The World Calls Me Cycle

Wu Shi's gaze involuntarily fell upon the sword sheath stone. In this frozen world of ice and snow, only this stone remained unfrozen, standing out with striking prominence. She looked at the sword sheath stone, then down at the golden sword in her hand. For some inexplicable reason, she felt a sense of resistance, hesitant to thrust the sword into it. A coincidence? Or was it...? Why did this... have something to do with her master? She trembled instinctively, hesitating to step forward. "I..." Her master looked at Wu Shi, a flicker of hope in his eyes. "Try it, quickly. Perhaps... there will be a turn for the better!" Once Wu Shi regained the combat power of a Dao Lord, she might be able to obliterate the node of the Tuwu Great Realm. Facing the Curse of Sinking dragging down the Tuwu Great Realm, she would not be as utterly powerless as Bai Xiaosheng was now. Seeing the anxious look on her master's face, Wu Shi thought no more. Perhaps because the cold here was too bitter, the hand holding the golden sword trembled slightly. Clang! The golden sword sank into the sword sheath stone, its ringing cry resembling the roar of a dragon. Both pairs of eyes fixed unblinkingly upon the golden sword, watching for any sign of change. "It must be a coincidence," Wu Shi comforted herself in her heart. Yet in the very next breath, her face turned deathly pale. The golden sword was shuddering violently. The sword sheath stone trembled incessantly as well. The surrounding void annihilated and caved in. Time, space, and all rules overlapped and fractured. "This is... a reaction?" Bai Xiaosheng's expression grew agitated. Was his disciple about to find her sword? Did that mean she would truly possess the combat power of a Dao Lord? Right at that moment, an overwhelming surge of sword intent swept forth, soaring into the heavens. Bai Xiaosheng immediately turned his gaze toward where the sword intent originated. He saw an ethereal phantom silhouette. "Is this the Sword Disciple?" He felt a sword intent sharp to the absolute extreme. Pure. Absolute. This sword intent seemed capable of tearing apart everything in existence. In that instant, the sword intent submerged wholly into the golden sword. The originally fractured golden sword was reforged anew. The sword's status ascended as well, as if a sword soul had been infused into its core. Seeing this, Wu Shi breathed a sigh of relief. The Sword Disciple had nothing to do with her master. Everything... had just been her own wild imagination. The aura surged upward. The sword was undergoing a metamorphosis. From the realm of the extraordinary, it climbed toward the supreme pinnacle. Yet, under the expectant gazes of Wu Shi and Bai Xiaosheng, just as the sword was on the verge of taking full shape and its might peaked, a hairline crack appeared across the golden blade. "What's going on?" Bai Xiaosheng was baffled. Even with his abilities and breadth of knowledge, he could not fathom what had gone wrong. He only knew that the sword was cracking. At this rate, it would likely shatter completely into fragments within ten breaths. Bai Xiaosheng hastily reached out and gripped the sword, seeking to slow its disintegration with his formidable divine power. Wu Shi did the same, her cold little hands covering her master's, grasping the sword tightly. "It can't break. It definitely can't break," Bai Xiaosheng murmured, frantic with urgency. Time was running out for him. The edge was razor-sharp, the sword intent breathtaking. Gripping this blade, Bai Xiaosheng felt as if he could perceive the ancient battle between the Sword Disciple and Palace Master Yunmeng. Every strike brimmed with boundless murderous intent, unbridled and reckless. He also understood that the grudges and entangled fate between the Sword Disciple and Palace Master Yunmeng were likely real. The Sword Disciple had truly wanted to kill Palace Master Yunmeng! As sword intent billowed around them, Bai Xiaosheng felt as if he had traveled back to the past, witnessing through the intent that climactic battle atop Mount Yunmeng. He seemed to see a black-robed man transforming his very body into a sword, fighting without pause. He also seemed to see Palace Master Yunmeng standing atop the mountain peak amidst drifting snow, her expression bleak and lonely. Murmurs across time and space reached their ears at this moment. "Master, who are you waiting for?" "I am waiting for a sword... a sword capable of making the world forget, freeing