"Cause and effect? We wish to entangle ourselves in no karma. We only wish to slumber here, at peace with the world. But you have overstepped your bounds."
The speaker sounded very gentle. He truly seemed unwilling to become entangled in karma, and his tone was utterly unconcerned.
"Hmph! I am a king. What boundary between heaven and earth can bar my royal body from descending? Wherever I stand belongs to my King Domain. If there are no boundaries, how can I overstep them? Retreat at once, lest another name be added to the cycle of reincarnation."
A cold snort rang out. Unlike Youyu and the others, this king once again condensed a golden war spear between heaven and earth. It descended with world-destroying divine might, intent on overturning this strange place in a single blow.
"Arrogant fool. You are welcome to try!"
Another icy voice rose from beneath the graves, this one already carrying anger. No matter how good someone's temper was, they could not endure words like those.
A king could not be humiliated! They were all kings-what gave him the right to sit above them and rule over reincarnation?
No sooner had the words fallen than a hazy figure appeared before the enormous grave. Chaos qi filled heaven and earth, concealing his true form. Another figure appeared beside a small burial mound nearby. Immortal qi evolved into worlds, while domains around him bore down upon the laws of heaven and earth with terrifying pressure.
Were these... two peerless kings? Though their true forms remained unseen, there could be no mistaking such might. And judging by their earlier intervention, they had no fear whatsoever of the Foreign Realm's kings.
At the sight of these peerless experts, even the Foreign Realm's kings immediately calmed down. Who knew whether others might appear? Recklessly intruding upon another king's domain could unleash some great horror.
"Do not act rashly. This is that ancient land of legend, where a host of strange beings lie buried. We must not make enemies of them lightly."
Immortal King Yan Cang spoke, his expression grave, as though he had recalled something! If this truly was that eerie ancient land, making another move would be difficult. They, too, possessed a great realm, where a host of strange kings lay buried. No one knew precisely what those beings were, but neither the Immortal Domain nor the Foreign Realm dared make enemies of them lightly.
If they formed a grudge here, they might well drag these beings into the war. Powerful though the Foreign Realm was, it had no wish to provoke the Nine Heavens, the Immortal Domain, and these strange beings all at once.
"We intended no offense. We were merely pursuing an enemy."
Yan Cang spoke gently!
As he spoke, he looked in the direction Lin Yue had fled. Even with an Immortal King's eyesight, he was beginning to have trouble making out Lin Yue's figure, and his brows knitted tightly.
"Hmm...!"
The other party seemed to ponder.
"We have no intention of obstructing you, nor do we wish to become entangled in the karma of the mortal world. But this is our sacred land. You may not attack here at will!"
"Hmph!"
A cold snort rang out! The kings once again transformed into streaks of divine light and sped after Lin Yue.
These strange beings neither stopped Lin Yue nor wished to stop the Foreign Realm's kings. Perhaps, as they claimed, they truly wanted no entanglement in karma and wished only to slumber beneath the earth. They might have fallen because they had become entangled in too much karma during their lifetimes, leaving them with a subconscious instinct to remain at peace with the world.
Had the Foreign Realm's kings not attacked here earlier, they might never have shown themselves.
Seeing someone behind him hold back the Foreign Realm's kings, Lin Yue thought some mighty figure from the Immortal Domain had arrived. But as more and more graves appeared, how could he fail to understand? He had blundered into the Burial Domain!
Who knew what these layabouts were up to? Call them Dark Creatures, and they were nowhere near as bloodthirsty as the Foreign Realm. Call them normal, and they were hardly that either.
He had thought they would help. Instead, they aided neither side, and the Foreign Realm's kings were once more pursuing him.
He had no idea how much time had passed. Lin Yue already felt that his flesh and divine essence were nearly exhausted, yet the Foreign Realm's kings still refused to give up the chase.
The graves began to dwindle, the mountains began to disappear, and living beings vanished from sight.
A stretch of barren red earth appeared before him. More and more enormous rocks emerged, and the red earth gave way to a wasteland of gravel. The stones gradually grew smaller, until they resembled grains of sand.
A seawall appeared, and an ocean stretched across the horizon! Storms swept through the eight wildernesses.
