A Reflection of the World

With just 2,000 years remaining until the end of the 2nd Origin Era was fated to reach its end, Yaan opened his eyes just in time to see it happen - the completion of the final sign wherein the God of Defiance chased the God of Destruction into the spatial tear which could not be healed.

Whether it was coincidence that he opened his eyes in this very moment, or perhaps it was fate, or maybe it was just a simple instinct to look up right as the world experienced its final moment of 'peace'…either way, Yaan saw it.

The instant Shi's small form, covered in black bolts of lightning, vanished into the golden tear in space, the world seemed to fragment into two halves. Both space and time, simply…split. Countless bolts of black destructive lighting instantly covered the gold crack, and rapidly forced it to expand until the world was completely bisected.

Or at least, this was the very imminent future that Yaan foresaw, the moment Shi vanished within. He could see this future, and he knew that it would not stop there - the world would continue to fragment. As for how he knew what would happen, it was because the 2nd Origin Era had reached its ultimate fate.

There were often many possibilities that could transpire following a given event, this was the influence of Chaos on the world, making it such that most things could not be predicted easily. However, the opposite of the probabilities brought about by Chaos also existed in the form of fate; things that were destined to be, and nothing could be done to change that.

Yaan also couldn't change this…but he could take advantage of his unique understanding over this reality.

Before any of this destructive madness could begin, he calmly utilised the newest Dao Spell that he had comprehended during his seclusion.

"Temporal Ghost." Yaan spoke calmly, each syllable resonating with the world, causing space and time to transform into an illusion, an illusion formed by Yaan himself, as he painted…the story of the world.

Time, space, illusion, painting, all of these daos were utilised in the Temporal Ghost Dao Spell!

The reason that Yaan waited until the last possible moment was simple - he could only fully utilise this spell in that one moment in time, the moment in which the world entered a period of absolute instability, but before that instability caused everything to break down too thoroughly for him to move freely.

In Yaan's eyes, the world was replaced by an illusory copy and time froze completely, coming fully under the control of his own will. His own body became an illusion within this illusory world, unable to interact or change anything, but because of this, able to go wherever and whenever he so pleased.

There was naturally a limit; he could only travel throughout the period of time that he had spent in seclusion - the past 18,000 years.

As Yaan looked around, he saw a world completely frozen in time. He started walking, approaching the golden spatial crack, and he stopped directly before it.

Space and time were his playground to travel freely as a Temporal Ghost. He couldn't change anything, but he could go anywhere, anytime! Most importantly…he would not be seen.

This was the benefit of being unable to interfere in the world. Because he had no karmic connection to anything, he could watch the lives of the other divinities and they wouldn't sense a thing!

"Interesting…by sacrificing my ability to make changes, I have gained the freedom to see everything while remaining completely concealed. It's a worthwhile exchange right now…it seems that the further we travel towards the end of the Era, the more restrictions will be broken, and the more shocking powers will be revealed. However, this isn't just true for me, but also for the other divinities. And yet, they still fear the 'invasion' of mere Wills sent to our Era from the Paragons of the Chaos Era. I can only conclude that those Paragons must be even more terrifying than ascended Origin Gods. Let's see what I can find in this Temporal Illusion."

Whoosh…

Yaan calmly walked towards the golden spatial crack, drifting through the still world. The stillness was broken with his last several steps, as time flowed backwards and he came to a stop, watching as Shi, her expression filled with madness and killing intent, moved in reverse, away from the golden tear. Not far behind her, Defiance Sovereign also moved back.

Each of Defiance's steps created thunderous explosions with zero care for his surroundings. Shi was no better of course, fleeing by collapsing her body into destructive lightning time and time again. Yaan noted her technique, wherein she destroyed the space ahead of her and slipped through the region of nothingness with no resistance.

To Yaan, watching the events play forwards or in reverse made no difference, he still saw the full situation and everything that was happening around him.

