The red-clad Su Wanjun, carrying a pot of wine, poured a cup for Lin Xun and Xia Zhi each. The aroma of the liquor immediately drifted around the courtyard. Afterwards, she poured herself a cup and said, “The name of this wine is Humble Heart. I practically begged for it from an old friend. I have treasured it until now and have hardly been able to bring myself to take a sip. Try it.”
Saying that, she downed her cup, and her fair cheeks instantly took on a touch of bright pink.
Lin Xun raised his cup and sipped it. Immediately, circles of something marvelous rippled in his mind. He fell into a complete trance for a moment, feeling as though a thousand kinds of flavors were soaking his chest.
A long while later, he nodded and asked, ''Truly a great wine... Was it a gift from Senior Swordsman?”
Su Wanjun glanced at Lin Xun in surprise. “It is indeed, but don't ask me anything about him, or else...”
She pointed at her chest. “My heart, and my state of mind will have a problem.”
Lin Xun's heart trembled as he understood the huge danger being implied. It was highly likely that the swordsman had become an obsession for her! One she clung to so stubbornly that she didn't want to mention it to anyone!
Originally, Lin Xun had planned to tell her about the three-inch wooden sword and Lingyuan, but he dismissed the idea after hearing that.
The three then moved to the topic of the Past Retracing Zone. As they chatted over wine, Lin Xun gained further knowledge of the Heavenly Cycle Dao Laws here.
The primal chaos origin power of this zone had transformed into the Heavenly Cycle Dao Laws that upheld it. In order to attract a Chaos Dao Fruit and leave through its heavenly gate, a cultivator must study the Pillow of Golden Millet, regardless of whether they decided to change their past or not.
Su Wanjun had long gotten the opportunity to leave, but she didn't want to yet and had even settled down in the Past Retracing Zone. When she would leave was entirely up to her. Although she didn't explain her reason, Lin Xun could guess to some extent.
Through the Pillow of Golden Millet, it was possible for Su Wanjun to return to her past, a section of which had that swordsman who occupied the most important position in her heart.
“Senior, I don't know if I should say this, but...” Lin Xun murmured.
“I know what you want to say. Don't worry, I won't try to change anything. I know that would do no good and even consign me to eternal damnation.” Su Wanjun looked calm, as if she had seen through it all long ago.
She added after some thought, “When I first arrived at the All-Wonder Dominion, I thought that I'd find him here, waiting for me, only to learn very late that he has long entered reincarnation. But it doesn't matter, I believe that he'll come back one day. In the past, he waited for me here. Now, it's my turn to wait for him.”
Towards the end, her voice revealed a calm but firm determination.
Lin Xun inwardly sighed as he listened. He didn't know the relationship between Su Wanjun and the swordsman, but he could feel her ‘infatuation’! In this kind of matter, he was destined to not be able to offer any help.
......
That night, Xia Zhi sat cross-legged with her eyes closed in the courtyard, meditating on the Heavenly Cycle Dao Laws of this sky zone. Lin Xun stood not far away guarding her. Time passed in the quiet darkness.
Shortly into the session, he keenly perceived mysterious strings of primal chaos origin cascading from the sky and bathing Xia Zhi in them. Her aura then underwent a soundless change, and like entering an out-of-body experience, her soul vanished alongside her cultivation base. Only her beautiful, petite figure remained, immersed in the aura of primal chaos origin.
“She has sensed the Pillow of Golden Millet and entered into her past life,” Su Wanjun whispered.
Lin Xun's eyes flickered. “To be able to let cultivators trace back their past, what the origin power of this zone concerns is too mystical.”
Su Wanjun casually said, “The past, present, and future represent one's life. If you study it in depth, you will easily see that it involves the powers of fate, karma, and time. Going back to the past is like going against the flow of time, changing it is the same as changing one's fate, and when your fate changes, the karma you’ve woven changes with it.
“But the Past Retracing Zone's primal chaos origin is clearly not so simple to explain. Since it can send back even Greater Boundless Eternals like us to change our fate and karma, I'm afraid it is a power far higher than fate, karma, and time!”
Lin Xun nodded. He had also pondered this matter but arrived at somewhat different explanations. “I don't think it’s a power higher than fate, karma, and time. Rather, as I see it, the power of the primal chaos origin here involves the ultimate enigmas of these three supreme daos.”
Having grasped the laws of fate and time, he was well aware how mysterious and occult beyond imagination they were. Even up until now, he had only cultivated them to the level of an Immeasurable law. As for their ultimate, highest enigmas, he had not the clear shape of a clue.
