Chapter 1317: Defile Fate with Dirt, Right the Wrong with Chaos

Chapter 1317: Tainted Origins, Tarnished Life: Chaos Uplifts Righteousness

"Infinity!"

Xu Qing stood upon the vault of heaven, gazing into the Well of Ten Thousand Realms, where the ancient immortal and all the karmic threads entwining him were mirrored.

He conceded that this ancient immortal before him truly deserved the title of celestial prodigy!

Such an Edict… Even Xu Qing, who had waged countless battles across the Fifth Star Ring and possessed extraordinary experience, had never encountered one possessing such an Edict.

In many ways, this was no longer within the grasp of ordinary ancient immortals; to claim it verged upon the realm of the Sovereign Immortals would not be hyperbole.

"He is stronger by a tier than thirty years past!"

Xu Qing murmured inwardly.

Within the well’s surface, the aged ancient immortal now lifted his head, his gaze meeting Xu Qing’s.

Separated by the water, one above, one below.

The convergence of their eyes shook the continent of Wanggu, shattering mountains and rending earth, altering the very hues of wind and cloud. The oppressive weight of their power settled heavily upon the hearts of all beings across ten thousand tribes.

As indescribable palpitations seized them, the ancient immortal’s hoarse voice echoed in all directions.

"‘Infinity’ was the seed of my Edict. To bring it to fruition, I scattered countless divine thoughts, forming infinite avatars, even relinquishing primacy so that any single avatar could become the sovereign self.

Thereafter, I allowed all avatars to grow, to devour, to merge…

Even if the ‘I’ of old dissolved within this process, the Dao endured!

Until finally, my Dao was forged! My Edict: Infinity!

Returning here, I coalesce the power of cosmic law, seeking one thing alone—to make that final leap."

"And you… I perceive you stand also upon the threshold of that leap."

The ancient immortal’s gaze was profound, devoid of joy or sorrow. As he spoke, his right foot lifted, stepping forward.

The moment that step landed, the well’s surface roared, its waters surging into towering waves.

As if a gale swept across, threatening to birth a storm.

Shaking heaven and earth, shaking the cosmic vault, shaking all things.

The space within Xu Qing’s Moon-from-the-Well technique trembled violently; its very fabric of reality and illusion twisted, the independence composing this technique showing signs of imminent collapse.

As if unable to bear the strain!

"Your Edict, however, is not entirely unfamiliar to me. Ten thousand years past, within the Twenty-Seventh Star Ring, a deity possessed an Edict… strikingly akin to yours."

"One thought births ten thousand realms, parallel universes coalesce, forming the flower of time and space, seeking to bear the fruit of Dao."

The ancient immortal’s voice still resonated as he took his second step.

This second step landed. The well’s surface instantly cracked with a splintering sound. Fissures tore through the void, through time and space, through parallel realms, through ten thousand worlds.

And the well water, churned by these waves, turned murky.

The source of this murkiness… was the infinite karma, the infinite destiny radiating from this ancient immortal!

Thus, reality and illusion, strained to their utmost, began to disintegrate.

This elevated Moon-from-the-Well technique suffered irreversible collapse.

"Yet you remain… far too young."

The ancient immortal shook his head, taking his third step.

This step landed. Heaven shattered; earth split.

The Well of Ten Thousand Realms imploded abruptly. Reality and illusion scattered like shattered glass.

The world formed by the Moon-from-the-Well technique seemed to fracture into broken mirrors, splintering into countless shards that scattered in all directions amidst the thunderous roar.

And the ancient immortal’s form, freed from the collapsing technique, reformed whole—yet transformed utterly.

Though still lined with wrinkles, still ancient, the silver light within his eyes blazed with unprecedented intensity!

His flowing hair, now entirely silver, billowed behind him like a river of stars, forming a unique aura.

Seven-colored immortal mists swirled about his body, proclaiming his divine majesty!

His presence surged instantly to cosmic heights, stirring the tides of heaven and earth, drawing down streams of falling starlight.

His very existence embodied the meaning of infinity.

A terrifying pressure erupted, overwhelming, seeking to crush all resistance, as he prepared to take his fourth step toward Xu Qing.

"Your words are excessive. A trifle… grating."

Xu Qing spoke calmly.

The opponent’s Edict was indeed astonishing, using infinity to push his technique beyond endurance, like a tiger bursting its cage to shatter barriers, forcing the technique into utter ruin.

But often, what restrains the tiger need not be a rigid cage!

Supple vines may serve just as well!

Thus, a shadowed gleam flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes. His right hand lifted, pressing downward.

Instantly, the scattered shards of the technique began to shift.

"Open Parallel Realms!"

In that instant, the countless fragments of the collapsing technique underwent a fundamental change, becoming individual mirrors. As they recoiled and scattered, they refracted the ancient immortal’s infinite karma and destiny, projecting different scenes.

Within each mirror shard, in that fleeting moment, traces of the ancient immortal appeared!

