Chapter 321: Severing Karma (2/2)

“To understand the Karmic cycle is to understand all parts of life, including death. Through walking one hundred thousand paths I will better understand the universe, and through the universe better understand the self. If an incarnation dies so will that part of me die,” the child explained with equanimity. ”Such is the price of enlightenment.”

“It is the fault of this penniless monk. This one was not sure whether he was allowed to say anything before teacher arrived,” Abbot Everlasting Peace explained, understanding what Zac was truly asking about. “I wanted you to understand what transpired here today. Master has come to take me and my fellow monks away.”

“Take you away?” Zac dumbly repeated.

It turned out it was a farewell rather than a betrayal. But Zac suddenly realized the implications of what the old man was saying.

“You’re not staying for the battle against the undead or the other incursions?” Zac probed, some dissatisfaction creeping into his voice.

He had been working his ass off to protect Earth and needed all the help he could get if they wanted to save their planet. The Abbot was likely the strongest person amongst the humans apart from himself due to his high-tiered Dao, and he possesses mysterious insight into Karma that could greatly assist their efforts.

The fact that he decided to take his monks and leave Earth in the moment of its need was almost as great a blow as a true betrayal. He finally understood the look of the old monk who had given him pointers at the stairs, and a frown started forming on his face.

“You mentioned severing Karma. You’re going to cut and run when the undead hordes are destroying everything in its path like locusts, and when we face threats from all directions? I hoped you would join the efforts to protect our home when you had healed up,” Zac continued, but suddenly he realized something and looked at the little child floating next to them.

“Don’t look at me,” the child said with a shake of his head. “I could kick out the incursions, but that would only create a worse future for your planet.”

Zac didn’t say anything, but his face must have conveyed his skepticism.

“Your friend and I walk the same path of Karma, which is extremely rare in the Multiverse. That is how we found each other. Through the boundless Dao, our paths converged and a Karmic connection was formed. I showed him how to create this gate through that link,” Lord 84th explained. ”But I am not without enemies. No one would reach any great heights without creating some enmities. Resources are limited after all.”

“Karmic Cultivators are extremely hard to kill because of our ability to see, and to a certain extent tamper with, the great tapestry of fate. But our weakness is that we cannot allow our Karma to get entangled with too many people.”

“I can see the threat you’re facing,” the child continued, and to Zac’s surprise a slightly hazy picture of the Great Redeemer materialized. “This one utilizes a rudimentary method to control Karmic ties to locate your planet. I could easily cut those ties, but by doing so I would get billions of entanglements with the living beings living on this tiny planet.”

“My enemies would eventually find out, and those people are all far stronger than this man,” the child continued. “They would capture everyone on this planet and torture your souls for eternity just to cause trouble to my cultivation.”

“Is there nothing to be done, master?” Abbot Everlasting Peace suddenly interjected. “Completely severing Karma has proven troublesome for this talentless monk. Perhaps if we could provide my friend with some small assistance this poor monk would be able to completely move forward with a pure heart.”

Zac finally realized the true reason why the Abbot had asked for his presence. He likely felt bad about leaving Earth and wanted to get some small assistance from his master. Zac was by far the strongest person, so having him here would be the best option to improve Earth's fighting chance.

The child seemed to mull it over for a few seconds before slowly nodded and pointed at the Abbot’s forehead. The old man closed his eyes for a few seconds before his eyes opened again with some excitement as he turned toward Zac.

“If benefactor would be so kind as to lend his hand for a second?” the old man said before grabbing it.

A burst of odd energy suddenly entered Zac’s body, and the sky was suddenly filled with odd lines in all kinds of colors. There were golden lines of various thickness that reached toward each of the monks, and a silver one swirling around Lord 84th like a living snake. There were also four black pillars reaching into the sky in the distance, looking like sickly tears in space.

Three of them were bunched together to the north, whereas one was off by itself far on the horizon.

“This penniless monk is temporarily sharing his vision with benefactor,” the old man explained. “The lines are the ties of Karma. The four sinister lines are connections to the man that master conjured. There was a fifth one but I sense that you are responsible for its severance.”

“I killed Salvation a week ago. He had somehow become the in-name disciple of The Great Redeemer,” Zac said with a nod.

“Something in his possession is still calling for its master,” the old man said and indicated the line by itself. “Taking it into a separate space will not work. The line will simply lead to the entrance.”

Zac didn’t understand how the old man could know of his plan, but he rather focused on the message.

“What should we do? Destroy everything in his possession?” Zac asked.

“That will not help either,” the old man said with a shake of his head. ”But this penniless monk now has a way.”