Chapter 190

Chapter 190: Enlightenment Amidst Mortal Dust

Clang!

A clear, resonant bell toll echoed endlessly. The golden tadpole divine pattern merged with heaven and earth as a mysterious force revived. All present unwittingly fell under its influence, unable to free themselves.

The weakest Great Emperor lost consciousness first.

Great Emperor Ziwei’s mind turned hazy. He mumbled incessantly, uttering what sounded like a woman’s name. His voice was dreamlike, filled with foolish affection.

Ye Xu looked taken aback—this fellow actually had a tender side?

How utterly strange.

However, Ye Xu didn’t hold out for long either. With the resurgence of the Reincarnation Dao Field’s power, its influence descended like spring rain—silent and undetected—seeping into his soul and conjuring illusions.

It felt like he had traveled again.

Returned to Blue Star.

Back in the modern metropolis, amidst dazzling lights and intoxicating decadence.

For a moment, Ye Xu struggled to distinguish illusion from reality, sinking deeper by the second.

"As it is with Reincarnation Dao!"

The strongest—Su Miao Zhen, Emperor Venerable Mi Luo, Emperor Venerable Yama, and Dao King—watched their awareness fading. Yet the four stubbornly resisted, though the onset of delusion only hastened.

Su Miao Zhen murmured softly, recognizing the power’s origin.

Reincarnation Dao!

This Dao Field was woven upon the Reincarnation Dao itself; each twisting golden tadpole divine pattern bore its imprint.

With the Dao revived, none could escape the cycle of reincarnation.

"Can’t… lose myself in it." Su Miao Zhen formed a sword hand seal and tapped her forehead. Her Purple Palace opened, revealing a sword embryo enveloped by seven swirling sword energies—time, space, destruction, slaughter, infinity…

Seven Daos intermingled as the seven swords hummed, guarding the embryo.

This sword embryo was her primal soul origin. She knew well: losing oneself within Reincarnation Dao meant one might never emerge again.

Dao King bit his tongue sharply, reclaiming a shred of clarity. Channeling the Enlightenment Tree, he urged its branches to unfurl. The sound of the Dao boomed mightily, echoing through his Purple Palace.

Myriad Daos churned seamlessly within his Purple Palace, akin to a self-contained universe where the Enlightenment Tree governed the laws—its trunk and branches manifesting countless truths.

He mustered every hidden resource he possessed to withstand Reincarnation Dao.

Emperor Venerable Mi Luo pushed the Mi Luo Heavenly Tower to its limits, exerting all his strength.

Yet despite the four laying bare their trump cards, they still failed to halt Reincarnation Dao’s encroachment.

The Reincarnation Dao Field overwhelmed every other cultivated Dao. Within that domain, even Dao King and Su Miao Zhen became no different from common mortals.

As for the rest? They had long succumbed to the Dao, plunged into an eternal cycle of rebirth. Ye Xu, too, was no exception.

Only Lin Qianmo stood apart.

She neither struggled nor resisted Reincarnation Dao. Instead, she activated the Red Dust Tribulation Sutra, willingly melding herself with the Reincarnation Dao—stepping into the cycle to endure its torments willingly.

The essence of the Red Dust Tribulation Sutra lay in weathering ten thousand calamities of the mortal world, attaining immortality and enlightenment amid the dust-choked chaos.

Thus, her mastery of Reincarnation Dao was profoundly deep.

The Reincarnation Dao here was naturally formed, incredibly profound. If I could gain some insight into it, I could surely attain the Dao and become an emperor right in this place.

Lin Qianmo remained calm; the Reincarnation Dao Field was her opportunity to prove the Dao.

Buzz!

In an instant, the Reincarnation Dao enveloped her, pulling Lin Qianmo into the cycle of reincarnation.

Wah!

In an unknown world, a baby girl was born.

A dignified middle-aged man held the infant with deep affection and smiled, "Let’s name her Miaochang!"

In this life, she was Lin Miaochang.

From the moment Lin Miaochang was born and began cultivation, she displayed an almost monstrous talent, rising as swiftly as a rocket. The name of the Mystic Pearl Princess resounded throughout the Heavenly Edict Divine Empire.

Yet, merely a few decades later, internal strife tore the Heavenly Edict Divine Empire apart as various sects rebelled.

