407 Following Fate

Yaan had many things that he wanted to do, so many so that he struggled to decide on where to begin.

This was definitely a good problem to have, it was much better than most divinities, who had no idea how to even begin progressing their cultivation any further.

In the end, Yaan reminded himself that he needed to stay focussed on what was important; his dao heart.

He needed to seek out his dao heart of fate, everything else was peripheral.

And so, he would assign the peripheral tasks to his subordinates, that was their purpose after all.

After 20 years, the Paradise Sect had enjoyed ongoing prosperity. They hadn't engaged in any conflicts with other divinities, there had been no infighting or betrayal, nobody had left the sect…

It seemed that all was progressing well, and Yaan felt that it was time to take the next step.

"So the Divine Court has completely abandoned their efforts in the Neutral Star System?" Yaan confirmed with the four Deities of the World Merchant Alliance. They all nodded, showing eager expressions towards Yaan's suggestion of continuing the conquest.

"Good." Yaan smiled. "Since that's the case, let's consider the Neutral Star System to be ours already. How many divinities will you need to establish a complete and stable rule across the star system?"

Startled, Volcanic Deity hesitated when he realised what Yaan was saying.

"Sect Master, you mean to say, you don't plan on going with us this time?"

"Is there a need?" Yaan raised an eyebrow.

"Well, probably not, but if something comes up-"

"You all have talismans that can alert me if you need assistance." Yaan interrupted. "If you come under attack and need my aid, use the talisman and I will be by your side within a few moments."

Everyone looked stunned by this claim. They all had impressive travelling methods, but to say that he could find an individual in a different star system and reach their side within mere moments of being alerted? This…

"My method will not damage the world around me, stop worrying so much." Yaan rolled his eyes, seeing through their thoughts too easily. "Let's do it like this - decide amongst yourselves who wants to go. Between 10-15 Deities, each accompanied by one of the Sage's bodies."

At this point, Love Empyrean spoke up.

"Sect Master, it's very likely that the Divine Court has lain down a trap for our arrival, that is why they vanished from the star system entirely."

Hearing this, the others looked more nervous.

The Divine Court! Could this really end up resulting in an all out battle with the Divine Court?

"I know, but it doesn't matter." Yaan replied. "If there are no enemies, it won't be an issue. If there are enemies, it makes no difference how far away I am, the time it takes for me to reach someone isn't dependant on the distance. If I'm not there when they spring their trap, then they won't see me coming."

Love Empyrean's gaze shone. She nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but Yaan raised a hand and shook his head.

"The Divine Court is still uncertain about you, Love Empyrean. They are yet to decide whether you are working for the Divine Court and spying on the Paradise Sect, or working for the Paradise Sect and spying on the Divine Court. Don't give them any more information, it's best that you stay hidden for now, that way, you can stay in contact with the Divine Court."

Love Empyrean slowly nodded, as did everyone else. They all knew that Love Empyrean had told the Divine Court that she was still loyal, and was just spying on the Paradise Sect. Because of this, even though the Divine Court felt suspicious, they had remained in contact with her for now, which was obviously beneficial.

In the end, 12 Deities agreed to participate in the expansion into the Neutral Star System. If the Divine Court really had retreated, this would be a breeze, but if it was a trap…

If this was the Divine Court's trap, Yaan would take this opportunity to injure his sect's biggest obstacle. 

As everyone departed from Rainbow Mountain to make their preparation to move out in a few months, Yaan sat down and closed his eyes. His body gradually started to blur, before eventually splitting into two.

The two bodies looked very similar, but there were also some differences. His dao body wore his usual red robe and his eyes were crimson, whilst his aura was naturally demonic and soaked in blood. As for his cultivation body, there were four golden runes imprinted onto the back of his robe, his eyes glowed with golden light, and his entire aura seemed to be infused with golden power.

The runes on his cultivation base body were Divine Runes, they had naturally manifested when Yaan first created this body.

