Duality of Shadows-Chapter 1016: The Celestial Sage

Only the three of them understood what the old man said—he spoke in the universal language of cultivators. Everyone was surprised and stared at him. He looked as ordinary as any other mortal on this planet.

The whale sighed, his eyes gleaming. Suddenly, a gentle breeze passed through, and the three of them magically vanished.

They now found themselves at the top of a secluded mountain. The whale turned to the trembling old man and slowly asked, "How do you know?"

The man was visibly shaken, speaking with a nostalgic and distant expression:

"I... I remember, sir... In this life, I was born in a very religious place and learned to meditate from an early age. When I was 30, I don’t know how, but after a meditation, I began to remember my past life. I remember being a cultivator and part of a sect created by an immortal. The feeling coming from you all is unmistakable."

The whale nodded. A sect with immortals meant he had lived a long time ago, even before the Queen started the war. They had already heard that such sects were common in the past.

"I need to examine your soul..."

The whale murmured, and the old man quickly nodded in agreement. Alm and Bruno carefully invaded his soul to analyze it. There was nothing wrong until they probed deeper into his Origin-Law and found something abnormal: a unique law, hidden calamity power mixed within.

’...why is this inside him? Did its influence trigger the release of his memories?’ Alm murmured seriously. ’It’s just a remnant of the law. We need to figure out which primordial chaos item this belongs to.’

Aside from that remnant, everything else in him was normal. They extracted the fragment of the law, which would make it easier to identify similar people.

The old man opened his eyes, returning to reality. Alm and Bruno analyzed his karma, which was neutral. He seemed to be an honest person.

"Do you want to return to cultivating, or would you prefer to live a simple life here? If you remember the other side, you know it’s not much different from this place. Things out there are a bit chaotic; at least here, you can live away from the war... or almost. It’s your choice."

The whale asked, and the man replied with a faint smile:

"No, sir. I remember the bloody end my sect faced. In that life, my father and mother died in disputes, and I met the same fate. I prefer to live in peace here... though I’m not sure humans here will maintain it for long. With every technological advance, they seem closer to destroying everything."

The whale nodded and marked the old man’s soul as a reward. He wanted peace, but after his death, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t reincarnate in a different universe with cultivation. Now, with the mark, he was inserted into the reincarnation cycle of the internal universe, ensuring he’d be reborn on one of the 200 peaceful planets there.

After that, they moved back to the previous place, said their goodbyes to the old man, and vanished.

The three of them used the extracted fragment to search for similar fluctuations. Since these remnants were minimal and hidden within people, they were very difficult to detect without prior knowledge.

Now they could feel it clearly...

"Everyone... everyone has a bit of it hidden inside them," Ruri murmured in surprise.

The whale sighed. Then they split up to search for people where the fluctuations were strongest. They did everything discreetly, communicating through an array.

First, they’d appear before the person, but unlike the old man, they didn’t react. Then they would carefully sense their fluctuations for a while.

"Master, this woman has abnormal mental power."

"Father, this child has a strange soul."

The two reported. Meanwhile, the whale found two more people who had memories of past lives.

In no time, everything became clearer: the law of the primordial chaos item had infiltrated everyone, likely including the few other planets with life in this universe.

This law altered certain aspects of people: mind, soul, vitality, or, in rare cases, even the Origin-Law. It seemed like something that had always existed. People who lived lives in other universes remembered and spread rumors about their experiences, turning those memories into legends and stories.

Over time, these stories became distorted, but their essence remained. Fantasies were used to pass down the narratives, and many stories were lost, though some survived.

The three collected the hidden fragments within people. Since they weren’t as deeply embedded as in the old man, the process was quick, and people only felt a brief dizziness.

A few days later, the whale decided they had gathered enough. The calamity law was now much clearer and more complete. With access to the Heaven’s Will’s knowledge, they knew what to research. They exchanged their points for information, and soon the data began to flow.

"Pearl of Chaotic Imagination..."

They said the name of the primordial chaos item to the two beside them. The knowledge revealed that this pearl was driven by the desire and will of living beings, constantly living among them.

The pearl created illusions that were almost real when many people wished for something together. These illusions lasted for a while and then disappeared. Most of the time, they were just illusions, but depending on the will of the item, they could become somewhat real.

After explaining, the whale focused again and turned his attention to the heavenly laws of this universe. This time, he was looking for something very specific. It took less than a second to find barely perceptible remnants.

"The time-space laws of the entire universe were altered by the calamity. Time here is abnormal compared to the rest of the world... why the hell would the calamity want to alter this?"

