‘So we failed,’ Pervata sighed. ‘The tides of Fate…’
The desolate tone dug at Zac’s heart, and he didn’t know how to respond. The ancient Autarch had seen through some of his secrets but arrived at the wrong conclusion. Pervata believed Zac was a distant descendant who’d traveled back in time to change his clan’s Fate. While the misunderstanding worked in Zac’s favor, it brought up certain questions.
Were Autarchs strong enough to overcome the trial’s safeguards? If so, what’d happen when they reached the Outer Courts, let alone the Left Imperial Palace? B-grade cultivators were by no means common, but Primal Heavens were the utmost cultivation grounds in the Multiverse. Even the citadels in more flourishing regions were bound to have at least one or two.
Then again, Pervata’s deduction could stem from special circumstances. Dipper Seven was more or less a C-grade memory domain, not meant to house beings at his level. The restrictions could very well be stronger in domains meant to simulate Autarchs and greater existences. It could also be due to the token. It held genuine Imperial Fate, which could potentially influence the trial’s fundamental rules.
‘Child, you shouldn’t have come here. Interfering with causality comes at a great cost, one not only paid by you. Your act might become a spear aimed at the Empire, harming the citizens we’ve sworn to protect. It’s too late to undo your actions, but removing you here will keep the damage at a minimum.’
‘Wait! I’m not acting on my own. Coming here is far beyond my abilities. I was sent here on orders of the Imperial Tutor,’ Zac said when the Hidden Earth Abode began quaking again. ‘I’m not just here to save our clan. We’re here to protect the flame of hope by correcting our mistakes.’
Zac wasn’t sure if a general at Pervata’s level would know about the System this far from its activation, but ‘the flame of hope’ was a well-established term. It stood at the core of the Empire’s doctrine. They weren’t waging war with the universe because of greed or megalomania. The Empire fought to protect the flame of hope and raise the Heavens, at least from their point of view.
Whatever it was, something Zac said struck home. The pressure relented, and Pervata’s next sentence lacked the steely intent of slaughter. ‘What is your objective?’
‘I cannot say. As Senior said, causality is unpredictable. You weren’t supposed to be part of this thread of Karma. Our mission might have gone awry because of the Void’s influence or the interference of outsiders.’
‘Prove myself? I can’t. My only request is that Senior forget I appeared and let history run its course until I’m gone. If necessary, save the descendant of the Whitecrest Clan. He’s not like me, and… he’ll become important,’ Zac said.
‘I’ll trust you, child. For now,’ Pervata said, hesitation evident in his tone. ‘The Family—‘
Zac gave it some thought before sending a final message. ‘Senior, you’re wrong on one point. The clan’s strength may have faded, but not our glory. Until the end, we never lost our way.’
‘…That’s all we can ask,’ Pervata sighed. ‘Safe travels, Clan Head.’
Zac bowed toward the ceiling before putting the seal away. For a moment, Zac felt like he could peer through the miles of bedrock to see Perata Wendimar floating above Dipper Seven. The image superimposed over the memory of Kristvan Wendimar sending his daughter away. Terea had said the same thing back then, and the meaning was the same. Pervata believed Zac had taken on a suicide mission.
There was no going back after meddling with the past. If the situation had been real, Zac would become a temporal paradox upon finishing his mission. The timeline would diverge, destroying ‘his’ future. Naturally, he wouldn’t be spared by the backlash.
‘Everything dealt with?’ Ogras asked, keeping an eye on the ceiling.
‘For now.’
Lying to high-grade cultivators had never worked out. Not daring to take the gamble, Zac chose to tell the truth this time—barring certain details. They had been sent here by the System, and his mission was exactly as Zac said. He was correcting the mistake that destroyed the Dipper Mountains. Doing so, he was also bringing the Margrave important information, in extension protecting the Limitless Empire’s flame of hope.
