Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 923 (1): Resolution of Karma

The name of the Sovereign who found the Heavenly Tome was Sunny Sky. In terms of individual cultivation, he surpassed even Withered Wood. In fact, he was widely considered the strongest figure of the entire Myriad Manifestations Segmentum. The fact that he had been the first to locate the Heavenly Tome was proof enough of the vast reach of his divine sense.

And naturally, with great strength came great confidence.

Now, if there were only two treasures but three contenders... was it not better to simply cast the others aside and claim it all for himself?

But Sovereign Sunny Sky was not reckless. From a safe distance, he first extended his divine sense toward the book-shaped artifact to probe its nature. And the instant he made contact, a wave of sheer ecstasy surged through him. It was like stumbling upon heaven itself.

It’s actually a complete world.

It’s even better than nearly all small worlds! It even has its own set of stars! Damn, this is practically a miniature parallel universe! If I seize this, forget ruling the segmentum, even ascending to a higher realm would no longer be a dream.

But amidst his delight, a flicker of doubt surfaced. There was no resistance to his probing. No artifact spirit barred his path. In other words, there was no Heavenly Dao guarding this world.

For a treasure of this caliber to lack an artifact spirit? That just did not make any sense.

No... This doesn’t feel like an inanimate object. It should have a spirit. Is the spirit simply not home?

Sunny Sky’s expression turned strange.

An artifact spirit that wasn’t home?

He could not possibly imagine that said artifact spirit was currently in another dimension being and ravished into nigh-unconsciousness.

What he could surmise was that the group that had fought Luo Chuan had taken heavy damage. Two of the powerful Other Shore auras he had sensed before, one coming from a man and the other coming from a woman, were nowhere to be found. Only one Other Shore woman remained, seated beside the sword, clearly engaged in a stand-off with Luo Chuan’s sealed soul.

There’s only a single Other Shore cultivator defending the tome?

No way... this is ridiculous.

Sunny Sky carefully surveyed the surroundings, and he ascertained that there were no ambushes or traps. Then, a sword slowly rose from his palm.

In the next instant, it flared to life. It cut across stars, broke into the Heavenly Tome’s world, and headed straight for Ye Jiuyou’s nape. At the same moment, his figure blurred forward, one hand reaching to seize the tome.

Assassinate the strongest, snatch the treasure, and flee before the dust settled—he had it all planned out.

But the moment his sword broke into the Night Palace, Ye Jiuyou’s lips curled into a mocking smile. She pointed a single finger skyward. River of Stars, suspended above the astronomical observatory, suddenly shot forth, intercepting the incoming sword with pinpoint precision.

With him having been observing from outside for half a day, how could Ye Jiuyou possibly have not noticed him?

As the swords clashed, a scream erupted from within River of Stars, “Sunny Sky, you fucking idiot!”

If there was anyone who could claim the title of strongest in the Myriad Manifestations Segmentum, then it was Luo Chuan. Even while being hunted by the three great forbidden zones, he had been simultaneously dueling Ye Wuming for two entire eras. He was practically someone who had three heads and six arms.

I was bested by this fucked up family, yet Sunny Sky actually thinks that he can take them on alone?! He didn’t even bring a single damn subordinate!

That first strike had gone exactly as Ye Jiuyou predicted. It was a sword imbued with energy meant to allow it to tunnel straight into an artifact’s internal world and disrupt any presence within. Ye Jiuyou had been looking for ways to further torment and weaken Luo Chuan, and was this not just the thing she needed?

The penetrating force of an Other Shore cultivator surged into River of Star’s world, and within it, Luo Chuan’s soul felt as though it were being shredded by a thousand blades. He howled in agony, writhing inside his prison.

Sunny Sky did not get away unscathed, either.

To prevent complete obliteration, Luo Chuan’s soul launched a desperate counterattack. The backlash was no trivial matter—a dark, malicious wave of qi surged from the sword tip into Sunny Sky’s spiritual sea. Like ice water being poured on a mortal’s body, numbness swept over him and his limbs grew sluggish.

At that moment, Ye Jiuyou made her move. She appeared before him in an instant, and before Sunny Sky could react, a palm had already struck against his chest.

It felt as if the very laws of the cosmos had reached down to erase him from existence. His protective robe burst open with a clean hole. His chest collapsed inward. His blood and flesh were partially vaporized, and his organs were in utter disarray.

“Pfff...” Sunny Sky spat blood and hastily retreated, his heart pounding with fear.

Fortunately, his protective artifact had absorbed a portion of the blow. Had it not, that single palm could have directly annihilated his entire physical body.

Still reeling from the attack, he could not comprehend how this was possible.

This woman has just gone through a brutal battle, and she has yet to even recover fully. Her cultivation appears to only be at the early stage of the Other Shore, so how in the world is she this powerful? Did she feast on treasures of heaven and earth across the entire night?

“You fucking fool!” Luo Chuan’s furious voice rang from within River of Stars. “She and the tome spirit were originally one! When the spirit is absent, she becomes the heavens of this world! You’re fighting an entire plane of existence, you moron! You think I couldn’t subdue the Heavenly Tome all these years because I was weak? It’s because they’re fucking strong!”

