Chaotic Fate

The moment Yaan lifted his leg, taking the first step onto the thread of fate that would lead to his father in the heart of the Divine Court's territory - he paused.

As his leg descended towards this fate, he felt an inexplicable surge of understanding that if he continued on with this plan, he would quickly find himself in danger.

Yaan smiled lightly, not surprised by this at all.

"The Divine Court took in and carefully nurtured the reincarnation of my father, treating him well in one of their more lavish sub-sects. Clearly, they did this because of his relationship with me, this is a blatant trap that they didn't bother trying to hide, they are just hoping that I will charge in regardless. And really, I'm tempted - I'm intrigued by what sort of trap they think could stop me, however…I can feel that various events are converging, too many karmas are overlapping, fates intertwining. Nothing has happened as of yet, but the fate in this thread was the last piece to a hidden puzzle, and now, I can finally see the bigger picture!"

Yaan's eyes shone with the light of crimson chains that endlessly shot through his eyes in every direction. It was as if there were a limitless number of chains, and none of them had anything like a 'beginning' or 'end'.

"The Divine Court took in my father to bait me in. The Divine Court is also very likely to spring a trap against my Paradise Sect in the Neutral Star System…they will not underestimate me at this point - the Divine Court plans to make a big move in the Neutral Star System. They have likely accounted for the possibility of every single member of the Paradise Sect being present, or else, if they overlooked this and were caught unprepared, their trap would backfire completely."

Yaan could see clearly that the Divine Court was aiming to harm him in the Neutral Star System, but he could only see a blurred image and not the finer details.

He didn't discern this truth with only his father's fate, that little string was just the last piece of the puzzle.

"The 2nd Origin Era will be ending in 30,000 years or less. Like the 1st Origin Era, the final sign of the end will arrive alongside the Paragons from the Chaos Era. This was very nearly triggered already, thanks to Shi and Defiance, and I am also at fault for creating an irreparable golden spatial tear."

Yaan's eyes glittered as he continued to look along the various lines of converging fate.

"Seemingly unconnected but actually sitting in the centre of the collision of fates, is the Primordial Sage. Her reason for obsessively observing me, and the matter of her sharing a trait of her Dao Soul with three million others. It's connected, but how…"

"If I'm understanding these entanglements of karmic fate correctly, then I'm certain that Defiance Sovereign and maybe even other Empyreans will be involved in the Neutral Star System plot. If Defiance is truly working with the Divine Court, then he has confirmed that they do not possess Shi…meaning he knows that she's in my possession."

Yaan showed a confused, dazed expression, as thick, ancient looking chains of fate, manifested in his eyes in the form of illusions that reflected the truth of all cause and effect in this world.

"Defiance, working with the Divine Court to attack me? Because he wants Shi? But then why not just come to me directly? So…he wants me dead? No, that still doesn't explain why he would ever work with the Divine Court, a group that he infamously despises, and why the Divine Court would-"

Yaan paused as he realised something.

"So Law Empyrean really is the Evil God. Only someone like that could bring themselves to ally with their most hated enemy, shaking the faith of the entire Divine Court and all of their subordinates in the process. But if he's willing to go that far, then this plan of his…should assuredly result in the death or capture of either me, or the Sage…."

Yaan's mind drifted again to the Primordial Sage.

"The Sage has been growing increasingly agreeable with me. This has nothing to do with our relationship, it's just that the key to her dao heart comprehension and Origin Ascension lies with me. It's as if, soon, very soon, she will ascend…"

"The Sage shares that Dao Soul trait with so many others…almost all of the three million have lived their lives, and died already. Others are powerhouses at the Divine Step, others are immortals, or lower cultivators…"

"But most bizarrely of all, all of these things, even those which are currently completely unrelated, are on a fated collision course in the Neutral Star System….in at most one short year. A collision course that will involve a battle against Defiance. If I am captured or forced to flee, Defiance will no doubt take Shi, kill her…and trigger the final sign of the end. Shi's total destruction will result in a wave of destruction spreading all throughout the world, ripping open that golden spatial tear and giving the Chaos Era Paragons their chance to enter!"

"This is not good. In the 1st Origin Era, the limitations of cultivation within the Origin were much looser than in this Era, yet even those beings, working together, struggled to endure against the Paragon Wills for just three days. Constantly, they were forced to escape by ascending the Origin…"

"If the Paragons arrive now, won't they be here for the next 30,000 years? This…"

Suddenly, Yaan thought of the blue-robed prophet.

"That strange Prophet…he clearly understood something about many potential future outcomes. And his power goes beyond what Empyreans can do…"

Yaan made up his mind, turned around, took two steps, and immediately arrived in the exact same position where he had been standing previously, close to the giant spatial tear, right before the old prophet forced him to leave.

Yaan spent some time looking around, but the prophet was nowhere to be seen. He didn't get too close to the spatial tear due to its destructive suctioning effect on the area, but he approached close enough that he had expected the prophet to appear and stop him again.

Yaan returned to his original position and frowned.

