(Unedited Chapter)
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Wang Wei clenched his fist, feeling the power surging in his veins.
His strength did not change much, but he felt complete,
unbothered, and unrestrained.
After proving the Dao, people who cultivate as Qi Refiners and Body
Refiners are an anomaly or a paradox. Great Emperors are
essentially Conceptual Creature, their bodies composed of the very
concept they cultivate.
Although their flesh and blood appeared the same as ordinary
people, they were not. However, body refiners are flesh and blood
creatures; it's just their flesh has reached an unprecedented level.
As someone who walked both paths, Wang Wei is both a flesh and
blood creature and a conceptual life form. This paradox previously
had a subtle influence on his body. However, after the tribulation,
everything was solved.
His concepts were not deeply fused with his flesh, forming a
perfect balance. The concept and flesh now work together in
harmony, granting him the advantage of both while also removing
some of the flaws of the others.
Wang Wei exhaled deeply as clothes appeared on his body.
"Why do I feel this test was weird?" After experiencing this
tribulation, he had a feeling that there were some secrets as to why
it was in such a manner.
So, he took a moment to gather his thoughts and deduce the truth;
the answer did not elude him for long.
'The Old Gods,' thought Wang Wei, thinking about his experience of
meeting Cthulhu during the Cleanup. 'In most iterations of the Old
Gods' myth, people will lose their sanity after meeting them. The
spiritual aspect of this test seemed targeted to resist their influence
in the mind.
'Furthermore, in some iterations, people will mutate into
abominable creatures. Could Grand Dao have designed this test to
resist the influence of the Old Gods?'
As he continued this line of thought, many ideas popped into Wang
Wei's mind.
'According to my theory, Body Refining was the first cultivation
path of the universe that led directly to the Paragon Realm. If
Cthulhu appeared during that era, it's understandable why Grand
Dao would change the test to fight against the Elder God's power.'
Suddenly, Wang Wei felt he had come close to the truth. He could
predict the chains of events. The body refining path prospered,
Cthulhu appeared, Grand Dao changed the tribulation to deal with
his problem, and finally, Cthulhu was sealed, and the test remained
in the present.
'Could Cthulhu be why the first Gate is missing? Or does that
involve something else?'
Wang Wei did not have an answer yet as there were too many
possibilities for this answer, and he lacked too much information.
'Let's not focus on this for now. The truly valuable information from
this deduction is where Cthulhu originated from. It's obviously not
a creature originating from this Chaos Universe â unless it escapes
from the Prehistoric World.
'So, there could be only one answer â from Hongmeng.'
This deduction validated one of Wang Wei's most important
theoriesâthere are other Chaos Universes. After achieving
transcendence, a cultivator can escape the Chaos Universe and
enter Hongmeng.
In Hongmeng, there are other Chaos Universes and other
cultivators, even creatures who might be born there.
Cthulhu was one of these creatures, but it accidentally discovered
this Chaos Universe and took a look. However, the result was its
defeat and eventual sealing.
'No, things are not so simple. If the myths about the Old Gods are
true, Cthulhu is not this weak and should not be captured so easily.
So, the fact it sufferers such a fate can mean three things:
'First, this Chaos Universe is one of the best, so the power ceiling is
terribly high. However, this theory does not hold up. No matter how
high its power, can it compare to a transcendent creature?'
Wang Wei shook his head; based on the information he knew, he
felt it was impossible for Grand Dao and all the universe's citizens
to deal with a transcendent.
'The second possibility is that this universe has cultivated a
transcendent, thus considering its home part of their territory. So,
after Cthulhu broke through this Chaos Universe, another
Transcendent dealt with it.'
Wang Wei felt this theory had more substance for multiple reasons.
The first is the parameters he attributed to Transcendence. Once a
cultivator reaches that step, they should have truly achieved
immortality and eternity, meaning nothing can kill them.
