I Might Be a Big Shot — Chapter 62

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 So there was another way after all!

No wonder Li Xinglun had chosen to forgo the chance to absorb the divine pill’s power and instead let the Time-Space Wheel take in the excess divine power — it was to activate this treasure, allowing him to return to the past and increase his strength. Indeed, they had little time left now, but in the past, there would still be plenty.

"Not so fast." Yin Changkong frowned. "Using the Time-Space Wheel to gain more time is indeed a viable idea. With your talent, if you returned to the past, you might well reach the god realm. But you must understand: once the Time-Space Wheel’s user returns to the past, they will lose all their previous memories. In that case, you might not even remember why you came back, or even… whether you are in the past at all."

"Remember or not, as a cultivator, one will always seek to grow stronger," Li Xinglun said firmly. "And even if I forget, I’m confident my feelings for my master won’t change. As long as I remember them, I can keep my true heart. No matter how long the years, I won’t forget my original resolve."

"I believe in my disciple too!" Changkong Zhuoyu nodded excitedly at the side. "Come to think of it, even if someone else was strong enough to use me, I wouldn’t be willing. It’s best if my disciple uses me."

Yin Changkong could barely bring himself to respond to Changkong Zhuoyu’s meddling. The Heaven-Mending Stone was excellent in every way, except its personality — it always left one speechless. Back when he was comprehending formations, Yin Changkong had been exasperated at the artifact’s occasional emotional outbursts. He’d told himself that artifacts, untested by the world, were much like newborn children — innocent, a bit childish, but normal, and that they would mature after experiencing the mortal world. Who could have thought that after years in the cultivation world, Changkong Zhuoyu’s personality hadn’t matured in the slightest, and had instead become even more outrageous? Who had spoiled him this way?

The sect master glanced at the culprit, Li Xinglun, and shook his head. "That’s not the only problem. I’ll set aside how dangerous it would be without your memories, or whether you could even reach the god realm. Even if there were a one-in-ten-thousand chance that you succeeded — evading tribulation without ascending, reaching the god realm, and living to the present — there cannot be two of you in the same world. When the present you is born, if you’re still in the human realm, one of you will inevitably fall into a coma. If it’s the past you, fine. But if the present, infant you falls into a coma and is thrown away as a stillborn, then the past you would also vanish because of an early death!"

Changkong Zhuoyu was thrown into confusion by this string of time paradoxes. He didn’t understand them at all — he only knew Li Xinglun faced grave danger, with the chance of success minuscule, and worst of all, he might be erased entirely. Changkong Zhuoyu himself didn’t fear danger, but he ached for his hard-won disciple. He looked at Li Xinglun, face full of worry. "Disciple, you’d best not go. Your master is worried for you."

Li Xinglun reached out and gently brushed Changkong Zhuoyu’s cheek, warmed by his concern. The young man in his early twenties smiled faintly. "Master, you and I heard Sage Yipin mention the Time-Space Wheel back at Mount Shu. I’ve considered the scenarios Sect Master Yin described."

In other words, Li Xinglun knew exactly what dangers awaited him, yet still chose this path.

"I don’t want you to die." Changkong Zhuoyu rubbed his head against Li Xinglun’s palm, speaking softly.

His disciple had already paid far too much for this mortal calamity — his family slaughtered, risking the Blood-Severing Art for revenge and power, becoming less than human when it succeeded. Now he was willing to risk traveling alone to some unknown time in the distant past. The mortal calamity was the responsibility of the entire cultivation world, not a burden to be placed upon a single young man of only twenty-three.

"Don’t worry, Master," Li Xinglun said, looking at his master who nuzzled his palm like a cat, his eyes growing ever more tender. "Your disciple fears death most of all. Because I fear it, I will not die. I will return to you, Master. We still have mountains and rivers to see together."

"What assurance do you have?" Yin Changkong knew it was improper to interrupt such deep sentiment between master and disciple, but the matter was too serious to ignore.

"I have no assurance," Li Xinglun shook his head slowly. "My only certainty is my feelings for my master. Even if I die, I will never let him vanish. Even if I must trample Heaven’s Order underfoot, I will fight for a sliver of life for us."

