The 100th Legacy Rune
Yaan couldn't help but see his own shortcomings when he thought about the other Empyreans.
"I really need to create a Divine Spell…no, I need several Divine Spells."
He could crush Earthly Deities with his dao-based methods, his immensely powerful Divine Power, and his quadruple cultivation base body, but he knew that if he wanted to go up against an Empyrean, the only one he could hope to defeat right now was Shi, since she was equally unequipped as a divinity, perhaps even worse off than himself.
Ascending to the Divine Step allowed the ascended cultivator to absorb Divine Essence and refine their Divine Power. This was true for all divinities, there had never been an exception in this Era.
However, the Heart Empyreans - those who ascended to the Divine Step via their dao heart - absorbed around ten times more Divine Essence compared to those who ascended via the Divine stairway to become Deities. If the Deity completed their dao heart later on, they would be able to absorb more Divine Essence and rapidly re-refine their Divine Power to greater heights, granting them similar quantities of Divine Essence as Heart Empyreans.
Because of this, even though Yaan could overwhelm most Deities, he didn't have this same advantage against other Empyreans. The Divine Essence that each could absorb varied, and since Yaan's Divine Power resulted in him forming a body with four Divine Step cultivation bases, he actually absorbed far more Divine Essence than most…but if he lacked the sufficient means to fight, then it didn't matter even if he had several times more Divine Essence than his opponent - he would still lose.
These thoughts casually flashed through Yaan's minds as he searched for the 99th Legacy Rune. He felt that with all he had gained already in the Boundless Dao Library, his foundation was sufficient to start working on a true Divine combat system, with Divine Spells, Divine Treasures, and so on.
As of right now, he had no Divine Spells, no Divine Treasures, and honestly, he didn't actually have any Immortal Spells or treasures either…
His Absolute Domain was a true Divine ability, and a shocking one at that, but he couldn't rely solely on this if he wanted to face the other Empyreans.
Just thinking about Defiance Sovereign and his spell, 'Hate', caused Yaan to sigh deeply.
"I honestly believed that whilst Defiance was clearly stronger, the difference shouldn't be too extreme. However, after seeing that spell of his, and how he was able to not only resist the Heavenly Dao's full suppression, but fight back and retaliate before the Heavenly Dao could react…"
Yaan laughed and shook his head.
"The only reason I didn't die to Defiance's punch in his 'test' back then, is because he doesn't feel any real enmity towards me right now. Defiance didn't hold back with that punch, but neither was it even close to the strongest punch he can muster. Defiance's power rises alongside his will to fight…this sort of enhancement is actually quite common, but not to that extent, it's honestly shocking. When Defiance goes all out against his most hated enemy, nobody can even withstand the residual shockwaves. I wonder, is it because he's a 2nd Ascension Origin God, the only one in this Era? Or is it something else that gives him such strength?"
Yaan had a thought and chuckled.
"It would be nice if I could find Defiance's Legacy Rune, but I doubt he left any sort of dao legacy behind in the 1st Origin Era."
Just as Yaan was thinking this, he spotted his 99th Legacy Rune!
It obviously wasn't Defiance's Legacy, it was just another 12-dao Legacy, with the dao of farming at its core.
At some point, Yaan became able to discern the core dao used to create the original Legacy Text just by studying the rune with Reveal Truth, before he collapsed it with his domain. He tried to uncover the other supplementary daos within, but he fell short of this - finding the main dao was his limit it seemed, for now at least.
And so, he spread out his domain, easily enclosing the dao waves within for over 18 seconds, before the dao waves broke down into an incoherent mess and fused into the golden sea.
He continued to meditate in silence for half a day, then opened his eyes and-
Froze.
Yaan completely froze.
His mind became devoid of thought, his body forgot how deal with unexpected shocks, and his dao heart…was racing like never before.
How could the dao heart race, as if it was a physical mortal heart?
Yaan didn't know, but he knew that his dao heart was racing right now, as he gazed upon the 100th Legacy Rune.
The moment he opened his eyes after meditating on the 99th Legacy Rune enlightenment, the 100th Legacy Rune was simply right there, just a hundred feet ahead of him. Like all the other Legacy Runes, it was the size and shape of a book, and at 100 feet ahead, it could neither be called too close nor too far.