Chapter 59: A Frenzied Flight Across the Boundary Sea
Looking at the seawall before him, the countless stars floating above the ocean, and towering waves powerful enough to shatter Primordial Stars-with even their spray carrying fragments of broken stars-Lin Yue drew a sharp breath.
Fuck, I'd fled blindly in a panic!
Although Lin Yue now possessed a body surpassing that of an ordinary king, even Immortal Kings dared not enter this Boundary Sea carelessly. Perhaps only titans could establish a foothold within it.
With the Foreign Realm's kings already close behind him, Lin Yue felt as though he had a tiger before him and wolves at his back. Compared to those kings, the Boundary Sea might be even more dangerous.
But behind him lay certain death, while ahead lay the unknown. Heaven and earth still left him a thread of hope.
"Ant, why have you stopped running?"
"Heh. It seems you know something about the sea ahead?"
"Hand over the box, and we can grant you a quick death!"
The kings sneered. The dangers of the Boundary Sea might be terrifying, but a group of kings entering together might not face much peril. After all, when kings traveled together, even titans had to give way.
Yet one thing was truly terrifying: the laws of heaven and earth were in chaos within the Boundary Sea. All those great realms had been destroyed, and their heavenly daos no longer manifested there. Moreover, bewildering fog shrouded the sky, leaving all divination arts largely useless.
Apart from certain supreme titans and peak Immortal Kings who could find their way out through instinctive perception, even ordinary titans could lose themselves in the Boundary Sea. Thus, its greater danger was becoming lost.
Since the Emperor-Drop Era, countless kings had stepped onto the seawall and entered the Boundary Sea in search of an opportunity to break beyond kingship and become emperors. Yet scarcely any had returned. They could not all have died; some had lost their way in the Boundary Sea and had yet to return.
Of course, on several occasions, many had been drawn back because someone had lit the World Annihilation Incense, guiding them ashore like a beacon in the darkness.
Some ancient experts returned to find their homelands destroyed and their loved ones gone. Even the era had changed completely, leaving them with nothing to hold on to. Others were embroiled in struggles over the Great Dao.
To take revenge upon their enemies, they would unleash great battles and destroy the experts who had once attacked their families. Even kings would perish.
The cycle continued, generation after generation. Some grew disgusted with the mortal world and slaughtered indiscriminately wherever they came ashore. Many others devoured living beings' vitality to heal their wounds, annihilating entire great realms.
This was also one of the origins of the great reckoning.
Watching the kings descend, Lin Yue gritted his teeth and charged straight toward the sea!
"Damn that thing! How dare he! How dare he!"
Immortal King Youyu's face twisted, as though he were about to go mad.
"What do we do now? Decide quickly, or all our efforts will have been wasted."
"The three of us will go in. The rest of you, return and inform the seniors. This box is extremely important and may be connected to our ancient artifact. There is no time to lose. Move at once."
Immortal King Yan Cang spoke!
"Indeed. We must stamp out this worm!"
As kings, they would not let danger halt their steps. That was a king's pride: to fear nothing.
Having spoken, Immortal King Yan Cang, Immortal King Youyu, and Immortal King Fukui stepped straight into the Boundary Sea.
The remaining kings set off on their return journey!
Within the Boundary Sea, Lin Yue's scalp prickled as he sensed the three following close behind. He had never expected three Immortal Kings of the Foreign Realm to chase him into the Boundary Sea.
What the fuck was this? Novels really screwed people over. Wasn't the transmigrator supposed to enter the Boundary Sea, the Foreign Realm's kings head home, and then the protagonist survive against all odds and return to settle the score? What the hell was this relentless pursuit?
Who could withstand this?
Clearly, Lin Yue had underestimated the Small Wooden Box's allure to the darkness. Even the three kings, driven by darkness, felt an unnatural bodily instinct to pursue it.
There was another reason: Lin Yue had infuriated them. Three Immortal Kings had surrounded one man to kill him, yet he had escaped with the object. How could they return to the Foreign Realm and face their fellow cultivators? They would lose all face!
