Interests

"Chairman Yuxiao." That form of address caused Immortal King Shenyu to frown slightly despite himself. Immortal King Yuxiao had refused to see Immortal King Fanjing and Immortal King Hongmeng, yet was willing to grant them an audience. Didn't that prove he still had regard for old ties? Yet she hadn't seized the opportunity to draw closer to him. However, seeing that Immortal King Yuxiao's expression remained utterly impassive upon hearing the address, Shenyu suppressed his dissatisfaction. Old ties? What old ties could there be? Immortal King Yuxiao had lived for millions of years. Could a mere millennium of acquaintance truly foster sentiment toward a newborn immortal spirit? Granting them a meeting at such a juncture had likely exhausted every shred of that goodwill. At the thought, Immortal King Shenyu felt a quiet twinge of regret, yet he could only seize the moment and say, "We looked into the situation Creation Group has faced recently, and things have not been easy. Xiyu Group and Creation Group have always shared close ties. Our chairman originally intended to pay a personal visit, but worried it would be presumptuous and disrupt Chairman Yuxiao's secluded cultivation. He sent me instead to see where we might be of assistance." "How thoughtful of you." Yaoguang looked at Immortal King Shenyu, skipping idle pleasantries and cutting straight to the point. "Director Shenyu, offering help is one reason you are here. But the other reason is for the legacies of the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor, is it not?" Immortal King Shenyu was momentarily taken aback by Yaoguang's directness. Then, abandoning any further beat-around-the-bush pretenses, he nodded. "Indeed. Creation Group is now left with only yourself, Immortal King Nizhuan, and Alpha. Bringing the legacies in your possession to bear will hardly be simple." He continued frankly, "Lately, Immortal King Nizhuan has repeatedly sought an opportunity to approach the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma. Yet the other conglomerates have formed a tacit alliance to freeze him out. I suspect Chairman Yuxiao might not yet be aware of this?" "Frozen out?" Yaoguang raised an eyebrow. The Gate of Fate and the Gate of Karma were blockaded jointly by the Nine Great Groups. In theory, having Nizhuan arrange for Yaoguang, as chairman, to approach both portals should not have been difficult. Yet until now... No word had come back. "Chairman Yuxiao hopes to harness the legacies of the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor within you, using resonance and vibration to comprehend the profundities of Fate and Karma. Once the moment ripens, you likely intend to use that resonance between Daos to shake the Gate of Karma and Gate of Fate, creating an opening for Creation Group to breach the two portals, yes?" Immortal King Shenyu smiled. "Yet times have changed. On one hand, Creation Group's strength is nowhere near what it once was. Even if you truly could shake the Gate of Karma and Gate of Fate through the resonance of the Time and Void Dao Ancestors' power, Creation Group alone may not possess the might to break them open. On the other hand... the other eight groups will hardly tolerate Creation Group hoarding the entire glory of breaching both portals, and they are bound to sabotage you." "It is true that Creation Group is not as strong as before, but our greatest pillar still stands. As long as the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma are shaken, granting the Lord of Creation a visible opportunity, he will surely descend in person and strike, breaching the two portals with my support!" Yaoguang smiled faintly. "Once the portals of Fate and Karma fall, the final line of defense of the Ancient Immortal Realm will crumble. When that happens, Creation Group and the Lord of Creation will be credited with the greatest merit in overthrowing the Ancient Immortal Realm. Wouldn't Immortal King Shenyu agree?" "As you said yourself, the Lord of Creation will only act once the legacy power of the Time and Void Dao Ancestors upon you shakes the Gate of Karma and Gate of Fate through Dao resonance. Otherwise, even beings as formidable as the Dominators cannot face the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma on their home turf within the Ancient Immortal Realm. Done poorly, they might even risk falling." Immortal King Shenyu looked at Yaoguang. "Yet the issue now is... the other eight groups have clamped a strict blockade over the Gate of Karma and Gate of Fate. Even if you wished to approach them to trigger that resonance, you would be unable to do so. Your plan is dead on arrival at step one. Without choosing to ally with one or two factions, how could Chairman Yuxiao ever reach them?" He quickly added, "Naturally, as long as Chairman Yuxiao allows Xiyu Group to join your plan, the flank of the Gate of Fate blockaded by Xiyu Group will open wide for you. Furthermore, before you comprehend the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma and trigger the resonance between both Daos, our Immortal Kings from Xiyu Group will stand guard at your side, ensuring no one disrupts your contemplation." "Is this your idea, or that of the Lord of Xiyu?" Yaoguang asked with a touch of curiosity. "It can be Xiyu Group's intention, or it can be the will of the great Lord of Xiyu. The key lies in how Chairman Yuxiao chooses to cooperate," Immortal King Shenyu replied with a smile. Yaoguang fell silent in thought. The reason the Immortal Kings from these conglomerates were exhausting every avenue to meet him—or box him in—was that, in their eyes, the hour had come to carve up the spoils. The Three Thousand Grand Daos were inherently a single whole. A single Dao could inevitably resonate with dozens of others. In their view, with Yaoguang holding the legacies of both