Twilight Boundary-Chapter 435 - 429: Competing for Emperor

"You don’t know what it means?"

Hu Ma noticed the anxiety of this Divine Statue—or rather, this Reincarnator predecessor—and vaguely realized they were discussing something extremely urgent, so he spoke truthfully.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Hu Ma’s words, the Divine Statue’s body trembled. The dust on it had not completely shed, and its intense reaction caused a network of cracks to appear. Fresh blood even started flowing from the fissures.

"Twenty years have passed? Twenty years, and nothing has been done?"

Hu Ma saw in him the image of someone on the brink of death, emotions running high. The Divine Statue’s voice brimmed with confusion and endless doubt. "But, but it wasn’t supposed to be like this..."

"I have been waiting since the moment I fell asleep, waiting to hear your news, waiting for this conversation. But you... you’re completely different from what I imagined..."

"If you... if you don’t even know what I’m talking about, then why... why did you come here?"

Hearing its many questions and confusion, Hu Ma sighed heavily. Deciding to tell the truth, he said in a low voice, "I came through a painting given to me by the Beef Avoidance Sect Disciples. It contained the Three Passes and Twelve Tribulations. I used a secret message left by a Reincarnator to enter this place."

"I originally just wanted to meet you, Predecessor, and perhaps ask a few questions. But it seems... Predecessor, you have even more questions than I do..."

"A painting?"

The excited Divine Statue was pulled back to reality by Hu Ma’s words. It calmed down a bit and thought hard. "Yes, that was left by my senior brother. He told me to hide here and wait..."

Hu Ma listened, slightly stunned. "Senior brother?"

"Heh, that was my old way of speaking..." The Divine Statue began to speak slowly, but then paused and sighed. "I’ve been in this world for too long; even my speech has become like theirs. There’s no ’old man’ persona, just me..."

"My code name is Big Red Robe. I reincarnated into this world sixty years ago... No, if I’ve been asleep for twenty years, then I reincarnated here eighty years ago. The painting you mentioned was left when my senior brother founded the Beef Avoidance Sect..."

"...Oh, perhaps I should tell you his code name. It’s Lao Junmei."

"Your senior brother founded the Beef Avoidance Sect?" Hu Ma was slightly shocked. So his senior brother is the Great Virtuous Master who left behind the Beef Avoidance Sect Disciples?

"Great Virtuous Master?" Hearing this name, even in such an urgent moment, the corners of the Divine Statue’s mouth couldn’t help but curl up slightly as a low chuckle escaped it. "Since we’re Reincarnators, why would we still talk about being a Great Virtuous Master?"

"The so-called Great Virtuous Master is just a title we borrowed after deciding to do... *that thing*. Anyone can claim to be a Great Virtuous Master. Of course, Lao Junmei did indeed bear this title when he died in Shangjing..."

"Of course, we didn’t have it easy either. There were seven of us, and although we achieved our goal, some died and some were injured. My physical body and seven souls were destroyed, and my three souls were split. Now, only a fragment of my Karma Soul remains here, just so I could say a few words to you..."

A borrowed title? Anyone can claim to be a Great Virtuous Master? Hu Ma was moved by these words. Perhaps within the Reincarnators’ circle, this single sentence is already quite a remarkable secret.

"You..." As Hu Ma was pondering this, the Divine Statue seemed to suddenly remember something. It looked at him anxiously and said in a low voice, "You... since you were able to come here, you must be the most capable among this generation of Reincarnators, right?"

"What the heck?" Hu Ma blurted out, momentarily stunned. He shook his head and replied, "I’ve learned a little."

"But I’m still a ways off from the level you’re describing..."

The Divine Statue seemed somewhat anxious. "Have you comprehended the Returning to Hometown Truth?"

Hu Ma was taken aback. "No."

"Then..." The Divine Statue continued, "Have you mastered the skill to defeat a nation single-handedly? Have you refined an army of a million ghost soldiers?"

Hu Ma felt this topic was a bit out of his league. He slowly replied, "For me, at least, those things are still hard to imagine..."

"Then..." The Divine Statue was clearly getting anxious. "What about the others? Surely someone has?"

"Maybe..." Hu Ma mused while slowly replying, "But I don’t know. There isn’t much contact between Reincarnators."

"Not much contact..." the Divine Statue murmured, clearly perplexed by Hu Ma’s truthful answers. After a long pause, it finally said in a low voice, "If you haven’t done this, and you haven’t done that, then what *have* you all been doing for the past twenty years?"

