A journey of survival starting from Zhetian

Chapter 742 A Vast Cause and Effect

Deep within the chaos lies a hazy, indistinct realm, a place even the most ordinary shores struggle to fathom.

A dreamlike river, illusory and indescribable, silently emerges, while devout prayers praising the Creator overlap like whispers, and some true and real cosmic information is projected from the past to the present.

A figure draped in a curly black robe, wearing a pure black top hat, a faceless mask, and a monocle appeared, waving a cane and stirring up layers of cause and effect and destiny.

An ancient universe, nearly equal in size and status to the Real World, seemed to have been created anew, reopening the boundaries of chaos, clarifying the disordered laws, and integrating all the laws and concepts.

The Creator, whose face was unfathomable, opened his arms wide, and the staff in his hands evolved into countless tiny portals, communicating with the ancient and vicissitudes of this era, which did not belong to this time. He transformed it into semi-transparent threads, perfectly connecting two different underlying logics and laws.

In an instant, a hidden wave of vibration, tracing back from the present moment to the end of the previous era, distorted past history and altered the truth of the matter.

The power of time fluctuated, like a collapsing tsunami, tearing apart the cause and effect of countless things, and like a roaring avalanche, destined to bury and annihilate all vibrant destinies. But all of this slowly subsided under that illusory and indescribable dreamlike river, without a trace of extra fluctuation.

Ultimately, an ancient universe, in the hands of this enigmatic creator, became a part of this era in an extremely secretive way.

The illusory and indescribable dreamlike river gradually dissipated, and countless starlight collapsed and coalesced, re-forming into a staff that returned to the hands of the creator.

The eerie Creator's expression was slightly tense as He examined the ancient universe—a universe that had "vanished" in the past but had been selectively captured and moved to the present timeline—again and again. Finally, His gaze softened, and He breathed a silent sigh of relief.

The figure swayed slightly and vanished like a dream bubble.

Upon solidification, they found themselves in a city called Yangen, which resembled Victoria but clearly possessed a steampunk cyberpunk style.

Zhou Mingrui, whose form had reassembled into human shape, looked at the small house that was close at hand, not very brightly lit. He took out a silver pocket watch with vine and leaf patterns, gently pressed the top, opened the watch cover, and looked at the hands that hadn't turned in a long time. His expression was so silent.

After a long, long time, he finally managed to find some of the emotions that belonged to his "newly transmigrated" self, and savored them carefully.

Zhou Mingrui lowered his eyelids, and in the vast ocean of his mind, he murmured to himself, "This is the reality of the other shore. It's really too unreal for me now."

After a long silence, He continued to mutter to himself, “I thought that after receiving the gift from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Venerable, and with so many years of cultivation of the Dao, maintaining my humanity would not be a problem. But it seems that without realizing it, my humanity has already declined significantly, allowing divinity to take over.”

"No, it should be that after attaining the other shore, in my consciousness, I instinctively felt that letting divinity take the lead would bring me closer to the rudimentary form of the Dao Fruit and closer to the ancients."

"This instinct is not wrong. In just a few years of quiet cultivation, my illusory Dao Fruit has already come infinitely close to the prototype of the Dao Fruit. It is only a hair's breadth away from allowing the traces of my existence to be traced back to the ancients of an era even older than the beginning of the century."

"However, this is not entirely what I wanted; it deviates from my original intention."

Zhou Mingrui recalled the cultivation technique he had "inherited" from Xuanhuang Tianzun, titled "Slaying the Dao to See Me".

With a slight hesitation, He activated the technique, forming a faint, wavering sword light that slashed towards the true spirit.

Fragments of fireflies, imbued with divinity, were separated from the true spirit. They were few and very faint, like a mortal plucking a hair from his arm, causing a slight sting, but insignificant to the whole.

The second wisp of sword light began to form, slightly firmer than the first, and with an almost imperceptible amount of divinity separating from the true spirit.

The third, fourth, and fifth strands of sword light began to form, each one more resolute and more dazzling than the last, until they were countless. They floated beside the divine light of their innate nature, like stars, their existence and demise in an orderly fashion.

The next moment, all the divinity coalesced into a single deity, which emerged from Zhou Mingrui's body, wearing a faceless mask and a monocle, and holding a scepter surrounded by starlight.

"call"

Zhou Mingrui let out a sigh of relief, and the emotions in his eyes flickered clearly in an instant.

"The methods of the Celestial Venerable Xuanhuang are truly effective."

He looked at the indifferent expression before him, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, possessing only eternal divinity, whose strength had reached the pseudo-other shore, and who was embodying his illusory Dao fruit. The corners of his mouth slowly turned up.

