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But upon entering his True Fate World, the Book of Life and Death concealed itself and remained hidden.
Xu Zimei had also specifically researched it, but to no avail.
The Book of Life and Death seems just like any other book.
Once opened, its pages are blank, and after fruitless research, Xu Zimei no longer paid it any attention.
Now, the words of Venerable Nu made him recall it.
"I think I know now," he looked toward Venerable Nu and said.
"I believe this place will be useful for you," Venerable Nu said with a smile.
"So, I specifically requested the academy for this, you can go in and take a look."
Xu Zimei nodded.
He placed both hands on the grand door, and the Yin-Yang Fish on it began to revolve.
With a "rumble," the heavy sound of the door opening echoed.
As the door opened, Xu Zimei looked up and saw nothing but mist before him.
It appeared to be an entirely new world.
Rich Qi of Life and Death transformed into black and white streams, abundantly floating within.
"Go ahead," Venerable Nu said.
"There’s no time limit here, but I still hope that before my Formation is finished, you can come out."
Xu Zimei nodded slightly.
He knew that a large part of why Venerable Nu did this was that he had to treat Vermilion Bird.
It was a way of repaying a kindness.
"I’ll keep watch for you outside," Venerable Nu said.
.......
Stepping into the Realm of Life and Death.
From the outside, it’s enshrouded in mist, a world of black and white.
But only upon entering does one realize how clear the visibility actually is.
The ground beneath one’s feet and the sky overhead are both divided into black and white.
When Xu Zimei walked into this Realm of Life and Death, he found that the Book of Life and Death inside him actually responded.
It was trembling slightly.
Though the trembling was subtle, he could still clearly feel it.
Xu Zimei looked up, gazing into the distance.
The space he was in was within a forest.
In this forest, vegetation thrived, and every tree was towering and sky-high.
The trunk of each tree was more than ten meters thick.
Xu Zimei used his blade to cut down a tree, yet to his astonishment, the tree regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"This life energy is almost comparable to the Tree of Life," Xu Zimei remarked.
The only shortcoming is that this life energy only affects the creatures here.
Other foreign beings cannot enjoy it.
The sound of "swoosh, swoosh, swoosh" suddenly came from all around.
Xu Zimei looked up to see several branches, each over ten meters thick, stretching out from the ground toward him.
There were more than a dozen, all attacking him at once.
He drew Tyrant Shadow and with each slash, he shattered these branches.
The next moment, a roar came from not too far away.
A "rumble" vibration sound followed, and the whole ground shook.
Xu Zimei looked up to see a Sky-reaching Great Tree slowly rising from the ground not far ahead.
The trees in this jungle were already tall, but this one was even taller.
It stood out like a crane among chickens.
Its entire body was green, shrouded in countless branches.
And on this great tree, there was a face.
A very old face.
The face was full of dense wrinkles, with white eyebrows and beard.
"You are not permitted to enter further," the tree said calmly.
"If you are here to cultivate, this is where you stop."
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"If I must enter," Xu Zimei asked.
No sooner had his voice faded than countless branches flew toward him with lethal intent.
These branches appeared endlessly, and even when severed, they would reappear in an instant.
They seemed like tentacles.
Xu Zimei raised Tyrant Shadow, each slash carrying an overwhelming Blade Intent.
No matter how many tentacles there were, he sliced through each and every one.
By the time he stepped up to the grand tree, his Blade Qi enveloped the entire firmament.
The fourteenth move of Way of Inquiry, Reverse Samsara, was executed.
In the space before him, the dense Qi of Life and Death separated.
The once abundant Life Energy transformed entirely into Death Qi.
Especially along the blade, the Death Qi condensed into Blade Intent that corroded the firmament itself.
"Slash," Xu Zimei whispered.
With a thunderous roar, the Blade Intent fell, and the explosion sounded.
The void before him thoroughly shattered.
Along with the tree’s agonized screams, it was cleaved into two halves.
Xu Zimei stepped forward, his body engulfed in a thick Death Qi, which fought against the Life Energy to prevent the tree’s revival.
The greatest strength of this move, Reverse Samsara, was its ability to invert Yin and Yang; Life and Death were merely parts of Yin and Yang.
Although the tree continued to struggle behind him, Xu Zimei’s attention was not on it.
Rather, his focus was on the high sky ahead.
A brush floated there.
This brush was a hundred meters long, with a brown and black interwoven fabric.
At the front end of the brush, it was unclear what material the bristles were made of.
Compared to the blackness at the back end, the white bristles were strikingly prominent.
At the moment, the brush slowly moved through midair.
As if splashing ink, the brush wrote a "Death" character in the sky.
The moment the character was completed, the brush disappeared into the void, and the "Death" character lingered in the firmament.
If the forest where the grand tree stood was called the land of life, then the area ahead was the land of death.
The thick Death Qi permeated through the forest, spreading into the distant trenches.
The shadow of the "Death" character created a monster with three heads and six arms.
"That brush just now?" Xu Zimei frowned slightly.
"The Pen of Life and Death?"
He didn’t know what was going on, but information about that brush appeared in his mind without warning.
It seemed as though his own Book of Life and Death from the True Fate World was a set with that Pen of Life and Death.
Especially when the brush appeared, his Book of Life and Death from the True Fate World grew more restless.
...
"It seems I must go inside to take a look," Xu Zimei muttered to himself.
He walked out of the lush forest into the trenches saturated with Death Qi.
The two areas were so close yet the contrast was stark.
In his field of vision, the three-headed, six-armed monster roared at Xu Zimei.
The three faces looked somewhat alike, with a gigantic body and six arms, each brandishing a different seal.
At that moment, one of its arms extended downward, the seal in its hand morphing into a large hammer.
Swinging fiercely like a gust of wind, it smashed toward Xu Zimei.
Xu Zimei extended his fist, directly confronting the strike.
With a "boom," a wave of force rippled through.
The other arms of the beast erupted into motion, the Death Seals in their hands continuously transforming.
Some became swords, some whips, and some halberds, all attacking Xu Zimei at once.
The primary threat wasn’t the weapons themselves; it was the dense Death Qi they carried.
It sought to invade Xu Zimei’s body, to corrupt him entirely.
Witnessing this spectacle, Xu Zimei chuckled.
"Demonic Ten Skills, second style: Plague Demon Technique,
Afflicted by Karmic Illness."
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