Novel Full Chapter 187: All Fate is Karma
In a daze, Chen Yan seemed to hear someone calling out something.
Then came the increasingly distinct sensation of pain all over his body.
“Take that, Lin Qifeng! Take that, Lin Qifeng!”
The voice grew clearer beside Chen Yan’s ear, and the aroma of grilled fish began to waft into his nostrils.
Chen Yan regained consciousness.
Standing before him was a gaunt old man wearing the Outer Court Daoist Robe of the Kongshan Sect, using a dry piece of firewood to strike Chen Yan’s body over and over.
Ten cycles of reincarnation.
Regardless of the length of each cycle, whenever Chen Yan returned to this specific point in time, he was filled with profound emotion.
The Kongshan Sect had not yet been destroyed.
No matter how many conspiracies, schemes, open attacks, or hidden arrows the Kongshan Sect harbored, for Chen Yan, it still held a strange sense of belonging.
Yet, Chen Yan’s obsession wasn’t solely because of this sense of belonging, which could be considered important or unimportant depending on one’s perspective.
Seeing that Chen Yan neither refuted nor begged for mercy, the old man seemed somewhat puzzled. He lifted his head, his gaze falling upon Chen Yan’s face.
Immediately after, he said nothing. He simply turned around and walked towards the campfire behind him.
Then, another gentle breeze brushed past. The hemp rope binding Chen Yan to the wooden stake was severed cleanly into two pieces, as if cut by a sharp blade.
Cutting a rope from a distance was something a Qi Circulation Realm cultivator could achieve.
But the method just used… not even a Qi Circulation Realm cultivator, nor a Qi Sea Realm cultivator, could manipulate true qi with such perfect precision.
Moreover, what had just severed the rope wasn’t true qi.
It was spiritual energy.
Yet Chen Yan wasn’t the least bit surprised.
Because he was well aware of the true identity of this gaunt, white-haired elder.
Or rather, when Chen Yan had revealed his own identity to him, this old man had also revealed his own identity to Chen Yan.
One of the only six Dao Union Realm powerhouses in this world, and the true figure standing at the pinnacle of the Kongshan Sect: the Supreme Pivot Elder of Kongshan, Li Haoran.
As for how Chen Yan was so certain, it was because of the information he had obtained from Qiguan Jin.
After his own disappearance, the Enforcement Hall of Yuanhua Mountain, the sect’s directly affiliated Hall of Prudent Discipline, and the Supreme Imperial Law Court had all stepped in.
To find him, even the Supreme Imperial Law Elder, Huo Mu, had personally taken action, using his divine sense to search the entire sect for his whereabouts.
To be able to hide him within a small grove right under Huo Mu’s nose… in the entire Kongshan Sect, only one person had the capability for such a feat.
That person was the Dao Union Realm Li Haoran, the Supreme Pivot Elder.
The reason he had lost all his cultivation within this grove, becoming like an ordinary mortal, was undoubtedly due to some method employed by this very Supreme Pivot Elder.
Of course, Chen Yan definitely wouldn’t directly point out Li Haoran’s identity. He chose to play dumb.
In front of such a great figure, appearing too clever could easily backfire.
In his previous lives, Chen Yan had suffered plenty from such mistakes.
“Come here.”
The white-haired elder, clad in the Outer Court Daoist Robe, spoke in a low voice with his back turned to Chen Yan.
Sparks flew from the campfire.
“Eat the fish.”
Then, the white-haired elder picked up a grilled fish resting beside the campfire and handed it to Chen Yan.
Chen Yan didn’t refuse. He simply took the fish and began devouring it ravenously.
All he knew was that he was incredibly hungry right now.
Or rather, whenever he returned to this reincarnation save point, he was always extremely hungry.
“How is it?”
The elder asked this.
“What?”
Chen Yan looked up blankly, turning his gaze to the elder in the Outer Court Daoist Robe beside him.
“Looking at my face, what can you see?”
The white-haired elder continued his questioning.
For a moment, Chen Yan didn’t know how to answer this question. He had just bid farewell to Ding Qiu in the wheat field seven years in the future and returned to this reincarnation save point.
Immediately after, he was greeted by a beginning he had never experienced in the previous nine cycles.
“I can’t see anything.”
Chen Yan shook his head.
“A death omen.”
The white-haired elder raised his hand, placing his index finger on his own forehead, then slowly sliding it down to the tip of his nose:
“This is a death omen.”
Chen Yan was slightly taken aback.
“And you.”
The white-haired elder then moved his index finger away from his own face, pointing at Chen Yan’s visage. He traced a line from the corner of Chen Yan’s left eye down to the side of his nose:
“This is also a death omen.”
What did that mean?
Then, the white-haired elder suddenly laughed out loud:
“Young one, you truly are interesting. Just a few breaths ago, your face bore the signs of life. Yet in an instant, it suddenly transformed into a death omen. In eight thousand years, this is the first time I’ve seen such a thing.”
Eight thousand years.
With these words, the elder had essentially admitted his own identity.
To have spanned eight thousand years, to have existed in the same era as Su Hongzhen, the First Sword Immortal of Chenping Continent… in the entire current Chenping Continent, there was only one such person.
That was the Supreme Pivot Elder of Kongshan, Li Haoran.
Hearing this, Chen Yan pretended his expression changed drastically. He hastily dropped the grilled fish in his hand, then respectfully stood up and bowed with clasped hands:
“Disciple Chen Yan of Kongyuan Mountain pays his respects to Supreme Pivot Elder Li!”
Li Haoran, wearing the Outer Court Daoist Robe, did not respond directly. He merely shook his head slowly, then said:
“Young one, will you blame me?”
“Forgive this disciple’s dullness, but I do not understand what the Supreme Pivot Elder is referring to.”
Chen Yan replied, perplexed.
Li Haoran said:
“Seven thousand years ago, before Hongzhen fell at the Xiling Mountain Range… what is now the Fallen Sword Mountain Range… he met with the Supreme Pivot Elders of the Five Great Sects at that time.”
“Hongzhen told us he had to undertake a great task. If he succeeded, he would die, but the cultivators of Chenping Continent would receive blessings for ten thousand years because of it. If he failed, he would die, and the path of immortality for Chenping Continent would be completely severed from that day forward.”
Hearing this, Chen Yan’s expression shifted slightly. He didn’t believe a figure of Li Haoran’s stature would tell him lies.
Back then, did Su Hongzhen go to his death willingly?
What kind of great task was it, one that even an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator was certain to die attempting?
“Hongzhen said he was going to sever karma. As for what karma is… for me, who had just entered the Dao Union Realm back then, it was far too profound and mysterious.”
Li Haoran laughed:
“The final result, you know. He failed… merely ascending to immortality is not enough to sever the karma of fate.”
Chen Yan’s mind was in complete chaos, struggling to analyze the information contained within Li Haoran’s words.
But he couldn’t do it.
So-called fate and karma were concepts far beyond the reach and understanding of a mere Qi Sea Realm cultivator like him.
“What Su Hongzhen wanted to sever back then was the cause of this world’s shackles. Now, what the Kongshan Sect faces is the cause sown back then by Kong Yang of Qingchan Peak…”
“This disciple truly does not understand what karma actually is.”
Chen Yan said. From the very beginning, he had been utterly lost in a fog.
“Simple! The death omens on our faces represent destiny. They are also the fruit born from a cause.”
As he spoke, Li Haoran suddenly paused for a moment, revealing a smile that seemed one of release:
“And all fate is karma.”