Karmic Change

During Yaan's journey across the Spirit Plane, wherein he placed down 3,000 sub-formations on each layer of the World Plane, the only notable trouble that he had encountered so far was the Transcendent Realm powerhouse in the 6th Heaven Hall of Rebirth. Since that battle, whenever he reached a new Hall of Rebirth, it was either empty, or soon became empty as the Divine Court subordinates utilised the hall's formations to flee into a highly secure shelter far below the palace.

Yaan didn't bother with those people, he couldn't waste his time on irrelevant matters like that.

It took him 49 years to finish constructing the skeleton of the formation across the six core Layers of Heaven, leading him towards his next destination; the 6th Layer of Abyss.

The 6th Layer of Abyss had always been a dark, gloomy wasteland, where even the atmospheric energy itself was contaminated by a highly corrosive poison. The entire environment was an unforgiving hellscape that mortals couldn't endure even for a few seconds, and most soul cultivators would find it extremely unaccommodating.

Only those who cultivated unorthodox methods would choose to live on the 6th Layer of Abyss. For those who followed certain unique techniques, this seemingly worthless, harsh environment, was actually the best haven that they could ask for.

The 6th Layer of Abyss in Yaan's memory - the memory which he shared with Devil - was a place ruled by the four regional devil tribes from the North, South, East and West. In the centre of this layer, there was a vast wasteland filled with toxic miasma and an endless surplus of crazed demonic spirits.

Aside from these five renowned places, there were also countless large, medium and small sized Devil Tribes spread across the lands. Even the weakest of these tribes were guarded by several Peak Imperial Spirit Realm powerhouses, beings at the peak of the Foundation Step, who could take the step into Nirvana whenever they so pleased.

Of course, now, the 6th Layer of Abyss was truly a barren land, made devoid of all life following Devil's slaughterous ascension.

But aside from the devil tribes and the mindless demons, there was another place here, hidden from the common maps detailing the 6th Layer of Abyss. This place was not only hidden from the maps, but it was also impossible to find for anyone below the Dao Immortal Realm. Only the former four Dao Immortal devil ancestors had known about the existence and location of this place, but even they had never dared to encroach within 10,000 miles of that territory…

Of course, this mysterious land was the 6th Abyss Hall of Rebirth.

The Divine Court's 13 Halls of Rebirth were impossible to stumble upon by mistake. Whilst each Hall of Rebirth consisted of a 3,000 mile wide region of land, with a grand palace sitting at its core, there were actually various layers of well-concealed formations stretching out for 10,000 miles in every direction from the central palace.

Those formations were profound and covered a vast region, but their effect was hardly even noticeable for those who became afflicted by the formations' mysterious driving forces. The purpose of these formations was to redirect any living being who entered the area away from the Hall of Rebirth, by manipulating their senses and their connection to the space in the world around them.

Even if someone knew exactly where the 6th Abyss Hall of Rebirth was located, and they stood exactly 10,000 miles away whilst facing the gloomy palace in the distance, they would still find themselves unknowingly walking along a strange, disjointed route, eventually redirecting them back out from the 10,000 mile region, without ever reaching the main 3,000 mile territory. Those who were unable to pass through this invisible maze were simply unable to sense the strange formations in the first place, creating an illusive forbidden region on each of the 13 Core Layers.

As for Yaan, he wasn't the least bit affected by something like this. Trying to use a formation which operated primarily on the concept of illusions against Yaan was simply a joke.

When Yaan reached the 6th Abyssal Hall of Rebirth, he noted that it was pure black in colour, so black in fact that it seemed to drain away all light from the surroundings. This was in stark contrast to the golden palaces which made up the six Heaven Halls of Rebirth, they were almost like exact opposites of one another.

Yaan fell into thought as he examined the palace, which was devoid of all life, just like the rest of the 6th Layer of Abyss.

