Pride.

Contentment.

And complete, utter insanity.

There were no other words to describe the scene unfolding before this Sovereign’s eyes, one buried behind Falling Rain’s cold, distant gaze and deep within the confines of his deranged mind. The transmigrator made for an uninspiring sight, hanging limp and slack in this Sovereign’s grasp with ribs, chest, and back shattered and lungs filled with more blood than air, yet his amber eyes burned with defiant impudence even at the bitter end. A half-smile graced his bloody lips, not a warm, amused smile or heated, defiant one, but one overflowing with scorn and mockery as if he held the upper hand here, rather than the reverse. This was not courage or bravado, for though the boy had plenty of both, he lacked the fearless spirit of a dauntless hero willing to die for a noble cause. No, this was a gaze of reluctant resignation, a begrudging admission of defeat he was unwilling to wholly embrace. Falling Rain had given this effort his all, fought tooth and nail in an ill-conceived attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, one so overwhelming he knew he’d never had any hope of victory to begin with, yet he cared not for the consequences of his failure because he believed it merely a single step back in his Path, rather than the obvious end this Sovereign intended.

What was this if not insanity, Falling Rain’s total lack of any awareness regarding his current, dire circumstances and a rejection of reality without blinking an eye?

A special sort of madness this, the ability to see the facts laid out before him and arrive at an absurd and illogical conclusion. Despite having witnessed this Sovereign’s strength first-hand, Falling Rain was still indignant over his loss, for the transmigrator possessed arrogance unmatched and believed himself superior to this Sovereign in every way except age. This unfounded hubris would almost be comical were it not also infuriating to the extreme, for this Sovereign could have killed the boy a thousand times in a thousand different ways during their first exchange, and countless times thereafter. Only this Sovereign’s magnanimous curiosity allowed Falling Rain to struggle for so long, that and the hidden Nascent Immortal protecting him, and yet the boy wholeheartedly believed that he could have emerged victorious if not for luck and happenstance.

Why else would he be so unresigned to his fate? Even now at the moment of his death, Falling Rain maintained that he’d achieved some small measure of success, having succeeded in the role laid out for him by the Heavens Above and thus deriving satisfaction from this insignificant accomplishment. A most vexatious and illogical outlook regarding his ultimate defeat, one which robbed this Sovereign of much satisfaction, for he had been eagerly awaiting the moment when Falling Rain’s hateful smirk fell away and the rage in his eyes gave way to desperation and despair. This Sovereign had expected him to struggle to his last breath, perhaps even plead for mercy or appeal to this Sovereign’s grace and goodwill. Instead, Falling Rain made peace with his fate and maintained that his efforts had planted a seed of progress and potential, one which would eventually see the populace rise up to topple this Sovereign from his throne, a transition inevitable as the changing of the seasons from which there was no escape.

Or at least that’s what the transmigrator wholeheartedly believed, demonstrating a level of blind faith and baseless conviction which went beyond the fanatical.

In reality, while the boy’s book of ideas and innovative spirit had already spread like wildfire across the Empire, it would amount to little in the end. Weapons like crossbows and Runic Cannons would certainly place more power into the hands of mortals and their ilk, but Falling Rain was downright delusional if he believed this Sovereign would be overthrown so easily. Even if the powerful weapons depicted in the transmigrator’s memories were to become widespread, this still wouldn’t be enough to vanquish him on their own, for this Sovereign was the Eternal Emperor, a Nascent Immortal who had long since cast off the shackles of mortality and was no longer beholden to the cycle of reincarnation. Even if a thousand Runic Cannons firing in concert were to render his physical form to a pulp, this Sovereign could find a new host to inhabit as easily as turning a hand. A fact his foe should have accounted for, considering how he unravelled the mystery of this Sovereign’s eternal existence so quickly, almost as if he’d been expecting it all along. Another mystery that, but one this Sovereign was confident he would solve in time, unlike the growing enigma which was Falling Rain.

