đź“– Chapter 1098 - Re-entering Past Lives!
Everything in the world was related through karma.
To gain something, you always had to lose something else. Although the degree of the loss might vary, it would never be zero. Wang Baole understood this truth very well.
For example, at this birthday celebration on Planet Heaven’s Mandate, Wang Baole had achieved astonishing gains. His cultivation base, which was originally at the middle stage of the Planet Realm, had reached the great circle in a matter of days.
This sort of heaven-defying fortune naturally came with its own price. Furthermore, Wang Baole had even attempted to escape the world and see the truth beyond, an act that carried immense karmic implications in itself.
Thus, when his attempt ended in partial success and he saw a bit of the truth of the outside world, he also ended up seeing… the blood-colored centipede on the crystal coffin.
Maybe the karma between them, stemming from that exchange of gazes in the ninth past life, had become the reason for the hand at the end of his first past life as a godling.
Or maybe all of this was inevitable in the first place. But no matter what, due to the interference of the blood-colored centipede… unforeseen changes had occurred in Wang Baole’s past lives.
But overall, he had achieved enormous gains, so the price he had to pay was also astonishing. If he was the slightest bit careless, he would certainly die without a grave.
If it was just death, that would be one thing. But what the centipede really wanted… was obviously to possess him.
Thus, after the birthday celebration ended and countless cultivators left Planet Heaven’s Mandate one after another, Wang Baole… didn’t leave.
He stayed behind to heal his injuries.
In the battle against the centipede’s hand, although Wang Baole had managed to survive, he hadn’t come out of it unscathed at all. The price he had to pay was… injuries to his past lives!
The godling, the zombie, the devil blade, the hateful one, the little white deer… the shadows of these five lives had all received serious injuries. If he left Planet Heaven’s Mandate before they recovered, Wang Baole would find himself in a very unfavorable position.
And there was another reason he decided to stay behind, which was the opportunity that the Flame Patriarch had bought for him. The crystal gifted by Reverend Heaven-Learned could improve his success rate in entering the past, and it could also bring back a greater amount of vitality from his past lives to improve his own.
Although the latter no longer mattered to Wang Baole, he still remembered the words that the blood-colored centipede had spoken before it disappeared!
“My origin…” Wang Baole sat cross-legged on a mountain peak of Planet Heaven’s Mandate. After meditating for some time, his eyes slowly opened, flickering with profound light.
Previously, he had wondered when the black wooden board had appeared in Sun De’s hands. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t remember.
Afterward, the blood-colored centipede had mentioned that it was curious about his origin, making Wang Baole even more thoughtful.
Thus, healing his injuries was only one reason he’d chosen to stay behind. He also planned to ask Reverend Heaven-Learned to let him enter his past lives again after he recovered from his injuries.
What he wanted wasn’t the ten past lives he’d already experienced. Instead, he wanted to see if he existed in the first seventy-nine of the universe’s eighty-nine epochs. He wanted to see… his true origin!
This was extremely important to him. Only by knowing his origin would he be able to better protect himself when the blood-colored centipede tried to possess him in the future.
Wang Baole readily admitted that the blood-colored centipede made him feel an extremely strong sense of crisis. He knew that his current cultivation base was nowhere near enough to resolve this issue once and for all.
“Once I know my true origin, I’ll have a direction. By following this direction, I’ll be able to improve myself at the fastest rate. Only then will my cultivation base be enough to resolve the crisis of the blood-colored centipede!”
Wang Baole sat there silently for a while. Closing his eyes, he continued healing his injuries.
At the same time, among the rest of the birthday attendees, Xie Haiyang and the Raging Flame Galaxy’s Dao Protectors chose to stay behind. However, they weren’t permitted to stay on Planet Heaven’s Mandate, so they could only go wait on their ship outside the planet.
Li Wan’er originally planned to wait for Wang Baole, but in the end, she left. Xu Yinling also hesitated for a while before leaving as well.