And yet, Yaan froze.
He froze not because of fear - such an emotional reaction was not one he would experience easily, but even if he did, he would never freeze up. No, he froze due to his shock, confusion, bafflement…and the strange feeling that arose within his heart, when he once again laid eyes upon the thread of fate between himself and the Legacy Rune.
He had seen a brief flash of a more illusory looking version of this connection when he first saw the doorway, but after it vanished so quickly and left behind no traces, Yaan assumed that it wouldn't return. That was how the chains of karma worked, back when he could only see them for short periods of time, so he assumed that now, with these threads of fate, it would be the same…but it was not.
The thread of fate was thin, half-illusory and half-real, giving the impression that it both did and did not exist. It showed no signs of vanishing, and yet, Yaan understood in his heart that as soon as he made a move, it would indeed completely disappear.
And so, after forcefully calming himself, Yaan first examined the thread of fate, despite the Legacy Rune itself practically dragging his gaze towards it.
He understood the thread of fate as soon as he spent several moments examining it from start to end, then from end to start.
Actually, when he examined the thread travelling from himself to the Legacy Rune, he understood nothing…but when he did the reverse, examining the thread from the Legacy Rune towards himself, all became clear. At least, he knew that this was as much as his current comprehension of fate would permit him to understand..
Yaan had destroyed the Heavenly Dao's dao of karma, and he had severed all of the crucial chains of karma binding him to others. Because of this, he no longer considered these illusory connections to be threads of karma, but threads of fate, visible to his eyes thanks to his Divine Power.
It was certainly a thread of fate, and yet, he could clearly sense the karma within. As soon as he recognised and acknowledged the karma, the thread of fate slowly faded away into obscurity.
Yaan remained silent for a long time, staring at the Legacy Rune without moving as he was lost in thought.
"I have fate with this Legacy Rune…meaning, this Legacy Rune has some connection with me. This Legacy Rune is from the 1st Origin Era, an Era of the world prior to my birth…but I understand. I understand, because the karma travelling through this thread of fate…is Karmic End."
Yaan fell silent again.
Karmic Beginning, Karmic Link, Karmic End, Karmic Fate - in the past, these were the five partial-principle earthly daos underneath the Heavenly Dao's dao of karma.
Yaan had long since deemed the placement of 'karmic fate' below 'karma' as ridiculous; in his heart and mind, karma was a facet of fate, not the other way around.
As for Karmic Link, that was simply the connection between those who shared some form of karma with each other. Naturally, a thread of fate was also a karmic link.
However, this thread of fate was not just a karmic link; it was a karmic link with a karmic direction, meaning that along this thread of fate, a form of karma was travelling from one end to the other.
The direction of karmic flow was from the Legacy Rune, towards Yaan. And karma flowed from the beginning…to the end.
The karmic end lay with Yaan; he had just stumbled upon the end to a karmic fate that had not existed until just now. That thread of fate linked the Legacy Rune to him, and this…was the end of the cycle of karma between Yaan, and the Legacy Rune.
But Yaan had never established, nor witnessed, the birth or the beginning of this karma, the inception of this fate. He was certain that he had not just overlooked this, because he knew in his heart that the karmic beginning…could be found in the 1st Origin Era!
This fate was formed in the 1st Origin Era, creating a karmic beginning. The fate manifested again in the 2nd Origin Era, creating the karmic end, and bringing a close to this cycle of karmic fate.
In terms of the Origin's time, in terms of the world's time, this was indeed the correct order for things to progress.
But the threads of fate that Yaan could see did not belong to the world, they belonged to his dao! Any chains or threads of fate that he saw, were formed, maintained, and ended by him!
The cycle of karmic fate within Yaan's threads of fate should not follow the Origin's flow of time, but his own flow of time…
Yaan tried to think about this logically.
"So, I encountered the end of this karmic fate, before the beginning. The karmic end appeared as soon as I saw the rune, meaning that, for this to actually be my cycle of karmic fate, I must have been creator of the beginning of the karmic fate. It seems impossible, but it's true - I witnessed the end to a thread of fate, before I seeded that thread of fate's beginning…"
How could this be possible? There was of course one possibility in Yaan's mind, but the more he thought about it, the more ludicrous it felt.
