Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 917: The Star Sea Trembles

While Zhao Changhe was immersed in the illusion of the classroom, Luo Chuan was simultaneously pulled into his karma.

The clash of sword and saber was not a one-sided defense but a mutual offense. Zhao Changhe was not merely withstanding the blow. Luo Chuan, too, was struck by the exact same move: Severing Karma.

Zhao Changhe saw the full arc of his life before transmigrating. Luo Chuan, meanwhile, was dragged back to that fateful moment when the Heavenly Tome first manifested in the world.

At the time, Luo Chuan was still seeking a way to break through to the Other Shore. He was just half a step away from it, and he was returning from a raid with a few of his companions when it happened.

Suddenly, in the endless void, he saw a book appear, and its pages slowly opened and closed within the chaos. The tome emitted powerful primordial qi, radiating the origin of the endless Great Dao.

In the boundless cosmos, phenomena of spontaneous creation and annihilation were countless beyond measure. Yet the few that could be perceived or observed by sentient beings were but a drop in the ocean. If such phenomena could manifest as tangible artifacts, they would be considered primordial treasures. Compared to primordial treasures born of a small world, one can only imagine the power of those born of the main universe.

These treasures could take many forms. For example, there are some that naturally resembled a bell. However, it was exceedingly rare for one to evolve into a book with turning pages.

Such transformations typically stemmed from external influence. Luo Chuan could sense that the treasure was absorbing the nature of the entire Myriad Manifestation Segmentum, drawing from its essence, compiling and recording the segmentum’s laws, and even chronicling battles worthy of remembrance. Thus, it had evolved into a book.

Whoever obtained such a treasure would not only gain a supreme manual of the immortal path and a guide for cultivation, but perhaps also a way to reach higher realms, potentially beyond even the Other Shore.

To obtain such a treasure was an immense stroke of good fortune, and it was worthy of a true child of providence. The Other Shore would no longer be a lofty dream, higher realms of cultivation could be glimpsed, and unifying the segmentum would become a tangible future.

Luo Chuan immediately launched a sneak attack on the two companions at his side.

They were utterly unaware of the treasure’s emergence, so they had not anticipated Luo Chuan attacking them. They died on the spot, before even realizing it.

Luo Chuan seized the Heavenly Tome, immediately retreated to his cave abode, and began the process of refining it.

But then he found himself stalled at the very first step...

Unexpectedly, the Heavenly Tome had already begun to awaken and manifest a spirit. Amid the dim chaos within, the faint silhouette of a woman was taking form. Beyond that, a gentle glow emerged within the chaos. This was the primeval shift from unity to duality, echoing the divine decree “Let there be light”—the very precursor to the creation of worlds.

This treasure had begun to spontaneously generate its own world from its very birth. And as it matured, its inherent culture would inevitably mirror the segmentum, for it was absorbing and assimilating the segmentum’s very nature.

Treasures imbued with spirits could not be refined as easily as lifeless artifacts. If a treasure had no spirit, imprinting one’s soul was sufficient, but when a spirit emerged, one had to either subdue it and become its master, or eliminate it outright.

Eradicating the spirit risked degrading the artifact and erasing the burgeoning world within, and this was a price Luo Chuan was unwilling to pay. The alternative was to subdue the artifact’s spirit immediately, exploiting its current embryonic confusion. If allowed to fully form, this spirit would reach the terrifying strength of an Other Shore existence, far surpassing Luo Chuan himself.

Taking advantage of the artifact spirit’s muddled consciousness at its moment of awakening, Luo Chuan boldly launched his invasion.

Precisely then, a saver light abruptly tore through space and time. It surged forward from an unknown moment and place, cleaving straight at his neck.

Zhao Changhe had unleashed his ultimate technique... Severing Karma!

This strike carried effects akin to traveling through time itself to kill one’s enemy, yet it was even more profound in nature. It erased the target’s past and severed their future, annihilating the very existence of the target across the linear thread of time.

It was a slash of true annihilation, a top-tier divine art.

Had this saber struck Luo Chuan at an earlier point, such as his birth, the outcome would have been absolute and certain. But that was impossible; the saber could only manifest at the very nexus of their intertwined karma. It was precisely at this moment when Luo Chuan assaulted the nascent spirit of the Heavenly Tome.

That Luo Chuan could withstand this saber was itself proof of attaining the Other Shore.