Still, the three kings pursuing Lin Yue were expending more energy than he was. Lin Yue was simply darting about blindly. Unable to use divination, the three behind him could only follow the traces left by his movements, which demanded even greater effort.
Within the Boundary Sea!
Countless waves surged and roared, and countless silent stars floated in the heavens. Some islands resembled entire great realms, their shores piled with countless small stars like grains of sand. These stars had been brought by the towering waves and deposited upon the islands!
Elsewhere, translucent bones lay in heaps as large as stars!
Who knew how long had passed? Lin Yue knew only that he had raced through the Boundary Sea's gray fog using the Yin-Yang Reversal Step Method until his head spun.
First, thunderbolts crashed down from the sky, shattering Primordial Stars. Then fiercely corrosive acid rain fell, stripping even a king's body of a layer of skin.
As Lin Yue raced onward, a terrifying fog suddenly began spreading across heaven and earth ahead. Unlike the earlier gray fog, this was utterly black and cut off all sight.
Like an enormous net, the black mist swept across the sea ahead, blanketing heaven and earth. Seeing figures flickering indistinctly within it, Lin Yue could only steel himself and plunge inside!
The moment he entered the black mist, all his senses failed. Though the earlier gray fog had blotted out the sky and sun, he could at least make out nearby islands. After this black mist descended, he could not even sense the auras of the three Immortal Kings behind him. He felt as though he were submerged in a pool of black water, and even their earlier curses were now inaudible.
Everything was silent, like a pitch-black night sky. Yet this night sky began tugging at Lin Yue like vines. The increasingly powerful pull made his hair stand on end.
Suddenly, a hand seized Lin Yue's arm and yanked hard. Yes, this time he could clearly feel that bony, skeletal palm. Being unable to see meant facing the unknown, and the unknown meant danger!
"Damn it! Martial Dao Divine Infant, suppress it!"
Within his dantian, the utterly exhausted Martial Dao Divine Infant began emitting a faint light, shaking away the great hand tugging at Lin Yue!
Just as Lin Yue breathed a small sigh of relief, another great hand reached out from behind and tugged at his shattered battle robes, like some uncanny apparition!
"Die!"
All the divine universes within his body erupted. Lin Yue spun around and unleashed ultimate divine strength surpassing that of the Heavenly Horned Ant Clan. Yet not a sound rang out. It was like punching cotton. Everything remained silent.
It was truly bizarre. Even divine strength like this was useless. Lin Yue's ultimate divine strength now surpassed that of the Heavenly Horned Ant Clan, whose strength exceeded even that of True Dragons at the king-tier titan level. They were famed for possessing the greatest divine strength of Immortal Ancient. Even a king's body dared not take it head-on, which was why the Heavenly Horned Ant Clan could battle kings.
Earlier, Lin Yue had been able to overpower even Beast King Uya! Yet this supremely fierce, invincible divine fist seemed to have been countered by the utmost softness.
"Damn it! Martial Dao Divine Infant, suppress it!"
Spending the last of his divine essence, Lin Yue used Yin-Yang Reversal and raced straight ahead. If he lost himself in this black mist, he would truly be finished. The Boundary Sea really did harbor great horrors.
This black mist seemed to suppress and oppose those lost within it using forces contrary to everything in the world. If you possessed the utmost strength, it became the utmost softness. If you were fast, it dragged you back and slowed you down. It was simply reversing every tangible and intangible force in existence.
He had to admit that the Human Immortal Martial Dao's Martial Dao Divine Infant was truly heaven-defying. It had saved Lin Yue again and again!
After racing for an unknown length of time, Lin Yue felt himself growing drowsy. Neither his king's body nor the divine essence within him could endure any longer, just as when he had healed the old Heavenly Horned Ant.
Yet Lin Yue still refused to stop, until his figure finally plummeted!
Chapter 60: A Land of Life and Death
Upon an enormous island shrouded in gray fog, there was no trace of any living being-not even vegetation.
Beyond the gray fog, black turbid qi that corroded all things permeated the island. This was a desolate isle of utter deathly silence.
This terrifying black turbid qi could corrode even the void itself. In some places, the corrosion had already caused space to warp. Wherever the black qi passed, space twisted and writhed like slowly flowing water. Even kings dared not tread lightly upon this island.
