Decisive Battle

"To buy sweet osmanthus and carry wine aboard—never again shall it be like the roving days of youth." The war between the Hunyuan Realm and the Ancient Immortal Realm was steadily growing clearer. Different factions held different perspectives. When listening to the accounts of the inter-realm war from the perspective of the Nine Great Groups, the Ancient Immortal Realm was utterly suppressed, powerless to fight back. It seemed as though, were it not for the Nine Great Groups squabbling over an unequal division of the spoils, they would only need to unite and exert a fraction of their might to completely crush and annihilate the Ancient Immortal Realm. Yet in the eyes of Immortal King Tianming and the others in the Ancient Immortal Alliance, everything was part of the plan. The Fate Dao Ancestor and Karma Dao Ancestor manipulated the clouds and rain with a flip of their hands, playing the Hunyuan Realm's Lord of Yuanxi, the Nine Rulers, and the Nine Great Groups like pawns in the palm of their hands. The supposed defeats in the early stages were nothing more than feigning weakness before the enemy, all for the sake of an even greater triumph. Once that victory arrived, the situation would be completely overturned. When the time came, what would be annihilated would not be the resistance of the Ancient Immortal Realm, but the forces of the Hunyuan Realm. Listening to both sides brought clarity. Having made contact with both sides and learned each party's perspective on this war, coupled with a few conjectures of his own, Yaoguang had finally grasped the true picture of the war between the Ancient Immortal Realm and the Hunyuan Realm. What came next was simply to follow the course most advantageous to himself. After all, possessing the essence of "Chaos"—having even evolved a "Chaos World"—he was well qualified to lounge atop the clouds and watch the tigers fight. At most, it was just that he was still reluctant to leave behind the magnificent mountains and rivers and the breathtaking starry skies of the Ancient Immortal Realm, unwilling to return to his Chaos World to sit in solitude for hundreds of millions of years watching the world unfold. ... Immortal King Nizhuan had labored for three years, only to return with disheartening news in the end. His expression was fraught with anger. "Back then, the resolution to blockade the Gate of Fate and the Gate of Karma was made by our Nine Great Groups! Creation Group was among them, one of the architects of that very resolution! And yet... they use the pretext that Creation Group is suspected of harming fellow directors and having murky ties with the Ancient Immortal Alliance to bar us from approaching the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma." Having already received word from Immortal King Shenyu, Yaoguang was not surprised. He nodded toward Immortal King Nizhuan. "You have worked hard." "Chairman, in my view, we can directly contact the Lord of Creation and request the great Lord of Creation to descend in person! When that time comes, let's see if the chairmen of the other eight groups still dare obstruct us from approaching the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma!" Immortal King Nizhuan said forcefully. "The Lord of Creation," Yaoguang murmured the name. He thought back to the scene where the Time Dao Ancestor and the Void Dao Ancestor had charged into the Hunyuan Realm. According to the Nine Great Groups, the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor had, at most, posed a slight threat to the rulers of the Nine Great Groups during that battle. In the end, they had failed to injure a single ruler. Yet in Immortal King Tianming's version of the tale, the Time Dao Ancestor and Void Dao Ancestor merged into one, directly shattered the world barrier of the Hunyuan Realm, and embarked on a slaughter within, slaying countless living beings before ultimately succumbing to overwhelming numbers, defeated by the combined might of the Lord of Yuanxi and the other Nine Rulers. Who was right and who was wrong did not matter. What mattered was looking at what they had actually done. For instance, ever since then, apart from the Lord of Yuanxi, not one of the Nine Rulers had ever descended upon the Ancient Immortal Realm again. Those active within the Ancient Immortal Realm were, at best, Level 18 Immortal Kings and Level 19 group chairmen. "The Nine Rulers are still deeply wary of the Fate Dao Ancestor and the Karma Dao Ancestor. Back then in the Hunyuan Realm, it was their home turf, and they secured the final victory. But this time, the battlefield has shifted to the Ancient Immortal Realm—and against the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma manifested by the Fate Dao Ancestor and Karma Dao Ancestor..." Yaoguang understood in his heart. Unless he could truly use the Grand Dao of Time and the Grand Dao of the Void—both being among the four supreme Grand Daos—to induce a resonance with the Gate of Karma or Gate of Fate, granting those rulers a glimpse of hope that the two portals could be breached, they would never lightly set foot in the Ancient Immortal Realm again or intervene in this great war in their true bodies. "The Grand Dao of Fate and the Grand Dao of Karma are different. I can foresee that when I finally reach the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma after much hardship, I will definitely choose to shake the Gate of Karma first..." Yaoguang paused, his gaze falling upon the [Dao Integration: Karma] branch condensed on the Glazed Treasure Tree. This was the best proof. "Looking at it now, the Glazed Treasure Tree definitely has hidden arrangements. This legacy item left behind by the Time Dao Ancestor and the Void Dao Ancestor is acting as if in concert with the Fate Dao Ancestor... or rather, the Gate of Fate, subtly guiding the direction of my research," Yaoguang mused. Of course, it was also possible that the power of fate was simply too formidable. After all, when the Fate Dao Ancestor chose to incarnate as the Gate of Fate, he had practically bound himself to the Ancient Immortal Realm, fusing into one with the entire realm. He had entered a state of complete "Dao Integration." In this state, not only could he wield his own Dao Ancestor-level share of the Great Dao, but even the power of fate responsible for governing the operational logic of the Ancient Immortal Realm was at his disposal within reasonable bounds. In other words, the world revolved around him. He was virtually the protagonist of the Ancient Immortal Realm, the ruler of the world! As for the other portal, the Gate of