"This is unbelievable! He died in one world, mysteriously transmigrated into another, obtained a system, and then died again. Afterward, he transmigrated once more, this time into the world of cultivation, and now the system has vanished! I can't help but think that these events are no mere accidents. Someone—or something—is manipulating them," Wang Xuanwei exclaimed, his voice tinged with suspicion as he addressed Wu Jian.
Wu Jian nodded slightly. Of course, she would consider such a possibility. Although she often acted brashly and relied more on strength than strategy, she wasn't a fool. Still, Wu Jian dismissed the notion that some mysterious entity could manipulate unwelcome souls and force their way into this world without the consent of the top forces.
Wang Xuanwei, though sharp in his observations, was far less knowledgeable about the intricacies of the cultivation world. After all, he was younger and a whole realm lower in power than Wu Jian. His understanding of the world's workings remained limited. On the other hand, Wu Jian knew all too well about the countless layers of defence surrounding the cultivation world. There were innumerable powerful cultivators tasked with protecting against unauthorized entries or tampering with the world's balance.
For someone—or some force—to not only bypass these defences and successfully transmigrate souls but also provide a system capable of enslaving cultivators as powerful as herself and Wang Xuanwei, it was an extraordinary feat. It suggested that the entity responsible for this was either absurdly powerful or had the cooperation of some of the most influential forces within the Golden Immortal World.
Wu Jian couldn't bring herself to believe that any rank 13 entity could freely defy universal laws and treat this world as if it were their personal playground. As for the possibility of a rank 14 being involved ... such thoughts were beyond absurd, so she didn't even consider it for a split second.
"We cannot kill him for now," Wu Jian finally declared, her tone resolute. Despite her personal distaste for Leo, the risks associated with taking his life were too high. The possibility that Leo was backed by a faction from the Golden Immortal World made her tread cautiously. She didn't dare to act rashly.
However, sparing Leo's life didn't mean she would grant him freedom. Her plan was simple: imprison him for a few thousand years while she uncovered the truth and considered her next course of action.
"It's a damn shame we have to let him live," Wang Xuanwei muttered, frustration evident in his voice.
"It really is," Wu Jian admitted with a sigh. She loathed Leo as much as her subordinate did. Despite the improvements her new physical body had brought, she felt no gratitude toward Leo for the role he had played.
...
The world of cultivation was vast, composed of countless realms and planes scattered across the multiverse. However, when it came to raw power, influence, and authority, everything converged on one realm: the Golden Immortal World.
Though it occupied less than 1% of the total spatial territory across the world of cultivation, the Golden Immortal World held more than 99% of the world's power. It was home to the Primordial Sovereign Cultivators and the Eternal Ascendant Cultivators, individuals equivalent to ranks 13 and 12, respectively. These cultivators represented the pinnacle of power, their influence shaping the destinies of entire realms.
Despite the incredible vigilance and defensive measures enacted by these supreme entities, the Golden Immortal World recently faced a shocking revelation: a covert invasion attempt from a distant realm known as the Great Candle Shrine.
The plot came to light not because the cultivators of the Golden Immortal World uncovered it but because one of the agents of the Great Candle Shrine voluntarily exposed their mission and begged for mercy.
The attack was entirely unprovoked and baffled even the most astute minds among the cultivators. Such an act would usually invite immediate retaliation, a full-scale invasion to punish those who dared threaten the sanctity of the cultivation world. Yet the manner in which the invader surrendered left the entire Golden Immortal World in a state of perplexed hesitation.
What could drive an agent to reveal their plans willingly?
The deeper the cultivators delved into the mystery, the clearer it became that this incident was much more severe than imagined. No cultivator had any inkling of the invasion; no one had suspected a thing. There was a high probability that the plot could have succeeded. It was both a relief and a cause for alarm that the Great Candle Shrine itself admitted to the scheme and begged for forgiveness.
