Chapter 1266 The Lost Era
A new kind of snack appeared before w.a.n.g Wei, and it looked like gelo, to be specific — a slime. It took him a moment to recognize it as the Spine Fluid from a creature called the Dragon-Spine Lizard. This thing can instantly raise an Empyrean"s soul by 30%.
w.a.n.g Wei shook his head. Sometimes, it was a curse to be too strong. He slowly ate, and as described in the records, it was also quite delicious.
"By the way, how come Xun Junyao"s faceless situation is not a much bigger deal," w.a.n.g Wei asked.
"No one can see through it, except probably these two," Wu Hong replied as she also enjoyed the spine fluid.
"No one? Including Paragons?"
"Yes."
"Then, you?"
"She showed it to me," Wu Hong explained. "She wanted to see if I could seal her flaw and give her a face. Sadly, I couldn"t do it then."
"Then?" w.a.n.g Wei caught the crucial part of her words.
"After reading about the Perfect Foundation and learning more about Perfection, I think I can make a flawed seal."
"Flawed? Is it because the essence of perfection is transcendent level?"
"Correct," Wu Hong nodded. "So, my seal might give her an ordinary face. However, I"m unsure if I want to do that now."
"Oh, why?"
"I kind of agree with you," Wu Hong explained. "Of all living beings, she has probably the highest chance of taking a step in the transcendent path. If I act now, I might ruin her potential."
"Do you want to allow her to choose?"
"Yes, but only after she sees you."
"What do I have to do with this?"
"You"ll see."
"Don"t start acting like those old cultivators who like to act all secretive, only revealing half the truth and talking in riddles."
Wu Hong rolled her eyes. "Some things are simply not my business."
"Of, come on: give me something."
"She has a mental barrier to overcome, and meeting you is the key. That"s all I"m willing to say."
w.a.n.g Wei looked at her.
"What"s with that look?"
"Why does your relations.h.i.+p with her sound like a master and disciple?"
"It"s not like that," Wu Hong shook her head. "As you know, I received much help from the female Paragons during my growth, and to express my grat.i.tude, I"ve been doing the same for any potential female cultivator."
"Girl Power," w.a.n.g Wei waved his fist.
Wu Hong once again rolled his eyes. "That"s…what"s the word? Oh, yeah, cringe."
"Ouch!" w.a.n.g Wei felt like a critical blow hit him. Is there anything worse than being called [cringe] by the woman of your dreams? This kind of mental devastation will instantly kill any lesser man.
"That was harsh," w.a.n.g Wei muttered. "What were those two"s reactions to her?"
"If I had to guess, Maitreya definitely studied her, but Supreme Unity might not dare, or he"s cautious about it," Wu Hong replied.
"That makes sense," w.a.n.g Wei nodded. "His way of taking that step involved taking over Heavenly Dao, which is Grand Dao"s property. I"m surprised that the technique was not labeled as taboo. If he starts to involve himself in perfection, Grand Dao might interfere directly and eliminate him."
"His technique is a small taboo," Wu Hong admitted.
"It is?"
"The aftermath of the Second Origin War was called the Ultimate Taboo because Qiyuan summoned all transcendent methods that have existed through time and s.p.a.ce before condensing it into a trial. However, many of these methods were considered banned or minor taboos by Grand Dao"s standards."
"That makes sense," w.a.n.g Wei nodded. He once deduced that Grand Dao wanted people to achieve higher levels, but they had to stay within its created rules. "My Ancestor"s plan sounds brilliant on the surface, but I can foresee how many things could go wrong in that trial."
"Oh, you have no idea," Wu Hong sighed. "In that place, time overlapped. The past, present, and future exist simultaneously. Grand Dao interfered greatly—it was probably the most active it had ever been since ancient times. Finally, I"m pretty sure some terrifying existence showed up." Wu Hong could not tell for sure as everyone had lost a significant part of their memories."
w.a.n.g Wei"s eyes shone brightly. He could imagine how wonderful such a grand event was. "Wait, I once deduced that my ancestor, Battle Maniac, was affected by some time shenanigan. There is also the fact that an entire era in the Eternal Ascension World was missing. Does any of those relate to the Ultimate Taboo?"
A look of disgust appeared on Wu Hong"s face. w.a.n.g Wei has never seen her make that facial expression before.
"That d.a.m.n Curse Master," she said with gritted teeth.
"Wow! Such strong hatred."
