Chapter 52: 52: The cheat finally works!
Chapter 52: The cheat finally works!
About a week later, it was finally the day the Pavilion opened.
The East Sea Pavilion, located in the remote sea abyss of the eastern part of Yingzhou, was three thousand zhang deep.
If not for the protection of High-Rank Magical Treasures of those with Nascent Souls, ordinary cultivators would have been crushed into minced meat by the immense water pressure at this depth.
Above the sea surface, a multitude of dragonships and shuttle boats of various colors packed densely, all belonging to cultivators from the Kunlun and Penglai sects.
Qiu Changtian, Xu Yinglian, along with Guan Zhan, Yan Zhitui, and other disciples of the current Sect Leaders, were standing on the deck of the Meng Chong, waiting for the opening of the Pavilion below the sea.
Shi Liuli was decked out in colorful clothing and ornate hairpins today, looking beautiful as she pulled at Qiu Changtian’s sleeve, chatting with him.
As for Luo Yan, being the version of himself from a future timeline, he was probably skulking around somewhere.
On the deck, Qiu Changtian courteously and humbly dealt with Miss Shi, feeling utterly helpless inside.
Xu Yinglian stood at the edge of the boat, gazing down into the sea without a word, only occasionally turning her head to cast a disdainful look as if she were staring at bugs, towards her senior brother and Shi Liuli, causing Qiu Changtian’s back to tingle with unease.
As for the other unscrupulous junior brothers and sisters, they didn’t come forward to rescue their senior brother, just hiding behind and whispering, giggling and laughing.
Qiu Changtian, looking at the distant sea with a smile, had already thought of thousands of ways to deal with them.
Hum, just wait when I get back to Kunlun, I’ll start with you guys!
On another shuttle boat, Zhao Wencheng and Qiu Yuan stood side by side at a corner of the deck, their expressions serious as they looked out over the sea.
For this plan, Song He, their senior brother, had used up almost a century’s worth of resources to barely scrape together two Tenth-Rank Magical Treasures for them, all replicas of Post-Heaven Spiritual Treasures, extremely powerful in their might.
This time, they intended to take advantage of the power of the two Tenth-Rank Magical Treasures to pass through the levels quickly and then ambush Qiu Changtian at the square in front of the Pavilion Main Hall at the end for a powerful attack!
With the arrival of the wee hours, sudden trails of meteors surged onto the sea surface.
Everyone leaned over the railing to look down, only to see below the sea surface, a few zhang deep, multicolored, undulating water light that rippled and waved like brocade, unfolding and folding like clouds of cotton, dazzling and blinding to the eyes.
The East Sea Pavilion opened right on schedule at the third quarter of noon!
Instantly, the sea surface erupted as various Immortals Sect’s Magical Treasures, shuttle boats, and ships dived down into the sea in unison.
Diving deep, one could see a splendid palace gate, quietly enveloped within a water film.
Many Meng Chongs stopped within it, and the Pavilion Master of the Yuqing View stood at the bow, hands behind his back, and declared,
“The Pavilion has opened, all disciples enter swiftly and undergo the trials! The gate will close three days hence, you must escape before then, make no mistake!”
No sooner had his words fallen than countless rainbow lights rose in response, forming bridges directly to the palace gate from the boats above.
All the Kunlun and Penglai disciples flew up on their swords, transforming into colorful streams of light as they sped along the rainbow bridges into the majestic palace gates.
Qiu Changtian too took control of his sword to move forward when suddenly he saw Xu Yinglian dart past him with a whoosh, racing ahead into the palace gate.
What’s there to compete over… he muttered to himself, somewhat speechless.
He then followed and vanished inside too.
As the perspective spun and the surroundings shifted, Qiu Changtian regained his senses and found himself standing in the middle of a barren wasteland.
Black sky, black earth, with a dim light all around, numerous shadows flickered and trembled in the distance, hazy and frightening, enough to send chills down one’s spine.
“This place is the Land of Fengdu of the Ten Courts.” Someone nearby spoke.
Qiu Changtian turned his head to look.
