Chapter 1005: I'm Here (Asking for Monthly Tickets in the Mid-Month)

"Master Lu, what did you just say?" Tang Chuanwu asked, half-convinced he was hallucinating; his own words had been so tangled and without beginning or end that it seemed impossible Master Lu could truly believe him.

Lu Yang looked Tang Chuanwu squarely in the eye and repeated himself with quiet gravity.

"I believe you."

Tang Chuanwu’s lips trembled, caught in a state between a laugh and a sob. "You believe me... someone actually believes me. I wasn’t lying..."

The realization of his own power to turn back time had first dawned upon him during a sudden ambush aimed at his younger sister; in that second cycle of the loop, he had frantically grabbed her, shouting that danger lay outside, that she would be killed, that she must not leave.

Yet, all he had received in return was her look of sheer bewilderment.

She had not believed him, and so she perished in that second iteration.

Later, he tried to use this temporal regression to save others, warning them of impending perils and pleading with them to alter their paths, but even when future events precisely vindicated his words, it only sowed a deeper, more profound distrust.

In the subsequent loops, he forced himself to calm down, learning instead to weaponize information asymmetry and construct fabrications to guide people to safety.

This time, shattered by emotion and left with no other recourse, he had cried out the truth to Lu Yang, fully expecting the great master to dismiss him out of hand just like all the rest, never imagining that the man would actually believe him.

Finally, at long last, someone believed him.

The clue regarding the wielder of the Dao Fruit of Time had finally been unearthed.

"Sit down, take your time, and do not rush," Lu Yang said softly. "Tell me exactly what transpired today, and how it is that you came to know of it."

Lu Yang surreptitiously infused a thread of spiritual energy into Tang Chuanwu’s body to soothe his frayed nerves.

He could feel the young man's pulse racing at a terrifying, frantic speed that verged on the absolute limit of mortal endurance, laying bare the sheer magnitude of the agitation he had just endured.

Or rather, the depth of his despair.

Of course Lu Yang believed him; Tang Chuanwu’s very appearance before him at this precise juncture in time was proof enough.

At this hour, Tang Chuanwu should have been far away in Lotus City, nowhere near this place.

His presence here could mean only one thing—he possessed knowledge of the future.

Tang Chuanwu’s subsequent, incoherent ramblings had only solidified Lu Yang’s hypothesis.

Under Lu Yang’s soothing influence, Tang Chuanwu gradually regained his composure.

"Master Lu, a catastrophic upheaval is about to plunge the city into ruin, and everyone will turn utterly cold and indifferent. I do not understand why, but it must be the doing of the Cult of Heartlessness."

"Furthermore, the Sect Master of the Skeleton Cult has somehow been resurrected and transformed into the Bone Groom. But the Bone Groom is no match for you."

"Later on, two elders and the Vice Sect Master of the Cult of Heartlessness will arrive. That Vice Sect Master is overwhelmingly powerful and intends to uproot and carry away the City of Kaifang; neither you nor Master Meng will be able to withstand him."

"And then there is Que'er; a Golden Core cultivator is going to abduct her."

Lu Yang listened silently to the end of Tang Chuanwu’s account, then extended two fingers, holding the young man’s gaze.

"I have only two questions. First, how did you come to know all of this?"

"I can..." Tang Chuanwu opened his mouth, intending to speak the words 'time regression,' but suddenly remembered that the moment those words were uttered, time would instantly fracture and rewind once more.

"Is it that you can turn back time?" Lu Yang inquired calmly.

With a sharp clatter, the stool tumbled backward as Tang Chuanwu bolted upright, staring at Master Lu in absolute disbelief.

He dared not answer yes, nor did he dare answer no, entirely uncertain whether a mere acknowledgment would trigger the conditions for a temporal rewind.

"Fairy, what is going on here? If Tang Chuanwu can turn back time, why is it that the Dao Fruit of Time is not within him?"

The Immortal Fairy had verified beyond a doubt that Tang Chuanwu bore no such artifact within his being.

Deep within the mental space, the Immortal Fairy sat cross-legged upon her lotus dais, holding one of her tiny feet in her hand as she rocked gently from side to side.

"Hmm~ seeing as he doesn't possess the Dao Fruit of Time, there is only one other possibility. The actual wielder of the Dao Fruit of Time has bestowed its primordial law upon him."

"How so?"

"Do you remember what this Fairy told you before? If I so desired, I could use the Immortal Dao Fruit to grant every single soul in the entire world eternal youth and immortality."

Lu Yang recalled it instantly. "You said that a Dao Fruit in itself represents a fundamental law of existence, and whether you choose to bind that law solely to yourself or project it onto all of creation depends entirely on your own volition."

The Immortal Fairy beamed, thoroughly pleased that Lu Yang had retained her teachings. "The Dao Fruit of Time operates on the exact same principle. Its wielder can project the rule of 'temporal regression' directly onto this lad surnamed Tang."

"To think such a thing is possible," Lu Yang mused, profoundly astonished. He had only ever heard the Fairy speak of it in passing and had not given it much weight at the time, but witnessing Tang Chuanwu wield such a heaven-defying capability firsthand made him realize that immortals were truly terrifying existences.