There were differences between the Divine Runes that appeared naturally upon the formation of an immense power, and the Divine Runes that he drew himself. Yaan had not perfected his 'Divine Rune Painting Technique', as he called it, and those runes could only be sustained actively with immense concentration. The runes on his cultivation base body's robe, however, shone brilliantly, showing no signs that they would ever dissipate.

Yaan's understanding of the dao of runes had been steadily growing, he had developed a keen interest in this area ever since his encounter with the Boundless Dao Library. His potential to cultivate his runic powers was also one of his greatest, due to his devouring of the Boundless Dao Sea.

His cultivation base body remained seated, activating its three Divine Spells. He no longer needed to use these spells to control Rainbow Mountain, but using them to encompass the mountain was a good way to cultivate their power.

As for his dao body, it stood up and flew away from Rainbow Mountain. After several moments, he had left the vicinity of both Rainbow Mountain and the Heavenly Statue, allowing his dao body to sense the threads of fate which connected him to the myriad of things throughout the world.

When Yaan first returned to the Qi Plane, he had developed an unrefined movement technique which utilised the threads of fate between himself, and everything that he had some sort of karma with throughout the world. At that time, he referred to this method as 'two steps of fate', but he later came to understand that the concept of 'two steps of fate' was more like the general law of operation that sustained his Divine Power; it was natural that he could implement this concept into certain techniques.

"I haven't spent much time refining this method, but eventually, it should become another Dao Spell. At that time, I will give it a name." Yaan mused as he looked around him and pondered on his first journey.

Back when he first created this movement technique, he realised that it could also be used to directly explore his own karma and fate throughout the world. There were may different connection of karma and fate that he shared with the living beings in this world, and some of them had certain similarities and familiarities that interested him.

The Primordial Sage, Asura and Spirit, all possessed threads of fate that shared a certain similarity, though he hadn't yet discerned what this 'similarity' actually was. If it wasn't for the fact that many other threads of fate - such as Zue Yin's - also had this same similarity, he would assume that it was caused by their nature as Primordial Demons.

However, there was more to it. There were so many of these threads of fate that Yaan couldn't ignore this matter any longer.

For a moment, his gaze lingered on another, unrelated thread of fate, but he looked away calmly and left it be for now.

He would get to that one later. For now, it was time to meet these other individuals who shared such similar fates.

Compared to the Primordial Demons and Zue Yin, the other threads of fate were much weaker. This had nothing to do with the strength of the individual, it was entirely related to the impact that the person had on his life. Since the Primordial Demon sisters had been integral parts of his life for a long time and directed his growth at certain points, their fate with him was the strongest. Zue Yin's was also quite strong, mostly because they had known each other relatively well in their early lives.

The next thread of fate wasn't even a tenth as strong as Zue Yin's, but it was still at a level that meant that Yaan had definitely met the person on the other end at some point in his life.

He also sensed the vague existence of threads of fate that had once existed, but now…lead to nowhere.

These should be the connections that he shared with those who had already perished. The fate existed, but the karma had already run its course from beginning to end, so the thread could no longer be pursued.

Yaan made his choice and took two steps.

With the first step, the illusory thread of fate was forced to become something 'real'. As his foot landed upon the connection, it was destroyed beneath him, right as he lifted his other foot and took his second step.

With the second step, reality was destroyed and transformed into an illusion. By turning this path beneath his feet into his own illusion, he could dictate its length, its beginning, middle and end.

And so, as his second step concluded, the path dissipated and Yaan reemerged…in the midst of an icy tundra.

He looked around, quickly discerning his exact location. He was on the Blood Plane Continent, in the Empire of Elements, specifically, the Nation of Ice. It seemed that he had stepped into a relatively barren land, there was no life bar one individual for thousands of miles around, though the spiritual pressure and aura of stillness was quite extraordinary.