Damn it! It was actually Luo Yan!
The person standing by his side, with messy hair and squinting eyes, radiating an aura of harmlessness, was none other than Luo Yan, one of his false identities, and a disciple of Penglai Jade Pure.
“Don’t panic, listen to me first,” Luo Yan said expressionlessly, “I am you from a future timeline.”
“To be precise, I am you who had completely cleared the Pavilion and left, then went back to the cabin on the ship outside and immediately loaded the Luo Yan file.”
“I came here this time to help you avert an imminent calamity,” he continued.
“You can verify my identity through the Kunlun Mirror, as I have a Kunlun Mirror on me too.”
“Ah Jing,” Qiu Changtian called out in his mind, “Is this really me from the future?”
“Yes,” the Kunlun Mirror replied, “and the future Kunlun Mirror has spoken to me.”
“What did it say?”
“It said to record all of Luo Yan’s current words,” the Kunlun Mirror said helplessly, “When you reach his point in time along the timeline, I will reproduce these lines and have you play the role of Luo Yan, reading them to the past Qiu Changtian.”
Qiu Changtian: ???
So, the Luo Yan across from me is reciting lines, right? No wonder it sounded a bit like rote reading.
But since the Kunlun Mirror has already confirmed it, then the Luo Yan across from me is indeed myself from the future.
“You must also know,” Luo Yan continued, “that the words I am saying now, are the words I heard the future Luo Yan say when I was playing the role of Qiu Changtian at your point in time.”
“And his lines were also what he heard from another future Luo Yan when he was playing Qiu Changtian in his past.”
“So you must be wondering, where does this time loop originate from?”
At this point, Luo Yan’s voice paused:
“Don’t mind these details.”
“Where does time begin? Where does it end? Unless you can comprehend the great Dao of time, don’t explore these details… just treat these lines as if they were written for you by the great Dao of time.”
Qiu Changtian:
Alright, I won’t ask then.
Luo Yan continued:
“The reason I met you here is that the Pavilion’s Prohibition identifies different cultivators by their divine souls and teleports them to different locations.”
“Mirror Flower Water Moon can’t disguise divine souls, and since our divine souls are identical, we were teleported to the same place.”
“This is a weakness of the Mirror Flower Water Moon, you must remember it in the future.”
Qiu Changtian nodded, although his mind was brimming with thousands of questions, he remained silent.
Because he knew, the more he asked, the more the Luo Yan across from him would have to answer.
And then, when the future self would play Luo Yan, he would have to repeat even longer lines to the past Qiu Changtian… so better not to create trouble for himself.
The most important thing for now was, as Luo Yan said, to resolve the imminent calamity he was about to encounter!
Luo Yan spoke flatly:
“This is the domain of the Land of Fengdu, simulating the great terror between life and death, testing your ability to confront fear.”
“The future me has already led me through it once. Now it’s my turn to lead you through, thus completing this causal cycle.”
“Come with me.”
He urged his sword light and flew forward, saying at the same time:
“This is a Ninth Rank Wood System Flying Sword named ‘Peach Blossom’.”
“After you load Luo Yan’s memory, remember to ask the eldest senior brother for one.”
Qiu Changtian looked at the pink sword light beneath his feet and hesitated to speak.
Never mind, it’s already history that has happened, unchangeable.
So what if it’s girly pink!
“Besides, you also need to borrow an item from Shi Liuli,” Luo Yan continued, flipping his hand and a small seal appeared on it, “it is the replica magical treasure ‘Heaven-flipping Seal’ that she used before.”
Qiu Changtian: ?
“You must be wondering now why Miss Shi would lend it to you,” Luo Yan said, “Don’t ask, just borrow it.”
“Pay close attention to how I’ll be leading you through the entire process.”
Qiu Changtian, having nothing to say, could only smile and nod.
After all, the person across from him is himself from the future!
The memories in his mind are like a walkthrough for his current self!
What is an ultimate cheat code? This is it!
Ah Jing, the eternal genius!
Kunlun Mirror: ?