As absurd and illogical as the transmigrator’s confidence and conviction might be, there was a quality to Faith that one should always be wary of. One could not reason with faith, nor could one easily go against it, for the faithful paid no heed to logic or rationale. That was the definition of faith, to hold complete trust or confidence in a belief, without any need for proof and at times in spite of it. In recent centuries, the Brotherhood used charity and beneficence to wrest the hearts of the people away from this Sovereign’s grasp, which was why he took steps to remove their influence from the Eastern Provinces, and then the outer provinces in turn, but they were merely the latest in a long string of would-be religions cropping up within the Azure Empire. At first, he took a hard stance against all religions and sought to uproot all denominations of faith wherever they sprang up, but one might as well try to remove all the air from a room or empty out a lake with two hands. In time, he learned to change tack and quietly did away with all the sham religions and pagan beliefs of yesteryear by encouraging the now wide-spread but vague belief that the Emperor was the Chosen Son of Heaven, and in turn, the Mother Above. Not only because the common people of the Empire rested easier by believing in a higher power, but also because in this Sovereign’s eyes, this was merely the truth. The Heavens had blessed him with the strength to conquer the Azure Empire and sheltered him from the calamity that rendered the rest of this world’s landmasses only a half-step up from uninhabitable.

Might made right, this was an undeniable fact, yet in spite of having learned this lesson repeatedly today, Falling Rain refused to accept the facts as they were. The boy’s faith in technology and collective humanity were fallacious and even somewhat self-contradictory, for there were plenty of logical arguments against them. How many innocents would die once his crossbows and Runic Cannons made their way into the hands of warlords and bandits? How many non-combatants had died to those city-destroying explosives depicted in his conjured memories? What of the progress lost in terms of the Dao once humanity’s focus was split along two divergent Paths? This Sovereign could argue until his voice grew hoarse and spring turned to autumn, yet he suspected Falling Rain’s conviction would not be shaken, for there was a power inherent in faith that this Sovereign was unable to wholly quantify, an allure to it that every mortal in existence was susceptible to. Faith was almost necessary for most human existence, for faith represented an unending wellspring of hope and a reason to aspire to more than mere survival.

Or in Falling Rain’s case, a reason to fight on to the bitter end in spite of all the odds stacked against him.

Once again however, the transmigrator boy evaded death by the narrowest of margins for this Sovereign wanted to use him to draw the hidden Nascent Immortal out of hiding, and once again, Falling Rain used his continued existence to annoy this Sovereign to no end. Rather than quietly accept his defeat and submit to his unenviable fate, the fool rushed headlong towards it, disappearing from this Sovereign’s grasp and appearing within his host’s Natal Palace. A feat so unexpected this Sovereign stood stock still for a half-second in shocked surprise, unable to come to terms with what just unfolded before his very eyes. This should have been impossible, for how could one bring the material into the immaterial whilst remaining unchanged and unaffected by the transition? Had Falling Rain merely dispatched his soul, then there would be no need for surprise, but the transmigrator had made his way into Liang Wu Sheng’s Natal Soul in body, mind, and soul combined, somehow slipping through what should have been an impassable blockade in ways this Sovereign could only imagine. What’s more, this marked the second time today that Falling Rain’s soul passed through the barriers formed by Liang Wu Sheng’s Domain as if they didn’t exist. A barrier created for the express purpose of stopping this very thing from happening, and one which Falling Rain treated like air, coming and going as he pleased without so much as leaving a ripple in his wake.

A wave of horror and nausea almost brought this Sovereign to his knees as he considered the implications of this act, one which shook the very foundations of his Dao. Could this Sovereign have erred in his Path? Falling Rain’s Refined Physique was already superior by every measurable metric, and he was even able to bring his combined body, mind, and soul into the Void with seemingly little more than a thought, a feat this Sovereign would never have dared to even think of, much less attempt on his own. The dog was capable of doing the same, for this Sovereign realized how the floppy-eared hound was able to phase through the sand at will and emerge unscathed. The creature wasn’t hiding under the ground to avoid attacks, but rather leaping over to the Void and reappearing in reality a short distance away, a distinction which made all the difference in the world. One foot in both worlds, straddling the divide between the real and immaterial, was this the true meaning of One with the Heavens and One with the World? If so, then this Sovereign had stepped foot down a dead-end Path, for he had long since abandoned his physical form in exchange for an eternal Spiritual existence, one which had served him well for all these millennia, or so he thought. Was his lack of a physical form to call his own the reason for his lack of progress and inability to even discern the next step? If so, how could he remedy this? What should be his next step moving forward? Would he have to abandon all these millennia of preparations and accumulations to start over anew?