Indeed, the so-called Other Shore was not merely “stepping outside the three realms” or “being beyond the five elements.” It meant transcending linear time and space, existing simultaneously across multiple realms and dimensions. Merely severing one timeline could not kill such a being, and they could always return. This was the true hallmark of reaching the Other Shore.

Moreover, at the Other Shore, there was no need to rely on a passive solution to counter that saber; he could have stopped it beforehand.

Sure enough, at the very instant the saber light was about to strike Luo Chuan’s neck, a shadow severed space and time, silently extinguishing the slash.

Luo Chuan, in the middle of invading the Heavenly Tome, glanced back in confusion. For a moment, he had sensed a terrifying power approaching, but it had vanished without a trace...

That momentary distraction was all it took. The spirit within the tome snapped open its eyes and unleashed a vicious palm strike.

With a thunderous boom, Luo Chuan’s invading soul nearly shattered. His attempt to subdue the spirit failed miserably. Meanwhile, the world inside the tome had already begun to evolve. Within, heavens and earth parted, and order was born from chaos. Once this process was completed, Luo Chuan would truly be no match for the spirit.

Angered and desperate, Luo Chuan recklessly took another measure. Riding the wave of the newly born order within the dividing cosmos, he leveraged the momentum to let this nascent order become the very embodiment of the Heavenly Tome.

Ye Wuming’s image appeared on the horizon.

From that moment, the spirit inside the tome split in two.

The sisters separated.

...Zhao Changhe had never wished to travel back through time or interfere with history as he feared unpredictable consequences. At this moment, he himself did not know if this was a result of his interference or if the same outcome would have happened regardless. Yet the Severing Karma strike had ultimately failed; karma remained unbroken.

An enemy of the Other Shore could not be undone by a single slash. Techniques that were sure-kills against others were powerless in such confrontations.

Still, Luo Chuan raged, convinced that his earlier failure to refine the Heavenly Tome had been sabotaged by Zhao Changhe’s intervention. Furious, he bellowed, “Zhao Changhe! I’ve tolerated you for far too long!”

“Well, sorry, but it’s different for me. You barely even register in my eyes.”

Clang!

Sword and saber clashed again, echoing like shattering glass within their spiritual seas.

Zhao Changhe’s classroom illusion fractured. Luo Chuan returned from the ancient scene millions of years ago. What remained was an ordinary fight of sword and saber, as if it were two Profound Gate cultivators going at it.

No one knew that this duel had played out countless times across the long river of time, light-years of space, and innumerable civilizations.

“Too bad, Ye Wuming’s nowhere to be seen,” Luo Chuan taunted.

Zhao Changhe smiled, revealing his teeth. “No matter. The moment Ye Wuming comes, your death will follow.”

Their divine senses collided, forcing both to stagger back a step.

This time, Zhao Changhe held the advantage, as Luo Chuan had to fend off an assault from behind and could not fully focus on their duel.

Behind him, Ye Jiuyou’s jade-like hand struck Luo Chuan’s soul banner, triggering wails that echoed through his spirit.

Luo Chuan had painstakingly created his top-tier magical treasure named Banner of Ten Thousand Souls over countless years, and he’d wielded it against foes of Sovereign Withered Wood’s caliber. Yet before Ye Jiuyou, the banner’s power was utterly nullified. Instead, she immediately performed a soul liberation ritual, scattering Luo Chuan’s soul and spirit like clouds dissolving into smoke.

Countless ghostly faces surfaced from the banner—ferocious, twisted visages now softened into expressions of peace and gratitude before vanishing into the void.

The soul banner, crafted with tremendous effort, lost over half its power in an instant.

Ye Jiuyou sneered. “You actually imprisoned the spirits of the primordial demon gods of the Heavenly Tome’s world inside your soul banner. It’s much stronger than a typical treasure of this type, yes, but you never should have faced me.”

Luo Chuan was speechless.

It seemed like it was true. Plundering the spirits of the primordial demon gods of the Heavenly Tome’s world to nourish his soul banner made him unstoppable outside. After all, such Profound Control Realm souls were scarce. But against Ye Jiuyou, it might as well be a random rag.

Luo Chuan suddenly felt grateful that Ye Jiuyou and the others had not yet grown accustomed to relying on the power of magical treasures; otherwise, this battle would have been even tougher. Even so, he realized that he could not allow this battle to continue.

Karma versus karma, he had failed to suppress Zhao Changhe.

