"Drip. Drip."
Chen Kuang ascended the steps one by one, cradling his zither. His entire body was soaked in blood.
The coarse hemp robe he wore had long since been dyed into a dark red-black hue, the blood was pooling at the edges of the fabric due to gravity and dripping continuously onto the stone steps.
A long, winding trail was left in his wake. Along his path, corpses lay strewn about, stacked so densely they were indistinguishable from one another.
Before him loomed the broken ruins of the imperial palace, the very Jinghe Hall where his original self had met death, and where Emperor Su Yu of Liang had been beheaded.
After Su Yu's death, his body had been dismembered by Li Hongling and thrown behind the hall to be burned along with the palace attendants who had also perished. His severed head was then hung high before Jinghe Hall, a warning to all the remaining Liang loyalists.
In this round of reincarnation, because his true body in the outside world was currently locked in a life-or-death battle, Chen Kuang had already explained his objective to the little princess Su Huaiying.
He couldn't tell her that he was farming passive skills; he only said he would use the cycle of reincarnation to find a way to defeat the enemy.
Su Huaiying couldn't fully grasp what he could possibly gain through these seemingly futile loops, but her trust in him remained unshaken.
The more her childhood memories returned, the deeper that trust grew.
What's more, she was now trapped within the illusion. Never mind escaping, her real body was still unconscious. Her life and her mother's were both in Chen Kuang's hands.
If she didn't trust him, who could she trust?
Her cooperation was a great boon to Chen Kuang.
She understood the early developments of the illusion world like the back of her hand.
And to someone like Zhang Zhizhou, that eccentric oddball, she was a key figure. By using him, they could accomplish things beyond their personal capabilities.
Of course, they could never hope to contend with a Saint.
But it wasn't about that. The possibilities that had already been tested, now replayed, would come far more easily.
Take this instance for example.
What Chen Kuang aimed to do was return to the battlefield once again, ensuring the little princess's safety, and fully awaken the Sword of Weed-Cutting within his mind.
That was his final trump card.
The sword art that had earned Huo Hengxuan the name of "God of Slaughter."
When he killed Li Hongling, the Song of Weed-Cutting had played a major role.
Had it not been for the killing spree he went on while breaking out of the capital, from the palace all the way out, saturating the mental sword with murderous energy and strengthening his will, "Twin Dragons Bathe the Buddha" wouldn't have been nearly as overwhelming.
Even so, back then, the sword suspended in his mind had never actually descended.
After slaying Li Hongling, he was forced to escape quickly, and thus didn't continue his slaughter. The sword's accumulated killing aura gradually dissipated.
By rough estimate, Chen Kuang figured he had killed at least five thousand people during that breakout, and that was a conservative count.
He had gotten blood-drunk by the end.
But the later Saint-level battle pressed down upon him like a mountain, pushing his survival instincts to the forefront and snapping him out of that state.
Otherwise, he might've kept on killing.
This also proved that the Song of Weed-Cutting carried a real cost, it easily clouded the mind.
To fully wield that sword technique safely, one had to at least reach the Sea-Cleaving Realm and open the Sea of Consciousness, thereby stabilizing the spirit and resisting the blade's madness.
Otherwise, it was far too easy to be consumed by its killing intent, to be reduced to a mere puppet of bloodlust.
But... it was undeniably powerful.
Originally, Chen Kuang thought he wouldn't be able to wield the Song of Weed-Cutting again until reaching Sea-Cleaving Realm.
But the passive [One Split Mind] offered a new possibility.
If, within the illusion, he accumulated enough killing intent to trigger the descent of the mental sword, then only the portion of his mind inside the illusion would be affected.
Combined with [Composed Aura], even once [One Split Mind] ended and his consciousness reintegrated, he would still retain control and not be overtaken by the sword's madness.
After he awakened "Vajra Bodhi," in the next reincarnation cycle, Chen Kuang opened his eyes and immediately took action.
The vajra seat represents the body; the bodhi tree represents the soul.
"Vajra Bodhi" is the moment of indestructibility in both body and soul.
In that fleeting instant, if Chen Kuang could bring down the mental sword, he was confident he could at least severely injure, or even kill, Bai Fen.
Because this sword, too, was a projected concept residing within his spirit.