It wasn’t that he didn’t want an easier road — there simply wasn’t one before him.

"Go, then." Changkong Zhuoyu’s face was on the verge of tears, yet his gaze was resolute. "Your master will wait for you."

"If we succeed, Master, will you reward me?" Li Xinglun asked.

"If we succeed, whatever you want, I will give you," Changkong Zhuoyu replied generously.

"Good." Li Xinglun smiled. "With those words from you, I will surely succeed."

Changkong Zhuoyu very much wanted to go to the past with his disciple. But as the Heaven-Mending Stone, he had guarded Kunlun for millennia. If he went back, there would be two Heaven-Mending Stones in the human realm, and it was highly likely both would be destroyed, leaving the world without Changkong Zhuoyu — that would be true despair.

Moreover, aside from the Time-Space Wheel’s master, anyone else trying to use it to return to the past would need the strength of at least a Great Golden Immortal. The fearsome force generated by shifting time could tear space apart, and the Wheel would only protect its master. Others would have to resist this defiance-of-heaven power with their own true essence; anyone weaker would be utterly annihilated. Even if Yin Changkong or Wanqi Xian wanted to follow, they could not.

Since the Time-Space Wheel would draw in everything within a hundred li when activated, Li Xinglun had to find a desolate place to use it, lest innocents be harmed. Yin Changkong and Wanqi Xian would not go with him; they needed to remain at the Jade Pool to organize the spirit cultivators. Originally, the spirit cultivators of the Jade Pool followed the Azure Bird’s orders, but now that the Azure Bird had been trapped in a formation by Changkong Zhuoyu and his disciple, they were leaderless. Fortunately, Yin Changkong had the Kunlun Sect Master’s Token and could command them.

The two Kunlun disciples stayed at the Jade Pool, while Changkong Zhuoyu was pulled close around the waist by Li Xinglun, and the two quietly left Kunlun Mountain.

"Disciple, do you know how to use the Time-Space Wheel?" Since learning that Li Xinglun was leaving, Changkong Zhuoyu had been anxious, too listless even to fly with his sword — he left everything to his disciple.

"Originally, I didn’t," Li Xinglun explained. "I intended to absorb all the divine pill’s power, which would have let me advance to the Great Ascension stage in one leap, and then I could have helped you, Master. But when I was breaking through to the Soul Transformation stage, the Time-Space Wheel began to glow faintly, and the method for using it appeared in my mind. So I changed my mind and poured the remaining divine power into the Wheel.

"In my family’s history, the most accomplished ancestor only reached the Nascent Soul stage. I think the Time-Space Wheel only passes on its legacy once the user reaches the Soul Transformation stage. Below that, even with Pangu’s bloodline, one can’t control such a defiance-of-heaven artifact."

Perhaps the reason no member of the Li family had reached the Soul Transformation stage for so many years was that the time had not yet come — their cultivation was suppressed by Heaven’s Order. If he were Heaven’s Order, he too would not want the cultivation world to have such an artifact. Unable to take the Time-Space Wheel away, Heaven would ensure its guardians could not use it. If Li Xinglun were not the Li family’s last descendant, and if this mortal calamity did not truly require such a divine artifact, he too might have been halted at the Nascent Soul stage like his ancestors, unable to advance.

In that sense, the Li family’s millennia of suppressed fortune had finally bloomed upon Li Xinglun. Otherwise, even with Pangu’s blood, even with his astonishing talent and Changkong Zhuoyu’s protection, his power could not have risen so swiftly.

"I don’t have great confidence about going to such a distant past, nor do I know what lies ahead. But my family’s boundless fortune, gathered over millennia, rests on me alone now. With that fortune’s protection, I believe I can be invincible." Li Xinglun’s voice brimmed with confidence.

Hearing this, Changkong Zhuoyu felt confident too. Hugging Li Xinglun’s waist, he asked, "So where do you plan to activate the Time-Space Wheel?"

A place came instantly to Li Xinglun’s mind — one that to others meant despair and death, but to him was where his dream had begun.

It was there that he met Changkong Zhuoyu.

"The Soul-Breaking Gorge."