This crisis of conviction in this Sovereign’s personal Dao was only exacerbated by his Natal Soul’s amused derision, cackling up a storm in the back of his mind while mocking this Sovereign’s panic and lacking comprehension. There was a sense of superiority as well, as if his Natal Soul had known these facts all along, but those memories were guarded too tightly to access without time and effort both, and this Sovereign had none to spare. Putting aside his crisis for the moment, he retreated inwards whilst leaving a strand of Will behind to control Liang Wu Sheng’s body and guard against surprise attack, for the hidden Nascent Immortal was likely still lurking about just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Why he or she had not attacked already was a mystery to be sure, but now was not the time to contemplate the thoughts and motivations of an unseen assailant, for there were more pressing matters to attend to. All this Sovereign could do was ready himself for an ambush, for fleeing outright might well embolden his hidden foe and spur them into attacking.

Arriving within Liang Wu Sheng’s Natal Palace at the speed of thought, this Sovereign personally secured his throne against intrusion before fixing his attention upon the invader, Falling Rain. It irked this Sovereign to look up at the transmigrator, for he’d chosen to float above the court rather than appear upon it as a petitioner, a conscious decision which spoke volumes to his inborn arrogance. That being said, even though Falling Rain was ostensibly here in body, mind, and soul, this Sovereign would never have been able to guess it, for the transmigrator appeared no different now than he did in life, like a bloodied, bedraggled prodigal son dressed in poorly fitted robes and lacking any and all adornments save for the hairpin just barely holding his hair together in a bun.

No, that wasn’t entirely true, because there was a profound significance to his presence that was not there before, an invisible pressure that both emanated from him and drew everything in towards him. This wasn’t the weight of presence this Sovereign was more familiar with, one which hinted at the attainments and accumulations of one’s Dao and their compatibility with it, but rather a more subtle veracity to Falling Rain’s existence that was difficult to determine much less define, as if everything in the Void was slightly blurred and indistinct save for his presence and his presence alone.

A subtle yet unequivocal distinction which remained in place even after Falling Rain divided himself into an army of ten-thousand amber-eyed Natal Souls.

Ten-thousand exactly, no more and no less, information gleaned by this Sovereign’s Spiritual Senses the instant those Natal Souls appeared within Liang Wu Sheng’s Natal Palace. An impressive feat considering Falling Rain had already divested himself of an untold number in reality, a last-ditch effort to swing the battle of Shi Bei in his favour despite knowing that this Sovereign intended to kill or capture any and all survivors. More evidence of the boy’s insanity, yet a high-functioning one as his Natal Souls wasted no time in launching a barrage of wildly varying attacks all directed towards this Sovereign’s throne.

Credit where credit was due, it all made for a most impressive sight. There was no rhyme or reason to the manner in which this army attacked, no discernable pattern or coordination to be found as each individual Natal Soul struck in whatever manner they pleased. The majority were Manifested shards of Sword Intent, most of which were shaped as such, but only a handful resembled the sword he wielded in the physical world, and only one was an exact match. Most of those replicas were larger and more ostentatious, with some being entirely different in shape and appearance, with short swords, long swords, curved swords, wavy swords, almost every conceivable type of sword under the sun. There were also a number of shields and glaives mixed into the attacks, but the attack they dispatched were functionally no different from the swords. There were some weapons which were not hurtling towards this Sovereign like an arrow in flight, and instead arcing towards him as if to chop him down where he stood, while a select few remained in the hands of their wielders and emitted glaring beams of light or some other such nonsense. One sword’s blade even stretched out into a flowing curtain of water, water which was sorely lacking in attainment and comprehension compared to the flowing barrier maintained by the hidden Nascent Immortal, an attack which would amount to almost nothing even if this Sovereign allowed it to strike him.

A far cry from the three Natal Souls who transformed into the weapons themselves, a single sword, shield, and glaive to perfectly match his weapons which radiated threat and death comparable to what this Sovereign sensed in reality.

