Chapter 97: Reincarnation Obsession

"System, simulate for me!"

"Ding, simulation in progress!"

This poison clearly wasn’t the Taiyin Marrow Worm—which meant that the poison Bai Qiulan had used was still yet to come.

Thankfully, it wasn’t the Taiyin Marrow Worm.

Then which woman had done this?

"Ding, simulation complete—it’s Reincarnation Obsession!"

Lu Ye understood.

Reincarnation Obsession—similar to those strange mists from before. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a poison in the traditional sense.

Rather, it was a special kind of existence, formed from the souls on the path of reincarnation—those with the strongest obsessions who refused to enter the wheel of reincarnation, their souls crushed by the cycle and deposited deep in the very bottom of the cycle’s flow.

In this world—birth, aging, sickness, death, unfulfilled desire, reunion with the hated, separation from the loved, and the flourishing of the five aggregates—bring about endless suffering.

Some people were born into pain and would rather eternally sink into darkness than reincarnate.

Some were tormented by old age—body and heart alike decaying, powerless to resist the flow of time, overwhelmed by grief.

Some lived their lives chained by illness, calamity after calamity, their pain unbearable.

Some feared death with such intensity that it became the end of everything, unwilling to step into the wheel of reincarnation again only to face another ending.

Some died with vengeance unfulfilled, their souls restless.

Some loved but were never loved in return, or gained love only to lose it—so deep was their pain that they couldn’t pull themselves out.

Some people met the one they yearned for but never truly saw them their whole life.

Some gathered all the miseries of the world: born into poverty, afflicted with congenital illness, terrified of death, bodies aging, wills decaying, unable to live and afraid to die, with a heart filled with unrequited love and desire that could never be fulfilled.

Great sorrow. Great suffering.

They didn’t want to enter reincarnation. They didn’t dare to.

These people existed—and they weren’t few in number.

This thing wasn’t meant to poison the body—it targeted the Dao heart. And it was a particularly troublesome force. Even the Reincarnation Heavenly Sovereign—one who specialized in reincarnation—had no way to deal with it.

Lu Ye’s Dao heart was like divine iron, incomparably solid.

And yet... why were there tears trailing down from the corners of his eyes?

Yes. Lu Ye was crying.

The eleven scattered gods stared at him, eyes full of murderous intent, each gathering power to crush him in one strike.

But now—Lu Ye was crying?

He was crying?

The eleven scattered gods exchanged shocked glances—utter disbelief on their faces. They’d all experienced countless battles in their cultivation journeys, big and small. But someone crying before the battle even started? This was a first.

This sobbing mess was actually ranked first on the Eternal Heaven’s Chosen Ranking?

Lu Ye wiped his tears. Inside his heart, it was like a stampede of ten thousand divine-grass donkey beasts thundering through.

So bitter!

Too fucking bitter!

But then again... it wasn’t like he was the one suffering—no, he was, kind of. Yeah, pretty damn bitter. But still, you can’t just cry like that!

One of the scattered gods couldn’t hold back a cold sneer.

"Looks like you already know you’re doomed. Crying for your own funeral in advance? Fine, that’s understandable. Go to hell—Yin-Yang Great Dao Palm!"

The scattered god from the Yin-Yang Law Sect struck first.

Black and white spun together. A massive palm, white on the front, black on the back, came crashing toward Lu Ye.

Lu Ye’s eyes turned icy cold. The true essence of the Union Dao Realm within him had risen dramatically in both quality and quantity—and now he finally qualified to begin using the power of a Dao.

"Heaven-Cleaving Sword Dao!"

Lu Ye’s black hair whipped wildly in the air. He drew his sword skyward.

Infinite sword intent surged through the heavens and earth. At that moment, all eleven scattered gods felt something they hadn’t experienced in countless years—fear.

They felt like sacrificial ants, necks bared, waiting for the blade.

Before Union Dao, one could still fly through the skies and escape into the earth—it was still within the realm of high-level martial prowess.

But stepping into Union Dao meant fully surpassing that realm. This was the beginning of the truly fantastical—true fantasy cultivation.

Heaven and earth trembled with violent fluctuations in spiritual energy. Eleven beams of sword energy soared upward, terrifying sword intent weaving through the void.

The eleven scattered gods roared and struck in unison.

The Buddha-Destruction Desert erupted into a terrifying sandstorm.

