CH 2169.3

“What do you know?” Bloodbath snorted. “Security is highly emphasized in the empires of the world of cultivation. With the three ninth rank empires at the head, each layer beneath them is subject to heavy surveillance. You aren’t able to picture the level of control that each higher rank empire exerts over its vassals! If word got out that a soul projection cultivator had appeared among Darklake’s Hidden Dragons, it would shock the entire world.”

Lu Yun remained silent, memories of the three thousand reincarnations playing out in his mind.

“Do you know the Celestial Realm Battlefront?” Bloodbath took a deep breath.

“The Celestial Realm Battlefront…” Lu Yun ducked his head, an expectant, yet also despairing feeling blossoming in his heart.

Disaster would come from the Celestial Realm Battlefront.

“The Celestial Realm Battlefront exists in an odd void, but it encompasses the entire world of cultivation. There is a heavenly book in its center. It is the basis by which all higher rank empires control lower rank empires. Whenever a powerhouse appears in a lower rank empire that should only appear in a higher rank, their name appears in the book.” Bloodbath looked into Lu Yun’s eyes. “There is a soul projection cultivator in Darklake, but you have somehow evaded the heavenly book’s senses.”

The elder paused when he saw Lu Yun’s expression and smiled. “That’s right, cultivators from lower ranked empires do not have the right to enter the battlefront. Only those from mid rank and above have the right to know about its existence and enter it.”

“Can you talk to me about the Celestial Realm Battlefront?” Lu Yun asked after a long period of silence.

The old man nodded as he sensed something off about the young man. “The Celestial Realm Battlefront is a magnificent existence. No one knows what kind of world it is and no one knows how it formed. Resources are plentiful, treasures are untold, and anything that cannot be found in the world of cultivation can be found there.

“Inheritances and dao weapons from primordial times, even immortal weapons, are available there. That is where I found my Method of Blood Shadows, not in the Blood Shadows sect of ten thousand years ago.

“Any cultivator or immortal who wishes to visit the Celestial Realm Battlefront can only do so through their consciousness. Physical bodies are barred from entry. After setting foot in that world, cultivators receive a new body that is limited to initial nascent soul.

“Thus, immortals who enter the Celestial Realm Battlefront will see their cultivation spontaneously decline to nascent soul. But resources, treasures, and opportunities are so plentiful in the battlefront that many are those who soar to new heights during their trials.”

Lu Yun nodded silently and indicated for Bloodbath to continue.

“But since everyone’s cultivation is the same in the Celestial Realm Battlefront, many cultivators keep themselves in check when they enter the world. Only the true geniuses who are invincible among their peers walk around with impunity and temper themselves.

“That world is incredibly vast, so vast that our world of cultivation is just a corner of it. The Celestial Realm Battlefront is the true stage for the strong. Humans, demons, monster spirits, and all manner of strange and exotic races can be found there. We fight over resources and treasures. The world of cultivation we are in is called the Jade Ruins World of Immortal Cultivation. The part of the battlefront that we occupy is the Jade Ruins Battlefront.

“True origin cannot be honed in the Celestial Realm Battlefront, but dao methods can be tempered. One can sense the great daos of the world and accumulate experience. When one dies in the battlefront, one’s spirit returns to the body instead of being lost in death. But an enormous blow is delivered to the spirit, resulting in injuries to the heart and mind at best, or being crippled at worst.” Bloodbath paused for air after he sketched the general contours of the marvelous world.

“So this is the Jade Ruins…” Lu Yun hummed in thought. “Do you know Slaughterless?”

“Slaughter… less?” Bloodbath blinked and rummaged through his memories. “Do you mean the powerhouse who swept the battlefront eight thousand years ago, Slaughterless?”

“Eight thousand years ago?” Lu Yun paused. Eight thousand years? It looks like master didn’t put me through imaginary reincarnations, but had me travel through space and time through real worlds.

Slaughterless was a name he knew from one of his lifetimes. There was a Celestial Realm Battlefront in that world and he was basically certain that it was the same as the Jade Ruins Battlefront.

In the Celestial Realm Battlefront that he knew of, Jade Ruins was renowned for being extremely weak.

