Above Primordial Chaos, Terminus Haven:
The Adjudicator of Fate sat on a round table with five unfilled spots.
He looked in the distance, a little distracted. His short gray hair was slightly longer than the last time Wang Wei saw him; however, it was still compared to cultivators' usual long hair.
The place he waited was odd. Everything was all white except for countless dots and lines that kept moving like small worms.
At the center of this chaotic space was a purple palace that appeared magnificent on the outside but contained one room bathed in gold and white.
While waiting patiently, the Adjudicator kept tapping his hand on the table.
"Fate...Fate...Fate!" roared someone, finally catching the
Adjudicator's attention.
"Oh, you guys are here."
"Why are you so distracted?" asked the Judge of Chaos, a woman with light purple skin, long black hair, a floral black dress, glowing eyes, and a crown.
"What's your purpose for asking for the meeting?" asked the Magistrate of Heaven, a burly man with no shirt, white pants, and golden rings as bracelets.
"Did one of the seeds bring you trouble again?" asked the Overseer of Samsara, a woman dressed in all white with a black cinnamon bar on her forehead; she exuded a cold aura similar to death.
Her voice contained great ridicule, and she did not hide it in the slightest.
"What's with you? You seem a little more aggressive than usual,"
asked the Justiciary of Time, a humanoid cat dressed in purple; his body contained countless ornaments associated with time.
"That bastard is now interfering with my plans," she replied. The others knew who she referred to as soon as she uttered these words.
"I haven't heard of a battle?" commented the Arbitrator of the Source Qi; she was a woman with black eyes and gold hair.
However, her outfit was difficult to describe as most of her body appeared illusory as if she was nothing but a phantom and did not truly exist.
"I think she met his younger self," commented the Magistrate of Heaven.
"In that case, things are getting interesting."
The group knew Samsara's plan involved a way to get out of their predicament of being prisoners. Additionally, unlike Fate's actions, which brought him trouble, her actions are legit and did not break Grand Dao's rules.
"Well, your pawn was his greatest nemesis during his Mortal Period.
Shouldn't you have expected this outcome?" asked Time, calmly licking his palm; his action was the most common action of a feline species, but when he did it, it contained a natural regal and nobility.
"You know things should not have turned like this," replied Samsara, not hiding her displeasure.
"True. The timeline has been a mess," replied Time. "The Lower End of the River should have been set in stone, but now, there are signs of chaos."
The cat could not help but sigh. One thing that has always been constant since he had this job was that the past was absolute. But now, he could not say for sure.
"Let's focus on the situation," reminded Chaos. "Fate, why did you call this meeting?"
Fate sighed, "I recently sensed a subtle fluctuation in the River of Fate. According to my predictions, the Fatestealers are about to be active."
"Are you serious?" asked Samsara.
"I thought we dealt a great blow to them."
"Yes, they should have been greatly injured and recuperating."
"You and Time reassured us that they would no longer be a problem," declared Source Qi.
"Explain yourself."
Everyone's focus shifted to Fate and Time, their aura scarier than ever.
"I don't know what's going on," explained Fate. "I am more worried than all of you." He knew he was the least likely to survive this catastrophe, so he did not want the Fatestealers to return.
"I think I can explain," said the cat, remaining extremely calm despite the situation. "Heavenly Book Paragon changed the Lower End of the Primordial Timeline. I'm guessing he took the opportunity to also change some things."
Lower end, middle, and upper end, past, present, and futureâthe six of them are creatures that have transcended the shackles of time. As such, they can travel through the River of Time to the past, present, and future.
However, at some point, they discovered the upper end of the river became blurry before becoming inaccessible to them. With their power, they immediately knew what such an event meant.
Someone strong enough either blocks the upper end or something happens to them in the middle, making it so they don't have a future.
"Bastard," roasted Samsara. "If not for you breaking the rules, how would we be in this situation?"
