Emperor’s Domination

Everyone listened attentively to the perspectives of these true masters. Were there saviors in history?

Putting aside those who have fallen to the darkness or embarked on the expedition, some chose to stay and defend their epoch to the very end. They fought against ravenous overlords and never wavered.

Their dao heart was firmer than dark overlords. If they had survived and made it to the final point, would they be able to replace the high heaven? What kind of high heaven would they be?

Perhaps they would succumb to the greed for power or their dao heart would change drastically, no longer steadfast like before. Everything changed after reaching the top. This applied to all emperors and those above.

The villainous heaven had done a commendable and potentially the best possible job, allowing a constant cycle.

Otherwise, an epoch would grow infinitely, and supreme existences would appear. The next step would be an attempt to overtake the heaven. Failures would lead to despair and recklessness, culminating in an epoch being sacrificed.

Dust to dust - the way of the high heaven - allowed for a new epoch to rise without losing worldly essences. Living beings could enjoy prosperity once more, at least for a lengthy period.

Without this, too many overlords and epoch lords would arise, hoarding fundamental essences for life to improve their cultivation instead of returning it to the land.

Therefore, was there another solution to this? Could someone do better than the high heaven? There was no way to truly protect an epoch in perpetuity.

Becoming the new high heaven didn’t mean becoming a savior. Letting things return to dust required immense selflessness already.

For example, Lord of Derivation fantasized about a devious plan filled with evil. Others might try to take everything for themselves.

Thinking about this grim reality left listeners hopeless. Was this the end of the dao?

“Dark Crow, you cannot change the high heaven’s way either.” Dao Ancestor commented.

“That is why I walk my path, in search of an answer.” Li Qiye smiled.

“What is your path?” Derivation laughed: “I doubt it will get far either.”

“The world is conscious, let that be the scale of judgment. There is no need for the strongest or the high heaven to interfere. The weight behind justice, dao, emotions, punishment? Give that back to the mortal world. The arbiters should not be the high heaven, epoch lords, and overlords. The heart of the people shall be the scale to determine what is light or heavy.” Li Qiye said.

“Hmm...” Listeners beyond the mirror pondered.

This path was distant for them even after embarking on an expedition. Alas, any existence would choose to replace the high heaven when it came to it. This was the ultimate goal of the dao but Li Qiye seemed to have something different in mind.

He wished for the world and its inhabitants to be the arbiters, not the high heaven.

“World’s judgement...” Stonesplitter murmured.

“You truly have no wish to become the high heaven?” Primal Ancestor said coldly.

“How can the sparrow know the ambition of a swan?” Li Qiye smiled: “Becoming the high heaven was never my pursuit. Don’t worry about this question though, you’re all just struggling to survive and do not have the dao heart to reach the terminus. The dao is a journey not only to grow stronger through cultivation but also to foster an unyielding dao heart. You have lost to the wise sages who died as defenders and the attackers who embarked on expeditions.”

He paused for a bit to stare at them: “How pitiful, trembling in fear in the darkness, eating meals just to live a little longer. You’re no superior to others outside of just being stronger.”

“Hmph, big talk out of you, how pretentious.” Primal sneered.

“Look at my eyes and tell me that I’m wrong, that you can go fight the heaven to protect. Did you have the same determination when you performed the blood sacrifices just to replenish your vitality? That little temptation alone made you succumb to the darkness, the little fear made you hide and wait for a harvest, how strong can your dao heart be?” Li Qiye said.

“Haha, I can answer this.” Derivation couldn’t help himself since he had a big mouth: “Our hairy old friend Dao Ancestor’s fear was behind the blood sacrifice.”

Derivation stared at Dao Ancestor and said: “He told us that if we can find all nine treasures, we’ll be able to rule the epoch and even take down Trinity when he returns. The problem is the villainous heaven will be able to find the one in possession of all nine regardless of the hiding location.”

With that, he turned to Imperial Progenitor and said: “No one wanted to do it, especially not him. He felt that he was the most gifted cultivation-wise, being the pioneer of the system and all, so he didn’t want to die early and disagreed with finding the treasures.”

“Therefore, the hairy daoist came up with a method, splitting the world and preventing any living being from gathering all nine treasures, becoming a true threat to us. The problem is that we want some food to make it through the winter, so we can’t destroy the epoch, but splitting the world isn’t easy either. To split without destruction requires immense efforts and losses on our part.”

His eyes turned to Primal as he continued: “Hehehe, Old Primal came up with a smart solution, refining some living beings first into nutrition to replenish our losses, just enough to split the world into two parts, and then another meal afterward with half of them. Of course, I don’t deny that I was the one who came up with the method for the blood refinement. Only someone as great as I could turn them into the finest, purest food. But, I will not shoulder the infamy alone. No, I merely came up with the method, the refinement was done by everyone together.”

Listeners broke out in cold sweat and felt a chill coursing down their spine about the dreadful past of their world.