Chapter 978: Congratulations

"So the Fruit of Time's Dao is not with Junior Brother Li?"

Lu Yang did not find this hard to comprehend. The matter of reincarnation was utterly unprecedented; no one had ever encountered it, let much understood its mechanics. It was entirely possible that the Immortal of Time had reincarnated as Li Haoran, while the Fruit of Time's Dao remained missing in action.

"Then who is wielding the Fruit of Time's Dao? I recall the Eldest Senior Sister mentioning that even if one obtains it, it cannot be used at whim. One must possess an exceptionally profound understanding of its Dao."

A vague, ominous premonition stirred within Lu Yang. Someone had obtained the Fruit of Time's Dao. Was this person an ally or an enemy, and why did they keep endlessly repeating this very day?

It couldn't possibly be that the Emperor of Mid-Heaven had acquired the Fruit of Time's Dao...

"That, this Immortal does not know."

"Is there any way to locate the user?"

"Utterly impossible. Unless you could observe every single movement of every living thing in this world, and when the next reincarnation occurs, whoever behaves differently from the last loop is the user."

Lu Yang sighed. That was indeed an impossible method.

The two chatted a while longer, concluding that there was no way out, so Lu Yang decided to head outside to change his mood.

After all, today he had broken through to the mid-stage of the Soul Transformation realm, a feat well worth celebrating.

Lu Yang pushed open the heavy stone doors of his immortal cave, only to see Yun Mengmeng and his Third Senior Sister setting up a chessboard and snacks by the entrance. He called out a greeting.

"Sister Mengmeng, Third Senior Sister, good morning, I..."

A sudden darkness claimed Lu Yang's vision, and when his sight restored, he was back inside the cave, right at the moment he had finished his secluded cultivation.

"..."

Lu Yang took two deep breaths, striving to master his emotions. "Barely an hour has passed. How has time wound back yet again?!"

Was time not supposed to loop just once a day!

"Most likely, the wielder of the Fruit of Time's Dao ran into some trouble and needed to roll back to this specific nexus of time."

Lu Yang covered his face, any lingering desire to celebrate his breakthrough to the mid-stage of the Soul Transformation realm completely extinguished.

"Though one cannot say for certain. It could also be that the user simply found it amusing and wound back time a few times for fun. This Immortal heard that when the Immortal of Time first obtained the Fruit of Time's Dao, he was so thrilled that he constantly reversed time, just to put on an act of flawless foresight."

"You heard?"

"Indeed, this Immortal had not yet ascended to immortality back then, so when time reversed, I was none the wiser. I only learned of it later from the Immortal of the Nine Heavens."

"Does the realm of an Immortal render one immune to the reversals of time?"

"Not entirely immune. The physical body still returns to the original point in time, but the memories are preserved."

Lu Yang frowned. "Does that not mean all the Immortals have realized the Fruit of Time's Dao has manifested, and will all be hunting for its user?"

The Immortal Fairy shrugged. "What of it? As if they could actually find them."

Lu Yang felt an lingering sense of incongruity. This user of the Fruit of Time's Dao was behaving far too flagrantly. Did they perhaps possess some invincible reliance?

...

"The Fruit of Time's Dao has appeared?!" Upon his celestial throne, the middle-aged man opened his eyes, a brilliant glint flashing through them, filled with extraordinary pleasant surprise.

In the three hundred thousand years since his ascension to immortality, this was the very first time a trace of the Fruit of Time's Dao had emerged.

"Go forth swiftly and bring the Fruit of Time's Dao to me!" The middle-aged man’s voice boomed with majesty, like an immortal king ruling over the nine heavens, his immortal pressure inviolable.

Flanking the celestial throne, dark figures shifted and surged. One of the silhouetted forms stepped forward. "May I ask the Sovereign, how are we to search for the embryonic form of the Fruit of Time's Dao?"

The Emperor of Mid-Heaven paused, realizing the validity of the question. What was he getting so excited for? The Fruit of Time's Dao had indeed appeared, but who knew where it was.