Life and death versus life and death, he was no match for Ye Jiuyou.

Damn it, their strength is the real deal! They actually really did break through to the Other Shore in just twenty short days!

Since when did the Other Shore become no different from the Profound Gate? Since when could people just break through like this? One of them breaking through might be forgivable, but a whole bunch of them at once?

Ye Jiuyou’s voice cut cold through the air, “Splitting our souls, suppressing our true selves, manipulating our world, defining our laws... and on top of that, stealing souls and siphoning the essence of our world to nourish yourself. We were born naturally in the cosmos, and we hurt no one. Why should we be dragged into this for millions of years, paying with so many lives?”

Luo Chuan responded coolly, “Survival of the fittest, that’s all it ever is. Just like when you find a heavenly treasure or rare herb, you don’t ask if it has a spirit before harvesting it. Everyone does the same. Why single me out?”

Zhao Changhe cut in sharply, “What bullshit. If we knew a flower or herb had spirit, we wouldn’t eat it. But you knew all too well that a spirit had been born, so what need was there to ask? Don’t judge everything by your demonic standards.”

“My demonic standards?” Luo Chuan sneered. “Isn’t Ye Jiuyou the same? How much innocent blood stains her hands?”

Ye Jiuyou’s tone remained calm and detached, “You suppressed the tome’s spirit, erased my true self. None of the past stirs even a ripple in my heart. Trying to shake my resolve with such words is pointless. What I did myself is for me to deal with. And just the same, our hatred is between you and me.”

As she spoke, a swirl of dark energy coalesced in her hand. It looked just like a miniature black hole.

She had no intention of bickering with Luo Chuan. What mattered was that such hatred had no need for right or wrong.

She was originally a carefree spirit, meant to roam the world and watch the star sea. Yet, she had been trapped for millions of years, unable to remember even her own identity. This hatred could not even be put into words.

It was not just her either. An entire world, bearing countless souls, born ignorant, was bound and plundered. As the native Heavenly Dao at the birth of the world within the Heavenly Tome, all this resentment reverberated through Ye Jiuyou’s soul, growing into boundless hatred.

Ye Wuming had often wished to perish alongside this monster, and it had not been out of cowardice but because her hatred had reached its ultimate limit.

Ye Jiuyou’s hatred ran even deeper than Ye Wuming’s.

Seeing the black hole in Ye Jiuyou’s hand, Luo Chuan grew even more alarmed. This chaotic force of annihilation was indistinguishable from a true black hole. Meanwhile, Zhao Changhe’s broad saber was displaying a new saber intent—no one knew what divine power would be unleashed next.

Most crucially, Luo Chuan sensed the destruction of his own world nearing. Ye Wuming’s world destruction was approaching its conclusion.

Now, Zhao Changhe’s words rang truer than ever. The moment that Ye Wuming came would be the moment of Luo Chuan’s death. When she returned, the three of them would surround him, and with the Heavenly Tome as their driving force, he would not survive.

Luo Chuan’s mind flashed. Swiftly, he sent a covert mental command to the demonic cultivators in his world, “Come to my coordinates. We’ll be trading homes with her!”

Then, to the stunned Zhao Changhe and Ye Jiuyou, Luo Chuan decisively withdrew and fled.

He never intended for the demonic cultivators to actually relocate. They were merely bait to stall this family.

When an Other Shore cultivator wanted to escape, no one could stop them; not even Ye Wuming, wielding River of Stars, could hold them beyond a mere moment.

Before Ye Jiuyou could even release the black hole’s destructive force, Luo Chuan vanished, folding space and disappearing into an unknown place.

Ye Jiuyou: “...”

Zhao Changhe stared into the distance, dryly commenting, “Running off before the fight’s even decided, huh? That’s exactly why a demonic cultivator like him has managed to survive every purge carried out by the forces of the three great forbidden zones. He reminds me a little of my old self. Back when I fled from him, I wouldn’t have dared fold space so casually. I would’ve gotten shredded instead.”

Ye Jiuyou snapped, annoyed, “What are you doing casually commenting about his behavior? Chase him! Even if you can’t shatter the space he’s traveling through, at least track where he went!”

“There’s no rush. If our allies are unreliable, chasing him is pointless. If they’re strong, there’s no need to chase.”

Before the words fell, Luo Chuan’s spatial passage slammed shut at the edge of the segmentum.

