Chapter 1694: Reincarnation
The Celestial King's Palace was a massive palace comparable to an imperial palace. Powerful formation lines surrounded it, and although most of the power of the formation lines had dissipated, the formation lines were still beyond an ordinary person's ability to destroy them.
Xiang Shaoyun felt a familiar sensation at the Celestial King's Palace. He found himself liking that place, as though he had returned to his own home.
He became one with the place and sensed every single formation line around him. He sighed, "This defensive god-grade formation is formed by combining ten great saint formations and two great god formations together, granting it a powerful offensive capability. I only need to slot in the saint crystals and god crystals at the correct positions, and the formation will be able to protect the palace from even a top-tier God."
After taking a step into the palace, he found that the ancient coffin was still there. The traitor who had been stabbed to death was similarly still there as well. Everything he had experienced was still vivid in his mind.
The inheritance of his past life was hidden here. Back when he first awakened his memories, he could hear his own final words, which seemed to have traversed the river of time and space to reach him. At the time, he was confused. This time, he was going to get to the bottom of the matter.
He sat down cross-legged and immersed himself in the dao of time. He awakened his memories from two lifetimes ago and formed several hand signs while the Light of Wisdom lit up on his forehead. Time around him reversed, and he forcefully ripped apart a small part of the river of time.
That was an overwhelming display of power. Xiang Shaoyun then saw the him of the past. He was a true celestial king, someone who had undergone countless battles before becoming a powerful warlord. Unfortunately, he ultimately fell to a traitor. He could only watch on as the traitor seriously injured his previous reincarnation. There was nothing he could do to change it.
Moments before his previous self died, his heart seemingly turned clear as he saw a tiny fraction of the future. He seemed to see his future self traveling through time back to the past. He also saw some other things that others would never be able to see.
"I knew you would return. However, I did not know that you would arrive so early. Looks like the timing is still rather off," said the celestial king.
Xiang Shaoyun looked at his previous reincarnation and said, "How did you know I was coming?"
"Not only am I aware that you'd return, but I also know that you are me and that I am you. We have the physique of three lives, a physique of nine stars that requires three lifetimes of accumulation before we can break our shackles and form the strongest physique. Only then will we obtain enough strength to save humanity during the dominion's apocalypse," said the celestial emperor.
"It's like you know everything, yet it also seems like you know nothing. Why is that?" Xiang Shaoyun was still confused despite having the Light of Wisdom.
"Let me make this simple for you. Even during my life, I had already considered cultivating nine powers. Unfortunately, I had failed. That is why I shifted my focus to formations. Walking the path of formations, I forced a way into godhood and awakened the Light of Wisdom. During my final moments, I finally saw the future and realized the need for three lives of accumulation—the brand of the great astral dao—to form the Primal Inception Physique.
"The appearance of the Primal Inception Physique would signify the end of the dominion because it's a physique the heavenly laws can't tolerate. The dominion will be destroyed because of it, and all living beings will perish. Thus, only by becoming a new world will all these lives be saved. Of course, you can also opt to give up on those living beings, achieve the Reincarnation Realm, and become the Supreme God.
"Of course, the final result will depend on your mindset. For me, I'm happy enough to see that you have formed the strongest physique," said the celestial king. Slowly, he faded away, and the power of time started to scatter.
The river of time vanished, and Xiang Shaoyun's Light of Wisdom shut down. A strand of his spiritual power and Light of Wisdom from his past reincarnation traveled through time to arrive inside his head.
Instantly, fragmented scenes of the future appeared in his head. He could see the nine regions of the dominion in a state of destruction. He could see countless people living in suffering. Numerous aliens were invading, while the barrier between the dominion and the Devil Domain was broken. That was the true apocalypse.
That was what he had seen during his last moments two lifetimes ago. His heart was filled with shock as he muttered, "Will the dominion really be destroyed?"
He stood still for a long time as an indescribable emotion welled within him. The dominion was what humanity relied on to exist. Without the dominion, how would humanity continue to survive?
"Becoming a new world. Is that a reference to the astral cosmos sea in my body?" asked Xiang Shaoyun.
He felt like that was the case. If he was strong enough to reach the fabled Reincarnation Realm, his astral cosmos sea would perhaps become unimaginably large. At that time, it might be possible for him to store all these life forms in his astral cosmos sea.
However, he found that hard to accept. He wouldn't mind everyone staying in his astral cosmos sea briefly, but he wouldn't be able to get used to letting others reside long-term within him.
He stood there with his eyes shut for two hours. Finally, he opened his eyes when his mind regained its clarity. A smile formed on his face as he said, "Apocalypse or not, I, Xiang Shaoyun, will welcome any hardship and face it head on. I will forge a flawless physique and comprehend the profundity of primal inception. Even if the dominion is destroyed, I will be able to repair it. If the dominion really falls to a state beyond repair, I shall become the new dominion and bear the weight of all life."
Xiang Shaoyun was the man who was determined to become the young guild master of the Guardians Guild. He had a much bigger ambition than his two previous reincarnations. However, having ambition alone was not enough. Without a heart big enough to contain the world, he would not be able to become the true leader of humanity.
After figuring all that out, Xiang Shaoyun stopped hesitating. The only thing left for him to do was to grow stronger.
He hovered high above the independent space and covered it entirely with his senses. He then roared, "Come!"
Instantly, everything in the independent space was pulled into his astral cosmos sea. Anyone would be shocked by the sight of that. Not even regular Gods would be capable of such a feat. After pulling the entire Celestial King's Palace into his astral cosmos sea, he took out a god-grade object from below the palace.
The object was actually a god-grade seal known as the Celestial King Seal. It was a god-grade weapon he had created during his past life. Unfortunately, its grade wasn't high enough and wasn't too useful for the current Xiang Shaoyun. However, there was a battle technique branded within it, and the God Realm energy of his past life was also sealed within the seal. He was the only one who could absorb the energy. Nobody else would be able to do anything with it.