I tried to kill the heroines of destiny, but they ended up chasing after me.

“That’s right, your karma is not yet complete, otherwise you wouldn’t have achieved your goal. You asked me for help during the ages, so I helped you,” the Tree of Time replied.

"What? I asked you for that?" Huang Quan asked, bewildered.

The Tree of Time continued, "I am the Tree of Time of the True Profound Continent. I can see the past and future of the True Profound Continent and know everything that has happened there. You can also think of me as... the brain of the True Profound Continent."

Upon hearing this, Huang Quan was startled, but he did not speak. Instead, he focused his gaze on the family of three in front of him.

“I know about the existence of people outside, I know about your special identity. I knew everything from the moment you came into contact with the true Dharma, but... but your karma is not complete, so you can't save me yet.”

"Save you?" Huang Quan was even more puzzled.

"Yes! It's about saving me. Only you can save me. Only you can save this world from the destruction of the universe," the Tree of Time said with utmost seriousness.

"Hey, hey, hey! Are you sure you're not mistaken? What do you mean by saving you? What do you mean by the destruction of the universe? What do you mean by completing my cause and effect? ​​I don't understand any of this!" Huang Quan asked, his brows furrowed tightly.

"Oh? You don't understand? Heh! That's right! You don't understand yet, and if we calculate according to the correct timeline, everything will be clear by the time of the Heavenly Emperor. But because your previous life created you, the future can no longer function normally..."

"Everything I'm telling you now is simply the timeline I've chosen from countless futures where I see you—the one most beneficial for both of us..."

However, when Huang Quan heard these words from the Tree of Time, he was still very confused. Although he had vaguely sensed some key points, it was still far from enough to completely understand these things.

“I really don’t understand what you’re saying…” Huang Quan’s eyes flickered slightly, and he said seriously, “I think you just need to tell me what your purpose is in bringing me here.”

"Purpose? Heh!" Tree of Time chuckled and said, "My purpose is to bring you to this point in time, my purpose is to make you understand your past, that's all."

“Understand the past? I know my past very well, there’s no need for you to replay it!” Huang Quan said resolutely.

"Oh? Is that so? You're really naive! You think what Anran told you is your past? You think your past is that simple? Haven't you noticed any problems? Or have you noticed them, but you're just unwilling to face them?" said the Tree of Time.

Upon hearing this, Huang Quan was startled, his eyes suddenly widened, and he froze on the spot, only feeling a sharp pain in his mind.

Perhaps influenced by something, a blue light suddenly appeared, causing Huang Quan's cultivation to begin to grow rapidly, seemingly showing signs of breaking through to another unknown realm.

Upon closer inspection, the character was clearly --岁 (years old).

"Age! The age of years, past and present, present and future, all exist in one word: age. Your past... you can see for yourself. When this journey that belongs to you ends, I will let you see your future and tell you everything..."

"Of course, whether you believe it or not, whether you want to believe it or not, is up to you. I won't stop you, nor will I reveal too much. Anyway... you'd better take care of yourself." At this moment, the voice of the Tree of Time gradually weakened, and disappeared completely in just about two breaths.

"The truth of the past...?" Huang Quan murmured, his thoughts seemingly a bit chaotic. In this state, his gaze unconsciously fell on the little boy among the three, perhaps hoping to see something, but unfortunately, he couldn't find any answers no matter how he looked.

……

As the sun sets, stars and dewdrops appear.

Huang Quan kept his eyes on the little boy, who was probably only six or seven years old. Only occasionally did he turn his attention to the boy's parents. His mind finally calmed down, and he finally chose to wait... to wait for the truth to come out.

As for the blue "岁" character in his mind, although it still caused him some pain, it was much better than before, and he expected that the pain would disappear completely soon.

Night falls, and the stars and moon shine.

After nightfall, Huang Quan stopped following the little boy and went to the village entrance.

In truth, he was truly dissatisfied with the Tree of Time's actions. Meeting Shangguan Yuxin earlier was one thing, since it didn't seem to have much to do with him, but sending it to this village, to this point in time, truly angered him...

Because he knew very well that soon something heartbreaking would happen in the village, something Huang Quan would never forget in his life, that's why he didn't give the Tree of Time a kind look.

“In my memory, Zhou You should have already discovered my existence, and today… he’s coming to take me away.” Huang Quan sat on a rock, staring at the main road at the village entrance. Judging from his expression, he seemed a little nervous.

Past events have both good and bad aspects. Good memories are joyful, while bad memories are sorrowful. People tend to accept joy and reject sorrow, but joy and sorrow are relative, so where there is joy, there must also be sorrow.

