The Immense Karmic Force — When Legend Has Become Reality
The Immense Karmic Force — When Legend Has Become Reality
## 754 The Board Has Been Set — Time to Return to the Present World (Please Subscribe)
Cultivation knows no years; several thousand years passed in the blink of an eye.
Gods’ Ruins had gradually faded into legend. As the environment of heaven and earth changed, more and more Cultivators appeared, yet fewer and fewer people had ever laid eyes on Gods’ Ruins.
To many, Gods’ Ruins had instead become something like those ancient tales from before the Dark Gap — distant beyond reach, yet truly existent, having left its traces upon this world.
It was said to connect to the legendary Celestial Domain, and within Gods’ Ruins stood an unimaginably ancient towering tree. Rumor had it that this was the path to the Celestial Domain, deeply connected to the Tree of the Gods of old.
And the Lord of Gods’ Ruins was said to be a supreme expert from the Era of the Great Annihilation, his cultivation so profound it reached the heavens and pierced the earth... “If you’re lucky enough to stumble upon Gods’ Ruins, you might even receive guidance from that senior.”
“It’s said that someone once entered Gods’ Ruins and obtained a Stone Engraving within. In just a few short centuries, he became a great Cultivator, and he has since founded his own sect.”
“Though you lot probably won’t get the chance. Word is that senior has already ascended to the true Celestial Domain. Gods’ Ruins has lost its master now, which is why it’s gradually vanishing from the world, never to be found again.”
In various tribes, elders told the younger generation stories about Gods’ Ruins, and every face brimmed with longing and yearning.
Young and old alike, all were pursuing the Path of Cultivation, and becoming an immortal was the lifelong dream of nearly everyone.
Distant and faint though it was, it at least gave everyone something to hold onto.
And the existence of Gods’ Ruins seemed to tell them all — becoming an immortal truly was possible.
Scenes like this played out almost daily in tribes everywhere. Any Cultivator or sentient being knew of Gods’ Ruins’ existence.
Cultivators searching for Gods’ Ruins were beyond counting, but sadly, those who actually found it were pitifully few. It was as if invisible Array Patterns and barriers surrounded Gods’ Ruins, sealing everything away.
That was why the place stood isolated from the world, a Forbidden Area unto itself.
“Qianbei, I’m leaving this place. Thank you for your guidance all these years. Though you never took me as your disciple, in my heart, you are no different from a shifu.”
“You taught me so much, and you awakened the inheritance in my bloodline. I, Huang Yu, will never forget this great kindness for as long as I live.”
At this moment, within Gods’ Ruins, shrouded in boundless immortal mist —
Mountain ranges towered, ancient peaks rose high, and many broken palaces and pavilions stood scattered about.
A breathtakingly beautiful woman in feathered robes stood atop a solitary peak, gazing with reluctance at the white-robed figure before her, her words full of reverence and unwillingness to part.
That white-robed figure was hazy, his features indiscernible, revealing only a pair of weathered, fathomless eyes — as if he had once sat watching over all the heavens, as if he had gazed across primordial antiquity, yet nothing could diminish his peerless grace and otherworldly transcendence.
His hands were clasped behind his back as he seemed to stare into the sea of clouds, his silhouette lonely and desolate, with only a single peach tree for company at his side.
“It is indeed time for you to go. And it is time for me to go as well.”
“That you and I met at all — that too can be counted as fate.”
The white-robed man shook his head gently, his tone flat, without the slightest ripple of emotion.
The feather-robed woman named Huang Yu fixed her bright eyes on his back, and finally said with reluctance, “Back then, I stumbled into Gods’ Ruins by mistake and was nearly slain by the Array Patterns here. Had you not intervened and saved me, qianbei, I fear I would have long since been reduced to nothing, body and soul extinguished.”
“Over these thousands of years, I have listened to your teachings on the Dao every day, gaining endlessly from them.”
“Yet even now, I don’t even know your name, qianbei.”
“If I wish to repay your kindness in the future, I fear I’ll have no chance — I may not even know whether I can ever see you again.”
Hearing this, the white-robed man seemed to smile, then gently shook his head again.
“A name is nothing but a label. Whether you know it or not hardly matters.”
“You need only know that I am the Lord of Gods’ Ruins. As for everything else, there’s no need to know.”
“You carry the Celestial Phoenix Bloodline. Cultivate well after you leave, and one day you will reach my current realm. Perhaps in the distant future, the two of us may yet meet again — who can say?”
“In the distant future... will such a day truly come?”
Hearing these words, endless light suddenly bloomed in the beautiful feather-robed woman’s eyes — the light of hope and yearning.
Before she could finish speaking, the white-robed figure ahead gave a faint smile and waved his sleeve — and she was already outside Gods’ Ruins.
She found herself suddenly standing in an unfamiliar mountain range; the surrounding scenery was utterly different from thousands of years ago.
