บท 346: Alignment of the World’s Fate
When Yaan reached the Central Hall of Rebirth, it was as if several seemingly unrelated events suddenly aligned with the world's distorted karmic fate.
The Spirit Plane Lord finally made her move and learned of the truth regarding Yaan's identity, and she had extreme anxiety regarding his plan in building such a massive World-Plane scale formation.
The Primordial Sage finally revealed to her 'sister' that she had 'betrayed' her. Of course, she only spoke such harsh words in order to deal a devastating blow to the Spirit Plane Lord's psyche, thereby buying Yaan a few more seconds of time.
Devil, the last of Yaan's Dao Clones, died at the perfect moment, allowing Yaan to storm through the chaos, smashing through those who dared to bar his path and entering the Hall of Rebirth before he could be captured.
Multiple divinities across the Spirit Plane felt a terrifying sense of foreboding, causing them to immediately rush towards the Central Layer in order to investigate.
And that was only the Spirit Plane…
The true chaos that would soon shake the world, was fated to take place on the Qi Plane. Specifically, around Yushu Planet, the origin point of the ever-growing karmic end, a karma so strong that by now, every single divinity with divine stage comprehension in the dao of karma immediately stopped what they were doing to rush towards the source of their terror at their fastest possible speeds.
The dao of karma was too mysterious however, most divinities had not comprehended its full mysteries. Even so, Yaan's interference with the world's dao of karma had gone too far, resulting in various events colliding simultaneously, right as he stepped into the golden palace.
The three divinities sitting on Yushu Planet's moon immediately sensed this change. They could easily guess that before long, many divinities would arrive at this place. Perhaps, this feeling of karmic end was so strong, that certain individuals would even throw caution to the wind, ignoring the damage they inflicted upon the world as they rushed across the Qi Plane and stormed towards Planet Yushu at their fastest possible speed…
The first to arrive, was actually the Primordial Sage…
The Primordial Sage didn't even bother hiding the sudden appearance of her second body, nor did she try to conceal the portal which she used to travel from the Blood Plane to the Qi Plane.
She also didn't hide the young woman by her side, whose eyes were filled with madness and destruction.
"Sage, what is the meaning of this? Why are you bringing a Dao Immortal to observe this important event?" Law Empyrean asked her sharply.
"This girl is no ordinary Dao Immortal." The Sage explained calmly, not looking towards her other body, despite the other two staring intently. "She has a unique connection to Yaan. Why are you so concerned? She is merely a Dao Immortal, this girl cannot interfere with the coming events."
Old Thief and Law Empyrean nodded slowly, but their guards were still raised. When they examined this Dao Immortal, they realised something…they could not tell which of the four cultivation paths she followed!
Of course they couldn't recognise it, after all, the young, crazy woman, was the sole follower of this world's sixth path of cultivation – the origin path!
"Sage, are you certain that uncle will soon come to this place? I feel…that an immense impending destruction will soon descend upon the world, and this planet will be the centre of this destruction…"
"I am sure." The Sage replied calmly.
After hearing her confirmation, Shi fell silent.
In such a short period of time she had trailblazed a new path of cultivation, ascending using the dao of destruction, and even becoming a Dao Immortal…with her heart of destruction.
It wasn't actually uncommon for Dao Immortals to use one of the earthly daos as inspiration for their dao heart. However, a heart of destruction would definitely raise some eyebrows.
In this world, all Shi cared about was ensuring her uncle's destruction. She had allowed this obsession to overtake her mind, body, soul and heart, filling every fibre of her being with the essence of destruction. She didn't care how far she fell into the depths of madness - if this madness allowed her destruction to grow stronger, then so be it. She knew that if she wanted to destroy her uncle, then she could not hold anything back, even if this resulted in her becoming an insane person.
And now, finally, she would meet her uncle once again.
"Anyway, Law Empyrean, you can hardly criticise others for bringing our subordinates to this place." The Primordial Sage on the moon glanced in a certain direction. Old Thief and Law Empyrean followed her gaze, and Law Empyrean's expression soon darkened. He suddenly vanished from his position, reappearing before the heroic looking woman with golden crosses shining in her eyes, stopping her before she could reach the bounds of Yushu Planet.
"Justice, did I not tell you to leave this place?"
