For some reason, Himeko wanted to pat Shi Tian's back. To tell him everything was going to be fine. It was then did she realize: someone might have already done such things to him.
'How strange…'
She looked at Shi Tian once again. That feeling only grew stronger the more she saw his 'innocent' face. Uncovering up his past removed most of the 'cool' and 'domineering' factor in her impression of him. She found him to be… cute?
"That was when I met Kiana. Everything else was history. I luckily came across Miss Cocolia's orphanage at that time, meeting Seele, Bronya, and Sin Mal. My entanglements with Anti-Entropy stemmed from that encounter."
"Anti-Entropy…"
Hearing the familiar term brought up a lot of complex memories in Himeko's mind. Shi Tian caught this fleeting glance.
'I haven't heard much about this…'
There are simply way too many things that occurred while he was gone. They could not be perfectly summarized in a jade slip as some matters are personal. Himeko's complicated relationship with Welt Yang was one. The latter is her father's killer. No matter how deranged and crazy her father became, he is still her father. Shi Tian cannot imagine how things would have gone between her and Welt Yang.
Just as he was thinking about it, his connection to the grand power permeating the universe—the eighth-grade talismans responsible for the universe-wide memory manipulation—was touched. It was the same sensation as the time Herta managed to pierce through it.
'Herta… no, it's her. Polka Kakamond.'
When Shi Tian arrived at the Herta Space Station, he keenly caught traces of someone else. That certain someone invaded the station the same way as him—through conceptual highjacking.
'The power of Finality… was it that terrifying?'
He already realized what was happening. The eighth-grade talismans were supposed to be foolproof. It should have maintained its influence for another thousand years without fail. The approach of Finality made it unstable.
He thought long and hard for the precautions they have to put up. But one thing's clear.
'I have to meet these two guests first.'
*****
The Xianzhou Alliance is a 'coalition' of races sailing across the cosmos. Their ancestors stepped out of their birth planet and began an unstoppable voyage. As luck may have it, they encountered the Aeon of Abundance, Yaoshi. They were granted immortality, allowing their meager bodies to withstand the vastness of the cosmos for an indefinite amount of time.
Everyone rejoiced at this fact—this monumental feat. The allure of living forever has been deeply rooted in the Xianzhou people. The myths about mighty immortals, gods, and demons reshaping heaven and earth had long proliferated.
Their joy did not last long when they soon discovered the awful price behind this immortality:
Marastruck.
It is a state commonly described as the decay of six senses. Once they stepped on at an advanced age, averaging at 800, people would begin to lose their senses. The cells in their body mutate into another direction, causing physical deformation. It is an unstoppable process that turns someone into a mindless monster whose sole purpose is to cause destruction.
The decay of six senses has been dubbed as the "long-life curse", or in other terms, Mara.
Upon its discovery, the entirety of Xianzhou resented the Aeon they had once worshipped. Clearly, they did not like the premise of becoming an immortal by paying such a price. Yaoshi was seen as a twisted god who reveled in the suffering of others.
Their plight soon caught the attention of Hunt. The Aeon Lan granted Xianzhou its rainbow arrows, shattering the Ambrosial Arbor planted on the ship that first encountered Yaoshi. That event marked the beginning of the 'Xianzhou Alliance'.
One of the ships belonging to the Xianzhou Alliance was Yuque. It is the hallmark of the jade abacci, making it the home to many of Xianzhou's Diviners. These diviners utilize the jade abacci technology, something akin to computers, along with other Paths' blessings to perform their divinations.
The moment the solar system was revealed to the vast cosmos, Xianzhou's finest diviners attempted to peer through its barrier—to divine the things 'inside' of it. Headed by the Yuque's General Yao Guang, they succeeded to some extent. Their discovery rendered everyone silent, their eyes staying on the two words at the forefront of their divination results:
Immortal Cultivation.
To their surprise… or horror, the civilization within the solar system practiced a system that did not belong to any other Paths. A legendary figure, said to be the Dao Ancestor, imparted his knowledge to its living beings, thus marking the beginning to immortal cultivation. It contained nine realms dubbed as the 'stairs to immortality'. Nine is the number representing longevity. As for the tenth one, it went without question.
It is the realm of the True Immortals!
That discovery was akin to one hundred hydrogen bombs being dropped on Earth. Despite the mission being kept top-secret, the air of unease permeated Yuque. There are only two reactions for its existence: fear and excitement.
Fear, because Yaoshi had taught them a deep lesson they never dare forget. The influence of Mara still persists up to this day.
Excitement, because it might just be the true path towards immortality. A path unknown even to Aeons, one that can be traversed even by mortals.
The General of Yuque, no matter how carefree and odd she was, found it to be a complete pain in the ass. She, who liked festivities, found herself sitting solemnly on her agarwood chair. Her mind was still on the most recent 'reading'. Vague as it was, Yao Guang found it to be the most significant divination up to date.
Her silver-white hair, tied to a side ponytail, swayed slightly as her head bobbed left and right. Her slitted, sleeveless dress was as ostentatious as her character. Though there is no doubt it revealed her slender long legs and jade-like arms. The tasseled earring on her right ear glimmered as light passed through it. The peacock-like hair ornament kept her side ponytail. Its blue and green colors complimented her hair.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Her fingertip tapped incessantly atop the expensive wood table. Her brooding look was something reserved for serious moments… like now. The piece of paper lying quietly on the desk housed paragraphs upon paragraphs, though one portion remained highlighted.
"The Dao numbers fifty;
Heaven desires forty-nine…
Leaving one behind."
It was an excerpt of Earth's Philosophy of Change (Yijing), telling one that the heavens leave one, uncontrolled, way for man to take. It is, in other terms, the 'variable' unaccounted for by heaven itself.
Much to its novelty, Yao Guang became sorely interested about the 'variable' foretold by it. Hence she acted on her own volition, using one of the most advanced jade abaci, the Deca Light Refraction Barrier, to perform a divination of her own. She ended up finding another "truth" of this universe—the memories collectively erased by an absolute power from everyone else.
Her purple-blue eyes gleamed as her lips turned into a frown… and then a smile.
"The Eternal Land, Amphoreus…"
Suddenly, she felt something was off. Yao Guang directed her gaze towards the paper—to the highlighted portion—and saw the letters 'shift' into another set of words:
"Heaven is impartial, for it treats the myriad creatures as straw dogs. Likewise with the saints…"
The moment she finished reciting it, a faint rustle resounded. The paper on her desk multiplied endlessly, filling her office with scattered papers flying around.
Then…
She saw a man sitting opposite of her desk. His bright golden-pupils held unparalleled wisdom. The formal daoist robes he wore let out a soft white glow—extravagance and elegance given form. Finally, there was the ethereal air Yao Guang had never seen before from anyone else.
The man caught one of the flying papers, seemingly proud of his work, before asking:
"It is but one of the few excerpts many Fellow Daoists mull over for centuries. Do you mind if I hear your interpretation of it?"