Chapter 2012 – World Heart

“What do you mean by that?” Lu Yun couldn’t make sense of Mo Yi’s sudden delivery of rather confusing words.

“She means..” It was the Dao King who answered. “If the guy you saw dies one day, then he’ll become.. hmm, a realm like the enormous patch of existence that we live in. Order will spring forth within it, then heaven and earth, and eventually living beings.

“Our patch of existence is likely derived from the corpse of an unparalleled being. It’s similar to when the beings of the mortal worlds die—maggots and other microscopic beings appear in their bodies.”

Anyone else might not understand the Dao King, but Lu Yun did because he was a modern Earthling. When studying the true nature of the universe, some scientists of Earth once proposed that the universe was a cell inside a massive organism, that there were hundreds of millions of such cells inside.

It was very possible that each of them was a universe.

Cultivators were likewise in the dark about the true nature of existence. There was order that formed heaven and earth, thereby giving rise to the conditions that were prerequisite for life to form. But beyond that?

Where did life come from? Where did all things originate from?

Not even empyrean supremes could explain it.

Mo Yi and Dao King’s theory might seem ludicrously far-fetched and even blasphemous, but it was very truly possible that living beings were just maggots in the body of a fallen powerhouse. So then, where did life in the nothingness come from? What was nothing? It was a circular dead end, one that would never be resolved.

Lu Yun felt his head ache as he traveled with that train of thought. Formula dao couldn’t deduce something so enormous.

“Stop thinking about it.” Mo Yi stretched out a finger and gently waved it in front of Lu Yun’s face, breaking his mental wild goose chase. “Of everything that exists, you just need to remember one thing—creation.”

“Right, creation,” Lu Yun chuckled.

The primordial world of immortals had come back to life because the power of sacrifice turned the Jade Record of Creation into pure creation. Infusing the world with a dense concentration of that energy called vitality forth again.

Whether it was life or a world, everything came down to creation.

....

Lu Yun caught sight of Jin Huo. She’d anticipated his arrival and was already ready. She’d known that the Land of Reincarnation couldn’t revive the tree god when they were discussing it in the tomb of the empyrean supreme. Even if he did come back to life, it wouldn’t be the tree god himself anymore.

“Are you really planning on going with me?” Her slightly vacant eyes bore into Lu Yun.

“I made a promise and I intend to keep it.” Lu Yun nodded. He could read Jin Huo’s current mood—she would either succeed, or go down trying.

There was nothing left in life for her anymore if the tree god couldn’t come back. Of course, she would create another peak grand supreme for the World of Immortals before she went to her death. She would keep her word as well.

“Don’t worry, you have me. I will resurrect the tree god.” Lu Yun smiled faintly. “The dark empyrean supreme has turned it into a trap to test me. Eh, I’ll just kill him too if it turns out to be too much trouble.”

“It’s not that simple,” Huo Jin shook his head. “The tree god must be resurrected at the World Heart.”

“The World Heart?” Lu Yun blinked. He’d never heard of the place before, but he’d encountered a world heart in the Dark World. That’d been an item though, not a place. He didn’t think that the dark empyrean supreme would set up the trap in the Infinite Deorc—that was plainly courting death.

Lu Yun had collected numerous denizens of other realms during his jaunt in the tomb, thereby gaining knowledge of many other realms, but he’d never heard of a place called the World Heart. Not even his Infernum were familiar with it.

He hadn’t personally killed all of his new recruits. The ten Yama Kings had eliminated them as a matter of convenience when they blocked off the passage to the World of Immortals. Since these beings didn’t oppose the chief worlds, they didn’t possess the same unyielding resolution as the creatures of darkness.

The land of darkness and chief worlds had been at odds with each other for so long that they shared a death feud. That kind of bone-deep hatred was carved into their respective orders, so the endarkened wouldn’t bow their head to anyone from the chief worlds.

Even the Tome of Life and Death could only completely erase them and not recruit them. In the same vein, those of the chief worlds would never submit to the darkness. Order compelled them to do so.

The same didn’t apply to inhabitants from other realms. The Tome of Life and Death could command them as it would, unaffected by interference from order.

Lu Yun sent the skeletons he’d brought back from the tomb of the empyrean supreme into the netherworld. The remains of human feasts and the new Infernum all arrived at the kingdom of hell in the World of Immortals.

“The World Heart is a dead world and an incredibly dangerous place. Empyrean supremes have died over the course of exploring it before,” Jin Huo explained. “It’s the most mysterious and magical place in existence, surpassed by none other!

“That’s where the tree god can be resurrected! Any dead spirit comes back to life in the World Heart, even if their will of death has completely dispersed.” Her eyes grew brighter as she spoke, as if she was already glimpsing the reborn tree god.

“So.. you mean.. the trap was there all along? That the dark empyrean supreme didn’t need to create it?” Lu Yun paused.

“Yes,” she nodded. “Fallen empyrean supremes have come back to life in the World Heart and living ones have died there. Anything is possible.”

“Alright then, let’s go to the World Heart,” Lu Yun sighed helplessly. He’d employed formula dao as Jin Huo spoke of this mysterious place, but didn’t calculate anything useful. All he could determine was that it would be a very, very risky trip for him.

But with risk came opportunity. Mo Yi and the Dao King had likely said what they said earlier because they’d guessed that he needed to go there. It was formed from the death of a powerhouse in the nothing. Could it have something to do with the one who’d transacted with Lu Yun?

He was suddenly very eager to visit the place.

“You’re going to the World Heart?” The world abruptly shifted around Lu Yun. It was empty and devoid of everything. A massive face appeared over his head and silently looked down on the young man.

The existence in the nothing had come to him at this time! He knew Lu Yun was going to the World Heart because he’d been keeping an eye on the young man.

“Yes.”

Of course he’s keeping an eye on me, there’s no way he’s letting me off that easily. Lu Yun hadn’t thought that he could pull the wool over the other’s eyes either.

“There is a sword in the World Heart. Retrieve it so you can ensure a possibility of seeing me in the future.”