While sword attacks were most common, there were also plenty of rifles, Runic Cannons, crossbows, and even hunting bows scattered amongst the Natal Souls, which this Sovereign could not afford to treat lightly. Having learned his lesson more than once, this Sovereign fixated not on the ranged weapons themselves, but rather on the projectiles said weapons deployed. There was one, singular bullet radiating with the same overwhelming Intent of death and destruction which almost claimed Liang Wu Sheng’s life, but the rest varied wildly in perception, a similarity shared by the swords which this Sovereign only now just noticed. As noted before, Falling Rain’s Sword Intent was calm and serene, or at least it had been before the final Refinement of his physique. Though the various strands of Sword Intent imbued into the myriad weapons before him still gave off a sense of tranquil composure, there was now a fathomless depth and intensity to the calm serenity, a weight to the Sword Intent that made it no less unyielding than Solitary Sword Zhang Jun Bao’s fierce and deadly Sword Intent. It was the difference between a sheathed sword held at the ready and a drawn sword pointed in threat, both conveying the same general message in their own unique ways.

And now Falling Rain’s Sword Intent had transformed yet again, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say Falling Rain transformed it. Some of those Intents became even more gentle and placid, while others became berserk and uncontrolled, and still others tread a fine line between restrained and unchecked, as well as variations representing a wide range of everything in between. The same could be said of his projectiles, with a handful exuding a wild, uncontrolled Intent of almost pure Destruction, while others quietly emitted an air of Death and finality, so infinitely close to touching upon the secrets of Death Energy and Destructive Intent yet at the same time seemingly far from success. Difficult to say, for this Sovereign’s attainments in both areas were inferior to the examples seen here, though this was not to say that the boy’s attainments surpassed his. No, this was mere luck and happenstance, a frantic, final attempt to defeat this Sovereign by trying everything all at once.

It wasn’t just Sword, Destruction, and Death Intents on display here, but also a myriad of other Intents scattered across a wide range of Daos, ones this Sovereign had no name for but recognized all the same. The Unravelling force which rendered Runes impotent and ineffective shaped in the form of cloud, a pure force of physical might cycled and Amplified a dozen times over before being unleashed with a fist-like Plated Domain, the overbearing force of a tidal wave of Water Chi bearing down upon the Natal Throne, these were the most potent threats among Falling Rain’s eclectic arsenal. Then there were the more eclectic attacks, such as one Natal Soul whose arms had transformed into those of a bear which he intended to use to pummel this Sovereign, or another driving an armoured carriage that appeared imposing and impressive at first glance, but was merely an empty shell devoid of all comprehension and attainments regarding the contraption’s inner workings. There was a Natal Soul hurling a javelin thicker than most men, one with a rounded tip and fins on the base to ostensibly stabilize it in flight, while another hoisted a hammer bristling with electricity in a pale mimicry of the blonde, Lightning Blessed Warrior this Sovereign saw depicted in the boy’s memories.

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In truth, this display left this Sovereign no choice but to acknowledge Falling Rain as a formidable talent, one unlike any since the dawn of the Empire, for only a handful of individuals were able to push him this far in a battle of life and death. If given another thousand years, Falling Rain might well rise up to challenge this Sovereign as his peer, or perhaps even surpass him at that, but alas, the boy’s attainments were diverse in scope and shallow in depth, a flaw he tried to mend far too late. The boy had reached into his armory and thrown everything all at once, hoping there was something in there that would prove powerful enough to secure a victory, but he might as well have prayed to the Heavens above and plead with them to strike this Sovereign down. Impressive as this array of attacks might be, all it showed was that Falling Rain’s comprehension was sorely lacking, and because of this, he’d erred from the very first step of his last, desperate stand.

This wide-range of attacks proved he possessed the ability to injure this Sovereign if given the chance, for there were a number of examples that might well have grievously injured his Eternal Soul. Doubly so considering this Sovereign’s current state, making this a most daunting tribulation indeed, if not for the fact that every last one of Falling Rain’s attacks was powered by a mere one ten-thousandth of his Will. A laughable fraction of a meagre amount to begin with, Falling Rain would have been better served placing all his hopes and dreams into one, singular attack back by the full weight of his Will. Only then would he have had a chance to grievously injure this Sovereign, assuming it actually hit. With Falling Rain’s cumulative strength divided between ten-thousand Natal Souls however, a singular attack would find it difficult to break past this Sovereign’s defenses even without the advantage of holding ultimate authority within this Natal Palace, to say nothing of his Imperial Robes of Office which served as a Dharmic Icon here in the Void, and were far more powerful than the Runic Robes of Office he wore in reality.

