An Immense Karmic Burden

In the blink of an eye, Ye Fan was sixteen. He had gone from a middle school student to a high school student, with a physique far beyond that of his peers, and apparently gained admission to a prestigious high school.

That same year, Luo Yan went to Kunlun. Nothing happened; he took one-third of the Green Cauldron and picked a few medicine kings along the way.

The White Tiger Immortal Medicine hid deep within Kunlun, and Luo Yan did not try to seize it by force.

After he stood guard outside for three years, the White Tiger Immortal Medicine realized it could not escape him. It separated out ten drops of undying immortal liquid and delivered them into Luo Yan's hands.

In May of that same year, he encountered that utterly outrageous Dragon Horse. It spoke rudely, so he casually subdued it. One mighty slap later, its eyes looked much clearer.

Outside the Immortal Pool, Luo Yan stared at the cracked Ghost Face Mask. It seemed to be crying yet not crying, smiling yet not smiling, with sorrow in its smile and a smile in its sorrow.

"I just can't stop worrying about my little sister..."

A faint voice emerged from the shattered Ghost Face Mask in the grave outside the Immortal Pool. It carried regret and unwillingness, like a plea reaching across countless ages.

Luo Yan knew that the Ruthless Great Emperor had used heaven-defying means to restore fragments of the truth, allowing this youth's words to endure without end.

"Master, isn't this person... that Ye Fan?" Donkey exclaimed in horror. Using the Time Mirror, Luo Yan projected the youth within the Ghost Face Mask. He was no different from Ye Fan, almost identical.

"Not to become an immortal, but only to wait for your return in this mortal world." A woman's voice seemed to descend from the highest heavens, making even the gods tremble.

Donkey's hair stood on end. It leaped up and mounted Dragon Horse.

Dragon Horse's four legs shook as it stammered, "Brother Donkey... don't do this... I'm scared too!"

The donkey and the horse were terrified beyond measure. To think this place held something so horrifying.

The indistinct figure projected within the Time Mirror stood supreme throughout heaven and earth. She had chosen a path the world could not understand and become an unparalleled female emperor who looked down upon all creation.

She looked down upon the past, present, and future! A single utterance endured through countless ages.

Yet even someone like her could not change the outcome.

Suddenly, the youth projected within the Time Mirror stopped muttering to himself and walked toward them instead.

Donkey cried out in horror, "A ghost!"

Dragon Horse rolled its eyes back and chose to play dead.

Seeing this, Donkey also flopped onto the ground.

With nothing but a wisp of unwillingness preserved by Ruthless, the youth briefly awakened within the Time Mirror.

Even Luo Yan was horrified. Someone who had been dead for hundreds of thousands of years had actually had his consciousness reflected by the Time Mirror. This damaged mirror had once again exceeded his expectations.

The youth could not speak. He merely held out the broken Ghost Face Mask to Luo Yan, his eyes filled with pleading.

When Luo Yan remained unmoved, the youth kept sobbing, yet no tears could fall from his eyes.

"Please... please... help... me... take... care... of... my... little... sister... she's... still... young..."

He wrote several large words in the air, then offered the Ghost Face Mask to Luo Yan again. It was the only valuable thing he possessed.

"If I can go back, I'll help fulfill your final wish," Luo Yan said.

The Ghost Face Mask fell into his hand and dissolved into nothingness. It had never been real to begin with.

At the same time, Luo Yan felt a profound gaze cast toward him from deep within the starry sky. The female emperor had sensed what happened, but she did not stop it.

She, too, had heard her elder brother's final wish.

Then that gaze settled upon the Time Mirror and lingered for a long time. She vaguely guessed what this mirror could do, but ultimately, for some unknown reason, she gave up on taking it.

That gaze soon vanished.

"Holy shit, that scared the life out of me! What was that gaze just now? Even my blood froze solid!"

"Master... I, Erdan, almost thought I'd never see you again!"

The two oddballs sprang up from the ground, looking shaken and utterly terrified by what had just happened.

