The Prodigies War

What was most terrifying was that everything unfolding before him was real! If calamity struck, the Lin Xun of the past would die without a doubt, and the him of the present would perish along with it.

At that thought...

Yun Qingbai suddenly tightened his grip on the bone blade and drove it viciously toward Lin Xun’s throat. At this moment, Lin Xun was nothing more than a newborn wrapped in swaddling cloth. He was frail and helpless. How could he possibly resist?

However, at the very brink of life and death, a flash of clarity pierced his mind. That infant was merely a reflection of his past self. The reason he could witness all of this was because he had been struck by the Sever Dao Tribulation. Therefore, the key to breaking this calamity lay not in the past, but in the present him.

In the blink of an eye, the blade descended, ruthless and unrelenting, about to claim the infant’s life. However, at that critical instant, a massive hand appeared out of nowhere and seized Yun Qingbai’s wrist.

The bone blade halted, just an inch from the baby’s throat. The owner of that hand was none other than Quasi-Emperor Baqi! Only...at this moment, Baqi was under the control of Lin Xun’s present self.

Bang!

With a single sweep of his hand, Baqi sent Yun Qingbai flying. In the next instant, everything before Lin Xun shattered like a fragile illusion, dissolving into nothingness. Before he could even gather his thoughts, the world shifted once more, and he found himself standing within a dim mine prison, his form reverting to that of his younger self.

He stood within a crude, sparsely furnished room. There was nothing more than a table, a bed, and a few scattered aeth materials used for rune cultivation. A dim oil lamp flickered, casting mottled shadows across the walls. It was a scene he knew all too well.

His expression suddenly changed. If the power of the Sever Dao Tribulation were to manifest through Mister Lu, then with my present strength, I would have no way of altering the fate of death!

The thought had barely taken shape when Lin Xun kicked the door open and burst out, his slender figure shooting into the distance. Before long, the entrance to a mining tunnel came into view.

Back then, Mister Lu had thrown him into this mine tunnel, allowing him to escape the prison. The reason was that beneath this tunnel lay a teleportation array personally set up by Mister Lu himself. Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Xun leapt inside.

Boom!

Almost at the very instant Lin Xun’s figure vanished, a terrifying aura surged in from afar.

It was Lu Boya. He charged straight into the mine tunnel without hesitation.

However, he was a step too late. With a deafening roar, the teleportation array deep within the tunnel flared to life, and Lin Xun vanished without a trace. He had escaped this calamity.

In the next moment, the scene before Lin Xun collapsed and dissipated. When his vision cleared, he found himself standing in a room within a courtyard in Feiyun Village. Drawing on his previous experiences, Lin Xun immediately concluded that this time, the Sever Dao Tribulation would most likely involve Xia Zhi!

Of course, Xia Zhi, at that time, possessed strength far beyond anything he could contend with. Lin Xun drew in a deep breath and made his decision almost instantly. Stepping forward, he shut the door and locked it tight. Then, with practiced precision, he retrieved an old wooden box, took out a seal-script brush and a worn notebook, bit his fingertip, and let a drop of fresh blood seep onto the pages.

Bang!

The locked door shattered as Xia Zhi burst in. Her white bone spear gleamed with chilling sharpness as it thrust straight toward Lin Xun. The speed was so terrifying it made one’s heart seize.

Despite that, the strike missed. The seal-script brush and the notebook fused as one, transforming into the Omega Secret-Realm, and drew in the young Lin Xun. This calamity too dissipated.

At that moment, Lin Xun understood. The Sever Dao Tribulation was severing his past self. It could manifest through anyone in his past, his family, friends and even enemies!

Standing upon the Dao Slaying Path, there were only two ways to resist it. One was to confront it head-on, relying on the strength of his past self. The other was to wield the power of his present self, manipulating people and events from the past to break the calamity.

Just as when facing Yun Qingbai, he had drawn upon his present self to use Baqi to intercept the attack. It was worth noting that only those who existed within the scene could be utilized. However, no matter which method he chose, he had to act swiftly and decisively, finding a path to survival within the desperate situation created by the Sever Dao Tribulation.

For example, in the mine prison, the only way to escape Lu Boya’s lethal pursuit was to flee through the teleportation array hidden within the prison. Otherwise, with Lu Boya’s cultivation at the time, killing him would have been as easy as turning his hand.

In addition, in the courtyard residence of Feiyun Village, with Xia Zhi waiting outside, the only path to survival had lain within the Omega Secret-Realm.

It could be said that had Lin Xun hesitated even for a single instant in any of those three calamities, his past self would have been completely erased by the Sever Dao Calamity.

Having realized this, he grew ever more composed. Standing upon the Dao Slaying Path, he began to replay every moment of his past, carefully analyzing each encounter, deducing the potential killing tribulations hidden within them, and searching for a path of survival.

Soon, another killing tribulation descended. The Ziyao Empire. The night he first set foot upon the Lin Clan’s Mind Cleansing Peak, the night he met Uncle Zhong.

The moment he grasped his situation, Lin Xun turned and fled without hesitation. Behind him, Uncle Zhong gave chase. Along the way, Lin Xun was gravely wounded, brushing against death time and again. At last, he finally drew near his destination: the stargazing platform!

