Chapter 1306: Two Lifetimes in One

"You are you, and I am me. Just like you, I was born in that rural village in the mortal realm, and I shared the same family and experiences as you. In the end, I was also able to ascend to the True Immortal Realm after overcoming countless hardships and transcending countless tribulations," the Reincarnation Palace Master revealed.

At this point, Han Li had finally managed to somewhat compose himself, and a possibility occurred to him.

"There's no way there can be two Han Lis in this world. Could it be that you went back in time to take a different path from mine through transmigration?"

In Han Li's eyes, the only possible explanation for this scenario would be if a future version of himself traveled back to this point in time through transmigration. However, that begged the question of how this supposed future self of his had mastered the laws of reincarnation.

Before the Reincarnation Palace Master had a chance to reply, Han Li shook his head as he shot down his own theory.

"No, that can't be right. If you had transmigrated back to this time period, then you'll inevitably be forced to return to your time period once you've exhausted your law threads, so there's no way you can be a future version of me."

"That's right. You and I are sharing two lifetimes in one, and you are a product of my transmigration," the Reincarnation Palace Master said.

A puzzled look appeared in Han Li's eyes upon hearing this, but his befuddlement then quickly turned to rage.

Even though his cultivation journey had spanned countless millennia up to this point, he still recalled everything that he had experienced in the mortal realm and the Spirit Realm.

Memories of all of the people that he had encountered and the things that he had experienced were etched deep into his mind, yet if he were a product of the Reincarnation Palace Master's transmigration, then wouldn't that mean that he had been living a lie this entire time?

"There's no way any of that is true! You're cultivating the laws of reincarnation, so how could you possibly be capable of space-time transmigration? You must be lying to me! In fact, all of this must be an illusion!" Han Li yelled as he activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes to scrutinize his surroundings, but there was nothing to indicate that what he was witnessing was anything less than reality.

"Senior Vial Spirit, get me out of here! Transmigrate me to anywhere, just not here!" Han Li yelled internally, and he felt as if he were only just barely clinging onto a shred of sanity.

"Han Li!"

Right at this moment, the vial spirit's voice rang out in his mind in an authoritative manner, and Han Li was immediately snapped back to his senses.

"He's not lying to you. Technically speaking, I am also a product of his space-time transmigration. He transmigrated tens of millions of years back into the past, where another Han Li was born in that village, and that is who eventually grew up to become you," the vial spirit said, and hearing it corroborate the Reincarnation Palace Master's story felt like a stab to the heart for the Han Li.

"How did this happen?" he murmured in a dazed manner, having never so lost in his life.

"Just like you, I was born in the mortal realm with four spirit roots, and I was able to eventually reach the pinnacle in my cultivation of time law powers. In doing so, I was deemed a threat by Gu Huojin, and in our final showdown, I was defeated.

“Right as I was about to be killed, I injected all of the time law powers that I had accumulated throughout my lifetime into the Heaven Controlling Vial, and for the first time, it was truly able to reverse time, taking me all the way back to the very beginning," the Reincarnation Palace Master recounted with a reminiscent look in his eyes.

"It was thanks to this enormous influx of time law powers that I was able to attain sentience. However, at the time, I was only barely sentient, and it was only after the passage of an immeasurable period of time that I finally became the vial spirit that I am today," the vial spirit added.

At this point, Han Li had finally managed to compose himself, and he was silent for a long while before summarizing, "So that means that you and I are both separate, yet also one and the same, and we embarked on completely different cultivation journeys."

"You can think of it that way. It seems like due to my existence, many of your experiences diverged significantly from my own. For example, the Gan Rushuang that you should've encountered turned into Nangong Wan, and your ties with the Devil Realm, the Gray Realm, and the primordial land are far deeper than mine were.

“Ever since you reached the Immortal Realm, our experiences have diverged further and further, so it can almost be said that we've lived two different lifetimes," the Reincarnation Palace Master said.

"How did you become the Reincarnation Palace Master?" Han Li asked with tightly furrowed brows.

"I transmigrated to the extremely distant past, long before you were born. I had lost all of my time law powers, taking me back to square one, and what was even more disheartening to me was that Gu Huojin was already the Time Dao Ancestor even back then.

“If I had continued to cultivate the laws of time, I would've only suffered the same fate, so I pursued the laws of reincarnation instead, and that's how I became who I am today," the Reincarnation Palace Master explained.

"Then what about me and my mother?" Wyrm 3 asked, and she was every bit just as shaken as Han Li.

The Reincarnation Palace Master turned to her and Nangong Wan, and a gentle look appeared in his eyes as he explained, "Gu Huojin found us not long after you were born, and your mother sacrificed herself in order to buy us time to get away. Before that, she sealed part of her reincarnation law powers in your body, while I used my time law powers to seal you in a jade pendant immortal treasure for your protection.