That being said, he still dared not take any of these attacks head on, for he’d erred before by misjudging gauging the strength of Falling Rain’s attacks twice before, and this Sovereign cared not to make the same mistake thrice. To deal with the vast majority of Falling Rain’s attacks, a wave of this Sovereign’s hand was all it would take, a singular effort of Will to bring his Authority to bear, but even as he exerted his Will and anticipated the boy’s crushing look of disappointment, he found that the attacks were not so easily dismissed. Despite this Sovereign’s Will rising up to meet them, the myriad of desperate attacks continued bearing down upon him, a most menacing sight even weakened and divided as they were, forcing this Sovereign to take extreme measures to defend himself.

Left with no other palatable choice, this Sovereign could only expend a modicum of effort and resources to ensure victory no matter the cost. With little more than a thought, the denizens of the silent court of souls moved to intercept the attacks, targeting the ones this Sovereign was certain were unable to hurt him as well as the ones he was unable to determine. Matching like with like, this Sovereign regretfully manipulated his captured souls to deploy all manner of Weapon Intents to counter Falling Rain’s attacks, expending what little remained of their Prana with no intention or ability to make up for the loss. First Brother Wu Shen’s soul countered a thousand Sword Intents on all his own, while Yang Kai’s flames rose up to consume no less than eight-hundred attacks, a number which could have been much higher if not for the fact that this Sovereign was forced to empower their souls with Prana drawn from Liang Wu Sheng. Unwilling to overtax his current host’s life force, this Sovereign could not allow his sworn brothers to shoulder the entire burden of defense, forcing him to spread the responsibilities out among more of his souls so as to make certain nothing unexpected was able to break through.

A most regrettable action, since this would render many of his collected prizes inoperative and functionally worthless, little more than empty shells that would fall apart without this Sovereign’s Will to hold them together. At least he could draw some solace from the fact that he could demonstrate ability comparable to Falling Rain’s accomplishment of controlling thousands of souls all at once before emerging victorious in a battle of divided Wills.

The second Emperor of the Azure Sea was an individual whose soul had been supplanted by this Sovereign’s Natal Soul whilst still in the womb, meaning the Third Emperor Jian Chen was the first individual to ascend to the Thone after this Sovereign. At the time, he had yet to master the art of subjugating a host soul while leaving it intact, something which required a more subtle touch, and as such, Jian Chen’s soul had been damaged beyond repair in the ensuing struggle for control. A damaged and broken husk of soul, it was no match for the proud and defiant man he was in life, one who staked it all to claim the throne, and in doing so invited calamity down upon himself. Not much of his attainments had been left behind, but this Sovereign had seen enough of the man’s Dao to drive it in his place as Jian Chen drew the massive, two-handed sword hanging off his shoulder and brought it down to meet an anemic arrow hurtling feebly towards this Sovereign’s throne. The two forces clashed, and the sword emerged victorious, scything through the force of Will holding the arrow together and eliminating it from existence, whilst Jian Chen’s soul remained untouched.

Evidence of how weak the arrow was, rather than the strength of Jian Chen’s sword, but this Sovereign had chosen this match-up specifically because he was unable to comprehend the attainments behind the arrow, and the exceedingly remote possibility of losing Jian Chen’s soul was an acceptable risk. Though the specifics differed greatly, the same general scene unfolded itself a thousand times as this Sovereign’s captured souls dealt with the vast majority of Falling Rain’s attacks in the blink of an eye, leaving only the most dangerous instances behind. Namely the three Natal Souls who’d transformed into the Weapons themselves, three distinct projectiles emanating pseudo-Destructive Intent, pseudo-Death Essence, and a mix of the two respectively, and the other three eclectic attacks he’d noted before. These he dealt with himself, paying special attention to each one as he focused his Will upon them.

