Conceal Truth

Yaan flew away from the Divine Beast Sector with Shadow Deity and Typhoon Deity following close behind, leaving only Poison Deity and the Sage to finish the conquest of this sector.

The situation was evolving rapidly, they couldn't spare so many divinities to deal with a single sector which wasn't being targeted by others.

Naturally, the Sage also asked about his dao body, but Yaan casually brushed off the question, saying that his dao body had been injured and was recovering. It was a somewhat obvious lie, but so what? So long as the Sage didn't know where his dao body was, it didn't matter.

She wouldn't press the matter, because she understood that she had her objectives, and Yaan had his. He was clearly making an effort to assist with the conquest with his cultivation base body, she couldn't ask for more than that.

Actually, Yaan did want to succeed with this conquest, but even more so than that, he wanted two other things, which he would achieve with his two bodies. 

His cultivation base body would assist with the conquest…or rather, his cultivation base body would take the role of 'leading' various individuals with the conquest, meanwhile building up his own influence and gathering his own subordinates.

The Sage had clearly told the 15 Deities working beneath her that she and Yaan were equals, and whilst Yaan had proven his strength by beating down the Astral King, it would be a joke to think that any of those individuals actually thought of him as their leader. If he followed the Primordial Sage's plans without doing anything else, they might very well gain control over the star system, but really, it would be the Sage's territory. If he wanted to claim anything for himself, Yaan needed to win over the divine world.

The two Deities following him right now were his first real subordinates, and he didn't intend to stop there.

As his cultivation base body headed to the Divine Hydra Sector, his dao body entered the Chaotic Sector.

The word 'chaos' naturally made Yaan think about the region of Chaos outside of the Origin, but the Chaotic Sector was completely unrelated to that. That said, the environment in this sector could certainly be described as 'chaotic'…

Yaan looked around with intrigue at the stars which were hurtling through space at such an intense speed that it was too dangerous for immortals to even attempt to fly through this place. Likewise, the planets and moons through this sector were unlike those elsewhere in this star system; they flew at a terrific speed, even occasionally creating spatial tears with their momentum. Many of the celestial bodies in the Chaotic Sector also rotated so rapidly that it was impossible for life to grow within, and for this reason, the Chaotic Sector was somewhat devoid of life compared to the other sectors.

Many of the stars which were flung out of the Four Divine Star System following the Qi Plane's transfer to the Blood Plane, came from the Chaotic Sector. Not only that, but the transfer had resulted in many celestial bodies crashing into one another, causing this sector to become even more chaotic and destitute than usual.

Of course, to a divinity, this wasn't a big issue. Aside from a few of the largest life-stars, nothing in the Chaotic Sector could pose a divinity a real threat, so long as they were careful and remained aware of their surroundings.

Anyway, the environment was unable to deter Yaan, and it was unrelated to his reason for coming here - he was here for the Divine True Inheritance. Whilst he might be able to take on this inheritance after the conquest was over, he was too interested in this particular inheritance and didn't want to risk someone else getting in there before he did. With the current state of the world, there were sure to be others who had the same idea as him, taking advantage of the turmoil to plunder and steal whilst others were distracted.

The Divine True Inheritance in the Chaotic Sector was one of the two inheritances in the Four Divine Star System that was left behind by an Empyrean, the other being in the Divine Beast Sector. As for why Yaan was interested in this particular inheritance…it was actually not because he wanted to reap any specific benefits this time…

This inheritance was known as the Death Inheritance, left behind in that great war one million years ago by Death Empyrean. Many divinities died in that war, and most of them left behind their inheritances. The majority of divinities would set up certain measures on their bodies, making it such that upon their demise, their inheritance would appear in this world, and Death Empyrean did likewise.

Strangely though, nobody actually knew how Death Empyrean had died!

So, why was it that Yaan was interested in this inheritance?

Naturally, he had some interest in obtaining the inheritance itself, after all, the dao of death was a dao that he had quite a comprehensive understanding over. However, this inheritance held something else…the possibility to resolve one of the mysteries in Yaan's life that left him feeling the most perplexed.

