Plan of Attack

Shi looked around, assessing her surroundings as she came to grips with her newfound power.

Normally, upon ascending to the Divine Step, the divinity's Life Essence would absorb Divine Essence from the world, converting it from Immortal Life Essence into Divine Life Essence. This Divine Life Essence fused with their cultivation, forming the divinity's Divine Power. Each being's Divine Power was unique, but every Divine Power possessed the ability to suppress all inferior life in this world.

Yaan was the first ever exception to this usual progression of ascension; he did not possess any Life Essence to begin with, since his immortal 'body' was in fact just an illusion. Upon reaching the Divine Step, he still absorbed the world's Divine Essence, but it fused directly into his illusory body. This granted him with a Divine Power that gave his illusory body the ability to utilise the four original paths of cultivation at the Divine Step. His four cultivations were illusions, but thanks to his Divine Power, these cultivations were no weaker than any true Divine Step cultivation!

If this seemed superior compared to other divinities, perhaps it was. Not all divinities were equal, and those who ascended with their dao heart were far from ordinary individuals.

Now, Shi had also ascended with her dao heart, her heart of destruction. Like Yaan, Shi comprehended the Heavenly Dao, but she ascended to both the Immortal Step and Divine Step using her dao heart. Unlike Yaan, her dao heart shared a name with one of the earthly daos, but this was actually true of around half of all divinities.

Of course, Shi did not take the same path as Yaan - she did not use her dao heart to overcome the pressure of the Divine Stairway and ascend to the 10th stair, because her heart of destruction and her will filled with madness destroyed the Divine Stairway! This was a terrifying path, and the first and last time that it would be walked.

There was no longer a Divine Stairway in this world, meaning that it was no longer possible to attain transcendence or divinity using one's comprehension over the Heavenly Dao. However, it had now become many times easier to ascend to the Divine Step via the dao heart.

Shi looked down at her palm, curling and uncurling her hand several times. She stared at the black bolts of destruction passing through her flesh. To others, this would look eery and painful, but to Shi, it was actually extremely comfortable.

"I absorbed Divine Essence from the destruction of the Divine Stairway. I should have devoured more than most divinities, though I still don't really understand what Divine Essence actually is. Regardless, my Divine Power has granted me with a cultivation of destruction…it is thanks to my Origin Path and my transformed Origin Life Essence that I am able to exist in this state of destruction. I got lucky, but that's fine, I still made it in the end."

Shi looked up and around. Her senses had improved drastically compared to before. Even though she was yet to fully integrate and adjust to her power, she could feel the strength flowing through her, and she could see everything for countless miles around. The difference between immortality and divinity was simply staggering.

"Uncle is still on the Sage Plane, but he will return to the Qi Plane eventually. Until then…"

Shi slowly formed a smile as she looked towards the trio of divinities who had finally escaped the rampant wave of destruction and cautiously made their way towards her. 

"Everyone…would you prefer to be destroyed, or to assist me with destroying the Divine Court? The choice is yours, hahahaha…"

*****

"Sage, even if Shi is going to do as you claim, why should we step in now?" Yaan asked the Primordial Sage after she explained Shi's role properly.

"There are several reasons. Firstly, the Divine Court is now undoubtedly the most powerful group across the world. With the Primordial Alliance thrown into chaos and severely weakened, the Divine Court's expansion has already become far more aggressive in the Neutral Star System. At this rate, more divinities will be persuaded to join them, which will not be good for us. We need to take this chance to weaken them."

Yaan thought about it, but he shook his head.

"If Shi escapes from the Eternal Prison like you predict, she and the other three divinities will cause enough trouble for the Divine Court. It's likely that others will see this and step in. There's no need for us to join the fray, not when so many people are against us. We will be walking into the midst of enemies from multiple different factions."

"We will not." The Primordial Sage denied. "Because our goal is not the Divine Court. Our goal is to take the opportunity whilst everyone is distracted, to loot the Four Divine Star System."

Yaan's eyes lit up. The more he thought about it, the more he was tempted by the idea.

"Indeed, this isn't a bad plan. The divinities across the Qi Plane have been watching over the Divine True Inheritances and Primordial Treasures that appeared in the Four Divine Star System ever since the Spirit Plane's destruction. Some of those divinities will finally leave and rush to the Divine Star System, and many others will be caught up in the chaos, unable to prevent us from acting. However, jumping in without a clear plan won't benefit us at all…I take it you have a specific target in mind?"