"I see, so that's how she managed to evade Defiance for so long. Her fleeing speed is quite something, and the method very interesting. She destroys all space and time within the vicinity of her lightning-form body. With no space or time in her path ahead, she's constantly crushing the fabric of the world, causing the world to shrink ever so slightly, but pushing her further away from Defiance. Meanwhile, this destruction and the instability of the shrunken space slows Defiance's pursuit as he passes through it…but Shi doesn't have the ability to evade Defiance for 18,000 years, there must be more to the story than just this."

This was the first time that Yaan had been able to examine an Empyrean's abilities in such clarity. He could walk right up to Shi, unaffected by all the goings on, but fully able to perceive and comprehend the machinations of her power as he moved time back and forth at will, changing the speed several times until everything became clear.

Temporal Ghost was a terrifying Dao Spell. Even though Shi's comprehension of the Destruction Dao was obviously far beyond his own, he was still able to perfectly mirror her dao within the illusion.

It wasn't a simple illusory copy of the world – actually, he was completely unable to produce such an illusion, since he hadn't seen everything in the world and had no basis to use as the template. No, this wasn't a copy, but a reflection! He reflected the entire world that had passed him by, ever since he decided to become a ghost and conceal himself from the world.

In a way, after concealing himself from the world in every possible way, Yaan had become a true illusion, except, the only one able to perceive this illusion was himself.

In another sense, removing himself from all things gave him the feeling that the world around him was the true illusion, moving forwards as it did, yet ignoring him entirely, as if he didn't exist.

After 18,000 years of dao comprehension while in this state, he gradually developed an understanding of illusions in relation to reality, which allowed him to look at the world as an actual illusion…and enter that world as an illusion of an illusion.

Temporal Ghost reflected all dao in the world, and allowed him to move freely through the reflected time and space.

As Yaan followed after Defiance and Shi, watching their chase rip through countless planets and stars, bringing a miserable and pitiful end to so many immortals and Transcendents, he couldn't help but wonder…could he live for an eternity, in this reflection of the world, which existed in a single instant in reality?

An eternity in an instant…was such a thing possible?

"If this Dao Spell is truly perfect in operating as intended…then I have indeed created an eternal world where I am removed from time and can live forever…"

Yaan shook his head at the idea.

"There's no way I managed to create something truly perfect…but I will spend as long in this illusion as possible. One of my greatest weaknesses is my low age; most of the Origin Gods spent over 200 million years in the 1st Origin Era…I'm like a child in comparison. I wonder how long this illusion will remain intact, and what will be the cause of its collapse…"

For now, he couldn't feel any flaws in his spell. He truly had perfectly executed his idea, meaning, the flaw must lie within the idea itself, a flaw that he didn't know was a flaw.

There was no need to overthink it, he would find his answer eventually. For now, it was time to spy on the world.

He followed Shi and Defiance backwards in time, accelerating the rate of reversal whenever nothing of note was happening. He didn't alter the flow so much that he might miss anything, of course.

He went back for 587 years, maintaining a ten times acceleration of time reversal during most times. He stopped whenever he noticed something, at which point he would analyse it in great detail.

By the time he reached the beginning of their chase, he felt a bit speechless.

"These two are both insane, they ended up charging through so many dangerous regions, and even Empyrean territories! Everyone kept out of their way, but the dangerous regions and formations set up in the Empyrean territories nearly killed them dozens of times…well, it's understandable – Defiance is chasing Shi, so he goes where she goes, and Shi is doing her best to throw him off. No matter the risk, it's safer than being chased down relentlessly by Defiance. He really holds a grudge better than anyone else…"

Yaan was amazed that Defiance had chased Shi for so long, without once blinking, taking his eyes away from her, or even changing his expression. That was some serious focus…

As Yaan watched Defiance closely, he studied the man's aura and dao as best he could. He spent years examining Defiance Sovereign's Will, and how it changed across those 587 ears…

By the end of his investigation, Yaan felt deeply moved.