Huang Quan didn't want to see this kind of grief, even though he felt a sliver of joy when he saw that family of three.

Just as Huang Quan had expected, at the very moment approaching midnight, an old man dressed in a gray robe, who looked kind and amiable, walked out from the main road and stood before Huang Quan.

This caused Huang Quan's boundless hatred to surge the moment he saw the old man. His eyes flashed with ruthlessness, and he launched an attack on the old man. However, because the space he was in was different from that of the old man, no matter how angry he was or how many attacks he launched, he could not pose any threat to the old man.

Similarly, the old man could neither see the Yellow Springs nor sense any of its presence; they were truly like people from two different worlds.

Without a doubt, this old man was none other than Zhou You, the enemy Huang Quan had been searching for all along.

Huang Quan knew very well that the Tree of Time would not allow him to harm Zhou You, because since the Tree of Time knew everything about the True Profound Continent, it was impossible for it not to know its hatred for Zhou You. It was precisely for this reason that the Tree of Time made Huang Quan an observer with a god-like perspective.

He can only see and hear, but cannot touch or influence.

Even so, Huang Quan could not suppress his anger, so it wasn't until he vented his anger on Zhou You for a while that he calmed down and became calm enough to continue watching.

However, to Huang Quan's surprise, what happened next was very different from everything he remembered, and could even be said to be completely different.

Because after Zhou You entered the village, he did not do anything to the village. He simply walked slowly into the house of the family of three.

He was very polite and had a great manner.

He is very popular with little boys, like a grandson and grandfather.

Seeing this scene, Huang Quan was astonished, extremely astonished, because in his memory, after Zhou You arrived in the village, he immediately began to kill. There was no chatting, no leisurely life. This was impossible!

"This? This? This... What the hell is going on? Could it be... that my memory is wrong?" Standing outside the house, looking at the harmony of the four people, Huang Quan was completely dumbfounded, his mind unable to process what was happening for a long time.

He was stunned.

He was completely dumbfounded.

But the matter did not end there, because just as Huang Quan was in a daze, another person appeared at the entrance of the village.

He was a young man, dressed in a gray robe, but unlike Zhou You, he had no affability; only a trace of evil and sorrow flowed around him.

"Sigh! No matter what, I hope you can forgive me... because I had no other choice!" With that, the man resolutely stepped into the village.

But at that very moment, a powerful aura swept through the entire village, causing sand and stones to fly everywhere, rooftops to collapse, as if a great calamity was about to befall them, with no way to escape.

In an instant, both Huang Quan and Zhou You sensed this aura. Their expressions changed simultaneously, their eyes narrowed, and their figures flashed, arriving in front of the gray-robed youth in the blink of an eye.

But the moment Huang Quan saw this person, he was shocked, utterly shocked.

Because this person was none other than someone who looked very similar to him.

He froze again, even a little breathless, because in that instant, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind, a terrifying thought, a thought he didn't want to believe.

However, the reality was like a slap in the face, and no matter how unwilling he was to believe it, it had no effect whatsoever.

Because he exists in a different dimension from this world, he can only watch and listen to what happens next; he can do nothing and cannot stop anything.

"Who goes there?" Zhou You shouted at the man with a solemn expression.

But the gray-robed youth did not respond. He had a complicated expression on his face, as if he did not care about Zhou You at all. He raised his left foot and took a step forward casually.

With this single step, an aura that would terrify even the Yellow Springs swept across the surrounding area, causing the heavens and earth to change color, mountains to shake, and even the starlight and moon to hide behind the dark clouds, as if in fear of this person.

Zhou You, who directly bore the brunt of this aura, staggered back more than ten steps, spitting out a mouthful of crimson blood. His face turned deathly pale until he collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.

Even Zhou You, who possesses Nirvana cultivation, couldn't withstand the casual aura emanating from this gray-robed youth. This demonstrates that the gray-robed youth's strength far surpasses the imagination of ordinary cultivators.

Furthermore, even Zhou You was seriously injured and collapsed, so the situation in this village was even worse.

In the blink of an eye, the houses here began to collapse rapidly, revealing the villagers, including the family of three that Huang Quan had seen earlier.

What happened?

Has the wind picked up?

At this moment, the villagers, unaware of the impending disaster, showed confusion and surprise one by one. The men came out of their houses to observe what was happening around them, while the women and children huddled in a corner, their fear and terror barely concealed.

