Chapter 1022

Standing over the defeated Ying Wu Xie, Fang Yuan sighs that everything is over. Ying Wu Xie’s heart fills with ice cold despair, and he gives up completely, certain he is thoroughly defeated. Without warning, his soul and Fang Yuan’s old immortal zombie body self-detonate together, becoming fuel for Spring Autumn Cicada. Spring Autumn Cicada activates and reenters the River of Time. Pale with shock, Fang Yuan cannot understand how Ying Wu Xie could have activated a Gu that carries Fang Yuan’s own special will, unless the despair was only an act. ^{ch. 1022}

Facing someone else wielding it, Fang Yuan has no way to counter it, his time path foundation too weak on its own. Had he not switched souls on Star Constellation Immortal Venerable’s instruction earlier, he would have lost utterly. Unrecovered, Spring Autumn Cicada can now only bring death if activated again. He remembers Shadow Sect’s remaining arrangement, a ghost face and red lotus inside the River of Time, and fears what Ying Wu Xie’s rebirth will mean for him. The whole world blurs under the strength of time path, as that rebirth changes everything. ^{ch. 1022}

Ying Wu Xie’s will arrives in the River of Time in shock, unsure how his consciousness replaced Fang Yuan’s inside Spring Autumn Cicada. A huge wave crashes toward the extremely weak Cicada. A ghost face emerges from the river and spits out a red lotus that blocks the wave, then draws Spring Autumn Cicada, carrying his will, into its center. There, in a dark red space, another will wearing Spectral Soul Demon Venerable’s appearance waits, and tells him he is also a split soul of that same main body, his memories completely dissolved by the Pure Dream Reality Seeker Physique. ^{ch. 1022}

Ying Wu Xie asks how he escaped death at Fang Yuan’s hands into the River of Time, and why Spring Autumn Cicada activated when he never used it. Spectral Soul’s will answers that heaven’s will did both, having watched the whole chain of events from inside the Red Lotus true inheritance. Heaven’s way is impartial, it explains: it takes from surplus to fill deficit so all things stay in balance, while the way of humans runs opposite, building surplus and never satisfied. Ying Wu Xie begins to see it: heaven’s will helped him because he failed. Fang Yuan, a complete otherworldly demon free of restrictions, would greatly damage that balance unchecked. So heaven’s will shifted its target, choosing to use Ying Wu Xie against him instead. ^{ch. 1022}

Spectral Soul’s will reveals more: heaven’s will arranged for Fang Yuan to obtain Spring Autumn Cicada from the start, choosing him as a tool to undo the main body’s plan. The main body had likely already succeeded before Fang Yuan’s first rebirth, refining sovereign immortal fetus Gu and perhaps reaching a heaven defying level. Fang Yuan is an otherworldly demon, but not a complete one. So heaven’s will could still deceive him into believing Spring Autumn Cicada was his alone. ^{ch. 1022}

The river’s waves wear the red lotus down to its very center. Warning that little time remains, Spectral Soul’s will continues. Fang Yuan, it says, followed his own desire and chose to seize sovereign immortal fetus Gu rather than destroy it. That makes him a piece no longer bound by the rules of chess, an existence heaven’s will cannot tolerate. So it activated Spring Autumn Cicada to use Ying Wu Xie in dealing with him. But heaven’s will does not intend to let Ying Wu Xie regain sovereign immortal fetus Gu after rebirth, so he must not waste this last chance. ^{ch. 1022}

Ying Wu Xie asks what he should do. Zombie Alliance is annihilated, Shadow Sect destroyed and even the main body in danger, Spectral Soul’s will answers, but Shadow Sect’s immortals left arrangements he can use to rebuild the sect and save the main body. It points him toward Northern Plains’ Longevity Heaven and hidden Central Continent forces the ten great ancient sects have not yet targeted. Its own knowledge is already Ying Wu Xie’s ceiling, so he alone must carry word of this back to their main body, since this will and the Red Lotus true inheritance will forget it upon rebirth. It closes with a warning that the tallest tree and nearest soil fall first, and that their strategy of hiding and building strength can succeed again, wishing him care. ^{ch. 1022}