"...Take the Immortal-Seeking Command Tokens and travel the lands more often."

"As you command."

...

Inside the cave, Lu Yang and the Immortal Fairy yawned listlessly, the joy of breaking through to the mid-stage of the Soul Transformation realm utterly eroded by the successive loops.

"Fairy, which loop is this now?"

"The seventh, I believe."

Throughout these seven loops, Lu Yang had practically wandered the entirety of Heaven Gate Peak and done everything he could possibly think of. For instance, before the previous loop ended, he went to ask Tao Yaoye how many spirit stones she had earned this quarter, so that at the start of the next loop, he could directly find her and state the exact amount.

Or, having learned in the previous loop that Bai Ye was fond of walnut cakes, he carried a bag of walnut cakes with him upon visiting Bai Ye in the next loop.

"Is the user ever going to finish? Why hasn't it stopped yet?"

"Wait, what time is it now?"

"It should be the hour of Mao."

Lu Yang sprang up abruptly. The previous loops had all triggered during the hour of Yin, but now the hour of Mao had passed, dawn had broken, and no reincarnation had occurred.

"Has time finally returned to normal?"

Lu Yang pushed open the doors of the cave. At the threshold lay a cluttered chessboard. Yun Mengmeng and his Third Senior Sister had played Gobang for an entire day and agreed to battle again tomorrow, leaving the board ungathered.

Lu Yang was certain he had not entered another loop.

Considering that a loop had previously occurred just an hour after his breakthrough, it was clear the timing of the reincarnations was erratic. Lu Yang refrained from celebrating prematurely.

Another half a day slipped by, yet the loop did not trigger, and the Eldest Senior Sister finally returned to the Dao-Inquiring Sect.

"Eldest Senior Sister, you are finally back."

"Yes, I am back. The matter of the time loop is not urgent. I will tell you what transpired these past few days in a moment. First, stabilize your cultivation realm." Yun Zhi noticed that since his breakthrough, Lu Yang had yet to consolidate his foundation.

"Alright." Seeing his Eldest Senior Sister, Lu Yang felt a profound sense of reassurance. Setting aside all worries of further loops, he peacefully immersed himself in stabilizing his realm.

When Lu Yang opened his eyes once more, Yun Zhi had already arranged tables, chairs, and tea at the entrance of the cave, while Yun Mengmeng's chessboard had vanished to who knows where.

"Drink some tea." Yun Zhi gave him a look, gesturing for him to sit.

Lu Yang took a small sip of the tea, which was indeed the finest Enlightenment Tea.

"To speak of it, the fault lies partly with me. When the loop occurred, Meng Junzi and I were debating the Dao. Neither of us was affected by the reversal of time, and neither realized it had occurred until Jiang Ping'an sought us out. Only then did we realize something was amiss."

"At the time, I suspected an issue had arisen on Junior Brother Li's end and intended to return and check. However, Senior Fairy informed me via the puppet that the root cause lay elsewhere, so I desisted from returning and went instead to hunt for the wielder of the Fruit of Time's Dao."

"A puppet?" Lu Yang thought to himself, what puppet?

Wait, could it be that puppet that had been bullying him ever since he began his cultivation?

One could contact the Eldest Senior Sister through that puppet?

"The three of us suspected that the wielder of the Fruit of Time's Dao had engaged in battle with someone and was forced to use its power. Regrettably, we split into three directions but found no traces of an immortal conflict."

"Now that the person has ceased using the Fruit of Time's Dao, the clues have gone cold, so I returned."

"So that is how it was." Lu Yang breathed a sigh of relief. He had feared that his Eldest Senior Sister had encountered some mishap, hence her delayed return.

It was well that she was safe.

"Little Junior Brother."

"Yes?"

Lu Yang raised his gaze to see his Eldest Senior Sister lifting her teacup. "Congratulations on advancing to the mid-stage of the Soul Transformation realm."