The sword came apart at the seams and dissipated into nothingness under the weight of this Sovereign’s Will, while the shield and glaive resisted for a moment longer before dispersing in the same manner, but if he were to do it again, this Sovereign would have chosen a different tack. A minor clash was all they exchanged, and yet the Sword Intent imbued into those three attacks had been strong enough to pierce through his Will and cause minor injuries to his soul, and in turn, his body and mind as well. Little more than a slight discomfort, not even enough damage to be considered an actual wound, but unpleasant all the same. As for the bullets, those he avoided outright by Deflecting away, only to discover that they were being Guided unerringly towards him by the Natal Souls who delivered them. Rather than waste the effort to block those formidable projectiles, this Sovereign dispatched Fourth Brother Tian Yi to deal with the Natal Souls instead, a job far beneath the greatest assassin this Empire had ever seen, but one he accomplished with next to no effort at all.

As for the remaining three attacks, this Sovereign allowed himself a moment to better study each of them in turn, for they were all of great interest to him. The secrets behind Unravelling remained closed to him for now, but it was only a matter of time before he uncovered those secrets for himself. As for the powerfully Amplified fist, this wasn’t Fist Intent, but rather an extreme form of Amplification that empowered a single attack through the use of containment, proper timing, and directed flow. An impressive achievement making full use of almost every facet of Amplification, but in this Sovereign’s eyes, there were better ways to achieve the same amount of force, since this required something along the lines of several seconds to unleash outside of the Void. As for the tidal wave of Water Chi, this Sovereign could well have sent any Elementally Blessed Soul to easily counter it, but he left it untouched so he could study Falling Rain’s comprehension of the Dao of Water, which as expected were mediocre at best. There was too much wasted effort trying to control the tidal wave and not enough spent embodying it, making the Water Chi a pale reflection of the actual water it was supposed to mimic. This in turn took away from the strength of the attack, which was only so formidable because Falling Rain committed a larger portion of his Will to Manifest it here inside this Sovereign’s Natal Palace.

All this took a long time to describe, but transpired in an instant, a single moment of chaos which erupted into calm stillness once the threat was readily dealt with. As the denizens of this court of souls fell back into their ranks, this Sovereign hid his fatigue and exerted his Will once more to place himself above Falling Rain, for the ten-thousand Natal Souls had all been spent, leaving only a single Refined body, mind, and soul behind, one which was here in the flesh as well as the spirit in some incomprehensible way. The boy’s wounds were still Healing, but slowly to match the speed of mending in reality, and with perceived time moving at the literal speed of thought here in the Void, it meant Falling Rain’s wounds might as well not be Healing at all. A pleasant surprise all things considered, since this meant this Sovereign could now afford the luxury of capturing the boy alive. The hidden Nascent Immortal had yet to act, and even if they did, it would only take an instant to subjugate the boy here in Liang Wu Sheng’s Natal Palace, a moment this Sovereign was more than willing to spare alongside a little extra so that he could revel in his moment of triumph.

“Such hubris, such sin,” This Sovereign crooned, sneering down at the hateful transmigrator who’d brought him so many grievances and frustrations. “To challenge this Sovereign within his Domain where his authority reigns supreme. You were defeated in reality, but you had no hope of victory here in the Void, for this Sovereign’s attainments in the soul far outstrip his attainments in the body and mind.” A mistake to mention this disparity, for it brought back his crisis of conviction which he had yet to resolve, one he’d set aside for the moment using sheer force of Will and nothing else. To distract himself, he continued to disparage his foe by pointing out the error in his thinking, saying, “Your greatest attack might cause this Sovereign some discomfort, but one ten-thousandth of your strength is not enough to even scratch an itch.”

“Quantity has a quality of its own,” Falling Rain replied, his measured cadence a match for someone quoting a phrase. A nugget of misguided wisdom gleaned from his past life’s memories no doubt, one based on a flawed comprehension of strength and the Dao both. “But it’s okay.” Still calm and confident as ever, the boy stood there with shield and glaive in hand while his sword floated overhead. Time slowed as his armour formed around him, a set based on Imperial Armour worn by the favoured sons of the Supreme Families, but rather than the dragons those Noble Scions favoured, Falling Rain’s armour bore depictions of his favoured pets. A fly in the ointment of what would otherwise have been a dignified appearance, one several steps up from his dishevelled, ungainly appearance in reality, but even without the armour and trappings, Falling Rain’s Natal Soul possessed poise and gravitas that his physical self lacked. Odd considering how he was technically here in the flesh, but this Sovereign cared not to understand why as he readied to capture his prize in hand before returning to deal with the hidden Nascent Immortal in reality.

