đź“– Chapter 1178 - Enlightenment
“Kindness…” Wang Baole fell silent. He didn’t rush to check out his surroundings now that he had entered the next floor. By now, it no longer mattered.
He had realized that this Underworld Emperor Tomb wasn’t just a tomb, but also a trial and an inheritance. At the end of the day, it was a way for newcomers to prove their ability to carry out the mission of the Underworld Sect.
Wang Baole had done this in the Underworld Dream of so many years ago, but when it came to reality, this was his first time. However, he was completely willing, because as he walked through the tomb, he seemed to recall his beautiful memories from the Underworld Dream.
In silence, Wang Baole pondered on the warm feeling coming from below him, as well as the voice he’d heard in the first floor earlier. Gradually, a hint of disbelief appeared in his eyes.
“This familiarity…”
Although his heart had an answer, his mind couldn’t believe that it was true. His original serenity from when he guided the souls and drew the Corpse Faces instantly broke apart, turning into huge waves surging in his heart.
These waves seemed to wash over his mind, bringing him back to the past, to that dream. To a certain extent… that dream could be said to have changed Wang Baole’s entire life.
Pausing his footsteps, Wang Baole lowered his head. His gaze seemed to penetrate the earth and stare into the deepest depths of this Underworld Emperor Tomb. Thanks to the stele, he already knew that there was a coffin on the bottom floor, but when he looked now… Although his lacking cultivation base meant that his vision was blocked, he seemed to be able to picture a certain scene in his mind.
There, in the deepest floor of the tomb, was a person from his memory, looking up at him with a caring smile that hadn’t been seen for a long time…
Wang Baole’s heart trembled, and various thoughts bubbled up in his mind. At some point, his eyes had turned slightly red.
In the Underworld Dream, Wang Baole had a master whom he had never met in reality. This master was always kind and gentle, and left a lasting influence on Wang Baole’s heart.
Their master-disciple relationship was something he would hold dear for his entire life.
As weighty emotions swept through his body, Wang Baole lowered his head. He knelt down and kowtowed to the figure that he seemed to see in his mind.
“Good.”
A familiar voice faintly echoed in Wang Baole’s ears again. After a long time passed, Wang Baole took a deep breath and stood up. His eyes were filled with determination and his movements were lively and spirited.
He no longer cared about the sense of loss he felt after his senior brother became the Heavenly Dao.
He no longer cared about how the Underworld Sect cultivators rejected him, or how complicated he felt when he was there in the sect.
He didn’t even care that the path he would walk in the end stood contrary to the Underworld Sect’s mission. The constantly nagging feeling that he would one day have to fight his senior brother also disappeared.
At this moment, the only thought in his mind was to guide these souls into the cycle of reincarnation.
Because… his master was watching.
Just like in the Underworld Dream, his master was watching to make sure he had cultivated properly.
Collecting his thoughts, Wang Baole finally looked around at the scenery of this floor. This floor was different from the previous ones. Here, the sky was actually a giant compass!
This compass was unbelievably huge and densely packed with innumerable cryptic runes, each of which represented a different fate. The runes were arranged into ten thousand concentric rings, with each ring containing more runes than the previous. Putting them all together, the compass was formed.
Each ring within the compass could rotate freely, and the number of fated trajectories that could be formed was infinite. Even if the fate runes were all the same, the changes that occurred with each passing breath of time meant that the fated trajectories could still be completely different.
That was because with every passing breath, the uncountable runes in the compass would change, and they never repeated. Thus… the sky here was essentially a Fate Compass that could bear the fates of all living beings.
The trial on this floor was precisely to determine fates.
In order to determine the fated trajectories of all the souls in the seven soul kingdoms, Wang Baole needed to follow the guidance of the underworld and bestow fates on the souls in place of the Heavenly Dao.
There couldn’t be the slightest mistake in this process. Any accidents would affect the next life of the soul. This wasn’t such a big deal for Wang Baole, but for the soul in question, it was a matter of their entire lifetime.
Similarly, making mistakes would actually affect the turning of the compass. If too many mistakes were made and the compass ground to a halt, then it would have a detrimental effect on the Heavenly Dao.