'Back then, after I died on the Blood Plane, that should have been it - I should have died, and I should have stayed dead…but I didn't. I didn't truly die, because someone saved me…I was saved by an entity that I can only describe as 'death'. If there is an answer to be found in this 2nd Origin Era, then it's inside this inheritance.'

This was the his best hope of resolving this oddity, but honestly, Yaan didn't hold too much hope. He had met several Empyreans by now, but not one of them gave him the same profound feeling as that entity of death from back then.

Regardless, he needed to at least try. This was his best lead, he would regret it if he didn't try.

As Yaan made his way through the Chaotic Sector, he was forced to go slowly and take a roundabout route due to the extreme turbulence of not only the celestial bodies, but also the fabric of the space itself. Even in the past, the Chaotic Sector was known as a dangerous place where care needed to be taken when travelling, but now, this danger had clearly increased to a new level.

Just as Yaan was taking note of this increased danger, he narrowed his eyes and quickly took several steps back. 

Whoosh!

A moment after he moved, a spatial tear ripped open the region where he had been standing, then an entire life-star emerged from the crack, resulting in countless other cracks spreading through the region. It was only after the life-star fully emerged that the fabric of space regained some stability, but even then, the life-star was moving so quickly that tears in space would randomly manifest around it all along its flight path.

Yaan watched silently as the star travelled past him, before his gaze was drawn towards a large planet, still trapped in orbit around it. This was a life-planet, but it had clearly been drawn in closer towards the star, causing it to erupt in flames, destroying everything across the surface.

A thick aura of death lingered around the planet, showing that until very recently, it had been thriving with life.

Seeing this, Yaan shook his head and sighed.

"Ever since the cycle of reincarnation collapsed, huge world-shaking events have been occurring one after the other, resulting in mass destruction and death. The cycle of reincarnation collapsing was the first, the destruction of the Spirit Plane was the second and the breaking of the Divine Stairway the third. Now, the fourth event has taken place - the fusion of the Qi Plane into the Blood Plane, causing even further detriment to all life in this world. As the 2nd Origin Era approaches its end, the world will continue experiencing this type of destruction, and life will become harsher and harsher…"

From what Yaan understood, something similar had occurred in the 1st Origin Era. As for the 3rd Origin Era, he didn't know, since only Defiance had experienced that Era, but he never spoke about it.

And as for the 4th Origin Era?

There was no 4th 'Origin' Era, because the 4th Era was known as the Chaos Era!

Nobody in this world had experienced the 4th Era, nor did anyone know anything about the world that existed in that Era…if any such world truly did exist there. According to the information casually spread by Defiance, the 4th Era came about when the Origin and the expanse of Chaos fused together, resulting in a world that could neither be entered, nor escaped from…

But of course, the powerful would still try.

Based on Yaan's current understanding, the Origin Gods attempted to strengthen themselves through each of the three Origin Eras, as they prepared for their entry into the Chaos Era.

Before long, the star was long gone and Yaan continued on his way.

When he eventually reached his destination, the place where the Sage had previously told him he could find the Death Inheritance, just as he expected…it was gone.

Yaan wasn't disheartened, nor was he even surprised. After seeing the movement of the stars, he had expected the Death Inheritance to be displaced.

He continued to conceal his presence as he examined the empty region of space, searching for any traces of aura that he could potentially follow. He knew that the Sage and the Deity sent to the Chaotic Sector must have already reached this location prior to the Qi Plane's transfer, but either they had also been displaced, or they had left this region in search of the Death Inheritance.

After spending some time using Reveal Truth to examine everything in detail, Yaan concluded that the Death Inheritance had actually fallen into a spatial crack, whilst the Sage and the Earthly Deity had departed in search of it.

'In all likelihood, they are just searching the sector at random, I highly doubt that they were able or willing to follow the Death Inheritance into a spatial tear during the Qi Plane's transfer. Perhaps the Sage found a lead, but I'm likely to be discovered if I try to follow her, even with my concealment methods. My illusions make for good concealment, but I'm simply using the dao of illusions directly to conceal myself, it would be much better if I had a spell or treasure for this purpose…'

As he was thinking along these lines, Yaan paused, before his eyes lit up as a thought occurred.