"Perhaps, I will truly transcend past the Origin by the end of the 2nd Origin Era. I will then enter the 1st Origin Era, where I will seed some fate between myself and this Legacy Rune. This will cause the karmic beginning, and it will initiate the cycle of karmic fate…which I brought to an end, before I started it…"
Yaan furrowed his brows heavily.
"Ignoring the bizarre temporal implications of this mixed up beginning and end…why? Did I create this specific Legacy Rune? Or did I initiate this karmic fate with another cultivator's Legacy Text? But why would I even bother seeding a karmic fate which has already ended for me? Was I suffering from amnesia at the time, or…did I deliberately create this reversed cycle of karmic fate for some other purpose?"
He spent a long time thinking it over, but he wasn't getting anywhere.
During this time, Yaan continued to stare at the Legacy Rune.
It was no different in shape, size, or appearance, than the previous 99 Legacy Runes, however, this 100th Legacy Rune…was completely different!
Whereas the other Legacy Runes drifted across the golden sea atop the flowing golden waves, this 100th Legacy Rune emanated an aura of ancient power, distorting the dao around it, as if scaring the golden waves into avoiding it entirely.
And so, this Legacy Rune sat there motionlessly, in the centre of a still, 100 feet radius clearing. Yaan remained standing at the edge of this clearing, staring at the rune, now with Reveal Truth activated.
It looked ordinary in one sense, but from another perspective, this Legacy Rune was shrouded in an aura of primordial might, as if it could dictate the life and death of the world itself. As it sat there, unmoving atop the still golden waters, the faint, dark gold ripples of light continued to flow outwards.
These ripples of light looked very normal, but when Yaan tried to inspect them, his mind instantly reeled, his entire body trembled, and several abyssal cracks spread across his body. He quickly looked away, but kept the Legacy Rune in his peripheral vision as he healed his injuries.
Several minutes later, Yaan's gaze was exceedingly solemn as he continued to study the rune.
With great caution, he took several steps forwards, then stopped. Nothing happened, but the aura of unimaginable strength was now a dozen times clearer and more terrifying than before, and the rune itself was glowing with a certain light that the previous Legacy Runes had lacked.
Two hours later, Yaan took another five steps forwards, before stopping and once again studying the rune.
He repeated this several times, cautiously analysing the rune each time he inched closer.
By the time he reached just 2-3 feet from the rune, his breathing was heavy, his pupils contracting and constricting with each breath he took, and he was struggling to stay conscious as he forced himself to stare into the Legacy Rune, where he examined all of the smaller runes in great detail.
This rune was clearly different from the previous 99 runes, that much was obvious.
Firstly, it was far too powerful! It emitted a profound sense of might that reminded Yaan of the writing above the library's doorway, only, those runes were being suppressed on the Qi Plane in this 2nd Origin Era…but here, the Legacy Rune was suffering from no such suppression!
Because there was no suppression, Yaan could analyse the situation clearly.
Within every other Legacy Rune, he could feel the wisdom of a divine stage, completed dao heart, embedded into every stroke of every rune. He was certain that all 99 of those Legacy creators had completed their dao heart, but had not ascended their dao heart any further than this.
With the 100th Legacy Rune, the dao held within was so immense and so profound, that it somewhat reminded Yaan of the God of Sin during his Origin Ascension. It clearly surpassed the level of a completed dao heart, meaning that the creator of this rune…had reached a level of dao in their heart beyond the divine stage!
In the 2nd Origin Era, such an attainment would result in the cultivator ascending past the Origin and entering the vast expanse of chaos - it was thought that the power of an Origin God surpassed that which the Origin itself could safely contain. However, Yaan now felt uncertain about whether it was truly the Origin's limitation, or the Heavenly Dao's interference.
Anyway, this Legacy Rune was clearly a step beyond the rest. It bizarrely appeared before him right after he finished with the 99th rune. Then, a thread of fate manifested, within which he watched the unfamiliar karmic fate reach its karmic end.
This Legacy Rune was an enigma, mysterious and incomprehensible, and…Yaan could read it.
Or, at least, he could understand the overall meaning of the Legacy Rune before him, for the first time, and with no difficulty at all!
'Boundless Dao Legacy: Progenitor Yang'
After confirming that he couldn't understand the faintest hint of anything else, without further ado, Yaan released his domain.