"From this day forward, you are the Mysterious Celestial Lord."

The Mysterious Celestial Venerable nodded silently, offering no verbal response. In the next moment, he began to split into extraordinary characteristics, scattering into the various galaxies of this most ancient universe, serving as the backdrop for what all beings in the universe call the "Primordial Creator."

As the sun set, I walked towards my second home.

As for Klein Moretti, it had been "a long time" since he had returned to this cozy little home to chat leisurely with his sister Melissa and brother Benson.

"I'm back."

Just as Zhou Mingrui was about to step into his home, a unique entity with causal power, which had just split off from the Mysterious Celestial Venerable, silently swept across the long ancient history. The activated divinity quietly glimpsed a sea of ​​auspicious clouds and saw the palace within it, enveloped in chaotic energy.

A purple aura was concealed within, and the Five Virtues and Five Elements evolved into divine beasts and celestial birds. Ten different ferocious beasts, each with its own unique form and appearance, roared and roamed the desolate world, demonstrating their respective symbols and the laws of heaven and earth.

Zhou Mingrui, who had just sat down, picked up his teacup, taken a sip of water, and was chatting with Benson about the Empire's newly enacted regulations, suddenly stiffened.

This exceptionally magnificent palace seems somewhat familiar.
The activation speed of this unique item instantly soared, twisting into an incarnation at the Dharma Body level. Taking a few steps forward, it instantly saw the plaque written with Daoist patterns directly above the gate.
-
[Purple]——[Sky]——
"what happened?"

Benson gently lowered the Imperial Daily from his hand, looked at his younger brother's slightly stiff face, and smoothed his receding black hairline, somewhat puzzled.

"Even if this new regulation of the Empire was typed out by a bunch of drunken curly-haired baboons on a typewriter, it shouldn't have caused our Mr. Fool to lose his composure like this, right?"

Zhou Mingrui rubbed his temples, looked up at the sky, his eyes vacant and clear.

"It's nothing, I just saw someone coming to collect a debt."

Melissa brought out a plate of freshly baked cream-filled cookies from the kitchen and placed it on the table.

"Could it be the goddess coming to collect the debt?"

"I heard from your colleagues at Blackthorn Security that you learned how to 'reimburse expenses flexibly' from a teacher who believed in 'sages'."

"The goddess is checking the accounts and has discovered that you embezzled items when you became a Night Watcher. She's preparing to send a court summons through Emperor Roselle's legal channels?"

Zhou Mingrui's lips twitched, and he reached up to rub his head, which seemed a little swollen. Then, he picked up a bear-shaped sandwich cookie from the plate and took a big bite.

"Click. Click."

"Melissa's cookies are delicious."

"It's not that the goddess is going to hold me accountable for my 'flexible expense reimbursement'; things could be a little worse than that."

"I guess I'll have to start paying off my debts 'voluntarily'."

Zhou Mingrui's muffled voice came from his mouth, which was already stuffed with cookies, and his words were filled with a strange bitterness.

At this moment, his uniquely activated divine avatar was completely "controlled" and involuntarily walked into the [Purple Cloud Palace]. There, he saw three thousand prayer mats placed in different locations, and at the very front of all the prayer mats, a figure facing the gate with a blurred and indistinct form.

He, like a manipulated puppet, passed over the futons that had been sat on by powerful beings, and sat on the "correct" futon, gradually overlapping with the hazy figure, despite Zhou Mingrui's slight resistance and fear.

"Daoist Venerable, Blessed and Prosperous Heavenly Venerable, Primordial Heavenly Venerable"

"Cause and effect, destiny, yin and yang, the infinite, chaos, the four symbols."

"The Limitless Seal, the Primordial Golden Chapter, and the Seven Swords of Heaven's Interception."

"The cause of all effects."

Various unique pieces of information are spreading from this hazy figure and merging into the mind of this divine incarnation.

Countless insights automatically surged forth from the ocean of the mind. The Way of Limitlessness and the Way of Chaos were simultaneously refined into the illusory Great Way, and then sublimated into the illusory Dao Fruit, forcibly elevating this divine incarnation from the level of Dharma Body to the pseudo-Other Shore.

The changes never ceased. A sword light, pointing directly to the Dao Heart and the true self, disregarding everything else, slashed from the past to the present, cutting off this avatar and turning it into a clone.

A phantom river appeared, and a wisp of axe light carrying the meaning of creation came from the sky, manifesting a three-treasure jade ruyi and a chaotic "fruit" with a hint of cause and effect in front of this clone.