Back in the Underworld Dream, Wang Baole had heard his master preach about this many times. However, he had never personally participated in this segment of the reincarnation process. He only ever saw his master’s perfection or his senior brother’s excellence.
“No thoughts, no thoughts…” Wang Baole murmured as he surveyed the area beneath the compass sky. Here, there was no fog, but rather a pitch-black sea.
Purple lightning flickered across the water surface from time to time, causing the whole sea to give off a peerless and majestic aura. At the same time, there were pillars scattered about. The tops of these pillars reached ten thousand zhang high above sea level, and they clearly extended all the way to the bottom of the sea as well. These pillars… were Fate Platforms.
Disciples of the Underworld Sect needed to meditate on these platforms in order to gain enlightenment of the Heavenly Dao of the Underworld and determine the fated trajectories of souls.
Sweeping his gaze over the pillars, Wang Baole’s eyes shone with determination. His body moved as he towed the countless souls of the seven ghost kingdoms toward one of the pillars.
He seemed to be walking slowly, but in just three steps, he appeared on top of a pillar. Then, he turned and bowed to the sea below him.
“Master, please watch!”
After speaking, Wang Baole straightened his clothes and sat down cross-legged. Expression calm, he looked up at the compass in the sky, and the Underworld Fire burst out in his body. The mark of the Underworld Child between his brows appeared as well, flickering in a mysterious rhythm. It seemed to be resonating with the Fate Compass in the sky, or even using itself as a key.
The Fate Compass responded in an instant. Rumbling sounds filled the sky as the ten thousand rings whirred into motion. They moved at different frequencies, some spinning rapidly and others rotating slowly. As they turned, the aura of fate spread out in all directions, covering the entire world.
A soul flew out from the endless sea of souls around Wang Baole and floated in front of him as he meditated silently. Because he had drawn the Corpse Face of each and every one of the souls with utter concentration, he understood them extremely well. Thus, with the appearance of this first soul, he lifted his right hand and clenched it toward the compass in the sky, grabbing some of the aura of fate that the Heavenly Dao had portioned out for the soul’s next life.
The aura of fate wasn’t colorless, but gray.
A lump of gray aura slowly took shape in Wang Baole’s hand. Through careful inspection, he determined that there was nothing wrong with this aura of fate and it conformed with the essence of the soul. More importantly, there were no inconsistencies in it, meaning there were no loopholes and it hadn’t been tampered with. Thus, he fused it into the soul floating in front of him.
This was the most critical step of the process.
As the lump of fate aura merged into the first soul, Wang Baole’s body trembled violently, and his vision went blurry. In a single breath, he seemed to have turned into that soul and experienced the life it would lead after reincarnation.
In an instant, he experienced the six desires and seven emotions, felt happiness and anger, and understood sorrow and joy.
This was the most difficult part of determining a soul’s fate – experiencing it personally. While checking for deficiencies in fate and filling in the gaps, it was very easy for the one guiding the soul to be affected. If they were influenced by the projected life of the soul after reincarnation, then they would be considered lacking.
But as time passed, as they sent more and more souls into reincarnation, the probability of being influenced would become greater and greater. In the end, they would be unable to bear it and go insane.
This was the fate of the Underworld Sect.
As they carried out the mission of the Heavenly Dao, it was inevitable that they would lose some of their essential nature. After all, what they were doing wasn’t really verifying the future lives of the souls they sent into reincarnation. The true purpose of this process, and the true motive behind the Heavenly Dao’s mission… was to find The Immortal.
If they couldn’t find The Immortal, then they would remain sealed forever. And even if they did find them… they would still remain sealed, at least until Allheaven arrived.
Not all of the Underworld Sect disciples knew about these details. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that almost none of them knew. Wang Baole was one of the rare few who understood this, but he didn’t care. What he wanted right now was for his master to see his efforts.
But soon, bewilderment appeared in Wang Baole’s eyes.
He found that after experiencing the fate he had determined for the soul, there were some regrets in his heart, as well as a hint of confusion.
“Like a puppet… Is it because its fate was decided beforehand? Is all life predestined from the beginning?” Gradually, Wang Baole’s brows furrowed. He fell into an unfathomable state, pondering in silence.
At the same time, the gaze watching him from above seemed to harbor complicated emotions.
And the gaze from below seemed full of expectation…