Bruno murmured, confused. The power of this item and the calamity should have been purely illusory, without directly affecting reality. Yet, it had purposely altered something here, even though it wasn’t anything too significant.

"This must have already existed when we lived here, or else time wouldn’t have passed so slowly. This means that this pearl coming into this universe is something that has happened before. And since everyone has their own law, even the laws of the entire universe must have been affected many times," Alm spoke coldly.

They knew where to go: they had to reach the core of this universe and would likely find that item there. The pearl wasn’t physical, and its existence was fragmented and hidden among the life forms; but now they knew how to make it manifest.

The whale explained to the two women and then prepared to leave. However, he stopped when he felt their hands hold his. He turned, confused, and saw Ruri’s worried gaze.

She spoke softly: "Master... you shouldn’t leave without resolving your issues."

Meru nodded, adding: "This is a thorn in daddy’s soul. Since time hasn’t passed, it’s an opportunity to resolve this, don’t you think? We’re here by your side. Let’s go together."

Alm and Bruno fell silent for a few seconds, reflecting on her words. In truth, they had only wanted to escape from that place, avoiding it at all costs. They hadn’t even considered facing this situation.

Now, feeling the warmth of their hands and their supportive gaze, they couldn’t deny or ignore it. With a long sigh, they nodded and moved forward.

In the middle of a vast ocean, the whale took them to one of his father’s secret places: the main house where he had been killed in the past. It was where his father was likely to be.

This dark man had been one of the pillars that shaped who Alm had become. Just thinking too much about the past was like having a poisonous dagger piercing their hearts. Although they pretended to have gotten over it, they had only ignored it and pushed it aside. Unconsciously, that poisonous dagger had always been there.

As they approached the immense mansion, it was night. Everything was silent and mournful. The three floated slowly up to the highest window of the emperor’s modern castle. That was his private room, and the three of them felt he was inside.

Inside the room, a breeze swayed the heavy curtains. He was lying on the bed, eyes tightly shut, when the trio arrived.

Alm and Bruno stared at that figure. He was thin, almost skeletal, bald, with a sickly appearance and an extremely weak life force.

When they died, their father had been about fifty years old. Only ten years had passed. With all the money and technological knowledge at his disposal, he should have been able to live twice as long. But the reality was different. A person’s fate didn’t just depend on external factors.

’Cancer... well advanced and destructive. He won’t live much longer.’ They explained to the two, who were confused. It was a mortal disease, caused by numerous factors. Earth science knew some causes but still didn’t have a complete cure for certain cases.

Of course, this was only true for mortals. The three of them could clearly see the cause: a sober and dense karma, something the two of them only saw in cultivators, permeated that man.

Karma didn’t directly affect a cultivator, but a mortal body was easily influenced. Even with all the power a person from Earth might have, the cost to build and maintain that was much higher than he had imagined.

The whale observed him calmly. They had no intention of doing anything; they just came to see and figure out what they would do or feel. Now, after seeing him, they felt no pity, no anger, or any emotion. He was simply a mediocre, worthless person.

They didn’t need to do anything. The karma would be paid naturally. He would die, wasting away slowly, but it wouldn’t be so cheap. He would reincarnate, carrying that karma, suffering through many lives in extreme places and paying it off in installments, exactly like Alm and Bruno were doing to clear their own karma with the world.

But, feeling the hands of the two tightening around his, the whale realized that the poisonous dagger was slowly being pulled from his soul. They needed to see him personally and resolve this internally.

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’Running away is never a good option... thanks to both of you.’ He murmured mentally, looking at them with affection.

As soon as they disappeared, the man opened his eyes and looked at the window, feeling something strange. At that moment, a violet line, followed by a white and black one, flowed through his eyes, and he coughed up a lot of blood.

Alm and Bruno noticed that the two had done something secretly but didn’t bother to ask. The two made sure that old man wouldn’t die quickly or easily; now he would suffer a thousand times more before perishing.

Even in other lives, and even after his karma was paid, his soul would still bear the mark of their curse, which had been left hidden. If suffering was a form of learning, he would definitely become a celestial sage after living miserably countless times.

Not even paying his karma was enough for them, he would continue carrying this mark for a long time. If Alm and Bruno had known this, they would have forced the two to remove the curse... but, unfortunately for that old man, the two never asked.

Maybe they wanted that, but they preferred not to think too much. Alm and Bruno were sure that these two were a little excessive and vengeful; but they never imagined it would go this far.