“Back again.”

Lu Yang inhaled and exhaled, calming himself.

Moments ago, he had been fighting for his life. Now, in the blink of an eye, time had reversed, restoring the city to its usual peaceful state. The jarring contrast left Lu Yang feeling as if an entire lifetime had passed.

At the very least, it was peaceful on the surface.

Judging by the timing, the two Heartless Creed elders had already poisoned the Transport River. The water being splashed throughout the streets already contained the Emotion-Forgetting Poison; it simply hadn’t fully volatilized yet.

The insect king, for instance, had grown agitated because he had absorbed the poison. Perhaps some children had already been affected, but their influence was too small for anyone to notice.

“Immortal Fairy, are those two elders and the vice creed leader in Kaihuang City?”

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy extended her spiritual consciousness to scan the city. “No.”

Lu Yang nodded. This is within my expectations. If those two Heartless Creed elders had been in the city, they wouldn’t have allowed Old Meng and me to put on our city-wide performance, only appearing after it ended.

They should be somewhere else now.

A knowing smile tugged at the corner of Lu Yang’s mouth.

After we had finally dealt with the two elders, the vice creed leader stepped in. Trying to show off that you have more people, huh?

“Old Meng, stop watching the competition for now. There are several great opportunities to do good deeds and accumulate merit that need you to take care of.”

“What great opportunities?” Meng Jingzhou was befuddled by Lu Yang’s sudden remark.

“Go to Yellowstone Street now. There, you will find a man in a black cloak who laughs eerily and carries a silver needle. Catch him. Then turn the corner to the entrance of the Commoners’ Tavern. There, you will find a pot-bellied monk in luxurious clothing... Pass through one more street, and you’ll meet an old man who wishes to self-detonate...”

Meng Jingzhou listened to Lu Yang’s vivid and detailed descriptions, which didn’t sound like lies.

“Then what will you do?”

“I’m going to get reinforcements.” With that, Lu Yang wove through the crowd, returned to his guest room at Kaihuang City, and lay down to die.

~~~

Dao-Seeking Sect, Great Mission Hall, Soul Lamp Chamber.

Lu Yang’s soul lamp flickered on and off. Gu Junye quickly summoned Dai Bufan.

Dai Bufan studied the pattern of the lamp’s flickering and decoded Lu Yang’s message.

“Vast Sea Daoist Lord, please open a passage from Kaihuang City back to the sect. Junior Brother Lu needs to make a trip back?”

~~~ 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

In the vast sea of sand, several people rode camels, standing out conspicuously in the desert.

“No!” Tang Chuanwu jolted awake, his eyes filled with panic.

“What’s wrong, Tang boy?” The middle-aged man with a beard noticed Tang Chuanwu’s abnormal behavior and signaled the group to halt.

“Back again,” Tang Chuanwu mumbled. He was drenched in sweat, feeling like he had woken from a dream. How many loops has it been? The sixth or the seventh?

The end of the previous loop had been so traumatic that his mind was now in a mess. He needed to sort through the sequence of events.

The group was all from Kaihuang City’s medicine shops. The shops were short on stock, so they were traveling to Lianhua City to purchase supplies.

On the way to Lianhua City, they encountered an extremely rare pack of sand wolves. These wolves were unusually crafty and dangerous, and the wolf king was at the Great Perfection Qi Training Stage.

As they were often out on the road, they had martial arts to protect themselves. Tang Chuanwu was the strongest fighter among them.

But even then, faced with the wolf king’s premeditated attack, escape seemed impossible.

Tang Chuanwu had used five loops, battling with the wolf king in wits and strength, yet still couldn’t defeat it. The entire group was on the brink of being devoured.

In the fifth loop, after all his careful schemes, the wolf king fell into a trap laid beforehand. But to his horror, at the critical moment, the wolf king broke through to the terrifying Foundation Establishment Stage, reducing all his plans to a joke.

Tang Chuanwu was nearly driven mad. The wolf king was simply not an opponent he could handle. It wasn’t that he had never faced cultivators before; those encounters had been in the city, where he could stir up various conflicts and navigate his way through them.

But this was the desert—no villages ahead and no inns behind. There was no way to find an opponent who could match the wolf king!

In the sixth loop, he could no longer bear the torment and gave up on saving the group. He rode a camel alone back to Kaihuang City, hoping to bring reinforcements. Perhaps he could still save one or two people that way.

However, when he returned to Kaihuang City, he was greeted by a city full of heartless people. There were no reinforcements to be found; the two great masters were still dealing with the two Heartless Creed elders.

In desperation, he went home to check on his younger sister.

It was already noon. Cui Que’er had finished distributing porridge but hadn’t left the slums. A Golden Core cultivator was drawn by her beauty and took advantage of the chaos to abduct her. No matter how Tang Chuanwu shouted or fought, it was futile.

He staggered back home, only to find his sister staring at him expressionlessly, as if looking at a stranger. That gaze was like a knife that pierced his heart.

After that, the Heartless Creed Vice Creed Leader acted, intending to relocate the entire Kaihuang City.

He finally broke down under the torment and committed suicide, entering the seventh loop.

Tang Chuanwu’s heart was overcome with despair. There is the wolf king lying in ambush here, a Golden Core cultivator abducting Cui Que’er in Kaihuang City, and a diabolic overlord preparing to relocate the entire city.

None of them are opponents I can handle!

What do I do? What am I supposed to do?

“Tang boy?” The bearded middle-aged man muttered inwardly, This boy Tang Chuanwu usually seems quite quick-witted. What’s gotten into him today?

Tang Chuanwu had thought that the problem would be solved by returning to Kaihuang City. But the experience in the previous loop had taught him that Kaihuang City was even more dangerous than the desert!

So what if I can reverse time? I can’t save anyone! I can only save myself!

The memories of the prior loops flooded his mind: the group devoured by wolves, Cui Que’er abducted, his younger sister’s cold expression, and Kaihuang City rising into the sky...

“Ah—” Tang Chuanwu’s mind was a tangled mess. He screamed at the sky, utterly unable to figure out a solution.

Suddenly, a sentence flashed through his mind. Master Lu had said this after annihilating the Skeleton Divine Creed.

“We’ll be staying at Kaihuang Temple for a while longer. If you run into any trouble, you can come find us anytime.”

~~~

The spatial passage closed. Qingfeng Sword in hand, Lu Yang returned to his guest room at Kaihuang Temple.

He stowed away the Qingfeng Sword, left Kaihuang Temple, and prepared to rendezvous with Meng Jingzhou.

A figure on a camel galloped through the streets.

Tang Chuanwu stared hopefully at the slightly bewildered Lu Yang standing at the temple’s entrance. Overwhelmed with relief, Tang Chuanwu tumbled off the camel with a thud.

Relying on the memories of the previous six loops, Tang Chuanwu evaded the wolf king and raced back, finally finding his only lifeline, Lu Yang, before the Emotion-Forgetting Poison finally broke out.

Swift as an arrow, Lu Yang caught Tang Chuanwu just before he hit the ground.

Tang Chuanwu’s eyes were filled with despair. “Master Lu, this city is in danger!

“The Heartless Creed will come to Kaihuang City. Everyone will become heartless and devoid of emotions. I don’t know how they did it, but it must be the Heartless Creed’s doing. You can defeat the first two who show up, but neither you nor Master Meng can handle the last one.

“Great Master, you may not believe me, but everything I’ve said is true—every last word!”

Tang Chuanwu grew more agitated with every word. On the verge of a breakdown, he spoke incoherently and couldn’t hold back his tears. I really don’t know what to do. Will Master Lu believe me? Is there any solution...

“I believe you.”