Summoning the Peak of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 2984 Inescapable Fate, The Time Loop (Part 1)

Chapter 2981 Inescapable Fate, Time Loop (Part 1)

As the new leader of Taoism, Zhuang Zhou could not possibly be unaware of Hongjun, the renowned founder of Taoism.

However, Zhuang Zhou was born during the reign of Emperor An of Han, Liu Hu. He was born after Hongjun merged with the Dao and died, so he never saw Hongjun's true appearance.

Zhuang Zhou's knowledge of Hongjun came entirely from oral accounts from Daoist practitioners and classical texts. He himself had no feelings for Hongjun, so how could he have inexplicably dreamt of the Daoist Ancestor?
Strange, really strange.

Just as Zhuang Zhou was puzzled, Hongjun in the scene began to preach to himself, and then called himself 'Taiqing'.

Zhuang Zhou then realized that this was the Dao Ancestor's perspective as seen from his senior master Taiqing.

Just as Zhuang Zhou was puzzled, the scene before him suddenly changed.

He witnessed another great battle, in which an old Taoist priest dressed in a black and white robe and wielding a sword fought a bloody battle against several terrifying figures.

He recognized the old man; it was none other than the Taoist Taiqing.

He recognized the figures besieging the old man; they were Lu Jun, the former leader of the Yin-Yang School, Wang Xu, the contemporary Guiguzi, and other important figures.

The Taoist Taiqing had a resolute look in his eyes, with a determination to die for a certain belief, which enabled him to hold out until Yuqing and Shangqing came to his aid and forcefully repel Lu Jun, Wang Xu and others.

The scene abruptly ends there, followed by a pair of eyes.

A pair of eyes that perched high in the heavens, cold, indifferent, looking down upon all living beings like dust.

Those eyes, filled with overwhelming hatred and chilling killing intent, swept through Zhuang Zhou's entire dream like a tangible cold wave.

"what!"

In the quiet room, Zhuang Zhou, who was sitting cross-legged, suddenly trembled and let out a short, suppressed groan of pain.

He suddenly opened his eyes, his clear eyes filled with unprecedented fear, confusion and deep exhaustion. His forehead was covered with fine cold sweat, and his clothes on the back were soaked.

What was that just now?
Was that his dream?

Absolutely not.

With Zhuangzi's carefree and unrestrained state of mind, he would not dream of the unpleasant things that ordinary people dream of. He would only dream of the Kunpeng soaring, the butterflies fluttering, and the carefree feeling of being born with heaven and earth and all things as one with me.

But those heavy, bloody, fateful, and hateful images were like foreign objects forcibly injected into his mind, carrying a strong sense of rejection and an emotional imprint that did not belong to him.

"What's going on? Could it be that my breakthrough to the Quasi-Half-Profound Realm was too fast, causing inner demons to fester? Or perhaps I've touched upon some taboo while comprehending the Heavenly Dao recently?"

Zhuang Zhou muttered to himself, his brows furrowed, his thin face filled with confusion. He clearly did not understand why, in the core of his "Dream of the Butterfly" cultivation, he would have such a clear and vivid dream of fragments of his master Taiqing Daoist's memories.
Especially the tragic and unwilling death, and the overwhelming hatred for Ying Hao, were so deeply felt, burning into his soul like a brand.

This is too weird.

Zhuang Zhou looked around the quiet room. Everything was as usual. The statues of the Dao Ancestor and the Three Pure Ones were solemn. The sandalwood incense was still wafting. The sound of the pine trees outside the window was unchanged. It was as if the thrilling scene just now was just a sudden dream.

Zhuang Zhou tried to find a reasonable explanation, then suppressed the throbbing in his heart and simultaneously activated the mental technique of the Three Pure Ones Scripture, attempting to dispel these distracting thoughts with a pure and tranquil mind.

Strands of clear light flowed around Zhuang Zhou's body, attempting to cleanse the depths of his soul, soothe the inexplicable restlessness, and calm the lingering cold hatred.

As the clear light flowed by, the heaviness and hatred seemed to be temporarily suppressed, and a weary peace came from the depths of the soul.

