Chapter 344: Central Hall of Rebirth
After Elia died, Yaan fell silent for almost 30 years.
When the Dao Clone of Qi died shortly after her, his emotions were thrust into turmoil, but not because he felt anything towards the Dao Clone of Qi's death. After going through his karmic severance with the Dao Clone of Mind, Yaan had prepared himself to kill the other Dao Clones, and now, it really didn't mean much to him.
The Dao Clone of Qi and Dao Clone of Soul believed that they had achieved their own individuality, but Yaan knew that in truth, the Dao Clones were still part of himself. He had long since grown numb to his own suffering, so the death of a part of himself could not stir his heart.
That said, when the Dao Clone of Qi's karmic link shattered, he devoured the Dao Clone of Qi's dao, just as he had done with the Dao Clone of Mind. It was this chaotic absorption that once again thrust his heart into turmoil.
His path was the path of severing karma. After killing the Dao Clone of Qi, he once again felt like he had cut away part of his heart. It was a devastating, soul-crushing feeling, but it was a feeling that he had already gone through with the Dao Clone of Mind, so this time, he was better prepared and found it easier to endure.
Like before, his dao heart was not damaged in this severance, but instead, a portion of the abyssal black cracks across his Dao Soul were healed as the core of his dao heart absorbed that extraneous portion into itself, strengthening the core of his very being whilst removing the unnecessary fragments that were previously weighing him down. Each time Yaan went through this process, he felt himself taking a step closer towards becoming his true, complete self…
This was his ambition; this was why he continued to walk along this arduous path, in spite of the suffering that it inflicted upon both himself and those around him. This goal was all that he he had left to live for, so no matter what happened, he would continue along this path, irrespective of the consequences of his actions.
With the severance of the Dao Clone of Qi's karmic link and the subsequent absorption of his dao into Yaan's own, Yaan gained the abilities once possessed by the Dao Clone of Qi. When the Dao Clone of Qi was still alive, the only parts of the Dao Clone's power that he had access to were his dao comprehensions, nothing else. Now, however, Yaan gained not only the 3rd step to the Agile Illusion Art, but also the Dao Clone of Qi's general sword art - the Sword Heart Art.
When Yaan absorbed the Dao Clone of Mind, he also gained his intelligence, however, he did not gain his cultivation. Likewise, after absorbing the abilities from the Dao Clone of Qi, he had the distinct feeling that with some work, he would be able to perfectly utilise Qi refining spells, even though he did not possess any form of Qi refining cultivation. It would take some time and investigation to explore this, but for now, he was fairly sure that any Qi refining methods which he used would be akin to illusory replications.
There was one more ability that Yaan gained from the Dao Clone of Qi, but for now, he left this untouched. It wasn't yet time to reveal this ability to the world.
On Yaan marched across the Layers of Abyss, travelling in silence as he placed down formation after formation. The mad elephant seemed to have calmed down and was quieter compared to before, and for a long while, Yaan, the elephant and the Primordial Sage, journeyed in silence.
Eventually, they reached the Central Layer.
Yaan watched as Devil grew increasingly mad in his attempts to attain the Primordial Devil's past memories. He watched his futile efforts, which only resulted in the slaughter taking over his heart without him realising it, as he gradually lost those memories which he had once held onto…
Nobody knew that unlike Devil, Yaan was able to hold onto those memories. At least, he was able to retain the Primordial Devil's Immortal Step memories…the Divine Step memories were too powerful for the current him to process, they were like a blur of incoherent information that he was unable to understand right now.
Unlike Devil, Yaan did not lose a single one of the Primordial Devil's ancient Immortal Step memories. Two million years of memories, and every single one of them remained clear within his mind…
An air of ancientness had long since surrounded Yaan, but due to the ever-changing nature of his personality and aura, the Primordial Sage wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.
Yaan had long since grown accustomed to absorbing the memories of others. He had absorbed the Fragments produced by the Primordial Devil's reincarnation, and the memories of his own Dao Clones…in truth, for a while now, Yaan possessed more memories from others than from his own life. This was a continuous detriment to his sense of self, and would cause anyone else to completely lose themselves to insanity.
