(Unedited Chapter.)
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The sound of water dripping echoed in this empty palace. While sitting opposite Wu Ming, Wang Wei brewed tea before serving him.
"Sect Master, let me do it," offered Wu Ming.
"You're my guest, so I should be the one to serve," said Wang Wei with a smile, reassuring Wu Ming. He knew his alliance with the Dao Opening Sect was one-sided. To be precise, he should be the subordinate.
So, he was reassured as Wang Wei treated him with cordiality and respect; he met him on equal ground–at least, on the surface, it's the case.
"I hope you like it," said Wang Wei, and Wu Ming slowly sipped the tea. He felt his mind calm down. He was worried about the alliance. Although he has been working with Wang Wei and the Dao Opening Sect for a while, their connection has been superficial due to a lack of trust and other factors.
However, if Wu Ming wanted to achieve his goal, he needed the full support of the sect.
While drinking his tea, Wang Wei gazed at the young man before him. When he first met Wu Ming, he was a thin young kid with ordinary looks and temperament.
According to Wang Wei's prediction, Wu Ming's future was not bright–even after receiving such a Heaven-Defying fortunate encounter from his ancestors. Based on the latter's talent, temperament, will, and background, he predicted Wu Ming had no future in this Glorious Age of Heaven Chosens.
However, Wu Ming became one of the few wrong predictions of Wang Wei. Wu Ming suddenly changed after the Spirit Road Trial and became bolder, more cunning, and ruthless.
He did not hesitate to join the Origin Rune Palace, entering his enemy's lair. Then, his Wu Clan–who was only a family that controlled a small city and the highest power was the Divine Body Realm–rose like a comet and became one of the pillars of the Origin Rune Palace. And Wu Ming himself became the patriarch of an Emperor Lineage.
From the information he received from the Shadow Sleepers, he knew the Wu Clan's foundation was weak in the palace because of their lack of Immortal Tier powerhouses, but Wu Ming discovered a Grand Dao Source Seed, creating a Dao Ancestor for the Wu Clan.
And this guy's luck did not stop there. That Dao Ancestor had another fortunate encounter and became an Insurgent on par with Second Class Emperor.
'The Wu Clan's rise is probably the work of Heavenly Dao to revitalize the Origin Rune Palace,' analyzed Wang Wei. The Dao Opening Sect has the luck of the Daofather–Qiyuan. The Origin Pill Dao Sect has the luck of the Pill Ancestor, the Great Talisman City the luck of the Talisman Ancestor, the Origin Weapon Mountain contains the luck of the Artifact Ancestor, and the Origin Rune Palace holds the luck of the Array Ancestor.
However, of all these Ancestral Lineages, the Origin Rune Palace is the weakest and only survived to the modern time because of their luck.
Wang Wei theorized the reason for this decline was due to the Formation Ancestor's actions of killing Wu Ming's ancestor and preventing the idea of the Formation Rune Body from appearing in the world.
Such an act has delayed the growth and development of Formation Dao for billions of years. So, Heavenly Dao punished them by allowing them to barely survive.
However, now, there seems to be a new change.
"I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for what happened with Tong Ruobing," said Wu Ming. Although he apologized many times, he never had the chance to do it face-to-face.
"I don't blame you. Tong Ruobing has natural charisma, great luck, and destiny. Furthermore, she seemed to have some kind of fated link with me."
Wang Wei was not thinking nonsense. Tong Ruobing received his idea from Wu Ming, allowing her to take the first step toward becoming a peak Heaven Chosen.
Mu Lei became his business partner, taking the first step for the Dao Opening Sect to re-enter the Endless Void. Then, Tong Ruobing became Dao Companion with him.
He was responsible for Fang Lijuan's severe injuries and near-death experience. Then, Tong Ruobing received the Invisible Talisman.
So, their fate is interestingly linked.
"As long as Sect Master Wei does not blame me."
"I'm not that petty. Plus, I gave you these ideas. What you do with them is none of my business."