In the final analysis, it came down to one's self-cultivation level. The dao was an infinite road.
At the five lesser cultivation realms, what the cultivators fathomed was Dao Ripple and Dao Meaning. At the Longevity King Stage, they comprehended Longevity laws. The Saint Stage mastered Saint laws. The Emperor Stage wielded Emperor laws. The Immortal Stage wielded Immortal Laws. The Realm of Eternals, as one would expect, controlled Eternal laws.
However, whether it was the case of Dao Ripple, Dao Meaning, Saint dao, Emperor dao, Immortal dao, or Eternal dao, in the end, it was all about one's mastery! The reason was that continuous improvement of one's cultivation base enhanced the depth of one's perception and understanding of the great dao.
For example, as incredible as Lin Xun's strength was, the daos in his control were still limited to the Immeasurable level.
The origin power of the Past Retracing Zone obviously involved fate, time, and karma, but it was on a level beyond Lin Xun's current comprehensive capabilities. That was why he had made such a judgment.
“You have a good point there. The Immeasurable Realm is regarded as the ultimate realm of the almighty dao, and reaching its perfection is considered ascending the peak. But I've been thinking, what if it is only the last realm of the Eternal path? What if there is a higher path after the Eternal Stage?” Su Wanjun mumbled, “This question is bound to have no answer. After all, if there really is a higher path, then why would he choose to reincarnate?”
‘He’ was naturally that swordsman.
Lin Xun said, “Actually, I think it’s because he saw that higher path that he decided to enter reincarnation and start over, all to find a way to step onto that path, to completely break out of the Immeasurable Realm and transcend from the Eternal path in one fell swoop.”
Su Wanjun was stunned. After some silence, she said, “Maybe you're right.”
When it came to the mystery of ultimate transcendence, no one in the whole All-Wonder Dominion had been able to provide a definite answer so far! Hence, there had sprung up all sorts of theories and speculations.
“Do you want to go ahead and study the Heavenly Cycle Dao Laws as well? I can guard both you and Miss Xia Zhi,” asked Su Wanjun.
Lin Xun shook his head. “I’ll wait for Xia Zhi to return first.”
Su Wanjun did not insist. To her surprise, only an hour later, Xia Zhi suddenly trembled, and then glowed with her original energy and vital fluctuations. Finally, she quietly opened her eyes, and the primal chaos origin aura enveloping her disappeared with it.
“Already?” Su Wanjun blurted out.
“I only watched my past unfold and didn't change anything.” Xia Zhi stood up.
“There’s not one thing you've ever thought of changing?” Su Wanjun asked.
“I care more about the present than the past and the future,” replied Xia Zhi without thinking.
Su Wanjun looked at Xia Zhi, then at Lin Xun, and seemed to understand something. She became a little bit emotional inside. If she could be like Xia Zhi, not caring about the past or the future, only focusing on the present, what kind of joy would that be?
Next, Lin Xun sat down cross-legged and began to meditate on the Heavenly Cycle Dao Laws of this world. Almost immediately, his spirit sense captured the obscure and marvelous primal chaos origin power. In a trance, there was a cyclone sweeping his soul up through the nine heavens and beyond, blowing him into a vast space of nothingness.
Following that, a jade pillow made of primal chaos origin appeared in his mind, surging the unspeakably abstruse aura of fate, karma, and time.
The second Lin Xun raised a thought, his consciousness underwent a brief dizzy episode. As if sleepwalking back in time, his spirit and cultivation base quietly left his dao body.
Whooooosh... Rustle...
In the vast nothingness, a great river rushed out of nowhere into the infinite depths. Lin Xun's figure appeared above it.
This is the river of time of my past?
When Lin Xun glanced at it, countless scenes were reflected in the river: the moment he was born, the time he spent with Lu Boya in the mine prison, the tranquil life he led as a youth in Feiyun Village... The rolling waves and their bubbles were the life nodes of his past, sketching out a long and magnificent river of life—his past!
The unbelievable sight gave Lin Xun many ideas that he could not suppress. There was no medicine for regret, but right before him now was the chance to remedy the shortcomings in his past. What was the difference between this and a regret pill? As long as he wanted, he could make it happen!
Presented with such a choice, how many people in the world could resist the temptation?
Before long, however, Lin Xun calmed down.
Just like Xia Zhi, there was nothing in his past that needed to be compensated for or changed at all. Even if there were flaws and chapters of resentment, helplessness, and regret, they were all precious experiences to him.
They were the cornerstone on which he had built his path, the reason why he was able to have his current dao achievements!