"Didn't he expel me from this area because he's defending the spatial tear? Why would he leave?"

Yaan decided to use Temporal Vision to look into the past.

All divinities could develop their own methods to peer into the past, at their level it wasn't very complicated to do, so they just called the general act 'Temporal Vision'.

As for Yaan, his eyes shone with red chains until he peered deep enough into this space, allowing him to see the countless tiny threads of fate that connected the past to the present.

The past was something that had already happened and affected the present, meaning that every piece of space shared fate with itself in the past.

Yaan activated Reveal Truth, and his gaze fused into one of the threads of fate, before jumping out as soon as he sensed the presence of others - they were the last people to have visited this place.

He watched as the blue robed prophet casually threw Shi across the star systems, then calmly convinced Defiance to turn away…

This alone shocked Yaan, as he had never seen Defiance be so agreeable with someone when they asked him to change his intentions.

Did the prophet intimidate Defiance?

Yaan immediately dismissed this idea, as Defiance had long since eliminated the concept of fear, or the idea that he could possibly stand below anything or anyone, from his very dao.

It meant that the prophet spoke the truth, and Defiance took his warning seriously. Defiance seemed to recognise the prophet, so maybe he had attacked him in the past, only to realise something and not continue along this path.

Going further back, Yaan saw the blue robed prophet facing his own past self. He again felt strange when he saw how the prophet looked at him…

Suddenly, Yaan's heart thumped.

He was using Temporal Vision, so how come neither he, nor Shi and Defiance, had noticed?

Whenever someone looked into their past, a divinity would feel their gaze. Yaan might guess his illusory nature concealed his gaze, but that wouldn't evade his own past self, and he felt that the prophet would definitely feel it.

Silently, Yaan continued to go back, now following the strange thread of fate that was attached to the prophet.

Suddenly, as the old man simply dissipated following Defiance's departure, Yaan felt a nauseating pressure envelop him, before the world span and all of his senses lost their direction.

Just as suddenly as it came on, he stabilised his mind and found himself staring the somber faced blue-robed prophet in the eye.

"When space is cracked and the 2nd Era returns to a single realm, those of the 4th shall descend once again…"

Bang!

Yaan felt an explosive shockwave fill his mind. He took several minutes to recover his senses, and when he did, he found himself back in his own time.

"What the hell was that? Why was his fate completely…chaotic? What was it he said… 'when space is cracked and the 2nd Era returns to a single realm, those of the 4th shall descend once again.' This…"

When the 2nd Era returns to a single realm?

Yaan knew that in the 1st Origin Era, there had been just a single encompassing the world realm. It was said that the death of the Heavenly Dao at the end of the 1st Origin Era, and its subsequent reincarnation, resulted in it splitting into the four realms of the 2nd Origin Era…others suggested that this world layout was actually related to the Heavenly Dao seeking to suppress all living beings in the world, much more so in this Era compared to the last.

"The Spirit Plane was destroyed, the Qi Plane and Blood Plane fused together, leaving only this world…and the Sage Plane. But the Sage Plane is the Primordial Sage's Sea of consciousness…why is the presence of her Sea of Consciousness related to the final sign of the end, the widening of the spatial tear, and the invasion of the Paragons?"

Yaan felt completely bewildered the more he thought about it. Unlike before, when all the seemingly separate events converged with their overlapping fates, he could not even follow the fate of this! It was as if it's fate had lost all order, falling into…

"Chaos." Yaan muttered.

The prophet's form was unstable, he appeared in this world at random, then vanished without a warning, leaving no trace.

Just now, when Yaan tried to follow his fate, it was just like the fate relating to the Sage Plane; chaotic and without order.

"Now that I think about it, some say that the concept of Yin and Yang encompasses dao itself, including every dao under the sky. Yin and yang, fire and water, life and death, creation and destruction…every dao has its polar opposite, and the relationship between every pairing of daos is different."

"If there is a dao of fate…then its opposite would be the dao of chaos." Yaan muttered lightly.

No, he couldn't leave things here!

He looked down and his eyes lit up with Reveal Truth. He looked into the past, then as soon as he saw the prophet, he grabbed ahold of his chain of fate, and would not let go. He shut his eyes, knowing that the nausea of the chaos would only weaken his grip.

Even so, a storm of disorientation assaulted Yaan's senses. He couldn't sense the passage of time or space, he had no idea how long he had been following this fate, nor how far back it was going, or even where he was.

"You really are unreasonably stubborn, aren't you?"

The world shook, before Yaan found himself standing in a familiar temple…

He looked around, but quickly realised that he had never actually seen this exact temple, it just resembled the types of places that he had always preferred to live in the past.

Yaan turned and looked towards the prophet, who was seated on a cushion with a wooden table between himself and another cushion.

The prophet sat on a cushion as blue as the ocean, whilst Yaan took his seat on a cushion that was exactly the colour of blood…and his robe.

He realised that the prophet's robe also matched his cushion.

As soon as he sat down, Yaan suddenly came to see that this temple was split into two separate worlds. Ahead of him, there was pure chaos, no order or reason, uncontrollable and unpredictable…completely incomprehensible.

