Villain Cultivator (Web Novel)
chapter-531

Chapter 531 – Second Failure Timeline

Watching the life of the second Alter struggling against dragons, Miaomiao couldn't help but sigh.

Devil, 1st Alter, and the 2nd Alter had the power of time anad space, but they didn't use it at the critical moment.

It was not that they chose not to use it for a reason.

'Say, Xie Tian.'

'Yes?'

'When you mastered the law of time-and-space, did you use that power often?'

'Hardly. There are too many drawbacks even though it's useful. Also, it takes time to activate the power. You experienced Samael's life, so you should know by now.'

Indeed, Miaomiao knew.

The power of time and space had so many limits and restrictions. The 1st Alter managed to use it with enough preparation but the 2nd Alter hadn't mastered it yet.

Time and Space power was categorized into two major types – Internal Dimension Time Manipulation and External Dimension Time Distortion.

Internal Dimension Type was related to the time manipulation within the current dimension, such as rewinding time, stopping time, and accelerating time.

Rewinding time for less than an hour caused no backlash. Beyond that, the user would suffer from the Law of Time Punishment, and their cultivation base would be weakened as a sacrifice - The longer the time rewinding, the more power loss.

Unfortunately, everybody in the same timeline would remember everything after the power had been used. For example, Xie Tian used Return to Zero, but Miaomiao and everybody remembered what had happened and realized that the power of time and space was used.

It would be useless to correct one's mistake with this method since the others retained their memory before the time manipulation technique had been triggered. There was no advantage in using it, except for a surprise element in combat.

Time acceleration was also useful, but it came with an expensive price tag. Upon usage, the time cultivator would lose a portion of his lifespan to accelerate the time flow of a certain object, place, or living being.

No one could know how many years they could live. Even Miaomiao was afraid to use this power and accidentally deplete his lifespan.

The last Internal Dimension Type power was Miaomiao's favorite, the power to stop time.

Unfortunately, again, it couldn't be used freely as Dio Brando had done. This law-breaking power required Chrono Element Providence, which could only be cultivated when an immortal or a deity had established a cult, a sect, a religion, or followers with the power of time.

To activate this power, time cultivators needed followers!

1st Alter had no follower, so he could use it once or twice before he couldn't use it anymore. On the other hand, Devil, who seemed to be another time cultivator, had a handful of followers. He might be able to use it if he wanted to, but he never used it in front of the 1st Alter or Miaomiao.

'What will happen if he uses the external type?' Miaomiao wondered if the 2nd Alter had that option.

But Xie Tian gave him the piece of bad news, 'External Dimension means External Universe, aka Parallel Universe. If he uses it, this timeline will be destroyed and consumed as fuel to connect the two dimensions, and time cultivators with a prepared time array in their souls will be transmigrated to the new timeline.'

'So… if he uses that, Devil will remember everything Alter has done?'

'Exactly.'

'Yikes!!'

'That was why Devil tried so hard to disable Kishin Douji's time abilities before he started fighting with him for real.'

'I see. I get it now. Oh, one more thing.'

'Yes, master?'

'I'm wondering, what happened to the secret arrays in Samael's soul? Does it carry over to the 2nd Alter, too?'

…

Levy and her dragons suppressed Alter and Lu Fengxian. The duo managed to kill a few dragons, but they couldn't leave a dent on the gigantic Leviathan's scales.

Both of them were captured and were transferred to the strictest prison in the lowest Hell.

Alter and Lu Fengxian were separated that day.

In the solitary cell, Alter detected the presence of a dangerous dragon nearby. He tried to contact it.

He then discovered Clem, the mother of Cernun!

Clem also sensed Alter's Asmodeus Bloodline. She offered him a deal.

"Share your bloodline with me, and I'll give you my blood essence. We can get stronger and leave this prison together!"

As Alter had no other choice, he decided to bet on Clem.

He shared the Asmodeus Bloodline, and she fulfilled her promise by giving her blood essence.

After consuming Clem's blood essence, Dion informed Alter that his Asmodeus Bloodline was upgraded and completed as Clem already collected several types of dragon bloodlines in her.

But before they could even assimilate the bloodline, the Devil's backup trap had been triggered.

The Asmodeus Bloodline suddenly created a massive karma string and connected Alter with Devil!

Clem also experienced the same thing. Her karma connected with Devil as well.

The karma strands transferred the Devil's thoughts and commands to them. This evil war droid ordered them, "Make a Dao Oath that you will be my slave for the rest of eternity, and you will erase all your memory after that!"

The command shook Clem and Alter's minds. Their mouths moved automatically, and they began to make the vow.

However, during the desperate moment, the second Alter decided to do something extreme. He seized the karma strings of Devil, and he cut them before the vow was finished.

As soon as the karma strands were cut, the Netherworld collapsed and freed Clem, Lu Fengxian, and Alter.

They fled the collapsed dimension together. Lu Fengxian cut open the void and crossed space for everybody.

Unfortunately, after everybody had escaped, Clem vomited out a million karma centipedes and collapsed. Alter's physical dantian and his dantian space shattered from the backlash of karma severing.

All living beings in Alter's dantian world perished!

Alter Miaomiao was shocked. He wailed and activated the time rewinding power.

The time flow in reverse, and everyone returned to the Netherworld. The karma strings were restored, and everyone in the dantian world was resurrected.

The time flowed back to before Alter and Clem had exchanged their bloodline. Everybody's condition was restored.

They no longer completed the Asmodeus Bloodline, and Devil couldn't control them anymore.

