Waking up, I felt afraid and nervous and then calmed down. My martial robes had been changed to white and were of high quality. It felt weird that someone had changed me while I was sleeping. I noticed all my personal spatial items and sword on a table next to my bed. I checked them and nothing had been removed. I equipped everything back on me while I looked around.
The room I was in was quite plain. Everything was quite plain in grey or beige colors. The lighting was soft and the energy in the air was thick, but not overwhelming. There were no windows and only a single door leading out of the room. I was alive, so that was a good thing. I wasn’t strapped down or being tortured, so also a good thing.
Getting off the bed, I took a closer look around. There was nothing of interest in the room. It was just a room to rest in. I made my way to the door and opened it. The clean shaven middle aged man that appeared during the confrontation with Ix was drinking some tea while reading a book in the middle of a garden. He looked up when I opened the door. I got a look at the title which said Calculating Cultivation. He closed the book which then disappeared. I could only wonder at what kind of secrets and advanced knowledge it contained.
“Welcome back to the Firmament, Yuan Zhou,” he said with a smile. I didn’t know how relieved I should be just yet, so I decided to play things as safely as possible.
“Greetings senior,” I replied and bowed my head. Anyone who could confront Ix was not simple by any means. Better to be polite than overly rude.
“Well, no need to be overly formal. That can get a bit stuffy. And I like to think of us as friends, or at least good acquaintances after you handled that problem quite well. And you survived. Meeting again was unexpected, but not out of the realm of possibility. Please take a seat, I am sure you have questions. Also feel free to help yourself to the tea. It is my special blend,” the man said. That was a very relaxed greeting, but I wasn’t about to argue with this man.
“Thank you,” I said hesitantly and took the seat across the table from the man. “May I have your name or know how to refer to you senior?”
“Nope. Names carry weight. Even titles carry weight. I prefer to be unbothered as much as possible. If my name were known, then there are annoying things that can occur. Senior is a good as a title as any other. People like to give me more and more outlandish titles so let’s stick with something simple,” he replied, never losing his smile. Then he would be Senior then. The ultimate Senior, since he clearly was powerful in a unique way I didn’t understand.
“Senior then. Thank you for saving me. I thought I was going to die to those spider drones. Where are we, and where are we going?” I asked. I wanted a better understanding of my current situation. Did I need to panic or not.
“It is a minor thing to help you out for the trouble you went through since I was in the area and monitoring things. I was just picking up that artifact and you happened to be there. When life leaves something on your doorstep, it is a good idea not to ignore what was left there. We are traveling to the Forever City right now. You can figure out your own way from there. While it isn’t as free as a free port, you have some things you want to do, I believe. After that, the Forever City does sell vessels to people with the means if they want to go off and seek benefits. Don’t worry I will give you a helping hand, so you aren’t left adrift,” Senior explained.
That was incredibly generous of him. But what might have been a hassle for me, could be just a thought for Senior. I wasn’t going to complain.
“Thank you. I wasn’t sure how I would get back. The Firmament is too huge,” I said, making sure to continue on the conversation. While I processed everything I was being told.
“Of course it is. It is infinite after all. And dropping you off is a minor task. But I am sure you have other more interesting questions you want to ask me. I will probably not give you the answers you want, but after being part of one of my more successful schemes and the favors I got off of it, you have earned to the right to ask and the small bit of help I am giving,” Senior said. I hesitated on what I should ask first. While he might be willing to answer, I had no doubt there was limited time to ask the questions and get answers. My future safety was the most important, even if it wasn’t what I was most curious about.
“Do I need to worry about Ix or the Temporal Hunter?” I asked. If either of those reappeared, I was most likely dead. I wanted to know how far I should run away.
“Oh, what happened exactly? While I am quite capable, that place got a bit too dangerous for me at that precise moment,” Senior asked. It was tempting to call him out for running away and leaving me behind, but I refrained as he kept smiling at me. When your more powerful senior is being kind, don’t piss them off even if they are shameless bastards.
I explained what had happened after he had left as he nodded along. “Well, I can say for sure that the Chaos creature, is a very weak one. Makes sense for the kind of trash that goes after beings during their breakthrough. It could be considered a bottom feeder at best, or a top feeder depending on how you view reality. It is completely done and gone for. Ix doesn’t mess about with stuff like that. Chaos can get really annoying once something gets a foot hold in your energy. As for Ix The Unending, well he is still alive,” Senior said, and I felt a sense of dread.
“But don’t worry. It will take a long time for him to recover. For a being obsessed with breaking past fate and other higher powers, he uses them to his advantage quite a bit. Personally, I think that is why he is destined to fail in his attempts to reach new heights. But such things are beyond me,” Senior explained while not losing his smile.
“Did you do something? Something involving luck?” I asked and Senior frowned slightly and let out a soft sigh. Clearly that was an annoying question. Thankfully he didn’t kill me with a single thought for being impertinent.