Whilst he had encountered empty palace halls on the 5th down to the 1st Heaven Halls of Rebirth, this time it was different…he could tell that over the past few decades, almost nobody had stepped foot in this place. The aura of life was far too lacking, meaning that at the very most, several people might have spent a few days investigating this region over the past few decades.

Just like on the 2nd and 1st Layers of Heaven, Yaan spent four years laying down the 2,999 formations across the 6th Layer of Abyss. Now, it was time to lay down his 7th sub-formation keystone, the 6th Layer of Abyss's keystone sub-formation. He knew that he he had reached his limit with this formation, and just like when he built the keystone sub-formations on the 1st and 2nd Heaven Halls of Rebirth, he would require a full year to complete this keystone sub-formation. For this reason, Yaan was now spending five years on each layer, and he expected his rate of progress to remain unchanged from hereon.

The environment down here was vastly different compared to the Layers of Heaven, but Yaan's actions remained the same. He worked on his formation for a year straight, before finally completing the finishing touches.

The keystone sub-formation glowed with black-gold light and rapidly connected to the other 2,999 sub-formations across the 6th Layer of Abyss. This scene only appeared for a brief instant, before all 3,000 formations, and the intricate formation network which connected them all together, faded away, until they could no longer be seen, felt, or perceived in any way.

It would only be possible for a person to find any hints of the formation if they knew exactly what they were looking for and where. Of course, they would also need to possess sufficient comprehension over both illusions and formations.

"Sage, the 5th Layer."

The Primordial Sage flicked her wrist, instantly and effortlessly manifesting a black rotating portal. She had done this several times now, whenever Yaan needed to move to a different layer of the Spirit Plane.

Just as Yaan was about to step through the swirling vortex of darkness, the Sage suddenly said something that caused him to pause his movement.

"Can you see what you have done to your karma?"

Without looking back, Yaan sighed lightly, then gave a gentle nod.

He knew what he had done, of course he knew! He forced himself to keep a plain expression despite his shock because he wanted to see how long it would take the Sage to see through this matter, but as it turned out, she was able to discern the truth immediately. He really couldn't underestimate this monstrous girl…

"The clock is ticking, Yaan; you have proactively initiated your own calamity. I wonder, will it all be worth it in the end?"

Yaan fell silent for a long time. In the end, he didn't look back, but he spoke as he stepped into the black vortex.

"I don't know the answer to that question, Sage."

*****

The moment Yaan finished the keystone sub-formation on the 6th Layer of Abyss and connected the 3,000 sub-formations spread across this layer together, he triggered an unexpected change. He had not anticipated this change, and it was nothing good. In fact, this could be considered the greatest mistake and the most worrisome setback that his plan had faced so far.

Each of the 13 keystone sub-formations was imbued with a powerful karmic fate. This karmic fate created the complete cycle of karma, circulating endlessly between the 3,000 formations across the Spirit Plane's layer from the moment that they were connected.

The karmic beginning, the karmic end, and the karmic links, all manifested simultaneously upon the integration of karmic fate into the network of 3,000 sub-formations. Every single sub-formation was awoken by its own karmic beginning, linked to the other sub-formations via countless karmic links, completing its cycle of karmic fate and allowing the karma to reach its karmic end, before going on to endlessly repeat this cycle.

The Sage had first noticed the strange fluctuation in karma when Yaan completed the first keystone sub-formation on the 6th Layer of Heaven. Fortunately, whilst the Spirit Plane Lord also felt the unusual fluctuations throughout the 6th Layer of Heaven, she recalled her sister's severe warning…she must not interfere with her brother's business under any circumstances.

Because the Spirit Plane Lord held absolute faith in her sister's judgement, she abided by her warning to a fault, even as she felt increasingly uneasy with each layer that Yaan covered with his network of formations. Yaan had always felt wary of this - he knew that if the Spirit Plane Lord decided to finally go against her sister's 'warning', she was likely to see through the danger of his creation right away. This would arouse immense suspicion in her heart, and that…would signify the beginning of the end of this charade.