them from pain." "Has it arrived?" "Mount Wangzhou has not yet broken... Perhaps I have not." ... "Is Master still waiting for that sword?" "I wonder if your disciple's sword can take its place?" These murmurs fell into Bai Xiaosheng's ears, and naturally into Wu Shi's as well. "Palace Master Yunmeng was waiting for a sword?" "Mount Wangzhou had not broken, so the sword was not yet complete!" "Now the mountain has broken, but where is the sword?!" Wu Shi grew anxious. Little time remained for them—fewer than five breaths. In five more breaths, this sword would shatter completely. Just then, the whispers echoed once more. "Mount Wangzhou has broken. Master... did you wait long enough for that sword?" "I... would rather I hadn't." A desolate voice resonated through time and space, and all sounds and visions came to an abrupt halt. "Why speak in riddles?! Why can't you just explain it clearly!" Agitated and panicked, Wu Shi almost burst into curses. If she were Palace Master Yunmeng, she would have wanted to slap her past self across the face. However... Right at that moment, an inexplicable flow of information flooded into the minds of Bai Xiaosheng and Wu Shi. Their expressions shifted slightly, and they exchanged a look. For that message revealed something unmistakable... If one wished for the sword not to break, a Dao God had to sacrifice everything. Wu Shi said in panic, "Master, don't believe it! It's false, it's a conspiracy!" Bai Xiaosheng looked at Wu Shi, his gaze gentle, carrying a clear, warm smile. "If sacrificing one person can save the world, what does it matter if that sacrifice is me?" Bai Xiaosheng considered himself rather selfish. Yet he also possessed the courage to lay down his life for righteousness. To die for the sake of the Tuwu Great Realm was an honorable death of the highest order. As for a conspiracy... The moment he held this sword, an inexplicable sense of destiny had welled up within him. As though he had been born for this very blade. He had no time to say goodbye to Wu Shi. The fracturing of the sword hung on a single instant. He chose to surrender himself. His true spirit dissolved. His consciousness blurred. His boundless divine power turned to ash in this moment. A Dao God—a Dao God born from the awakened spirit of a divine treasure—vanished into nothingness. The crack upon the golden sword healed! It... was truly repairing itself. The blade was reaching completion. The golden hue... was replaced by blood-red. Dao God Youqian was gone. The golden sword her master had given Wu Shi was gone. In its place rested a blood-colored sword. Wu Shi gripped the sword, shaking it repeatedly. She seemed to hope things could be as they once were. Yet this time, no gold coins shook out. Fresh blood seeped from her freezing hands, dyeing the sword an even deeper, eerie crimson. Wu Shi slumped onto the snow. The vast heavens and earth stretched endless around her, leaving only herself and her blade. Clutching the sword, her voice trembled on the verge of tears. "Master, your disciple doesn't want you to compensate me with a sword anymore!" Countless memories flooded into her mind. She remembered their first meeting on the snowy mountain of Mingri. She remembered the days they spent together in the Zhoushan Great Realm. She also remembered, back before Mount Wangzhou had collapsed, seeing a child who bore some resemblance to her master. She had taken him as her disciple. She had killed his younger sister. She had been waiting for a sword. Grief filled her heart alongside profound confusion; time and space felt wildly disordered. "Are you wondering who was whose master first?" Just then, an ethereal voice drifted over. A dark shadow descended. "It's you!" Wu Shi gripped the blood-red longsword, deep wariness in her eyes. The dark shadow seemed not to notice the hostility on Wu Shi's face, speaking on calmly to itself. "This place... is a colossal cycle." "Within the cycle, there are also variables." "If there were no Sword Disciple, and no Youqian, you would have become Palace Master Yunmeng in the future." "If time were a single line, you would be at the front, and Palace Master Yunmeng at the back." "Yet with cycles introduced... Palace Master Yunmeng existed in the previous cycle, while you exist in the next." "Cycle... cycle..." Wu Shi murmured. This cycle was somewhat different from the cycles she understood. Suddenly, her heart tightened, and hope surfaced on her face. "Master hasn't truly died? In the