"There?" Changkong Zhuoyu nodded. "Disciple, you truly think ahead. There are few living creatures below the Soul-Breaking Gorge, and the divine barrier there will prevent any impact beyond it. It is indeed a suitable place. But… if you activate the Wheel there, will the place you arrive in the past also be the gorge? If so, can you get out of its barrier?"

"Don’t worry. I am your disciple, after all — I’ve mastered that sword art." Li Xinglun shook the beast-bone sword he was using for flight.

"A sword carved from a yao beast’s bone, yet so like common iron. If I hadn’t seen you carve it into shape with heavenly gales myself, I’d have thought it was an ordinary iron sword," Changkong Zhuoyu said dejectedly. "In the end, I have nothing — dirt poor, with nothing to give you except a sword I picked up in the Mystic Fog Yao Valley."

Hearing the words "ordinary iron sword," a spark of realization flashed in Li Xinglun’s mind, as if he were about to grasp something important. But seeing his master on the verge of tears again, he quickly pushed the thought aside and hastened to comfort him. "Don’t worry, Master. When I return to the past, I’ll make sure to build up our wealth. Whatever you want then, I’ll buy it for you. I’ll take care of you."

"How could I have been so discerning as to take in a disciple like you, the best in all the world?" Changkong Zhuoyu’s grin nearly reached his ears. He patted Li Xinglun’s shoulder vigorously. The two chatted and laughed along the way, dissolving the sorrow of parting.

The Soul-Breaking Gorge was as silent as ever. They didn’t rush to activate the Time-Space Wheel, instead taking a quiet tour of the familiar place. When they reached the spot where Changkong Zhuoyu had once slept, the seven large characters carved into the cliff face — “Sever the past; in the death tribulation discover life” — were still clearly visible. Li Xinglun ran his hand over them and frowned. “This handwriting looks a bit familiar…"

"Didn’t I carve it?" Changkong Zhuoyu said. "You’re not familiar with your master’s handwriting?"

Li Xinglun: “…The top few characters were ones you copied, Master. They’re already fading. But whoever carved them originally must have had profound cultivation to leave such marks here in the gorge."

"Perhaps it was some ancient god from millions of years ago," Changkong Zhuoyu said. "So many years have passed that the truth can no longer be traced. By the way, when you go to the past, you’ll also lose your memories. Since for the ‘past’ you haven’t been born yet, the things you’ve experienced now haven’t happened, so your current memories won’t exist. That’s also a kind of ‘severing the past,’ isn’t it?"

"In that case, the words ‘discover life in the death tribulation’ are fitting," Li Xinglun said with a smile. "I’m risking the past in order to find a sliver of hope in your death tribulation, Master. Come to think of it, those words could have been written just for us."

Wait… something really wasn’t right here… That thought stirred in his mind again.

But before he could follow it, Changkong Zhuoyu, looking forlorn, suddenly embraced him, burying his face in Li Xinglun’s chest and mumbling, "I won’t die, and you’ll return successfully."

Li Xinglun’s mind was a muddle under this rare show of closeness before their parting. He could think of nothing, his chest brimming only with tenderness. He hugged Changkong Zhuoyu tightly in return. "I will."

"I’m still not at ease," Changkong Zhuoyu said after a moment’s thought. "I’ll write you a cheat sheet. I don’t know if it will leave any trace when you get to the past, but it’s better than doing nothing."

Since writing on a jade slip might not survive, Changkong Zhuoyu took a brush from his qiankun pouch and wrote down, on the inside of Li Xinglun’s clothing, everything that had happened since their meeting, filling every inch with dense writing before stopping. Both knew that after the shift through time, even the clothing might not remain, making it a futile effort. But if it could give Changkong Zhuoyu some peace of mind, Li Xinglun would never refuse him.

No matter how reluctant, they had to part. When Changkong Zhuoyu had said all he needed to, and could think of nothing else, he said with deep reluctance, "I should go."

To avoid being caught in the Time-Space Wheel’s pull, Changkong Zhuoyu couldn’t stay at the bottom of the gorge. He watched Li Xinglun back away step by step, his heart aching unbearably. Since first gaining consciousness, Changkong Zhuoyu had always had Li Xinglun by his side. Now, with their separation imminent, he felt as though a piece of his heart had been torn away. Even if it was undignified, he couldn’t stop his tears from falling.

