"The master disapproves of your decision to return there," the old man said with a sigh.
Sitting in front of him in the lotus position was an ordinary-looking young man with an unnaturally serene expression on his face, eyes closed and fists clenched.
"I too, do not think it would be the right decision to get embroiled in a new round of soul-shard purification, not when you've barely managed to suppress the faults in your own reformation," the old man continued, seeing no reaction coming from his listener.
"Shi Xian, do not take the lord's advice lightly."
There was a hint of anger in the old man's tone this time, and it seemed to finally rouse the youth from his meditation.
"Master Lu, I am aware of the lord's intentions for me and I am not averse to the plan. I have nothing but absolute gratitude and respect for the lord despite his wandering eyes. But-"
"Junior, you dare?!"
"...I'll do my best to not leak that little information to everyone I meet- wait, WAIT, IT'S THAT OTHER GUY, NOT ME! CALM DOWN, MASTER LU!"
The heat in the room seemed to have fallen by a significant amount within that half-minute exchange. Frost had grown on the metal bars of the windows. The floor suddenly was too cold to step on.
The young man looked frightened out of his wit, crouching in a corner of the room. His eyes were focused on the old man whose eyes contained pure killing intent that he barely seemed to be restraining.
"Huff....huff...."
Breathing harshly, Master Lu slowly retracted his violent aura. The youth finally relaxed and stood up carefully.
"I swear, that senior inside is just getting more and more suicidal every day. I don't know how he comes up with these plans," he said despondently.
"Which is why both the lord and I are advising you to not venture back to that neutral world. Your condition has not stabilized at all," replied the old man gloomily.
Shi Xian nervously looked around, his eyes containing a hint of fear and desperation.
"Master Lu, can the lord hear me right now as well?"
The old man's expression underwent a subtle change. His deadly aura faded, replaced by a body language that expressed pure reverence. His expression mellowed, a proud smile making its way into his face.
"Yes, he can. The Lord hears and knows everything that goes on in the Purpleheart Galaxy. His title should have made that clear, no?"
The young man who seemed to have been hoping for a different answer made a warped expression, his disapproval clear. But he hid it quickly enough and spoke again.
"Then there is no point in hiding this. What do you, and the lord, know about my home planet?"
"Not much," answered Master Lu, a hint of curiosity coloring his voice.
"It's just one of the planets in the neutral region-no, wait, that's what it used to be. The solar system it is a part of has been shifting due to the natural law of celestial expansion. One of my disciples who was in charge of overseeing our territory in that solar system reported that half the planets of that system are already at the edge of the conflict zones. A couple of them have even begun to tread the boundaries every time they circle around their star....Ahhh, I see what you're worried about."
Old man Lu stroked his neatly trimmed beard, realization dawning on his face.
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"Yes, I'm quite worried that by the time I manage to stabilize my soul and suppress the senior inside it, it might be too late to return to that place," Shi Xian said.
"Oh, that shouldn't be much of an issue. The lord values you, little Xian. If you just request him sincerely, he would delegate a legion-"
"No."
"You're too stubborn, child."
"With utmost respect to the lord, I care about the lives of the innocent mortals far too much to let them be embroiled in a power struggle between two Galaxies. If a single party invades the territory of my home planet, they would not cause too much harm to the locals other than enslavement and suppression of the rebel forces in order to introduce their might initially. But if the lord sends legions in there, the collateral damage from the battle between both parties would be lives in the count of millions. I cannot accept a burden so heavy on my shoulders, a crime so heinous just for my own benefit."
The gaze Master Lu cast at the young man prostrating on the ground contained both a flavor of reproach and grudging approval.
"Indeed, the lord saw what we failed to see," he muttered to himself and pointed at the youth, saying "Then that makes me even more certain that you must wait till your stability has reached a controllable stage. Then you're free to go there and face the other container of your soul, fetch the rest of the shards and return here for the next round of purification."
"I was not finished, Master Lu." The young man straightened up and suddenly spoke in an awkward tone.
"That wasn't the main reason I'm eager to return."
"Then what else could the reason be ?" asked Master Lu, finding the whole exchange rather frustrating.
"There was a legend circulating in our world before the destruction of our Holy Land took place. A legend that spoke of a curse that had befallen our planet during the Great Sundering."
