Boundless Dao Library

"Before I explain why I'm here looking for you, tell me…what do you understand of this world's greatest treasures?"

Defiance Sovereign spoke to Yaan as Yaan flew up to face him at eye level, not wanting to crane his neck up for this conversation. 

"This world's treasures? Well, there are the Primordial Treasures - 18 in total across the current three World Planes, with four of those having fallen into the Four Divine Star System. Of similar value are the Divine True Inheritances, with seven now sitting in this star system."

"Mostly correct." Defiance Sovereign nodded once. "But you're lacking certain details. Originally, there were six Primordial Treasures on the Qi Plane, Blood Plane and Spirit Plane. When the Spirit Plane was forced to become an entirely spiritual world back then, two of its Primordial Treasures fell out of the world, one landing on the Sage Plane, the other on the Blood Plane. The Primordial Sage also managed to take two other Primordial Treasures for herself, one from the Qi Plane, the other from the Blood Plane. As for Divine True Inheritances, there have been many left behind by the divinities over the years, some have been completed and taken away, others have been destroyed, whilst few still remain."

Yaan nodded slowly, this more or less aligned with his understanding.

"However, I'm sure you didn't know that of those seven 'Divine True Inheritances' to fall into that star system, one of those is not a Divine True Inheritance at all. In fact, that thing would be better described…as a Heavenly True Inheritance, the only Heavenly True Inheritance!"

"What?" Yaan asked, feeling shocked but not showing it. "You're saying that one of the True Inheritances that fell into the Four Divine Star System wasn't actually left behind by a divinity…but by the Heavenly Dao? Defiance…the Heavenly Dao would not leave behind an inheritance for cultivators."

Defiance's smile widened.

"It's good that you understand. You're right, it's no inheritance, but it functions as such. It is known as the Tribulation True Inheritance, and it is the most mysterious and debated 'inheritance' in this world."

Yaan's gaze flashed with understanding.

"You're talking about the inheritance wherein a tribulation strikes the challenger with each step you take towards the glowing golden key floating within the centre. 3,000 steps, 3,000 tribulations, one for each of the earthly daos. Even with the destruction of the daos of karma, karmic beginning, karmic link, karmic end and karmic fate, those 3,000 steps and tribulations remain. The tribulations also come from the 3,000 layers surrounding the golden key, and not from the Heavenly Dao."

Yaan pointed out the flaw in Defiance Sovereign's claim, but he just laughed and shook his head.

"Those tribulations are all true Heavenly Tribulations, it's just that the 3,000 layers were imbued with those tribulations upon the inception of the 2nd Origin Era. The Heavenly Dao wanted to ensure that the item in question - the unique golden key - was never taken away, even if it was weakened. So, the tribulations were prepared in advance, all to prevent anyone in this Era from getting their hands on that key."

Yaan fell silent for a moment. He didn't believe Defiance Sovereign yet, but he also wouldn't dismiss what he was saying casually.

"Why would the Heavenly Dao go so far? What's so special about the key? Is it some sort of Primordial Treasure, if it existed in the world since the beginning of the Era?"

"That key has existed since long ago…because that key, and the door which it opens, were created in the 1st Origin Era! The key is the key to the Boundless Dao Library, the most terrifying treasure and inheritance created by the joint efforts of countless powerful entities during the 1st Origin Era. In the 1st Origin Era, that library was created as a means of accumulating knowledge of the boundless dao, away from the prying eyes of the Heavenly Dao. It was renowned as the most holy and sacred library throughout the world, and was added to by generation after generation of elites, for 180 million years. By the end of the 1st Origin Era, the sheer profundity of the dao reserves contained within the library rivalled the Heavenly Dao itself, only, it contained the dao of man, not the Heavens. The Heavenly Dao tried and failed to destroy the Boundless Dao Library on multiple occasions, but in the end, all it could do was lock the door and seal away the key behind 3,000 Heavenly Tribulations."