But on his own side of the temple, there was a clear flow that encompassed all things. The flow was filled with a feeling of certainty and understanding; confusion transformed into truth, and truth was always within his sight.

The prophet sipped his tea in silence. After some thought Yaan did likewise.

After putting the tea cup down, Yaan smiled.

"This tea is terrible."

"Yes, for some reason I have never been able to make decent tea. I don't particularly like tea either, haha."

Yaan looked at the man, but hesitated to use Reveal Truth.

"If you try to see through my truth, this place will cease to exist."

"And what is this place exactly?"

"It is the world."

"A different world? A different time?"

"No, it is just the world in this moment. This moment lacks order and consistency; it will soon enough revert to its state of order, that is, the world you have always known."

"Is this where you were before entering the 2nd Origin Era?" Yaan asked, confused but wanting to understand.

"No, I have never been here before. In fact, this place only exists at present because you tried to follow my fate. I advise you not to do that again, as you will damage the world quite severely each time you do. That is, after the world reverts back from this temporary plane, to its usual state of order."

Honestly, Yaan had no idea what he was talking about, but he felt like the prophet wasn't lying; this place would fall apart soon, and he would return to the present.

"Who are you, and why do you know about future events leading to the end of the 2nd Origin Era?"

"I do not know of a single certainly, only every possibility. I am only trying to maximise your chances of survival."

"And how do you know all this? Who are you, where did you come from?"

The old man chuckled.

"I can't speak of such things in the Eras of Origin, it will only inflict further damage upon the order which it relies upon."

"Order…do you mean fate?"

"Not exactly…I can damage order, but not fate…that has been made all too clear to me…"

Yaan sighed, unsure of how to deal with this guy. It didn't seem like he had dragged Yaan here on purpose, it was Yaan's fault that they were in this…place. It wouldn't be surprising if the old man didn't want to be helpful. Only…

"You said that you want to help me survive? Tell me, why are you doing this, who are you?"

"I said before, I'm just a travelling prophet. I can see that you are annoyed by what you perceive to be my 'cryptic way of speaking', but unfortunately, that is just how a prophet is."

"…" Yaan felt like he was being mocked at this point.

After a moment of silence, the old prophet stared at Yaan and his hidden confusion, and he couldn't help but smile with that same unfamiliar emotion.

"Why do you look at me like that?" Yaan suddenly asked.

The prophet took a while to respond, but eventually spoke quietly…

"Fate."

When he spoke this word, the entire world trembled. The temple started falling apart, and chaotic currents fused into a more ordered flow in the outside. Yaan could see fragments of the world that he knew reassembling under this flow of order, until eventually, the chaotic fate unravelled itself and accelerated the truth in this world.

Yaan narrowed his eyes. The prophet had risked destroying this whole place just to say that one word.

But he wasn't just saying the word, rather, he was speaking to Yaan directly…

For the first time, someone had seen through his dao heart of fate.

After a thought, Yaan replied:

"Chaos."

Abruptly, the reassembly of the world froze. Everything was trembling, on the verge of moving again, but for now, things were stable enough.

For now.

Ignoring the abnormalities, Yaan continued to question the prophet.

"Why are so many fates converging on the trap in the Neutral Star System? And…why is the Sage at the centre of all this?"

"I cannot speak of your dao; to this day, it eludes me…but I will trust that you saw through things rightly, despite the low probability. However, the probability of the Sage in this convergence is a variable that I cannot see through, meaning one thing - you will decide how this convergence ends, and you will use the Sage to do so."

CRACK!

The temple once again started falling apart, and before long, there was no ceiling nor any walls, and the ground beneath them was crumbling away.

Before Yaan could say anything, the prophet cut in, his voice imposing and convincing Yaan to listen silently.

"In truth, beyond my prophecy, any words that I speak to you will change nothing. You will do as you do, as always, as ever, as expected…Chaos cannot overcome Fate."

With a blink, Yaan found himself back in reality. No time had passed, and nothing was out of the ordinary. He would even think that everything from before was an illusion of sorts, but…it wasn't. He knew that it wasn't.

Yaan sighed, having confirmed his guess.

"The so called prophet…is the God of Chaos."

Suddenly, Yaan found himself laughing.

"The God of Chaos, suddenly appearing out of nowhere, with no warning, inconsistent in his existence and with power that abides no reasoning…as expected of Chaos, hahaha! But most amusingly of all, the one with a dao heart of chaos, is trying to protect me, his natural opposition, the one with the dao heart of fate. Chaos cannot overcome Fate? Did he just admit defeat to me, without us even fighting, even though he is clearly much stronger than myself?"

Yaan shook his head and turned away from this place. That whole encounter had answered none of his questions. He didn't feel any fate that could be connected in the prophet's words, so he just did as he was going to do, and took two steps onto his father's thread of fate.

If this was a trap, so be it. If there was really such a trap that was the point of convergence of so much fate, Yaan wanted nothing more than to jump right in.