future, will he become the Sword Disciple?" Did that mean she could still see her master? "Across countless cycles, this sword could never be brought into being." "Had the sword remained unformed, you might still have met him in some cycle." "Yet now... the sword is forged. He is thoroughly dead." The dark shadow murmured, its voice devoid of sorrow or joy. Hearing this, Wu Shi felt utterly bereft of soul, and even more blood seeped from her palms onto the blade. However, her expression swiftly hardened with resolve. She still had to protect her master's Tuwu Great Realm. She had no time for sorrow. "Who on earth are you, and what is your goal?" Wu Shi asked coldly. She felt as though her life were that of a puppet on strings, manipulated by this shadowy figure. Even the Sword Disciple... His astonishing sword talent, and his utter lack of emotion, might also be tied to this dark shadow. The shadow had manipulated her, and manipulated the Sword Disciple, all merely to forge a single blade. Having realized this, the killing intent in her heart burned as fiercely as her grief, yet... she did not let it show. She was not afraid of death. She simply had not yet protected the Tuwu Great Realm, nor eliminated the node, nor resolved the Curse of Sinking. "The world calls me Cycle," the dark shadow said placidly. Hearing this, Wu Shi's heart pounded violently. "Cycle?" The word held profound, terrifying weight. The orthodoxies where Dao Lords resided, the divine kingdoms where Dao Gods dwelled, all were trapped within cycles. "Yet, I would prefer people called me Samsara." A rare trace of emotion surfaced in the shadow's voice. It was a sense of regret, and loneliness. "As for my purpose?" "Naturally, it was to forge this Sword of Oblivion." The Devour Dao Lord of the Rebirth Realm had perished. To forge the Sword of Oblivion, He had no choice but to seek out the Devour Dao Lord's counterpart in the Yin Realm, using Wu Shi to inherit everything that belonged to the Devour Dao Lord. Hearing this, Wu Shi gripped the sword tightly. "I will not give you this sword." To her, this sword carried far too much weight. It was far too heavy. Yet this time, the dark shadow did not answer her. It seemed He had come here merely to see whether the Sword of Oblivion had been forged. Now that He had seen the blade, His figure vanished without a trace. "Who... is He, truly?" Bewilderment filled Wu Shi's heart. This dark shadow was an utter enigma. He had toyed with her master and herself in the palm of His hand. Murderous intent surged in her heart, her expression turning glacial. "I... will definitely kill Him." If not for Him, how could her master have turned into a cold sword? At this moment, a demonic obsession took root within her. As if only through this could the agony in her heart be eased even by a fraction. "Master..." Cradling the sword in her arms, the young girl vanished into the torrential blizzard of Mount Wangzhou. Later, people saw a Dao Lord in the Tuwu Great Realm obliterate the node of Tianqian Valley with a sword. Others saw a young girl cradling a blood-red sword descend upon the Nine Heavens Divine Palace, slaying three Dao Gods with her blade and beating the Nine Heavens Divine Palace into sealing their mountain. As for that mysterious Heavenly God, He never appeared. Still others saw the girl holding the sword, consigning the Curse of Sinking to oblivion and severing it completely. Later on, someone saw her along a riverbank in the Tuwu Great Realm, while others caught a fleeting glimpse of her atop the snow-covered peaks of the Zhoushan Great Realm. Finally, someone saw the young girl descend into the Abandoned Lands, searching for who knew what. From then on, the legends concerning the girl and Dao God Youqian were gradually forgotten by the world. Perhaps one day, within some quiet tavern, a stray phrase or two about this master and disciple might still be overheard. Time is forever the greatest poison and medicine in the world, capable of smoothing away everything. (End of the Dao God Youqian Arc.) ... Yang Realm. Unknown time, unknown space. "Sansheng, you're a madman." "I'm not mad." "You're still not mad?" "I can cultivate normally. How am I mad?" "Madmen can cultivate too." "Can a madman cultivate to the Yang God realm?" "Yin Gods walk everywhere, and Yang Gods are treated worse than dogs." The young man muttered, "There are too many people. If only I could snap my fingers like Thanos and wipe out half the living beings in the