While his human side had prepared for the mission, his Draugr half had continued to analyze the trial and its hidden goals. He and Esmeralda had already deduced that it was possible to strengthen the Imperial Fate by rewriting the world’s memory, and the ritual spanning the whole Left Imperial Expanse was possibly designed to weaken the Empire’s sin of creating the System and overturning the natural order.
By that logic, the Empire wouldn’t create lanterns and domains at random. Changing some parts of history would do more harm than good, weakening the Imperial Fate. Each memory was a blemish in history, representing missed potential. And willingly or not, the trial takers became instruments of change—butterflies flapping their wings, creating hurricanes on the other side of the world.
Zac’s actions in Black Zenith might seem isolated and irrelevant, but they allowed Mayor Truga to pull off his scam earlier and without involving his contacts from the road project. That could have set in motion something or thwarted a disaster. Zac was simply unable to see the whole picture and too weak to understand the complex weave of Karma.
Stumbling onto one Void-related event after another was part of a plot, just not one necessarily aimed at him. The creators behind the trial had picked the memories with the greatest odds of rekindling Fate, and some deeper issues probably couldn’t be solved in one go. There were probably dozens, even hundreds, of important threads arranged across the continent.
That theory only got stronger after learning of Hidden Earth and the Lowest Plane. Zac would have to be blind not to notice the similarities to the [Fuxi Mountain Gate]. The gate on Ivar’s hand spewing Void Energy should have led to the ‘Lowest Plane’ the Guild Master mentioned— a realm sitting on the border between Void and Dao.
The [Fuxi Mountain Gate] had accomplished the same thing by relying on Imperial Faith to burn away all foreign Dao. Meanwhile, the Lowest Plane actually held a chaotic mix of Void and Inverse Dao. Instead of erasing itself from existence as it should, it had created a chaotic environment like the Calamity inside the Perennial Vastness.
Studying such a unique Lower Plane along with the Hidden Earth Abode’s techniques, one could very well improve the gate’s design—not Zac, but the gate’s original creator. The inheritance went up in smoke in the original timeline, harming an important part of the Pillar’s construction. Bringing out the inheritance would no doubt generate more Imperial Fate than thousands of normal memory lanterns.
Except, not just anyone could solve the issue. One needed the right skillset and motivation to get involved with the events in Dipper Seven. That was why Fate had been the deciding factor in becoming a Sealbearer, not strength or background.
The sealbearers should all have Fate with the important threads of untapped potential. It couldn’t even be considered a plot; it was a win-win situation. There’d only be Fate if both parties saw to benefit. Most of the chosen were likely traveling along threads matching their nature, following a hidden quest chain.
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Leyara had nudged him toward the most suitable plot thread by sending Terea Wendimar’s memory lantern his way. With that memory’s starting position, he was bound to run into the [Fuxi Mountain Gate]. Zac would probably have found it himself if he’d entered the trial the normal way, though his Void Road and natural resistance against Karmic entanglement might have interfered. How Leyara possibly could have known remained a mystery, though it was undoubtedly related to The Vigil.
‘I know, I won’t get wrapped up,’ Zac added, noticing the unspoken warning in the demon’s gaze. ‘Give me a moment.’
The Void shockwave had dispersed, taking most of the chaotic energies with it. However, Pervata had kicked the hornet’s nest before backing down, further destabilizing the Muddy Patch Vein. Terrifying amounts of energy were already pouring through the cracks, and it wouldn’t be long before the area was turned into a true taboo zone.
Knowing the window was closing, Zac infused himself with [Void Mountain] to phase through the abode’s barrier. A few seconds later, Zac returned to the demon’s side with a grievously wounded Kalir. The [Seven Dipper Array] had withstood countless Void surges as the abode’s mountains aligned, proving it had innate resistance to the Hidden Earth Abode’s unusual Void Energy. It was enough to save the Whitecrest descendant’s life with the help of multiple defensive treasures.
