Chapter 2091: Explosion, Explosion Again
The tombstone hadn’t said “Lu Yun’s Tomb” at first. Only after his fifty-sixth entry did the characters appear on the tombstone.
Plainly, the tomb owner was behind it.
Whatever level or kind of existence the dead might be, their greatest desire was to live again. Death was anguish and the only way to escape anguish was resurrection. Even a saint who’d sacrificed themselves for the sake of others would want to live again after dying. Their desire would burn so fiercely that they would be willing to destroy anything if they could come back to life.
The same went for the owner of the tomb. Upon realizing that Lu Yun was undying with the power of reincarnation, it wanted the power for itself so it could resurrect.
However, the Tome of Life and Death was Lu Yun’s and the power of reincarnation was one with the young man. It wouldn’t be so easy to seize it. Thus, the tomb owner changed tactics to burying Lu Yun. As for how it’d then seize the power of reincarnation, Lu Yun didn’t know.
But there was one fact that always held true, and that the words of ghosts could not be trusted. Not a single word or even punctuation mark could be believed. It was impossible that the other wanted to send Lu Yun to reality on the other side.
“What a pity that I never remember anything that happened. I’m brought back to the starting point after I die and need to start anew.” Lu Yun looked around, vexed.
If he could remember everything that took place before, he would make certain plans before entering the tomb and be able to take appropriate action. Death here signified the end and starting over from the beginning. He forgot everything on his current attempt—such was the law of reincarnation.
Starting over didn’t mean retracing his steps from the moment of birth, but from the moment that he set foot on this path of death. Only when Lu Yun returned to the same place that he’d died nearly two thousand times could he discover some clues and regain his memories of everything that’d taken place before.
The tomb owner was so unfathomably strong that Lu Yun’s power of reincarnation couldn’t affect him. It was as if the two were two different planes—the Land of Reincarnation and the chief worlds outside. The power of reincarnation circulated again and again inside the Land of Reincarnation without affecting the chief worlds.
“How about I don’t die this time?” Lu Yun swung his head around, but realized that he wouldn’t find the path to resolving everything even if he didn’t die.
The Dragonquake Scripture…
He’d deployed it seventy-eight times in the tome and died to a mysterious power each time he did so. It could resolve the conundrum of the tomb, but Lu Yun caught only the backlash because he wasn’t strong enough.
Or rather, the tomb owner killed Lu Yun the split second that danger descended.
There was no room for him to strike back in this locale. He could only continuously probe the premises and try to identify where the tomb owner’s strength didn’t reach. That would be the flaw in the tomb.
Nothing was perfect amongst creation; all things held their own weaknesses. The same applied to the tomb and the tomb owner, who seemed to be irritated that Lu Yun didn’t respond. There was desire in its heart and Lu Yun’s repeated deaths tied it up in knots.
Such were the effects of reincarnation.
Reincarnation could destroy dead things and bring them back to life; it had an exceedingly powerful effect on the dead. Lu Yun’s continual usage of reincarnation to come back to life was also diminishing the tomb owner in the process. However, it was such a minute effect that neither Lu Yun nor the tomb owner realized it.
All the same, it subconsciously shifted the tomb owner’s mentality. Granted, the dead had no mentality. They exploded with a touch.
……
“You’ll make it through yourself? A pathetic ant like you?” the tomb owner snorted. It didn’t give up tempting Lu Yun.
“Mmhmm.” The young man inclined his head and ignored it, taking another step forward.
KABOOM!
His body bloomed like a firework.
He’d been blown up.
……
“Have you considered things further?”
“Nope.”
KABOOM!
Another explosion.
……
“You won’t get to take another step forward if you don’t agree.”
“Then I’ll just stand still here.”
KABOOM!
Explosion.
……
“How about I send you to reality?”
“Nah.”
KABOOM!
Explosion.
……
Another explosion.
……
Explosion.
……
Explosion.
……
“Kid, why are you so stubborn?!” The tomb owner was on the verge of mental collapse after endless repeats and explosions. Meanwhile, the temple masters who’d become one with the tomb were completely numb to things.
They were different from the Fire God and the other gods because the latter group was as if residents of the Land of Reincarnation. Thus, they would continuously loop with Lu Yun. The dead temple masters, however, were as if inhabitants of the chief worlds. They silently watched the Land of Reincarnation repeat itself.
“Huh?” Lu Yun looked at the tomb owner blankly. He’d just set foot into the tomb and had yet to analyze himself and receive information from the past. Therefore, he didn’t know what the stranger was talking about.
“Forget it.”
Explosion!
……
“Haven’t you had enough yet?” Lu Yun was growing irritated as well and spoke before the tomb owner could. He hadn’t taken a single step in all of these instances, much less search for the way out of the tomb.
“You’ll have to continuously repeat yourself here if you don’t agree to being sent to reality on the other side.” Smugness tinged the tomb owner’s voice.
“I know what you want to do, you just want to steal my power of reincarnation so you can come back to life.” Lu Yun looked wordlessly up at the sky. “You’ve lured me to the depths of the tomb but still can’t claim the power. You’re playing with fire.”
He opened his right hand and displayed the jumping flame of reincarnation.
“I’ve transmuted the power into fire. If you bury me here, the best possible outcome for you is to be set ablaze by the fire of reincarnation and turn into nothing. The other possible outcome is a fate worse than death and endlessly cycling between life and death.”
After experiencing so many deaths—at least eight thousand, if not ten thousand—Lu Yun had a decent grasp of what the tomb owner wanted. It wanted to bury Lu Yun here so the young man would become one with the tomb. The tomb owner would have procured a substitute and a stand-in for itself. After stealing the power of reincarnation, it would be able to slip away as Lu Yun’s replacement.
It would live in Lu Yun’s stead.
Every time Lu Yun deduced what’d happened to him before, he would also follow his previous line of thinking and analyze what the tomb owner wished to accomplish.
There was great terror between life and death and also great nourishment. A tiny change occurred each time Lu Yun died. He’d harvested that greatest nourishment when he first arrived in the world of immortals—his heart and mind underwent a metamorphosis that enabled his rapid rise and eventual establishment of his own territory in the world of immortals.
If it was the Lu Yun of Earth…
He’d just be a tomb raider for hire.
After repeated deaths and enlightenment, his mind was clear. His strength didn’t change, but formula dao took a qualitative leap forward. He’d deduced the tomb owner’s plans and its ending.
Lu Yun’s own wasn’t any better off—it would be a scheme that ended in grave casualties to both sides.
