As the monster’s size increased, its heartbeat grew louder.
Even when it had increased its size before, the heartbeat had never rang out so loud.
What’s going on?
Lu Yin released the Karmic Dao and infused it with Immortal matter before sending out a spiral of karma. He wanted to understand the beast’s ability.
As karma pierced the monster, multiple scenes played out in Lu Yin’s vision.
At the same time, the heartbeat that he heard drowned out everything else in existence, becoming the sole sound that he could hear.
...
Roar!
A colossal foot slammed down, shattering the ground. The sky and earth both fell into darkness.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
Only the heartbeat remained, faint to the point of nearly being silent.
...
The land and sky switched places as a world broke apart beneath an unknown astral beast’s vast wing as the creature swept by, pulverizing the planet in its passing.
All life on that planet perished. Only a faint heartbeat traveled away, carried upon a drifting meteor.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
...
It was the same wing again, but this time, the owner of the wing was pulsing with that same familiar, powerful heartbeat. The beast exalted as it soared among the stars.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
...
In the Aevum Inch, Lu Yin watched as the Immortal monster’s size increased further and further, while also watching the scenes that appeared. What was he seeing? There were so many scenes, almost all of which belonged to different species. The only thing that they shared in common was that heartbeat.
Why did such diverse creatures all share the same heartbeat?
Did that sound only appear in the visions because he was hearing it in real life and the sound was overlapping, or did it truly come from the scenes themselves? None of the karmic visions that he witnessed before had ever included sound.
The spiral of karma continued to pierce the beast. The monster never tried to evade, and it simply grew, bigger and bigger and bigger...
“Senior, can you tell what this is?” Lu Yin asked.
Master Qing Cao’s voice replied, “Each Immortal is unique, so I can’t say. However, slaying an Immortal before reaching that level is an overreach that requires an unimaginable price. Lord Lu, reconsider this.
“No matter how low that beast may rank among Immortals, an Immortal is still an Immortal. It exists in accordance with the Cosmic Laws, or rather, it is a lifeform acknowledged by those very laws.”
Lu Yin’s eyes sharpened. “The Cosmic Laws?”
Master Qing Cao would not say another word.
“In that case, Senior, guard the gate. That’s all I ask of you,” Lu Yin said while staring at the beast.
Master Qing Cao let out a breath. “You have my word.”
Lu Yin continued to release the spiral of karma. He needed to clearly see this beast’s path.
If he could see it clearly, it might even bring the path to the Immortal realm into his view.
“Align with the laws of the cosmos?”
Cultivators had always believed that they wrested their fate from the heavens. They shattered mortal limits, tread across the stars, and broke through barrier after barrier, advancing farther and soaring higher. Yet the cosmos never changed. Above every head stretched a sky that no one had ever surpassed.
Lu Yin could not do it, and neither could an Immortal.
So what did it truly mean to struggle against the heavens? What counted as victory?
If even an Immortal could not win, then how could cultivation be called a struggle against the heavens? At best, it was a struggle against other beings, not against the heavens themselves.
The heavens were the cosmos. Only by following the Dao of Heaven could one align with the cosmos and attain Immortality.
This was not a sudden epiphany. It was Lu Yin’s understanding of Master Qing Cao’s words, and the limit of his comprehension of the cosmos.
No being had ever escaped the shackles of the cosmos.
Then how did this beast plan to break through? And by what path had it attained Immortality?
Lu Yin watched the scenes, growing increasingly absorbed in what he saw.
The Immortal beast’s size continued to increase until it was nearly pressing against the stone gate to the megaverse.
Inside the gate, Master Qing Cao frowned as more and more blades of grass sprouted to reinforce the gate.
Lu Yin was extremely close to the beast, and its heartbeat felt nearer than ever.
As Karmic Lines struck each other, Lu Yin was struck by a sudden realization: replacement. That was the beast’s innate gift, replacement.
The monster was able to replace other creatures.
Karma had shown so many visions of the beast’s past, but while myriad species had been shown, they were all the same being: the beast. Bodies were nothing more than shells to the creature, and its true form was the pulsing sound.
The monster’s current form was not its true form. Its true form was the pounding heartbeat itself.
From weak to powerful, the creature had replaced other species, step by step shedding a form when each host reached its limits. Each replacement had allowed the creature to climb higher than before, until it had finally become the giant that Lu Yin was familiar with. This was why, the fiercer the beast fought, the louder its heartbeat was; its true body was being used.