These were parallels, different worlds across disparate times!

And within these worlds, the ancient immortal was not always a cultivator!

Sometimes mortal, sometimes a ferocious beast, sometimes mere grass or tree—gender too varied, male and female, female and male!

Then…

Xu Qing’s raised right hand suddenly twisted. His gaze turned icy, his voice a low command.

"Reverse!"

The single word echoed. Parallels inverted. Ten thousand realms plunged into chaos!

All mirror shards contorted, revealing utterly inconceivable transformations.

One could see the refracted projections of the ancient immortal’s karma and destiny within the mirrors being forcibly reversed and altered—male became female, female became male, genders inverted thus.

Further still, some cultivators became mortals, humans became beasts, beasts became objects, all utterly reversed.

Not only that, but disasters began to manifest sequentially within these parallel realms!

Crimson stars plummeted, scorching mountains and cleaving seas; spirit rivers surged backward, swallowing cities whole.

Especially within one mirror shard, where a world held a Guardian Immortal Tree—a mere thread of the ancient immortal’s karmic reflection—now rotted from its roots, its branches heavy with crimson tears.

This was Xu Qing, wielding the integrative power of his own Edict of Order, adjusting every independence the opponent had sundered across all parallels and times.

Forcing all change into complete inversion, transforming the rigid cage into supple vines!

Thereby affecting the opponent’s very essence.

Upon chaos, restoration!

In the next instant, every mirror swiveled toward the Ancient Immortal, while Xu Qing’s whirling right hand clenched with sudden force!

"Revert to One!"

These words echoed as all mirrors shattered of their own accord. The inverted causality and fate within surged outward like a tide of blight, flooding toward the Ancient Immortal.

Polluting his infinite causality, defiling his boundless fate.

Thus the Ancient Immortal, poised to take his fourth step toward Xu Qing, staggered violently. He beheld his causal threads gnawed by invisible forces, his destiny under siege. The once-crystalline silk of fate now festered with grime.

Like a spiritual spring fouled by corpse-blood.

Its gold bled into murky brown, sprouting grotesque, tumor-like clots at the ends.

And seemingly irreversible!

This decay manifested in his body: the spiderweb wrinkles on his ancient face became real fissures, splitting open.

The silver effulgence signifying immortality in his eyes dimmed rapidly, materializing as fine silver dust that sifted downward, revealing clouded orbs.

His snow-white hair, once cascading like a galaxy, withered and curled strand by strand, tips flecked with ashen black—remnants scorched by the fire of fate.

The seven-hued immortal mists swirling about him thickened into putrid sludge, clinging to his robes like spoiled ambrosia, blooming with mold.

His immortal power, too, seeped through the fissures born of wrinkles as black, noxious vapors; some reversed within him, boiling bone and blood to molten slag wherever it flowed.

He spat a mouthful of black blood laced with ice crystals, stumbling backward.

Straining to channel his power, he found the once-obedient might now shrouded in fog. The light gathered at his fingertips crumbled into ashen moths, fluttering weakly to the ground.

But the most lethal corruption struck deep within his soul.

Countless fractured memories careened through his consciousness.

A storm born of all defiled causality and fate.

Everything twisted, like a poisoned painting—vibrant hues turned venomous, searing his spirit.

His temples throbbed with bulging veins; a chorus of overlapping curses shrieked in his ears—the backlash of every thought he’d ever consumed.

In the pollution of causality, they forgot their oaths to seek the Dao, remembering only the bitterness of dissolution.

Thus his aura began to wane, fading as if an immortal might become mortal.

As though a mere breath could scatter him to nothing, extinguishing life’s final ember.

But… Xu Qing did not advance. He stood motionless, watching all with calm eyes.

Until, after a long while, the Ancient Immortal slowly raised his head.

"Truly, inversion and reversal!"

"And though this corruption is manifest, you yet restrain it… keeping your distance from this old man…"

The Ancient Immortal gazed at Xu Qing, his voice hoarse.

Xu Qing remained serene, speaking softly.

"Your Xian begins as countless, culminates as infinite. Yet I do not believe you lack the birth of Lü-force.

But your Lü… you have always hidden it."

"Since you refuse to reveal it easily, then now—will you use it or not?"

The Ancient Immortal fell silent.

After a time, he suddenly laughed.

"This old man entered the game with his very being, discerning your Xian as the extreme of parallels, judging your Lü-force."

"And you, with force suppressed, sought to discern my Lü."

"But I sense this discernment… is but a surface thing. You seem… to await something."

As these words left his lips, a brilliant silver light flared anew in his clouded eyes.

"What… do you await?"

Hearing this, Xu Qing met the Ancient Immortal’s gaze, his own eyes holding a cryptic depth.

"What you await, I await. And time… stands with me."

The Ancient Immortal’s pupils contracted sharply.

Taking a day off

Taking a day off, informing everyone in advance