"Vajra Bodhi" covered the sword, rendering it indestructible!
A sword that was both invincible and formless, who could stop such a weapon, even if they were Moon-Embracing Realm?
Originally, the amount of killing intent required to draw this sword was utterly staggering.
It was impossible in the current real-world situation.
Not only did it require incredible power, but also immense amounts of time.
Fortunately, within the illusion, time passed far faster as just a few days in the real world equated to several centuries inside.
If he so chose, Chen Kuang could complete an entire cycle in a single moment!
In this cycle, he decided to make use of Zhang Zhizhou.
Before leaving the prison cell, he released everyone else but stopped Zhang Zhizhou and exposed his identity face-to-face.
Zhang Zhizhou froze, but didn't continue playing dumb.
He looked at Chen Kuang. "How did you know?"
Chen Kuang didn't miss a beat. "I met the Master, the Teacher once."
This was just an illusion anyway. He could say whatever he wanted. That Liberty Mountain Teacher likely wouldn't hear about it...
But even if he did, it shouldn't matter. It wasn't like Chen Kuang was badmouthing him.
He was just borrowing the name for a little.
Surely a magnanimous educator wouldn't hold a grudge over something so trivial.
Zhang Zhizhou fell silent for a moment. Then, as though recalling something, he dropped his pedantic scholar act, sighed toward the sky, and muttered in frustration:
"Sigh... Teacher, frogs won't do, chickens won't do... and now even a little girl won't do?"
He'd thought this time he'd finally made a solid choice.
Chen Kuang's lips twitched.
Frogs? Chickens?
What the hell was this guy even thinking? Trying to raise those things to become emperors?
But even ignoring gender, trying to groom a four-year-old girl to become a ruler... that was something else..
And even scarier, based on what Su Huaiying went through later in the reincarnation cycle, he might've actually succeeded.
"No, the Teacher thinks it's a fine choice."
Chen Kuang pointed at Chu Wenruo and Su Huaiying nearby. "He's just worried you might ruin a promising sapling, so he wants you to bring her back and let him see for himself."
Zhang Zhizhou narrowed his eyes at him, clearly skeptical. "Did he really say that?"
Chen Kuang shrugged. "Ask him yourself when you get back."
Indeed, he was just making stuff up, secure in the knowledge that this was all just an illusion.
Anyway, he was about to start the next reincarnation soon.
And besides, the Teacher really did treat the little princess well. Otherwise, he wouldn't have kept her at Liberty Mountain for so long.
His delivery was so confident that Zhang Zhizhou couldn't tell whether it was true or false.
But if someone could so casually expose his identity, then even if they hadn't seen the Teacher, there must be some high-ranking cultivator backing them.
That meant his choice wasn't wrong.
This little girl had already been noticed by greater forces. Her destiny must be anything but ordinary.
Zhang Zhizhou glanced at the youth before him, his curiosity piqued. "And you? You want me to take them away, where are you going?"
Even though they'd shared that cell for seven days, he still had no idea what this man was thinking.
However, there was no doubt, Chen Kuang was brilliant.
Even in the eyes of someone like Zhang Zhizhou, he was an extraordinary mind.
And the truly intelligent usually had one thing in common: a desire to preserve their own lives.
But this youth before him seemed to defy all patterns.
Brilliant, but always flirting with danger. Always doing the kind of foolish things that only idiots would dare to attempt.
Chen Kuang smiled and slipped the Dao-Seeking Jade into his mouth, tucking it beneath his tongue.
"I'm going to kill."
He said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"What a lunatic..."
Even as Zhang Zhizhou escorted the mother and daughter toward Liberty Mountain, he couldn't forget that madman's back, walking calmly out of the cell, flying straight toward the palace.
That kind of upheaval, of course, immediately alerted Li Hongling. But with Huo Hengxuan holding her attention, all she could do was grit her teeth and send the Black Armor Guards after him.
But now, Chen Kuang had used the Dao-Seeking Jade to reach the Master Realm.
And this time, he had greater control. He was no longer that reckless fool; his Master Realm Spiritual Energy wasn't being wasted uselessly as it had the first time.
Now, it lingered within him, becoming an actually lasting force.
"Zheng-zheng-"
"Pshhh! Pshhh!"
