Chapter 97 (2/2): All the Causes and Effects

I had no morals. 

As I grew stronger, the rocks on the ground became nutrients for my growth. 

At this moment, I suddenly felt that the ocean’s hostility toward me in the early days wasn’t without reason. 

This was simply a vampire. 

To say there was no life in this world was definitely incorrect. 

At least, 

I considered myself a life form—though I wasn’t sure what to call it. 

This stone-born life was beyond terrifying. 

Who just eats whatever they catch like this? 

This was no longer a life form, but a parasite of the world itself. 

If I kept eating like this, I truly felt this world would collapse. 

Another ten million years passed. 

Only a few rocks remained on the ground. 

At the end of the land was a pitch-black void. 

The sky no longer seemed distant, revolving only halfway down my mountain’s side. 

In this entire world, I was the only center. 

How powerful was I? 

Even I could no longer say. 

Yet, I still couldn’t move. 

Inside me raged an endless fury, as if constantly roaring at the outside world. 

“I want to move freely! 

I want my own hands and feet!! 

I don’t want to stay here any longer!!” 

Alas, I couldn’t speak human words. 

This building fury made me even more recklessly swallow everything. 

For the first time, I extended my edge into the void. 

When I absorbed the first breath of chaotic energy, my entire body suddenly swelled by half its size. 

The world, already barely holding together, began to crack inch by inch under my massive weight, like a shattered mirror. 

The apocalypse had truly come. 

Suddenly, a majestic voice thundered in my ear. 

“How dare you! 

I was only resting briefly, and you nearly destroyed the Primordial World.” 

A vague humanoid light appeared before me. 

I immediately knew its identity. 

The Creator. 

Or rather, a humanoid form of the Heavenly Dao. 

A vast hand that covered the sky and blocked the sun directly stretched across time and space. 

Countless rules shattered and reformed as the hand reached for where I was. 

Facing a hand capable of collapsing the world, I felt no fear—only endless excitement. 

More than a hundred million years of withered waiting became a roaring fury within me. 

I craved battle. 

I wanted to fight fiercely, like a true living being. 

“Ugh—” 

For the first time, I let out a sound amid my rage. 

Boom— 

The roar of the mountain rising from the ground. 

All the despair accumulated over a hundred million years converged in this blow. 

Heaven crumbled, earth collapsed. 

The void was extinguished. 

Countless rules were broken. 

The elderly figure with blurred features surely didn’t expect to be no match. 

The mountain was like an insurmountable chasm, firmly pressing him beneath my mighty form. 

The old man was furious. 

He was truly angry. 

He had come only as an avatar, his true form fused with the Heavenly Dao. 

At this moment, he had no other choice but to call the elusive Heavenly Dao. 

The battle shook the skies and darkened the earth. 

All rules were rewritten repeatedly. 

Heaven and earth were destroyed again and again, shattering in endless cycles of renewal. 

At some point, the old man reached the end of his life and sighed deeply, 

“It’s not your fault. This is my calamity.” 

“The Heavenly Dao must be ruthless.” 

“After I created the world, I should have vanished.” 

“Now, let everything return to its original trajectory.” 

His gaze shone like the sun, moon, and stars. 

With a wave of his mighty hand bearing countless rules, his body began to dissipate. 

The divine mountain wasn’t a person, had no mind of its own, and still desperately suppressed him, shouting, 

“Give me hands and feet! I want to move freely!” 

“Fine, fine, I’ll give you the chance to move.” The old man’s eyes grew helpless. 

“You, the Destiny Stone, were born alongside me. I should have known—you’re my only nemesis.” 

“Here’s your chance to be reborn.” 

“I’ve lived long enough. See you in the next life.” 

“Oh no, never see you again.” 

As the old man perished, the divine mountain’s towering body began to dissipate under the power that opened chaos. 

Before disappearing, the old man created many new rules: 

【From now on, the conditions for the birth of acquired spirits must not be below a complete Destiny Stone.】 

【All Primordial Life second lives will be dimmed.】 

【To return to the Primordial Life form, one must find the body of their previous life.】 

Before fully vanishing, he laughed strangely, 

“There should be no loopholes in the rules now.” 

“The Destiny Stone is not within destiny.” 

“You didn’t defeat me, so you yourself entered reincarnation.” 

“Don’t blame me for preventing you from continuing to wreak havoc.” 

“Acquired spirits that neither die nor perish are too terrifying.” 

“Fortunately, there’s only one complete Destiny Stone in this world.” 

His gaze fell downward, adding a foolproof rule: 

【The Destiny Stone shall be loved by the Heavenly Dao.】 

With this, there should be no more loopholes. 

After all, who could snatch the last remaining fragment of the Destiny Stone from the Heavenly Dao’s hand? 

Click— 

The divine mountain completely collapsed, leaving only a fist-sized fragment resting before the newborn Heavenly Dao, buried in a void of darkness. 

At the top of the broken stone, a small bright spot was particularly eye-catching. 

The Heavenly Dao had no consciousness but was unusually close to the first thing it saw. 

It shouldn’t have had emotional preferences. 

But upon seeing this stone, it felt it was the same origin born alongside itself. 

So the Heavenly Dao swallowed it whole. 

【A fine thing.】 

At the moment it swallowed the stone, the Heavenly Dao’s gaze rose, as if piercing through the entire river of time, staring at a baby who would be born countless years later. 

