Dud.
—
Nodding to himself and rubbing his chin, Tian Xing couldn't help but sigh. At the end of the day, he and his wife were not as fortunate as the Heaven Chosen Asura. No matter how many times he searched or how far his pavilion journeyed, he was unable to find another Dao World. There was no second one, to the point where he questioned whether his Tian Ming Dao was even working. Despite all the time he spent calculating the Predetermination, he found no ripple of karma or any hint whatsoever—not even a trickle.
Since he didn't want to owe anything to Asura, still in debt for killing five of his wives, Tian Xing decided to create the Dao World himself, using Asura Road as a template and every resource he could find. Fortunately, with the materials his wife had brought from the highest heaven and those found in the Mystical Realms of all the 4th Heavens, Tian Xing managed to build an imitation Dao World. However, because this world was created by him, a mortal, and not by the Tao itself, the comprehension, ideas, and cultivation energy were produced solely by him and the pavilion members. As a result, it was very pale compared to the Asura Road that Asura possesses.
This meant that to make this False Dao World more sophisticated and robust, Tian Xing had to put extra effort into its creation. One such effort was ascending this place to the next heavens, so that energy would keep leveling up, or bringing knowledge and ideas from outside to be added, ensuring the place had up-to-date comprehension. This was different from Asura Road, which could be used by all creations to bring cultivation and comprehension back to their respective heavens.
Sighing once again over the fact that his luck seemed to have run out since he was no longer the Heaven Chosen, Tian Xing said to his wife, "Come, Melody, let's help Curie turn our Heavenly Star Dao World into a floating island."
Nodding her head and standing up from her husband's embrace, Margarita linked her arm with his and said, "Yes. Let's go."
As they walked towards the workshop of their house, followed by many of her junior sisters, Margarita couldn't help but reflect on the past few days. She had gained a lot from the headache-inducing and mind-shattering experiences. Unlike other devils and demons, who still held onto unspoken rules, making them hypocritical entities with some righteousness, Margarita and her husband had done what only true demons and devils would—surrendering entirely to their desires, forsaking all righteousness.
As a result, their minds were filled with Yang Contradiction and Yin Confusion as they attempted to fuse evilness with righteousness, only to spectacularly fail. The Mai Shiranui-Margarita duo and the Luo Yi-Tian Xing pair became perfect examples of this failure. Margarita, with her Tian Ming Dao in dark mode, was reduced to a demon dominated by others, her mind shattered beyond belief due to shallow reasons, including wanting someone else to work for her love for her husband. Meanwhile, Margarita was able to dominate sister Mai like a demon in body due to her superior comprehension and cultivation, forcing junior sister Mai into many reincarnations and enduring a torturous existence, simply because she was more powerful in terms of physical strength.
The same thing applied to junior sister Luo Yi and her husband, Tian Xing. Each tried to manipulate the other, turning Luo Yi into a puppet in body while Tian Xing became a puppet for Luo Yi in mind. This created a no-win situation, unlike when they performed Tian Ming Dao in light mode, where there is a loser and a winner in every calculation. Shaking her head, Margarita acknowledged that becoming a true devil and demon had proven to be a dismal failure with no benefit beyond emotions. It reinforced the saying that evil resides in the world, while righteousness is in the Dao, thus creating a scenario Margarita agreed with, because true evil is easy to enact, but true righteousness is hard to achieve.
Understanding that genuine beauty lies within the Dao, where challenging tasks lead to satisfying answers, Margarita decided to take this failure as a lesson for her future growth. She vowed to truly become the matriarch in her junior sisters' hearts and souls. Rather than entrusting the task to someone else who fit the criteria, she would first jump into the fire herself to see the majestic throne ahead. Margarita would become the queen in her husband's heart, through both dark moments of sickness and light moments of happiness.
As for Mai Shiranui, who had performed unspeakable actions and was now at the very back of the group of fifty sisters, Margarita could only sigh. She was the one who had allowed herself to be hurt and broken, even though junior sister Emma Frost believed it was her husband's fault for allowing such dark times to occur. Margarita knew it wasn't just Mai's fault, but everyone's, for creating this scenario that had proven to be a dud, with no comprehension gained in becoming true devils and demons.
Letting out a long breath of relief, Margarita thanked the heavens that they had kept all of this private, inside their home, without spreading it to the outside world. It was their personal issue to resolve. She shuddered at the thought of her husband and herself being humiliated in front of others, or worse, their daughters and son. She would never forgive herself if she were seen as a fool, like a cheap harlot who displayed herself without any regard for image or identity, since their image as the indomitable Heaven Mandate Emperor and Empress was crucial for all creations to look up to.
Summoning her Silver Branch, akin to her husband's Golden Branch always in his right hand, Margarita walked with integrity. Knowing her Dao Heart had been polished to its best, she understood that they could now enter the Battle of Supremacy with the resolve and willpower to stand above anyone else in Tian Ming Dao. They knew that, no matter what they suffered together, they would emerge stronger as husband and wife, ready to face whatever the future held.
Therefore, employing Tian Ming Dao equivalent to her husband's, Margarita used many Butterfly Vestiges to ensure that anyone who escaped would return to this place, no matter what, to be fused with her. This was done despite her husband's wishes for them to have a better life, as they needed to fulfill their duty as wives, always staying beside him through his moment of sickness.
—