“You, what are you plotting?” Kalir asked with a weak voice, looking back and forth between him and Ogras.
“Your Guardian gave his life to protect us. I’m returning the favor. The Hidden Earth Abode is our best chance to ride out the storm,” Zac said, waving at the building chaos. “Besides, we haven’t finished what we came for.”
Kalir was needed to get a copy of the Hidden Earth Heritage into Pervata Wendimar’s hands. Based on his theories of the trial, Zac had decided to stop worrying and see things through to the end. He’d follow the Void thread to the end. He’d also try to reignite as much Imperial Fate as possible, provided it didn’t clash with his objectives.
Based on the concepts of balance and reciprocity, Zac believed it would improve his chances inside the courts. The greater his impact on history, the better the reception. Even if he was mistaken, helping the Wendimar Clan was in his best interest. Their status within the Hollow Court would improve if they could contribute valuable intelligence. Zac might not even need an identity connected to the Hollow Court if things played out as he hoped.
Of course, Kalir knew none of this.
“What? Why are you looking at me like I’m going to eat you?” Ogras sneered. “You saw the young master fight. You’d be dead if we wanted you dead.”
“Then… we’re safe?” Kalir slowly said.
An intense premonition of danger made Zac look up. The alabaster mountain rumbled as deep fissures spread across its smooth foundation. Bursts of C-grade Cosmic Energy teeming with Inverse Dao poured out of the cracks, lashing at their surroundings like solar flares. It was the beginning of the end. The mountain had lost its counterpart, and it was ready to join its brother in death.
“Does no one in your Clan know how to control their mouths?” Ogras swore as he shifted the trio toward the open gate.
With the outside spiraling out of control and the white mountain raining hellfire inside the barrier, the abode itself was the last remaining refuge. Its twenty-odd buildings were sitting upon a thin disk, all of them fully intact. Runes similar to the Void-attracting arrays had appeared across their surface when the mountain exploded, keeping them safe from the damage.
Zac looked up with awe as a fresh spring of pure Dao poured out of the mountain’s heart. It ignored the abode, instead fusing into the struggling barrier. It was stabilized and pushed directly to the Peak of C-grade, more than enough to resist a while longer.
“One attacks and the other defends,” Ogras hummed, noticing Zac’s ugly expression as he stared toward the abode’s depths. “But I’m guessing it won’t save us from the next part.”
The demon was right. Having lost its energy supply and stabilizing mountains, the Hidden Earth Abode had entered an emergency protocol—a mode that clearly didn’t have enough spare energy to keep the Void Treasure contained. Its towering aura was gradually unveiling itself, putting Zac’s very existence under pressure.
A sudden burst of Inverse Dao made Ogras groan while Kalir was directly knocked out. It came from the same source as the Void Treasure, meaning it was already destabilizing. They had ten minutes at best.
“Never a break in this place,” Ogras cursed.
Zac slapped the Kalir awake. “You. Are there hidden defenses here, too?”
“I— What was that?” Kalir stuttered, the grace of a young master long gone. “I don’t know. We gained a partial understanding of his design by tracking Hidden Earth’s purchase orders and thefts. That only lets us deduce the outer arrays. Hidden Earth must have been more careful planning for the core.”
“You better not be joking,” Zac growled. “This whole mountain range will be swallowed by the Lowest Plane in minutes unless we stop it, and we’ll be the first to go.”
Kalir’s eyes focused up. “How do you know that? Was Ivar telling the truth?”
“No. We just walked similar paths, and Fate brought me here. I’d never heard of Hidden Earth before you told me, but I can intuit certain things. Like the fact that we’re dead if you’re lying,” Zac said.
“The manor is following the same rough layout as his ancestral home. It only had additional defenses surrounding an underground treasury. There’s no such thing here,” Kalir said and took out a milky-green engraved stone. “This is all I have.”