However, sealing them might be different. After all, there should be
a difference between each Transcendent. So, in a battle where no
one could kill their opponent, sealing and humiliating them might
be how to dictate the victor and deal with contradictions.
Wang Wei did not think Transcendents were enlightened beings
who were above mortal desires and influences. He's sure many are
as such, but many others also achieved transcendence to be able to
do what their hearts desire.
With these two opposite mindsets, he did not doubt there would be
conflicts in Hongmeng â even with the default setting that none of
them could die.
Another reason supporting his theory was the Ultimate Taboo. He
had long realized this event involved achieving Transcendence.
However, without anyone achieving transcendence, how could
such a thing appear in the universe?
Of course, there is also the possibility that Grand Dao deduced a
path to transcendence without achieving it. Then, it used the event
to elevate the power ceiling of the world by allowing these methods
to flow out of the world.
Wang Wei's intuition told him the event of the Ultimate Taboo
involved both this Chaos Universe's past transcendence and Grand
Dao's scheme. His ancestor, Qiyuan, either took advantage of the
situation to open a path of transcendence for all sentient beings in
the Chaos Universe or Grand Dao used him as a pawn.
Things could also be more complicated, and he willingly became a
pawn just to see the way forward. After all, many of these pinnacle
Paragons who have not moved a single step forward were willing to
die just to know the possibility that there was a path forward.
To these people, death was nothing; the truly scary thing was
knowing there was no way forward.
The third explanation for the fate of Cthulhu is that it was a clone.
According to myths, the Old Gods have infinite clones. Some of the
well-known Old Gods are nothing more than the clone of another,
more powerful Old God, forming a weird chain.
The captured Cthulhu in this Chaos Universe might be one of the
infinite weakened clones of the real Cthulhu, who scattered his
essence throughout Hongmeng, hunting for Chaos Universe to
conquer and destroy.
'This theory is the one most likely to be true,' thought Wang Wei.
'However, if that's true, this world is truly a dangerous place.'
Wang Wei's own theory scared him. He was nothing but a little
Emperor. Although he almost reached the battle prowess of an
Empyrean, such a fact did not make much of a difference.
He was nothing but an ant before a Paragon, and Paragons are ants
before Half-Step Transcendence, who are ants before people on
the level of the Six Cardinals. But even the Cardinals are not at the
level of Grand Dao.
But can Grand Dao deal with a transcendent being like the Old
Gods? The evidence does not show it could. After all, despite being
sealed, Cthulhu could still influence the universe by creating
followers or places like the Abyss Gap.
More evidence of this conclusion is the fact that Grand Dao did not
exile the sealed Cthulhu back to Hongmeng. The logical thing to do
is get rid of such a hot potato, but Grand Dao did not do this, which
showed it was not confident in hiding its world coordinates from
Cthulhu's main body.
So, it sealed the clone with the hope the latter would just ignore it
and no longer intervene. Such a line of thought also indicated that
the transcendence from this Chaos Universe might not be on the
same level as Cthulhu.
'Damn it, being too smart is not a good thing,' cussed Wang Wei,
controlling his mind to not get out of control; he hated nothing
more in this world when things were completely out of his control,
and he was powerless to do anything about it.
Unfortunately, he was worse than the ant in a confrontation on the
level of Transcendence.
'There is no need to scare myself. Who knows how long this
Cthulhu's clone has been sealed, and the Chaos Universe is still fine.
So, the situation is not as bad as I imagine. I only need to continue
walking forward until I can become a true chess player.'
He used his immense Dao Heart to calm down, preparing for the
long journey ahead of him. Furthermore, his current deduction
might be extremely crucial for him in the future.
After all, he might have discovered the mystery of the 13 Taboos of
this world; such information is extremely valuable, whether he uses
it for himself or trades with some interested people.
'Alright, let's cultivate. Only true strength can make me feel
relieved.'
Wang Wei exhaled deeply as he continued his retreat.
