Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 815 (2): Reversing Time, Severing Karma

And the qi that was still in the process of gathering actually responded, “You... How did you know I had arrived here?”

“I could see it. There’s an anomaly in the qi veins. It’s no longer pure, no longer natural. It feels like it’s gathering of its own will. My comprehension of the Dao of qi veins has already reached a refined state. I have some measure of skill when it comes to observing things like this.”

“...Even that didn’t escape your notice. That’s a little beyond what I expected.”

Zhao Changhe said, “But I’d advise you not to continue. To tamper with karma like this could destroy you. While you still haven’t completely gone through with it, stop.”

“You don’t know why I’m doing this?”

“Is it to go back and settle the score with Ye Wuming? Or to force your own separation, to avoid everything between me and Yangyang?”

“Both.”

“This kind of obsession doesn’t suit Piaomiao.” Zhao Changhe’s tone grew solemn. “I’m afraid... you’re heading down the path of deviation.”

“So?”

“My apologies.”

In the present, Zhao Changhe suddenly moved. He struck forward with a single finger, aimed at Piaomiao’s abdomen.

She raised her hand to deflect it. The clash sent both of their spirits out from the Heavenly Tome in an instant.

Back in reality, Piaomiao stared coldly into Zhao Changhe’s eyes. “Whether I fall to deviation or I am torn apart by the chaos of time, wouldn’t either outcome solve a headache for you? Why stir up trouble unnecessarily?”

“The world may not need Piaomiao, but it must never suffer a corrupted Piaomiao,” Zhao Changhe said calmly, “The mountains and rivers of yesterday had no one to protect them, but the mountains and rivers of today have me.”

A flicker of emotion stirred in Piaomiao’s expression.

Zhao Changhe spoke each word with force, “Piaomiao, you have failed in your duty.”

Piaomiao pressed her lips together tightly. After a long pause, she finally said, “I apologize... I have developed personal attachments.”

Zhao Changhe did not press the matter further. Instead, he offered her a rare compliment, “What you just attempted already bore the signs of traversing time, of altering karma. That’s real strength. I’ve only been able to glimpse echoes of the past through retrospective tracing. You’ve already come close to actual traversal. Could you give me some guidance?”

Piaomiao looked at him curiously. “You’re... not angry with me?”

“In your shoes, I’d probably be even more extreme. I can’t rightfully judge you harshly.” Zhao Changhe gave a faint smile. “Besides, I have my own selfish desires. I truly want to learn the Daos of time and space.”

Her gaze finally softened as she looked at him. “Yangyang’s feelings for you aren’t without reason.”

After a brief pause, she added, “I haven’t truly succeeded in time travel yet. As you said, the attempt was unsuccessful, and I don’t know whether a successful one would lead to benefits or disaster. I’ll share what I’ve comprehended, and you can judge it for yourself.”

With those words, Piaomiao raised a finger and gently pressed it against Zhao Changhe’s brow. He did not resist and simply allowed her insights to flow into him through her finger.

He closed his eyes, digesting the knowledge in silence.

The theory itself was not complex. It was similar to the technique he had long been working on that allowed him to appear wherever he could see, allowing him to carry out a divine descent across ten thousand li. This was barely any different. If one could see the upper reaches of the long river of time, then naturally one could also shift to whatever place one saw, even if that involved traveling upstream.

The only difference was the sheer scale of power required. To move through time demanded far more than mere three-dimensional spatial traversal. That was why Piaomiao could do it directly while he had only scratched the surface.

In the end, it came down to the limits of his cultivation. At the second layer of the Profound Control Realm, he was far from strong enough to truly manipulate time.

Still, there might be ways to begin training in this path.

After a moment’s contemplation, Zhao Changhe lifted his gaze toward a tree branch not far away.

Snow lay heavy on its limbs, bare of any green leaves. Zhao Changhe stared at it for a long, long time, as if seeing not what it was but what it once had been—its upright strength, unburdened by snow.

Then, he raised a finger and pointed.

The branch slowly lifted its head, and the snow atop it slid off in a soft cascade.

To a casual observer, it might have looked like a simple maneuver—a light surge of inner force lifting the branch and shaking off the snow. A novice to martial arts could have perhaps done the same. But Piaomiao’s eyes went wide with shock.

That had been no burst of qi or any other energy. That was time itself, rewinding the branch’s state to what it had been before the snowfall. Had he pushed it a little further, the bare wood might have blossomed again.

This was a divine technique at the level of a natural law, at the level of the governing principles of the world.

Ye Jiuyou could do this. Ye Wuming could do it as well, and with even greater power. But none of them would have imagined that Zhao Changhe, after getting a brief look at the page of time and space, as well as a modicum of guidance from Piaomiao, would already grasp such a technique.

