this infinite world

Chu Hao couldn't sleep...

Under normal circumstances, Chu Hao should have already fallen asleep. After all, as an O6 in the Rebel Organization, maintaining sufficient energy is a necessary survival skill, and he has already mastered the ability to fall asleep quickly no matter what environment he is in, and wake up quickly when he senses danger... Otherwise, Chu Hao would have died of overwork due to lack of rest while dealing with the seemingly endless organizational affairs in the real world.

Apart from the strange dream in Rivendell, Chu Hao's recent actions can be said to be extremely smooth. During this period, he sometimes appeared in front of the stage and sometimes hid behind the scenes, like a puppeteer who knows the human heart, skillfully stirring the anger of the Blue Mountain dwarves who have been oppressed by the nobles for more than a hundred years...

In just a few months, Chu Hao not only successfully united the dwarves of Blue Mountain Durin, allowing them to spontaneously overthrow the corrupt ruling class and the "mountain" above their heads; he also commanded this once mob to win two miraculous defense battles in the Blue Mountain capital. Now, these dwarves, who can be described as "reborn", are singing war songs and preparing to embark on a grand journey to the Lonely Mountain...

Yes, no matter from which perspective, Chu Hao's layout could not be more successful.

In a very short time, Chu Hao had obtained a dwarven army that had experienced the baptism of blood and fire, had high morale, and was infused with an almost fanatical fighting spirit. He even successfully woven his strategic goals with the dwarves' ancient dream of retaking the Lonely Mountain and their own inner desires through incitement, making these stubborn dwarves willingly become sharp blades in his hands.

Whenever these Durin dwarves stroked their ancestral battle axes and walked on the Long March Road, they would not realize that they were not only the expeditionary force to retake their homeland, but also the vanguard cannon fodder used by Chu Hao to fight against the Celestial Team in this group battle...

...However, ever since completing the horror movie world of "The Haunted Mansion", Chu Hao has felt an inexplicable palpitation in his heart from time to time.

Initially, Chu Hao attributed this abnormality to the struggle between the two extraordinary powers in his body. After all, to this day, the "Four Symbols, Five Elements, Eight Diagrams Sealing Array" that Zhang Heng and Tom spent all their money to buy for him is still in the depths of his consciousness, fighting a seemingly endless tug-of-war with the "reverse" meme obtained from the world of the evil spirit.

Even though Chu Hao had forgotten why his Four Symbols, Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Sealing Array collapsed and shattered, turning into the most basic rune combination unit, at this moment this sealing formation worth an S-level side story and 50,000 reward points began to operate on its own again, trapping the "reverse" meme in the form of a distorted shadow in the very center of the rune chain.

And there is no logic to memes... Even if the previous outbreak of meme effects brought some unpredictable influences to Chu Hao, causing his perception to become confused, it is normal.

However, ever since the North Ice Continent team entered the Lord of the Rings plane, Chu Hao has felt this inexplicable palpitation growing like a thorn in his flesh, getting stronger day by day. At first, it was just an occasional chill on his spine, but now it has turned into an extremely strong sense of being watched, as if there is a pair of invisible eyes staring at his every move through the cracks in the dimension. Today, it has even reached the point where he can't fall asleep...

"We can't go on like this..."

Normally, Chu Hao was used to bearing everything alone, taking all the abuse and responsibility on himself, but the current situation was obviously not suitable for him to continue hiding it. After thinking it over, Chu Hao finally decided to seek help from his teammates, and the most suitable person to ask for help was obviously...

"...Think of Xikong."

Thinking of this, Chu Hao walked out of the tent and came to a nearby hillside. He gently called out to the short girl who was holding a jet-black sword in front of her knees and seemed to be practicing with her eyes closed: "Can you help me answer some questions?"

……

"…You are in big trouble."

When Chu Hao told him everything about his recent situation, before he could even explain further, the cultivator from the North Ice Continent team interrupted his captain without hesitation, and his usually cold tone was filled with a hint of blame: "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"This……"

Nian Xikong expressed his emotions so bluntly that Chu Hao, who was used to hiding things, found it difficult to answer. But before he could think of some words to deal with this topic, a smiling baby face suddenly appeared next to him: "I think Chu Hao must not want us to worry, so he didn't say it... Is that right?"

"Grass!"

Seeing the baby-faced man suddenly approaching him, Chu Hao didn't have time to think. His body moved faster than his mind and he punched him immediately, causing a big dark circle to appear on the opponent's face... Then, the baby-faced young man covered his dark circle and complained loudly: "Chu Hao, what are you doing! I'm obviously speaking for you!"

