Shrouding the Heavens: Those Years as the Empress's Strictest Master

The demonic qi around her body rippled for an instant.

Chapter 39: Building Momentum (3K)

"..."

The ruins fell into brief dead silence as Tan Lin's words faded.

What Li Qingjue had feared most, what she had least wished to face, had finally happened.

Although her master had mentioned when they met ten years ago that the day of parting would come, when that day truly arrived, her heart was still inevitably filled with deep reluctance and sorrow.

"Master..."

Her clear, lake-like eyes looked up at Tan Lin as she softly spoke those two words.

Her voice echoed through the ruins, carrying a barely perceptible catch.

At that moment, countless words suddenly rose in her heart, words she wanted to say to her master.

She wanted to ask how dangerous his journey to the Central Plains would be. If it was too dangerous, could he perhaps refrain from going for now?

She also wanted to ask when he would return, whether this farewell would mean they would never meet again...

"May Master have a smooth journey and achieve all that you desire..."

Yet as she gazed at Tan Lin's illusory figure, all those countless thoughts became a single blessing.

Her master had endured this state for countless ages. How could she let her own reluctance and selfish wishes keep him trapped in such a miserable state, like a lone wandering ghost?

Before her, Tan Lin's remnant soul quietly watched Li Qingjue.

At that moment, his deep gaze seemed to pierce through the Bronze Mask, taking in all the attachment and worry revealed in her eyes and on her face.

With parting imminent, he fell silent for a moment before slowly speaking.

"A fledgling eagle will one day leave its nest. The road ahead must be walked by you alone... The Devouring Heaven Demon Dao may be a shortcut, but it is also a path that defies Heaven. You are destined to make enemies of the entire world. Guard your true heart well, and never forget what you fight for."

His words remained simple and direct, yet his calm tone contained a rare measure of expectation.

Li Qingjue pressed her lips together.

The next instant.

Thud...

She prostrated herself before Tan Lin, desperately holding back the tears gathering in her eyes.

"This disciple will remember Master's command!"

Her voice had completely choked up.

Li Qingjue knew that this parting might be incomparably long, so long that they might never meet again.

The Human Emperor Hall in the Central Plains was a dragon's den and tiger's lair that even her master needed to plan for at length and approach with the utmost caution.

At last, Tan Lin's remnant soul gave her one final look. He seemed to want to say something, but in the end, it became only an almost inaudible sigh.

Immediately afterward, his sleeves fluttered as his remnant soul collected the Quasi-Emperor Array Diagram buried beneath the tower foundation ruins.

Whoosh...

In an instant, his figure merged into the intangible crimson-gray mist and vanished completely from this place.

"..."

Li Qingjue was left alone, standing amid the ruins.

Her emotions churned as demonic qi stirred around her, yet it could not conceal the loneliness surrounding her.

After a long while, she slowly raised her hand and gently touched the Bronze Mask on her face, silently feeling its icy surface. Her palm clenched tightly around the Bronze Ring, which seemed to have grown lighter by a few more degrees.

Only this seemed to let her vaguely sense a trace of her master's lingering presence.

"Master, take care... This disciple will not disappoint you..."

She murmured in a firm voice. Beneath the faint sob in her tone lay an unflinching resolve to press onward.

She felt that she had still grown too slowly, and she hated her own weakness.

If she had been strong enough, perhaps she could have accompanied her master to the Central Plains this time, rather than merely watching his back recede into the distance as she did now!

Near the boundary barrier between the Eastern Wasteland and the Central Plains.

Above a lush mountain range, invisible ripples in space gently undulated like water.

Under the dual states of [Inverted All-Causes Vision] and [All Causes Barrier].

Tan Lin's remnant soul floated silently there, like matter that did not exist in this world.

Over more than ten years of accumulation, the second Deep Crimson Light Point on his Soul Pearl barrier, which had once become an empty shell, had long since filled completely.

Even the third light point had gathered a thin layer of "firefly light."

The most obvious change this brought was that, among the three hundred and sixty-five dials surrounding the Soul Pearl barrier, three had now been lit, emitting a hazy and strange radiance.

After long observation, Tan Lin had learned that as the dials gradually lit up, the deeper mysteries of the Soul Pearl after its transformation were being progressively developed.

Buzz...

Suddenly, Tan Lin's thoughts stirred as he tried to draw upon the deep crimson power fused into the dial.

Whoosh!

The next moment.

An unprecedented perception spread outward. It was neither the concealment, stealth, and Causal Line convergence granted by [Inverted All-Causes Vision] and [All Causes Barrier].

Nor was it merely the causal insight brought by the field of vision of [All-Cause Vision].

It was instead a hazy awareness of peering into the Anchor Point target at the end of a certain Causal Line, as well as the physical vessel of his next life's reincarnation, hidden in the unseen.

In this strange state, Tan Lin slowly closed his eyes.

As he concentrated, he seemed to "see" several mysterious patterns. The patterns slowly evolved, eventually turning into several words he could recognize.

"Indestructible?"

However, perhaps because the faint firefly light within the third Deep Crimson Light Point made the third dial's radiance too dim, whether this time or before, he had tried seven or eight times in total and could only clearly make out one of the words.

It was the character for "indestructible."

"Could the words formed from these patterns be indicating the constitution of my next reincarnation?"

