Chapter 1868: The Heaven Cardinal’s Goal
Chapter 1868: The Heaven Cardinal’s Goal
The Trinity Venerable briefly frowned, but did not hesitate. Their alliance was fragile, and the last thing he wanted was for it to fall apart before he executed his plan. So, he pushed his strength to the "limit" before choosing an opponent — Star Manifestation — and protecting the Karma Root Monarch.
His outburst briefly allowed the expeditioners to breathe, but this advantage did not even last a few seconds before Star Manifestation used another trump card: the Holy Guardian Armor. This powerful second-step True Saint Armor, directly connected to and strengthened by the Reverse Black Stone Array, had previously caused the expeditioners much trouble. Before, they had used their numerical advantage to severely damage it. Still, the court went above and beyond to fix it during the Chaos Origin Realm outing, even using many of their reserve Saint materials.
Boom!
With the drastic increase in strength, Star Manifestation acted even more berserk. Completely ignoring any defensive actions, they attacked Trinity Reverence with unparalleled ferocity. Adding the fact that they had previously used a secret technique, their strengths had reached a terrifying tier among Tribunal Lords. Infinite planets, stars, galaxies, black holes, and universes materialized and disappeared with each of Star Manifestation’s breaths, and their sole existence was to annihilate one person.
Trinity Venerable frowned for a second time since this battle started. He was having a hard time coping with the current opponent, but even so, he took a defensive stance just to glance around and assess the situation. The results were not ideal. The Yin-Yang Origin Dragon held back the Slaughter Ancestor, and the Heavenly Wolf Khan fought the Primordial Heaven Sword Saint to a standstill. Meanwhile, the Myriad Gourd Empress was suppressing the Karma Root Monarch; her endless manifestations of unique gourds were the perfect weapon for capturing someone.
The Tribunal Lords of the Infinite Divine Court were willing to kill themselves for the sake of their mission. And in terms of pure strength, the Slaughter Ancestor and Primordial Heaven Sword Saint should be among the best of everybody present, but even they were struggling. The Yin-Yang Origin Dragon used his Yin-Yang Dao to block all of his opponent’s attacks, essentially rendering all of the Slaughter Ancestor’s strength useless.
Sword Saint Ye Weimin’s mind was not in this fight, and it was obvious. Although Trinity Venerable had spoken with him and "smoothed out" their relationship, it’s apparent that the latter had his own thoughts and plans, and he was not truly a core member of their alliance. As such, while he was willing to help — unlike the duchess — he would put his safety above everything else.
Lastly, there is the Karma Root Monarch. Although she was among the most versatile of the group, her strength was at the bottom. Her greatest contribution to the group was her charisma and her knowledge of and trust with all the Tribunal Lords.
"It can’t be helped; I still need her for the plan to work," Trinity Venerable thought. He exhaled deeply, and what happened next tore apart one of the greatest lies in the Primordial Universe: can Trinity Venerable use more than one [Ego Set] at once? Since his cultivation journey began, he has never answered this question, but he has never used more than one set simultaneously. No matter the situation, he usually removed one set before using the other.
Many people have argued he was just keeping it as a trump card, but more people believe this was the limit of his [Trinity Venerable]. After all, using the power of more than three egos breaks the rules of three that the Trinity Dao is based on. Not to mention that after saying something long enough, people will believe it; cultivators are also susceptible to this.
For many years, Trinity Venerable has never denied these allegations, and more importantly, he has never proven them wrong. In public, and even in "private," he always followed the rules that only one set can be used at a time. And in situations in which he needed to use more than one, he ensured his enemy was eradicated, and all traces were eliminated.
And this deception goes beyond just always ensuring no one knows he has such a capability. Wang Wei once told Gu Xuan that the Deception Dao was wasted on him. He told him that the best way to use this Dao was to first deceive himself before deceiving the world, and that’s exactly what Trinity Venerable did. For most of the time, Trinity Venerable himself doesn’t know he has such an ability, but when the time comes that he might need to use it, the memory of how to use it will appear in his mind.