A young man lay in a deep pit, black qi scouring his body relentlessly. His skin had been eaten away, exposing golden, gleaming blood and crimson flesh. He resembled a humanoid creature formed of magma, a horrifying sight.
As time passed, the young man slowly opened his eyes. Seeing that not a single patch of his body remained intact, he clenched his teeth against the searing pain that stabbed through him.
After waking, Lin Yue shook his muddled head, then endured the pain and slowly sat cross-legged. Although the Foreign Realm's three Immortal Kings could no longer catch him, the worry in his heart had not diminished at all.
I wonder how the battlefield in Great Red Heaven is faring. How are Yan and Yu? Are he and she still alive? I acted recklessly and fled into the Boundary Sea with the Small Wooden Box, with a host of Foreign Realm experts pursuing me. Even if it accomplishes nothing else, at least let it preserve a few seeds of hope for the Nine Heavens!
Ah... when did I become so sentimental?
After dwelling on his feelings for a while, Lin Yue began examining his surroundings: a desolate island covered in gray fog and black turbid qi.
Lin Yue turned his divine sense inward to inspect the Martial Dao Divine Infant. The little golden figure had lost its former radiance, and cracks covered its entire body.
It had truly suffered. Without the Martial Dao Divine Infant, even Lin Yue's body, which surpassed that of an ordinary king, would likely have been eaten away. But excessive use, compounded by his earlier clashes with the Immortal Kings, had now brought this golden divine infant to the verge of shattering.
Even Lin Yue's primordial spirit had begun to weaken. This would never have happened before, had the Martial Dao Divine Infant not been utterly drained.
I have to leave this place at once!
Enduring the sharp pain of burns all over his body, Lin Yue dragged his grievously wounded, divinely exhausted body forward.
Step after step, he walked for an unknown length of time. All Lin Yue knew was that his body had been corroded until his bones were visible, yet he still had not escaped this damned place. By the end, even his heart could faintly be seen.
Suddenly, the countless divine embryos in his inner universe began pulsing, as though guiding him onward. Lin Yue emptied his mind and followed those pulses with his entire body and soul.
Countless times, Lin Yue wanted to turn back as the black turbid qi grew increasingly corrosive. Yet his body's instincts drove him forward.
On the Human Immortal Martial Dao's path of inner divine universes, Lin Yue's body resembled an entire world. His Cave Heavens and acupoint vaults were like stars across the heavens, even moving of their own accord. Hundreds of thousands of gestating divine embryos were influencing his consciousness. Like spirits of his inner world, these divine embryos had sensed vitality ahead and instinctively pursued it.
The black turbid qi was so corrosive that even the ground was being devoured. Yet Lin Yue could now sense faint, elusive threads of vitality mingled within it.
A slope began to appear ahead, and the black qi seemed to flow down from its heights. Slowly, Lin Yue's footsteps began making sounds as though he were treading through water. The terrifying black gas had actually grown so dense that it flowed downhill like liquid.
Lin Yue guessed that the slope before him had probably once been a great mountain, gradually reduced to a hillside by long years of being devoured by black turbid qi. Such an immense span of time was staggering.
By the time Lin Yue reached the top, his flesh was a bloody ruin, and he resembled a dried corpse.
Within the enormous pit at the top of the slope, he saw a terrifying black sphere slowly exuding black water. This black water was the root source of the turbid qi.
The endless power of deathly stillness made the place resemble the netherworld's hell. The stabbing pain in his primordial spirit allowed Lin Yue to remain conscious.
Though this was a place of deathly stillness, Lin Yue sensed boundless life force at the center of the black sphere.
After devouring the vitality of all things, this life-consuming black qi returned here to nurture another divine embryo brimming with boundless vitality within.
At the ultimate extreme of death, life emerged. The cycle continued without end, life begetting life.
"What a land of life and death. What a configuration of yin and yang embracing each other. What an innate yin-yang dao embryo! A single divine embryo possesses two opposing forces pushed to their extremes, cycling endlessly within it. Rather than erupting, they complement and complete each other, nurturing an innate divine embryo. Is this new life born amid destruction?"
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