Click— 

It spat the stone out. 

【How can a stone be a person?】 

Such so-called words did not exist. 

Just as humans can’t understand animals’ behaviors, 

the unconscious Heavenly Dao also acted without awareness. 

When the Creator fell, the sun and moon first formed at the highest place in the initial world, and countless innate spirits were born from its vanishing true spirit one after another. 

Before descending to the world, all innate spirits reside in a void of chaos. 

This is also where the Heavenly Dao was born. 

The last light born from the true spirit was exceptionally bright, floating unsteadily in the void, near a certain Destiny Stone. 

Countless years passed, and this light lingered there, never moving. 

Other companions had descended, but it had no thought of leaving. 

It was the last innate spirit. 

The words “first” and “last” marked it as extraordinary. 

Unlike other companions, even before descending, it already showed its uniqueness. 

Though the Heavenly Dao had no consciousness, after spitting out the Destiny Stone, it completely forgot it, leaving it in its birthplace. 

This light spot differed from other innate spirits, naturally brighter, and not bound by the fixed time to descend. 

Countless years later, 

the Heavenly Dao reappeared here. 

It stared at the top of the stone, at the spot that shouldn’t have appeared. 

【The Heavenly Dao—the last struggle of the external Destiny.】 

The Heavenly Dao vanished again. 

The bright spot on the broken Destiny Stone was stripped away, falling toward a certain world already born below. 

A man in black stood amid a mountain of corpses and blood. 

Nearby were countless pregnant women, ripped open. 

She was a notorious evil cultivator. 

Also the creator of later ghost cultivators. 

Though fierce ghosts were immensely powerful, influenced by malignant energy, they had no consciousness and couldn’t cultivate themselves. 

What if she created a fierce ghost with her own intellect and endless malice? 

Could it break the Heavenly Dao’s blockade and complete the final breakthrough from crisis to opportunity? 

She was a genius evil cultivator feared by all. 

Ordinary people killed by her numbered in the thousands and tens of thousands. 

In her palm was a struggling light shadow. 

“You… really desire closeness, don’t you?” 

“Come, I will transform you step by step.” 

“Make you my only ‘daughter.’” 

Under the Heavenly Dao, there is no true destiny. 

What is called a miracle is just within the rules of the Heavenly Dao. 

A doomed experiment. 

When the true destiny falls on the baby’s forehead, a completely new cultivation system, defying the understanding of the world, is born. 

Cause and effect are never observed, yet they are fulfilled where no one expects. 

The Destiny Stone is also a Stone of Cause and Effect. 

All scenes gradually faded. 

I looked at the Heavenly Dao before me; it was looking at me as well. 

Though the Heavenly Dao had no eyes, I felt it was watching me. 

I was silent… 

So— 

My past life was the Destiny Stone? 

But, 

what does that have to do with this life? 

I can’t turn into an indestructible Destiny Stone. 

Besides, I don’t want to become a motionless rock. 

This was the deepest and strongest obsession in my heart—a powerful rejection that arose the moment I took on the perspective of that stone. 

I’m still calm now, as if watching someone else’s story. 

A Destiny Stone is a Destiny Stone. 

What does my past life’s ability have to do with this life? 

After all, I’m still a weakling who couldn’t even beat a husky in a fight. 

So, it’s best to remain calm. 

Life goes on as it should, without any influence. 

At least I figured out one thing, solving a puzzle in my heart. 

That was why the Heavenly Dao glanced at me twice. 

Turns out it liked that broken stone, so it became curious about me and cast a glance across endless space. 

The second test officially began. 

Su Liumeng looked at the words before her and chose the first option without hesitation. 

I stared at the words again and fell silent once more. 

No one can lie before the Heavenly Dao. 

The Heavenly Dao sees through all falsehood and sincerity. 

The question was simple, just one sentence. 

【Are you willing to die for her?】 

I slowly closed my eyes, unwilling to say the answer. 

I… have always been a selfish person. 

No matter how much I like someone, I can’t die in her place. 

Moreover, I already have a daughter. I would never make such a selfish choice. 

Selfish or not, it’s a feeling I can’t explain. 

The Heavenly Dao gazed at my silence; all answers lay in the unspoken. 

【Passed.】 

Only these two words appeared in the sky. 

I opened my eyes and froze in place. 

The Heavenly Dao is ruthless and gives no one special favors. 

What… is going on? 

【True heart is the answer.】 

The Heavenly Dao completely vanished, as if it had never come. 

Su Liumeng was freed from her current state. 

When she saw the mark that appeared between her brows, she suddenly excitedly hugged me. 

Her joyful voice echoed in my ears, 

“Baby, I knew it—you like me too, right? And you’d even be willing to die for me.” 

My silent state didn’t reveal any flaws to Su Liumeng. 

She was still immersed in her excitement. 

A small plum blossom-shaped mark appeared between my brows, able to appear and disappear freely with my spirit. 

At the same time, 

a beautiful nine-colored rainbow appeared in the sky. 

The spectacle of the rainbow was everywhere. 

The sky was brilliantly adorned. 

All cultivators looked up in awe. 

This was the symbol of becoming Dao partners. 

At this moment, everyone received the blessing of the newly born immortal Dao partners from heaven and earth.