The situation bothered Wang Wei only because his idea created such a Heaven Chosen as Tong Ruobing–who was once somewhat of a threat to him.
He gave Wu Ming these ideas knowing he could not achieve much. But, his presence could create some chaos in the Southern Continent. However, back then, he was young, inexperienced, lacked information, and had low vision.
He overvalued the strength of the Origin Rune Palace and believed its influence was enough to create disruption in the Southern Continent.
"Regardless, I'm still regretful; I always felt I had no right to distribute these ideas."
Wang Wei shook his head and did not continue on this subject. One of the reasons he gave Wu Ming his ideas was to pay the karma for the Formation Rune Body, which drastically increased the chances of creating his Fate Puppeteer Physique; it also played a significant role in why the physique was a Heavenly One instead of Acquired.
"Let's get to the topic at hand. Be direct," said Wang Wei, and Wu Ming immediately became serious. He paused for a few seconds before speaking. He did open his mouth but communicated through Divine Sense.
He knew many people were watching this battle, and their conversation could not be heard, or his life and the entire Wu Clan would be in danger.
'I want sect master Wang to help me control the Origin Rune Palace.'
Wang Wei squinted his eyes, 'Control, not destroy? Hehe, this kid keeps surprising me.'
'My current situation in the palace is not ideal.'
'They suspect your identity?' asked Wang Wei.
'Despite my cautiousness, yes.'
Wu Ming was indeed cautious. He never revealed the Formation Rune Body to the other Wu Clan members and only used it on himself. However, he disguised it as a fortunate encounter that changed his physique.
With this mindset, he entered the Origin Rune Palace. And his precautions proved to be useful. He discovered the Haiyuan Emperor left a secret force inside the palace dedicated to eradicating his Ancestor's legacy.
Luckily for him, most of these people died since the Ancient Emperor Era, and only a few remained. At first, these people did not recognize him. However, some people reacted fiercely after suggesting engraving an Emperor Formation on his body.
Fortunately, he reacted swiftly and found many allies to suppress these secret forces. Additionally, fate was on his side. The Haiyuan Emperor did not want the world to know what he did, so only his secret force knew of the existence of the Formation Rune Body Lineage.
'Interesting. Wu Ming's mindset seems to be that the Origin Rune Palace should have belonged to his ancestor and the Wu Clan. But the Haiyuan stole it from them. Now, he's only taken what rightfully belongs to him.'
Wang Wei originally thought Wu Ming's goal was to destroy the Origin Rune Palace, hence the reason he infiltrated their rank and became their leader. But he now knew this kid had bigger ambitions.
'What do I get in this situation?' asked Wang Wei. He was not opposed to the idea of helping, but he needed some incentives or benefits.
'The Dao Opening Sect can have control of the palace's luck for the next 100 generations.'
Wang Wei squinted his eyes as he admired Wu Ming's boldness. 100 generation meant 100 Great Emperors; that is a long period of time.
Of course, he also understood Wu Ming's plan. The latter did not want the Origin Rune Palace to always be under the control of others, so he left a time-limit.
Wang Wei did not care about this fact as he knew having such a massive amount of luck was not necessarily good for the sect. A perfect example of this was the wisdom displayed by his ancestor–Qiyuan.
After becoming Emperor and opening the Dao for all sentient beings, he could have done more. He could have cultivated the Four Professions Grand Dao Source as subsidiary Daos, perfected these systems, spread them to the world, and utterly revived the cultivation civilization after the Nulle Era's catastrophe.
His actions would have resulted in the sect amassing the luck of the other four ancestors.
However, he knew such an act could easily activate the Balance Mechanism of Heavenly Dao, leading to its scheming against the sect.
So, he controlled his desire and left such tremendous luck for future generations. His actions are why the Dao Opening Sect held the Spirit of the Epoch until the Middle Emperor Era.
'Raise it to 200 generations, and I will give you an opportunity to prove the Dao in this generation.'
Wu Ming's pupils dilated, 'Are you serious?'
'I won't lie about something like that.'