Only to freeze in surprise as the boy continued, “This is all a diversion anyways.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A calm serenity washes over my body, mind, and soul as time comes to a standstill.

Not across all reality as we know it, but within the confines of my mind as I push the State of Enlightenment to new limits made possible by the completion of my Refined Physique. Bullet time, as I like to call it, for reasons I cannot remember, yet I find amusing all the same, but now is not the time for mirth and merriment. My inability to take things seriously and resist the urge to crack wise has bitten me in the ass before, but here and now, I cannot afford to make any mistakes, because the chips are down and I have everything riding on success. Thus, in accordance with my recent revelation regarding cultivation requiring a thorough understanding of one’s self in order to understand the Dao, I need to be serious for a moment and face a harsh truth about who I am if I am to have any hope of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Namely the fact that I am arrogant beyond all belief.

Granted, I’ve already acknowledged this as an issue more than once, and yet I have never taken any steps to correct it. Why? Because in my infinite arrogance, I figured I had good reason to be arrogant. I am a man with memories of another world, a world which has far surpassed this one in almost every conceivable metric. I’ve seen grand works of art made by the most celebrated artists, and listened to the greatest symphonies of the ages played by the finest musicians of my time. I’ve studied or borne witness to all manner of momentous occasions, and am more educated than most nobles would care to endure. I have scoured the dark depths of the world wide web and seen all the horrors it has to bear, whether it be lemon parties, blue waffles, or two girls with one cup, to say nothing of all the hateful rhetoric and ignorant echo chambers I’ve had the displeasure of stumbling across. I’ve also seen the wonders to balance it out, from people helping people to all manner of adorable animals curled up in blissful harmony, plus hilarious memes and other miscellaneous good shit.

So you could say that I am a man who has seen more than the denizens of this world could ever imagine, and because of this, I have always maintained that I know better.

Not in an obnoxious, ‘um ackchyually’ sort of way, but rather in a sense where I rarely care for the opinions of others and tend to go my own way once my mind is made up. That’s on me mostly, and not just because of my past life’s memories, but rather a character flaw I developed all on my own, with a little bit of help from my deadbeat Defiled birth parents. They wanted me to compete, to fight for resources in order to survive, but I decided that was stupid and I would much rather die, a decision I made long before I became reacquainted with the glory of indoor plumbing. Since awakening to my past life’s memories however, I have identified with Rayne far more than Amigui, because let’s be honest, Rayne had a lot more going for him. That isn’t to say Amigui has nothing to offer, but if given a choice, I would much rather be a transmigrated fish out of water than the boy who murdered his brother in order to survive, only to immediately give up on life once again, but alas, I am both Amigui and Rayne, a truth I continue to reject even now. Harsh facts, but ones which I must face in order to move forward from here, because like it or not, my arrogance has grown into a massive problem which needs to be resolved.

Because in my arrogance, I have placed the memories of my past life up on a pedestal, extolling their virtues and the lessons they’ve taught me, while ignoring most of what I’ve learned over the course of my current life. I have come to accept that I am no hero brought forth by the Heavens to right all wrongs and bring Balance to the world, that I’m just a guy, ya know, as opposed to that guy, and that’s okay. So what if I’m not destined for greatness? Even if I die here today, this world will survive without me, but more than that, life will go on. Since I’m not some hero of destiny, my failure does not mean the end of the world, so it’s not as bad as I’ve built it up to be. Sure, death will suck, and many people will die alongside me as the price of my hubris, but such is life. I’ve done my part, lit a figurative spark which could one day grow into a blaze of progress and advancement, one brought about by the people of this world even if I’m not there to lead them every step of the way. I’ve shared my perspective, put my ideas out there, and hopefully, society as a whole will see that there is something of value to be gleaned from what I’ve shown them and the ideas I’ve introduced will become more widely accepted.