The imperial family crumbled. Lin Miaochang’s father and mother perished in battle, her own cultivation was shattered, her beauty ruined. She fell from a high and mighty princess to a cripple.

Lin Qianmo trembled, her fingers digging into her palms.

Everything she experienced in this reincarnation was unmistakably the memories of her past life.

It all felt utterly real.

After the collapse of the Heavenly Edict Dynasty, warlords rose, plunging the land into endless war.

Lin Miaochang drifted into the mundane world, experiencing the fickleness of human affection and witnessing the harshness of worldly affairs. Finally, twelve years later, by the shore of the Heavenly River, she comprehended the Red Dust Tribulation Sutra.

In a single day, as a mere mortal, Lin Miaochang instantaneously became a saint.

One hundred and twenty years later, Lin Miaochang attained the Dao and became emperor. She suppressed the great sects, slew her enemies, and unified the realm.

She was no longer the Mystic Pearl Princess, but the Empress of the Heavenly Edict.

Even within the Tian Huang Realm, her name was illustrious.

Eight hundred years later, Lin Qianmo ascended to immortality.

Three hundred thousand years later, Lin Qianmo encountered the most formidable adversary of her life. Forced to, she let her physical form dissolve and reincarnate into the lower realm.

The memories of an entire lifetime passed in a mere instant. Lin Qianmo shuddered slightly before she could even reflect; she was pulled into the second cycle of reincarnation.

This second life, however, was not Lin Qianmo’s.

Instead, it was an ordinary woman born in a small mountain village.

This world appeared to have no cultivators.

In this lifetime, she married, bore children, lived through an ordinary mortal life, and eventually passed away from illness on her deathbed, departing the world.

Cycle after cycle unfolded.

She lived as a mortal, a noble, or an immensely powerful being. Countless scenes flashed through Lin Qianmo’s mind like projections — excruciatingly vivid and agonizingly real.

She became lost.

She could no longer distinguish truth from illusion.

Suddenly, an ancient temple appeared before Lin Qianmo. She couldn’t recall when it had manifested; it seemed as if it had materialized out of thin air.

In the temple, a young monk was holding a broom and sweeping the steps.

"When the false is taken as true, the true becomes false; when nothingness becomes being, being returns to nothingness…"

The monk in tattered robes was muttering these words.

Lin Qianmo shuddered all over.

These words brought sudden enlightenment, instantly waking her up.

She looked forward, but where was the young monk now?

Ahead was empty, just the vast, mighty river; the temple had vanished.

It all seemed like an illusion.

Yet, Lin Qianmo had an epiphany.

Whether the Red Dust Tribulation Sutra, which traversed the myriad phenomena of the mortal world and experienced all life’s hardships, sorrows, and joys, was real or false was not important to Lin Qianmo.

What mattered was that her Dao heart was constantly subliming through this ordeal.

The Reincarnation Dao Field could be real; her experiences of countless cycles of reincarnation could also be real.

When she awoke, she could also consider it false.

"Thank you, senior, for your guidance."

Lin Qianmo emerged from reincarnation and regained her senses; she bowed respectfully toward the void.

Boom!

After bowing, Lin Qianmo’s aura surged dramatically; countless tadpole divine patterns fell into her body, and a seed of the Reincarnation Dao was rapidly forming.

Meanwhile, Lin Qianmo activated the Red Dust Tribulation Sutra and actively merged it with the Reincarnation Dao.

Rumble!

Her cultivation wildly ascended, soaring to the early stage, mid stage, and late stage of the Great Emperor realm.

A quarter of an hour later, Lin Qianmo reached the peak of the great emperor realm.

One moment of enlightenment was better than a thousand years of bitter cultivation.

Lin Qianmo attained the Dao and became an emperor.

The seed of the Reincarnation Dao quickly blossomed and bore Dao fruit.

"Strange, why didn’t the heavenly tribulation come?"

Lin Qianmo wore a surprised expression.

Unlike Duobao Daoist, she wasn’t re-cultivating but was instead reincarnated.

Since it was reincarnation, everything had to start anew; attaining the Dao and becoming an emperor would surely entail experiencing a heavenly tribulation.

But she broke through to the peak of the great emperor realm all at once, yet no heavenly tribulation descended; it was truly strange.

"Who was that senior who secretly helped me gain enlightenment?" Lin Qianmo again thought of that temple and that rag-clad young monk.

The monk’s face was extremely blurry.