“Luck. What is luck? Fate? Destiny? A confluence of events? Where others see careful planning and meticulous execution, others see luck. I did a number of things. Like knowing the precise time of when to intervene. I knew the best things to do and say to get the best reactions out of everyone present. I knew the best time to leave. All to get the best outcome. But I was never in control. While the outcome was favorable to both of us, it was always in doubt,” Senior explained, and I frowned at this.
“I see you are having the same reaction I did when I learned about the higher powers. They aren’t obvious and the more you try to grasp them, the quicker they slip through your hands,” Senior said. I didn’t respond and he sipped his tea. I poured myself some and drank it. I felt myself relax and my mind untense. I couldn’t place the precise flavor or anything else about the tea besides it was slightly warm. I took another sip, feeling more at ease.
“If you see a storm coming and have to sail through it. Then I am a great guide. This was a big storm of events and beings all coming togeather. But I never controlled anyone directly. I just have a very good understanding of people and their choices. Add in my own special spice, and guess what? Everything turned out all right. A shame that Shen died, but going for the Gu was too much. Something like that, well even a blessed child like Shen can only go so far,” Senior explained.
He clearly had some esoteric kind of power. It might not be luck, but there was something and he clearly didn’t want to share its exact nature. I guess knowing would be a good way to counter whatever ability he had.
“What about finding me and that sphere and that cultivator that seemed similar to me?” I asked all at once. Senior smiled at me, since he had clearly been expecting this question.
“The Replicator Battle Mind had a clever plan to send out an iteration of itself. While its core is a massive headache for it to move around, it is quite capable of deception and misdirection. That was what that sphere was. I just in the area tying up loose threads that would have been a headache to deal with later,” Senior said and then sipped his tea. I sipped my tea in return before he continued speaking.
“As for the cultivator that was familiar to you, that is actually my fault. I sent out my followers to track down and intercept troublesome objects in the surrounding space. You happened to get caught up with one. But you won that fight. A shame,” he said with a shake of his head and I felt a surge of fear and didn’t dare move.
“No need to be afraid. If they died, then they weren’t capable enough to be my follower. I hold no grudge against you, since you didn’t attack them out of malice, only in self-defense. That is the risk of powerful beings, connections. Energy is mentally reactive, but it has deeper properties. Intervening like I did in that confrontation with Ix, created a link between us,” he said.
“Before you get ideas, it is a very bad idea to try and use such a link. That is how Chaos spreads. Through connections and the deeper properties of energy. Even as one as powerful as myself, can only view the currents of such things. Shaping them and altering them is the purview of higher powers. Just because one can see the tides of the ocean and track them coming and going, it is something else to try and control those same tides with your will,” Senior explained and I nodded at this.
It was a good explanation, but it left some concerns. “This connection? Will we meet again?” I asked.
“Most likely no. But as they say in the Firmament, as long as it is possible, it will eventually happen. I prefer to avoid complications. Simple solutions have suited me quite well. But since you showed up in front of me after I was checking in on my follower, I couldn’t ignore such a thing. Like I said earlier, I prefer to go with the tides rather than resisting them,” Senior explained and I frowned at that. “You don’t like my metaphors?”
“I would prefer a more concrete explanation Senior, sorry if that offends,” I answered with a bit of nervousness.
“No need to worry. Unlike Ix, I am capable of holding a polite conversation without thinking about killing or eating my guest every other sentence. There are simply no good words to put into words the deeper properties of energy, since they begin touching on Chaos. Understanding is far more important. That understanding struggles with normal thinking. Simply put, you were part of a scheme I benefited from. You showing up where you did is a sign, portent, or divination, that I couldn’t ignore. So I will help you out and then send you on your way. I am quite good at understanding such things. Think of it as symbology that occurs in reality due energy interacting on a macro scale. Is that better?” Senior asked and I nodded without hesitation.
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It was quite surprising to get a more concrete answer, but it was clear that Senior was willing to be nice and accommodate my questions. There were several more that I wanted to ask.
I hesitated for a long moment before asking another question. I didn’t think there was any risk, but I wanted to get an actual answer. Senior seemed friendly and knowledgeable enough. I also didn’t see any risk to this question.
“My soul is reincarnated. I have some memories of my first life. But Ix used a soul crushing technique he said he got from Chaos. How is that possible?” I asked. Senior put down his teacup and stared intently at me.
“What do you remember of your first life?” he asked. While carefully looking me over and I became a bit more nervous.
“A world without cultivation. A normal life,” I replied, unsure of what exact information he wanted.
“Do you remember your name, details?” Senior asked. I tried to recall, but nothing came to me. I tried to recall details about my family and stuff I had done, but it was all a haze.