The sound of the zither rang out as heads flew, bodies exploded and others went mad and died.
Heads rolled, and rivers of blood flowed.
Those slain were well over five thousand!
Chen Kuang rampaged unrestrained, like an invincible god of war.
Because he had no other objective, no concern for any sort of survival.
His heart held only one thing:
Slaughter. Slaughter.. Slaughter...
"Vmmm~"
The sword suspended in his mind let out a keen cry, as if in deep ecstasy, trembling slightly.
Its ancient, weathered body began to glimmer faintly, like rusted steel newly whetted, revealing its original, blinding brilliance.
That light was tinged in blood, splattered like the fresh gore from his rampage.
Soon, the scattered glow coalesced into a razor's edge.
More blood splattered over it.
Layer upon layer.
Until its entire body was drenched in red, its blade gleaming with hunger.
A true killing sword had been unsheathed.
...
Chen Kuang's eyes were completely veiled in blood, turned entirely crimson, but his gaze grew only more piercing and soul-shaking.
His entire body was bathed in blood, looking like a man-shaped mass of gore.
This blood was partly his own, and partly that of others.
He no longer even knew how many times his body had repaired itself. Without the passive [Flesh Reishi], he'd likely have already been hacked down into a limbless stump.
To face an army of thousands all by oneself, this was no ordinary burden.
Forget seven charges in and seven charges out, even just forcing a straight path in and out was like trying to ascend the heavens.
And it was only now that Chen Kuang realized: the passive [Invincible Before the Divine] was not only effective against enemies vastly superior in cultivation.
If the enemy's cultivation was far too low in comparison, it also triggered!
Therefore, when Chen Kuang's cultivation dropped to Moon-Embracing Realm during this charge, the enemy finally collapsed.
On the battlefield, the collapse of even a small portion of a force's morale can cause the entire army to unravel.
Let alone when they discovered that their opponent seemed to be an unkillable monster, one who was also far stronger than they were.
In the end, Chen Kuang's slaughter drove the Black Armor Army into fear.
Plop... plop...
Chen Kuang, clutching his Zither, stepped forward one stride at a time. Above his head, starlight shimmered and beneath his feet, waves of blood churned.
The blood-soaked sludge beneath him gave off strange squelching sounds as he stepped.
All around him were severed limbs and broken bodies, but the wounds on Chen Kuang's body were rapidly healing, without even leaving a single scar.
The stark contrast sent a suffocating psychological pressure surging into those watching.
In front of him, the soldiers of Zhou stood in armor, but with each and every step he took, they involuntarily retreated. Their hands trembled violently as they clutched their weapons.
Clang!
The first person dropped his weapon and the tide surged.
Clang! Clang! Clang!...
Starting from the soldiers closest to Chen Kuang, countless weapons clattered to the ground as soldiers turned and fled.
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I surrender! I surrender!"
"The-The Killing God... The Killing God has returned! Run!"
The soldiers began to call Chen Kuang "Killing God," projecting their fear of the Slaughter God Huo Hengxuan onto him. As a result, the collapse of their lines accelerated even further.
As if they'd instantly forgotten how just days ago, when Huo Hengxuan was in the dungeon, they had mocked and insulted him.
Chen Kuang was thoughtful.
So this was how Huo Hengxuan earned his title...
He'd only used the [Song of Weed-Cutting] once, and already over ten thousand soldiers were left with a massive psychological shadow.
That old bastard had been Liang's Killing God for a full forty years.
How many lives were on his hands? Likely even he couldn't count them all.
No wonder Liang, though militarily weak, could still hold its ground in this chaotic age, Huo Hengxuan alone was enough to intimidate all sides.
It was bloodshed that had carved out their space.
But now wasn't the time for sentiments.
Chen Kuang walked through a sea of corpses, past the terrified stares of the remaining soldiers, and stepped up to the stairs before Jinghe Hall.
The sword in his mind had now turned entirely crimson, heavy as if it could drip blood at any moment.
It radiated a terrifying, ominous aura of blood.
One sword drawn, ten thousand bones wither.
The sword radiated a murderous glow that reached even the heavens. It was nearly demonic, and just looking at it gave one goosebumps.