Justice Deity wasn't surprised when her master suddenly appeared before her, obstructing her way and preventing her from going down to Planet Yushu.
Usually, when her master told her to do something, even if she didn't understand it, and even if she disagreed with it, she would still oblige - that was how much she respected her master.
But today, for the first time, Justice Deity stared into Law Empyrean's eyes with a burning gaze filled with determination.
"Master, I know that you told me to leave…I know that you are already keeping watch over this place, and other divinities must also be doing the same…but…I can't leave!"
"Hmm?" Law Empyrean actually wasn't angry, but raised an eyebrow in intrigue as his disicple spoke back to him and refused to heed his orders.
Justice Deity took a deep breath, forcing herself to stand tall before her master's ancient, imposing aura that seemed to dictate the law of the world around him. As she faced this stoic, unmovable man, the golden crosses in her eyes shone with a splendid light like never before.
"Master, this place, this planet that the Primordial Devil is occupying, is filled with a hidden, but immense and ever-growing aura of injustice, like none that I have ever seen before! I don't know why you and the other divinities are watching this place, but clearly, something terrible is going to happen! Something so terrible, that the world itself is crying out to me, begging for my help before it's too late!"
Law Empyrean watched his disciple tremble in unease. His gaze remained calm, and after pondering for a moment, he turned his back and called out to her.
"Justice, you cannot go down to the surface of that planet. The terror that you feel is no mistake - this planet is the source of the greatest karmic end that has ever manifested within this Era. This karma has not yet taken form, but it is fated to erupt before long…many more divinities will surely arrive soon. If you truly refuse to leave this place, then follow me. Watch…as the beginning of the end unfolds before us."
For a long while, Justice Deity stared after her master's back in a daze. Eventually, she looked down at the planet, before gritting her teeth and forcing herself to look away. In the end, with great reluctance and unease, she followed her master to the moon which orbited Yushu Planet.
When she found her master sitting calmly with Old Thief and the Primordial Sage, Justice Deity completely froze in shock, struggling to comprehend this incomprehensible situation for a long while. In the end, she silently took a seat, then like the other divinities whom all outclassed her by an immense chasm of power, she stared down at Planet Yushu, watching as the world screamed out, begging her to provide her aid to prevent the fated impending injustice.
Justice Deity wasn't the only divinity to rush over to Yushu Planet, she was simply the closest and the first to react, given that she had already learned years ago that something was amiss with this location.
Every single divinity on the Qi Plane who had attained divine stage comprehension in the dao of karma, could now feel the strange, growing karma, channelling towards an endlessly rising point of karmic end in the Four Divine Star System.
At first, most of the divinities ignored this, they were busy with their own matters after all. However, by the time Yaan reached the Central Layer, the feeling grew so powerful that some could no longer restrain their curiosity.
Once Yaan stepped into the Central Hall of Rebirth, it was as if a thunderclap of foreboding exploded within the minds of every single divinity with divine stage comprehension into the dao of karmic end. Now, even those who were yet to comprehend the full dao of karma could feel it!
The feeling was strongest in those who possessed complete comprehension in the full dao of karma. Those who had fully comprehended karmic end also felt a strong premonition that something of unparalleled magnitude would soon erupt in that direction. Some divinities had only comprehended karmic beginning, and whilst the feeling wasn't nearly as strong for them, their gut instinct told them that this matter would be world shaking. As for those who had comprehended the dao of karmic link, they could see an endless storm of green chains shooting out from every direction, as if originating from the entire world itself, all leading towards a certain point.
Comprehending karmic fate always came last, after karmic beginning, karmic end and karmic link. The feeling of karmic fate welled up within those who had insight into this illusive dao, and without hesitation, they started heading towards Planet Yushu.
Many divinities across the Qi Plane felt this sensation, but those on the Blood Plane also felt a faint premonition that a universe-scale event would soon shake the world as they knew it.
As for the divinities on the Spirit Plane, they felt only one thing - terror.
They couldn't pinpoint the source of their terror, but every Spirit Plane divinity had the distinct feeling that soon, an inescapable calamity would befall them.
As the world of the divinities was thrown into a silent uproar, a pale faced woman, with crimson eyes, a long black robe, and hair as dark as space itself, suddenly emerged from a portal which manifested without warning within the Primordial Star System. As soon as the woman appeared, her aura, filled with endless slaughter - a slaughter many orders of magnitude more terrifying than even Devil's - erupted outwards.