"Hmm? It seems I won’t have to intervene," Death Reverence thought as he watched Trinity Venerable’s outburst. As for the latter,’ the use of more than one ego? Death Reverence was not the least surprised. Even if the Trinity Dao had certain limits with the number three, there was still the possibility of using three sets at once, and even those three sets could be organized into a [Group], after which the user could just use three groups at once. This Dao was unique and full of endless possibilities.
"The situation is rapidly becoming too chaotic," he thought, which is both a good and bad thing. The negative aspect is obvious: chaos means these pawns have a chance to escape their fate; it also means a small chance that their plan will fail, which would be catastrophic since Lord Deathbringer did not respond well to failure.
The good news was that the chaos also meant these struggling pawns were slowly revealing their hands. And once Death Reverence knows what they are planning and what they are capable of, he can eradicate them one by one. He has such confidence.
"Which one to deal with first?" Countless calculations flashed in his mind while observing everything happening in this timeline.
"Hmm?" Death Reverence detected someone who has infiltrated this timeline’s [Highest Firmament], which is where Grand Dao’s consciousness resides. He has been keeping an eye on that place because it’s one of Suiji’s main sources of power, but the latter has done a great job of hiding and protecting it.
However, the invader seemed quite knowledgeable about the [Highest Firmament] and actually discovered its existence. More importantly, Suiji was currently occupied with dealing with Future Reverence, which made the process easier.
"Heaven Cardinal, what are you planning?" Death Reverence muttered while calmly watching the latter ascend Heaven by Heavens. The Highest Firmament was composed of 33 Heavens, all of which were defensive measures to protect Grand Dao and also a source of immense power. In this timeline, the false Grand Dao was only protected by 27 Heavens, but it was still protected. Yet, the Cardinal easily dealt with them one by one.
Then, the latter suddenly stopped, his expression displaying deep suspicion. Death Reverence frowned, and with a thought, he borrowed the power of the Death Beam to hide his spying. His method was quite smooth as he did not just hide himself from the Heaven Cardinal, but provided an answer to the latter.
The Highest Firmament used to be Suiji’s domain, and so, after the Heaven Cardinal traced the person who was spying on him, it led to the Six Paths Samsara. What happened next was obvious: the latter concluded that Suiji was recuperating in the underworld but detected an intruder on her domains. A sense of urgency overcame the Heaven Cardinal’s mind, and he increased his pace.
"What are you planning?" Death Reverence thought. Intrigued, he decided to help the latter. By now, he had gained control of most of the universe; primarily, he had the highest authority in all of the Grand Constructs. Although there was resistance from people such as Suiji, the Time Cardinal, and, as of a few minutes ago, the Qi Cardinal, Death Reverence was still the primary ruler.
The Highest Firmament was the central hub of all these constructs. In some ways, it was the source of all of them since the Grand Dao used it to set all the rules, including the hidden ones. As such, the moment Death Reverence discovered this central hub, he immediately began fighting for control over its authority.
As such, with divine assistance, the Heaven Cardinal finally reached the 27th Heaven, where countless runes and arrays surrounded this magnificent, luminous cloud. The Cardinal’s heartbeat accelerated, followed by his pupil dilating. However, he swiftly exhaled to control his emotions before summoning a black cube the size of his palm.
"Is that Anti-Dao Matter? How blasphemous," Death Reverence thought. He knew this thing was one of the creations from the Lost Timeline. Many people even believe that their eradication was because they created such a blasphemous thing.
Without wasting a moment, the Heaven Cardinal used the cube created from Anti-Dao Matter to instantly tear apart Suiji’s means of control and also suppress Grand Dao’s Consciousness. The Heaven Cardinal then recited a spell that gave him control of this consciousness before beginning his plan.
"So, that’s how it is. You want to escape your status as a Cardinal?" Death Reverence thought.