Zac snatched the jade and put it against his forehead. It was the popular form of storage before Information Crystals became the norm. Zac learned it was because of spiritual jade’s innate resistance to Earthly Taint, reducing the risk of corrupting the stored data. With the Earthly Taint gone, it made more sense to use the much cheaper crystals.
The Whitecrest scion really didn’t have much to go by. It only took Zac a moment to peruse everything he’d gathered, at which point he’d matched the Void Treasure’s call with an elder’s council hall in the manor’s back. It was a good spot to place a nurturing chamber, aligning it with the center of the mountains.
Kalir’s research didn’t have a single mention of the Lowest Plane or Void Energy, but it did mention a third array called the [Five Breaths Domain]. It was a treasure-nurturing array loosely based on the enkindling cycle of the Five Elements. The elements could be replaced with almost any Dao Peak, provided you made the necessary adjustments. With Hidden Earth’s Dao of Bedrock, it was a decent pick to nurture a Void Treasure.
It also was the perfect choice for Zac, who had ample experience constructing and deconstructing cycles. A glance was enough to gain a basic understanding of things to note.
“Takehim to the repository. I’ll deal with the bomb,” Zac said, adding the next part only for Ogras’s ears.
‘Keep the originals, but let him make copies. If possible, don’t let him notice the switch.’
‘Got it. And then? We’re not getting out the way we came.’
Zac considered it a moment. ‘Return to my side, but be ready to escape first when the domain starts to tear. I don’t think I’ll be able to contain all the energy.’
‘You’re really going to eat that thing?’ Ogras asked, looking at Zac like he was mad. ‘Even for you…’
‘I’m not eating it. I’ll throw it into a treasure I picked up on the way. It’s just… This one might be a bit crazy even for me.’
‘I’ll make sure this lad doesn’t do anything stupid,’ Ogras said with a solemn gaze. ‘Be careful.’.
‘You too. He’s not as fragile as he seems.’ Zac warned.
‘I’ve dealt with much better actors,’ the demon grinned before dragging Kalir away in a puff of shadows.
There was no blame or anger in Ogras’s eyes, even with the world coming down on their heads. Despite his wretched state and upcoming torment, Zac couldn’t help but feel blessed as he rushed toward the inner sanctum. Most spent their life pursuing the Dao without knowing the joy of experiencing the journey in the company of a true brother. Zac wouldn’t let Ogras fall here, even if he had to sacrifice the treasure to open a path.
[Void Mountain] allowed Zac to pass through a final barrier without issue, mostly because it was about to run out of energy. A different world from the manor’s energy-starved environment waited on the other side. Zac may as well have entered the Lowest Plane from how starkly different the atmosphere was.
Two overlapping realities greeted Zac as he looked around, one of Dao and another of Void. Both were part of the Hidden Earth Abode, though only ruins remained. The surface layer was ingrained with Inverse Dao with hints of Dao of the Elements likely drawn from the Dipper Mountains. Every surface was covered in crystals, metals, and Earth-attuned plants—all Natural Treasures.
Born from the leakage of the supreme treasure further inside, most were Middle D-grade or higher. Unfortunately, they also sported extensive damage, like they’d been gnawed on by rats. The true perpetrator was the world beneath the surface, the one only privy to a Void Cultivator’s eyes. Zac looked at the pure Void Treasures with amazement, his bloodline already clamoring for a taste.
Ultimately, Zac’s gaze turned toward the broken door further within. What he’d come for waited on the other side. Its aura would have directly knocked him out if he hadn’t been acclimatized over the past day. It was like a Beast Emperor waited on the other side, yet there was no hesitation in Zac’s steps. It belonged to the Void, and he was its true Emperor.
Pushing open the door in both realities, Zac finally came face-to-face with what he was looking for. A small flower directly growing from a spatial gate waited on the other side of a glass wall. Eight of its petals were made of pure Void, while three were spun from Dao—a paradoxical existence just like Zac himself.