1038 Aftermath
Wang Wei's eyes saw or experienced how True Heavenly Dao would balance the overwhelming growth of the Myriad Emperor World, and he had to marvel at the latter's creativity.
He saw two extremely powerful Star Beasts battling it in the world, their fight taking them across multiple world communities. That battle resulted in a Space-Time Storm that created World Collisions between hundreds - if not thousands - Greater Thousand Worlds and their respective Heaven Will World.
These collisions were not temporary but led to permanent fusion. These Heaven Will Worlds will have their World Source drastically increased and granted permission to create more Heaven Wills.
He saw how True Heavenly Dao removed the cognitive blockage of a few people, allowing them to become more innovative and creative. Dozens of them eventually created new things that allowed them to amass enough merit to use the Merit Proving Method - which also became a part of their fortunate encounter.
Along the same line, Ao Shen's Merit Transitioning Method became the reward for new secret realms that appeared out of nowhere, and most of them also contained Innate Demon God Bloodline for the destined individuals.
Wang Wei saw people who accidentally released unique Qi from the Source Qi Space - Qi that served a similar purpose as Xu Shi's Primordial Chaos QI: increasing the World Source and overall strength of the world. With more sources, these worlds can now condense additional Heaven Wills.
Another method of the Balance Mechanism he saw was some Heaven Will World reverting to their ancient period. In the old times, the Nine Devil God World was not the only place that gave birth to more than one Heaven Will at the cost of sacrificing the birth of higher-class Emperors. They became the most famous but not the only ones.
Although these worlds were rare, they existed across the lower dimension. However, after the Devil Invasion, True Heavenly Dao intervened in managing these Heaven Will Worlds and removed the concept of these worlds. Every world was homogeneous from now on as they followed the blueprint of one Heaven Will per generation.
This method was the perfect way to encounter the sheer number of Emperors the Myriad Emperor World acquired.
The sudden increase of Heaven's Will and new Emperors was not True Heavenly Dao's only move. Some worlds did not get such an opportunity but received more resources to cultivate Immortal Sovereigns and True Power Dao powerhouses. Resources to cultivate Eternal Class Insurgent that were rare and even severely limited began to appear in larger quantities.
"You didn't have to react so severely. After all, I was also planning on sending them upstairs and increasing their number of Emperors," complained Wang Wei as he shook his head. The changes in this world were not happening immediately and would take some time. However, he had no plan of intervening as he knew the consequences.
'What a fascinating creature True Heavenly Dao is.'
According to his deduction, True Heavenly Dao wishes for the lower dimension to prosper as it would increase its power to fight against Supreme Unity. However, the increase has to be done in a specific way that ensures the 'balance' of the world.
'Is the core of its creation balance? Can such a conclusion apply to Grand Dao Source as well?' asked Wang Wei to himself. However, the answer was not so cut and dry. In the upper dimension, the concept of balance is not as strict or even present. That's evident by how powerful and unrestrained Paragons are.
So, if he expanded things to the larger macrocosm, Grand Dao would care even less. It will not care whether Paragons or Half-Step Transcendence killed each other or an unfathomable number of lives; it will not care how powerful or heaven-defying they become compared to others.
'But what if someone's power approached or caught to it? Will Grand Dao continue its nonchalant attitude, or will it also activate some form of Balance Mechanism?'
Wang Wei knew Grand Dao had its own rules or mechanism because of the existence of the 13 Taboos and his deduction that the latter wanted a replacement for the Fate Cardinal. However, his knowledge of the subject was subpar, to say the least, so he wanted to see if he could deduce more information by observing a lesser version of Grand Dao.
'I'm getting ahead of myself,' thought Wang Wei. He would have to be at least a Paragon to observe and contemplate the essence of True Heavenly Dao. And even then, it won't be easy to get even a glimpse of the truth.
After the sermon, the world entered a time of peace and tranquility. Wang Wei postponed the next court meeting until these people left. He knew he could not hide the court from the upper dimension, but he also did not want any possible complications with these people's presence as they learned more about how things operate.
During the next two hundred years, these descending Emperors focused on creating their secret vaults or establishing a foundation for their factions, including creating special training secret realms or leaving some rare resources they bought or borrowed from the Rebellion.
The first to leave twenty years later was Yin Gen. Wang Wei had many deep exchanges with him during the entire time, and they learned from each other. He had great respect for Yin Gen, so he offered to teach him his ancestor's Evading Technique as a way to save his life in the upcoming war; he only asked the latter to promise not to pass it to someone else. However, Yin Gen refused, and Wang Wei accepted his decision.
The next person to leave was Jingwu Hua, followed by Zhen Biyu and Jiang Wushuang. Yang Guowei and Xiao Songxi had to wait to leave with Lin Fan.
In the meantime, the former patriarch of the Baishe Clan came to see Wang Wei before leaving, giving him the promised gifts for looking at his family.
Xiao Songxi was generous in his gift as he handed Wang Wei 5 Grand Dao Source Seeds and 10 Immortal Mansions. The origin of these things was the dead body of the Baishe Clan, to which he sacrificed their bodies, souls, Inner Worlds, and Immortal Qi to create these things. His action allowed him to establish quite the foundation for the Great Ye Dynasty before leaving.
The last remaining one was Lin Fan, who wanted to spend as much time as possible with his wife. Wang Wei summoned them before he left.
"On account of my friendship with her, I thought I should warn you," said Wang Wei, looking at these two from his throne. "Do you remember the last technique you used during your battle against Yin Gen?"
"You mean the projection I summoned?"
"Yes. I almost died trying to divine information about them, and the only thing I found was the name Chaos Demon God."
(AN: Primordial Demon God was changed to Chaos Demon God.)
Lin Fan frowned as he understood the severity of these words. "What are you trying to say?"
"In this universe, the cruel truth is that everyone is someone else's pawn."
"Including you?" asked Lin Fan.
"Yes, including me."
"I never thought someone like you, who pursues freedom, would accept such a thing."
"Because I know there is nothing my current self can do about it; because I know accepting the fact and slowly playing the game is the only way to escape and become a chess player."
"I...understand."
...
Emperor Enlightening Academy:
"What are you thinking?" asked Xu Shi; it had been a few hours since the meeting, and she still had not processed what had happened. She knew this truth that Wang Wei said to him, but it was an entirely different implication coming from his mouth.
"Many things have started to make sense," said Lin Fan. "My overwhelming affinity with Chaos or my obsession with that Dao." He could not help reevaluate everything in his life and had to force himself. Otherwise, he would definitely overthink certain things.
"Do you think it's that bad?"
"Everything looks normal and reasonable. But isn't that the point?" If he was treated someone as a pawn, he would, of course, ensure there was no flaw.
"So, what are you going to do?"
"Take his advice," replied Lin Fan. "Accept this fact, continue along my cultivation journey while keeping my eyes open."
"This is not as easy to do as you state."
"I know this."
Every fiber of his being was screaming to change his Dao and abandon his physique immediately. However, he knew doing something so drastic could result in even more catastrophic results. For a chess player, there is no value to a pawn who becomes aware and tries to rebel forcefully. In such a scenario, the best course of action would be to correct the pawn's path or eliminate it.
Furthermore, was it easy to abandon Chaos Dao? Obsessions are called as such for a reason.
At the hundred and eighty years mark, Lin Fan finally ascended. Although he wanted to wait until the last minute, he did not want to risk True Heavenly Dao's ire.
