Chapter 322 - 315: In the River of Time, Life and Death in an Instant

「Cangling County. An unnamed cliff.」

Song Ciwan remained seated securely inside the Han Guang Glaze Residence. The Refinement of the Sun and Moon Wheel of Formless Life and Death was nearing its end, and her entire consciousness was immersed in sensing the treasure, oblivious to everything else.

Midnight had passed. Song Ciwan’s Lifespan had already decreased by three thousand years.

If it were an ordinary Cultivator, even one at the Divine Refining Stage or Earth Immortal Level, their Lifespan would have likely been exhausted by now. But Song Ciwan was still full of vitality.

Not only that, but she pressed on, and in a single instant, she infused the Sun and Moon Wheel of Formless Life and Death with all of her True Qi, along with another two thousand years of her Lifespan.

Her Lifespan burned like a raging inferno.

In the instant her life force flowed away, all sorts of wondrous sensations rushed toward her—sensations of time, of life and death, of the past, and of the future. They spun like Liuguang, like old paintings of light and shadow, washing over her at lightning speed.

RUMBLE—

There was clearly no sound, yet it was as if a dense drumbeat echoed in Song Ciwan’s ears.

Each beat seemed to strike the crest of every wave in the long river of time.

SPLASH! The long river surged. For a moment, Song Ciwan thought she saw a blurry figure at the other end of the endless river, meeting her gaze with an indescribable look!

’Who is that? So familiar, as if I see them a thousand times a day, yet so strange, like a face I’ve completely forgotten...’

At the far end of the long river, the blurry figure seemed to run upon the waves. She stumbled beneath the churning torrent, and as a great swell surged, she leaped...

Song Ciwan was jolted back to her senses, her heart pounding wildly.

Just as she focused her vision, feeling she was finally about to see the other person’s face clearly, the entire vision was shattered by another sudden development.

A splash erupted from the waves of the river of time.

The splash was both light and heavy. The moment it shot up from the river, it became like an ice crystal, a blade of water, a sharp arrow, piercing through the endless waves and shooting straight toward Song Ciwan!

The water blade refracted, faintly reflecting two figures.

One was a beautiful woman, fair as a flower; the other was clad in a gray Daoist robe.

The image was distorted and vanished in a flash, like a traversing beam of light.

’What was that?’

Song Ciwan didn’t have time to see everything clearly. In that instant, she followed her instincts, raising her right hand and flicking at the clear light in her left.

What she held in her left palm was the Sun and Moon Wheel of Formless Life and Death, on the verge of being successfully refined. This treasure was both formless and form, both tangible and intangible; it could illuminate the sun and moon and reveal life and death!

CLANG—

A crisp sound rang out.

Although Song Ciwan had flicked at a wisp of clear light, it felt as if she had struck the sharp edge of a blade.

The blade’s light, bright as a mirror, met the incoming water blade head-on.

CLANG!

Amidst the endless waves, the piercing force of their collision created a terrifying shockwave like an avalanche of sound.

BOOM!

RUMBLE!

The long river shattered. Countless splashes flew out, forming strange, distorted patches of light. Some slammed into Song Ciwan’s chest, some dissipated into the endless void, and others shot off into the distance.

Song Ciwan, sitting cross-legged in her Cultivation Room, snapped her eyes open, a dull ache spreading through her chest.

On her Insight Technique panel, her remaining Lifespan was clearly displayed: Song Ciwan, 26 (Lifespan: 12,156 years).

In that single instant, another three thousand years of her Lifespan had been consumed!

「Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in the distant Central State, in Shangjing.」

The old Daoist spat out a mouthful of blood, his face instantly turning haggard.

The palace-robed woman who had been standing guard beside him shot to her feet, frowning. "What happened? You..."

Before she could finish, dozens of wrinkles instantly appeared on the old Daoist’s once-smooth face. In a flash, his head of black hair turned gray and white.

In that one instant, he seemed to have aged several decades!