"Not a single change. 587 years, and zero fluctuations in his certainty to follow through with his decision. Zero changes to his Defiant Will; he already hates her and wants her dead, as if he knows exactly how much hate he feels towards her, and therefore doesn't need to even consider decreasing or increasing that hate. Defiance…how are you so certain? Perhaps…I can find the answer if I follow you back even further. Let's start from the beginning, when I first sat down and removed myself from this world's changes."

The world span rapidly, and suddenly, Yaan was facing Defiance, who was meditating in a seemingly random place in the middle of the empty space between star systems. There was nothing and nobody here, aside from Defiance Sovereign, sat down in meditation.

Yaan decided to simply watch him meditate in normal time for a while. He expected the usual Defiance Sovereign's intense, confident, yet calm and imposing aura. However, reality surprised him.

For seven months, Defiance Sovereign was like a lifeless statue, unmoving and releasing no aura at all. This was the first time that Yaan had seen Defiance without a world-shaking, unrestrained aura all around.

He felt like he was seeing another side of Defiance for the first time…something that he had never thought existed.

Suddenly, after seven months, explosively and without warning, Defiance's aura erupted in such a maddening, unstable frenzy, that his Absolute Defiance Domain manifested at twice its maximum size, then suddenly exploded due to instability…and this repeated over 200 times over the following ten seconds. During this time, auras of hate exploded in a chaotic frenzy, filled with uncertainty and indecision, a pained confusion that should have been enough to send any man insane.

This hate was mostly directly towards the Heavenly Dao, uncontrollably so, but there was a significant portion directed towards Shi, and Yaan noticed that Defiance was focussing more on this hate than the rest.

These two hatreds made up 99% of his hate. The other 1%...was directed towards everything else.

Yaan even felt some hate directed at himself! However, it was actually pretty insignificant compared to Defiance's hate towards most of the divinities in this world…dead or alive.

Throughout the process, Defiance's expression didn't change, nor did he move. Yaan was confused by the eruption which arose and vanished so suddenly and without any warning, leaving no traces behind.

Afterwards, Defiance continued meditating like a statue, as if nothing had happened.

Actually, there was a slight difference…he seemed…even more steady than before.

Yaan suddenly realised something and quickly went back, analysing every moment of the eruption. He reached a shocking conclusion.

"His Dao Soul didn't so much as flinch throughout the eruption! In fact, his dao heart actually felt a sense of release…what is this, some sort of technique to steady his dao and will by venting his frustrations? But why did it start and end so abruptly?"

Very intrigued, Yaan zipped forwards, noting Defiance's completely unchanging state until 9 years later.

Again, a similar eruption appeared. Like with the last, Yaan examined every aspect in scrutinising detail.

The same thing happened again, only this time, it lasted for four seconds, but was twice as frantic and disorientating.

Defiance remained calm and steadfast, and his Dao Soul once again seemed to grow more firm and certain.

Yaan moved forwards silently…

10,000 years. Defiance kept this up for 10,000 years. There were some constants amidst the chaos. The most notable was that each eruption took longer to appear than the last…there was no reasoning to how much longer, though. There were 43 eruptions spaced between 9 and 10 years, then for some reason, the next came on 89 years later. After that, 100 years and 4 seconds…100 years and 5 seconds…156 years…it was really bizarre, but following each eruption, Defiance reached a stronger, steadier, more resolute state.

The other trend Yaan noticed, was that his hate towards Shi started to rise rapidly after 5,000 years. This was clearly deliberate on Defiance's part, because he was focussing 100% of his will on his hatred towards Shi. His hatred towards all other things, aside from the Heavenly Dao, was crushed and vanquished entirely.

After 10,000 years, Defiance opened his eyes, his gaze filled with focus and absolute certainty. He started releasing his aura, and Yaan, now very familiar with reading his aura, felt that his hatred was a full 100% focussed on Shi! And…also 100% on the Heavenly Dao.

