The air distorted gently, a ripple effect spreading outward like the soft touch of a dust mote falling into a still pond. From that epicenter of shimmering unreality, Aurelia emerged.
She emerged with all the grace and nonchalance that her divine status afforded her. Her robes rippled in no wind, her hair floated as if underwater, and her eyes swept across the scene before her with the calm authority of one who had witnessed cosmic cycles beyond counting.
This was the void—an endless expanse of darkness punctuated by distant lights, a place where time moved differently and space obeyed rules that shifted like sand.
In front of her floated a massive landmass, easily the size of a continent. Jagged mountains, sprawling plains, and the faint glow of nascent civilizations dotted at its surface.
Enclosing this entire continent was a gentle barrier. A transparent, shimmering, fragile-looking yet impossibly resilient barrier that was in the shape of a perfect bubble.
Aurelia extended a single finger. She touched the empty air before her, then tugged at an invisible strand.
The gesture was almost casual, like a musician plucking a harp string. Instantly, a strong pulling force emanated from her right, tugging at her divine senses like a compass needle seeking north.
Her gaze followed the pull,and with a thought, she vanished again.
She reappeared much farther into the distance, now positioned high enough to take in the entirety of the stasis worlds at a single glance.
Hundreds of land masses,each encapsulated by its own transparent bubble,floated in the void like a drift of luminous jellyfish suspended in an infinite ocean.
Some were small, little more than islands. Others were vast, rivaling the continent she had just examined. And together, they were destined to be integrated, to finally form the last remaining fragment of the Wilderness Continent's void zone.
"With this round, the last continent of Zone 100 is complete," a voice sighed from directly behind her. "The cycle ends, and a new epoch begins. The Way of Heaven truly is one of replenishing deficiency with that of surplus. Sigh…"
Aurelia turned gracefully, her robes swirling.
Behind her stood a Daoist cultivator,with robes of faded blue and gray, a gourd hanging from his waist, and a wispy beard that reached his chest. His eyes, however, held the sharp gleam of someone who had cultivated for centuries.
"Oh, so it's a Daoist cultivator," Aurelia remarked, a note of curiosity in her voice.
"How peculiar. How intriguing." She commented
The Daoist, sensing an opportunity,or perhaps a threat,activated his discerning techniques the moment she turned.
Spiritual energy flared behind his pupils as he attempted to gauge her cultivation base, her origin, and her very essence.
The result was... immediate and catastrophic. A very normal and expected sight from Aurelia's point of view. Who was she? And how dare this mortal try to gauge her origins?
It has to be known that even in mortal culture,probing another person with one owns divine sense is considered a taboo.
A horrific scream tore from the Daoist cultivator's throat. He clutched at his face, blood seeping between his fingers as his eyes were now ruptured.
His eyes were now blind,betraying his actions completely.
He staggered, nearly tumbling into the void, saved only by decades of ingrained balance techniques.
"Seems I have been in seclusion for far too long," Aurelia said, her tone carrying a hint of mild reproach. "Even a Celestial Envoy does not recognize me and dares to intrude."
The Daoist cultivator bowed deeply in anguish, his body trembling.
Using his spirituality, he wiped away the blood streaming down his cheeks.
But when he opened his eyes,or rather, the hollows where his eyes had been,he found nothing but darkness. He was blind.
Even as he circulated his regenerative techniques,spirit energy flowing to heal the damaged tissue,he found it was all for naught.
The blindness remained and the wound would not close. Forever staying that way to commemorate this fateful encounter.
That was when true panic set in.
He hurriedly jolted into a deeper bow, his forehead nearly touching his knees. Then, ever so subtly,with the careful phrasing of a man walking through a minefield,he inquired.
"I was blind even though I had eyes," he said, his voice hoarse. "Your presence is like the tide of the cosmic ocean,boundless and overreaching in influence. I implore your mercy."
Glib tounged!