For a brief moment, the entire Chaos Universe trembled. Luckily, the place they were located isolated most of the power.
"I only did what you people did not have the courage to do," replied Fate with a sneer. "Furthermore, you know even if he was not one of my Fate Seed, he would still attack us; you've seen the other timelines."
"But it's a fact you aggravated the situation," countered Samsara, who refused to back down even though she knew he was correct.
"This is not the time to be fighting," persuaded Chaos.
"Easy for you to say; you're the least affected in this situation."
Chaos looked at Samsara coldly. The latter was correct. No matter the final situation, she has the highest chance of survival. That madman will not destroy Primordial Chaos and all the Chaos Worlds, which is her domain.
The only way she might suffer is if her favorite children, the Fiendgods, might be eradicated by that bastard.
"You really need to calm down," persuaded Source Qi. Then, she focused on Time. "How can a little Paragon change the Primordial Timeline?"
"Because someone or something allows it."
"Grand Dao?"
"Most likely."
"But why?"
"Whatever is happening at the upper end of the River of Time requires such manipulation," replied Time, but his answer showed he was not confident in his analysis.
"If it wanted to change the Primordial Timeline, why not do it through us?" asked Chaos.
"Isn't it obvious? We are no longer reliable," replied Heaven with gritted teeth; his anger reached the pinnacle, especially after knowing that bastard Heavenly Book was involved in the situation.
"We all know the current situation is the result of a chess game between Grand Dao and someone else," explained Time. "Since Grand Dao made its move with Heavenly Book, then the appearance of the Fatestealers should be the opponent's turn."
The room quieted down, the facial expressions of all of them looked terrifying. They did not know who Grand Dao's opponent was, but they had long guessed who it was.
However, they refused to admit it was true because of the implications.
"That bastard is in the same realm as us. How could he be fighting Grand Dao?" said Fate with a desolate voice. "He knows he was the only one who has no chance of surviving if that bastard is the one fighting against Grand Dao. So, he did not want to admit Time's analysis."
"There is no need to panic," said Heaven. "We know the future is ever-changing. As long as we do what we are supposed to, we still have hope of changing it."
"Heaven is correct," nodded Time. "Our main goal should be to find one of the Time Nexuses, kill his young self, and eliminate him for good."
"That's easier said than done," said Samsara. "He's very good at hiding his Time Nexuses. The last time we tried that, he ambushed us and almost killed Fate and Source Qi."
She sneered.
"We don't even know why he has Time Nexuses. Without such vital information, we are already at a disadvantage."
Beings on their level have transcended time and space, so it should not matter whether their past selves are killed; it's irrelevant to them and has no effectâunless very specific means are used by people of the same level or higher.
However, that bastard seemed to have such a major flaw that he could easily be killed even by a mortal at specific times in his life.
Moreover, these Time Nexuses will appear once before
disappearing forever.
According to their calculations, there will soon be a time when the Time Nexuses will disappear forever. As such, each time they missed one, their chances of eliminating him drastically decreased.
"Does that matter?" asked Heaven. "In a direct confrontation, we are not their opponent. So, we can only rely on this method."
Everyone groaned after hearing this. The scariest part about that bastard was not his overwhelming strength or his scary intelligence but his powerful allies that he cultivated.
They might be able to deal with him if he were alone, but he has so many thieves in his camp that it's sickening.
"You guys still haven't talked about how to deal with the Fatestealers?"
"What else can we do? Let's hunt them down," said Heaven; it's not like they had any other choice. Luckily, Grand Dao will not place any restrictions on them when dealing with that bastard.
"Do you think we should solicit Heavenly Book's help? After all, it seems he's in our camp now," suggested Chaos.
"Absolutely not," replied Heaven immediately. "He's nowhere near qualified."
"Whatever," replied Chaos while the others shrugged; they could see Heaven felt deeply against this plan, so it was not worth alienating him for a mere Paragonâeven one with unmatched potential.