But Chen Kuang smiled, because that sword had already fallen at his command, piercing into Bai Fen's body and shredding his internal organs.
Even if he didn't die, he'd be gravely wounded!
Chen Kuang entered Jinghe Hall and looked up.
Sure enough, hanging in the center of the coffered ceiling, where the dragon's head should have been, was an impaled human head.
It was the head of Liang's final emperor, Su Yu.
In truth, this was the first time Chen Kuang had ever seen Su Yu's appearance.
After all, before this, he'd been blind in every cycle.
This emperor, whose reputation leaned toward that of a faint and foolish ruler, did not look fat and greasy like the common caricature, nor wicked or sinister.
On the contrary, though nearly forty years old, he had an air of sparse elegance, slender and composed, more like a romantic scholar.
Boom...
The earth trembled and mountains shook.
Above the imperial city, the battle between the Saints reached another climax.
Inside and outside the palace, everything quaked. Cracks appeared all across the floors and walls.
Chen Kuang narrowed his eyes, carefully examining the head hanging in the coffered ceiling under the starlight.
As expected, there was no trace of a shadow..
Su Yu's corpse, like the body of Chen Kuang inside the illusion, had no shadow!
Chen Kuang hadn't come this way by chance.
He'd intended to use the opportunity to verify the strange thing the little princess had mentioned about Su Yu.
Why would Su Yu's shadow be gone?
If Chen Kuang's own lack of shadow was due to the illusion being unable to process the identity of a transmigrator, creating an unrepairable bug, then what about Su Yu?
Was he a bug, too?
Standing in this both familiar and unfamiliar palace, Chen Kuang was filled with questions, but no answers.
"So this was what you came to see?"
A middle-aged Confucian scholar suddenly walked in, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with Chen Kuang, also looking at Su Yu's head. "You must be wondering why he has no shadow."
Chen Kuang was startled, but quickly masked it, speaking calmly: "You know the answer?"
The illusion had not reset, which meant that the mother and daughter were likely safe for now.
"Don't worry about her Highness and Lady Chu, I've already sent them to Liberty Mountain."
Zhang Zhizhou paused, then said: "As for the answer you want, I don't have it. I followed out of simple curiosity."
Chen Kuang rolled his eyes.
All that mysterious entrance, speaking with such confidence... He'd really thought this so-called senior disciple of Liberty Mountain knew something hidden.
"But-"
Zhang Zhizhou's gaze grew serious. "Ever since the Imperial Diviner's Court was established, Su Yu never attended court again. Few officials saw him in private."
"I used to think it was because he was foolish and lazy, uninterested in politics."
"But now... maybe it was to hide some abnormality."
This "abnormality," naturally referred to the lack of a shadow.
Chen Kuang froze.
He'd forgotten that Zhang Zhizhou had once served in Liang's court. Apart from Huo Hengxuan, he was probably the one who knew the inner workings best.
Could it be that Su Yu had already lost his shadow before he died?!
Come to think of it, The Imperial Diviner's Court...
Chen Kuang furrowed his brow.
He vaguely recalled hearing that Su Yu had created this institution specifically for seeking immortality and divine truth.
And the Imperial Diviner was said to be a bald, scabby Daoist, clearly the fraud type, probably not even a cultivator.
After Liang's fall, no one seemed to hear anything about this Diviner's Court again.
Where had that so-called diviner gone?
"I really don't know your answer," Zhang Zhizhou said again. "But I've heard a tale regarding Su Yu, his shadow, and the Elixir of Immortality."
"In the story, Su Yu heard someone knocking at his door in the middle of the night. Startled awake, he saw a shadow outside the bed curtain and thought it was an assassin."
"But then he heard the shadow speak, saying it had come to deliver him a pill an sure enough, the figure handed him a pill, that was the Elixir of Immortality."
"But when Su Yu got out of bed to thank the person, there was no one there, only his own shadow cast on the curtain, holding a pill. The figure he'd just seen looked exactly the same as that shadow."
"That's the tale of 'The Shadow Presents the Medicine.' Interesting, isn't it?"
The Confucian scholar glanced at the head, squinting as he added: "The shadow transformed into the Elixir of Immortality and presented it to Su Yu. And now... the shadow is gone and the pill is gone too."