But Yaan endured silently, continuing on his journey, until finally, he reached his last destination.
He paused, staring at the distorted golden wall before him. This was the 3,000 mile wall, the formation separating the Divine Court's Central Hall of Rebirth from the rest of the Spirit Plane's Central Layer. Yaan had already passed through the 10,000 mile wall and the layers upon layers of formations which served to deceive outsiders, directing them away from the Hall of Rebirth, but the Divine Court's actual territory was only that which lay beyond the 3,000 mile wall.
Yaan stared at the wall for a moment. He could immediately see that the Central Hall of Rebirth was regarded more highly compared to the other Halls of Rebirth, as it took him a few moments to see past the golden distortions and into the world beyond the wall.
'There are three true Divine Court members - divinities - residing on the Spirit Plane. Since I have not yet encountered any of these individuals, they are almost certainly within this Central Hall of Rebirth. Once I step past this wall, I will be facing off against the Divine Court's powerhouses…if the Primordial Sage doesn't step in to help me, I will be captured. In fact, I get the feeling that even if the Sage does assist me just as she promised, forming this last formation will not be as smooth as the rest…'
Yaan sighed in his mind. He had been feeling a vague premonition ever since he entered the Central Layer, and now, this feeling was stronger than ever before. He knew that this was not merely a gut feeling, but something that had arisen due to his constant interference with the Spirit Plane's karma over these last years.
Originally, he planned to go back around his completed formation as many times as possible in order to better its perfection, but now, he felt certain that this would be impossible. In fact, just completing the skeleton of the formation by building this last formation would be difficult enough.
In the end, Yaan took a step forwards without another word. As expected, he was immediately met with disaster.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Instantly, three auras with a majesty that threatened to collapse his entire being descended upon him.
A teenage boy with seven-coloured fluorescent hair. A young woman whose appearance wasn't too eye-catching, aside from her own dark purple hair. An old man with a beard as white as his robe…
These were the three individuals who pressured Yaan as soon as he entered the Central Hall of Rebirth's territory. It was clear that they had already noticed him before he arrived, as their response to his entrance was too fast and coordinated.
For a moment, Yaan's breathing became heavy and he felt like he was struggling to even sit up straight on the mad elephant's back. The mad elephant was also pushed down to the floor, letting out an enraged growl and breaking its silence for the first time in the past three decades.
In the next instant, the pressure vanished. The three individuals wore shocked and wore gloomy expressions, telling Yaan all that he needed to know. To confirm his thoughts, the Primordial Sage's voice echoed within his mind.
"Go, finish your business quickly. I can hold these three back, but it is likely that the Primordial Spirit will arrive shortly."
Yaan didn't need to be told twice. He slapped the mad elephant's side, then ignored the three divinities who kept flicking their eyes back and forth between himself and the Primordial Sage, who no longer bothered hiding her presence.
It was as she said - the Spirit Plane Lord would no doubt show herself shortly. She was omnipresent across the Spirit Plane, and honestly, it was already as much as he could hope for that she hadn't dug deeper into his actions until now. However, at this point, she would definitely notice the conflict between the Divine Court's divinities and the Primordial Sage…and Yaan had the feeling that her curiosity would finally win over.
Or perhaps, she had already been investigating his actions in secret without anyone knowing. It would be better if she was still in the dark, since she wouldn't immediately target him if that was the case, but he needed to prepare himself for the worst case scenario.
"Little elephant, let's go. We need to be fast if we want to survive."
The mad elephant was startled when Yaan suddenly spoke for the first time in so long, but his voice snapped the elephant out from its trance.
It didn't know what was going on, but it saw those terrifying beings facing one another, for now held back by the Primordial Sage whom it was familiar with. It instinctively knew that any one of those beings could kill it with a casual movement, so it decided to place its hopes for survival in the strange child whom had been by its side for so many years now.
Without further hesitation, the mad elephant let out a deafening roar, tearing apart the beautiful gardens which decorated the surroundings of the Central Hall of Rebirth. It then charged towards the glowing palace in the distance, putting in its all to travel as quickly as possible.
