The God of Defiance

When Defiance Sovereign spoke, the world trembled, before shattering into countless fragments. The giant man faded from view, but Yaan could still feel his presence, which dictated the broken fragments of space to reform, creating a picture; a story.

As this story unfolded, Defiance Sovereign's voice echoed in Yaan's mind.

"This world of the four planes is the 2nd Origin Era, the 2nd cycle of the Origin's 4 cycles of creation and destruction…"

An immense golden light, a light which manifested with every colour imaginable upon making contact with the eye, filled Yaan's entire field of vision.

Defiance did not need to explain further, because immediately, Yaan understood – this was the Origin.

However, clearly, what he was seeing was not the actual Origin, nor was it even Defiance's memory of the Origin - it was simply Defiance's own depiction of the Origin. Because of this, Yaan thought that perhaps, showing the Origin directly, even from one's own memory, might be impossible…

Suddenly, the world expanded. The Origin drew further and further away, and now, it was surrounded on all sides by a vast, terrifying expanse of Chaos.

This Chaos…was something that Yaan could not understand. He could not put into words what he was seeing, and it even caused him to feel nauseated due to confusion.

"The Origin is surrounded by Chaos, and Chaos…is that which exists between the Origin and Void."

For an instant, everything became dark.

Yaan's mind trembled.

'This darkness…it is obviously flawed, because it is Defiance Sovereign's own depiction of it, but this…is far too similar to the Void that I saw back then!'

Before Yaan could think about this any further, the Void vanished without a trace. Perhaps, Defiance knew that showing this for too long would not bode well for his potential 'inheritor'…

Once again, Yaan found himself facing Defiance Sovereign, the towering behemoth of a man who sat atop his throne with a disdainful gaze.

"This is the 2nd Origin Era, but I came from the 3rd Origin Era. This is the 2nd Origin Era, but there are other outsiders here from the 1st Origin Era, which I have also entered, lived through, and transcended. No other outsider will speak of this matter. They will not risk helping other lives, and other outsiders, to comprehend the mysteries of this world…they fear the competition. Those pathetic self-proclaimed 'gods' do not dare to reveal themselves before the others…but I dare."

Defiance paused briefly, then asked:

"Why is this?"

A faint, mocking smile crept onto his lips.

"It is simple - because I am Defiance."

BANG!

The world shattered with an explosive bang, before violently rearranging itself into the scene…of Defiance's birth.

However, it became clear very quickly that this was not Defiance's original birth in his home Origin Era, but his reincarnation into the current, 2nd Origin Era.

Yaan found himself looking down at a village. Within the village, there was a small wooden home. Within the home, a mortal couple gazed down at their child lovingly as the midwife smiled from across the room. The mother had given birth successfully without any complications, causing the father to be filled with joy.

"My son, my healthy son!" The father laughed boisterously. When he looked down at his child, he felt that this boy looked very sturdy and strong!

"What shall we call him?" The woman gazed at her son adoringly.

The couple smiled as they thought about names, but their smiles froze in the next moment.

"You will call me Defiance." The baby spoke in a deep voice not befitting a child, no matter a newborn baby.

The midwife immediately shrieked and stumbled back, before passing out from shock.

"He spoke! Our baby spoke!" The mother cried out.

"Oh lord, he's, he's…he's so smart!" The father exclaimed, before laughing loudly once again. Based on this reaction, apparently, even Defiance's rebirth-parents were also not normal…

Baby Defiance smiled.

"But of course…because I am Defiance."

BANG!

The world shattered once again, and like before, the fragments rearranged themselves into a new scene.

This time, Defiance was around seven or eight years old. He was looking up at the sky and frowning. His frown steadily grew deeper, until eventually, his expression looked quite annoyed.

"Defi! Stop looking at the sun, it's bad for your eyes!" His mother reprimanded him. She tried to cover his face, but Defiance snorted and pushed her hand out of the way.

"Why should a little sun force me to avert my gaze? The sun…should avert its own gaze away from me!"

Defiance stood strong, now opening his eyes wide and staring up at the sun with such an intense glare that his eyes turned red. His mother started panicking and she tried to pull him inside, but he simply wouldn't move!

His father and another villager finally noticed what was going on, but even with all of their efforts, they could not pull Defiance away from the sun, and they could not block the sun's rays from his eyes!