This made Zhuang Zhou breathe a long sigh of relief, but the doubts in his heart did not completely disappear, because he vaguely felt that something had changed.

Deep within my soul, there seemed to be an imperceptible weight that didn't belong to me.

The weight was extremely faint, like the finest dust, yet it carried an indelible aura of antiquity and vicissitude, quietly settling down, and I seemed to become less and less like myself.

Unbeknownst to Zhuang Zhou, as he closed his eyes and regulated his breathing, attempting to dispel "distractions," a faint, almost identical light, almost assimilated with Zhuang Zhou's own soul, flickered in the deepest part of his consciousness, just like a living thing.

This ray of clear light is the very soul of the Taoist Taiqing.

In the battle of Mount Hua, under Ying Hao's guidance, Taiqing's physical body was destroyed. However, he was unaware that within the Azure Lotus Chapter he possessed, there was a secret technique that allowed him to preserve his soul from dissipation for a short period even after losing his physical body.

It was during this brief gap that the Taoist Taiqing was able to possess Zhuang Zhou, a fellow practitioner of the "Three Pure Ones Scripture" whose cultivation had reached the peak of the Grandmaster level.

The reason why Taiqing Daoist didn't possess his junior brothers Yuqing and Shangqing wasn't because he didn't want to, but because their cultivation, mental strength, willpower, and even soul strength were only slightly weaker than his own. The only difference between them was a soul secret technique from the Azure Lotus Chapter.

If he were to possess Yuqing or Shangqing, he would likely be discovered immediately, making the long process of possession even more impossible.

As for Ying Hao? Taiqing only saw it after his death. He was blessed with all sorts of powers, including destiny, fortune, national fortune, and some things that even he couldn't see.

Individually, it might not seem like much, but when all these powers are combined, they are in no way weaker than the Heavenly Dao power within Master. Under such circumstances, trying to possess Ying Hao's body is no different from courting death.

Therefore, among all the people present, only the unlucky Zhuang Zhou was the most suitable for Taiqing. After possessing Zhuang Zhou, Taiqing's soul, like the most cunning parasite, took advantage of the opportunity when Zhuang Zhou used the "Dream Butterfly" technique and his soul was most open and active, to quietly sneak in and forcibly instill the heavy memories and deep-seated hatred that he carried into the other party, disguised as dream fragments.

The “emotional imprints that did not belong to him” and the “weight deep in his soul” that Zhuang Zhou felt were signs that this remnant soul had successfully parasitized and begun to initially integrate and erode him.

That temporary "peace" was not because he had successfully dispelled his "distractions," but rather because his remnant soul, after initially taking root, was lying dormant and disguising itself for a longer-term erosion.

Ying Hao thought Taiqing was dead, after all, the other party had even handed over the Three Pure Ones Scripture and One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones, but in fact Taiqing was not only still alive, but also had hidden the Azure Lotus Chapter.

At this moment, his soul, like a deadly virus, was silently and fatally possessing Zhuang Zhou's body, using it as a breeding ground. And those "dreams" that Zhuang Zhou questioned were merely the beginning of this cruel parasitic invasion.

Whenever Zhuangzi enters a deeper level of cultivation, the dormant remnant soul will continue to erode his carefree will in a more hidden and profound way.

Trying to possess a Venerable-level or Half-Profound Realm expert is obviously not an easy task. If the other party notices and resists, they might even devour Taiqing instead.

Therefore, Taiqing could only use this method of "boiling a frog in warm wine" to gradually erode and transform Zhuang Zhou.
When Zhuang Zhou's mind, cognition, and consciousness all approach Taiqing to an unlimited extent, and his every word and action is the same as Taiqing's, that will be the day when Taiqing completely possesses this Zhuang Zhou who dreamed of being a butterfly.

Inside the quiet room, the sandalwood incense still burned.

The sea of ​​clouds outside the window churned endlessly, like a silent mockery of fate.

Zhuang Zhou closed his eyes again, trying to regain inner peace, but he was unaware that the small space of his soul had already fallen into a silent battlefield concerning life, death, and the essence of existence.

