Volume 1, Chapter 284 – The Reason

What happened inside the Outer-World Battlefield did not affect the world outside, but time moved in sync.

By the time Shi Lan and the others released the battlefield, Zhao Ye, who had been lying not far away, had already vanished without a trace.

At the sight, Shi Lan frowned slightly. These people clearly had sect forces behind them. If Zhao Ye got away alive, it could cause no small amount of trouble.

Shi Lan swept her gaze over the surrounding area, looked toward Lin Mo, who had already passed out not far away, lowered her head, and asked:

“If the plot changes, will the effects be significant? What comes later in the plot? Ning An was originally destined to die here, correct?”

“Yes. Now that Ning An didn’t die, it may trigger unexpected developments later. It was precisely because Ning An died that Lin Mo’s temperament changed drastically. Only then could the later plot move forward.”

Liang Yunnan, standing to the side, nodded and added:

“To be honest, we do not know that much about the plot either. The hints given by Cube Space are incomplete. Most of the time when we enter an instance, we are also crossing the river by feeling the stones.”

Shi Lan nodded thoughtfully, waved a hand to dismiss the four of them, then lay down not far behind Lin Mo in a comfortable position, closed her eyes, and let her consciousness sink into Ning An’s sea of consciousness, no longer making the slightest movement.

…

…

After leaving Shi Lan, Liang Yunnan and the others arrived at a secluded villa in the suburbs.

This was their temporary meeting point. After all, on the surface, they still had identities they needed to play.

In the spotless living room, the four sat around a table, each with a cup of steaming tea set before them.

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Xue Qiong’s eyes were full of anger. She drained her tea in one gulp, then suddenly hurled the glass, which was still warm, at the wall.

Smash.

“Xiao Jingchen, you had better give me a reasonable explanation about the Soul Tokens!”

Bai Ji, beside her, was also suppressing a trace of anger, though he was puzzled as well. Liang Yunnan, meanwhile, was reclining sideways on the sofa, expression unreadable.

“What explanation do you want?”

Xiao Jingchen glanced at Xue Qiong indifferently, unmoved.

“If you hadn’t brought up the Soul Tokens, that person would never have known about them. Now the Soul Tokens are in her hands. The four of us are just like that glass from a moment ago. Who knows when we’ll shatter!”

Xue Qiong was grinding her teeth in fury. She had always had a hot temper, and she had already held herself back all the way here. In her view, Xiao Jingchen had simply feared death and dragged the other three of them down with him.

“With your intelligence, explaining it would be exhausting, and I don’t feel like explaining.”

Xiao Jingchen shook his head slightly, took a sip of tea, stood up, and left.

“You!”

Xue Qiong’s face went pale. She immediately tried to get up, but before she could straighten, Liang Yunnan reached out from the side and pulled her back down.

“Big Brother!”

Seeing the calm expression on Liang Yunnan’s face, Xue Qiong only grew more furious. Bai Ji at the side also looked as if he wanted to speak but stopped himself.

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Liang Yunnan gave Xue Qiong a soothing pat on the back and pushed the untouched tea in front of him toward her.

“Don’t get impatient when something happens. It’s not as if we only met yesterday. We’ve known each other for decades and been through life and death together. Do you really think Jingchen is the sort who fears death?”

“What do you mean?”

Xue Qiong was only quick-tempered, not stupid. Looking at Liang Yunnan’s expression, she began to understand.

“That person had already developed killing intent. If there had been the slightest hesitation, the four of us would already be dead.”

Liang Yunnan leaned back into the sofa and glanced at the two sitting upright.

“And do you really think the Cube is trustworthy?”

Bai Ji’s gaze shifted slightly, as if he had understood something.

“The four of us have spent nearly a hundred years in the Cube. Other than constantly doing missions and increasing our strength, there has never been any other path. And even that path was given to us by the Cube.”

“In the final analysis, whether one can truly go back after reaching the ninth rank is only the Cube’s own claim. Who can guarantee it is true? You haven’t forgotten why the few of us entered the Cube in the first place, have you?”

“Accidental death? Perhaps the Cube arranged that on purpose.”

“The person we met just now has nothing to do with the Cube, yet she can still travel through the myriad worlds just the same. Clearly, aside from the Cube, there are other unknown powers in this universe. For us, that may be another way out.”

“But the Soul Tokens…”

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After remaining silent for a while, Xue Qiong still felt uneasy.

“Our lives were never in our own hands to begin with.”

Liang Yunnan shook his head, got to his feet, and looked toward the glass shards at the base of the wall, a faint frown passing over his face.

“Clean that up.”

…

…

The night passed in a blink. At dawn, Lin Mo, who had been lying on the ground, slowly opened his eyes.

After seeing the surroundings clearly, his gaze dimmed.

“I’m back again…”

The environment around him was already familiar beyond measure. He had gone through it hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. No matter what ending it was, no matter what life he lived, in the end he always returned to that same morning that had nearly become his nightmare.

There was no need to turn around. Lin Mo already knew what lay behind him: Ning An’s horribly mangled corpse. Even every single wound on that corpse was as clear in his mind as if he were looking at the lines in his palm.

After all, he had seen it hundreds and thousands of times already…

He had committed suicide countless times, yet in the end he still could not escape this hell-like cycle. This world was like a prison, locking him here beyond death, forbidding him rebirth for all eternity.

Lin Mo slowly got to his feet and walked toward the dumpster not far away.

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In the center of the dumpster lay a mangled figure. By the dim light of dawn, one could vaguely make out that it was a middle-aged man in his forties. He had already stopped breathing, and his body was cold.

Lin Mo crouched down and, with practiced ease, inserted his finger into the dead man’s eye socket.

After feeling around for a moment, Lin Mo withdrew his fingers. Between them was a translucent shard like a sliver of ice crystal.

This was the key to unlocking a heaven-shaking treasure, something that had emerged from a ruin and been fought over by countless martial sects.

Even if Lin Mo did not take it, before long someone would carry this corpse away, strip the flesh from it inch by inch, and in the end grind the bones to ash.

The people of the world knew only one part of the truth and not the other. This inconspicuous shard was not merely the key to opening that treasure. It was also an extraordinary treasure that greatly aided cultivation, enough to turn any ordinary mortal into a heavenly prodigy of the martial path and let them dominate the world.

Lin Mo had studied this shard for dozens of lifetimes. In the end, the conclusion he reached was that this thing was only a fragment, stripped away from some heaven-defying treasure.

But even after searching for a very long time, he had never discovered where the other pieces were.

Lin Mo cut a small slit at the back of his neck and slipped the shard inside. The instant it entered, the wound healed at once, leaving not the slightest trace behind.

“Lin Mo?”

A hesitant call made Lin Mo’s body stiffen instantly.

Lin Mo turned around. Looking at the unfamiliar figure bathed in the morning light not far away, his expression became complicated, as if he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

“Ning An…”