V4C98: Decree of Righteousness

With that one last glance, she didn’t bother looking back at all, focusing all of her attention on those before her.

She was already familiar with the twenty or so second generation members standing before her, who looked to have been all that remained from the previous attempt to attack Paragon – and was, in fact, a larger quantity than there should have been given the previous casualties, but she had no time to ask about that just yet due to the danger that they posed – so she only had to look at a lone figure that stood beyond, although it hardly looked to be lone due to the presence of numerous humanoid mirages near the figure that didn’t look entirely dissimilar from the one that appeared in the Kong Prison Realm.

Fortunately for her, there was a clear difference in everything but their basic appearance, and she was able to tell that even if there were separate minds responsible for those figures, their bodies were not present, and they were mostly bound to the lone figure that sat in a chair at the back of the grassy field she found herself in.

It seemed that the Great Families had intruded from a random field rather than any of their own locations, which was a shame due to the lack of useful information that she would obtain, but also highly conducive to a higher chance of success and lessened chance of an untimely demise.

Against the previous force of second generation-only combatants, she had the confidence of surviving no matter what they threw at her, as they were unlikely to employ any attacks that would completely exhaust their vitality and energy due to not wishing to end their lives and force the first generation to have more children, if that was even possible for them. However, based on the energy radiating from that seated figure, she knew that this was someone in the seventh realm, and since their position in the Great Family force looked to be high enough to allow him to casually sit around and do little more than release a single flaming hand into the scene, the fact that this was a first generation member was entirely obvious from a single glance.

If not for the fact that she sensed a number of anchors around him, she might have even assumed that their seventh realm transformed their anchors into humanoid figures, due to the similarities.

“So, it appears that you have once again intervened in our plans, so-called Ascendant. That is fine. We will reclaim that which belongs to us in due time, for the heavens will it,” the seated figure spoke slowly, in a gruff voice that one might expect to come from the mouth of an experienced blacksmith, “For now, getting rid of you will be enough for us.”

“As I said to the rest of you, fuck right off! I have had enough of your nonsense! To claim that you-”

“Luckily, I have also become tired of your intervention. To weaken the seal just for a person like you…” the first generation member of the Great Ning shook his head with obvious disappointment, “Since you fail to understand, then we shall prove to you that the world should be under our supervision, not the madness that seems to drive you. You have wondered why we have the right to act, did you not? Witness the Decree of Righteousness given to us by the heavens.”

He casually raised and moved his hand, seemingly not interacting with the energy within or around him at all, and yet an incredible wave suddenly overwhelmed the Ascendant.

Everything before her transformed, and she was plunged into a strange realm of storm clouds brimming with lightning that occasionally lit up their dark insides. It completely overwhelmed every method of looking through illusions that she possessed, to the point that she was unable to perceive whether this was truly a false environment as she believed, or if she had been thrown into some spatial realm without realising it due to her low cultivation. She stood on a dark stone platform that was partly obscured by a thin layer of dark cloud, so it wasn’t like the environment was necessarily unbelievable due to floating in the air or something of the sort.

She looked around with every sense she had, but nothing around her was clearly different from any other part of the environment, and the only thing that could draw her attention was the fact that she could not sense a trace of planar energy anywhere, as if it had been purged entirely.

Within her, there looked to be no such obstruction, but when she wanted to attack with an Obliteration beam to test the environment around her with some casual destruction, the world finally responded. Although she did not see, hear, or otherwise properly perceive this, she was somehow aware that a will had descended into this stormy world alongside her.

“Your actions have caused the Planar Continents to stray from their intended path,” the voice proclaimed, the mere sound causing her bones to tremble from an unexpected power within them, “Witness what could have been.”

Instantly, the storm clouds around her closed in and then parted almost a moment later, but nothing around her was recognisable when compared to what she had previously seen. In place of a stone platform was a dirt around it, and all around it she could see buildings and homes that looked to belong at the edge of a failing village, ones that would barely be sufficient for the people that she had witnessed cultivating via the blood from other creatures.