Chen Kuang said nothing.
After all, the Elixir of Immortality hadn't vanished, it was in his stomach.
And Su Yu wasn't the only one who'd lost his shadow. The original Chen Kuang had as well.
But the current, living Chen Kuang, he definitely had a shadow.
The connection between all this... seemed easy to deduce.
Su Yu's shadow, had it moved onto him?
Almost as soon as this thought surfaced, Chen Kuang felt a chill crawl up his spine. Goosebumps erupted across his entire body.
"You've come back."
A third voice echoed in the grand hall, low and heavy, tinged with sighing regret.
A third voice? How could there be a third person?
There were clearly only two people here!
Chen Kuang and Zhang Zhizhou looked at each other, both seeing the terror in the other's eyes, as if they'd seen a ghost.
And perhaps they really had.
Slowly, Chen Kuang lifted his gaze to the coffered ceiling.
Su Yu's severed head had, at some point, opened its eyes.
It stared straight at Chen Kuang and spoke:
"Do you know? Heaven has Heaven's Mandate. A nation has national fate. If the nation does not perish, then the emperor does not die."
Chen Kuang's pupils contracted and he opened his mouth, wanting to speak.
Boom...
Outside Jinghe Hall, the starlight extinguished in an instant.
A Saint descended from the heavens.
The cycle of reincarnation resumed.
...
Boom!!!!!!
Flames suddenly erupted in a burst, the ground caved in once again, splitting apart in a web-like pattern as the soil and stone nearly melted into flowing lava.
Chen Kuang was instantly sent flying backward, rolling along the ground several times before finally coming to a stop.
"Huff..."
Chen Kuang gasped violently for breath. All four of his limbs had been completely broken, and his body was covered in grotesque wounds, injuries caused by being dragged and crushed by Bai Fen just moments ago.
But very soon, now that the suppressing force of a powerful enemy was gone, his body began to recover, his flesh and muscles squirming as they regenerated back to normal.
The "Flesh Reishi" passive was still doing its job.
However, the temporary enlightenment of "Vajra Bodhi" had already dissipated.
Chen Kuang stood up, raised his hand, and looked at the broken piece of the Heaven-Searing Sword in his palm.
He couldn't help but burst out laughing.
The Heaven-Searing Sword, it had shattered!
In the distance, Bai Fen staggered to his feet. His gaze was vacant, his expression filled with disbelief.
"Pfft!"
Bai Fen coughed up another mouthful of blood, mixed with clots of dark red and black gore.
He could clearly sense the state of his body.
He had actually been severely injured, by a cultivator from the Innate Realm!
Bai Fen's face twisted, staring at Chen Kuang, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets:
"Impossible... Impossible!! This can't be happening! This is impossible!"
How could there be someone who just couldn't be killed?!
He took two steps forward, and his expression instantly turned pale. He coughed up a solid chunk of what was unmistakably his own shattered internal organ.
Chen Kuang flexed his body slightly and shrugged.
"What's so impossible about it? If it's unlocked, then it's unlocked."
His entire skeleton crackled as his joints realigned,muscles twitched and inside his body, Spiritual Energy surged violently, and in that very instant, his aura transformed once more...
From the Innate realm, he ascended directly into the Tower Ascension Realm!
Bai Fen sensed the shift, and for a moment it felt as though he were dreaming.
A sense of suffocating dread washed over him, indescribable and overwhelming.
His voice trembled as he roared, "I'm going to kill you!!"
He repeated those words again and again, his eyes bloodshot, as if he were falling into madness.
Chen Kuang, upon hearing this, tossed aside the broken shard of the Heaven-Searing Sword.
He grinned, waved a hand at Bai Fen, and said, "Alright, then! Come kill me! I'm standing right here waiting!"
Bai Fen had been shouting so fiercely, yet upon hearing this, he didn't move.
Chen Kuang opened his arms wide and began walking toward him. "Didn't you say you were going to kill me? Then come kill me."
The closer he walked, the more oppressive the atmosphere became, until at a certain moment, Bai Fen abruptly took a step back.
He stumbled and fell heavily onto the ground.
Then, this Moon-Embracing Realm powerhouse actually shook his head violently, and began scrambling backward on all fours like a dog.