Seeing Yaan fall silent, still not convinced, Defiance Sovereign went on.

"Many have attempted to walk through the 3,000 tribulations, but it is seemingly impossible. To make the key even more difficult to retrieve, all challengers who fail are returned to the beginning of the 'inheritance' by the dao of time held in the final space-time tribulation layer. This allows the Heavenly Tribulations to remain fully intact and without declining in power, since all challenges are essentially 'undone' upon failure, allowing both challenger and trial to return to their full strength."

Yaan still felt extremely doubtful, since this really seemed to be a bit unbelievable.

"How could a treasure survive through the destruction of the 1st Origin Era, when all else was destroyed?"

"Not everything is destroyed in each Era's destruction. There are certain things that can survive…the Heavenly Dao being the prime example. There was also a certain God who chose not to leave the Era, but to follow the Heavenly Dao into the Origin, reincarnating directly into the 2nd Origin Era. I believe that Dao Treasures can also survive the destruction. And lastly, the Boundless Dao Library…you cannot begin to imagine the sort of treasure that this is, there is simply nothing else like it…and upon going through the Origin's transformation and reemerging in this Era, it is believed that the Boundless Dao Library has itself been refined by the Origin, now containing secrets of the dao that elude even the Heavenly Dao itself."

Yaan sighed and shook his head.

"Say all this is true. Firstly, why is the Sage targeting this key only now? If this key was on the Spirit Plane until recently, surely she could have attempted to take it away then?"

"She did attempt to take it away, as did many others, but they all failed. 3,000 Heavenly Tribulations is simply an absurd undertaking, especially when taking a single step back means failing the trial and having your time rewound back to the beginning. No matter how many divinities have tackled it an uncountable number of times, nobody has been able to take it away…but now, it's different, because you destroyed five of the earthly daos. The Heavenly Dao has been wounded, and whilst all 3,000 of those tribulations remain, they have all weakened substantially. The only reason the Sage hasn't taken the key already, is because any distractions or interferences from others result in the challenger failing. Until she gains complete control and stability over this star system, she won't attempt to take the key." Defiance explained.

"I see…but then, why are you telling me about this? Wouldn't it make more sense to just go take it for yourself?" Yaan asked.

This was what confused him the most…why would Defiance tell him all of this, rather than taking it for himself?

Tackling 3,000 Heavenly Tribulations? That sounded exactly like Defiance Sovereign's kind of challenge!

"Because I couldn't care less about the Boundless Dao Library." Defiance Sovereign stated boldly. "The only dao of value is my own, any dao from that library is worthless trash. What I value…is the chance to intervene in 3,000 Heavenly Tribulations, attracting all 3,000 Heavenly Retributions!"

Yaan stared at Defiance Sovereign oddly.

"You want to face 3,000 Heavenly Retributions?"

"Exactly." Defiance Sovereign nodded. "And you are the only one who can help me to attract these retributions."

Seeing that Yaan was listening, Defiance went on.

"It is impossible for more than one person to challenge the inheritance at a time, if a second party attempts to enter during a challenger's attempt, then all will be unwound. However, there is one loophole. If the challenger takes on each trial alone, but utilises the power of another being's dao against each tribulation, then the tribulation's strength will be halved, shared between both parties. If the outside assister overcomes the tribulation, essentially cheating the Heavenly Dao's trial, then they will be struck by Heavenly Retribution."

Now, Yaan had even more questions.

"You want me to use your dao to resist the tribulations?"

"Yes. I will imbue your Dao Soul with the power of my Defiant Will. Any other being's dao would collapse under such an infection of external dao, but yours will not. That is why it must be you."

"Right…" Yaan furrowed his brows, unsure how much of this was true, and how much Defiance Sovereign was making up in order to plot against him.

However…Defiance Sovereign was renowned for being brutally honest, he apparently disdained from lying. Once, when someone suggested that always being honest wasn't really 'Defiant', Defiance Sovereign responded that he 'defied the common sense that dared to dictate his own Defiance'.

