Po Ming was completely flabbergasted, frozen in shock.
He watched as the future Mingyin flew up and down in a flash, grabbing Po Ming by the back of his neck and hauling him into the air.Po Ming turned around frantically, desperately thinking of what to say.
Boom!
An axe slammed into the exact spot where Po Ming had stood just a second ago!
The ground and the walls were utterly destroyed before they could even begin to auto-repair. A pile of shattered stones flew into the air, accompanied by a thick cloud of smoke and the lingering scent of blood.
Future Mingyin stared forward.Only five seconds remained!The bull suddenly opened its massive maw, releasing a roar so loud it ripped through the air like a sonic boom.
Boom!
The sound wave destroyed everything left standing in its path. It crashed through numerous walls as future Mingyin spun around, instantly filled with the urge to kill the beast.
He dodged the wave-like roar and flew downward, while the bull contorted its face in an angry expression.The five seconds were already up!Po Ming yelled out as the bull shook its head.
Suddenly, the beast exploded into a massive whirlwind of swirling flowers. The petals drifted through the air and dissolved into nothingness, and the red sky and glowing sun faded away right along with them.
What remained was an empty, white expanse of sky.Po Ming shook visibly, letting out a long breath of relief."Ahhh... this has been the tenth round since we got here...""Yeah, fate breaker.
"Future Mingyin looked up with a sad expression. Before thinking further on his words, he turned around and sighed."Sorry, Po Ming. It seems I lost control over the power of my spirit realm and fell into a transgressor state.
By now, you are at the peak of a transgressor, aren't you?"Po Ming stood up and nodded. "
And you are at the peak of a pseudo-transgressor. Yet you could kill me with that much effort? Ahahaha, you are truly as laughable as ever!"He paused, then added, "
Wait, I have a question. Let me get this straight. We are in your soul realm, but the soul realm is the outer universe of the mortal world. So, did you place your soul realm back in time, devour the entire universe, and replace it with your own realm?"
Future Mingyin nodded and looked up, crossing his arms."
Yeah, that's right. By doing that, I can stop my other future self when he tries to take this soul realm, the mortal world, and especially Mingyin. I placed half of my mind inside Mingyin so he would reject my evil future self and speak our truest desire.
Mingyin cannot be killed—if my future self kills him, he dies along with me. So, the future me needs to control Mingyin and manipulate the events of the mortal world. But I can bring Mingyin along with the mortal world!
"He leaned in closer. "My other future self's true goal is to devour the soul essence of everyone from the mortal world to increase his power. Both Renewal and Sun Tzu, and many other legends, left eighty-nine per cent of the population still at a mortal state during the first event! But all of their future selves are in my soul realm.
If I place both the past and the future together, they will share one mind and become even stronger!""
And my future self needs to first take the mortals to the nine heavens, which will land on the soul realm at the eighth heaven. After that, Mingyin will fuse with me, and we will both become even stronger!
The other future me will be destroyed, saving Mingyin!"Po Ming froze, shaking his head. "Wait, this is a bit too much information. Can you explain it clearly?"Future Mingyin shook his head."
What I mean is, I've been in this loop for trillions of regressions trying to bring Mingyin along with the mortal world. But it always ends in failure. Mingyin always comes out alone and gets controlled by my other future self
! This allows the future Mingyin to gain access to my spirit realm and even steal all my knowledge on how to transcend. He cannot take me directly because I destroyed myself with the help of that bastard version of me! Because of that,
I am a half-soul. I returned to the past and used my soul to replace the whole universe!"Po Ming froze again, staring at him. "
Wait a minute... you are basically a novel character!""Huh?" Future Mingyin looked a bit embarrassed. "What the heck are you talking about?!""No, that's cool!" Po Ming grinned. "
So I've been in a loop for trillions of years, and you were trying to protect your past self from being manipulated by your other future self! Whoa, we are actually in a novel!"
Future Mingyin slapped his forehead and shook his head a couple of times. "
You really are my biggest fan."Po Ming nodded, turning around. "What do we do with Mingyin?"
Future Mingyin looked slightly irritated and shook his head. "Blame that on that bastard, Loki Thorn."
.....
Loki Thorn stared toward the hole Mingyin had caused. Not daring to let him escape, he immediately ran away, jumping into the pit only to be met with the burning scent of smoke.Loki Thorn's speed instantly staggered mid-air as he tried to jump back up."
Where do you think you're going?"Suddenly, the space beneath Loki Thorn filled with a raging room of fire
. As it burned intensely and passionately, Mingyin appeared inside a cracked hole. He leapt forward as the two dragons behind him lunged through the air, grabbing Loki Thorn, whose expression turned grave.Mingyin jumped high above Loki Thorn, escaping the pit. He held up a bottle and splashed the liquid downward.
It instantly turned into a thick spider web, sealing the entrance.Below the entrance, the dragons spat out fire, their expressions turning gleeful. Mingyin's face remained grave as he shook his head.The dragons' maws shot out fireballs, impacting the spider web.Suddenly, Loki Thorn's whole body shook.
Don't tell me... please don't tell me he planted this too!
He imagined the seed that was poisoning him.
Loki Thorn, this guy isn't simple!Suddenly, the web liquid was engulfed by flames.
Smoke filled Loki Thorn's lungs as he breathed it in, and the dragons inhaled the toxin as well. Both dragons coughed a couple of times, their eyes focusing sharply on Loki Thorn.
Grab
!They both grabbed him, piercing through his tattered clothes and deep into his flesh. Blood spilled from the wounds.Mingyin's eyes burned intensely, visible through the flames.
Screams echoed as blood mixed with the fire. The sound of tearing bone, smashing flesh, coughing, and desperate yelling filled the air.Mingyin sighed briefly.
He looked through the spider web, watching both the dragons and Loki Thorn burn bitterly. The stench of rotting wood and burning flesh filled the air alongside the sounds of crying.Looking at the scene, Mingyin felt a peculiar sadness in his heart, though he factually held himself together.
He didn't pay attention to the horror of Loki Thorn's death; instead, he just looked at the dying body.To Mingyin, he never thought of the people he knew as either enemies or friends. He saw nobody as an ally or a foe; instead, he simply began to slowly restrain himself.
Sometimes, he didn't even trust his future self. This was the sad reality of a cracked boat being ravaged by the sea of fate.
Without waiting for a ship-fixer, such a boat would rather follow the hard path of fixing the gap alone, never realising that the gap could never be truly mended without expert help.
But only those who were strong could fix their own ship and love their own self.
If one wasn't prepared, they were doomed to meet the fate of being fixed by others—remaining a useless, foolish crybaby.He was facing a predictable life that fate had laid out. He would never dance with an enlightenment like that
."Loki Thorn, you have reached your false idealism and identity, and that is death!
Killing isn't what I am aiming for. If killing were a normal thing in this world,
it would cause nothing but trouble... but wouldn't that just be hypocritical of me? I have to kill my own race, my own kin, and I have to kill things that do not belong to my race.
Everything we do is followed by an effect.""
Fate!""
Loki Thorn, I know you're still alive!""Huh?"