Within this strange town, a number of people wearing something most closely comparable to rags were going about their day, walking along the road and carrying various things with them, occasionally turning to one another to offer a friendly greeting nod or something of the sort. They did not see her, as far as she knew, but none of them chose to go straight through her due to some natural instinct. She had no clue whether she was truly present in a physical space, especially as the clouds from before looked to have vanished entirely. There was nothing that would allow her to tell this from reality.

Even the fact that there was no planar energy in the air looked to fit the Laws of the world, illusory or otherwise.

“What is this supposed to be? Some argument?” she tried to call out to the voice.

“The people that would have lived in the world where you had not been born would have been safe from planar beasts and viler creatures,” it responded after a short delay, everything around her changing as she was suddenly at the edge of the town, where she found no trace of a wall or guards, “They would not be faced with the threats contained within planar energy.”

Again, the scene changed, although it was hard to say whether it was that she that moved or the world around her, or if it truly moved and didn’t simply change. It didn’t stop there, either, and continued to change with increasing speed, causing her to look through a million different scenes in unbelievably little time. She saw scenes of discussion, travel, daily life and various jobs that people occupied themselves, and the sheer quantity of events rapidly overwhelmed her mind.

In one scene, she witnessed how a family travelled through the woods and picked a few berries to feed themselves on the journey. A child was able to run throughout the woods and fear nothing, only needing to remain in sight of his parents as to not get lost.

A few people were providing some of their harvest to a pair of figures dressed in regal clothing that did not fit in among the clothing any other person she saw, while those figures provided various instructions and recommendations that she was unable to hear properly, knowing only that they were found to be useful. This pair sat on chairs with high backs that might as well have been thrones in comparison to the random sticks that the other chairs resembled, and they looked to be eating more than sufficiently with everything offered to them.

To say that she did not recognise their potential identity would be entirely incorrect, but she took a while to comprehend the sheer gall of the Great Families. They thought, for some reason unknown to her, that even once the world was without planar energy, they would be treated as far superior to the people that they attempted to rule over in what seemed to be their own fantasies.

Once she did realise that error, others also began to jump out at her, and while they did so, her golden soul glowed just a little brighter. She did not know this, however.

‘They have clearly realised just how much of our development requires planar energy and relies upon it, so they adjusted the world accordingly, but do they expect me to see this as some kind of paradise? Just because there are no planar beasts, there is no guarantee that there would be no ordinary beasts either. In fact, they would need to be present for the ecosystem to persist in a reasonable manner,’ she concluded, ‘That child would be in danger of being devoured by some wolf or bear, and this would not save the parents from a similar fate, as they barely have anything beyond a stick or some stones to defend themselves.’

She suspected that the reason for their folly was that they had not only spent too long being powerful figures among the world’s population, thus failing to recognise the weakness of someone without a cultivation, but also that their lack of experience and knowledge about the other world that the otherworldly demons came from led to some misunderstandings of what such a world would look like. There, they had developed without any planar energy at all, and they needed to go from using simple stones by tying them to sticks all the way to things resembling the automatons that she had fought.

However, not only did such a process require countless years, even if some knowledge of the final outcome was already possessed, but it was also one that would limit so much of the human potential that she was aware of. With planar energy, normal human limits were surpassed with some casual cultivation in the case of the majority of cultivators, and if she had the chance to do so, she would ensure that everyone could cultivate rather than removing it from all people.

“Am I supposed to see this as some paradise?”

“The people here are free from the threat of the Primordial Deities, as well as the otherworldly demons and their cursed artefacts that you are already familiar with.”

“So? Is that supposed to overwhelm everything that planar energy offers us? It is incredible, and allows us not only to overcome the otherworldly gifts, but even gives us the opportunity to become people with far more power than they could ever grant.”

“They are a threat to us all, and the heavens have decreed that they must be removed.”

“And if the heavens willed your demise, how long would it take you to end your own life?”

“The heavens have no such desire.”

