Chapter 557: Chapter 547: Washing Away Karma, Living His Own Life

He searched his entire body, inside and out, but still found no trace.

It was with the "Realm Stone" that he could leave the enclosed space of the Three Palaces, so it must have been with him when he left.

In that case, it must have fallen off while he was navigating through time and space.

But how could it have been lost?

Afraid of being caught, he kept jumping and shuttling through worlds, and he already forgot how many worlds he had traveled through.

So, if he lost it while escaping, he wouldn’t even know where to start looking for it.

But such an important thing as the Realm Stone couldn’t just be lost...

Suddenly, Yue Ying panicked a little, as Jiang Li had sacrificed the entire Three Palaces to entrust the Realm Stone to him and escort him out.

But he had lost the Realm Stone.

No matter what Jiang Li’s intentions were, this Realm Stone had to be delivered to that person of his, at least for an explanation.

Escaping from the Three Palaces unscathed, if the authorities were to question him, he wouldn’t know how to explain it.

...

For a moment, Yue Ying was confused and didn’t know how to handle this matter...

Now that the Three Palaces have been destroyed, he doesn’t know the situation of his Nine Palaces.

Thinking of this, Yue Ying hurriedly left the place.

...

At the same time.

In the Ten Thousand Realms, on a continent named "Xiao Yue."

To the north of the continent, on a barren land.

A dull stone the size of a fist lay quietly on the gray earth.

The next second, a drop of rain fell from the void, landing on the stone.

In an instant, a green sprout broke through the stone.

With the appearance of the sprout, ancient trees rose from the ground, and the barren land instantly turned into a lush Ancient Forest.

Time quietly passed, and twelve years went by unnoticed.

In the spring of the thirteenth year.

In the center of the Ancient Forest, a humanoid ancient tree grew, with branches hanging down, bearing four translucent, faintly glowing fruits.

A gust of wind blew, and the golden fruit naturally fell, exploding into a mist of Immortal Light as it hit the ground.

The next second, a young man in white slowly emerged from the Immortal Light.

The young man in white stood beneath the humanoid ancient tree, looked up at the three white Immortal Fruits above, and sighed slowly.

Then, he looked up at the sky, with the rays of the rising sun shining through the pine leaves, forming beams of light that illuminated him.

Feeling the warmth of the sunlight, closing his eyes, breathing in the fragrance of the earth, a long-lost sense of ease surged in his heart, as if he was reborn.

....

Now, he was no longer the all-powerful Hall Master of the Three Palaces of the Divine Punishment Sect, just an ordinary cultivator named "Jiang Li."

Free from cause and effect, he felt an unprecedented sense of relief.

Indeed, standing here, greedily enjoying the sunlight, was Jiang Li, who had "risen from the dead."

Everything he did was for this moment.

Yue Ying was mistaken, entirely mistaken.

Jiang Li led the entire Three Palaces and even used the "Gate of Divine Punishment" as a sacrifice to activate the Grand Array, not to defend the Three Palaces at all costs or protect the interests of his masters.

Everything he did was for today, to break free from cause and effect, to have his own freedom, and to reclaim control over his life.

Including his well-planned invitation for Yue Ying to come to the Three Palaces, to use Yue Ying as a tool to complete the final step of shedding his old self.

...

He didn’t even know when he started having thoughts of breaking free from his masters.

Perhaps it was after seeing those powerful warriors under his masters, killed one by one and discarded like chess pieces, that the seed of "betrayal" was planted deep in his heart.

Yes, in the eyes of others, he was a "traitor."

But Jiang Li didn’t care, what matter if he was called a traitor? 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

He just wanted to be the master of his own life.

While guarding the Three Palaces, Jiang Li was always waiting, waiting for the "River Guardian" to discover him and the Three Palaces so he could carry out his plan.

Thus, when he saw the Gate of Divine Punishment tremble, he couldn’t help but reveal an excited and elated expression.

.....

To completely rid himself of cause and effect and convince his masters that he died in battle, he had to rely on the "River Guardian."

He sacrificed everyone in the Three Palaces, offering up the Gate of Divine Punishment for himself.

He admitted it; he was incredibly selfish.

The discovery of the Three Palaces meant that everyone in it was doomed to die, and even if he didn’t lead them to their deaths, the outcome would have been the same.

In terms of karmic debt, everyone, including Jiang Li, had committed heinous acts.

Using the Gate of Divine Punishment to slaughter countless worlds’ creatures, using them as nourishment for their masters’ "plans," every one of them had bloodied hands with countless innocent lives.

So they deserved their fate.

But Jiang Li did save the "lives" of three people.

Which were these three silver fruits on the humanoid tree before him.

He defied his masters’ instructions, independently sacrificing the Gate of Divine Punishment, using its power along with his total cultivation, to merge his consciousness and that of three others into the "Realm Stone" moments before their demise by the River Guardian.

Then, as the "Space-Time Vortex" disappeared and the world of the Three Palaces was about to be sealed, he handed the only means of leaving the sealed world, the "Realm Stone," to Yue Ying.

With Yue Ying’s timid, cautious, and life-cherishing personality, he would definitely take the "Realm Stone" and flee desperately.

Thus, the only path to survival was found by Jiang Li, but if any step went wrong, he would have perished in the River of Time.

As Yue Ying frantically fled from world to world, Jiang Li manipulated the Realm Stone to land in a suitable world.

Moreover, through his conversations with Yue Ying, he discovered Yue Ying’s extremely cautious nature, ensuring he wouldn’t report the matter to their masters immediately.

So he gained twelve precious years for his rebirth.

Now he was reborn, and all the cause and effect on him had completely vanished.

Along with it vanished his cultivation; now he was an ordinary person without any cultivation.

If he hadn’t forsaken his cultivation, even if he were reborn, his masters would have found him.

Understanding the power of his masters, he knew he had to forsake everything to cleanse the causality completely and escape the "mire."

Currently, he was just an ordinary person without any cultivation.

Even if his masters had the power to search the entire Ten Thousand Realms to find him, they wouldn’t waste that time for someone like him.

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