Zhao Changhe frowned in thought, then suddenly formed a blade with his fingers and made a cutting motion through the air.

The tree vanished as though it had never existed.

The three women instinctively clenched their fists.

This was no longer just time. There was something else in that stroke. It was as if he had severed the cause that had once led to the tree’s planting. fгeewёbnoѵel_cσm

He actually severed its karma!

Though it had only been done to a small tree, which was a relatively simple target, it hinted at what was possible. To do this to a person would be vastly more difficult... but now that the first step had been taken, how difficult were the following steps? How long until he could do this to people? And what about demon gods?

Piaomiao stood stunned, almost slack-jawed.

So this is the true reason he reached the top of the Ranking of Heaven in just two and a half years... This capacity for insight, this terrifying gift for extrapolation...

Elsewhere, Ye Wuming stood with her arms crossed, sneering coldly.

Stunned already? Please. I’ve gotten used to it by now...

Still, for all her high-and-mighty attitude, one thing had indeed caught her off guard.

She had originally assumed Zhao Changhe would be eager to use time travel and return to the ancient past to stir up trouble. But judging by his current actions, he had no such desire. He had even stopped Piaomiao from doing it.

He did not seem inclined to create any unpredictable ripple in the fabric of reality. To him, uncovering the secrets of the ancient past was like watching a movie, and there was no need to actually go there. His study of time was not even primarily about gaining power. More likely, his true goal was to find a way home.

Ye Wuming curled her lip.

With just that pitiful grasp of the Dao of time? You’re still a long way from going home...

Zhao Changhe let out a long breath and offered Piaomiao a respectful bow. “Thank you for your guidance.”

Piaomiao replied with a blank expression, “I didn’t guide you in anything... Even I don’t know how to do sever karma.”

Zhao Changhe said, “Back when I was tracing your past through the Qinghe Sword, I saw your conversation with the flame of oblivion.”

Piaomiao paused. “And?”

“It said that the death of the Heavenly Dao alone wouldn’t have caused the world to collapse. The reason everything fell into ruin was because the Heavenly Dao, in its final moments, also judged the world unworthy of survival. What do you make of that? Does it mean the world didn’t fall because the Heavenly Dao died... but that it dragged the world down with it in death?”

“It was speaking from its own perspective, trying to justify its role in the world’s destruction with some lofty doctrine. So its words aren’t necessarily reliable... But I wouldn’t say there’s no truth to them at all.”

“Whether or not it was spinning a narrative to protect itself is less important. What I really want to ask is... what if the Heavenly Dao isn’t truly dead?”

Piaomiao narrowed her eyes. “What are you suggesting?”

“That thing the Frost Chi has been suppressing, that surging hatred and force of annihilation... could it be linked to the Heavenly Dao’s dying will to destroy the world?” Zhao Changhe sighed. “I’ve been tracing origins, trying to find any sign of it, but so far, nothing.”

Piaomiao was quiet for a long time, then finally let out a breath. “I think... the only person in this world who might be able to answer that is Ye Wuming.”

Just as she said that, Ye Jiuyou popped up beside them, brimming with curiosity and peeking over their shoulders. “So, so? Did you see it? Did you see it?”

Piaomiao: “?”

Zhao Changhe spread his hands helplessly. “No, I just traced Piaomiao’s origin. She’s purer than you, unfortunately. She also appeared much later, so I couldn’t find as much as I wanted.”

Ye Jiuyou erupted in protest. “Why does she get to stay hidden when you saw all of me?! No way! Keep looking! Look until you see something worthwhile!”

Piaomiao looked thoroughly confused. “What... are you two talking about? What’s he supposed to see?”

Ye Jiuyou finally threw in the towel and confessed, “See you bathing! When tracing important karmic events... if you happen to be bathing at the time... Wait, forget I said anything.”

Zhao Changhe covered his face with his hand.

Piaomiao looked at the two fools in front of her for a long moment, her expression unreadable, before she actually managed to say, “If he wants to see me naked, he just has to ask Cui Yuanyang to take her clothes off. Honestly, he’s already done everything, so what’s left to even look at? I mean... what exactly are you expecting?”

Ye Jiuyou opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.

Right. He did that. But... Wait. What just happened? Why did Piaomiao suddenly lose all her shame, enough to say something like that with a straight face? What is this man made of that anyone who works with him ends up closer to him by the end?

“...Wait a minute.” Piaomiao finally seemed to catch on. “So... he saw you completely bare, didn’t he?”

Ye Jiuyou blinked.

With a serene air, Piaomiao handed the page of time and space back to Ye Jiuyou. “Well then, I’ll leave the two of you to it. My task is complete.”

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om