After seven or eight attempts, Tan Lin had formed a guess, but before seeing the full picture, he could not be completely certain.

Yet if it truly was as he thought, then after this reincarnation, there was a strong chance he would be born into a clan with the bloodline of the Indestructible Golden Body.

This would be a constitution a full step stronger than the Human King Body he had possessed in his previous life.

Of course, that assumed the Indestructible Golden Body bloodline he reincarnated into was exceptionally pure. Otherwise, it might not necessarily be stronger than the Human King Body, which was naturally supreme among humankind.

Since coming to this world, in both his first and second lives, he had only been born as an impure Mortal Body carrying partial spiritual-body and divine-body bloodlines.

It was not until his third life that, perhaps through random fortune, he was born into a branch of the Human King Battle Body clan that had migrated from the Ziwei Emperor Star to the Big Dipper. His bloodline concentration was extremely high, and he became the Human King Body of that era.

Tan Lin had also summarized the reincarnation experiences of his first three lives. He had discovered that when activating the All-Causes Soul Pearl to reincarnate, the clan of the physical vessel and its gender seemed to be highly compatible with the form of his true soul.

That explained why he had been human for three consecutive lives.

However, just like the "word" he sensed now, this was only a possible guess based on existing phenomena. No conclusion could yet be drawn.

"Forget it... The dial's glow is too dim to see clearly. Let it be. What matters now is further probing the states of those old monsters..."

Within the crimson-gray mist, Tan Lin opened his eyes, shook his head inwardly, and sighed.

In truth, his preparations were still not especially thorough.

But the time to advance upon that true soul fragment in the Central Plains had arrived. Opportunity was fleeting; if he was not decisive and let it slip away, he might never again have such an ideal chance of success.

After all, no matter how much he prepared, he was only in the state of a remnant soul. Even if he prepared for another ten million years, without reincarnating, could he possibly surpass the peak of his previous life?

Buzz...

As his thoughts churned, Tan Lin's remnant soul raised a hand, and the fully saturated second Deep Crimson Light Point temporarily detached from the dial and came to rest in his palm.

At that moment, under [Inverted All-Causes Vision], his elevated field of vision was no longer simply one looking down from above upon every Causal Line.

With a slight movement of thought, he selected the main Causal Line of the Undying Heavenly Emperor. His invisible field of vision continuously drew closer to the Anchor Point at its end.

Boom...

At last, after approaching a certain limit, the crimson mist before Tan Lin exploded.

Amid a flicker of light and shadow, he glimpsed fragments of real-time scenes concerning the specific target at the end of that Anchor Point.

It was deep within a planetary core where earthly fire and magma churned.

A five-colored immortal egg seemed deeply embedded within it. The chaotic glow flowing across the egg's surface easily overwhelmed the divine radiance of the earthly fire.

With every pulse, it faintly drew upon the planetary core, vaguely connecting to another tunnel-like space while continuously drawing vast essence from the blood pool abyss behind it to refine into nourishment.

The bloodlight within the abyss intertwined with the brilliant divine radiance released by the divine feather immortal glow appearing over the egg's surface, forming a contrast both eerie and sacred.

Rumble...

The star-core magma was extracted into hundreds of millions of strands of scarlet-gold divine radiance. Carrying remnants of faith power from an unknown origin, they finally merged into a torrent and poured into the egg.

Tan Lin carefully distinguished the details in the scene. He could already tell that this star core was likely not located on ancient Mars. Its precise location was merely close to Mars in terms of the vast universe.

That resolved some of his earlier doubts.

Perhaps it was a deliberate smokescreen, or perhaps there were other reasons, but the Undying Heavenly Emperor had not moved his nirvana nest to the node outside the Immortal Ascension Road on Mars.

At least during this transformation, he was not truly on Mars.

"What a fine method. Had I not investigated in person, I might have been fooled as well..."

Tan Lin's deep gaze flickered faintly.

Bang...

Just then, the five-colored immortal egg released rings of strange fluctuations amid the bloodlight and immortal glow, and the fragments of the scene before him were completely obliterated.

Tan Lin was not surprised.

Those strange fluctuations were a normal phenomenon of the immortal egg's transformation.

Although he had only peered in for a brief moment, it was enough for him to learn that the other's nirvana had reached a crucial stage and could not afford failure. This would be his opportunity for success during this journey to the Central Plains.

"Enough. A moment's insight is enough to seize the initiative."

The gaze of Tan Lin's remnant soul deepened further as he instantly severed his perception of the Undying Heavenly Emperor.

Though the Undying Heavenly Emperor had not yet become immortal, to ensure absolute safety, Tan Lin could not peer too deeply. Otherwise, he might alert the other party's instincts.

His thoughts raced.

He then glanced at the rapidly depleting Deep Crimson Light Point in his palm and shifted his attention toward the end of the Anchor Point on the largest branch line of that Causal Line.

Boom...

Light and shadow shifted before his eyes once more.

The next instant, he glimpsed the Undying Daoist seated beside an ancient well deep within the Human Emperor Hall.

The ancient well was shrouded in an eerie mist that could not normally be seen.

Looking through the surface of the well, he saw water within it where golden liquid, silver liquid, and transparent divine fluid met.

Divine Soul Pool Water?

Chapter 40: Setting Out for the Human Emperor Hall (3.1K)

"This is... Divine Soul Pool Water?"

Tan Lin narrowed his eyes.