"A curse from that time? Oh, this will be something for the high council to tackle. You should've mentioned it earlier!" Old man Lu suddenly became alert, his pupils shrinking, fists tightening.
The awkward look on the young man's face became even more pronounced. With a cough, he continued his explanation.
"Er, yes, but you see....the legend is a bit ridiculous."
"Oh please! You youngsters haven't learned the extent of the power the true powerhouses of this universe hold. The Great Sundering doesn't even make it to the top 3 in terms of overall damage and powerhouses involved. Yet the techniques used in those times were still enough to divide thousands of galaxies and suppress so many conflicts at once! The word 'ridiculous' would be a perfect description for all of those methods! Don't wave off a legend just because it sounds unbelievable. Not all legends are exaggerated, some are actually watered down."
Old man Lu took great offense from the casual comment, Shi Xian realized. So he quickly tried to remedy it.
"I'm not making light of the power behind this so-called 'curse', master Lu. It's just that the content of the legend is slightly difficult to believe. Nevertheless, it was a popular rumor. It said that the celestials were not pleased with the mortal world and the world of cultivation. So they often expressed their anger through special tribulations which almost always kill the transcenders. But it also twists their souls and returns them back to our world to wreak havoc, cause chaos and summon apocalypse after apocalypse. In fact, some careful research in our history showed that in the past, especially before the Great Sundering, very few apocalyptic events took place. Sometimes, it would even take hundreds and even thousands of years for such disasters to happen. But once the apocalypse did come, it would absolutely destroy any semblance of civilization on the surface of the planet, leaving nothing but broken societies and humans barely qualified to be called humans.
This was one of the reasons why the mortal societies never developed much power outside those related to cultivation. A few times, there were proofs of mortals reaching incredible heights of power relying on nothing but machines and methods we can no longer decipher. But those great disasters wiped them off easily.
However...."
Pausing for breath, the young man looked around once more, as if rethinking about the issue of the lord of this galaxy listening to his every word.
"However, since the Great Sundering, the number of apocalypses has increased by more than ten times."
"....Ten times ?" Master Lu asked, dumbfounded.
"Yes, the statistics really showed this result. The more time passed after the Sundering, the higher the frequency of the apocalypses on our planet became. It reached the point where such events would happen every few years and everyone became sort of used to this phenomenon. It became a routine for sects to check if their disciples had any abnormalities in their souls through various shady methods for everyone's safety. Mortals regularly piled up resources and hid under the wings of the nearest sects every time they got the news of a new apocalypse coming in. It's one of the reasons why the practice of sect-based society is so prevalent on our planet. Even the smaller sects have provided significant protection to the mortals affiliated with them over time. Their relationship may not be called mutually beneficial, as the sects aren't exactly charitable organizations. But we managed to work things out civilly most of the time."
"Wait a minute, if such horrible disasters happened all the time, why haven't all life on that planet been wiped out?" Master Lu asked, seemingly utterly gobsmacked by the revelation from Shi Xian.
"Well, that's where it gets a bit ridiculous, see?" Shi Xian replied gloomily.
"The legends differ from time to time as well as based on the different regions of the planet. But the main content can be surmised as....someone cursed the planet with a bunch of prophecies that would only come true if we actively fought to stop them from coming true. Some of these prophecies came in forms of short poems, some of them stories without context. The only link among all of them was the horrible rhyming scheme and that they always came true, at least partially. No matter what steps were taken to prevent the exact chain of events prophesied from happening, it would almost always happen in a roundabout way. The problem is, despite the apocalypses invited by these events being incredibly destructive, there would always be someone bearing the brunt of the attack, at times even thwarting the apocalypse.
However, these talented cultivators who protected us also tended to be the main reason these apocalypses happened in the first place. They also showed a tendency to travel away from the neutral regions to seek higher powers as if they were not satisfied with all the disasters and struggles they had to face in a mere lower world."
"...."
A long silence followed after Shi Xian finished his explanation. In the end, Master Lu was the one to break it.
"You're saying that another apocalypse might happen soon even without any foreign interference? That's why you need to return and finish your business with the other carrier of the soul shards?"
A gloomy light appeared in Shi Xian's eyes.
"No, Master Lu. I'm saying that the other carrier of the soul shards might be the apocalypse, and I am the one to face it head-on. Because I already know of a prophecy with a story very similar to our situation."