Her aura exploded in all directions. It was fortunate that she had emerged from the hidden realm on a barren, dead planet, so no living being was implicated by her aura…
At first.
As the woman slowly turned to face a certain direction, her crimson eyes gradually brightened further and further, until the blood-red light from her gaze flooded the world.
The barren rock beneath her feet reached the end of its life cycle, collapsing into dust, and scattering in the wind. Before long, the entire dead planet had also died, vanishing and transforming into a grey ashy mist.
As her bloody gaze pierced further, and her black and red aura spread out to an unthinkable extent, the woman's aura reached another dead planet, then another…and then a life planet.
She felt her aura of slaughter sweep past this thriving life planet, but her expression didn't change in the least. Her aura swept through the planet, through the countless living beings, living their lives on its surface…and it killed them all without a sound.
The plants withered and died, the insects fell from the sky, the animals dropped dead, as did the mortal humans, the spirit beasts, and the cultivators.
There was no difference between a blade of grass, a Dao Immortal powerhouse, and an entire life-planet, when faced with the woman's aura. Within seconds, all life died, withered away, and lost all signs that it had ever once been alive.
After her aura finished passing through the life-planet…that life-planet…was no longer a life-planet.
The life-planet lost its soul, its essence of being, and it soon became a wasteland, a barren rock just like the other dead planets in this region of space. Before long, even this barren rock crumbled into dust, and the dust itself lost all signs of energy and life.
In this solar system, there were 66 planets, including six life-planets - planets capable of supporting mortal life. Orbiting two of these life-planets, there were even life-moons, a total of three of them in fact.
As was the case for all life-planets, in the centre of this solar system, there was a life-star which held the planets in its orbit. Life-stars were the only naturally formed entity on the Qi Plane which had the ability to support the life of life-planets and the countless living beings upon them.
The woman's aura did not slow down, but spread out further and further, faster and faster.
The life-planets were all killed, as were the life-moons. Not a single living creature - not even these grand celestial bodies - escaped from her aura of slaughter…
The woman's aura eventually reached the life-star.
The star trembled violently, sending out thousands of explosive and dangerous solar flares in every direction. However, even these solar flares, upon making contact with this slaughterous aura, lost their fire of life, and died.
Her aura enveloped the entire life-star. It tumbled violently, trying to resist, and for a time, it succeeded…
But then, the woman's aura finally reached its acme.
Swoosh…
Her aura of slaughter…became a domain of slaughter.
Just like Devil, the woman possessed a domain of slaughter! However, the difference between Devil's slaughter and the woman's slaughter, was akin to the difference between an ant and a god.
As the woman's domain of slaughter covered the entire solar system, the world fell silent. The life-star was subdued and rapidly lost its lustre, until it too, eventually lost its life. The flames burned themselves out, quickly fading into nothingness, until finally, only an immense aura of slaughter and death pervaded this entire bleak region of space.
As the woman felt her domain, which she was finally able to manifest after all these years once again, she narrowed her crimson eyes and her gaze pierced into the distance…
"Planet Yushu, Yaan's homeworld…to think that I actually spent all those years living as a conceited, ignorant cultivator…to think that I actually assisted brother's heart demon to progress to this extent…unacceptable! My amnesiac self, the cultivator called Rui, was a fool. To think that I honestly believed that I had changed, becoming someone else, just because I reincarnated and temporarily lost my memories…unacceptable! What do 3,000 years of childish memories count for…compared to my three million years of life?"
With a cold gaze filled with boundless slaughterous intent, the woman took a single step…
With one step, she crossed past several solar systems in an instant. She tore apart the space before her, slaughtering the spatial fragments that got in her way as they tried to mend over the damage created by her movement. Because she did this, planet after planet, star after star, was torn apart, erupting into an immense nova of fire and destruction left in her wake.
But she didn't care. The other divinities 'rushed' towards Planet Yushu, but they didn't dare to use their ultimate methods, as doing such a thing would inflict catastrophic damage upon not only the living beings in this world, and the celestial bodies which supported life…but also on the fabric of the Qi Plane itself!
Ignoring the devastation and death left in her wake, she took another step.