“In the end, Gu Huojin proved too formidable an adversary for me to overcome, so I injected all of my time law powers into the Heaven Controlling Vial, hoping to detonate it to take down Gu Huojin with me."

"I was with you at the time?" Wyrm 3 asked in an incredulous manner.

"You were. Back then, I had already lost all hope, yet right as I thought that you and I were going to perish, the vial spirit was born, alongside the Heaven Controlling Vial's ability to transmigrate through space and time. As a result, I was able to truly transmigrate to the distant past and avoid what had seemed like my inevitable fate," the Reincarnation Palace Master replied.

"Did Wyrm 3 transmigrate with you?" Han Li asked.

"She did," the Reincarnation Palace Master confirmed with a nod.

After a long silence, Han Li exclaimed, "This is a completely ridiculous story! How do you expect me to believe any of this?"

Wyrm 3 also turned to the Reincarnation Palace Master with an incredulous expression.

"If Wyrm 3 had transmigrated all the way to the distant past with you, surely she would already be at a far superior cultivation base at this point, given her aptitude. Also, Gu Huojin is the one who stands at the pinnacle of the laws of time. If you're able to transmigrate through space and time, why is he unable to do the same?" Han Li interrogated.

"Before I answer your questions, let me raise a question to you: do you know exactly what the Heaven Controlling Vial is?" the Reincarnation Palace Master asked.

Han Li was stumped by this question. It was one that he had been searching for an answer to for as long as the Heaven Controlling Vial had been in his possession.

"Truth be told, even to this day, I still don't know exactly what type of treasure the Heaven Controlling Vial is, and it contains more than just time law powers. Otherwise, even with all of time law powers injected into it, there's no way that it could've given rise to a vial spirit, and it certainly wouldn't have been able to gain an unheard-of ability like space-time transmigration," the Reincarnation Palace Master said.

"You're telling me that even though Guo Huojin has reached the pinnacle of time law powers, that alone isn't enough to allow him to transmigrate through space and time, is that right?" Han Li asked.

"As the name itself entails, space-time transmigration incorporates both the powers of time and space, and even the power of reincarnation plays a role. Hence, I'm almost certain that the Heaven Controlling Vial is the only thing in all of the realms capable of space-time transmigration, which means that as long as the Heaven Controlling Vial remains in your possession, you'll be the only one capable of transmigrating through space and time," the Reincarnation Palace Master replied.

Even without raising any questions to the vial spirit, Han Li was already mostly convinced that the Reincarnation Palace Master's assertions were correct.

"As for Jiuzhen's fate, that concerned another Dao Ancestor by the name of Chen Tuan," the Reincarnation Palace Master continued.

Han Li had never heard of this name before, and a puzzled look flashed through his eyes.

"The Heavenly Court is led by the Time Dao Ancestor, Gu Huojin, and he and six other Dao Ancestors rule over the True Immortal Realm together, collectively known as the Seven Heavenly Dao Lords. Among them, the only other one that you've heard of is most likely Li Yuanjiu of the Nine Origins Temple.

“Chen Tuan is the Clairvoyance Dao Ancestor, the most mysterious figure of the seven," the Reincarnation Palace Master explained.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

All he knew about the laws of clairvoyance was that they were extremely mysterious and difficult to cultivate, so he had never imagined that there would be a Dao Ancestor of clairvoyance law powers.

"Following my transmigration, I lost all of my power, rendering me unable to use the Heaven Controlling Vial, and as a result, it was lost in the river of time. Without the protection of my law powers, I exhausted all of my immortal spiritual power warding off space-time turbulence, and I also became separated from Jiuzhen.

“I returned to a time period tens of millions of years before you were born, while Jiuzhen ended up in a time period close to the time of your birth. I had no choice but to settle down in a secluded mortal realm, and at the time, I had been stripped of my powers and treasures, reducing me to a mortal. Thanks to my past cultivation experience, I was able to embark on a new cultivation journey, and after what felt like an eternity, I was finally able to track down Jiuzhen and rescue her.

“At the time, I had already cultivated the laws of reincarnation to the pinnacle of the Great Encompassment Stage and founded the Reincarnation Palace, so I undid her seal and sent her to carry out various missions across the immortal regions as Wyrm 3," the Reincarnation Palace Master recounted.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Wyrm 3 asked.

"If I had revealed to you that you were my daughter, then our fates would've become intertwined, and from that point onward, whenever Chen Tuan looked into my future, he would see you as well. The Heavenly Court is unable to find me, so they would've been sure to hunt you down instead to use you as leverage against me," the Reincarnation Palace Master explained as he turned to Wyrm 3 with a guilty look in his eyes.