764. Corners of the World (Patreon)

Hui flew on his own. The blue sky stretched overhead, the sun beaming down. A gentle breeze rustled his hair. The Immortal Realm panned by below, placid lakes and wild forests, beautiful villas and the small, mortal-esque towns.

The Immortal Realm should be enormous, larger than the mortal realm, but… even from here, I can still see Heart Lotus City, Hui thought, watching over his shoulder as he flew. It’s as if space is compressed, and yet, I still need to fly the original distance to reach the final point.

Is it the Golden Immortal’s attempt to imitate the slow travelling speed from my world? He’s only copying all the worst parts, the worst bits only! Next thing, he’s going to try and implement traffic and stoplights! He must be stopped, at all costs!

As he watched, dozens of cultivators leaped up from Heart Lotus City. Gold cultivators rushed to meet them, the two clashing in midair. In the center, a cultivator who looked almost exactly like Hui emitted a fierce, murderous aura as he led the charge.

Hui winced. Song Wei, even if you wear my skin, in what world would I ever lead the charge? Ahhh… no. It’ll have to be good enough. The Golden Immortal will know something’s off, but hopefully he’ll chalk it up to me behaving strangely at the tail end of a loop rather than guessing that ‘I’ am actually Song Wei. Or… well, knowing me, he might well assume that Song Wei isn’t me, but that I’m hiding on the back lines and watching someone in a me-disguise lead the charge, which is very me-like. Sorry to disappoint, though! I’m directly fleeing the battle instead.

He flew on, putting more space between him and the city. The battle’s lights and sounds faded as quickly as they arose, falling into the background. Even Heart Lotus City vanished, swallowed up by the forests. The further he flew from Heart Lotus City, the more small villages cropped up. The Immortals in the villages wandered by, unaware of Hui flying overhead. He gazed down, watching the towns cycling on their loops within loops.

I still don’t understand the Golden Immortal’s decision there. If he wanted them to live like mortals, sure, loop their lives away, but if he has full comprehension of time, why not make their time run faster instead? In fact, even better, leave them outside of the larger world’s loop, so their time can continue to progress, within their own loops, to slow down time without resetting it. But instead, almost as if they’re an afterthought, they loop within the loops. It’s almost like he made a classic programming error, but he’s an Immortal, not a programmer.

There’s a lot about those villages that’s self-contradictory. If I assume he has full control over time, then it doesn’t make a lot of sense. But if I don’t make that assumption, then…

…No answer from the garbage realm, huh? Iiiiinteresting. Yes, let’s just put that in the back of my mind and hurry on to the ends of the realm. This is only the first part of my plan.

In the distance, intense golden light flashed, bright enough to wash all the way to where Hui flew, even though he could no longer see Heart Lotus City. A powerful aura washed over Hui, faintly suppressing him. He dropped a few feet out of the air before he caught himself. Hui licked his lips and glanced over his shoulder, suddenly slightly nervous. I don’t think the Golden Immortal fully manifested when we met in the White Tiger’s strange palace. That power is far beyond what I dealt with in that palace.

At the end of the day, I’m a newly ascended Immortal with a few stolen Immortal-level techniques, facing off against the Heavenly Emperor. I’m insane. This is insane.

Well, no. I’m not newly ascended. Or am I? It’s confusing. I don’t know. He shook his head. Time loops make everything confusing.

The towns fell off beneath him. He soared over forests, then mountains, then a seemingly endless ocean. At last, ahead, the sky turned dark. Not from night, but from the vast emptiness of space. The sun still shone, but faint stars glimmered in the distance. Far off, he caught glimpses of the mortal realm and Underworld, each of them self-contained, planet-like realms of their own. He lifted his eyes, gazing out into the stars. And those, are those all worlds of their own, with their own mortal realm, Underworld, and Immortal Realm? And yet, my world is not among them. How strange.

Maybe they’re just ordinary stars, or empty voids of worlds, like back home. Just because the nearby planets are small realms, doesn’t mean all the stars are small realms.

But if they are…

He stopped where the ocean poured into the void, hovering there, in that far distant place. Using his messaging technique, he called out to the others. Is everyone in place?

Silence. Hui hovered alone.

He swallowed. Are they okay? Did the Golden Immortal get them all? I know Ying Lin said she was going to cover for us, but what if she failed? There’s no way she could, but what if she did? I should have sent clones with everyone. I know I’m trying not to use clones so much, but just in case, I should have, I—

A quiet hiss.

Hui jerked upright. “Zhubi? Is that you?”

“It’s Zhubi. And me! I’m in place, too!” Bai Xue returned.

“I’ve arrived,” Li Xiang declared.

Hui nodded. He lifted his eyes to the distance, where the golden light still faintly glowed. Song Wei, thank you. And… I’m sorry. You deserved better than to be our sacrifice.

But maybe… you don’t have to be forever.

He took a deep breath, then threw his hand out. “Then, let’s begin the final realm-breaking!”