However, he did not expected that his idea of moving directly from the 1st Layer of Heaven to the 6th Layer of Abyss in order to better disguise the final product that he was working towards, would backfire in such an unexpected way.

The moment the network of karma covered the 6th Layer of Abyss, it was as if Yaan's own karma had been engraved into the fabric of the World Plane Layer itself.

In the moment that Yaan's karma connected with the 6th Layer of Abyss, it became entangled with an unexpectedly powerful lingering karma, a karma that had previously been lying dormant, as if it didn't exist…but suddenly, that karma erupted with more life than ever before! It was as if Yaan's karma just so happened to be the perfect catalyst, awakening the dormant karma from its dwindling state of existence!

Yaan realised what had happened immediately - unknowingly, his own karmic fate had awoken the karmic fate…belonging to Devil.

Yaan knew all that Devil had done during his stay on the 6th Layer of Abyss, so as he journeyed across these lands, he carefully searched for any lingering remnants of Devil's karma with each of the 2,999 sub-formations that he created. However, even after building all 3,000 sub-formations, he hadn't found a single trace of Devil's karma, causing him to mistakenly believe that it must have died off under own slaughterous nature.

But now, Devil's karma suddenly enveloped the world, as if it had always been there, waiting for something, anything, to trigger a change.

Devil's ascension to the Dao Immortal Realm happened on the 6th Layer of Abyss, and his ascension was even facilitated by his domain exploding out with unimaginable power during the moment of his ascension, slaughtering every living being across the layer and laying waste to all manor of life on the 6th Layer of Abyss.

Devil's appearance was the karmic beginning of the 6th Layer of Abyss's change. Devil's rampage was his karmic link, which connected to his karmic end…

Devil's karmic end on the 6th Layer of Abyss was the moment when he was on his deathbed, but rather than letting himself fall to slaughter, he reflected that slaughter back upon everything in this world aside from himself!

This cycle was Devil's karmic fate that facilitated his ascension to the Dao Immortal Realm, and his realisation of his heart of slaughter. This same karmic fate was shared by the 6th Layer of Abyss, but to the 6th Layer of Abyss, this karmic fate was akin to a transformation in its state of existence.

As such, Devil's karma had unknowingly become eternally intertwined with the 6th Layer of Abyss itself. The only reason that Yaan had completely failed to see through this fact, was simply because Devil's karma with the 6th Layer of Abyss encompassed the entirety of the layer; it was dormant, inactive…but omnipresent. Because it encompassed the entire 6th Layer of Abyss, Yaan had been standing within it all along, making him unable to find its surface.

The 6th Layer of Abyss and Devil's karmic fate had become one and the same, and because of this, and because this karma had been lying in a dormant, imperceivable state, Yaan simply did not recognise it.

As soon as Yaan's own karmic fate also encompassed the skeleton of the 6th Layer of Abyss, he felt it. However, it was already too late to do anything about it; his 3,000 formations had already connected together and sunk into the very fabric of this World Plane Layer, whilst Devil's karma had awakened, crashing against Yaan's karma time and time again, until both opposing karmas faded away into obscurity.

Although Devil's karmic fate on the 6th Layer of Abyss was only awoken for a short few seconds, this was enough time for it to collide with, and fight with, Yaan's karmic fate.

The karmic battle vanished almost as soon as it arose, but the trouble was far from over…

In a unique micro-realm on the Qi Plane, within a certain 5th Trial Realm, Devil's eyes snapped open and he stared into the empty space before him.

He did not understand dao on any level, but he could feel it…he could feel that on the 6th Layer of Abyss, part of his will had collided with the main body's will for a short period of time! In this moment, the feeling of the karma between himself and the main body became crystal clear, and he could even faintly see the outline of a deep green karmic chain…

No, when Devil looked down, he realised that he could see multiple of these chains!

