I Cheated While Cultivating

“Hey, young man, maybe your plan is going to fall through,” the old boatman said with a smile.

“If my plan falls through, the Tao Lord will still have to ferry people here for who knows how long,” Liu Gaoyang said with a heavy voice. “Moreover, if I do not become a Celestial Man, the hundreds of thousands of people in Yuanhe Prefectural City will have died in vain.”

“If this was five thousand years ago, I would have killed you with a single slap,” the complexion of the old boatman turned gloomy.

“Unfortunately, times have changed, Tao Lord,” Liu Gaoyang said, standing with his hands behind his back, looking in the direction of Yuanhe Prefectural City with a grim expression, “Who dares to block my great path?”

On the hills outside the Yuanhe Prefecture City.

Xuan Ge was furious, shaking all over with anger as he looked at what was once a bustling prefecture city reduced to ruins, and said through gritted teeth, “This Overseas Loose Cultivator should die! He deserves death!”

“He indeed deserves death!” Tian Qiang, however, was sitting cross-legged on the ground, his eyes wide open without pupils. The white of his eyes, where the life forms were flashing by now and then – both humans and animals, many and varied – became so huge that they seemed almost to pop out of their sockets, continuously seeping blood.

“Tian Qiang, if you keep going like this, your eyes will burst,” Xuan Ge said with extreme concern, “You’ve almost reached your limit in preserving the souls of everyone in Yuanhe Prefectural City, and now you even want to preserve the souls of animals; you’re going mad!”

“All beings are equal,” Tian Qjang said.

“I hope the eminent from within the Five Emperors’ Inner Seat arrives soon to resurrect these creatures, lest your eyeballs burst,” said Xuan Ge anxiously, pacing back and forth, “But is the eminent from within the Five Emperors’ Inner Seat, who is only Fourth Rank, truly a match for this Loose Cultivator?”

At that moment, he saw the light from the transport formation he had set up nearby starting to glow with a tapestry of multicolored splendor, and an overwhelmingly powerful aura, bordering on that of laws and the Dao, was about to descend.

“It’s the eminent from within the Five Emperors’ Inner Seat. He’s finally arriving!” Xuan Ge exclaimed excitedly.

“Hm? Is that Zhou Heng? He’s returned so quickly… And there’s a Divine Weapon, the Purple Virtual Sword from the Pure Yang Palace, that’s You Ziheng!” Tian Qiang suddenly let out a light exclamation.

He had noticed You Ziheng and Zhou Heng, as well as the Divine Weapon Purple Virtual Sword.

Immediately after, he saw a dazzlingly bright silver light shoot up into the sky, engulfing an area of a hundred miles as if stirring time and space, causing all things to revert and restart.

The transport formation that had just lit up dimmed again, and the interwoven colorful radiance also retreated and disappeared.

“Restart!”

Accompanied by Zhou Heng’s resolute shout, everything within a hundred miles seemed to have a “rewind button” pressed, as everything began to revert to its previous state.

You Ziheng, who had arrived riding the Divine Weapon, rapidly moved backward and in a blink of an eye, he vanished without a trace.

Zhou Heng also retreated along with him, but soon he became a lump of flesh, which then reformed back into his original self: his state, his location, even the things he had already used, all were “restarting”!

The “Wordless Stele” that was shimmering with aqua light suddenly dimmed, and what was floating in the air returned to the hands of the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal.

The Great Saintly Merciful Immortal, who had been in a frenzied state of excitement, saw his expression fade rapidly, returning to his previous indifferent and cold demeanor as if devoid of emotion, and right after, his body began to fade, while Li Tonghe, who had originally offered his own blood as a sacrifice, reappeared.

He Mengqiu, who had been lying on the ground incapacitated, saw her injuries heal involuntarily, and she found herself suspended in mid-air, then moving backward to her initial hiding spot.

The Yuanhe Prefectural City revived from its ruins, one by one figures stood up from the pools of blood, scattered flesh, and limbs reversed as if rewound, reassembling and the somewhat dried-up blood became normal and flowed back.

He Mengqiu, who was barely alive and critically injured, stood up bewilderedly, watching as her already deceased disciples reformed from a blood mist back into their original forms.

