Kapitel 281: The True Nature of the World
After leaving the temple behind him, Yaan did not look back. The Spirit Plane Lord appeared by his side. Yaan said nothing, but she started talking.
"I looked for your father too, however…his actions in his final moments attracted the Divine Court's attention. He was reincarnated into one of their Solar Planets to become a cultivator in one of their training sects."
"So my parents were torn apart." Yaan replied plainly.
"That…is the nature of reincarnation. You are looking at it too pessimistically…for mortals, reincarnation is the chance to start life anew. A new life! Don't you think it's incredible?"
"Indeed…you're saying that there was something truly incredible in this world, but somehow, I destroyed it." Yaan replied dryly as he thought about the fact that for some unknown reason, the cycle of reincarnation had been destroyed because of him.
"…The other people in your life also ended up on the Qi Plane, with the exceptions of some of the mortals from your home village, but you weren't particularly close with any of those individuals. There was also a strange one – I couldn't find your baby sister's soul, she never crossed over into the Spirit Plane or entered the cycle of reincarnation."
When she saw that Yaan had no intention of asking her anything about this, she stopped talking about this matter and moved on.
The Spirit Plane Lord waved her hand, causing Yaan to become wrapped up in a golden cocoon of light. He could not see the outside world, but he had the vague feeling that he was travelling extremely far away.
When he looked around, Yaan saw…
Darkness.
An infinite expanse of darkness.
He could tell that the Spirit Plane Lord was shielding him from the horrendous aura in this place, otherwise, he would certainly die right away. However, even with this shielding, Yaan could feel the seemingly endless darkness that threatened to crush all life into oblivion within this environment.
"This is the 9th Layer of Abyss. As I mentioned before, the war one million years ago caused the original Spirit Plane to almost collapse – I was forced to bind myself to this world, becoming the world spirit, but even then, I couldn't prevent the world plane from splitting into 19 Layers. The Central Layer is the largest and most varied. The nine Layers of Heaven are progressively more majestic, and…the nine Layers of Abyss become increasingly horrific. This 9th Layer of Abyss is a forbidden land on the Spirit Plane, even divinities can't come and go as they please. Only I can enter and exit this place at will, and only I can control this layer. For that reason, the 9th Layer of Abyss is used…to punish divinities and transcendents."
Yaan remained silent. He looked around, but he couldn't see anything. He strained his ears, but it was as if sound itself had been completely oppressed. His senses were completely useless here, and this dark pressure seemed to weigh down on every fibre of his being.
It reminded him of his old temporary home, Black Peak within the Fragment Sect. The highest cave abode on that mountain caused his senses to become so thoroughly suppressed that he was unable to even think.
This place was clearly different though. The darkness here was pressuring and malicious, it didn't just cut off his senses, but attacked them with a blanket of darkness. Yaan could imagine that if someone was forced to endure in this environment for long…they would quickly lose their mind.
As time passed by, neither Yaan nor the Spirit Plane Lord spoke. Gradually, the shielding that she provided to Yaan began to fade…
She carefully monitored how much she shielded him, because she knew that if she pushed it too low, Yaan would instantly die. Once the shielding reached Yaan's limit, she asked:
"What do you think?"
Before saying this, she restored the shielding across Yaan's form, allowing him to hear her words and returning him his sound mind.
Just now, he felt as if his entire being was being suppressed by an endless malicious entity. It was certainly unpleasant.
Yaan shook his head and sighed.
"Something like this isn't going to move me, Spirit Plane Lord. Is there anything else?"
Her expression became disappointed for a moment, but Yaan couldn't see this. In the end, she took them away from this place and took Yaan to their next destination – the Central Layer.
The Spirit Plane Lord had an extensive plan in mind. She wanted to rekindle the fire in her brother's heart, but she didn't know just what might be able to achieve this…so she planned to try everything.
Everything.
Yaan was dragged across the Spirit Plane as the Spirit Plane Lord desperately tried to rekindle his heart's flames. She showed him scenes of beauty…and scenes of horror.
Nations built into seven coloured clouds, where peace and prosperity had prevailed for countless years…
Burning hellscapes, filled with death and eternal screams of despair which echoed across millions of miles, resounding through countless people's ears across the generations…
He saw a forest that was both illusory and not, constantly phasing in and out of existing, being born and dying in an endless stationary cycle…
He witnessed a mountain that drew further away from you as you walked towards it, but blocked your path of escape when you tried to leave it…
He walked through a land of countless compressed fragments of space, where the laws of the world distorted with every step…
He saw the Divine Court's palaces which made up the old cycle of reincarnation, and he saw the remnants of the connections which had once connected them together between the Layers of the Spirit Plane…
He saw the abodes and territories of various divinities who resided on the Spirit Plane…
He saw mortals, immortals, and even transcendents – beings that were half a step into divinity – going about their lives…
He saw life and death, pain and beauty, suffering and prosperity, echoing across the world…
But none of it meant anything to Yaan.