"It seems my hypothesis was correct; you do indeed possess the ability to turn back time."

Observing Tang Chuanwu’s lingering hesitation, Lu Yang nodded understandingly. "It appears it is not that you are unwilling to admit it, but rather that you are forbidden from speaking of it."

"Whether it would cause your death or trigger another rewind... well, no matter, that is of little consequence now."

"My second question: before the Cult of Heartlessness appeared, you underwent five previous cycles. What manner of plight did you encounter, and do you require my assistance?"

Tang Chuanwu’s eyes widened in sheer shock; Master Lu actually retained memories from those prior iterations!

The only reason he had omitted the matter of the sand wolves was his belief that the ambush was an unalterable certainty, but meeting Master Lu had entirely upended all his preconceived notions.

"Yes! Our caravan was ambushed by sand wolves on the road to Lotus City, and I was the sole survivor to escape with my life!"

"So that is how it is," Lu Yang murmured, finally understanding why he himself had been ensnared in a time loop on this very day.

He crossed his hands and propped up his chin. "Then let me ask you: do you wish to save them?"

"I do!"

Lu Yang rose to his feet and gently stroked the hilt of his Azure Peak Sword, realizing that this particular loop had been spent entirely on summoning this guest for nothing.

"In that case, initiate the regression. I shall go and rescue your companions."

To Lu Yang’s astonishment, Tang Chuanwu drew the dagger from his waist and plunged it straight into his own chest without the slightest shred of hesitation.

...

Tang Chuanwu snapped awake with a violent jolt, finding himself seated upon his camel; his conversation with Master Lu felt like nothing more than a phantom dream.

"Little Tang, what is the matter?" The medicine shop proprietor, noticing Tang Chuanwu’s sudden abnormality, gestured for the caravan to halt.

"Boss, sand wolves have tracked us down," Tang Chuanwu said calmly, drawing a string of Buddhist prayer beads from his robes and snapping the cord between two fingers as he pulled it free.

"I once had the good fortune of being received by Master Duanchen, and he bestowed these prayer beads upon me. Whenever danger draws near, the beads shatter as a warning."

"What?!" Seeing how deadly serious Tang Chuanwu appeared, the proprietor believed him without a second thought.

For a caravan like theirs to encounter sand wolves meant a near-certain death sentence.

"Do not panic. Let us keep moving forward exactly as we were, so the wolves do not realize we have detected them," Tang Chuanwu advised, drawing upon his hard-won experience with the beasts. "If we can hold them off, someone will come to our rescue."

If they were to assume a defensive posture now, the sand wolves would realize their ambush had failed and launch an immediate, savage assault; continuing their march would at least buy them a precious margin of time.

"Al—all right," the proprietor stammered, entirely unnerved and left with no choice but to follow the youth's lead.

The camel train continued forward at a leisurely, deliberate pace.

"Sand wolves!" someone with sharp eyes suddenly shrieked, and the caravan instantly erupted into absolute chaos.

Concealed beneath the drifts with only their snouts exposed, the sand wolves burst violently from the dunes and lunged toward the panicked travelers.

"Form a defensive line! Do not panic!" the proprietor bellowed, drawing his blade to parry an oncoming strike.

Tang Chuanwu spurred his camel forward to charge straight at the pack leader. Having had his meridians and bones cleansed by a single drop of Lu Yang’s blood, his physical constitution had long since transcended its ordinary limits, and with the secret mastery of his Long-Arm Boxing, his martial prowess now vastly eclipsed that of the proprietor.

Yet even with Tang Chuanwu single-handedly engaging the wolf king, the rest of the company was rapidly driven into a desperate stalemate.

Even Tang Chuanwu fared little better; he was, after all, merely a mortal soul, utterly ill-equipped to withstand the full, ferocious might of a wolf king at the pinnacle of Qi Condensation.

"Boy Tang, where is this savior you spoke of!" the medicine shopkeeper bellowed, his strength rapidly failing; at this rate, not a single one of them would escape.

Hearing the keeper's sharp demand, Tang Chuanwu's mind drifted for a fleeting moment.

Why hadn't Master Lu arrived yet? Was it because they were too far from Kaihuang City? Or was the last cycle merely a dream born of his own despair? Would anyone truly believe him?

The wolf king was not one to miss such an opening; with a ferocious roar, it lunged straight at Tang Chuanwu.

"Watch out, boy!"

Snapped back to reality, Tang Chuanwu frantically raised his blade in defense, but it was already too late. The wolf king clamped its jaws onto his weapon, dragging him down from the camel.

Man and beast wrestled desperately in the sand, but as they locked in a contest of pure strength, Tang Chuanwu's endurance began to give way.

Suddenly, a flash of sword qi pierced right through the wolf king's head, the tip of the blade halting mere inches from Tang Chuanwu.

Swish, swish, swish—

Before the figure could even arrive, the blade had already spoken.

Sword qi rained down like a storm upon the vast desert, impaling the pack wolf by wolf, killing each with a single strike, wiping out the entire desert pack in the blink of an eye.

A divine figure bearing a sword flew in against the blinding sun, landing before the astonished eyes of the crowd to pull Tang Chuanwu to his feet.

"I am here."