She watched astounded as everything around her underwent changes, feeling unbelievably as if time were reversing, as all things restarted!

What was this?

What incredible power, what great strength?

Inconceivable!

Beyond imagination!!

At the offshore floating island.

Within the magnificent palace, the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal opened his eyes in a daze.

He glanced from side to side.

Then he extended his Divine Sense to sweep over the range of thousands of miles, confirming that he indeed had returned to his own headquarters.

“What’s going on, what just happened?”

This Loose Immortal was shocked to his core and utterly puzzled, unable to fathom what had just occurred.

The once tumultuous river’s surface retreated back to a calm state.

Although this place was far more than a hundred miles away from Yuanhe Prefecture City, the cause of the previous tempestuous waves originated from that Great Saintly Merciful Immortal. Now, since the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal was still on the offshore floating island and had “not yet” arrived, naturally there were no tumultuous waves here.

Liu Gaoyang was completely dumbfounded, the exceptional Fourth Rank master staring at the direction of Yuanhe Prefecture City with a bewildered expression and uncertainly said, “What just happened, what was that bright silver light?”

“Mystifying, truly mystifying!” the old boatman too widened his eyes in disbelief, his face showing that he thought he had seen a ghost.

“Restart once: cause the state of everything within a hundred miles to revert to three minutes prior, not a reversal of time.”

This was the reward that Zhou Heng had chosen previously in Yuyang County when he used the Five Thunder Righteous Method to annihilate the Ghost Immortal Xuan Yang, with the thought of being prepared for an emergency.

Now it had come in handy.

After the reset, Zhou Heng found himself back to sitting in the main hall of the Wang Family’s grand mansion, surrounded by Li Tonghe, Wan Hongyi, Si Ying, and Lu Xiuming.

The Wang Family’s aged patriarch still occupied the seat of honor, with the Family Head Wang Yuande sitting slightly below him. Not far away stood Wang Xinyue, the Wang Family’s esteemed daughter, attending by the side.

Those who should have died were now all “resurrected.”

It was as if time had reversed itself.

Freakishly so.

However, this was merely a regression back to three minutes prior, and it did not affect the memories of living beings. Everything that had transpired remained fresh in everyone’s minds.

Therefore, those who were “resurrected” wore puzzled expressions, somewhat unsure of what had just occurred. They had clearly died, so why were they alive again?

What in the world was happening?

Zhou Heng was the only one who was completely lucid.

Right after confirming the completion of the reset, he did not hesitate to burst forth, his right hand donned with a bladed glove, forming his fingers into a knife, and directly executed the Purple Thunder Seven Strikes, aiming for Li Tonghe’s head next to him.

The Loose Immortal had been summoned by Li Tonghe’s blood sacrifice, so naturally, Zhou Heng aimed to kill him first to sever the pathway for that Loose Immortal’s descent.

However, Li Tonghe was no ordinary man. While he was confused in his mind, his body’s instinct to dodge was still present. The moment Zhou Heng attacked, his body reflexively shifted to the side.

He even managed to evade Zhou Heng’s strike.

Such instinctive bodily reactions and the speed of the dodge were definitely much stronger than what he showed at the martial arts tournament; no wonder the System had rated him as an “equal opponent.”

But Zhou Heng was determined to fight quickly and decisively, aiming to kill Li Tonghe in the shortest time possible. Seeing him dodge, he immediately pursued him.

Li Tonghe, however, seemed unwilling to engage in combat with Zhou Heng. He executed his movement technique, rapidly creating distance between him and Zhou Heng while muttering under his breath, actually intending to perform a blood sacrifice to summon the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal right then and there.

“Hundred Pace Flying Sword!”

Seeing the situation turning dire, Zhou Heng bellowed, hurling the bladed glove from his right hand. The weapon, comparable in sharpness to a sword of the same grade, allowed him to wield the power of the Hundred Pace Flying Sword as he threw it.

The glove instantly streaked across the air, leaving a trail of silver light like a flying sword, and sliced through Li Tonghe’s neck. Blood spurted out as Li Tonghe’s head rolled off, and his body lurched forward a few steps before collapsing.