"The Three Treasures Ruyi, the divine weapon of the Primordial Celestial Venerable, and His 'Fruit of Creation'."

The moment this thought arose, the clone, which was almost manipulated into a puppet, picked up the "Opening Fruit" and swallowed it. Then, it held the Divine Weapon of the Other Shore in its hand and, just like the portrait on the table, struck a pose that closely resembled the expression and movements of the Primordial Celestial Venerable. The subtle movements were so pronounced that it was difficult to distinguish the real from the fake.

The profound Other Shore Divine Art began to operate, drawing trajectories that even ordinary Other Shores would find amazing, gradually reshaping the foundation of this new clone.

With each breakthrough in a realm, one gets closer and closer to the "Primordial Celestial Venerable," whether in appearance, Dao essence, or cause and effect.

When the cultivation technique reached the other shore level, even Zhou Mingrui could hardly tell whether this new clone was "Yuanshi Tianzun" "reviving" within his body, or whether He was becoming "Yuanshi Tianzun".

A vast Dao sound echoed from the depths of the mind. The Limitless Dao Fruit and the Chaos Dao Fruit, which were at the level of illusory Dao Fruits, began to approach the "Opening Fruit" that had come from the past to the present. They began to overlap, to melt into each other, and to "graft" on each other in terms of concepts and logic.

"boom!"

Unique, boundless chaotic points manifested behind the head of this avatar, forming a clear, round light, within which a flawless prototype of a Dao Fruit was generated.

With a hint of enlightenment, Zhou Mingrui looked at the swirling auspicious clouds above the avatar's spirit and murmured to himself, "Supreme Limitless Primordial Auspicious Clouds. 'I' am 'Primordial Heavenly Venerable'."

As soon as he finished speaking, brilliant threads of cause and effect appeared in his eyes. The symbols of "cause of all effects" and all the powers in the myriad realms that belong to cause and effect were gathered together and converged within the body of "Yuanshi Tianzun".

A faint, shimmering light appeared, illuminating the flickering candlelight, and a magical ancient lamp, resembling crystal and imbued with Buddhist charm, materialized.

It came from the past once more, another sword light that pointed directly to the Dao heart and true self, disregarding everything else. It directly severed this Buddhist lamp, transforming it from a near-solidified phenomenon into an object with a real physical form.

The karmic connections belonging to Buddhism were stirred, and the karmic connections of the greatest religion in all the heavens and myriad realms of this era surged forth, giving rise to immeasurable Buddhist light, boundless Buddhist principles, and pure emptiness.

A Buddha, draped in a kasaya, with hands clasped in prayer, having cultivated a golden Bodhi body, was spontaneously created from nothing by Buddhist faith and destiny. His face is seven parts similar to Zhou Mingrui and three parts resemble the seated "Yuanshi Tianzun".

The Buddha took the golden lamp and received the principles of cause and effect from the "Primordial Celestial Venerable". He pointed one finger to the sky and one finger to the earth, and recited Buddhist verses.

"Namo Amitabha."

"If I attain unsurpassed Bodhi and become a fully enlightened being, the Buddha-land I reside in will be adorned with immeasurable and inconceivable merits and virtues."

"If I attain supreme enlightenment..."

Zhou Mingrui listened in disbelief as what was clearly his new clone recited forty-eight great vows.

Instantly, countless brilliant threads of cause and effect connected countless illusory futures and unpredictable historical years, leading to the profound merits and great fortunes of heaven and earth, as vast as fragments of cosmic light.

"I am the Holy Buddha."

As the Buddha made his vow, the clear halo behind his head, containing the nascent form of the path to enlightenment, fully evolved.

At the same time, Zhou Mingrui could clearly sense that his three avatars were no longer being controlled like puppets. He could sense the power within these three avatars that belonged to the weak other shore level, and felt a vast torrent of time sweeping away the traces of his existence in the previous era, tracing them back to an extremely ancient end of an era.

By slightly raising one's head on the river of time, one can see a very familiar Buddha light, as well as the threads of cause and effect that bind oneself, leaving almost no gaps.

Zhou Mingrui was horrified and quickly grabbed the water glass on the table, gulping it down in front of Melissa and Benson's astonished gazes.

The causes and effects are far too numerous and too heavy!
He needs to drink water to calm his nerves!

Incidentally, he really wanted to send his greetings to a certain Celestial Venerable:
How on earth did such a massive and terrifying cause and effect come about?

This newly emerging Dao Fruit prototype, tracing back to the ancient beings at the end of the most ancient era, was almost out of breath!

(End of this chapter)