For a mortal, this was a desolate, uninhabitable place, but for certain immortals, this region could prove to be a valuable cultivation location.

Yaan stopped assessing his surroundings and walked forwards, heading into the cave that he had appeared outside of. He remained completely concealed for now, as he usually did when travelling these days. Unless he specifically wanted to be seen, then no trace of him would be left behind in the world.

Yaan came to a stop inside of the cave. He stared at the cold sleeping beauty, who lay peacefully within a floating sphere of ice. The outside of the sphere was hidden behind a veil of snow, but some snow couldn't block Yaan's gaze.

He spent a few moments searching the depths of his memories as he tried to recall this somewhat nostalgic face. She wore a plain white robe and her hair messily drifted through the ice, kept afloat by a unique dao, a dao that finally helped him to remember this individual.

"The dao of dreams…so it was Ji Suzu. It's been thousands of years, I haven't seen her since I left the Fragment Sect and Planet Yushu's Southern Continent…I see, so it turns out there were other survivors that day, after the Primordial Devil released his domain and wiped away all traces of life from Planet Yushu."

To think that a Foundation Step cultivator, this girl whom Yaan had once taught back in the Fragment Sect, would not only survive that calamity, but continue to survive throughout the current turbulent world, and even go on to reach the Ancient Immortal Realm.

Anyone still alive from Planet Yushu would need to have at least reached the Ancient Immortal Realm, since it had been over 3,000 years. Yaan wasn't going to find any living mortals at the end of his threads of fate; he had long since outlived that world.

Yaan walked forwards and casually waved his hand, melting the ball of ice and causing the still-sleeping Ji Suzu to drift towards him. He didn't wake her, but used Reveal Truth to carefully examine this girl, trying to find any clue as to why she shared that same similar fate as Zue Yin and the Primordial Demon sisters.

To examine a mere immortal and learn everything about them, Yaan didn't need to use any special techniques, but he wasn't interested in Ji Suzu herself, but her fate.

In the end, all he could conclude, was that it related to her Dao Soul. This was the conclusion he reached after comparing the fates of Ji Suzu and Zue Yin…but he still couldn't see why, or what this meant.

"A similarity in the Dao Soul…? Do they cultivate similar daos, or have they all achieved some sort of uncommon enlightenment regarding karma, or fate, or perhaps something else…? Or perhaps, the individuals themselves share some sort of connection…but how could that be?"

He thought about it, but couldn't come to any certain conclusions. The answer certainly lay with one of two possibilities though - either these individuals had comprehended the same unseen enlightenment within their Dao Souls, or the individuals themselves were connected in some way.

If it was related to comprehension, Yaan could only continue to search for other similar individuals to broaden his investigation. If the individuals themselves actually shared a connection though…

'One of the Sage's hidden plots?' Yaan thought. It was certainly possible, her entire cultivation and power was centred around her scheming and setting up countless unknown measures throughout the world. 

It was even possible that the Sage had deliberately interfered with the karma of some of the people in Yaan's life, and this was the similarity that he was seeing. If she had also done likewise to her two sisters, then this was certainly worth considering.

'It would be good if I could capture and examine the Primordial Asura and Primordial Spirit, but for now, this isn't possible.'

After stepping back, Yaan pondered his next move.

Should he leave, or wake her up? Or perhaps he could capture her, and the others who shared this similar fate.

The life and death of some immortal meant nothing to Yaan. He felt a bit nostalgic when he saw her, but that was it, it wasn't worth caring about such a shallow sentiment.

And so, he had no qualms about kidnapping her. At his current level of power, capturing an immortal was about as difficult as picking an apple from a tree branch.

'What will I even do if I take her? Compare her Dao Soul to some others? Forget it, I'm not going to drag around a bunch of people for now, I can always return later. As for speaking with her…'

Yaan felt no reason to do so. He waved his hand and took a step, returning the cave to how it had been, and thus removing every trace of his presence before he left.

"Next."