“Some. Like the country I was born in. But my name and other details, I don’t remember. Is that a problem. I am not sure if I ever remembered in the first place,” I replied nervously and Senior nodded at that.
“It is the confluence of two things that you as a being have come to exist in that body. Reincarnation happens when a soul is lost, but a soul is needed outside of the natural process where souls come from. As for where a soul comes from and what a soul is beyond a complex arrangement of energy, that is a complicated question I won’t answer, since it touches on confusing concepts that you need more strength to get answers to, similar to my earlier answer about the events regarding me finding you. Normally souls are used for their energy or disperse. But you don’t remember any energy from your first life?”
“No Senior,” I replied as I listened intently. While he might not answer about where souls came from in general, that wasn’t something I was overly concerned about at the moment.
“Then your first life you died not as a cultivator or a being of power. You died as a regular person. Your memories were mostly contained in your flesh. But the moment Yuan Zhou’s soul was destroyed, your soul matched him the most and replaced him. Most likely you both shared the same name creating a resonance effect. It is very rare but not impossible. When his soul was wiped out, you had died and moved in,” Senior explained. That was not the answer I was expecting.
I replaced the original Yuan Zhou since we had shared the same name and there were some Chaos shenanigans. It was hard to wrap my head around.
“But I lived through everything up to that point where Ix used that ability? Was that real? Was it always going to happen?” I asked. I wasn’t confused, but it just didn’t make any sense.
“Yes and no. An ability of Chaos is no simple thing. Even if Ix risks quite a lot using it. But he was always a madman. Doing things no one else would dare even think about. Making him quite rare, even in the Firmament and across Reality. Such abilities are often not understood or dangerous, creating an opportunity for Chaos to emerge from the energy used. Cause and effect were violated. The effect came before the cause. Like a child wielding a gun, he didn’t understand the possibilities of reversing cause and effect,” Senior answered with a shake of his head.
“But was it always like that? Or did everything retroactively change? Or did the original Yuan Zhou get to that point, die and then I relieved his life up to that point?” I asked in a rush. What was the truth of the matter? How did time even work?
Senior shook his head. “All of the above and none of the above. You are trying to think in linear terms to something that does travel in a straight line. That is the nature of Chaos to create something that cannot be understood. The best way for you to think about your life is that a stable time loop was created, the original Yuan Zhou’s death was always going to happen in that manner, and you replaced him due to soul resonance,” Senior explained.
That didn’t feel like an answer. “You say a stable time loop?” I asked, a bit confused about what exactly Senior meant by this.
“It is the best term for something like this. Where cause and effect are reversed but the cause still happens, meaning the effect will always happen. It is one of many outcomes when causality is messed with, but one of the most stable. Or I should say the most stable for your continued existence. Again, it is mind bending and not something that is understood unless you are Chaos,” Senior replied with a casual shrug.
“Then about my first life? Is Earth real?” I asked hesitantly. I felt unsure about everything right now as I tried to wrap my head around the concepts Senior was explaining.
“Probably. I can’t say with certainty. Too much has happened to you to trace the small remnants left behind in your soul from your first life. While anything is possible, I neither have the skill or power to look that far back. Time is like quicksand in a way. It is harder to climb back up the further you sink. I would also say the same is true for almost all things. I can’t speak to every Chaos creature, but I would say that your first life is well and truly lost. Most likely your home is real from your first life, but the Firmament is truly infinite. Your first life may be nothing more than a delusion, there is no way to know,” Senior explained.
I was silent as I processed all that information. I had come too far to get answers. And the answer now was just a casual shrug and that it was impossible to tell after so much time had went by. But that was life and cultivation, always moving forward. A confluence of events came togeather to make everything happen, but it still made me feel frustrated. Just saying Chaos reversed caused and effect and that is one of two reasons why I am here, but that all of time might have changed, made me want to know more about time itself.
But it was clear that Senior wasn’t that enthusiastic about this line of questioning. It was like a math problem that had no solution. It just felt like it wouldn’t go away.
“In the Gu Container I saw a Chaos creature, black cracks and eyes-“
“Don’t speak more of such things. A Temporal Hunter would be considered the lowest level of Chaos Creature, but what you are talking about would be a low to mid-level Chaos creature. It isn’t instant death but still dangerous. Is its energy present in you in any way?” Senior asked.
“No. At least as far as I can tell,” I replied. I didn’t bring up anything that happened later on. It was clear that Senior did not want to talk about such things.
“Then you are fine. This room and the room you were resting in act as small separation chambers. That should help stabilize you going forward. But don’t mess about with Chaos. Ix is the absolute worst example you can look at. He isn’t just dancing on the edge of a cliff, he has attached a frayed rope to his waist and has begun swinging off the cliff. The chances of an accident are much higher,” Senior explained.
“Even if he has a good rope?” I asked and Senior shook his head.