And the cold will of the Taiqing Daoist who perished in his "dream" is gazing far north through the eyes of this body—towards the capital of the Great Qin Empire.

"Ying Hao..."

Taiqing's soul couldn't help but whisper, but his voice no longer trembled; instead, it settled into a chilling, all-consuming coldness and unwavering resolve.

"You defied the laws of Heaven and murdered the will of Heaven. The world has strayed from its proper course because of you, and the calamities will be magnified infinitely because of you! I have also failed to fulfill my master's entrustment... This is the shame of my life, and I can never atone for it even if I die ten thousand times!"

Taiqing slowly raised his head and looked towards Luoyang. His gaze seemed to pierce through endless spatial barriers. A pure and extreme killing intent, like a tangible ice storm, quietly condensed deep within his (Zhuang Zhou's) soul.

“Only by slaying this fiend, only by completely eliminating you, the greatest ‘variable,’ can I appease my master’s spirit in heaven, make up for my sin of failing to protect the mandate of heaven, and… allow this distorted trajectory of the heavenly way to return to the right path.”

“All of this should return to its proper course, so Ying Hao, you must die.”

This is no longer a cry for revenge, but a vow of Heaven made by Taiqing in his remnant soul, using the body of another.

The responsibility he felt to protect the Heavenly Dao, fueled by extreme failure and guilt, transformed into an unwavering determination to kill Ying Hao.

In order to correct everything that Ying Hao had messed up, he was willing to give up everything that remained, even if it meant eternal damnation, to drag Ying Hao into the abyss of destruction!

To achieve this goal, the first thing he needs to do is to completely possess Zhuang Zhou's body.

If there is a progress in the possession process, Taiqing has already completed 70% of it. He and Zhuang Zhou are at completely different levels. Zhuang Zhou is still unaware that he is being possessed.

Possessing Zhuang Zhou's body wasn't too difficult for Taiqing. The real challenge lay in what happened after the possession was complete. After all, even with his late-stage Half-Profound cultivation, he was still surrounded and killed by Ying Hao, while Zhuang Zhou, with his near-Half-Profound cultivation, clearly posed no threat to Ying Hao.

Although Zhuang Zhou's current body has good talent, it is not as good as Tai Qing's original body. However, he is still confident that he can recover to the late stage of the Half-Profound realm with his experience, but this will obviously take a lot of time.

Taiqing couldn't possibly hide away and cultivate slowly until he recovered his late-stage semi-profound cultivation before emerging from seclusion. After all, by then, Ying Hao would probably have already unified the world and wiped out all his enemies.

Whether he leaves the pass or not at that time will not make much difference.

Therefore, time waits for no one, and he must complete the possession as soon as possible. Instead, he should personally take charge and unite the anti-Qin forces, rather than superficially uniting them while they are still fighting their own battles.

"It's coming, it's coming soon."

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August 15th, the fourth year of Shenwu (199 AD)
In the study of the Prefectural Governor's residence in Yingchuan Commandery, Yuzhou.
As the profound aura representing the Dao Ancestor Hongjun completely dissipated into the river of time, returning to the timeline of a hundred years ago, and the river of time also quickly dissipated, Ying Hao's tense nerves relaxed like a fully drawn bowstring, and he leaned back in his seat, almost exhausted.

Cold sweat soaked through his inner clothes, sticking stickily to his back and bringing waves of chill.

Zhu Rong was even worse off than Ying Hao. Her legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground, unable to stand for a long time until Ying Hao came over to help her up.

Ying Hao and Zhu Rong looked at each other in silence, clearly understanding what they had just experienced. After all, the oppressive feeling they had just experienced far exceeded that of any powerful enemy they had ever faced.

That was not a crushing force, but an absolute suppression that originated from the level of life and from the rules of the world.

It was as if, in front of Hongjun, Ying Hao and this vast empire were nothing more than an insignificant speck of dust in the long river of time, their life and death hanging in the balance of the other's thoughts.

"Your Majesty, you lied to the Dao Ancestor just now."

Upon hearing Zhu Rong's words, Ying Hao couldn't help but smile wryly and say, "I dare not lie."