Back then, Ye Wuming’s power had fallen short of the Other Shore, yet with the full might of the Heavenly Tome behind her, she had fought him to a stalemate for two whole eras. Now Ye Jiuyou had inherited that same role, and she was much stronger than Ye Wuming had been back then, so what chance did Sunny Sky possibly have?

Crippled and reeling, Sunny Sky tried to flee, but he realized that he could not do so.

The stars surrounding him blazed to life. Though these were the familiar constellations of the Myriad Manifestation Segmentum, they had somehow formed into the image of the Four Idols.

Time and space aligned, the stars had become a cage.

Four women stood at the cardinal directions, each smiling faintly. One of them spoke up, “We found Withered Wood’s stellar array rather elegant, so we decided to borrow the blueprint.”

While the structure came from Withered Wood, the energy source was entirely their own. Since stepping beyond the confines of the Heavenly Tome and glimpsing the wider cosmos, Yue Hongling, Huangfu Qing, and the others had continued to grow—improving, adapting, and overcoming their limitations.

The path to the Other Shore did not belong solely to primordial demon gods. It belonged to them as well, even if it could only be realized through formation and synergy for now.

Just as Withered Wood had once trapped Luo Chuan, they had now done the same to Sunny Sky.

And that brief pause was all Ye Jiuyou needed. She followed him like his shadow. Then, her palm, devouring all, crashed toward his exposed back.

Wincing through the pain, Sunny Sky summoned a bronze bell and hurled it behind him.

Ye Jiuyou’s jade-like palm struck the bell and shattered it instantly.

Sweat streamed down Sunny Sky’s face. He roared, “Are you just going to stand there and watch?! If I fall here, do you think that you’ll fare any better?”

A sigh echoed from beyond the cage that now trapped Sunny Sky. An emaciated old Daoist appeared at the edge, and a jade ruyi scepter spun forth from his sleeve, hurtling straight for what seemed like the weakest link—Xia Chichi.

The third Other Shore Sovereign of the Myriad Manifestation Segmentum, Sovereign Innocence[1], had arrived. Sunny Sky had been probing this place for ages. Now, at last, the second had shown his face.

However, the jade ruyi was not trying to break the formation to rescue Sunny Sky. It was trying to kill someone.

They all saw it. The entire stellar array was fundamentally tied to the four women anchoring it. If even one of them fell, the whole array would collapse.

And Xia Chichi was the first target.

She let out a quiet sigh. To outsiders, she appeared to be the weakest of the four. But no one could have known that she was, in truth, the strongest among them.

As the ruler of the divine land and the one who carried Zhao Changhe’s unborn child, she was the one Piaomiao most directly protected. Piaomiao’s strength, apart from being transferred entirely to Zhao Changhe, could also be channeled through her.

Iceheart emerged, slashing upward to meet the ruyi.

That single strike, seemingly too feeble to matter, actually slapped the jade ruyi aside with ease.

Sovereign Innocence’s eyes flew open in disbelief.

And then, like a hornet’s nest torn open, the gathered starlight exploded. Ten thousand beams of light surged toward him, rushing toward him like divine retribution.

The Four Idols Formation was not a trapping formation, fundamentally; it was an offensive formation.

Sovereign Innocence hastily summoned a fly-whisk, sweeping it toward the heavens in an attempt to divert the power of the stars. However, Piaomiao had already silently appeared behind him. The Qinghe Sword gleamed in her hand, and she plunged it soundlessly into his back.

Ever since joining their ranks, Piaomiao had willingly taken on the role of support. Many had forgotten what she once was, how she had forged the four divine swords of the mountains and rivers, pierced the underworld, and nailed a demon god in place with a single blow.

To outsiders, it looked like a pack of harmless rabbits had suddenly turned feral and started biting, but they never realized these women had been tigers all along.

Flanked from both sides, Sovereign Innocence was forced into a hasty retreat. In the brief instant of chaos, Sunny Sky had already been battered into a bloodied rag by Ye Jiuyou, his blood scattered in crimson globules across the cosmic void, the scene grotesque and surreal.

Ye Jiuyou, however, could not pursue him.

Luo Chuan, who was still sealed within the River of Stars, was constantly struggling to break free. She could not afford to split her attention. At that moment, a voice transmission from the true commander of this battle, Tang Wanzhuang, sounded in her ear, “Don’t chase a cornered beast. You must be careful of a self-detonation... There’s something odd about that blood. It’s better to feign a lapse, let Sunny Sky escape, and see what Withered Wood does.”

Ye Jiuyou understood instantly. Just then, Luo Chuan stirred again, and she quickly withdrew her hand to strike the sword, pressing him back down. Sunny Sky seized the fleeting opening and vanished in a flash of light.

1. This Sovereign’s name is the same as one of the hexagrams in the Book of Changes, specifically the hexagram for innocence (无妄), thus why I chose to name him such. ☜