Aurelia's gaze softened. She deliberated for a moment, weighing the man's sincerity against his offense. Then she decided to cut him some slack. This man,a practitioner of the dying Immortal Dao,was not worth holding a grudge over. She found such minor grievances beneath her.
"A Celestial Envoy can ask three things for one seeking to recruit or influence the stasis worlds," she said, her voice taking on an instructional tone. "You were quite smart to become a Celestial Envoy. I like your perseverance, so I will restore your eyesight."
The Daoist cultivator sighed in profound relief. His shoulders sagged, the tension draining from his frame.
But then
"For the price of two asks, that is."
The Daoist did not dare frown. He kept his expression neutral, though internally he berated himself. I brought this dilemma upon myself. I should not have probed so recklessly.
"I accept this proposal," he said, bowing once more.
Aurelia nodded with approval. Waving her hands,sending a bit of her spirituality in his eyes. Miraculously,under the astonished senses of the Daoist cultivator,his eyes heeled.
"Your ask?"
The Daoist cultivator's face fell into deep contemplation while he got used to his new eyes.
He knew that before him stood a being of immense power,a big shot, as the younger generations would say.
And this was a rare chance for him, perhaps his only chance, his chance to ask something that had been abstracting his cultivation for centuries.
He stepped forward hesitantly, then spoke.
"The Way of Daoist cultivation is one of seeking longevity. Like many of my seniors, I seek improvement of my state of mind. However, I am always irate whenever I cultivate the mind. Senior, do you have any advice?"
Aurelia smiled at the question. These Daoist cultivators way of seeking longevity always intrigued her.
They sought the eternal, yet so many of them remained trapped in the narrow furrow their ancestors had plowed. Apart from the Daoist Ancestor Xuanmu himself, the rest were… just so, so.
Nonetheless, she answered.
"The Dao is all-encompassing. It has many names, and the various dominions are all Great Daos. The problem with Daoist cultivators is that you strictly follow the Daoist Ancestor's path, forgetting that each being has their own Dao,each different, unique, and most suited to oneself. Just as expressions are individualistic, all are different, with no two being identical, so too are Daos.
Find your own Dao. Your own expression of the Way.
My advice is but one: the soul, the body, and the spirit are all-encompassing,just as the Great Dao itself is all-encompassing. The body represents infinite potential. The soul represents boundless inheritance and knowledge. The spirit represents the mind.
Each of these exists in a boundless loop, restricting and enhancing one another in turn.
Ponder this basic knowledge."
She finished with a soft giggle, watching the Daoist's expression shift from confusion to dawning realization to something approaching awe.
She knew that she had just expanded the world of this poor Daoist,cracked open a door he had not even known existed.
Maybe this is one of the effects of a cause? she wondered idly. A ripple from an earlier stone.
***
With that matter concluded, Aurelia turned away and plummeted directly toward a certain direction in the void.
In the distance, she could feel the pull growing more pronounced,a tugging at her divine senses that resonated deep within her core.
And then, within a cluster of landmass bubbles, she saw it.
A boundless purple aura,stretching, straining, pressing against the inner walls of a bubble barrier like a trapped storm demanding release. The aura was familiar. It was his. It was also domineering,wild, untamed, and yet somehow controlled.
It also belonged to her.
She sighed. A long, slow exhale that carried centuries of longing and a single moment of resolve.
She opened her palm. With a flick of her finger, she cut a small wound across her skin.
A thin red line that welled with divine blood.
Then, deliberately, she let the blood drip down into the barrier below. Each crimson drop hung suspended for a moment before sinking through the translucent membrane like a stone through water.
Spirituality leaked from her body in waves. Her aura rose. Domineering and absolute, pressing into the void with the weight of a collapsing star.
Her expression energy caused violent undulations in the space around her, the very fabric of reality warping and flexing under her will.
Then, with a soft voice,almost a whisper, yet carrying the force of a divine decree...she uttered:
"High art Expression – Equivalent Exchange."