It was as if all of this majesty was suppressed behind a dull veil, a veil of darkness which existed within Yaan's heart and made it impossible for him to feel moved by any of the world's wonders.
"Brother…I have one last thing to show you. It has become clear to me that scenes of natural beauty, or constructs of civilisation which would leave others feeling breathless, mean nothing to you right now. Honestly, I'm feeling rather lost, I don't know what I can do to help you..."
After saying this, the Spirit Plane Lord sighed, shook her head, and looked up into the sky dreamily, as if she was trying to see beyond the sky, into a world that she could not see. Yaan followed her gaze, but all he saw were the golden clouds, floating through the air of the 9th Layer of Heaven.
"Back then, I told you that this world is split into four world planes; the Qi Plane, Blood Plane, Spirit Plane and Sage Plane…"
Yaan nodded, it was indeed the Spirit Plane Lord who had told him this.
"What I told you back then was true…but it is only part of the truth. In reality, the world of the four planes…is not the entire world."
Yaan remained silent and looked up at the woman by his side, who wore a complex expression as she stared up at the sky.
"At the centre of this world, or rather, in the background, behind all things, in the only part of the world that almost all living beings will ever know…is the Origin. The Origin is as its name implies – it is the origin of all life. No living thing can be born outside of the Origin, even though there is a world outside of it…all plants, animals, humans, all races, even us Primordial Demons, and even the Heavenly Dao itself…were all born from the Origin."
"The world of the four planes is the only world I have ever known, but in truth…this world is said to be the 2nd of the 4 Origin Eras. Each Origin Era represents a cycle of the Origin, a cycle of the creation and destruction of the world and the Heavenly Dao, which can support life being created, and eventually, destroyed…"
"Outside of this world, or rather, outside of the Origin, there is said to be a vast expanse of Chaos. However, this is something that is impossible for any divinity to check…we cannot even perceive the existence of the world outside of the Origin. Only after transcending past the Divine Step, can a being leave the Origin and enter that Chaos…however, at that point, not only are they 'able' to leave, they have no choice but to leave, because their strength poses a threat to the Origin's stability and they are expelled from the world, and they are unable to return to this Origin Era…I have seen this ascension happen across the years multiple times with my own eyes…"
"I do not know much about the vast expanse of Chaos, only that time and space are incoherent there. The past and future are simply different directions, but even if you return to the past, you will not find what was once there; you will only find Chaos…but from that Chaos, it is possible to enter future Origin Eras, and even to return to earlier Origin Eras. It is for this reason that Defiance Sovereign, the only outsider from the 3rd Origin Era, was able to travel back in time and enter our 2nd Origin Era."
"Those who transcend the Origin can be considered gods, but when they return to the Origin in a different Era in pursuit of their dao, they are forced to make a sacrifice, losing their grand power. As such, those gods who once surpassed their own Origin Era and then later stepped into our 2nd Origin Era, are rarely called gods, and are more often referred to as 'outsiders'."
The Spirit Plane Lord spoke quietly now, and she seemed to be speaking as much to herself as she was to Yaan.
"According to Defiance Sovereign, only he came from the 3rd Origin Era, and none of the outsiders came from the 4th Origin Era, meaning that all the other outsiders came from the 1st Origin Era. Defiance Sovereign also said that some outsiders do not know that they are outsiders, because many of the gods were forced to seal away their memories in order to enter the Origin once again…especially if they wanted to enter this Era as powerful beings born early on in the Era…"
A complex expression appeared on her face when she said this. A thought that had appeared in her mind many times over the years once again resurfaced, but she immediately suppressed it, not wanting to dwell on this thought for a single moment.
She turned to Yaan with a solemn expression.
"The outsiders to this Era are extremely few in number, and they are all highly intelligent, experienced and scheming individuals, so you might be wondering how I came to learn all of this, since divinities cannot perceive anything outside of the Origin. I already mentioned that I have personally seen certain divinities transcend this Origin Era, proving the existence of an outside world…but the information about the outside world all comes from Defiance Sovereign."
"You mentioned this person before." Yaan commented.
"Indeed…Defiance Sovereign, known as the God of Defiance to those who have transcended the Origin, is, without a doubt…the most obstinate being to ever exist."
"Huh?"
When the Spirit Plane Lord saw Yaan's doubtful expression, she couldn't help but laugh.