When Defiance chose to stand tall and fight, nothing in this world could stand in his way.

Finally, after a full day, the sun went down, as if…it had finally conceded to the obstinate child who had stared into its searing brightness from morning to dusk.

"Hmph." Defiance smirked and shook his head disdainfully.

"Defi, you, you…why?! Why would you go so far?!" His father cried out sorrowfully, now unable to look Defiance in the face…

Defiance's eyes…had completely melted.

On this day, Defiance became blind.

"Why? It is because…I am Defiance!"

BANG!

Defiance was standing silently within his home village…but he was the only one standing. On all sides, he was surrounded by corpses.

Whoosh!

An old man appeared before him. When he saw the teenage boy standing there silently, he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, someone is still alive? No, I'm certain that I killed everyone…did you return to your village after I cast my Blood Refinement Spell? Strange, why would you dare to enter this place after seeing so many brutalised corpses? Wait, you're…blind?"

For a moment, Defiance remained silent. When he finally spoke, a faint smile appeared on his face, a smile that contained a hint of mocking and disdain.

"Why would I not dare?"

"Hmm? This…are you not afraid of my aura? This is impossible, you're truly unaffected, but you're just a mortal, I am at the Origin Soul Realm! You…just who are you?!"

The old man immediately became wary. In his eyes, this 'child' was not acting like any sort of mortal, and since he could not see through this person's cultivation…he might very well be an immortal!

The old man retreated by a hundred feet, then used every method available to him to assess the boy before him. However, no matter how he checked, he could only see a mortal…

"Wait a minute…perhaps his cultivation was crippled?" As his heart raced wildly, the old man's eyes lit up.

With this thought in mind, his heart started pounding with even greater ferocity than before. After a brief moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth, before coming to a decision and charging towards the boy with a mad look in his eyes.

If this boy was an immortal and hiding his true strength, the old man knew that he would not be able to leave here alive today, regardless of his actions. But if his guess was correct…this was his chance to capture and search the memories of an immortal!

Defiance did not move. Right as the old man was about to seize his throat, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Give me your eyes."

Suddenly, the old man froze.

When the boy spoke those words, the old man's entire body trembled in instinctual fear.

In this moment, Defiance was truly a mortal. He possessed no comprehension over dao…even his dao heart had been suppressed following his reincarnation into the 2nd Origin Era.

And yet, the commanding presence contained within his words was enough to cause the old man to freeze.

When the old man looked into Defiance's burned eye sockets…

He immediately tore out his own eyes and presented them to the boy, as his body and soul trembled like never before. Even he did not know why he did this, it was simply as if…he could not defy this person!

Defiance took the old man's eyes and swallowed them whole. Within minutes, his own vision was completely restored. His eyes were now gold, as if they had stolen the light from the sun that had once blinded him…

This scene caused the old man, who was observing Defiance with his Spirit Sense, to break out in cold sweat – he did not understand what had just happened!

Defiance turned away from the old man, who had unknowingly lowered his head in trepidation. He looked at the scene of blood and death all around him, before walking towards a dead couple, who had collapsed outside of a small wooden house.

They were his parents…but also not. They were the parents who gave birth to him in this Origin Era, but they were not his original parents.

As Defiance stared down at this couple expressionlessly, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

In the end, Defiance looked up at the sky, and turned his gaze towards the sun.

The sun could no longer harm his eyes…but whether the sun could harm his eyes or not, would have no bearing on Defiance's actions.

After a long moment of silence, Defiance finally spoke.

"You will become my servant and teach me of the path of power in this world."

The old man instinctively lowered his head further.

"Yes…"

"You are probably wondering why it is that you cannot defy me…" Defiance turned towards the old man with a faint smile. The old man didn't say anything, nor did he even dare to look up, but his body trembled, showing that Defiance had struck a nerve.

"It is because, in this world…only I am defiant."

BANG!

The scene changed again.

Defiance had aged; he now looked like a vigorous middle-aged man, similar to the will that Yaan had seen before.

The old cultivator from before was nowhere to be seen – he had long since died.

The old demonic cultivator was not present, but as Defiance sat atop his throne, thousands of Origin Soul Realm cultivators, many Nirvana Realm cultivators, and even several immortals, lowered their heads before him!

Defiance was currently a 5-Star Realm body temperer - a shocking achievement given that he lived on the Qi Plane – and yet, he could even make immortals lower their heads and submit to his rule!

