NThe man looked at Curo with an odd gaze after hearing that. His gaze looked over Curo several times before he sighed deeply. Accepting ones death wasn’t hard, although some people would keep fighting against it, they would make peace in the end. However, to make peace with knowing that the only purpose in your life was to grow your Persona strong enough for someone else to succeed…. Something like this left a big impact on someone psyche.
He may seem calm now but First couldn’t help but dread when the time came for the awakening for the Thirteenth Asura. “Would he really do as he said and help or would he deliberately interfere out of spite?” Sensing the odd gaze that the man had, Curo said coldly, “I will do as I have said and help him. If that fucker however still fails in the end, then I don’t care that I don’t exist any more, I will beat the crap out of him in the other world.”
Hearing this, The man on the throne let out a deep sigh and then sheepishly smiled. “How are you so at peace with this?” The man asked the question that was bothering him the most. Curo pondered for a moment before saying, “I have always followed my own heart in cultivation. When First to Seventh infused their power into me, I also inherited their memories….”
He took a moment before continuing, “No matter what I do and no matter who intervenes with the Realms Rules, I have no way of escaping death one month from now. Why waste time cursing the Heavens when I can just spend time doing something else?” First was stumped as he said with a weird face, “You truly are odd…. To be honest, I don’t know how the Ninth Life will play out but I hope that he would have a similar mindset to yours.”
Curo let out a small laugh and then threw all of his possessions to First. He then said, “Once he reaches Foundation Establishment, give all of those items to him. My suggestion is letting him go through life like I did: Relying on oneself, not ones backing.” First nodded his head as he caught all of the possessions. He then asked, “What do you plan to do with your remaining lifespan?” Curo thought for a moment before saying, “I might as well help that bugger out a bit more and go collect Karmic Luck for him.” First raised a brow as he asked, “How?”
Curo’s smile turned evil as he said, “There is this Seven Devils Sect that I have a few grievances with. They all have quite a bit of Karmic Sin on them. Killing them will give me quite a bit of Karmic Luck.” First let out a deep sigh as he stood up and said, “Now that you don’t have to worry about death, the rampage you will go on is something that will shake the Heavens. Come on, I will accompany you.” Curo frowned hearing this but before he could say anything, the man said, “I won’t interfere at all but will only collect your corpse at the end. You will become a hero for the Realm and no such person deserves a sullied corpse.” Hearing this, Curo gave a genuine smile as he said, “Thank you.”
First then created a Spatial Rift and the two walked in. From that day onwards, for the next month, blood flowed like rivers and Devilish Cultivators that had accumulated Karmic sin were wiped out from the Minor and Mid World.
Since all caution was now thrown to the wind, Curo successively broke through to the Mortal Saint Realm, Earth Saint Realm and then Heavenly Saint Realm. His strength was unparalleled amongst the Minor and Mid Tier Worlds.
***
In a distant Realm, countless miles away from Curo’s Realm, three men were standing in front of a large mirror. On the mirror, there was a figure slaughtering without a care in the world. This person was Curo.
One of the men opened his mouth and sighed, “This boy is the perfect candidate for the Thirteenth Heavenly Dragon. However, that Realm’s Will asks too much for his Persona.” There was a hint of anger evident in his tone as he said that. The other two men’s faces turned grim as well as one of them said, “To be under our Protection for the next ten million years…. Several rare and valuable natural oddities….”
The third man sighed as he said, “Those two are no problem as all those natural oddities are what we can grow again in a bit of time and the protection just means that we have to station some of our Experts to help them out when someone attacks their Realm. However, the third condition is the most troublesome: To create a Heavenly Law that would prevent us from ever harming their Realm.” The three men then turned quiet as they kept watching the scenes on the mirror.
Suddenly, their faces changed as their eyes opened wide. They all looked at each other with an astonished gaze as suddenly two of the men left. The third kept watching the mirror as he muttered to himself, “For our own Will to interfere and even to move by himself…. How much does he value this boy?”
As he muttered that, his gaze was fixed on the mirror that hung in the large hall.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
***
In the distant part of Curo’s Realm two figures arrived. They were the same people that were in front of the mirror and had abruptly left. One of the men then snorted and threw out a Spatial Ring. The Spatial Ring then disappeared and the man then said in a cold voice, “We have upheld our end of the bargain, if you back down when the time comes, I promise you, I will personally enslave your Inhabitants and refine you into a Treasure Spirit.”