Wu Hong sighed. "I met this Paragon not long after entering the taboo realm in the Empyrean Realm. We fought and were tied, but I stole an essential treasure from the secret trial. Since then, that woman has hated me with a pa.s.sion.
"She dedicated all her time and effort to create a nasty curse called the [Curse of Time Origin]. Right after I broke through the Paragon Realm, she attacked me, and we had a fierce fight. She lured me into the River of Time, and as I was about to win, she released it."
Hatred flashed in Wu Hong"s eyes.
"The curse released a terrifying temporal storm that targeted my origin — the Myriad Emperor World."
"No way," w.a.n.g Wei was shocked. Such a thing was taboo as no one should interfere with the lower dimension. That woman must be crazy.
"That"s not even the worst part," Wu Hong continued. "The curse made it so I bore all the causality; in other words, Heavenly Dao would blame me for what had happened."
w.a.n.g Wei sucked his teeth. "So, what did you do?"
"I did the next best thing," Wu Hong sighed. "I sent the time storm to a future time point. After all, if the past me dies, I"ll also die."
"Ruthless," w.a.n.g Wei commented. However, he would have done the same. "What happened afterward?"
"I killed her as quickly as possible before preventing the storm from continuing too much damage," Wu Hong sighed. "I tried to revert things, but it was too late. That era was gone entirely. The best I could do was ensure no contradiction between my era and the next."
w.a.n.g Wei nodded as he understood. Some people in the Myriad Emperor World have lived since before the Devil Era. As such, they should have detected some anomaly about an entire era missing. However, there was nothing. Everything looked regular and perfectly continuous.
w.a.n.g Wei sighed. He knew Paragons were on another level, but events like this put it into perspective.
"So, how did you face Heavenly Dao"s wrath?"
"With merit and oath," Wu Hong replied. "I had to borrow plenty of merit to offset my crime by a certain margin and to get Heavenly Dao to listen to me before judging me. Then, I swore to create the best defense system for the Eternal Ascension World. I only fulfilled that oath after I became a Primal Paragon."
When she thought about how much time she had spent being indebted to Heaven and Earth, with her luck almost ruined, Wu Hong gritted her teeth in anger and hatred.
"Why did that woman hate you so much? It doesn"t make sense to do all of this just because of losing to someone of a lower realm," w.a.n.g Wei said. The Curse Master would never have survived this ordeal intact as Heavenly Dao would also judge her.
"In fact, your ordeal reminded me of my Supreme Outlaw Trial," w.a.n.g Wei continued. "It sounds like someone was manipulating events to either kill you or make you indebted."
"I"m 80% convinced Heavenly Dao did it on purpose," Wu Hong sneered.
"Oh? Why?"
"Have you never wondered why our world did not suffer much given the grand scale of the Second Origin War?" Wu Hong.
"Now that you mention it," w.a.n.g Wei frowned. "With so many Chaos Worlds and factions involved, I"m sure the center of the war would have been our world. So, we survive because of your defense system?"
"That"s right," Wu Hong sneered. "That thing probably predicted that event and schemed against me to create that system."
"Without becoming transcendent, all sentient beings are dogs and ants before Heavenly Dao. Even Paragons are a slightly bigger nuisance," w.a.n.g Wei sighed. "So, have you prepared your revenge?"
"Yes, not just against it, but its boss," Wu Hong sneered. Although all these years spent creating that system was an excellent training experience, she hated how much she was used.
"That"s my girl," w.a.n.g Wei chuckled.
"Who"s your girl?" she stared at him.
"Don"t sweat the small stuff," w.a.n.g Wei replied casually. "So, what was that era like? What happened to the Emperors who ascended? Did any of them become Paragon?"
"It was a terrible era," Wu Hong explained. "The resentments, hatred, and Fiendish Qi of me killing so many devils flooded into the Myriad Emperor World, making it extremely easy for people to develop Heart Demon and become crazy. It also did not help that all the cultivators were full of hatred, wis.h.i.+ng nothing more than to kill as many devils as possible."
"Historians called it the Dark Mind Era," Wu Hong explained. In some ways, it may have been a good thing that that era was erased.
"As for what happened to the ascendants? Heavenly Dao just erased them to reduce the trouble," Wu Hong explained. "And no, there were no Paragons."
w.a.n.g Wei wanted to slap himself for asking such a stupid question. She said she had just become a Paragon, and from what I know about her, she was probably one of the youngest in recorded history. If Wu Hong had just become a paragon, how could the people who came after him become a Paragon? So, unless more time shenanigans were involved, that would be impossible.