"That's what I want to ask you... What are you doing up at night? And eavesdropping on our conversation like a ghost."

Looking at Zhang Heng, who was complaining loudly like a monkey and exuding a funny aura, Chu Hao replied unhappily, "Don't you know that scaring others can kill them? If I hadn't reacted quickly, what greeted you just now was not a fist, but a fireball."

"Hehe, it's time to get up at night, and I happened to see you going to look for Nian Xikong."

Hearing Chu Hao's question, Zhang Heng scratched his head and answered somewhat embarrassedly, and his baby face suddenly showed an unusual smile: "It's the middle of the night, a man and a woman alone, and the sky is full of stars. Isn't this a good time to do something..."

"Zheng——"

Before Zhang Heng could finish his words, the pitch-black sword on Nian Xikong's knees suddenly made an ear-piercing clanging sound. As the sword trembled, a murderous intent as tangible as a tide swept out. The aura was filled with tragic images of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, forcing Zhang Heng's unspoken words back into his throat.

The sound of a sword stunned Zhang Heng, making the funny young man unable to say a word. Then the petite swordsman girl frowned and said to Chu Hao: "Based on what you just described, someone is using 'cause and effect' to deduce your whereabouts."

"If my guess is correct, the other party may have already completed the cross-dimensional lock on your current coordinates, and the feeling of being watched is definitely not an illusion. Maybe your every move now is within the other party's sight..."

"Isn't that visual——"

"Oh!"

This time, Nian Xikong was not so polite. The black long sword flew out from between her knees and hit Zhang Heng's other eye hard, knocking this guy, who always claimed that he was not a "funny killer" but actually always showed his funny nature, into a rolling gourd, rolling on the ground for more than ten times before stopping...

"Don't worry, you won't die."

Facing Chu Hao's inquiring gaze, Nian Xikong first retracted his raised index and middle fingers, and then said in a serious tone again: "Chu Hao...you should know the world I was born in, right?"

"……Um."

Chu Hao's eyes fell on the jade pendant on Nian Xikong's waist. It was one of the few things she carried with her. It was also the magic weapon she used to find him when they first met. It was said to be left by a cultivator before the main god space... Although Nian Xikong usually kept her origins and master secrets secret, Chu Hao still pieced together her origins through the sporadic clues in her daily words. - The Legend of Shushan Swordsman.

That world of cultivation where sword energy is rampant and cause and effect and reincarnation are rife.

Three Heroes and Two Clouds, the Purple and Green Swords, the White-Eyebrowed Immortal, the Blood Demon Rebellion... Just by looking up those famous techniques and magic weapons at the Lord God, you can know how powerful the world Nian Xikong came from is. That is a plane where immortals truly exist. But the most important thing is that the world view of "Shushan Swordsman" pays great attention to the theory of cause and effect. Knowing is involvement, and reciting is a bond...

"...You mean, someone has figured out my whereabouts through something like 'cause and effect'?" Chu Hao asked with an unpleasant look on his face. He never thought that his whereabouts would be exposed because of the mysterious word "cause and effect".

"Well, it's very possible."

Facing Chu Hao's question, Nian Xikong nodded seriously: "Bodhisattvas fear causes, while mortals fear consequences. Cause and effect are just like this. Even someone as powerful as the Lord God cannot completely cut off the thread of cause and effect... Otherwise, I would not have been able to reincarnate in the 347 planes, and with the help of this jade pendant given to me by my master, I would not have finally found the clue to the Lord God's space."

"This is really troublesome... Nian Xikong, do you have any solution?"

Chu Hao sighed and covered his forehead. He always had a headache for things that could not be explained by "logic" or "common sense". After all, what wise people hate most is things that are beyond their understanding and out of their control... just like a mathematician encountering an undeducible paradox or a detective facing a murder case without a motive.

Although Chu Hao had a certain degree of understanding of what "Rune Technology" was after exchanging his arcane bloodline, and he also learned from Nian Xikong that the essence of "cultivation" was to cultivate the truth, and its meaning was to explore the truth of the entire universe, and to cultivate to obtain the most real essence of it, that is, the most basic rules of the universe, which was far beyond the scope of technology in the 21st century... But this illusory theory of cause and effect, which was closer to "religion" than "science", was still too beyond the scope for him.

"No, with my strength, I am still unable to get to the level of cause and effect."

Although he asked this question, Chu Hao didn't hold much hope in his heart. As expected, Nian Xikong shook his head the next moment and said, "The matter of cause and effect is really too profound. Even in the Shushan plane where I lived in my first life, apart from my master, White Eyebrow Immortal, there are only a few people who know a little bit about it, and they are all famous immortals..."