In short, the village was thrown into chaos, which prevented them from noticing the gray-robed youth's presence. After all, it was impossible for him not to realize that all these strange phenomena were caused by this gray-robed youth.

His purpose in coming here and doing these things was only one thing: to massacre the village.

Therefore, with a sigh, the gray-robed youth ignored the unconscious Zhou You, raised his left hand again, and pointed lightly forward!

With this gesture, a wisp of gray mist swirled in the sky, transforming directly into countless incredibly sharp, tiny sword beams that swiftly reached the villagers before they could even see them.

Perhaps not wanting these villagers to feel the pain of death, the sword strikes were all fatal, giving them no time to react. And with the youth's strength, in just about a breath, more than half of the villagers here had died.

Blood flowed incessantly, staining the land red, and one corpse after another emerged, one life after another perished.

Regardless of age, gender, or species, none escaped the clutches of this gray-robed youth.

The difference between mortals and cultivators was evident here, but the gray-robed youth was crying, crying incessantly. With each person he killed, a tear welled up in his eyes.

His eyes were red from crying. He tried to suppress the feeling, but he couldn't. Even though he heard the children's screams and the women's cries, he continued to kill, killing madly, his blood staining his skin.

This is a sin, he knows it is a sin, but it is a sin he has to commit. Even if this sin will stay with him for the rest of his life, he will not regret it in the slightest. This is his determination.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! This is all I can do, this is really all I can do. If you don't die, the karma won't be broken, and I'll never be able to leave here. You must be in a lot of pain! And I... am in even more pain!!" The gray-robed youth murmured, even though he knew that no one could understand what he was saying, including Huang Quan, who was watching everything from the side.

Huang Quan went mad, even more so than the gray-robed youth. He wanted to stop the gray-robed youth, unwilling to see his hometown destroyed, but he was powerless to do so.

"Aaaaaah!!!" Huang Quan roared, his face contorted in rage. He used all his magic, but he still couldn't get past the spatial barrier between him and the gray-robed youth. He was who he was, and the gray-robed youth was who he was.

"The Tree of Time! The Tree of Time!!! Why?! Why?!" Huang Quan looked at the blood-soaked ground, at this so-called truth, at the fact that even the real Zhou You could not escape his fate. He roared madly, he roared at the Tree of Time.

Unfortunately, the Tree of Time did not respond to him, just as the Tree of Time had said, it would not interfere with his cause and effect.

"This truth, this cause and effect... Tree of Time!! What makes you think you can be saved! What makes you think this person can save you!" Huang Quan roared, pointing fiercely at the gray-robed youth.

However, the Tree of Time remained silent as always, as if it had known all along that Huang Quan would react this way.

Silent slaughter, a silent world, only the gray-robed youth, only Huang Quan.

Two people, two worlds; one is the cause, the other the effect, but the cause has begun while the effect has not yet arrived.

The gray-robed youth went mad, and so did Huang Quan; they were both insane. At this moment, there were no bystanders, only those who acted upon cause and effect.

Until the gray-robed youth finished his killing spree, only the family of three that Huang Quan had seen earlier remained in the village; they were the only ones still alive.

Of course, this doesn't mean the gray-robed youth suddenly showed mercy, but rather that this family was different, and he had to do something before taking action.

The young man in the gray robe wiped away his tears and, with mixed feelings, finally walked towards the house.

Huang Quan seemed to sense what the gray-robed youth was about to do, so he stood in front of him. However, the gray-robed youth, who couldn't see Huang Quan, didn't make any corresponding move, but simply walked past like a ghost.

But Huang Quan did not give up. He gritted his teeth, and a trace of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth. He tried to stop the gray-robed youth. He stood in front of the gray-robed youth again and again, but he failed again and again.

He knew he would fail; he knew this was something that had happened in the past, but he just wanted to stop it, desperately tried to stop it, even if he couldn't...

And just like that, the gray-robed youth appeared before the family of three.

The father and mother were slightly injured because of the collapse of their house. They had bruises on their arms and blood clots on their heads, but even so, they did not let go of the child they had been holding in their arms.

The child was crying, and the father and mother were also afraid, but for the sake of their child, they tried their best to control their emotions. However, under the deliberate influence of the gray-robed youth, they could no longer see anything else.

It's not that they're blind, but rather that their vision has been obstructed.

Like an embroidered cloth before death, it is both terrifying and reassuring.

"Father... Mother... I'm sorry!" the gray-robed youth murmured, then stretched out his left hand and slowly touched their foreheads.

It was obvious that at this point, both of them would die.