However, the phenomenon alarmed Devil and others. Lilith, Devil, and Levy immediately came down and stopped Alter from breaking out of the prison. They sealed Alter's cultivation base and sent away Clem to another prison.

But that was their mistake. Devil in this dimension wasn't as ruthless as the first timeline – He only sealed Alter's cultivation base, but he didn't harm the latter's soul dantian.

Second Alter was left alone in the depth of Hell for a thousand years. Yet, he was never lonely since his family and friends were living well inside his dantian world.

After a thousand years of solitary confinement, someone finally came back to visit him.

They were Lu Fengxian and Ma Moxi!

Lu Fengxian had attained the Dao of War God and inherited the legacy of the Monkey King. As for Ma Moxi, he obtained Hongjun and Azure Dragon's legacy, becoming the Dragon God of Heaven and Earth.

Both protagonists killed their ways here to rescue Alter! They unsealed the latter's cultivation base.

After a brief emotional reunion, the trio attempted to leave the Netherworld Realm.

Unfortunately, they were too late.

As they were about to leave the dimension, the timeline collapsed, and a massive vortex descended to kill all beings.

As Alter had his cultivation back, he read the Cosmo Record to check the event in this timeline before the calamity. Then, he found out the cause.

Devil successfully disabled Kishin Douji's power to regress, but Lilith suddenly backstabbed Devil and revealed that she was in cahoots with two other prototype war marionettes, Uranus and Gaea, who had allied with Kishin Douji.

All of them had learned what Devil had attempted to do, and they didn't like it. They didn't want Devil to become the sole winner of this dimension.

The death of Devil activated the array in his soul, which had a similar power as Samael. It sacrificed this dimension to transmigrate the Devil's soul to another timeline, several million years in the past.

However, the activation of Devil's power killed Alter, Ma Moxi, and Lu Fengxian before his soul completely left this dimension.

Then, another miracle occurred. The Will of Samael, which had merged with Alter's soul, had been carrying the four arrays that the latter had used in the first timeline, including the First Timeline Devil's curse!

All four arrays were activated at once!

Devil got punished by karma. The previous timeline's Devil indirectly disabled the current Devil's time and space abilities!

As a result, the Devil's soul was not sent to another parallel world. Instead, the vortex of time sent Alter's soul, who carried three other arrays in his soul!

Alter's soul retained his memory and crossed dimensions while both Kishin Douji and Devil's memory and experience in the second timeline didn't carry over to the next one!

…

'LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!'

Miaomiao was excited. He thought that his counterpart finally got the sweet revenge.

Yet, Xie Tian's voice seemed sad.

'Your counterpart made a few mistakes in this timeline.'

'How? I think he did a good job so far.'

'He didn't know about the Will of Samael. Also, he shouldn't have completed the Asmodeus Bloodline since it was Devil's trap. It was his Heavenly Fate Sun that saved him from being erased.'

'I'm curious about the bloodline as well.'

Miaomiao grumbled and recalled the experience.

When the second Alter completed the bloodline, it established a strong karma connection between him and Devil.

It was odd. Devil said that they were the mightiest beings of old, but he used them as pawns.

Xie Tian explained, 'Asmodeus, Satan, Leviathan, Mammon, Belphegor, Beelzebub, and Lucifer were all alter egos of Devil. In short, once anyone completes any of the bloodlines, Devil can instantly control their bodies and replace their soul with his soul fragment. Then, a copy of Devil will be born. That's how the first generation war marionettes are created.'

'T-This… How did you know everything?'

'I fought Devil in the next timeline. Oh, you'd better pay attention. This timeline belongs to me, and it will explain everything.'

…

The consciousness of the second Alter landed into the body of the 3rd counterpart of Miaomiao.

However, it brought several things over.

First, the second Alter still carried the Will of Samael inside him. The eyebrow instinct was even sharper than before, and it generated the Chrono Element Qi, Life Providence Qi, and Soul Essence.

Secondly, Alter retained all his system skills, system features, and perks. Even the max level Isolation Training Space was still there.

And lastly, the second Alter carried over cultivation resources in his system inventory slots and the constellation planets in his dantian space from the other timeline.

Unfortunately, the souls of the people inside didn't come along with Alter. They vanished by the Law of Space and Time, becoming the sacrifices for Alter's successful transmigration.

Losing all of his wives and friends, Alter almost fell to the dark side like Samael.

Fortunately, Dion was there with him. Her memory was still there.

Dion told Alter that she could reanimate the dead people in the dantian space, but they might have another personality since their souls were lost.

Moreover, Devil had established a link between her and him. She couldn't freely use her system power to help Alter.

Alter had another inspiration. He left Mountain Goose City and secluded himself. Then, he used the New Game+ cultivation resources to get stronger.

Within a day, aka 10 years in the dantian space, Alter's cultivation base advanced to the 9th-stage. He simply needed to reform the Dao Pillars, Nascent Soul Formation, Stellar Constellation Physique, and various elemental planets to regain his power.

After his cultivation base reached the ceiling of this world, Alter used a system skill that he got from Meng Xin in the previous timeline. He severed the Karma of Devil, freeing Dion from Devil's control.

Just like what Lu Fengxian had done for him during the second timeline, Alter completed the karma severance without a problem.

He was finally free!

Alter then had a sick plan. Since Devil tried everything in his power to kill Xie Tian, he would raise the protagonist to kill both Devil and Kishin Douji instead.

From now on, Second Alter would join the protagonist's side!