Flashes of light shot into the sky as the Divine Court's subordinates rushed towards Yaan and the elephant. In the end, as the mad elephant let out a deafening roar, releasing wave after wave of destructive power, Yaan slowly stood up on its back and faced those who stood in his way calmly.
"I will not allow even divinities to block my path…yet you all think that you can stop me?"
Yaan paused. A moment later, his eyes suddenly exploded with a bloody red light.
"Perfect timing, Devil. Your death will not be in vain."
Yaan was prepared to use his sword arts to cut down the countless enemies - immortals and Transcendents alike - but for once, the timing of events turned in his favour. As if fate was aligning as he approached his final destination, Devil suddenly lost his life, and Yaan devoured Devil's power.
Devil's killing intent and his domain of slaughter exploded out from Yaan like a tsunami of blood and murder. All those who had dared to charge towards him immediately regretted their actions; hundreds were killed on the spot, and the rest were badly injured. Not one of these individuals could be considered weak, but in this moment, the current Yaan possessed a level of momentum that no Immortal Step being could contend against.
He would not allow anyone to stand in his way. He had waited too long for this moment, he had sacrificed too much to reach this point! His resolve to see his path through to its end shone in his eyes, terrifying all those who met his gaze.
As Yaan adjusted to this domain and suppressed the chaos within his heart, the domain grew stronger and stronger. Given time, he would be able to fuse this domain with his own illusory domain of life and death, but for now, he didn't have this time. He could only use what he had available to him in this moment, there was no time for anything else.
Before long, Yaan reached the golden palace. He raised his hand and manifested an illusory sword, then slashed out once.
Bang!
The golden wall was torn apart by a wave of destruction, but it immediately started to mend itself. Yaan and the mad elephant quickly slipped through the gap, just as they felt a fifth divine aura descend upon this region.
'Spirit Plane Lord…' Yaan thought to himself with a sigh. 'This timing is really just typical…but this is not a coincidence. For her to arrive here, moments before I complete this century long plan…it seems that I have tampered with the world's karmic fate to quite an extreme extent. Many events will align as this play reaches its finale. I just hope that I am able to fight my way through the chaos and make it out alive…'
As Yaan slipped into the golden palace, the divine auras behind him became subdued, showing the immense power of these palace walls. He attacked this palace with his greatest strength, targeting the weakest part of the protective formations, yet even this was only enough for him to barely slip in before the palace walls healed themselves automatically.
For a moment, when Yaan stepped into the golden palace, the world became silent. He was surprised to find that nobody was in this now-barren hall, but he didn't have the luxury to waste time thinking about it.
Yaan jumped down from the mad elephant's back, then reached out into the air…
With a sharp short sound, a wooden sword materialised in his palm.
This was the wooden sword, his Dao Treasure! The Dao Clone of Qi believed that his Dao Treasure had been destroyed, but how could it be so easy to destroy a Dao Treasure? So long as Yaan's dao existed, then so would this wooden sword…
Yaan's gaze became soft as he waved his hand, causing the wooden sword to transform into a young woman.
June blinked and looked around curiously. When her gaze eventually settled on Yaan, her gaze lit up and she laughed happily, before running forwards and hugging him. Yaan returned the hug, but he couldn't waste too much time, so he soon pulled away.
"Haha, I knew that Yaan would be ok! But…Yaan, you seem to be a bit different though?" June beamed a smile at him and tilted her head curiously, seemingly oblivious to the bloody aura which still surrounded Yaan right now.
"But I'm still me, right, June?" Yaan asked with a smile, to which June nodded seriously.
"Right, Yaan is Yaan, so it's fine!"
He couldn't help but smile at her simplistic way of seeing things. However, when he thought about the fact that he had forcefully brought his baby sister back into the world, dragging her into the cruel world of cultivation just so that she could assist him as his sword…and when he thought about what he needed to do now…Yaan's smile immediately vanished.
"June, I have one last selfish request to make of you…will you please die for me?"
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