The beautiful feather-robed woman’s face held a trace of loss, as though there were still so many words left unsaid.
She stood there quietly for several months before finally transforming into a divine rainbow and departing.
Over these thousands of years, she had lived day and night alongside that mysterious Lord of Gods’ Ruins.
From the awe and fear of the beginning, she had gradually discovered that the Lord of Gods’ Ruins was not frightening at all — rather, he was gentle and refined, easygoing and natural — until in the end, her feelings had slowly turned into closeness, dependence, and reverence.
A figure like that — peerless in grace, transcendent beyond the mortal world, the very pinnacle of experts in this world. He could casually tear apart the barriers between worlds and travel to other universes; his methods reached the heavens, beyond imagination.
Even before the Era of the Great Annihilation, he would have been a supreme existence beyond the power of words to describe.
Back then, she had been nothing but a little Celestial Phoenix who had just stepped onto the threshold of cultivation. To witness with her own eyes what a so-called supreme expert looked like, she had risked her life, flapped her wings, and plunged headfirst into the vast and mysterious Gods’ Ruins.
And then she had stayed there for thousands of years, undergoing a complete transformation, reborn from bone to flesh.
“Qianbei said he was leaving too — what did he mean? And that mysterious ancient tree he guards, the one called the Tree of Epoch — why does he guard it?”
The feather-robed woman held far too many questions in her heart, but she understood these were things that must not be asked — they touched upon that qianbei’s secrets.
During her time in Gods’ Ruins, she had often seen that qianbei carefully tending a small peach tree, planting it beside his own courtyard, weeding and watering it daily like a mortal would, with great meticulousness.
He had also said that after he left, that peach tree would guard the Tree of Epoch in his stead, waiting for the right moment to arrive.
Of course, the feather-robed woman could not understand these words; she merely engraved them in her heart, intending to slowly comprehend them in the future.
“The board has been set, and the legend of Gods’ Ruins should be able to pass down through the ages.”
“In that case, it’s time for me to return to the present world. This stretch of history will be recorded in the annals and histories as ancient history.”
After the feather-robed woman left Gods’ Ruins, the white-robed man — none other than Gu Changge — smiled faintly. Then his vast divine sense swept out, comprehending the many changes this universe had undergone over the past several thousand years, and only then did he nod in satisfaction.
## 755 The Immense Karmic Force — When Legend Has Become Reality (Please Subscribe)
The legend of Gods’ Ruins had been left behind. To make this legend more authentic, Gu Changge had even spent several thousand years properly “guiding” Huang Yu — the feather-robed woman who had just left Gods’ Ruins.
He had a premonition that this feather-robed woman, bearer of the Celestial Phoenix Bloodline, would in the near future — even after the great upheaval of heaven and earth — find it no great difficulty to step into the realm of a True Daoist.
“In a few years she can even leave behind a legacy of her own. That way, there’s nothing left for me to worry about.”
Gu Changge’s gaze swept across every corner of Gods’ Ruins, finally settling on that peach tree, its blossoms in magnificent full bloom.
This was the identity he had specially arranged for Tao Yao according to his plan.
Before setting this scheme in motion, Gu Changge had once gone to Peach Village to ask Tao Yao for a favor — he wanted her to play the role of the guardian of the Tree of Epoch.
That was why Gu Changge had planted this small peach tree in front of Huang Yu, and said that after his departure, this little peach tree would guard the Tree of Epoch on his behalf.
Though this little peach tree had yet to give birth to sentience, as endless time passed — who could say?
Moreover, this entire Gods’ Ruins had been arranged by Gu Changge according to the evolution within his Inner Universe, supplemented all around by the Divine Arrays and numerous Restrictions and barriers, operating self-sufficiently through the power of the stars of the heavens. So even after he left this place, he could ensure that everything within Gods’ Ruins would remain undisturbed.
Of course, Gu Changge would certainly not leave the Tree of Epoch in this era — otherwise, the karma incurred would be unimaginable.
He had already braved the consequence of enormous karmic backlash to give Huang Yu that guidance, which would cause some matters of later ages to change in unexpected ways.
If he were to leave the Tree of Epoch behind as well, the entire future would likely be reshuffled — everything would begin anew.
The consequences of that would be far too terrifying.
Most of all, when the time came, whether Gu Changge himself could successfully return to the present world would be uncertain.
Soon after, vast temporal power appeared once more. Accompanied by monstrous waves, a mysterious and boundless river faintly emerged in the void, as if running through all the heavens and myriad worlds, connecting past, present, and future.
This time, the River of Time was even more terrifying than when Gu Changge had come.
Boundless Chaos Energy cascaded down, vast and majestic. Stars were caught up within it, plummeting from skies of unknown dimensions, enough to make one’s heart palpitate and tremble.