Dead!

The source of the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal’s descent was sealed off, and Zhou Heng couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

But he remained vigilant.

After all, no one could guarantee that the Loose Immortal only had Li Tonghe as his lackey in Yuanhe Prefecture City.

What if there were others?

At this moment, the people of the Wang Family also started to regain their composure, gradually realizing what had transpired.

Though they didn’t understand why they were standing here alive after dying, or why the events that had occurred seemed to have reversed, they were clear on who the enemy was.

Consequently, the Wang Family’s experts launched a frenzy of attacks on Wan Hongyi, Si Ying, and Lu Xiuming and held their breath to guard against the imminent poison smoke.

Zhou Heng knew that the extent of his actions thus far was insufficient.

The Fourth Rank peak expert from the Plague Emperor Sect had been reset and sent back, but he must have already been lurking nearby. Even with the reset, he could return at a rapid pace.

“The Black Plague Emperor” Sha Mishe might arrive even earlier than before the reset.

Thus, Zhou Heng made a swift decision and directly used the Qingxia God’s scale to summon the projection of the Qingxia God at its Fifth Rank peak, and suddenly an enormous green python nearly a mile long appeared out of thin air, flying over the Wang Family’s estate.

It was at this moment that the poison fog from the Plague Emperor Sect began to spread, and Xin Shou and Han Yuxiao, leading a group from the Plague Emperor Sect and Honghua Palace, charged towards the Wang Family’s estate.

The green python in the sky suddenly opened its gigantic mouth and fiercely inhaled, sucking up all the poison fog that had permeated the Wang Family’s compound completely and without being affected in the slightest.

With a sway of its massive body, the python’s tail smashed down, immediately reducing Xin Shou, Han Yuxiao, and the others to mush, denying them the chance to even breach the Wang Family’s residence.

‘You audacious demon!’ the Black Plague Emperor Sha Mishe stepped into the void and roared loudly, ready to wield his martial arts to strike down the green python.

But suddenly, the python’s body convulsed violently, its eyes emitted an exceedingly bright cyan-green light, and its huge head turned to look at the “Blank Stele” still covered with red cloth.

It opened its mouth to inhale, and the “Blank Stele” was actually sucked into its mouth, whereupon the stele shone brightly, took root within the python’s mouth, and fused with one of its fangs.

BOOM!!

The heavens and earth roared, and all things trembled!

The python’s imposing pressure surged dramatically, instantly rising to a level comparable to the pinnacle of the Fourth Rank, and it tangled with Sha Mishe in a fierce struggle.

Meanwhile, in the southern district of Yuanhe Prefecture City, in the back courtyard of the Chenglin Book Society.

Lin Ziran looked up at the giant python in the sky, knelt on the ground with a look of profound grief and indignation and cried out loud: ‘Heavens, the Qingxia God has appeared, the Qingxia God has appeared! But this is not our revered Qingxia Deity; it’s divine power stolen by someone else!

‘Through my blood sacrifice, I beseech the Immortal to descend in his chariot of law, I humbly summon the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal!!’

His actions mirrored those of Li Tonghe before the reset, both performing a blood sacrifice to summon the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal to descend into Yuanhe Prefecture City.

BOOM!

The firmament cracked open, and a streak of pure light once again traversed the boundless void, descending upon Lin Ziran, as a terrifying aura suddenly surged.

The void around Lin Ziran twisted and overlapped, forming numerous, intricately-patterned color blocks.

The Overseas Loose Cultivator, the Great Saintly Merciful Immortal, was about to descend once more!

But this time was different.

Zhou Heng had already taken his position on high ground, eyeing that beam of pure light that crossed over from the void, his eyes brimming with murderous intent. He raised his right hand, his fingers curling slightly as if holding something intangible.

In an instant, the elemental forces of nature trembled, the landscapes and skies changed color, and all things came to a standstill.

Red, white, green, black, yellow!

Five beams of light spanned the universe, rushing toward the beam of pure light that had just descended upon Yuanhe Prefecture City.

Five-colored divine light!!

Nothing can escape its sweep!!

PS: If there are typographical errors, I will correct them after updating.