted that this was, in fact, the real Chang Ji.
Resurrection from the dead. And his was far from an isolated case.
This earth-shattering news quickly became common knowledge.
Over the next few days, the appearance of more and more resurrected cultivators served to verify its authenticity.
After compiling the reports, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance noted a consistent pattern: without exception, resurrected cultivators reappeared from the major river closest to where they had died.
Within the Alliance's territory, there were a total of fifty-four such rivers of rebirth.
As for the territory of the Five Elders Council, there appeared to be a corresponding fifty-four as well.
These one hundred and eight rivers, in total, constituted the Xuanhuang Realm's new rivers of rebirth.
The time it took for a cultivator to be resurrected seemed to be linked to their power in life.
The higher their cultivation realm, the longer the process took.
The first wave of resurrected cultivators were, without exception, all at the Foundation Establishment stage or below.
How long the resurrection would take for cultivators of higher realms remained to be seen and would require further observation.
Upon their return, they were always naked. Any items they carried at the time of death, even those stored within their spiritual soul, did not reappear with them. Still, having one's life restored was a blessing beyond measure, and few cared for the loss of mere material possessions.
The resurrected cultivators appeared to be the same age as they were before they died.
However, upon closer examination, it was discovered that their reborn bodies were, in fact, a year younger than at the moment of their demise.
It wasn't just cultivators, either. Any living being within the Xuanhuang Realm would be reborn from the rivers after death.
As a result, a peculiar sight became common along the banks of these rivers: a constant stream of creatures emerging from the water.
The water itself seemed to hold a miraculous power that protected the newly reborn, preventing them from drowning the moment they returned to life.
But this protective force vanished soon after they left the river's waters. Even if they re-entered, the power could not be found again.
...
The various wonders surrounding this new cycle of death and rebirth became the most fervently debated topic among the cultivators of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance.
Some celebrated, relieved that the fear of permanent death was finally a thing of the past.
Others, however, began to worry. If no new life could be born, the future of the Xuanhuang Realm looked bleak.
Fortunately, a new discovery soon assuaged these fears.
In certain provinces of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, new life continued to be born even after the Heavenly Venerate had reversed the laws of life and death. The numbers were minuscule—fewer than fifty births a year across the entire Alliance's territory.
But at least the process of life's creation had not ceased entirely.
And while life would never again vanish completely, an annual increase of fifty new cultivators posed no significant problem for the Xuanhuang Realm.
Soon, the cultivators' attention shifted to other critical questions.
For instance, could one be resurrected more than once? How long would a second resurrection take? Was there truly no limit?
And if each death reduced one's age by a year, was there a limit to that regression?
...
The enigmatic Heavenly Venerate never once appeared to offer any explanation.
It was all left for the cultivators to discover on their own.
Since these new rules would govern their very existence, the cultivators naturally treated the matter with utmost gravity.
Soon, under orders from certain powerful figures, some of the recently resurrected cultivators were compelled to sacrifice their lives once more in the name of exploring the mysteries of this new reality.
Fortunately, knowing they would be brought back—and having been promised generous compensation—these cultivators, now serving as test subjects, did not complain much.
They had already died once, after all.
After death, there was no conscious awareness.
One moment your eyes closed, the next they opened, and you were back, good as new.
And they would receive rewards they could never have earned in a lifetime. Why wouldn't they agree?
It would take some time yet for the secrets of resurrection to be fully unraveled.
After hearing the news, Li Fan personally went to one of the rivers of rebirth and observed it for a long time.
In the end, he could discern no clues as to how it worked.
"Compared to the Rebirth Palace I experienced before, this era's method of reversing life and death is clearly far more refined."
"To be able to create life from nothing within a river..."
"It's truly inconceivable."
The new laws of life and death had seamlessly integrated with the Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm, making them impossible to distinguish as a separate force.
Even Li Fan, a master of arrays, could not detect any trace of the Life and Death Reversal Grand Array he had seen before.
Worried that this mysterious new Heavenly Venerate might interfere with his own grand plans, he secretly contacted Dharma Transmitter Zhou, hoping to glean some inside information from her.
To his disappointment, however, Dharma Transmitter Zhou gave him the same answer as before: she knew nothing.
"As far as I know, your Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance has an agency called the Heaven Controlling Division, which specializes in monitoring the laws of the Xuanhuang Realm. This Heavenly Venerate has been successfully defying those laws for some time now, yet you insist you were completely oblivious... Fellow Daoist Zhou, that's rather hard to believe, don't you think?" Li Fan demanded, his tone sharp.
Dharma Transmitter Zhou just smiled. "Your Federation of All Worlds is certainly well-informed."
"Not even a clandestine agency like the Heaven Controlling Division can escape your notice. But I am not trying to evade your question; I genuinely know nothing about this."
The smile on her face gradually faded, replaced by a serious expression.
"Generally speaking, when a Dao Integration cultivator attempts to defy the natural laws, it is a gradual, step-by-step process."
"During that process, the signs of the world's laws being twisted and altered are quite obvious. That is how the Heaven Controlling Division is able to detect the impending emergence of a new Longevity Heavenly Venerate."
"But this Heavenly Venerate of Rebirth is different."
"The speed of his appearance..."
"Was simply too fast."
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