"Every single outsider has done their utmost to hide the fact that they are an outsider…that is, with the exception of Defiance. The outsiders do not speak about the outside world, and they feign ignorance when you voice your doubts…they all do this, aside from Defiance. The other outsiders all use different titles compared to the names they went by in their home Era, to ensure that they cannot be identified…but not Defiance."
The Spirit Plane Lord paused, then said:
"There is no definitive ranking amongst the strongest individuals across the four planes, but if there was a strongest…it would definitely be Defiance Sovereign. That person does not fear man, the heavens, or other gods. He respects nobody and views himself as being above all others – and frankly, it's difficult to say that he's not. He has always been completely open about the fact that he was born in the 3rd Origin Era, and that he entered the 1st Origin Era after that, before now entering this 2nd Origin Era."
After a moment of silence, Yaan sighed deeply.
"Where is this going, exactly?"
"I'm telling you this because I want to give you a certain inheritance. This is not a True Inheritance, nor is it even a complete inheritance – it is Defiance Sovereign's partial inheritance. He created 3,001 of these partial inheritances and spread them across the four planes."
Yaan immediately noticed something.
"3,001…"
"Right." The Spirit Plane Lord smiled wryly. "The number is one higher than the number of earthly daos under the Heavenly Dao. Defiance and the Heavens are at eternal odds, and this is just one of the many ways in which Defiance Sovereign has insulted the Heavenly Dao over the years…"
After shaking her head and clearing absurd thoughts about this absurd person from her mind, she looked at Yaan seriously once again.
"I want you to see this partial inheritance, because Defiance was your rival. Your pride and his defiance clashed many times, you were always competing, and he motivated you to become better. Defiance was also the only person aside from you that managed to become a divinity without comprehending the Heavenly Dao…"
So, Defiance Sovereign was the greatest rival of the Primordial Devil…
"I see…in that case, show me this partial inheritance. But remember, you said that this is the last thing you will show me. Please keep your promise and allow me to rest after this."
When she heard Yaan's words, the Spirit Plane Lord remained silent for some time, but in the end, she sighed and nodded.
"Of course, a promise is a promise. And besides, I'm out of ideas at this point. Here…is Defiance Sovereign's partial inheritance."
She stretched out her hand and passed to Yaan a simple scroll…
But as soon as he touched it, he realised that this scroll was anything but simple.
As Yaan glanced down at the scroll, he was immediately overcome by a domineering pressure which spread out in the form of a black-gold light. Before he could even fully process the overbearing presence of the single rune on the scroll's face, the world vanished from his eyes, and suddenly, he felt as if he was falling through an infinite expanse of darkness.
This disorientating experience only served to amplify the magnitude of shock that a person would feel due to what happened next. Of course, at this point, very few things could shock Yaan…but this certainly came close.
He saw…
Defiance.
He saw a man, but when he laid his eyes upon this 'man', the word 'Defiance' immediately entered his mind.
The man was a giant…no, even giants were minute beings when compared to this man!
He was huge, both in terms of his stature and his bearing. He sat atop a throne made from the refined bones of his enemies, and he stared down at Yaan with a gaze that told of his overwhelming disdain.
In a way, this person's gaze reminded Yaan of the Primordial Devil – but at the same time, they were clearly very, very different.
The Primordial Devil's heart was a heart of pride. He was filled with pride, self-belief, confidence, and arrogance…
But Defiance…was simply defiant.
He did not just believe that he was better than others – he truly was better than others.
He was not arrogant, because no matter how highly he thought of himself, it would not be an overestimation.
He did not need to focus on pride, because his innate disdain for all things in this world surpassed the limitations of pride!
That piercing gaze encompassed Yaan's entire vision, as Defiance's golden eyes shone with the light of a thousand stars.
His hair was long and black, his beard likewise. He had the appearance of man in his early middle age, but he did not look aged, in fact, he appeared to be filled with a youthful vigour that would refuse to collapse even if the world itself broke down around him!
As those sharp eyes looked down at him, the will left behind by the man called Defiance finally opened its mouth to speak. As his lips moved, the world around him trembled and space started to crack, as if his environment could not tolerate the sheer immensity of his presence.
"In this world…only I am defiant."
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
SpicyDaoist
SpicyDaoist Pretty excited about this chapter, since it's the first true glimpse I'm giving into the world of Desolate Fate as a whole! This is my own unique (as far as I know) take on xianxia world building, and I'm honestly very satisfied with what I've come up with for this world.
I hope the explanation about the Origin, Chaos and Void was somewhat coherent? I know it might seem complex right now, but it's just the first glimpse after all - more is to come, and eventually, it will all make sense :)
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
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Stein