Try as she might, she couldn’t recall any detail about the young monk.

That resembled a figure absent from her recollection.

Yet Lin Qianmo understood this was guidance from a master, likely concealed within the Dao Field.

Pfft!

A sound pierced the air.

Su Miao Zhen spat a blood arrow, shattering the bindings of the Reincarnation Dao and regaining clarity.

Lin Qianmo glanced at her, brow slightly furrowed.

Su Miao Zhen possessed formidable strength—she must have forcibly resisted the Reincarnation Dao, willingly enduring injury to break free from its grasp.

"Hmm?"

Lin Qianmo’s unusual state instantly drew Su Miao Zhen’s notice.

"You not only remained unaffected by the Reincarnation Dao but also advanced to the peak of the great emperor realm?" A flicker of astonishment crossed Su Miao Zhen’s eyes—this breakthrough defied all logic.

"It seems you harbor secrets of your own."

A cold realization struck Lin Qianmo.

If Su Miao Zhen chose to attack her, escaping unscathed seemed unlikely.

"Rest easy," Su Miao Zhen declared, her voice icy. "I shan’t raise my hand against you."

"Who among those able to enter the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest and step foot within this Dao Field bears no secret at all?"

Su Miao Zhen settled into a cross-legged position, swallowing a pill to heal her wounds.

Seeing Su Miao Zhen held no hostile intent, Lin Qianmo relaxed.

Clang!

Another toll of the bell sounded.

The Reincarnation Dao gradually subsided.

Emperor Venerables and great emperors, one after another, emerged from their reincarnation cycles.

Evidently, the Reincarnation Dao Field operated on a fixed cycle.

The first bell toll signalled the awakening of the Reincarnation Dao, pulling all within the Dao Field into endless cycles of rebirth.

The second bell toll brought closure.

"Hmph?"

Su Miao Zhen’s expression darkened.

Had she known the Dao Field operated on such a cycle, she would not have expended such effort to break the Reincarnation Dao’s bindings. Her strength was severely diminished now, a costly mistake.

"All mere illusions," sighed Ye Xu, coming to his senses.

There’s no place like home.

Longing for his homeland still lingered deeply within him.

If possible, he even wished this incarnation could remain forever lost in the Reincarnation Dao, while his true self presided over Heaven’s Secret Pavilion, attending to both matters simultaneously.

But he could only fantasize.

"Huh!"

Emperor Venerable Mi Luo was drenched in cold sweat, his voice trembling with lingering fear. "This accursed place is truly terrifying. None of us had any idea how we all fell into its trap."

"It’s fortunate there was a time limit," Emperor Venerable Yama said with relief.

Had the cycle of reincarnation lasted too long or repeated too many times, he truly couldn’t guarantee whether his Dao heart could endure collapse.

Dao King remained expressionless.

His Dao heart was as firm as bedrock, unshakable even through countless lifetimes of reincarnation.

He was the first to regain composure.

"Daoist Friend Lin, have you achieved a breakthrough?"

Sensing the shift in Lin Qianmo’s aura, Dao King smiled and cupped his hands. "Congratulations on attaining the Dao and becoming an emperor."

"How was this possible?"

Shock and doubt flickered across the faces of the many Emperor Venerables.

Trapped in reincarnation, each struggling merely to preserve themselves—how could anyone achieve a breakthrough?

Yet, why hadn’t they sensed the presence of a heavenly tribulation?

Astonishment and confusion gripped them all.

Ye Xu was also startled.

With her breakthrough, Lin Qianmo’s entire bearing had undergone a great change, her presence now shrouded in profound mystery.

"You flatter me, fellow Daoist," Lin Qianmo responded modestly. "Sheer luck, that’s all."

"Ha…ha…ha!"

Dao King laughed heartily three times, his words laced with meaning. "This can hardly be dismissed as mere luck. Daoist Friend Lin’s Red Dust Tribulation Sutra truly seems extraordinary in its profundity."

Red Dust Tribulation Sutra?

Upon hearing this scripture’s name, many eyes widened, pupils contracting sharply.

"I recall," Emperor Venerable Mi Luo said, his gaze deepening, "this scripture was created by the Empress of the Heavenly Edict of the Tian Huang Realm… However, that empress ascended to the Immortal Realm long ago, and the Heavenly Edict Dynasty has long since completely disappeared."

"Who could have imagined this scripture still has an inheritor!"