“And you think that you know? You are nothing more than a group of absolute power-hungry idiots that have convinced yourselves that you are righteous, whereas in truth the heavens do little more than permit the knowledge of Dao to the oh so poor people of the world, who suffer greatly as a result!” she exclaimed, pointing to the people that flashed to the space before her, “Look at all of this! They are weak, feeble, and they look to be entirely subservient to you. Do you think that protection from potential threats is better than freedom, power, and capacity to overcome the heavens themselves?”

A sudden burst of lightning flashed through the scene in front of her, and it vanished only to be replaced with another image of a similar kind, as if she had simply skipped one of the images that the Greats wished to show her.

“You would question the heavens?”

“I would question every single one that dares to tell me that the world is somehow better off as a rotting carcass!” she looked to the scene before her once more, “Yeah, just like them!”

Again, the scene was overwhelmed with a bolt of lightning, and she momentarily saw the dark cloud from which the bolt had emerged. When another one showed up, she could see that it was less stable, and notably less active. Most of the figures were moving in slow motion, and some would not move at all, as if they couldn’t be animated at the same time as the rest.

“There would be wild beasts here, and we would have lost everything that we currently have to resist them! What kind of wonderful world features humans that have lost all of their abilities and exist in a pathetic imitation of current reality?”

Right before her, the people of the false world were travelling near a forest while picking various fruits and berries. They were not able to get up to taller branches of the tree with ease, and so they had to get certain individuals to climb the trees for them and retrieve those items for them. Even then, just within the time that she had spent observing them, most of the fruit pickers had become tired and were sweating, with their pathetic rags offering no assistance in keeping away the heat that they must have been feeling.

Had this depiction contained even a trace of planar energy, dulling the heat with an inscription could have been possible. They could have had a cultivation to keep them stronger and fitter. There would be none with great physical damage and injuries, as most wounds were easy to heal and repair if they were not dealt with a powerful planar method.

She was aware that people had endured things like this in the Orbises from which her otherworldly acquaintances came from, but even there, she would be the first to advocate for somehow providing planar energy to the world due to the many possibilities that it allowed for. With her awareness of what random people could do without being restrained, she would not attempt to simply do something like that on her own and would instead offer the possibility to the people, giving them the final choice, regardless of the ultimate outcome. If they did not find planar energy to be desirable, then there would be little reason to attempt to persuade them.

There was no reason to trade away possibility and potential for security. Freedom and justice had to prevail, and that was easiest with planar energy flowing richly throughout the world.

“Indeed, few can see the true beauty of the world that we offer to the masses.”

She couldn’t even find any words to reply to them, so she just let out a laugh at their stupidity. To call this madness, where all the people are subservient to a few old men and women who happen to wear the nicer clothing just because of something potentially done decades ago without informing anyone, a better world, not to mention something with true beauty or anything else of the sort, was preposterous. Giving the voice a punch was very much something that she wished to do, but, unfortunately, it was currently not present beside her in an obvious physical form.

However, that changed a moment after, when the world suddenly returned back to the stormy clouds that she had initially seen upon entry. The lightning within them only seemed to have gotten more intensive, and as it slowly receded once more, she saw something at the edge of the storm.

Several tall pillars, the exact quantity of which was difficult to judge due to the stormy clouds covering all but a few that stood at the very front, and atop all of them stood tall thrones that looked down upon the stone platform that she stood upon. On all of the pillars, figures appeared one after another, and they sat down upon the thrones with a confident movement, acting as if they were at the top of the world and above humanity.

Fine, perhaps Wei Yi was projecting her hatred of the Greats onto the figures a little too much, but when they looked upon her and their eyes lit up with strange light, she confirmed that she wasn’t wrong. They did not treat her as someone on the same level as them, and if someone with her degree of strength and ability to resist them couldn’t be seen as a human being, then she highly doubted that they would treat the majority of the people in the world any differently. That was one of the many concerning things about them that prompted her to completely disregard their attempts to proselytize their nonsense to her after, especially after they had sought to kill her several times.

“You stray from the will of the heavens, foolish child,” the figure sitting at the foremost throne said, his or her voice booming throughout the space, “Do you fail to understand our purpose?”