After saying so, the man snorted coldly before turning around and leaving. Soon after the two men left, a young man appeared in the spot. The young man looked down at his palm, where there was a Spatial Ring. He sighed as he looked down at the Spatial Ring, his mind in turmoil. He was the Will of the Realm. When the two men had first approached him about wanting Curo’s Persona, he was surprised and gave some ridiculous demands to them.
After a bit of talking, it was obvious that these two didn’t want him on a whim but rather for some other reason. So although he made a lot of concessions, he did his best to milk out a lout of benefits from it. However, now he had no choice but to give the Persona to them. His gaze moved from the spot the two had disappeared from to down to the Realm.
He was looking at Curo who was currently on a rampage. He didn’t see anything special about him. Nothing that one of the Four Celestial Realms would want. When he thought back to the words the man had left behind before leaving, his back was soaked in sweat. He had no doubt that the person who said that would be able to do it but rather he was scared of what would happen after the man refined him into a Treasure Spirit.
He understood why they had agreed to his demands instead of forcing him to hand Curo’s Persona over. If they forced him, then as a last act of defiance he would wipe out the Persona. Now that they had held up their end of the bargain, it was obvious that this Persona was very important to them, if he still created problems….
He shook his head as dread came over him. With but a deep sigh, he also disappeared from his location.
***
Following the rise in Curo’s cultivation, he swept through the Worlds one by one, simply killing any person with Karmic Sin attached to them. The amount of Karmic Luck he had accumulated this way made even the First Asura narrow his eyes. Karmic Luck was intangible and unmeasurable.
It had no direct shape or purpose but it was well known that those that had a lot of Karmic Luck found it easier to break through bottlenecks and were generally more “lucky”.
For example, there are times where an inch to the right or left would mean all the difference between life and death. Those blessed with Karmic Luck were more likely to get the non fatal wound than a fatal wound. Also, those blessed with Karmic Luck had better chances of finding rare treasures or otherwise lucky encounters by either finding some ruins of an Ancient Expert or something similar.
Although a month seemed like a long time to a mortal, to someone of Curo’s cultivation, it was like a blink of an eye. And like a blink of an eye, his time in this Realm was reaching it’s end. His body was now riddled in scars and there were some sings of poison on his skin as well. However, he didn’t seem to care at all as he sat quietly in the Main Hall of the Asura Palace.
Surrounding him were all the other twelve Asuras. They all looked at him with mixed gazes as they quietly witnessed his final moments. His life force was getting weaker and weaker as his Life Flame threatened to be extinguished at any given time. As Curo sat there, cross legged, he felt his mind at peace for the first time in 9000 years. This was also the reason he had been so accepting of his fate.
He had finally reached the moment of peace, where he didn’t have to worry. For these nine thousand years he had cultivated, his mind had always been on the edge. With every single step he did, he always had to consider the consequences. If he offended one person, would he be able to deal with the pursuit? If he followed his orders, would he still live in the end? Training in an Art would make his Qi more Devilish, would it be worth it to deal with the Righteous Dao followers or not?
These kinds of questions always troubled and burdened his mind. However, at the moment, he did not have to think about all of these questions as his fate was set in stone no matter what he did. At the latest, one month from that fateful day, he would die. His Persona would dissipate and his Soul would enter reincarnation and enter it’s Ninth Life.
As he sat there silently in mediation, his mind flashed back to his own nine thousand years of life. Although he had had some good times with his friends and brothers, he had been through much bloodshed and slaughter. As his memories filled his mind, his Life Flame suddenly went out. Sensing this, the twelve people present lowered their heads and cupped their hands in salute towards Curo. First then said, “May you find peace in the afterlife.”
After sensing that the Soul had already left the body, the Twelve Asuras arranged for a grand funeral, befitting a person of Curo’s status. After the burial process was done, the Asuras scattered to distant parts of the Realm to take up their positions again.
***
As Curo felt his Life Flame go out, he sighed deeply and waited for his Persona to be wiped out. However, time passed, one minute, ten minutes, an hour, a day. After a day of waiting, Curo turned curious and opened his eyes for the first time. He was in a pitch black space and in front of him stood a young man dressed in all black.
The young man smiled as he said, “It seems like all the Karmic Luck you accumulated paid off. This isn’t the end for you yet, my little friend.” After the young man said that, Curo felt his consciousness dim as he was transported somewhere.
After several days, he came back to his senses but he couldn’t open his eyes. When he finally forced them open, he discovered he was inside an egg.