The relief stemmed from the fact that a potentially catastrophic threat had been exposed before it could cause any real damage. Loopholes in the world's defences were identified, and many were already closed or undergoing rigorous fortification.
What kind of terrifying presence could force the Great Candle Shrine to reveal its plans so readily? Who or what had frightened such a powerful force into submission? And most unsettling of all—was this fearsome entity already walking unnoticed within the world of cultivation? The fact that even the Primordial Sovereign Cultivators, among the most powerful beings in existence, remained unaware of this entity's presence added a heavy layer of dread.
While the higher-ups of the cultivation world felt some relief that the invasion had been neutralized, their growing concern centred on a single name: Rachel.
This was the name the Great Candle Shrine agent had repeated incessantly while begging for mercy. The name invoked a mixture of reverence and fear among the more experienced cultivators. Some of the Primordial Sovereign and Eternal Ascendant Cultivators were familiar with Rachel's legend. They had never encountered her personally—after all, a being of her caliber would never lower herself to meet simple rank 13 entities—but her reputation was unshakable.
Rachel's name was known across countless worlds and dimensions, unbound by the limitations of time and space.
However, no matter how legendary her exploits were, being the target of a rank 14 entity was never a comforting prospect. Rachel's sudden emergence as a point of fear left the cultivators scrambling for answers.
The Candle Shrine told them that one of Rachel's agents was present in the world but refused to reveal his or her name. The top cultivators didn't dare put too much pressure; if she didn't want her agent's name revealed, they were in no position to know it.
They were concerned but lacked any means of dealing with her directly. To protect themselves, the cultivation world's leaders decided to act swiftly. They began patching every loophole and vulnerability they could find, summoning their true immortality and higher-rank cultivators back from the lower worlds to strengthen their defences.
Even though, in front of a rank 14, all defences are useless, the plot by the Great Candle Shrine revealed too many flaws that can and must be fixed.
As for retaliation against the Great Candle Shrine, they simply gave up on it; it was too much trouble with no return. After all, the Great Candle Shrine admitted its actions and asked for forgiveness, so there was no need to retaliate militarily. Of course, they planned on asking for monetary compensation.
...
Time waits for no one, not even the most powerful of beings. A thousand years passed in what felt like the blink of an eye.
For mortals, a millennium is a vast and incomprehensible stretch of time, long enough to witness the rise and fall of civilizations. But for high-level cultivators like Wu Jian and Wang Xuanwei, it was nothing more than a fleeting moment. To them, a thousand years was a mere ripple in the endless river of time.
In the centuries that followed the incident with Leo, no one had come looking for him. He remained sealed in the dungeon. Wu Jian had no intention of killing him outright, even though she despised him deeply. The risks associated with his death were too significant to ignore.
Leo's connection to the mysterious system that had attached to him remained a puzzle. The system had bestowed upon him terrifying powers, allowing him to brainwash and control cultivators who were several realms stronger than himself. Then, just as inexplicably as it had appeared, the system vanished. Wu Jian couldn't discern why it had disappeared or whether it might return.
After much deliberation, she had chosen the most straightforward and safest option: seal Leo away and let his natural lifespan run its course. Death by time was a slow, inexorable process that carried far fewer risks than actively killing him. Besides, confinement in the dungeon for thousands of years was its own form of torment—arguably more cruel than death itself.
Her plan extended beyond his death. Wu Jian intended to capture Leo's soul the moment he passed. The reincarnation system of the Crystal Expanse Immortal World was immensely powerful, capable of forcibly dragging souls into the cycle of rebirth. However, Wu Jian was confident she could contain Leo's soul for at least ten thousand years, delaying its entry into reincarnation.
The nature of the soul's power determined how strongly the reincarnation system would pull it. For mortals, the pull was nearly irresistible; even transcendent beings would struggle to prevent a mortal soul from being reclaimed by the cycle for long. But for those with stronger cultivation bases—such as Void Refining cultivators—their souls could linger in the world for far longer before being drawn into the reincarnation system.