His dao body couldn't use any spells aside from Dao Spells, but when it came to conceiving and utilising Dao Spells, nothing in this world could possibly beat his dao body. Usually, Dao Spells were difficult to create at will, they were more often created by chance during a moment of enlightenment. However…

He already had one Dao Spell, Reveal Truth…but was it not true that in this world, there were two sides to every coin?

Where there was life, there was death. Where there was creation, there was destruction. In this world, many daos could be considered with this sort of pairing…so why not spells?

If he could reveal…then surely he could also conceal!

"Reveal Truth…Conceal Truth…" Yaan murmured.

His eyes, which were previously shining with the light of indiscernible colour that came from activating Reveal Truth, slowly started to change. The confusing light of Reveal Truth gradually morphed into something different, until eventually, his eyes simply couldn't be seen.

Yaan entered something of a trance as he continued to ponder over the concept of 'Conceal Truth'. Unknowingly, the hidden light within his eyes was now hiding his face; if anyone looked at him right now, they would simply be unable to see his face, no matter what method they utilised.

Since leaving the Boundless Dao Library, Yaan had been moving from one place to another, never resting, always active. Right now the world was in turmoil, this period was an excellent opportunity that he couldn't let go of, but he knew that once this was over, he needed to entered secluded meditation to properly process his gains from the library.

Not only had he received those 100 Dao Legacies by studying the Dao Runes and absorbing the dao waves with his domain, but afterwards, he was forced to devour the entire Boundless Dao Sea, a construct formed by Progenitor Yang's formation, which took 33,333 Dao Rune Legacies and refined them into a golden sea.

His Dao Soul had been sublimated in so many daos and wills, and whilst his own dao comprehension had experienced explosive growth unlike anything else, he was yet to properly comprehend any of it on a rational level, and neither could he properly utilise any of this comprehension without meditating on his gains for a long time.

That said, it was a fact that his Dao Soul had devoured something truly profound. Now that the idea of a new Dao Spell sprang to mind, it was as if his mind and Dao Soul were rapidly digesting many of the relevant comprehensions that he had absorbed.

The dao of illusions was the primary focus, but he was also utilising the dao of yin-yang; the dao which embodied the principle of binary opposites. Using this reflective dao, he was able to rapidly derive a new Dao Spell, the perfect polar opposite to Reveal Truth.

From his eyes, to his face, to his neck, torso, abdomen, and finally his four limbs. Before long, Yaan had completely vanished from the world. His concealment was so extreme that even the Heavenly Dao could not find a trace of his existence!

Thwip!

Suddenly, Yaan returned to the world. His eyes remained unfocussed for some time, but his gaze soon cleared up and a look of understanding appeared in his eyes. 

"Finally, I created a second Dao Spell! Conceal Truth…"

After saying this, his body distorted, until he changed…into the Primordial Sage!

Be it her appearance, her aura, her demeanour, everything about her, he completely looked like the Primordial Sage!

His body changed once again, this time rapidly expanding until he was many times larger than even the stars.

He looked exactly like the Defiance Sovereign! At a glance, anyone would truly believe that he was Defiance Sovereign!

Yaan's body changed again and again…

Shi, Love Empyrean, Law Empyrean, Rainbow Empyrean, the Primordial Asura…

With no difficulty at all, Yaan Concealed the Truth from the world, transforming into all of the Empyreans that he had met!

Finally, he returned to his usual appearance.

"I could take on these appearances before, but the disguise wasn't nearly this good! Not only can I take on their appearances, I can even mimic others' demeanours, speech patterns and auras. Of course, divinities are very astute, anyone who knows the person well will eventually see flaws in the act, but even so…"

Yaan chuckled as a strange glint flashed in his eyes.

"I feel like I could have some fun with this." 

With that, he once again activated Conceal Truth with its most fundamental function - completely hiding him from the world. After confirming that he was truly undetectable, even with his own Illusion Sense, Yaan continued on with his search for the Death Inheritance, following the faint trail of aura left behind by the Primordial Sage and the Earthly Deity in this sector.