“He has the best rope, but it is frayed. You can’t get a better rope. That is how dangerous Chaos is. If he swings too far, he won’t have the strength to pull himself back to safety. His mentality is already fracturing. I am sure he will make another mess, he isn’t called Ix The Unending for his unrelenting conversation skills. You can go down that path, but I know of no being that has done well dancing with Chaos as he does. If one could think like Chaos, they would become Chaos. You would lose your sense of causality. Once that happens, your very mind would completely unravel and you would be no more,” Senior said, and I nodded at his admonishment.
Still, the power of Ix was impressive. He was impossible to kill, he smacked around Chaos like it was a toy. “Why do people think Chaos is so dangerous then?” I asked.
“Skill issue and it is true for those that don’t have the level of strength someone like myself or Ix has. Chaos is like an ocean. Sometimes you get a small cute fish like the Temporal Hunter that even a weak immortal of the Forever City can deal with. Other times you get a shark like that thing you saw in the Gu Container. Finally, you get a kraken or a leviathan that you have no chance against, which was what happened in the final battle and a being above me had to intervene to present a disaster across this entire region of the Firmament. With how Chaos can spread only beings at Ix’s or my level of power are capable of properly handling the fishes. So, it is better to tell everyone to stay clear of the ocean if you catch my drift,” Senior smiled a bit more as the metaphor all came togeather with a pun.
It made sense. The danger was so much, that unless you had the necessary qualifications, you couldn’t handle the threats. I could resist a small portion of the energy from a mid to low level Chaos creature at a great distance, inside a Gu Container that was designed to counter Chaos. While I might have seen Ix smack the low level Chaos creatures around, the Temporal Hunter still forced him to give up his body, a huge loss.
While it might seem like Chaos was weak, it was just the scale of the conflict distorting my understanding. Touching on Chaos was still a very bad idea. The Infinite Ring Complex came to mind. Cause and effect getting muddled up wasn’t something I wanted to risk any more. It was too confusing and headache inducing.
Being at the level of an immortal was the bare qualification to survive Chaos in its weakest form. It made sense that everyone weaker and even immortals would say that tangling with Chaos was a death sentence. Enough people died, that the fear and warnings had spread outwards, until it had been simplified for the weak with no possibility of misunderstanding that Chaos was a death sentence.
No wonder why the Soaring Star Society was willing to take the risk of building their Infinite Ring Complex to draw up energy from Chaos.
“Where does energy come from?” I asked, since the question just leapt into my head. Senior shook his head at me.
“Again, a question beyond your level of strength. Let me guess, that question suddenly came to you?” he asked me, and I nodded.
“You need to be more careful Yuan Zhou. Those remnants of energy from your foray into demonic cultivation conceal something much more dangerous, traces of Chaos. Even the smallest fish has parasites, or brain worms.” I felt a surge of fear at this.
“What can I do? Can you help me?” I asked and Senior shook his head.
“You must fix your cultivation yourself. Unfortunately, you are too strong for me to do something. If I tried to alter your cultivation, I would contaminate your energy. But you have a very long time to find a solution. This place is helping you quite a bit. Also, it is like a scar. Removing it is just as important as earning that scar.”
“Any possibility on more direct advice?” I asked hopefully.
“Hyper compressed energy is always a good way to go. It isn’t easy to get the stuff, but it is always useful for flooding yourself with neutral energy that you can convert to energy that is truly yours. It isn’t simple and there are no simple methods beyond that to fix one’s energy. But you will grow fixing this on your own. You aren’t content to remain at this level of power are you?” he asked me.
“No. I want to see the top one day,” I said.
“The dream of many, so many. But countless full at each level. Even at Ix’s and my level, I can personally name every being at this level and a level above mine. At least across a wide swath of the Firmament. The higher you climb the harder it becomes. There are more and more challenges. Eventually you will reach a point where the path ahead is completely unique and uncharted.”
“What is at the top of power?” I asked, curious what was the ultimate power.
“Here and now? Me.” Senior held up a hand before I could say anything else. “Casting your gaze too high can blind you. It is a long climb up and the ladder only grows more unstable with each rung. And then you can’t even see the next rung. You have to make a leap of faith. Ix made a leap of faith with his Gu Container. The faith in his preparations, cunning, and strength all failed and he fell back down. He will climb up again, of that there is no doubt. He is Ix The Unending after all. But he lacked faith in one crucial thing. Faith in himself to succeed without the crutches he depends on. He uses higher powers to enhance himself, but to sever that connection, is no simple thing. That is just the step he wanted to take. Higher steps have even less known about them, increasing their risk,” Senior explained.
A shame I didn’t more concrete answers, but I was asking deep questions that Senior didn’t even have to answer. Even a vague answer to such things was appreciated. The journey of cultivation was truly endless. Time to ask some more grounded questions that dealt with things I was personally involved in.