"Hurry, there isn't much time so I'll explain everything," Primordial appeared next to the exhausted Fang Yuan and whisked him away, leaving only an angry Sha Xiao thrashing in pain.
The two reappeared on the other side of the ascension plains, within Primordial Origin's territory.
"I see that you've refined every Dao Mark of every Path in this entire area, Primordial Origin" Fang Yuan was never one to trust so easily, not when the enemy had a home ground advantage.
"This is my Domain," Primordial waved his hand and the scenery transformed into the central meeting room that all important figures of Heavenly Court would recognise.
It was a simple room with a high ceiling, a tapestry of every great individual that Heavenly Court ever recruited or nurtured kept changing, except for three, Genesis Lotus, Star Constellation, and sitting below the largest portrait.
"And I have to correct you, I did not refine every Dao Mark in the area, I am every Dao Mark in the surrounding area."
"You've just become a Dao Emperor so you don't know this yet but the true difference between a Dao Emperor and a Dao Lord is that we are free."
Fang Yuan raised his eyebrow,
"We are free of convention, of forms, and even from Gu, we have reached a transcendent point, where the only thing that matters is Essence and Will, there is no longer a need to communicate with the Dao through Gu Worms, you are the Dao."
!!!
"And thus, the very natural step is to ensure one's immortality, I'm sure you can feel in the air that ascension plains is not as simple as a holding cell for Dao Emperors."
Primordial rubbed his fingers together and sparks of electricity began flowing between them.
"Impossible!" Fang Yuan exclaimed, "There are Lightning Path Dao Marks that weren't there being formed from nothing impossible!"
Primordial wagged his finger, "It's not from nothing, you haven't managed to sense it yet because we were in battle and I've all but used up all the Order in this area."
Realization hit Fang Yuan, "You don't mean…"
"Indeed," Primordial finished the thought, "The entire Ascension Plain is comprised of Order, or more specifically, this equator where we stand is the only part comprised of pure Order, the dark half of this Plain is comprised entirely of unfiltered Chaos, whereas the light portion is filtered Order, still too unstable to use freely, but more stable than raw Chaos."
"It all makes sense now," Fang Yuan stroked his chin, "I had two theories on whether the Heavenly Dao stores or creates Order on a need basis."
"The Heavenly Dao has tried other methods in the past, in the beginning, it just threw everything together and saw what stuck, as living beings progressed so did it, and the Heavenly Dao's methods became more refined." Primordial's eyes were filled with the recollection of a time long before Fang Yuan or any other Venerable was born, "When I died, I got a good look at the scenes, intricacies of our world, I found the Origin of our world, the history not told to us, I made it to the beginning."
Primordial stood up, his figure loomed over Fang Yuan, "I built everything you see today, I saw the beginning and worked out the end, and do you know what happens in every end?"
Fang Yuan clenched his fists and prepared himself for a fight,
"You!" Primordial sieved, "In every conceivable reality, you exist, alone at the end, triumphant but destined to wander alone. The so-called immortality you sought only lay waste to everyone in its path, and for what? A ruined world, and it's lonely king."
Primordial chuckled, hints of madness, frustration and sorrow veiled within, "After peeking at our inevitable destiny, I couldn't help but chuckle just like this, to think everything any Gu Master has lived for was all pointless in the end because you exist."
"So I said no more, I would never allow you your ending, I devised a plan with the Heavenly Dao, and we contained every timeline you spawn, into this one loop, where you never break free from, and yet, that damn Sha Xiao ruined everything, he peered into all timelines and plucked you out!"
"Ok, I've heard all I needed to hear," Fang Yuan interrupted, he clasped his hands together unleashing a torrent of Killer Moves that would have been impossible for a Venerable to produce.
A massive dust cloud ensued, and Fang Yuan darted back, creating space, "Like I said, Dao Emperors are transcendent beings."
With a wave of his hand, the dust disappeared, revealing no injuries, "I am a god in my domain!"
"Wanna watch me make god bleed?" Fang Yuan snapped his fingers, and in an instant, Fire Ball appeared before him, taking Primordial by surprise.
"How did you-" The fire ball charged at him and picked up more and more Fire Path Dao Marks in its wake.
"Hmph!" Primordial held his fingers up and blew between them, producing a frosty mist that cooled the fireball to nothing.
"I'm not easily surprised and yet to see someone so blatantly over-refine my Dao Marks in my Domain is truly a first."
Primordial shook the sleeves of his robe, "But what truly beguiles me is that you've already understood the principle of transmutation."
"Nothing difficult," Fang Yuan added Fire, Water, Earth and Air, "I'm a refinement path venerable after all."
Launching attacks and Killer Moves from the various Elemental Paths, yet he had not activated a single Gu.
"Indeed, but you're the Elemental Dao Emperor now," Primordial gripped his fingers together, and swatted away the attacks, "If you knew how to strip Dao Marks of their refinement, and not merely transform but transumtate them, so why did you let yourself get held hostage by Sha Xiao."
This time Fang Yuan smirked in response, "To test a theory."
Primordial stared at him the barrage of attacks came to a halt.
"I knew from Star Constellation that you, Primordial, still lived, and of course, I've encountered 'Reckless Savage' a few times, but I knew something was off whenever he 'helped'."
"It just never fit his character, he was not the type to obsess over his mortality, he never cared for living a long life, just to live a life of no regrets, to want to come back implies he has some regrets, but I know he doesn't."
Fang Yuan's eyes turned sharp, his smile widening, "True to the mix of history and conjecture I deduced that Reckless was too strong to die, just from the fact that Spectral Soul could exit from the doors of life and death through sheer force proves that Reckless couldn't have been held back. Transformation Path gave him too much of an edge. So when Sha Xiao explained your plan to trap my timelines in a loop, I knew you must have had a plan for Reckless as well."
Primordial stroked his beard, "Indeed, you're a smart one, Reckless, just like you assumed died by my ploy, I lured him to seek a greater height of power, and he forced his way into the Heavenly Dao as we hoped, and there merged with the Dao of Power, but in doing so his entire being was transferred into raw energy, he no longer possessed a will or mind, just a vessel containing near limitless energy."
The two sides continued slinging Killer Moves like they were Rank 1 at each other, yet any one of these stray Moves would have wreaked devastation upon the 5 Regions.
"He wasn't just a vessel to hold Power, he was also its filter, that's why you had to resort to the Ascension Plains after his body was hijacked by Sha Xiao, whose consciousness now exists in the Void!"
"You hadn't expected that to ever happen did you!"
Primordial nodded his head, "Everything is as you say, so if you know all this, why are you here."
The sound of thunder began to spread throughout Primordial's domain, but Fang Yuan remained calm,
"You know I always had a theory that one could use a Dao and refine it into a weapon, but never got the chance to try." Fang Yuan smirked.
sorry ive been sick these past few days and haven't been able to do much of anything