Golden blood splattered all over the future Leylah's face. Her breathing hitched. Her eyes narrowed, remaining in utter disbelief with the image burned within them.
"...Ah."
She couldn't mutter any word other than that. Her thoughts ceased to exist, but not before the tidal self-blame and self-remorse drowned her.
It was she who couldn't do anything to help the future Shi Tian.
It was she who perished under the tribulation made from his image.
It was she who witnessed his death for the second time.
Her mental state deteriorated to such an extent that she failed to notice one thing:
Shi Tian never died.
Tsk-!
The sound of a tight bowstring being released came to her ears. The mass of golden blood found its way as it converged back to a single point. The orb of golden blood throbbed like a beating heart. It pulsated with life, resounding with a drum-like sound. The next moment, it transformed into a human silhouette. Time was seemingly reversed as Shi Tian's true body was reconstructed—naked at that.
He swiftly took out another pair of his daoist robes and used a spell to dress up in an instant.
Bzzt-!
A strong medicinal scent erupted from him. The pill he had consumed, Overturning Netherworld Pill, lay at the middle-level for eighth-grade restorative pills. When used on a Void Refinement shrimp like him, it was bound to be overwhelming.
'I need to leak it out more..!'
Shi Tian sensed his current condition, his eyes remaining serious. His injuries were fully restored the moment he consumed the pill. However, its overwhelming effects resulted in self-implosion. He had to use his Small Universe to temporarily contain his true body and the pill's medicinal power. He ended up reshaping his true body with this method, all the while purposefully leaking out the eighth-grade pill.
The pill's surging effects restored his consumption due to the Small Universe in an instant. Shi Tian now has a power bank that gave him nigh-infinite spiritual qi. The only thing he needed to do was to maintain his Small Universe. It is the sole Venerated Dao that could prevent another self-implosion from occurring.
Once or twice was fine, but if he carried on self-imploding, his mind won't be able to endure it. By then, he won't be able to bring back his true body, resulting in true death!
'Thirty seconds. The pill will be purged by then. I need to settle this now.'
Shi Tian had fully realized why his divination revealed such a fatal danger. The future Leylah could unleash Dao Integration Realm attacks even if momentarily. The tribulation energy she brought over was extremely troublesome, too. Only a Dao Integration Realm Venerable could safely deal with it.
He scanned his surroundings. Despite his Small Universe being broken, they did not return to Oxia City. They remained enclosed within an isolated space. The moment he sensed the presence of tribulation energy, Shi Tian frowned.
'It formed a space… no, a world of its own.'
They were now trapped inside a dimension made by the tribulation itself. The only way out is the person not far from him.
He looked at the future Leylah who stood in a daze. The moment he met her eyes, he knew she was out of this world. She could no longer perceive her surroundings. She was so immersed in her own world that she was practically half-dead in reality.
'There's something wrong with this tribulation energy. It's not as dangerous as normal…'
Shi Tian swiftly caught onto its oddities. In his perception, that tiny cloud of tribulation energy posed the greatest threat. It was on the level of a Dao. Its status and dimensionality was something he could not hope to affect, much less obliterate. The brief confrontation that broke his Small Universe gave his true body severe injuries. If he chose to recover on his own, things would have gotten more dangerous.
'A frantic energy that seeks not to destroy, but to hinder one's path to ascension. Since I am not the main target, it only exhibited aspects of destruction and death.'
He went through his knowledge of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm in his head. A second of contemplation revealed what he needed to do next.
'Its crossing from the future weakened it. I am not its main target, which weakened it further. It is a power at the Dao Integration Realm… but I am not out of options.'
He gently shook his right wrist. A plain-looking dao appeared in his grasp. It was not a spiritual artifact, nor was it a technique.
It is the manifestation of Shi Tian's Tao Heart.
Not an ounce of fluctuation could be felt from it. The sword was comparable to a mortal weapon. Any opponents at his level could shatter it. However, it was this mundane that seemed out of place in this world.
'Swinging a sword containing a heart's true will.'
An excerpt flashed in his mind. It was commonly used during the first-level of a Tao Heart, the Sword Heart. Shi Tian mulled over its true meaning since he had begun cultivating.
What was it that his heart longs for?
He arrived at several answers in the past—one that allowed him to break through to the Sword Heart level. Shi Tian wanted to protect the gullible yet courageous Paramecium. It was Kiana who taught him the beauty of life in this world. The lost lamb in his previous life was no more, for he had a path to follow.
It was, ultimately, a borrowed ideal. Shi Tian was attracted by Kiana's beauty—of the person and the ideals she held. It wasn't enough to satisfy his heart. It could not allow him to reach self-transcendence. There was still something left unsettled that could define who he truly was.
Shi Tian found it during his journey at Amphoreus. What he wanted was not just to follow Kiana's lead, nor was it to save everyone he deemed worthy.
He wanted to write a satisfactory ending.
To become an author that dictates the flow of a story. Such is his heart, and so is its manifestation.
Before Shi Tian knew it, the plain-looking dao underwent a series of changes. It shed its mortal appearance, emitting a faint white glow. Its body was divided into black and white, separated by a wavy line. Four eastern characters were engraved on the blade's body, with two on each side:
Timeless Heaven, Everlasting Will.
He pointed it towards the future Leylah. Her knees touched the ground as she continued to stare blankly at him. Her mind had long been eroded by the tribulation energy, unable to see nor hear.
Futile as it was, Shi Tian spoke:
"I don't like this ending, so I will rewrite it."