the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor, triggering Dao resonance with the Gate of Karma and Gate of Fate to expose flaws in those tightly sealed portals—which acted as the ballast stones of the Ancient Immortal Realm—would be child's play. Once flaws appeared in the two portals and the Dominators saw hope of ending the war, they would undoubtedly intervene in person to shatter them. Yet Yaoguang knew that the power of Fate embodied by the Gate of Fate was distinctly higher in order than Karma, Time, and Void. He might well trigger resonance with the Grand Dao of Karma manifested by the Gate of Karma, thereby shattering that portal. Yet the Gate of Fate stood as the foremost among the Three Thousand Grand Daos, towering above all the other two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine... It was not something conventional means could shake. In fact, Yaoguang had already realized that the moment he truly attempted to shake the Gate of Fate, the situation would spiral beyond anyone's expectations. Still, he had compelling reasons to do so. Though he had glimpsed the essence of the power of Fate through Higher-Dimensional Cognition, endowing his developing chaos world with the four Supreme Grand Daos of Fate, Karma, Time, and Void... His comprehension of the Three Thousand Grand Daos was limited to barely over a hundred. With so few Daos, relying entirely on the chaos world's self-evolution to reach a level rivaling the Ancient Immortal Realm would take at least a hundred million years. Yet if he could help his chaos world complete the Three Thousand Grand Daos by copying the answers directly from the source, that timeline could be slashed to a million years, or even hundreds of thousands, or just over a hundred thousand years. The Three Thousand Grand Daos were largely occupied by the Immortal Kings and Immortal Venerables of the Hunyuan Realm. Attempting to comprehend them one by one would not only require vast spans of time, but would also amount to wiping out nearly all the Immortal Kings, Immortal Venerables, immortals, and Dao Integration experts. That was no different from going to total war against the entire Hunyuan Realm. The difficulty was simply too high. However... The Grand Dao of Fate governed the Three Thousand Grand Daos! If one wanted to copy every single answer in one go, starting with the Grand Dao of Fate was unquestionably the optimal path. *First shatter the Gate of Karma, using the opportunity to let the Grand Dao of Karma complete its final metamorphosis, condense the 'Dao Lord' Dao Fruit, and become the new Karma Dao Lord. From there, take control of the Gate of Fate and master the Ancient Immortal Realm's Grand Dao of Fate.* That was Yaoguang's plan. To ensure the plan proceeded smoothly, partnering with another conglomerate was not out of the question. Yet whoever the collaborator might be, once the true confrontation with the Gate of Fate began, they were destined to become sacrificial pawns. *In this war between two realms, even Immortal Kings are merely larger chess pieces,* Yaoguang thought with sudden clarity. The role of an Immortal King was to charge the front lines and probe for the enemy's weaknesses. As for those below Immortal King... They did not even qualify to be pawns. Yaoguang refocused his gaze on Immortal King Shenyu. "Xiyu Group has shown great sincerity. I assumed you would be like Tianyuan Group, Shenluo Group, Changsheng Group, and Star Sun Group—pressing me aggressively to force me to surrender the legacies of the Void Dao Ancestor and Time Dao Ancestor." "Chairman Yuxiao jokes. Whether Tianyuan Group or Shenluo Group, their so-called aggressive posturing is merely aimed at forcing you to make concessions in the upcoming negotiations," Immortal King Shenyu said with a smile. "Everyone knows the initiative has remained in your hands all along. Even if you ultimately cannot approach the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma, you have one final option: surrender the two legacies to the Lord of Yuanxi. With that level of contribution, elevating your authority to level nineteen would be effortless." Yaoguang understood this as well, which was why he hadn't bothered to meet Immortal King Hongmeng. Had that Immortal King from Tianyuan Group come, he would inevitably have adopted the stance of a victor, laying out the stakes to force him to bow his head. Yaoguang was no masochist; why sit through such lectures? "Tianyuan Group, Shenluo Group, Changsheng Group, and Star Sun Group have already reached a consensus to pressure me into concessions to maximize their own interests. Yet your Xiyu Group has chosen to cooperate proactively, assisting me toward the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma. Doesn't that place you in direct opposition to those four conglomerates?" Yaoguang asked. "Gains come with losses. How can one reap rewards without shouldering risks?" Immortal King Shenyu answered candidly. "I only wonder whether Xiyu Group alone can shoulder such risk." "Cooperation brings mutual gain, while fighting to the bitter end benefits none of us. It would only end up favoring the Lord of Yuanxi and those minor factions." Immortal King Shenyu looked at Yaoguang. "In truth, the reason Tianyuan Group, Shenluo Group, and the rest dare to target Chairman Yuxiao like this is that the Dominators backing them still harbor doubts over whether you can truly shake the Gate of Karma and Gate of Fate through Dao resonance." He smiled. "Once you truly demonstrate that capability, the other Dominators will instantly step forward to support you without reservation. When that time comes, you will be the spokesperson for the Nine Great Groups, assisting all nine of us in plucking the grand prize of the Ancient Immortal Realm—making the Nine Great Groups true rulers who stand above even the Lord of Yuanxi."