Of course, it was likely more than just a few decades. After all, for someone of his Cultivation to age so dramatically in an instant, it must have been a loss of at least several hundred years of Lifespan.

For the first time, a look of shocked horror appeared on the palace-robed woman’s usually calm and proud face.

It must be known that this old Daoist was no ordinary figure.

With his Cultivation as a Returning Void Earth Immortal and his Mastery of Divination, to suffer such a powerful backlash during a Divination... what exactly had he encountered?

...

Back in Cangling County, Song Ciwan sat in her Cultivation Room, her heart still pounding with lingering fear. It was the terror of a life-or-death moment, and the relief of a narrow escape.

She had successfully refined the Sun and Moon Wheel of Formless Life and Death!

The process had consumed over eight thousand years of her Lifespan. Of course, it might not have required so much. The most critical part was that just as her Refinement of the treasure was reaching its peak, a Divination that pierced through the barriers of time and space had been unleashed from the shadows.

It was a power that broke into the river of time, parted the dense fog, and confronted karma head-on.

During the confrontation, Song Ciwan hadn’t fully understood the situation; she had only instinctively resisted that power.

But now that it was over, holding the Sun and Moon Wheel of Formless Life and Death that was now one with her, she faintly understood. That power had been investigating the cause of the Second Young Master’s death!

Ten years ago, Song Ciwan had killed the Second Young Master in the Demon Realm. At the time, the barriers of the Demon Realm had obscured all karma. Even though the Second Young Master was backed by an incredibly powerful faction, both parties were outside the Mortal World. No matter how much his backers wanted to investigate, they likely had no way to even begin.

But now, ten years later, Song Ciwan had returned to the Mortal World—

Song Ciwan had thought that after ten years, during which she had used the Great Derivation Birth Skill countless times to cleanse her aura, it would be impossible for them to trace her.

’Thinking back on it now, I was too naive.’

Fortunately, the enemy’s investigation had happened to coincide with the critical moment she was refining the Sun and Moon Wheel of Formless Life and Death.

In the unique circumstances of refining this treasure, Song Ciwan had, with the help of a strange power, managed to glimpse the river of time.

Riding the winds and waves of that river, wielding the Sun and Moon Wheel of Formless Life and Death, and paying the price of burning her Lifespan, she had successfully repelled that dangerous Divination from within the river of time.

The river of time cannot be glimpsed lightly; such an opportunity is a matter of pure chance, not something one can seek out.

For Song Ciwan to be able to fight an enemy within the river of time was truly an extraordinary stroke of luck.

It seemed like everything was over, and yet, it also felt as if it had only just begun.

...

Song Ciwan sat cross-legged in the Cultivation Room, gently stroking the successfully refined Sun and Moon Wheel of Formless Life and Death. As she held the treasure, it shifted form, one moment appearing like moonlight, the next taking the shape of sunlight.

Sometimes the light would cling to her hand, transforming into what looked like a clear, transparent spring...

Her thoughts, however, instantly drifted to matters far away.

’I may have repelled their Divination this time,’ she thought, ’but there’s no guarantee they won’t try again.’

’Even if they don’t use Divination, I had a direct conflict with the Second Young Master in front of the Spirit Realm Light Gate in the Pinglan City Suburb.’

’That confrontation happened in public, and many people witnessed it.’

’While that doesn’t prove I killed the Second Young Master, it makes it hard for me to clear my name of suspicion.’

’In a world like this, where mythic power is a personal attribute, you don’t always need conclusive evidence to condemn someone.’

’Fortunately, I was using an unfamiliar alias back then—a randomly fabricated identity. Aside from exchanging a few words with Du Xingheng, I didn’t have any clear interactions with anyone else.’

’An alias like that can be discarded at any time.’

’However, I’ll have to be more careful about using the Wind and Rain Summoning Technique I displayed in front of the Spirit Realm Light Gate.’

As Song Ciwan mulled this over, she summoned the Heaven and Earth Scale and, with a few quick taps, began to replenish her Lifespan!