world, that would be wonderful." "Who is Thanos?" "Don't know him." "Then why bring him up?" "Because I felt like it." "And you still claim you aren't mad!" The young man snapped in exasperation. Clearly, Sansheng was mad. Sansheng came from mortal origins, possessing neither an extraordinary background nor powerful bloodlines and talent. Yet he... worked hard. Every single moment of every day, he was cultivating. Aside from cultivation, his eyes seemed incapable of holding anything else. When others indulged in pleasures of the flesh, he was cultivating. When others couldn't help but gasp in delight, he was cultivating. When others had offspring spread across myriad worlds and myriad universes, he was still cultivating. Perhaps heaven rewards the diligent. His efforts had indeed yielded returns. The present Sansheng had already become one of the supreme peak powerhouses of this realm. "Sansheng, the Heavenly Emperor wants to see you," the young man said then, a faint trace of worry in his eyes. The Heavenly Emperor was likewise a supreme powerhouse of the world. Rumor had it that with a single burst of the Heavenly Emperor's wrath, countless universes could instantly crumble into powder. "Let him come over," Sansheng said nonchalantly. The young man's figure vanished. Within this underground palace, the Heavenly Emperor appeared, draped in pure white robes. "Sansheng... I need to borrow your brain." Before Sansheng, the Heavenly Emperor put on none of the airs of a supreme being. He had known Sansheng long ago. One could even say that Sansheng had been his guide along the path of cultivation. Sansheng had provided great assistance to his progress. However, his talent far exceeded Sansheng's. He had long since crossed that threshold to reach the Yang Six realm. As for Sansheng, he had remained stranded at Yang Five for who knew how many epochs and eras. "Speak..." At this moment, Sansheng spoke from within the underground palace. His form was translucent. He seemed to be constantly dissolving, yet constantly regenerating. Shifting between substance and void, truth and illusion, being and non-being. "The Xili Realm... is sinking, heading toward total extinction... How can it be stopped?" Such sinking and extinction were irreversible. Across the heavens and myriad realms, the One gave birth to Two, Two gave birth to Three, and Three gave birth to all things. The Heavenly Emperor could traverse all timelines, arrive at any point in time, and even alter history, returning to the past to throttle the enemies who had tormented him when he was weak. Yet there was one thing he could not do. And that was to halt Returning to Nothingness—or Returning to Zero, also known as Guixu. Understood from the perspective of mortals, Returning to Nothingness was death. Explained from the perspective of the universe, Returning to Nothingness was the shattering of a universe. Of course, there were differences. When a mortal died, a corpse remained behind. When Returning to Nothingness occurred, everything was thoroughly gone. "I originally thought Returning to Nothingness only appeared in the Yin Realm and the Rebirth Realm. I never expected it to spread to the Yang Realm." Mentioning this, the Heavenly Emperor knitted his brows tightly. "You want to preserve the Xili Realm?" Sansheng asked. "Yes." "The power of Returning to Nothingness is not yet strong enough in the Yang Realm; it cannot erase you. Therefore, as long as you become the Xili Realm, Returning to Nothingness will be unable to eliminate the Xili Realm." "Wait, you mean... I become Xili?" A sharp light flashed in the Heavenly Emperor's eyes. As though a mortal's mind had been struck by lightning, his spirits surged. "I understand... As long as all living beings across the heavens and myriad realms are me, Returning to Nothingness can be stopped!" Returning to Nothingness was still weak. Before it grew truly formidable, if all living beings were him, then he could thwart its power. "Actually, I have many other methods." "Oh?" The Heavenly Emperor was somewhat surprised. "Returning to Nothingness... does not conform to the law of conservation of energy. As long as it conforms to the law of conservation of energy, wouldn't Returning to Nothingness cease to exist?" Sansheng muttered. "However..." The Heavenly Emperor was somewhat perplexed. "To us, laws... are merely rules we create at will." "Is that so? Why do I recall: a whale falls, and all things live." "The true spirit will return to nothingness."