"Defiance Sovereign, why did you bring me out here, away from the Primordial Sage? Is it the case that only the one to obtain the key to the library can enter?"

"Nobody knows what will happen when the key is obtained." Defiance explained. "The Primordial Sage desires entry into the Boundless Dao Library more than anything else, she will not risk having the key taken away by someone else if there is any chance that this will prevent her from being able to enter."

After some more thought, Yaan realised that if all of this was true, then this could be a huge opportunity.

This Boundless Dao Library could potentially tell him more about the 1st Origin Era! Or perhaps, the library's dao reserves had been thoroughly changed after going through the Origin's transformation…but regardless, for the Heavenly Dao to place such high emphasis on guarding against anyone from entering throughout the entire Era, it must surely contain something shocking, right?

"So you're saying that you want to imbue your Defiant Will into my Dao Soul, then I will fight through 3,000 Heavenly Tribulations using my own strength combined with that will, reducing the strength of each tribulation I face by half…and inflicting the other half of the tribulation, followed by a retribution, upon you?" Yaan summarised.

"Correct. I suggest we go now, whilst the Sage is preoccupied. She will naturally be watching over the 3,000 layered trial and key, but her focus is split right now; I can keep her away from you whilst handling all of the retributions."

After a moment of silence, Yaan sighed and asked:

"Defiance…if you fail to destroy any of those retributions, they will fall down and hit me, won't they?"

"That would be the case, but me failing to destroy a Heavenly Retribution is an impossibility." Defiance Sovereign replied surely.

Towards such an outrageous claim, Yaan didn't know what else to say.

"The Heavenly Dao is in its weakest state, and the world is currently too preoccupied to get in our way. Now is the best chance we will get, kid. You get the Boundless Dao Library, and I get to destroy 3,000 tribulations and 3,000 retributions…it's a win win, so hurry up and agree already."

Yaan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Just what about this was a win win? Why did this man want to face 3,000 Heavenly Retributions so badly to begin with?

Then, Yaan had a thought.

'Perhaps…fighting against every single Heavenly Retribution under the 2nd Era's Heavenly Dao, is Defiance Sovereign's way of tempering his heart of defiance? My only concern is the fact that if he fails to overcome even one of them, I will be left to face it…'

In the end, the flame of desire ignited within Yaan's gaze. It was a serious risk, and he was taking a madman's word on this, but he would find out soon enough whether or not Defiance was speaking the truth. As soon as he tackled the first of the 3,000 layers, all would become clear and he could make his decision from there.

As for the matter of allowing Defiance Sovereign to imbue Yaan's Dao Soul with his Defiant Will?

He wasn't going to do that, there was clearly a much better way of handling this.

"Defiance, this wooden sword is my Dao Treasure. Imbue 3,000 strands of your Defiant Will into my sword, I will strike each tribulation with one strand."

From the flash of faint surprise in Defiance's gaze, Yaan confirmed his guess that Defiance Sovereign had indeed not realised that this sword was his Dao Treasure. This was only natural though - Dao Treasures were notoriously hard to recognise unless you witnessed their birth personally, and Yaan's Dao Treasure had been reborn through his Divine Power as an illusion. Just looking at it, nobody would be able to tell that it was actually his Dao Treasure. To others, it just looked like a strange treasure, or perhaps a spell, made from extremely real illusions.

"Excellent, since you actually possess a Dao Treasure, this plan has an even higher chance of success." Defiance laughed boisterously, his voice causing the space around him to tremble.

The implication behind these words suggested that in Defiance's original plan, imbuing his Defiant Will into Yaan's Dao Soul could have resulted in failure…meaning, Defiance Sovereign himself wasn't actually confident that Yaan could survive such a thing.

But Yaan didn't care about that. If Defiance Sovereign really was scheming against him, he would deal with it. If this Boundless Dao Library was genuine, then this was worth the risk.