In the world of cultivation, no soul is truly eternal. Without a physical body to anchor it, every soul—regardless of its strength—will eventually be drawn into the reincarnation system and processed anew. This universal truth governs all beings with souls, irrespective of their cultivation or power.
For those below the Core Formation realm, the fate of the soul after death is largely uncontrollable. Upon the death of the body, their souls enter an unconscious state and linger in the world for only a short while—usually no more than a few days. Inevitably, they are drawn into the reincarnation system, their memories wiped, and their essence repurposed for a new cycle of life.
Core Formation cultivators experience a slightly different process. Upon death, their souls remain intact for longer, lingering in the world for several weeks. However, without external intervention or assistance, these souls, too, are eventually claimed by the reincarnation cycle.
Nascent Soul cultivators stand apart from their lower-level counterparts. Upon death, their souls retain consciousness, granting them the ability to take actions, such as possessing a new body and restarting their cultivation journey. However, there is a critical limitation: regaining a body does not reset their lifespan. Their remaining years continue to dwindle, regardless of how many new vessels they inhabit.
Even for these advanced cultivators, there is a time limit. Without a body to anchor their existence, a Nascent Soul cultivator's soul can remain in the world for no longer than a month.
For those who ascend to realms beyond the Nascent Soul stage, the rules begin to change, though the inevitability of reincarnation remains. Cultivators of the Celestial Ascension Realm and higher possess unique abilities that allow them to bypass the need to possess another body. These cultivators can generate a new physical body entirely from their own power, a process akin to creating a temporary vessel to shield their soul from reincarnation.
For them, the physical body serves only as a protective shell. Their true power and essence reside in their soul. Regardless of how often their body is destroyed, they can recreate it effortlessly. As such, they remain almost immune to the reincarnation cycle for as long as their soul retains its strength.
True Immortals and cultivators of even higher realms take this immunity to the next level. They can outright ignore the pull of reincarnation for millions of years, though they are not entirely immune. Should a True Immortal's soul remain bodiless for eons, even they will eventually succumb to the cycle.
The reincarnation cycle applies universally to all beings with souls. This relentless system is the reason why vengeful ghosts and other supernatural anomalies are rare in the world of cultivation. It is not that cultivators tirelessly hunt and eradicate such spirits; rather, the reincarnation system ensures that lingering souls cannot remain in the world indefinitely. Ghosts and other soul-based entities are usually reclaimed by the cycle within a few months.
The system's strictness is also why demonic sects that deal with ghosts, such as those who use soul flags to trap and weaponize souls, face significant challenges. These sects have developed techniques to prolong the stay of souls in the mortal world, but even their methods are temporary. Souls stored in soul flags must be renewed periodically.
The frequency of renewal depends on the strength of the captured souls. Weaker souls require frequent replacement, while stronger souls can last much longer before being reclaimed. This is one of the reasons why demonic sects are often so bloodthirsty: they need a constant supply of fresh souls to maintain their power.
There are, however, forbidden techniques that go beyond trapping souls. Some practitioners opt to break souls, extracting their raw energy and storing it for other purposes. This act is among the gravest sins a cultivator can commit. The destruction of a soul violates the natural order, depriving the reincarnation cycle of its resources and forcing the world to expend immense energy to create new souls from scratch.
The consequences for soul-breaking are severe. The universe itself responds with wrath, marking the perpetrator with black and red karma—a fate worse than death in the eyes of most cultivators. This negative karma attracts disaster, often in the form of tribulations, which grow more severe with each offense. In extreme cases, the world may directly intervene, annihilating the offender with a catastrophic lightning strike.
Even within the demonic sects, soul-breaking is viewed as a reckless and dangerous practice, reserved for only the most desperate or depraved.
Thus, the heavens are unforgiving toward those who dare to commit such atrocities. For most cultivators, the risk of incurring the world's ire is enough to keep them from venturing into this forbidden territory.