Defiance ignored these people. He stared into the distance and a faint smile crept onto his lips.

"When I break through to the Immortal Step, that 'Law Deity' is likely to notice me…but so what?"

Defiance smiled and finally looked out across the crowd. His gaze was as deep as the abyss and showed that he had seen through many of the world's mysteries…

In a way, in the 2nd Origin Era, Defiance was indeed the most knowledgeable person – after all, he had lived through both the 3rd and 1st Origin Eras, whilst the other outsiders had only lived through the 1st!

He knew things that even the Heavenly Dao did not know in this 2nd Origin Era…

He knew many things that others did not know, but more importantly, his dao heart had been tempered through the Origin twice already. Even though his dao heart was suppressed upon re-entering the Origin, the seed of potential, his nature of Defiance, remained present.

"I will not live my life in fear and hiding…because I am Defiance!"

BANG!

Defiance broke through to the 6-Star Realm, not with his dao comprehension, but with his dao heart itself!

This was truly shocking, because it meant that his dao heart had become equivalent in strength to a complete fragment of an earthly dao; this was the immortal stage of the dao heart, it was the level of possessing a 'named dao heart'!

And the name of Defiance's dao heart?

Of course…it was the heart of defiance!

Reaching this level as a Foundation Step cultivator was truly shocking. Possessing a named dao heart was the boundary that usually separated Ancient Immortals from Dao Immortals; it was the difference between Rank 8 and Rank 9!

It was no surprise that the Heavenly Dao would not take kindly to someone so extreme…but Defiance did not fear the Heavenly Dao.

He felt no fear when the Heavenly Dao struck down with his Nirvana Life Heavenly Blessing…his Nirvana Death Heavenly Calamity…his Immortal Ascension Tribulation…and all of the immortal tribulations which afflicted immortals during the True Immortal Realm…all at the same time!

But that was not all…in order to ascend the mortal dao heart into a named dao heart, the heart was forced to go through its own tribulation – this was a tribulation unrelated to the Heavens, but a tribulation which came from within oneself!

Countless lights struck down at Defiance. Defiance faced the golden blessing, the black calamity, the various True Immortal Tribulations, as well as the Immortal Ascension Tribulation and the Dao Ascension Tribulation which attacked from within.

The imposing man remained on his throne, and not once did his gaze falter. After a few moments, he shifted his gaze upwards, towards the palace roof which had been destroyed by the tribulations, towards the sky…and towards the Heavens themselves.

With seemingly no difficulty, Defiance overcame his many overlapped tribulations…and he immediately became a 9-Star Immortal!

"Is that all you have, pathetic Heavenly Dao?"

Defiance's provocative words carried with them ripples of dao; as someone with a named dao heart, he could now easily imbue a sense of dao into his words so powerful that it could even reach the Heavens!

The very moment he became able to do so, the first thing that Defiance did…was insult and challenge the Heavenly Dao.

The cultivators who had been kneeling before Defiance had long since retreated, even the immortals didn't dare to get in the way of this insane tribulation. However, when Defiance provoked the Heavens…something changed.

"R-retribution!"

Someone cried out, causing a ripple to spread through the crowd. Immediately, everyone fled in fear.

Indeed, after provoking the Heavens like that, Defiance actually attracted Heavenly Retribution!

Tribulation was a trial, but Retribution…was punishment!

Heavenly Retribution could only spell one outcome; death! There was no escaping from this!

A black bolt of lightning manifested within the sky. This bolt of lightning extended far outside of just the planet, spreading out across the entire solar system…

The lightning grew larger, stronger, more powerful, until…

BANG!

Without warning, it collapsed inwards. Everywhere it travelled, space trembled and turned into fragments of destruction. It did not strike any living being, but if anything dared to get in its way, that creature would certainly die!

Defiance's eyes shone with a mocking light.

"Heavenly Dao…what right do you have to punish me? What right do you have…to act so arrogantly before me?!"

Defiance finally leapt to his feet and charged up into the sky. He was a large man, but he looked tiny compared to the black lighting.

BANG!

With a punch, the two forces collided. Defiance was enveloped by the lightning, and yet…

After a few moments of explosive destruction passed by, the chaos in the sky faded away, revealing Defiance, who was soaked in blood, but very much alive.

"Heavenly Dao…I swear, be it in this Era or the next…one day, I will destroy you!"