Deep within the river, boundless Chaos Lightning slashed down like roaring thunder dragons, baring fangs and claws, carrying an aura of utter destruction.
At a time like this, even a true immortal-level existence would be cautious and careful, not daring to approach the River of Time lightly.
Because Gu Changge had already altered ancient history — even some very minor changes would trigger enormous consequences.
Like a butterfly flapping its wings and causing the heavens to collapse and the seas to overturn, this was a chain of unknown, terrifying transformations.
Thanks to the Spacetime Stone, he needn’t worry about being unable to return to the present world.
The only thing to be wary of was the great terror of this journey. At the other end of the River of Time, if some existence surpassing the Celestial Realm sensed that I altered ancient history, they might come after me...
Gu Changge’s gaze shifted slightly. Although within his body there remained a portion of the Lord’s blood not yet fully refined, as well as two layers of the Symbol of Reincarnation to preserve his life —
— this kind of backlash, involving the entirety of ancient history, involving karma and the future, was not something he could take lightly.
However, he didn’t have much choice now. The Celestial Boat of Creation radiated hazy brilliance, completely enveloping him, then transformed into a streak of light, shooting straight toward the River of Time.
Hong long long —
The instant the Celestial Boat of Creation plunged into the River of Time, terrifying purple true lightning abruptly split down from the vast sky, as if constructed from boundless Chaos Energy. Visions of palaces and pavilions even manifested within it, the aura of annihilation staggering.
Gu Changge’s expression remained calm and unruffled. Instead, he brought out the Grand Flask, letting it rise and fall above his head.
Its terrifying devouring power, like a black hole, swallowed whole every bolt of lightning that struck down.
The Grand Flask’s material was incomparably mysterious and special, imperishable through myriad tribulations. Even the incomparably corrosive grey mist and the Source of the Eternal Overcast could only become its nourishment.
This destruction-laden true lightning naturally couldn’t harm it in the slightest.
Rather, it was Gu Changge who was shaken by the recoil, his qi and blood roiling.
“The backlash of the River of Time has already surpassed the level of ordinary Celestial Realm. Even a great universe would be split to ash by a single bolt of this true lightning. This karma... seems rather dreadful.”
Gu Changge’s gaze grew abruptly profound.
Especially as he drew closer to the present world, the backlash grew ever more terrifying.
Toward the end, even the Celestial Boat of Creation began to shudder. Towering waves submerged everything; countless fragments of time flew about, even reflecting dense, horrifying white bones.
He didn’t know which epoch’s scene this was, but since it had been reflected by the River of Time, it was certainly connected to his alteration of ancient history.
This was Karmic Force, tracing back to him as the source.
“As expected, to cross the River of Time safely, one truly needs the Fateless Void Body. What a pity there’s no time to find Ruo Pu — otherwise, with her blocking the karma for me, I could save myself a great deal of trouble.”
Gu Changge watched the karmic threads winding toward him and furrowed his brow.
The next moment, silvery flames suddenly blazed forth from his body, blazing like starlight filling the sky, leaping within every pore, scorching and igniting those pitch-black karmic threads, causing them to snap one after another, unable to touch his body.
This was the dense Power of Faith and Fortuity — likewise one of the purest and most mysterious energies between heaven and earth.
Gu Changge ignited this Power of Faith to try to expel the Karmic Force. It wasn’t that he minded being burdened by karmic sin, but rather that carrying a great tangle of karma on his person would easily be noticed as abnormal by the hidden foundation-level existences of the Beyond.
After all, this karma belonged to him — not to the identity of the Lord of Gods’ Ruins.
“The Karmic Force is too immense. With my current cultivation, I still can’t achieve freedom from karma. It seems I can only slowly expel it later, or try to devour it with the Grand Flask...”
Fortunately, the Celestial Boat of Creation was indeed miraculous and did not disappoint Gu Changge.
Very soon, he sensed the aura of the Spacetime Stone and locked onto the node of the present world within the River of Time.
Hong —
The Celestial Boat of Creation blazed with billions of strands of immortal radiance. Upon its broken hull, mysterious runes manifested one after another, and then it broke free of the River of Time, carrying Gu Changge swiftly away.
“Finally back in the present world. It seems the changes have been quite significant.”
Gu Changge’s figure appeared within a vast and boundless universe. A dense, ancient aura rushed to meet him.
Stars filled the sky; the Milky Way glittered, broad and magnificent, reflecting dazzling splendor.
Every life-bearing ancient star seemed to have existed for countless ages, exuding vicissitude and primordial antiquity.
After steadying his thoughts for a moment, Gu Changge put away the Celestial Boat of Creation and his other treasures, then strode away from this starfield and began inquiring about the many matters of the present world.
He rather wanted to know — after he had altered that stretch of ancient history, over these countless years, just what changes had occurred in this universe.
Gods’ Ruins, the Tree of Epoch... all the many strokes he had left behind should by now have become reality.