Luo Yan wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and said, his heart still trembling, "Never mind you two, I was almost scared half to death too. I thought that person was going to attack me! Of course, she very nearly did."

Two choices had been laid before Luo Yan just then.

First, accept, shoulder this heaven-sized karmic burden, and gain the female emperor's favor.

Second, refuse, have the female emperor come in person to help him accept, and shoulder an immense karmic burden along with her favor.

That was the female emperor's elder brother. His words were an imperial decree.

"That's it. I can't stay in this damned place anymore. If I stay any longer, I'm afraid Emperor Zun will come running out too." With that, Luo Yan fled Kunlun without looking back.

At the same time, he resolved never to use the Time Mirror to project things at random again. Fortunately, this time he had projected the female emperor's elder brother. If next time he projected the karma of the Undying Heavenly Emperor or some Great Emperor still clinging to life, he would not even know what killed him.

"Master, me too! Me too!" Beside the Immortal Pool, Donkey wailed for its father and mother, terrified that Luo Yan would abandon it here.

Whose name had it just heard?

Emperor Zun?

Someone who had lived in the Mythological Era was actually still alive!

And he could even come running out!

At the thought that this was Emperor Zun's cultivation ground, Donkey wanted to die!

A streak of divine light flashed past, and Donkey vanished.

"Senior! Me too! Me too! Take me along! Take me along!" Seeing this, Dragon Horse panicked.

"Brother Donkey, me too! Me too!" Dragon Horse shouted as it ran, all but dropping to its knees.

It had lived here for hundreds of years, yet this was the first time it had learned that some great terror lurked here. It was scared out of its wits.

Another streak of divine light flashed past, and Dragon Horse vanished.

"Boo-hoo... I knew Brother Donkey and Senior wouldn't abandon me!" Having survived the ordeal, Dragon Horse wept bitter tears and clung to Luo Yan, barely willing to let go.

After they returned to Danan City, Dragon Horse followed Luo Yan's instructions and transformed into a white dog.

"Brother Donkey, what are you eating? Let me have a taste?" Seeing Donkey holding a red fruit and eating with relish, Dragon Horse sidled over.

Donkey immediately put it away with a wary look. It did not have many Five Elements Fruits either. In the past, it had eaten whatever Ye Fan left unfinished, painstakingly saving up just a few.

"Nothing. Just an ordinary fruit."

"I don't believe you unless you let me taste it." Dragon Horse had already seen the Fire Element Fruit with a bite taken out of it that Donkey had hidden away. Its drool was almost pooling across the floor.

"No way!"

"You damned horse, let go! My Fire Element Fruit!"

While Donkey was not paying attention, Dragon Horse had already pounced in front of it, clamping its jaws around the Fire Element Fruit and refusing to let go.

"Mmph, not letting go!" Dragon Horse swallowed the Fire Element Fruit while taking a beating.

Donkey's eyes instantly went red. It normally could not bear to take one out to eat, mostly making do with Ye Fan's leftovers, yet this damned horse had started stealing its things the moment it arrived.

Then, at the first disagreement, the two outrageous creatures started fighting.

Still shaken, Luo Yan watched the two oddballs in silence.

One moment they had been wailing for their fathers and mothers, and the next they were fighting over a piece of fruit.

"Uncle Luo, are you home?"

Ye Fan knocked at the door.

"What is it?" Luo Yan asked as he opened the door.

"I got into university! I'm leaving in a couple of days, so I came over to let you know."

"Getting into university is a good thing!" Luo Yan said with a smile. Your getting into university means the time for the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin is drawing ever closer.

Hearing the visitor, Dragon Horse and Donkey stopped fighting inside the house and poked their heads out curiously.

The instant it saw Ye Fan, the little white dog Dragon Horse had become shrieked in horror, "A ghost!"

Thud.

It collapsed, unconscious.

This time, it was not pretending.

Ye Fan was even more bewildered. What had he just heard?

A talking dog??!