"Boom boom boom boom boom...!"

The sword energy shattered all eleven attacks.

Lu Ye stepped forward—beneath his feet, nine-colored lotus flowers bloomed, rising higher with each step, as if ascending to the heavens.

Within his body, the nascent soul began to condense complex seals.

His aura surged violently.

Union Dao—First Tier.

Union Dao—Second Tier.

Union Dao—Third Tier...

One step, one realm.

His explosive secret technique ignited fully with the blessing of the Dao!

"Water Severance!"

The sword energy let out a piercing wail. Sword intent raged wildly, carving clear scars into the void itself.

Space—was torn apart!

The blade of energy sliced through a layer of space, slashing straight toward the eleven scattered gods.

Such sharp, terrifying sword energy.

A wave of uncontainable fear surged through the hearts of the eleven.

They were scattered gods—those who had failed the tribulation. Their Dao hearts had already been severely damaged under the heavenly calamity. Now, under the impact of this sword Dao, they were teetering on the brink of collapse.

The only thing they could still boast about... was that their cultivation realms were higher than Lu Ye’s.

"Jiuli Sword!"

"Clang!"

Two bursts of sword light collided.

The thick, forceful sword energy of a scattered god clashed against Lu Ye’s erupting Water Severance Sword Energy.

But the density of their respective energies wasn’t even remotely on the same level.

The difference—at least twofold, maybe more.

And yet, in the instant the Water Severance Sword Energy met the Jiuli Sword Energy, it was like a hot knife slicing through tofu—clean and effortless. The Jiuli Sword Energy was instantly severed.

The scattered god of the Jiuli Heavenly Dynasty stared, utterly stunned.

"Pu!"

His body was split cleanly in two by the Water Severance Sword Energy.

The stone sword rang out with a clear, exhilarating sword cry—joyful, so joyful that the entire blade trembled.

The sword Dao Lu Ye was wielding now was, to the stone sword, sheer ecstasy.

Yes, yes—only this kind of sword Dao was worthy to be its master.

This kind of sword Dao—how many in all of heaven and earth could wield it?

Eleven beams of Water Severance Sword Energy bloomed like petals, each one cutting down a scattered god. The rest exploded into action, unleashing all sorts of Daoist arts.

Some of the sword energy were forcibly diverted, some evaded, some resisted head-on.

Those who resisted were all cleaved clean in half.

Five scattered gods tried to recover from their wounds, only to despair as they realized—the wounds wouldn’t heal.

Lu Ye activated a secret technique, stomping forward nine steps in succession, forcibly pushing himself to the peak of Union Dao Realm.

Now, in terms of true essence quantity, he was still slightly behind the scattered gods—but only slightly. The gap was nothing like before.

Behind him, the violent sandstorm formed a colossal avatar of sand and dust.

Lu Ye raised his fist.

And the towering avatar behind him—how many zhang high, no one could tell—raised its own fist.

The avatar was Lu Ye. Lu Ye ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) was the avatar.

A punch was thrown.

"Boom!"

A raging gale of force tore through the desert, carving an endless trench that stretched out who knew how far.

The scattered god who was struck head-on by the punch instantly exploded into a mist of blood, which fused into the surrounding sandstorm and drifted away with the wind.

Savage—savagery to the extreme.

Lu Ye, face still streaked with tears, now looked unimaginably terrifying to the four remaining scattered gods.

How could sword Dao be this strong?

How could a fist technique be this monstrous?

Was this the true weight of being ranked first on the Eternal Heaven’s Chosen Ranking?

Their true essence was two times, three times, even more than Lu Ye’s.

But under Lu Ye’s true essence, theirs felt... fake. The quality wasn’t even in the same league.

"Run!"

The four scattered gods were genuinely terrified.

These heaven’s chosen were truly something else. You chased them, they had a breakthrough on the spot, then turned around and slaughtered you.

If they survived this—whoever told them to hunt a heaven’s chosen again, they’d twist that bastard’s head off.

These monsters were all walking with heaven’s fortune. You really couldn’t afford to provoke them.

Inside, Lu Ye was overwhelmed with grief. A thousand agonizing memories surged within him.

He kept feeling that life was meaningless.

But his Dao heart kept whispering back: You can.

He... might be depressed.

But depression didn’t hinder his movements. Lu Ye viciously wiped the tears from his face.

"Don’t run!"