The manic look in Defiance's eyes was gradually replaced, not by his usual disdain and mocking…but with a seething hatred so immense that it caused all who saw it to tremble.

His hatred surged into his aura, and it was so intense, that it felt as if Defiance had lost his mind, despite him looking entirely calm.

With a low voice, Defiance looked up at the sky and muttered to himself as his blood dripped down from his body and stained the ground beneath his feet.

"There is no greater hatred in this world, than that between Defiance and the Heavenly Dao…"

The world went dark, and once again, Yaan found himself staring up at the towering giant known as Defiance.

He had clearly only seen the first portion of Defiance's life in this Era, and yet, Yaan now had a very different understanding of this person compared to what he had heard from the Spirit Plane Lord.

Yaan looked into Defiance's golden eyes as he spoke.

"There are two ways to obtain my inheritance…either kill me and take it for yourself…or destroy the Heavenly Dao!"

Whoosh!

Before he knew it, Yaan found himself back within the Spirit Palace. He looked up, then looked back down at the scroll in his hands, which had turned dull and no longer showed any unusual signs. After passing the scroll back to the Spirit Plane Lord, Yaan sighed deeply.

"Well?" She asked hopefully. "What do you think…of your old rival?"

"What do I think…?" Yaan muttered.

He shook his head.

"I think…that the God of Defiance is very lonely."

"Huh?" The Spirit Plane Lord was startled and looked at Yaan in bewilderment.

She had shown many disciples this inheritance, and their reactions always fell into one of two categories – they were either stunned senseless by the immensity of this person's strength of will…or they were stunned senseless by the fact that the world's strongest being was actually such a madman.

"Lonely? What do you mean, lonely? Defiance Sovereign is an obstinate, brash, self-assured powerhouse, how could someone like him possibly be lonely?"

Yaan looked up at the Spirit Plane Lord in confusion.

"Haven't you seen his inheritance? And haven't you met him in person?"

"Of course I have…" She furrowed her brows.

"Then…how can you not see just how much pain this person is in?"

When Yaan looked into Defiance's eyes, he saw…

Pain.

He saw so much pain in his eyes, so much struggle, hatred, and loneliness, that it almost caused his heart to tremble.

He saw the pain of a man who had lived through 2 Origin Eras…

He saw the pain of a man who had been forced to leave his home Era, and was unable to return…

He saw the pain of a man who walked a lonely path, a path away from a past and towards an ambition that he kept buried deep within his heart…

He saw the pain of Defiance.

Before the Spirit Plane Lord could ask what he meant, the Primordial Sage spoke for the first time in the last few years.

"You still haven't realised it, have you, Yaan?"

For some reason, her words caused Yaan's heart to lurch. He slowly looked at the young, expressionless girl, as he felt a sense of dread creeping into his dull heart.

"Yaan…ever since your rebirth…you have been able to see the pain in the eyes of all living creatures. Even divinities cannot escape your perception of the heart's pain."

Her words struck a bolt in his mind.

He finally realised why he found it so strange that the Spirit Plane Lord was showing her vulnerabilities, emotions and worries, so openly to him - in truth, she wasn't showing him these things at all, she had been hiding her emotions all along. She had been acting strong for her brother, putting on a brave face for him…

But he could see through it. He could see her pain…he could see everyone's pain.

The Spirit Plane Lord looked stunned, but the Primordial Sage was not done. When the Sage struck, she struck hard, and she always made sure that her attack would reach its mark.

"Yaan…why have you been avoiding looking at your reflection?"

Yaan's body trembled.

When he was painting back then, he had considered looking at his reflection so that he could better paint himself…but he chose against doing so.

When he was standing above the reflective Infinity Lake…he did not look down.

He had avoided thinking about this, but he now understood – he didn't want to see himself.

He didn't want to see what he looked like right now…he didn't want to see his pain.

Whoosh…

The Primordial Sage took out an ordinary mirror and held it in front of Yaan's face. He didn't even have time to react, so he was forced to stare at his own reflection.

What he saw, was a child. A chid with a doll-like appearance, long black hair, and red-brown eyes.

He looked fragile, like a gust of wind might blow him away at any moment. He looked…broken.

Yaan stared into his own eyes, and after a few seconds passed by, a confused smile appeared on his face.

"Haha, that's strange…why am I crying…?"