At the same time, the Dao Clone of Qi suddenly stopped speaking to Elia and stood up straight with a severe expression. Elia was concerned and asked him if everything was ok, but he was too distracted to respond right now. Without even trying to perceive them, he could see three thick karmic chains, travelling from his body, to three unknown places…

On the Blood Plane, the Primordial Devil opened his eyes, and with a roar of laughter, he reached out and grabbed the most material of the three karmic chains before him. He did not know exactly what had happened, only that the main body must have done something to cause all of their karmas to suddenly burn so brilliantly that the karmic links between them could now be seen with the naked eye!

As soon as the chains appeared, they started to fade away, but how could the Primordial Devil allow this chance to slip by? He had spent decades searching for a way to follow one of these karmic chains into the karmic river so that he could finally cross over to the Qi Plane, and whilst he was gradually approaching success, he would still need another several decades at the very least…

But now, the chains had suddenly appeared before him, like fate was finally siding with him for the first time!

Combining his recent years of pure focus on the pursuit of a single karmic chain, Devil was able to grab the central chain, the chain that he immediately realised he could touch, unlike the other two.

With a roar filled with blood-curdling ferocity, the Primordial Devil clamped his two hands down on the chain, forcing it to stop fading away and dragging it back into material form once again!

Blood exploded from the Primordial Devil's eyes as he squeezed down on the chain and dragged it towards him, attempting to use the power of the karmic chain to tear open a crack, which would lead him into the karmic river.

Blood sprayed outwards in all directions and his roar seemed to reverberate throughout the world…

And then, suddenly, it appeared.

A crack in space!

The crack was small and started closing as soon as the Primordial Devil laid his eyes upon it, but he was unwilling to give up like this, not when he was so close! He took a giant step, crossing over the thick karmic chain which he refused to let go of, and he forced his giant body to squeeze through the crack.

Blood sprayed in all directions and chucks of his flesh were incinerated by the infinitely sharp edges of the cracked space, but somehow, the Primordial Devil managed to squeeze through!

Not only that, but he grinned as a thought hit him. Whilst still holding the karmic chain in one hand, he waved with his other hand, sending a surge of killing intent to violently drag his two captives into the river alongside him.

Ga Shu and the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader lost consciousness immediately, but the Primordial Devil ignored them. They drifted behind him, held in place by the will within his naturally exuded killing aura. It was as if he was too prideful to make a conscious effort to carry them, yet that same pride was so strong that his will to bring them with him was enough to make it happen regardless.

With great pain and difficulty, the Primordial Devil pulled himself along the karmic chain, ignoring the endless barrage of other karmic strings and chains flowing all around him, as if the bloody wounds inflicted upon his fleshly body meant nothing to him.

He did not know for how long he fought to pull himself along that karmic chain, but he was relentless and refused to back down, no matter how dangerous this might be, no matter how long it would take!

And then, just as suddenly as he entered, the Primordial Devil's body squeezed through yet another spatial crack, this time, leaving the karmic river…

And just like that, the Primordial Devil stepped onto the Qi Plane.

For a moment, the red-haired giant looked around in a daze, hardly able to believe that his success had arrived so suddenly and unexpectedly!

But then, his gaze became fixated on something in the distance.

He was standing in the void of space, but when he looked down, he realised that the karmic chain which he had followed across World Planes, pierced into a strange dome on that planet down below. That dome was clearly a formation, separating the world inside of the formation from the world outside…

When the Primordial Devil laid his eyes on the Heavenly Rebirth Formation, he roared with laughter and his eyes shone with crimson light.

"So the first to fall at my hands, will be that pathetic excuse known as the Dao Clone of Qi…little abomination of the dao, can you see me right now? Will you watch as I slaughter your own Dao Clone? Will you sit back and watch as I torment and kill the only living beings in this world that still hold some degree of significance in your cursed heart? I am truly looking forwards to this, my heart demon…finally, it is time for our true battle to commence!"