"Even though I have reached the Yuanshen stage in my first life and awakened my spiritual light, which is not considered weak in the entire plane, the 'immortal' is still a realm that I can never reach... Not to mention, I have just returned to the foundation-building stage."

"Doesn't that mean the person who is tracking Chu Hao is at least as strong as your master?"

At this point, Nian Xikong gritted his teeth unwillingly. Unbeknownst to him, Zhang Heng, with a pair of panda eyes, came back. He had obviously heard Nian Xikong's explanation, but he said with a bitter face: "If it is really an immortal who is coming to kill us, then why should we resist? We might as well just lie down and wait to die..."

"You idiot, do you think that all immortal-level cultivators are cabbages?"

Even though he was extremely depressed, Nian Xikong couldn't help but glare at Zhang Heng and said viciously: "In addition to the immortals taking action personally, there are many magic weapons that can do similar things, such as this jade pendant in my hand."

"Besides, don't the Lord God have many weapons of causality? Among them, there are tools that can trace causality, so it is not impossible..."

“…That’s good news.”

Hearing this, Chu Hao finally breathed a sigh of relief. After all, just like Zhang Heng said, an immortal was an enemy that the current North Ice Continent team was completely unable to fight against. If he used a magical weapon such as the one that could trace cause and effect, the threat he faced would be much smaller.

But after thinking it over, the young man still didn’t know what his current situation was. After all, it was no exaggeration to say that Chu Hao’s situation in the real world was “surrounded by enemies”.

Among them, Organization C and Organization X are enemies that he is completely unable to fight against, and the last time in the Ghost Circuit world, he actually encountered an invasion by members of those two organizations... If those two organizations realized his importance and could use some magic weapon to cross dimensions and boundaries to hunt him down, that would be quite normal.

In addition, Chu Hao has quite a few secrets, such as his half-plane fragments, his "reverse" memes, and the messy things that were suddenly stuffed into his mind before he entered the world of the Lord of the Rings... So for a while, even with Chu Hao's IQ, it is difficult to think of who would have triggered the cause and effect in him and even go to the trouble of tracking him across dimensions.

"But no matter what, it doesn't seem like a good thing..."

Chu Hao rubbed his temples and decided to temporarily attribute his doubts to Organization C and Organization X. After all, those two organizations had a history of invading the reincarnation world, and he had once disrupted their invasion. "So, when will the other party come to us?"

"do not know."

Nian Xikong spread his hands very straightforwardly and answered briefly: "It could be a hundred years later, or it could be the next second. After all, the flow of time inside and outside the world is not the same. You should have experienced this when you were in the main god space... But I don't need to tell you that you know that the other party must have bad intentions."

"In the world I was born in, directly locking a person's location through cause and effect is an extremely bad behavior. It is not an exaggeration to call it a direct declaration of war. After all, everyone has their own secrets. For cultivators, calculating cause and effect is no different from opening a box offline, and it is even worse than that..."

Nian Xikong's words suddenly froze on his lips.

At this moment, the girl suddenly looked up at the night sky, her pupils contracted violently. Chu Hao followed her frozen gaze and saw a green meteor streaking across the sky. Wherever it passed, both the stars and the night sky retreated, and even the bright moon was covered by its brilliance... and the direction it fell was exactly the hilltop where the three members of the North Ice Continent team were!

"Well--!"

Suddenly, Chu Hao groaned and half-knelt on the ground. The moment he saw the green meteor, his palpitations suddenly reached a peak, as if countless ice needles were running along his nerves, piercing his eyes and making them black...

"…It seems that we don't need to keep guessing."

Nian Xikong had no time to care about Chu Hao who was kneeling on the ground beside her. She took a deep breath, and the cold air filled her lungs, suppressing her madly beating heart. The five fingers of her right hand suddenly tightened, grasping the pitch-black sword that was shaking wildly in her palm like a frightened beast...

In an instant, the air within three meters around the girl suddenly twisted, and countless sword energies as thin as hair spontaneously condensed into a net, shining coldly under the moonlight. It was obvious that she was ready to go all out at any time. On the other side, Zhang Heng, who also felt the crisis, had already put on the Silver Saint Armor of the Sky Arrow, holding the Wind Walker Bow in his hand, his muscles tensed, cold sweat dripping from his forehead, and there was no trace of his usual funny demeanor...

"The enemy has already arrived at the door!" (End of this chapter)