The spatial passage he had constructed was blocked. It was like he had dug a tunnel only to run into a brick wall. Any forced breakthrough would cause the entire space to collapse.

A chill ran through Luo Chuan’s heart as he looked up into the void ahead. All the stars within this region subtly connected, weaving into an impregnable array. He was met with an ironclad fortress that bound this entire space into a separate, independent realm.

To escape such a net meant shattering this wondrous array forged from countless stars, a feat impossible to accomplish in any short time. Even worse, the constellations themselves radiated power, grinding down his strength like a massive millstone, steadily eroding him.

Who set this up? Someone actually set up a stellar array that transforms the void into an inferno...

A name surfaced unbidden in Luo Chuan’s mind. Only Sovereign Withered Wood, who had governed a region of this segmentum for countless years, could have done this.

Zhao Changhe actually managed to ally up with Withered Wood?! And it doesn’t seem like they’re merely casual acquaintances!

Luo Chuan could not fathom it. Sovereign Withered Wood and Zhao Changhe had barely met, only clashing once in battle some twenty days ago, if that.

How could their friendship have grown so close so fast?

What does Sovereign Withered Wood hope to gain by unleashing such overwhelming power to support Zhao Changhe? Is he doing this just to kill me? Is he not afraid the commotion would attract the covetous gaze of the other two great powers?

Zhao Changhe actually dares play this tiger-eats-wolf gambit? He’s risking being trapped in this cage himself, or worse, having the Heavenly Tome seized by Withered Wood!

There was no time for Luo Chuan to ponder further. His only option was to stall, buying time as Zhao Changhe and Ye Jiuyou traced the ripples of energy to his position.

The power Ye Jiuyou had gathered to use her divine art had yet to dissipate. Now, she unleashed it without restraint. “We never counted on allies to be truly reliable... Does that mean you have so many enemies from your misdeeds?”

In all fairness, Luo Chuan had never openly offended Sovereign Withered Wood. If any offense existed, it was ancient history. His recent troubles all stemmed from Zhao Changhe.

He had no mind to dissect where the problem stemmed from. Ye Jiuyou’s strike brought him a genuine sense of mortal danger.

The tiny black hole she had formed in her palm rapidly expanded as soon as it was unleashed, instantly becoming a genuine black hole not unlike those formed by the collapse of a star. The cosmic-level force of annihilation engulfed Luo Chuan, drawing him into its core.

This was no different in power from the black hole they had all studied. Ye Jiuyou had simulated countless such black holes in the Heavenly Tome’s world in the past, but she had never truly mastered how to properly create one until she observed a real black hole and grasped its essence.

Luo Chuan erupted in a desperate surge, struggling against the black hole’s pull. But then, a saber containing blood-colored light came at him before his eyes.

It was the sixth form of the Vicious Blood Saber Art: Restarting Creation.

In Lie’s heart, there was neither god nor demon, only the resplendent rebirth of heaven and earth.

Through Ye Jiuyou’s ultimate technique of annihilation, the cycle of life and death was sparked anew. This was the very origin of Luo Chuan’s small world, yet now it was being replayed under Zhao Changhe’s strike.

As Zhao Changhe’s saber recreated the forces of earth, water, fire, and wind, Luo Chuan’s small world in the distance completed its cataclysmic destruction, and Ye Wuming returned to the Heavenly Tome.

Like the rising sun and setting moon, one perished while the other was born, following their own destined rhythm.

Amidst the extreme entanglement of life and death, the Heavenly Tome suddenly erupted with terrifying brilliance. Ye Wuming emerged, wielding River of Stars, piercing straight from within the tome.

Watching from afar, Sovereign Withered Wood drew a sharp breath. “If I faced this assault, I fear death would be certain tenfold... This family truly is terrifying.”

A subordinate made a cutting gesture and whispered, “Should we take advantage of the moment...?”

Before the words finished, clear laughter echoed from the distance. “Brother Withered Wood, you’ve made quite a stir. Why didn’t you give your brothers here a heads-up?”

Rumble!

The combined assault from Zhao Changhe’s family slammed into Luo Chuan, and energies wildly surged forth. The constellations that made up the array were shaken from their alignment, and the star sea itself trembled!

Withered Wood’s face drained of color.

His mighty stellar array, formed from the constellations of the universe, was destabilized and thrown out of place by this family’s combined might.

And then... it shattered!