Boom!

From afar, Elder Seer appeared and, with a single strike, slew Uncle Zhong. Naturally, Elder Seer was under the control of Lin Xun’s present self, destroying the Sever Dao Tribulation that had taken Uncle Zhong’s form.

Thereafter, the Sever Dao Tribulation continued to descend one after another throughout Lin Xun’s past life. Each time it pushed him to the very edge of death.

For instance, during his first journey toward Return Dominion in his youth, the Sever Dao Tribulation took the form of Gao Yang, an elder of Zhao Jingxuan’s sect. Lin Xun only managed to escape his pursuit by luring forth the great wraith army from the Spirit Burial Sea.

For example, in the Star Chess Sea of ​​the Ancient Wasteland Domain, the tribulation even transformed into Xi! One must know that even back then, Xi possessed terrifying power that far exceeded the limits of the Ancient Wasteland Domain.

Fortunately, Lin Xun managed to take refuge within the Omega Secret-Realm, narrowly evading that devastating tribulation. Scenes like these unfolded again and again, each more perilous than the last, each steeped in boundless terror.

Gradually, Lin Xun adapted. The present him had already deduced every point in his past where a killing tribulation might arise and found a path to survival for each one. As a result, his past self was now able to navigate these deadly crises with ease and resolve them with calm precision.

In the time that followed, the Sever Dao Tribulation appeared in the Ancient Nebula Road, Ancient Nebula Underworld, the Great Thousand Battle Domain, the Eternal True Realm, the Fortune Dominion, and the Kunlun Dominion.

With each trial, Lin Xun grew more adept. At last, when his past self arrived in the All-Wonder Dominion, the murderous calamity came to a complete end. His consciousness fully returned.

Still standing upon the Dao Slaying Path, Lin Xun felt a strange and wondrous strange sensation arise within him. After enduring countless tribulations, it was as though every thread of karma and attachment binding his past had been severed.

“So this is what it means to sever the dao of the past. What is cut away is the karma of all that has been. In this way, even if an enemy tries to trace back into the past and strike at my former self, they will no longer find any opportunity to act...”

At that moment, understanding dawned on Lin Xun. This was what it meant to sever the past! What was severed was not his past itself, but the karma bound to it. From this moment onward, no matter who it was, none could shake or destroy the course of his past life.

At the same time, Lin Xun sensed the great dao power within him undergoing a profound transformation. A hazy, unfathomable aura of primal chaos quietly began to take shape. Though it was still incomplete, far from fully condensing into a true Primal Chaos Dao, it was enough to send a surge of exhilaration through him.

Just as Elder Seer had said, upon the Dao Slaying Path, one’s cultivation could undergo a transformation into primal chaos.

Boom!

A dull thunder rolled through the distant void. Lin Xun’s eyes snapped open. From the depths of emptiness, a tall figure stepped forth, clad in moon-white robes, long black hair cascading down his back. His appearance, bearing, and even his cultivation were all identical to his!

It was as if the reflection in a mirror had come to life. Lin Xun’s heart trembled at the sight. This was no illusion. It was his true self! He could even sense the pulse of life emanating from it!

Could this be the Sever Dao Tribulation of the present life?

He frowned slightly.

Not far away, the other Lin Xun stood suspended in the void, a faint smile curling at his lips. “If I kill you, I become you. If you kill me, you become me.”

The words were deeply unsettling, bizarre and tinged with a faint sense of contradiction.

However, at that moment, Lin Xun’s expression stilled. “There cannot be two identical existences in this world. I am destined not to be you, and you are destined not to be me.”

Looking at the ‘Lin Xun’ before him, a deep sense of discomfort rose within him, along with an instinctive rejection. It was as though his very existence had been violated and intruded upon in an unprecedented way. The feeling unsettled him to the core.

“No, we share the same cultivation, the same appearance, even the same temperament. I am you in this present life, and you are me.” The other Lin Xun spoke calmly, “If my existence unsettles you, it only means you are rejecting yourself.”

“I am not rejecting myself,” Lin Xun replied coldly, “but you...a thing born of the Sever Dao Tribulation!”

As his words fell, he stepped forward and threw a punch. In the distance, the other ‘Lin Xun’ did not dodge. He stood motionless, allowing the blow to strike. His body instantly shattered into fragments.

At the same instant, Lin Xun coughed up a mouthful of blood. His body trembled, as though the force of that punch had turned back upon him.

A look of undisguised shock filled his eyes. Could it be...that he truly is me? Otherwise...that strike had clearly landed on him, so why was I the one injured? But if that was true...then who am I?

In the distant void, the shattered figure reformed once more. “Still don’t understand? You are me. I am you. Strike me, and you strike yourself. Continue like this and you will only destroy yourself.”

It was no exaggeration to say that even someone like Xia Zhi, who had accompanied Lin Xun for years, would be unable to tell which one was real. At that moment, Lin Xun drew a deep breath and suddenly laughed.

He pointed to his chest. “Unfortunately, you were born of the Sever Dao Tribulation. Even if you possess the breath of life, you can never possess a true self.”