With each of her steps through the Primordial Star System, on her journey towards the Four Divine Star System, she laid waste to dozens of life planets and several life stars. The aura of slaughter and destruction was like nothing that had appeared in this world for close to a million years, but right now, she didn't care even slightly.
She - the Primordial Asura - was in a bad mood.
After returning to her inheritance under the Sage's insistence, Rui spent the past hundreds of years fighting to reabsorb the memories from her previous life…as well as her former power.
When Rui finally achieved success, returning to the Divine Step and regaining her full memories simultaneously, she immediately changed.
She entered that place as Rui, the demon who refused to accept her forgotten identify as the Primordial Asura.
She left that place as the Primordial Asura, feeling irritated that she had wasted so much time, living those pointless years in delusion as a cultivator called Rui.
The Primordial Asura's gaze was cold as countless living beings met their demise along her path.
"Yaan…I saw you die - truly, die…but I am certain that somehow, somewhere, you are still alive. You are just a broken mess of a monstrosity. You are a weak, confused entity, with a distorted dao heart and a broken Dao Soul that is constantly on the verge of falling apart. You are not special. You are merely a mistake. You are a failure who could not even overcome his Immortal Ascension…"
The Primordial Asura's gaze narrowed even further.
"But despite all of this…even though it makes no rational sense, I am sure of it. I know that I am right about you…Yaan. Yaan…you are, without a doubt…the most dangerous creature that this world has ever seen."
*****
In the Divine Star System, in a forbidden region that no Divine Court member dared to intrude, a man so large that even planets looked small when placed beside him, slowly opened his eyes. Each of his eyes was the size of a life-star, and these eyes shone with a brilliant light that even life-stars could not produce.
The man had been sitting here, on his throne of countless bones, silently divining various things as the destroyed remnants of several life-planets formed a cosmic belt which orbited him like a stream of celestial debris.
The man with the glowing golden eyes, this man who struck fear into the hearts of the Divine Court and the Primordial Alliance alike, this man who boasted a body larger than any other being in this world…
Who else could he be, but Defiance Sovereign!
Defiance Sovereign's eyes shone with the light of the stars themselves, and a faint smile spread across his face.
For the first time in well over two millennia, Defiance Sovereign stood up.
BANG!
Instantly, his throne of bones, the cosmic belt formed from his destruction of the Divine Court's solar planet, and everything else within the solar system, exploded outwards, as if afraid that it would get in Defiance Sovereign's way once he decided to make his move!
Defiance turned to look in a certain direction, and the smile across his face grew wider.
"So many of those minor characters who consider themselves important are gathering in that place…how amusing. To be attracted by the world's manifestation of this powerful karmic end; they are like moths to a flame, believing they are in control, but in reality, they are mere puppets, manipulated by the karmic fate which will guide this Era to its end."
After saying this, Defiance laughed mockingly. Ripples of power erupted within his voice, causing countless fractures to tear apart the space all around him.
Ignoring the devastation caused by his every casual move, with an amused smile, Defiance took a step, heading towards Planet Yushu.
"To host such a party without informing me, how rude those puppets are."
As Defiance Sovereign walked, he wore a carefree smile.
It was unknown whether it was intentional or not, but every single step he took…resulted in his foot crushing and destroying a crucial life-star belonging to the Divine Court.
"It is finally time for us to meet, first sign of the 2nd Era's end…or should I say - Yaan. Even so, I did not expect that you would also be the second sign of the 2nd Era's end. Hmm…to be so brazen in revealing yourself to the world, you must not understand the significance of your current actions. I see, so this 2nd Era is actually your birth Era!"
Defiance Sovereign's grin widened, before he openly laughed as the various pieces of the puzzle that he had been trying to solve across three Origin Eras, finally came together in this moment.
"Yaan…you were born in the 2nd Origin Era as a mistake of a living being with an innately broken Dao Soul. To become not only the first sign of the 2nd Era's end, but also the second sign of the 2nd Era's end…this is too extreme to be a coincidence! Hahaha…so it was actually all you! You are not only the first sign, but also the second sign of each Origin Era's end! You are the World Demon, the one followed by Destruction across the Eras! How interesting…finally uncovering this secret, and even bearing witness to the World Demon's birth, which will no doubt be followed by the birth of Destruction…perhaps this dull Era will actually end with an interesting finale."
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