Karma... From the very beginning, it had merely been cast in the role of the dashing, powerful, yet tragic sacrifice used by the Gate of Fate to draw fire and sow deception. "Reach out to the Lord of Creation and see if he is willing to intervene," Yaoguang said. "If he isn't... we will have no choice but to cooperate with others." "Cooperate with others?" Immortal King Nizhuan was taken aback, his expression turning somewhat unsightly. If they cooperated with others, wouldn't the contribution points he stood to gain be diminished? After finally seeing Xuanqing, Huitian, and the others fall, the hope of returning with bountiful spoils was right before their eyes. Who would have thought... they would stumble at this very step? However, he harbored no resentment toward Yaoguang, only hatred for the other Immortal Kings. Had it not been for their jealousy and envy of Creation Group's gains, throwing wrenches into the gears just as success was within reach, how could they have had their throats choked at this stage? "I will go request instructions from the Lord of Creation right away," Immortal King Nizhuan said with reluctant resignation. Yaoguang nodded and did not press him. Before long, the Immortal King entered the Virtual Immortal Realm, contacted the Lord of Yuanxi through it, and relayed the message to the Lord of Creation via the Lord of Yuanxi. The Lord of Yuanxi knew Immortal King Nizhuan's purpose and why he was contacting the Lord of Creation. Yet, as an entity akin to the collective will of all living beings, many times, even if he knew exactly what the Nine Great Groups intended to do, he remained powerless to stop it. Because, according to the underlying logic from his very inception, the Nine Great Groups were also part of his collective will of all living beings. As long as what they did conformed to the will of all living beings, he could not change it—even if he clearly knew this could lead to exceedingly terrifying consequences. After Immortal King Nizhuan's message went out, a response arrived swiftly. Only, judging by the result, his expression was quite grim. "What did the ruler say?" Yaoguang asked. "The ruler said... this is merely our conjecture. Unless it can be proven that we truly can shake the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma, he cannot possibly offend the rulers behind the other eight groups all at once for the sake of a mere guess," Immortal King Nizhuan replied. "Then we can only seek external cooperation. After all, our Creation Group is currently far too weak. Three Immortal Kings... we are already at the very bottom of the Nine Great Groups," Yaoguang said. Immortal King Nizhuan said hurriedly, "I can still try to find another way..." "We do not have much time," Yaoguang said, looking at Immortal King Nizhuan. "Once the Lord of Yuanxi convenes the council, who knows what complications will arise? When all is said and done... our hunting and slaying of Immortal King Tianyu is an undeniable fact. If the Lord of Yuanxi seizes upon that to target me and exploit the crisis, forcing us to redeem our crimes through merit, we might end up with nothing in the end." Immortal King Nizhuan thought of the impending meeting... Though unwilling to bring in another group and eight or nine more Immortal Kings to share the spoils, he had no choice but to bow his head. "I understand." He cursed silently in his heart, 'Damn Tianyuan Group, Shenluo Group, Changsheng Group, and Star Sun Group. They just can't stand to see us prosper.' Yaoguang did not respond. It was only natural that they could not bear to see Creation Group prosper. Creation Group was about to shake the Gate of Karma and the Gate of Fate, which was equivalent to claiming the merit of breaching the Ancient Immortal Realm's final line of defense. The other eight groups wouldn't even get soup, let alone a share of the meat, so naturally they would step up to hold them back and sabotage them. Amidst his thoughts, he also quickly summoned Immortal Venerable Penglai and made his willingness to cooperate clear to her. Barely half a month after the message was conveyed, Immortal King Shenyu arrived in haste. Visiting alongside him was an avatar of Immortal King Taiyi, chairman of Xiyu Group. Upon meeting, the chairman of Xiyu Group immediately offered an apology. "Coming only as an avatar is truly ill-mannered of me. However, every move made by group chairmen like us draws all kinds of speculation and scrutiny from the outside. To prevent the other six groups from discovering beforehand that our three parties have joined hands, I had no choice but to come in this avatar. I hope Chairman Yuxiao will forgive me." "I can understand. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures," Yaoguang said, casting a glance at Immortal King Taiyi. "Where is the representative from Huanghun Group?" "I can handle the liaison with Huanghun Group. The compensation we need to pay them will not come from the contribution points earned in this operation," Immortal King Taiyi said with a smile. Hearing this, Yaoguang could not help feeling a bit surprised. Xiyu Group had actually managed to persuade Huanghun Group to give up a slice of the enormous pie that was breaching the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma, effectively doing volunteer labor for them? Naturally, to make Huanghun Group yield, Xiyu Group would certainly have to pay a steep price. But compared to the merit of breaching the Gate of Fate and Gate of Karma, any price paid was virtually no different from doing volunteer labor. However, Yaoguang did not pry further. The chairmen of the two groups soon discussed the division of spoils. In the end... it essentially amounted to transferring the shares that would have belonged to Xuanqing, Huitian, and the other Immortal Kings into the hands of Xiyu Group. In fact, because Creation Group held the initiative in this cooperation, the concessions they yielded did not even equal what had originally been promised to the six directors including Immortal King Xuanqing. Yet even with this outcome, Immortal King Taiyi agreed with great delight. Once both sides had signed the agreement, the chairman of Xiyu Group said with palpable urgency, "When does Chairman Yuxiao think we should head to the Gate of Karma or Gate of Fate? We will make the arrangements right away." "There is no time to lose. We depart now," Yaoguang replied directly. Matters had already dragged on long enough. It was high time for him, the protagonist among pawns, to step onto the grand stage and witness the final, decisive battle of this cosmic war from the front row.