But Chen Han didn’t leave. He followed Xie Haiyang to the ship and waited for Wang Baole with the others.
Just like that, time passed. Three months later, with the help of Planet Heaven’s Mandate’s dense spirit qi and Reverend Heaven-Learned’s blessings, Wang Baole’s injuries finally healed!
As he recovered, his cultivation base became a little more refined than before. And now that he had finished… Wang Baole quickly flew over to Reverend Heaven-Learned’s location above the crater. He landed on the central island and sat down in front of the reverend.
The old servant stood to the side, occasionally glancing at Wang Baole with a complex gaze.
But be it Wang Baole or Reverend Heaven-Learned, neither of them acknowledged the old servant’s existence in the slightest. It seemed that they could only see each other in their eyes.
“Since you’ve recovered, is it time to bid farewell?” Reverend Heaven-Learned asked softly.
“Yes, but before that, I have a request.” Wang Baole looked at the reverend with a clear gaze.
Reverend Heaven-Learned seemed to have guessed what Wang Baole wanted to say. He fell silent.
Wang Baole didn’t continue speaking, nor did he urge him in any way. He was just as silent.
The old servant at the side was feeling a bit stifled. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out when Wang Baole had made his request. Now, he only felt that the two people in front of him were becoming more and more unfathomable.
After a while, Reverend Heaven-Learned sighed and looked at Wang Baole, speaking in a solemn tone.
“This life is different from before. Actually, you don’t have to leave at all. Staying here is the safest option.”
“I’ve already made up my mind. Reverend, please grant my request.” Wang Baole stood up and bowed deeply with cupped fists.
Reverend Heaven-Learned looked at him with a complicated gaze. His eyes seemed to reflect the scene of a little white deer cautiously entering the courtyard, staring at an old ape in curiosity.
“I can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to see all of your past lives. All I can do is gather all of the Book of Heaven’s Mandate’s light of guidance on you. How far back you’ll be able to go, and what dangers you might encounter, are all things I can’t say for sure.
“Also, I have to remind you that these dangers are related to cognition. In other words… if you don’t notice them, then there are some dangers that will never appear, but the moment you realize their existence… you should understand what I mean.”
Wang Baole was silent. He naturally understood what the reverend was talking about. In fact, he already suspected that if he hadn’t forced his way out of the world and seen the crystal coffin, then the blood-colored centipede would have never appeared in the first place.
Whether that suspicion was correct or not, Wang Baole didn’t know.
But he did know that he would rather live without any regrets than exist in a state of muddled confusion.
“Please grant my request!” Wang Baole took a deep breath and bowed once more.
Reverend Heaven-Learned closed his eyes. After a long time, he waved his right hand, and the crystal he’d previously given to Wang Baole suddenly flew out. Floating in front of the pair, brilliant rays of light shone off of it, exploding into the surroundings like a turbulent sea.
As the light spread, Reverend Heaven-Learned formed hand seals, and the Book of Heaven’s Mandate manifested behind him. Its pages shone with a soft light, and began… flipping in reverse!
Each time a page was turned, Reverend Heaven-Learned trembled, and Wang Baole felt his divine soul shaking. Soon, the pages reached the eleventh from the bottom, and Wang Baole’s body shook violently, his consciousness beginning to sink.
It sank continuously until it disappeared.
On Planet Heaven’s Mandate, Wang Baole’s body sat cross-legged without a soul. Opposite him, Reverend Heaven-Learned’s eyes were closed, and immense rays of light shone off of him. All of heaven and earth seemed to be trembling at that moment.
The old servant standing to the side was extremely shocked. This was his first time seeing such a scene in countless years. He looked at Wang Baole, then at Reverend Heaven-Learned, and finally… at the Book of Heaven’s Mandate.
He watched as the pages of the book slowly turned!
Page seventy-nine, seventy-eight, seventy-seven…
And each time a page was turned, Reverend Heaven-Learned would mutter under his breath.
“Seventy-ninth.”
“Seventy-eighth.”
“Seventy-seventh.”