“I understand what it is that you do, but it is not only wrong, but utterly foolish! I don’t know where you got the notion of being the world’s saviours, but your actions will do nothing at all to truly assist it. Instead, you will doom our Planar Continents to obliteration by threats that you may not even understand.”

“Fool! Your failure to understand will be what truly dooms our world!” another replied.

Together, they waved their hand in a similar fashion to the time that the Great Ning first generation member had when he pulled her into the realm, and an enormous pressure suddenly fell upon her with no warning other than their movements.

She had never seen this kind of thing before, and yet her mind quickly found a very familiar sensation that had been extracted from the mind of another, instantly being brought to the forefront of her attention before whatever was happening had the chance to affect her. It turned out that it had been something from the mind of an old man she had encountered in the Silver Side of the Kong Prison Realm, and thus she instantly knew what awaited her.

There were a few statements that would be made, the exact contents of which she had not been able to receive, and while she didn’t know what had happened while they were being made, they nearly permanently scarred the mind of the old man that had endured them. For that reason, as well as the fact that they had been placed into his mind with far more intensity than most thoughts would ever be, she concluded that there had to be some kind of catch to the words, one that she would need to resolve in order to be able to handle them without similar damage occurring to her own mental state. She suspected that she might be able to purge the same kind of damage from her head if necessary, but it would not come without a permanent cost no matter what or how she did it.

Thus, when one of the few figures that she could see opened their mouth and suddenly applied even more pressure to her position, she was mentally prepared.

“On their own, the people of the Planar Continents are directionless. They wander through the world and recklessly access countless things that are not meant for them. They kill and steal without any understanding of the larger picture, and they unknowingly call upon darker entities to come through their constant progression,” that figure said, “They face countless rains that can scatter their work to nothingness, but can also provide them with life.”

Another took over, “People require a wind to guide the rains, and the Greats can ensure its direction.”

She felt the pressure multiply yet again, forcing every aspect of herself down to the point that she could barely keep standing. With the words of the last sentence on the forefront of her mind, she recognised this from the words mentioned by the old man from Sanctuary, and so she understood that this was what she needed to resolve.

There were several things that she could say, but she was tired of them making themselves out to be special. Although they did have unusual techniques and the preparation that too many lacked, they were but one of many that could reach the peak of the world with enough effort. Their actions were reckless and stupid, so far as their imagined world was concerned, and yet they dared to proclaim themselves to be capable of directing the winds and rains of the world.

If this was something that they could do, then there was no reason that she could not do the same, and with that she had the perfect reply to their words that would meet their stupid reasoning directly and give them no choice but to accept it based on the capabilities she had shown so far.

As such, she forced her head up to meet the eyes of the Greats and barely manifested the Lion’s Roar physique ability.

“Then I shall be the storm!”

In the instant that the words left her mouth, all of the stormy clouds around her grew closer to her, hiding all but the glowing eyes of the Greats sitting atop the pillars in the distance. At the same time, she also felt the pressure weaken, allowing her to keep her head up with a grin on her face.

She could sense a trace of greater anger in the next voice, but it still remained calm enough, “How can you be this foolish! In the storms, the people of the Planar Continents are blind and directionless. They have no clue where to go, nor where their foes are. There, the Primordial Deities and the demons alike can prey upon them with ease. All that the storm will cause is pain and torment, and you must recognise this.”

Just like last time, another voice took over after that, saying, “People need light to guide them, and the Greats are the candle that must light the way.”

The pressure doubled again, increasing beyond the intensity that it had reached at first, but she did not need to delay for as long to be able to provide them with an answer. She had seen that they had nothing to reply with, and since she was capable of doing what she asserted, then she would do so.

They wished to guide the world and guide the people, providing them with a flame that can be seen from afar and provide them with only the knowledge necessary to make their way through danger safely. She was not like them, and if she could provide a flame, she had no reason to limit what the world could see, especially not if she was in the same position that the Greats so desperately wanted to be in. The people would learn everything that they could, and even more through luck and the like, and then the world would be a better place as a result, even if it came at a cost.

“Then I shall be the torch!”