Facing this question, Hu Ma genuinely didn’t know how to answer.

After a moment, he slowly said, "Some are lying low, living quiet lives. Some are playing at development, and some are just causing trouble everywhere."

"There’s one who’s been in this world for nearly thirty years and is still hung up on whether this world is real or fake..."

"Of course, there are also more radical ones. They’ve not only influenced the jianghu of an entire State, becoming major figures there, but they’ve even audaciously tried to connect with those Hall Officers. Now, they’re close to becoming a mere small hall officer."

"What...?" The Divine Statue was clearly baffled by his words. After a long moment, its voice trembled, "A small hall officer? A position that even a dog would look down on..."

"...and you still need to *struggle* to get it?"

Hu Ma was suddenly at a loss for words. But the Divine Statue itself grew agitated, its voice rising and trembling, "So, you’re telling me, in these twenty years, none of you have done *anything*?"

"How are you any different from us twenty years ago?"

"...No! Twenty years ago, none of us would have even glanced twice at the position of a small hall officer!"

If this conversation continues like this, it’s going to get awkward... Hu Ma suddenly didn’t know what to say. Trying to salvage some dignity, he tentatively offered, "Actually, perhaps there was no other choice. The Ten Surnames are pressing down on everyone, and we’re all wary of a second great cleansing. Who would dare to do anything conspicuous?"

"It would be good to at least find out how the last great cleansing was discovered, but since we don’t know, we can only..."

As he spoke, a thought suddenly struck him. Since I’ve met someone from the previous generation, if I could find out the reason for the last great cleansing, that would be extremely valuable information.

But before he could ask, the Divine Statue, trembling, interjected, "What?"

"The Ten Surnames... You mean you haven’t wiped out the Ten Surnames yet?"

Damn... Hu Ma suddenly felt a jolt. What in the world does this guy mean?

"It’s all for nothing! All our calculations have come to naught, all our plans... they’re all in disarray..." But the Divine Statue was no longer addressing him, its voice filled with endless vexation. "How could it... How could it have turned out like this?"

"Could it be that it’s truly fated? That we were destined to lose? Otherwise, how could everything we planned so carefully fall apart so completely?"

"You... you all seem to know nothing! Could it be that everyone who knew the truth back then was killed? No, that doesn’t make sense. Since the Beef Avoidance Sect survived, how could you be completely ignorant?"

Something has definitely gone wrong... Sensing the strange shift in the Divine Statue, Hu Ma also set aside his own bewildered thoughts.

He could feel the Divine Statue’s emotional turmoil and knew its mind was in chaos. He himself had many questions. However, he also saw that the Life Incense in the incense burner, already scarce, was burning down rapidly. He had to focus. In a deep voice, he said,

"Predecessor, perhaps this isn’t the time to discuss these matters. I came here by a fortunate coincidence, and I also have some urgent questions I’d like to ask..."

"Are you... from the first generation of Reincarnators?"

"What did your generation of Reincarnators encounter that led to the great cleansing by the natives?"

"If Reincarnators are careful enough, how can they be discovered by the natives?"

The Divine Statue, however, gave a bitter chuckle. "We are certainly not the first generation. We too were awakened by others..."

"To put it simply, we are just the unluckiest generation. We discovered Tai Sui’s secret and finally understood the responsibility Reincarnators bear for coming to this world..." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"However, before that, we wasted too much time. By the time we discovered this secret, it was already too late. Even if we skinned that fellow, it would have been no use. New Emperors would always appear to complete that transaction..."

"Therefore, we tried our hardest to buy more time for you all..."

"This world will eventually have an Emperor. The moment an Emperor appears is when disaster will strike..."

"There is only one way: make this Emperor one of us. That might offer some hope. But now, twenty years have passed, and you’ve made no preparations at all. How can you possibly contend with those people?"

They skinned an Emperor to prevent a transaction?

They did certain things just to buy us time, but as a result, our generation of Reincarnators doesn’t even know about them?

Hu Ma listened, his mind swirling with emotion. Countless pieces of information flooded his brain, making it impossible to process everything at once. He could only forcibly memorize what this Reincarnator said, planning to analyze and digest it all after he left.

"What is this responsibility of Reincarnators that you mentioned? And what is the disaster that occurs once an Emperor appears?"

He knew that at this critical moment, every question was extremely important. He needed to ask the questions he most urgently wanted answers to. "And also..."

"How were all of you discovered back then?"