Li Xinglun’s heart ached as well. He reached out, catching his retreating master and pulling him back into his arms, soothing him in a low voice. "Don’t worry, Master. For me, it might be thousands or tens of thousands of years. But for you, it will be but an instant. I’ll live through countless years, and return to this time. You can wait for me at Kunlun or Mount Shu. Maybe when you get back to Kunlun, the me who’s thousands of years old will already be there, waiting."

"Alright." Changkong Zhuoyu nodded obediently.

Seeing him like this, and with the parting before them — knowing that once separated, he might not even remember his master — was lonelier than being apart for ten thousand years. Li Xinglun could no longer restrain his feelings. He lowered his head slightly and brushed his lips against Changkong Zhuoyu’s.

The usually tearful Changkong Zhuoyu froze. He stared at Li Xinglun in a daze as his disciple kissed him lightly again and again.

"Disciple…" Changkong Zhuoyu was childlike, but no ignorant child. He knew exactly what such intimacy meant. He wanted to say that master and disciple shouldn’t behave like this, that it was against propriety — but when he saw the deep affection in Li Xinglun’s eyes, he couldn’t speak the words.

Li Xinglun held him, deepening the kiss once he saw no resistance, leaving Changkong Zhuoyu dizzy and muddled.

Drawing a deep breath, Li Xinglun cupped the back of his master’s neck, pressing their foreheads together. In a husky voice, he asked, "Master, if I return with power equal to yours, will you dual cultivate with me?"

Changkong Zhuoyu’s face turned bright red, his mind blank. He could only follow instinct. "Your master doesn’t know any other cultivation methods — I can only help you this way."

Li Xinglun smiled, planting a soft kiss on his flushed cheek. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Go, Master."

If they didn’t part now, he wouldn’t be able to leave. He’d cling to his master, ignoring the mortal calamity, content to simply spend their days in joy.

Changkong Zhuoyu, incapable of thinking straight, backed away step by step until his disciple was out of sight. Then he took out his wooden sword and, as he had in the past, cut through the divine barrier and flew upward.

He sat quietly at the cliff’s edge. He knew he couldn’t see anything, but still he wanted to watch his disciple leave.

Meanwhile, Li Xinglun poured all his true essence into the Time-Space Wheel, using the inherited mental technique to activate it. He didn’t know how far into the past it would send him — the time depended on the Wheel’s stored power. The Li family’s successive heads had carried the Wheel for millions of years, and it had absorbed the power of generations. With the divine power Li Xinglun had just infused, it should at least take him back a thousand years.

{Gotta love the time scales in Chinese cultivation novels.}

As the Wheel slowly opened the tunnel of time, a terrifying heavenly thunder descended. But this lightning, strong enough to shatter a Great Golden Immortal, could not harm Li Xinglun in the slightest. Only the force of time shredded everything on him. His clothing was torn to pieces; even the disguise Gu on his face could not withstand the pressure and fled, only to vanish in the instant it left his body. Li Xinglun must now have his true face from after the Blood-Severing Art — though he couldn’t see it.

Everything external was being destroyed. Even the iron sword in his hand could not withstand the force. In desperation, he tried to store it within himself as a life-bound artifact — and succeeded in an instant.

When had this sword recognized him as its master? Puzzled, Li Xinglun was already being swept into the ever-shifting tunnel of time. As the years flowed backward, his memories began to blur.

A torn scrap of clothing drifted past. Without thinking, he caught it. On it were the words Changkong Zhuoyu had written: “Sever the past; in the death tribulation discover life.” Looking at them, Li Xinglun finally remembered what it was he had been on the verge of realizing earlier.

"So I am…"

A flash of light, and all the power vanished with it. The bottom of the Soul-Breaking Gorge was peaceful once more.

Two thousand years in the past, in that same gorge, a naked man emerged from the void, murmuring the words “Xue Qianjie,” his palm clutching a scrap of cloth bearing the words —

Sever the past; in the death tribulation discover life.

~ Chapter End ~

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