He was naturally tempted by the Divine True Inheritances and Primordial Treasures, but particularly the inheritances. Yaan had only experienced two Divine True Inheritances, and they were the most simple of the Primordial Spirit's collection with a single trial to overcome, but he still benefitted enormously from each encounter.

The rewards that Yaan reaped from the Heartless Inheritance and Ruthless Inheritance could not be quantified in terms of wealth, because he didn't earn wealth, but understanding. In each of those inheritances, his dao heart was stimulated and he reached deeper levels of understanding into his own heart that would have taken him many, many years to arrive at otherwise.

He had also inherited the Primordial Devil's complete memories. After reaching the Divine Step, Yaan became able to process the Primordial Devil's Divine Step memories. Although there were simply too many of these memories to go through in a short period of time, in a way, this was also like receiving a true inheritance, and it helped Yaan to develop his understanding of this world and his origins.

Based on his current understanding, the ascension past the origin could only be achieved by attaining a certain level of enlightenment into one's own dao heart. Pursuing anything that could assist with the progression of his dao heart lay at the core of Yaan's plans going forwards.

"I naturally have a plan. I will monitor the situation across the Qi Plane, and when the time is right, we will step onto the board and take the Four Divine Star System for ourselves."

Yaan stared at the Primordial Sage for a long time. She sounded serious, however…

"The entire Four Divine Star System?"

"Yes."

"Sage, I didn't take you for the joking type." Yaan smiled wryly. "Not only is the Four Divine Star System the territory of the Divine Court, it has now become a waiting ground for half of the Qi Plane's divinities. Everyone has their eye on the treasures that dropped down from the Spirit Plane, and when the Divine Court is struck with disaster, some of those individuals will take advantage of the chaos, just like us. That's not even mentioning the absurd task of taking control over the entire star system after everything has settled down…with just the two of us, this is simply impossible."

"Indeed. Fortunately, it won't be just the two of us." The Sage replied.

Yaan paused for a moment, before his eyes shone brilliantly. The Sage turned to him and stared at him with those scheming emerald eyes.

"Did you think that I spent my three million years of life in vain? Do you really believe that I would build up countless connections and relationships, only to throw it all away, just for you?"

"I believe that you would do so, if you needed to, yes." Yaan nodded. "However…it seems that this time, you didn't need to go so far."

"Indeed. The Primordial Alliance is just that - an alliance. Now that Old Thief has left the playing field, the Primordial Spirit has lost her power and Defiance Sovereign has shown his complete lack of loyalty to the alliance, the alliance is already falling apart. Many members only joined the alliance because of myself. Now that I have left, they will follow me and take their leave." The Sage explained.

Yaan's eyes shone. He had already considered this possibility, but based on what the Sage was saying, it seemed like she still had far more connections than he had realised!

"How many divinities can we count on?"

"Aside from ourselves, I have certainty that at least 12 will join us."

"Hmm…"

The Primordial Sage went on.

"When the time is right, almost every single divinity, Transcendent and immortal with allegiance to myself, will step into the Four Divine Star System. We will slaughter every last trace of the Divine Court's presence, and force any lingering divinities to either join us, leave, or die. There is no need to fight over scraps. We will take every single treasure from the Spirit Plane, and the Four Divine Star System will become our first territory on the Qi Plane. Is this agreeable to you?"

Yaan finally realised now…the Primordial Sage had not given up on her authority in the least by abandoning the Primordial Alliance. In fact, she still had a fair bit of control over the Blood Plane too. If they could gain a foothold on the Qi Plane, they would have a seriously powerful foundation in this world that nobody would be able to shake!

"You sure planned this well, Sage. It's irritating that you didn't tell me this sooner, but I suppose that's nothing new. Regardless, your proposal is too advantageous to turn down, you already know that I won't decline."

Yaan paused, then narrowed his eyes and looked back at the Sage. His gaze was filled with a scheming light that was different to her own, but somehow, no less terrifying.

"You set up this plan and didn't tell me until the last second. You did this in an attempt to make me wary of you, but you failed. Honestly, it's just irritating - don't do this again. So, let's discuss the specifics. Know that if I don't like how this all plays out in the end, our alliance is over. Others might fear you, Sage, but I do not. I already know that even if we were to become enemies, you would rather observe me than kill me."

"Very well."

Their discussion went on for a long, long time.

Not long after Shi escaped the Eternal Prison, destroyed the Divine Stairway and ascended to the Divine Step, the duo made their move.