Again, the pressure was worn away, and the distant eyes narrowed in some unpleasant emotion. The storms did not move closer, but a bright light did appear around her, partly breaking past the darkness that the stormy clouds generated. With it, she was barely able to see the figures on their thrones once more, and since they could likely see her with ease, she made sure to keep her smile strong.

The first sound from the enthroned figures was a loud sigh, produced by a pair of eyes on the left of the congregation.

“To simply dismiss our words, you make the mistake of forgetting the wisdom of your elders. With a directionless flame and wild storms, the people will be led only to danger if that is all that they have. There needs to be a leader for them, a ruler that can step forward and show them the way through the darkened world that your foolish actions shall produce. They require the assistance of power that is beyond them.”

“People need a ruler to lead them, and the Greats are the kings that will direct them!”

Since they kept going, so would she, as she believed her own words far more than they could possibly have believed their own. She knew what the ninth realm looked like through some of the memories of Yi Shi Ming, as well as Lan Mei Xing, and she was not afraid of the Hunger of the Beyond, even if it turned out to be far more powerful than anyone could anticipate. She would fight, she could protect the world, and if necessary, she would take on whatever leadership position was required of her, be it a Matriarch or the Master of Yi City, not for the power, but for the potential to make a difference to the world that required the power that the position offered.

If they wished to be the kings of the world, a position that had truly held meaning only a long time ago, then she would not be any weaker.

“Then I shall be the emperor!”

“Foolish child, you do not listen to our words!” a voice exclaimed, slightly shifting their eyes as the radiance that had formed around the Ascendant only grew more intense with her words, “If you will not listen to the truth that we share with you, then there is only one thing that we can say to you, bastard child.”

Together, the figures stood up and glared at her, their eyes also becoming brighter as if to combat the light she produced with their own luminosity. They opened their mouths and took a breath in preparation to speak.

“The Great Families have the blessing of the heavens. They follow their will!”

This time, she did not hesitate in the slightest.

“Then I,” she shouted, pushing every capability of hers to its limit, “shall be the god that casts them down!”

With a burst of energy, her cultivation suddenly leapt by one stage and one perfected stage, and the technique that she had created back in the Ping District was completed as she realised a suitable direction for it. Whether by inaction or intention, the heavens had yet to act in humanity’s favour or even make themselves known through anything beyond Dao, so if there was one entity in the world that she truly had to oppose, then it was them.

She raised her left hand and reached out with her index finger, as if she was seeking to come into contact with something close enough to reach but too far to do so with ease.

“If your existence is the will of the heavens, then I shall break them as well!”

A powerful surge of power pushed her out of the strange realm that she had found herself in, and she was once again facing the Great Ning first generation member, who looked at her with a sour expression and a raised hand. As she reached for the heavens, he spat and directed his hand towards her, his brows furrowing.

“You are not worthy of our wisdom. Existence does not need you, Ascendant,” he said, their techniques emerging at the same time, “Reality Severance.”

From her side, an overpowering light broke out from the point where her finger met with the air, as if she had touched the heavens themselves and pierced their shell. All of that light surged towards the Great Family members, the air and space itself cracking as it travelled through it, with every pocket of space fluctuating and breaking in different ways. In all of them, she could feel the Laws of the world be distorted and scattered into unrecognisable states.

At that moment, her left arm seemed to be the thing dictating the survival and collapse of the world.

However, the lazy hand gesture of the Great Family member suddenly manifested a cut in reality. A single, smooth cut, inferior in size to her Touch the Heavens, but it shot right towards her centre, intending to split her in half.

The two energies collided with one another, and it was clear that the attack used by the Great Ning family member was superior as it pierced right through the blinding light, ignoring the scattering of Laws as it operated on the same level of power. The Reality Severance could not be stopped, and in the moment before it reached her, she could only shift the position of her left arm as to direct everything from Touch the Heavens at the cut.

The next moment, the sound of something shattering entered her mind as she felt her existence split, one part being lost forever. The rest was shot back with all of the force that the Reality Severance had contained, and she lost her consciousness.

END OF VOLUME 4