One of Lu Yun’s burning questions was finally resolved. Everything he’d experienced in his reincarnations was real! Since all of those people existed, he could find them again! And when he did so, he could recover his forgotten memories…

That was his true goal.

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Another point that Lu Yun was very certain of was that the heavenly dao had only sent him to the past. It hadn’t sent him to the future at any point. That would run the risk of the present Lu Yun meeting himself.

Lu Yun coming across Lu Yun? The heavenly dao would never create such a mess.

An unsettled feeling had sparked in his heart the first time he heard “Celestial Realm Battlefront” from his grandfather. In all of his reincarnations, he always ended up at the battlefront.

The journeys of three thousand lifetimes had created too many ties and concerns for him to sever. The battlefront was the only connection between his dreams and the current world. Only through the Celestial Realm Battlefront could he determine whether the worlds he’d traveled to were real or illusion.

He also knew that the battlefront was tied to a certain disaster—a disaster he could not prevent. He could only watch it happen to avoid repeating the past.

It’d hung over his mind after he awoke, and now the knot in his heart was no more. He even felt that he was breathing much more easily.

“Haha, time to go back, Bloodbath! That dao weapon and the Eighteen Cerulean Sword Dragons will all be mine!” Lu Yun roared with laughter and summoned six meters worth of sword light, racing back to the capital.

Bloodbath gaped, having no idea what flight of fancy had just seized the young master.

“Slaughterless is a legendary figure on the battlefront and he disappeared after a battle eight thousand years ago. Does Lu Yun have something to do with Slaughterless?” the elder mumbled to himself. “That makes sense, the kid is quite mysterious and owns methods such as the Canon of the Blood God. Is it Slaughterless behind him?”

……

Early next morning.

Bam!

Someone kicked in Lu Yun’s doors startling Lu Yun, Zhao Chenguang, and Yu Shuai.

A glowering Lu Xiaochi roared at the latter two, “You two, get out!”

Zhao Chenguang and Yu Shuai shrank in on themselves and scrambled out of Lu Yun’s yard.

“Brother Zhao, Brother Yu, remember what I just said. Don’t share with anyone what I just gave you!” Lu Yun called out to their fleeing forms.

“Don’t worry, young master Lu! Only us two will know about it, no one else will!” Yu Shuai’s voice came back on the wind.

“Lu Yun, young master Lu, you’re quite a character, huh!” Lu Xiaochi took out a jade talisman after the two had left and covered Lu Yun’s house with a restriction. “Do you know how many cultivators died in the western district last night?!” His eyes nearly spat fire.

“Three to five thousand?” Lu Yun asked carefully.

“Three thousand five hundred and eighty-one!” Lu Xiaochi yelled. “Three thousand five hundred and eighty-one lives extinguished forever because of your decision!”

Lu Yun hadn’t kept his commands to Bloodbath a secret from his uncle, so Lu Xiaochi was nearly beet-red with fury.

“So what?” Lu Yun tilted his head. “The three thousand five hundred and eighty-one includes the Ling Clan, doesn’t it?”

“They are the vast majority.” Lu Xiaochi managed to bring himself slightly under some semblance of control.

“The other victims could’ve fled far away when Bloodbath fought Gray Robes, but they chose to draw closer to the action. Why is that?” Lu Yun raised his head. Although he did have a tendency to act like a saint, he didn’t have an overabundance of compassion.

Lu Xiaochi blinked.

“The dozen meters around the Ling residence is all Ling territory. Those people ran over because they wanted to see the Lings be destroyed and scavenge through the ruins,” Lu Yun snorted with laughter. “Since they wanted to be vultures, they needed to run the risk of dying. There are no free lunches in this world.”

Lu Xiaochi plopped on a stone stool and refused to listen to his nephew talk circles around him.

“Besides, tragedy wouldn’t have occurred if Gray Robes didn’t stop Bloodbath. If you want to assign responsibility, second uncle, I’ll have the elder come there.” Lu Yun moved to stand up.

“There’s no need.” Lu Xiaochi thought things through and quickly waved the lad off. Bloodbath? That was a perverse god of slaughter who’d killed a million cultivators by himself and almost ended a fifth rank empire. What did three thousand people matter to him?