So why is it that even after acknowledging that I am no one special, that I am not, in fact, a hero fated to save the world, do I continue to insist on shouldering the massive burden of defeating the Eternal Emperor all by myself?

In a word? Arrogance.

I still want to be the hero, but like I said, I’m not that guy, so while my army of ten-thousand Natal Souls serves as distraction, I Conceal my true self and do something I should’ve done a long time ago, but in my arrogance, refused to.

I bow my head, press my hands together, close my eyes, and pray.

Not to the Heavens, or to the Mother Above, or to any other god, deity, devil, or otherwise who may or may not exist and be listening from on high. This prayer is nothing like the ones I make so often, appeals to a higher power to just make all my problems go away. A contradiction, I know, because I have a bias against all religion in that I am almost completely certain that no higher power exists, and yet I often beseech said higher powers for help all the same. Why? I suppose because in the grand scheme of things, I find comfort in the prospect that the possibility still exists, that there could be some all-powerful being looking out for me from on high. In truth, even though I believe none of my previous prayers have ever been answered, it would be inaccurate to claim that the Heavens, or the Mother, or some other deity has never offered me a helping hand, because I don’t know that for a fact, not beyond the shadow of a doubt. Over the course of my many trials and tribulations, I’ve had more than my fair share of dog-shit luck to get me out of some really tight spaces. My little brother’s mercy, my father’s greed, my slavers’ incompetence, and stumbling across what might well have been the only group of people within a thousand miles willing to help out a sickly and tormented slave, these are but a few of the happy little accidents that helped me get to where I am today, to say nothing of my good fortune of stumbling across Blobby and Pong Pong in succession.

So yea, it is entirely possible that there really is some higher power looking out for me, albeit one far more tolerant of pain and suffering than I would care to endure.

That being said, even if this is the case, my prayer now is not for them, or even an anthropomorphized Energy of the Heavens which may or may not possess a form of Will all of its own. Instead, I pray to humanity, because I have always had faith in other people, because when you get right down into the brass tacks, humans are generally pretty okay. Hardly a glowing recommendation for us as a species, but a fairly impressive accomplishment, all things considered. Sure, humans are capable of great evil and destruction, but most people are a pretty decent bunch, a fact which I have empirical proof to back because if they weren’t, the Empire would have a hell of a lot more Defiled and Demons running loose. The Eternal Emperor and the powers that be like to think that fear and a lack of strength keeps us all in line, but that’s like saying most people are going around thinking, “I could steal, murder, and rape so much if not for those stupid laws.” Which is dumb, since most people refrain from doing those things because that would be a dick move, and not solely because some higher authority tells us it’s wrong.

So people are generally good, and while there are many, many, many exceptions to the rule, you also have to remember to focus on the good, which will almost always far outweigh the bad.

This is the premise upon which I pray, though I suppose prayer isn’t quite the right word for this. I’m making an appeal to all of humankind, or at least, those close enough to hear me, a plea delivered through the medium of Heavenly Energy. There are no words I have to share, no rhetoric to rattle off, just an emotional entreaty for aid against an enemy who would see us all dead, a call to band against a foe too powerful for me to face on my own. The Eternal Emperor is a genius cultivator and undefeated tyrant with tens of millennia of experience and accumulations in the Dao, and yet, at the end of the day, still just a man, and no man is an island. If little old me was enough to cause him trouble, then with enough like-minded Warriors to stand alongside me, I’m certain we will be strong enough to shoulder the weight of the Heavens and bring him down together, because like my Natal Soul just told the Eternal Emperor, quantity has a quality of its own.

Okay yea, it sounds stupid when you lay it all out, but at this point, I’m willing to try anything. There’s so much more to this than an empty plea however, a logic that I cannot entirely put into words just yet but trust all the same, and as time stands still within the confines of my mind while my Natal Souls buys as much time as they can, I pray with all my heart in the hopes of finally hearing an answer for once, else all my hopes will soon come to an end.

Chapter Meme 1

Chapter Meme 2

Chapter Meme 3 Prob NSFW? I dunno man, stop reading at work.