He could never suppress his hatred of the Heavenly Dao; nor did he ever want to. However, Shi had interfered with his plan to finally kill the Heavenly Dao! He channelled all of his hate into the Heavenly Dao, and then recycled this same hate to flow towards Shi…

Defiance did not move, but just sat there, focussing on his utter hatred.

Yaan watched as his hate grew more and more focussed, until it started to give him a strange feeling…

Suddenly, several seconds before Yaan saw the beginning of their chase previously, Defiance stood up and shot forwards.

His speed of movement was completely beyond Yaan's expectations! He crossed the distance of six star systems and slammed his foot down into the Blood Plane continent with so much force that the entire central region of the continent shook violently, sending tremors all the way through the rest of the continent too! It was a terrifying force of destruction that cracked the earth, vaporised the Primordial Empire to dust, killing the tens of thousands of immortals who had gathered here to protect themselves with their numbers.

That was a significant portion of the remaining population…but to Defiance they were nothing.

Black lightning bolts trembled beneath his feet, then suddenly, Shi utilised her 'destroying space and time' technique for the first time…she hadn't named it yet, because from this point on, for the next 587 years, Shi's life consisted of being chased, captured and narrowly escaping, until finally, she was driven into the golden spatial tear.

Yaan went back and studied how Defiance moved with so much speed and power.

"There's actually a vague feeling of fate gradually building up as Defiance focusses on his hatred of Shi! I see, it's because he's reducing the possibility of being distracted by anything, setting him on a course that cannot and will not be changed – chasing Shi down and killing her. Of course, to me it is fate, to the God of Chaos, this is probably akin to 'increasing probability', and to Defiance, it is simply defying anything from distracting him from following his will…this act alone is like cultivation to him, cultivating his Defiant Will…"

Yaan spent a long time analysing Defiance, especially studying the fate in his actions.

"There are many different aspects to fate, as with every dao. This can be seen under the Heavenly Dao's system, wherein the major daos are split into derivative daos, but each of those derivatives can be considered a 'fragment' of the whole. There are also fragments that don't qualify as derivative daos…but that's merely the Heavenly Dao's assertion, in truth, anything can be thought of as dao. I should work on investigating the 'fragments' that make up the fate of all things. From there, it will be much easier to focus my own dao of fate. I can cultivate the parts that I desire, and if there is anything missing that I want, I will create new fragments for my fate dao!"

Yaan's eyes shone brilliantly as the idea arose in his mind. He had actually already thought of doing this, but he now felt that it should become a key focus of his.

If there were any derivatives of the dao of fate that naturally existed in this world, then what might they be? Karmic fate and Origin Fate were the two varieties of fate that were mentioned by others most frequently…but they were also derivatives of Origin and karma. Even so, this was extremely common amongst all daos.

"Origin fate, the fate of all things within the Origin, and the fate of the Origin itself…I find this the most confusing, because it almost suggests that fate is so powerful that it controls the Origin…but that would make the dao of origin a derivative of the dao of fate, but this is impossible - with the exception of the 'dao of void', all dao is derived from the dao of origin! The only exception is Chaos, derived in equal portions from the combination of Origin and Void. But…is fate not the binary opposite of Chaos, meaning they should be equally powerful in the world's operations? But that contradicts what he said back then; bizarrely, the God of Chaos claimed that Chaos cannot overcome fate…"

The more Yaan thought about it, the more confused he became. Fate almost seemed to be above something that was seemingly unsurpassable, yet it was also derived from normal major daos…

The dao of fate in this world, just where did it fit in exactly?

"Following Defiance was very thought provoking…I should examine the lives lived by the other eight Empyreans. Well then, next is Shi, I suppose. I really have no idea what this girl does when she isn't trying to kill me, or fleeing for her life from Defiance."