Upon hearing the decreed promise, Daoist Doffwy could not help but ponder as to what the promise Sovereign made was about. At the same time, Sovereign also begins to recalibrate his perspectives after sharing his enlightenment.
After Venerable Light urged Sovereign they ought to depart back to the Heavenly Court, Daoist Doffwy and Sovereign bid farewell to eachother.
"Alas, as curious as I am, this Daoist shall not pry any further about the 'promise'.
Perhaps, one day, fate will allow for my questions to be answered."
[Daoist has exerted peak state of epiphany while enlightening.]
[Daoist, what awaits is a radical shift in perspectives.]
"Indeed, I was given another chance to enlighten.
Following the Heavenly Will is similar to entering a deep dark forest.
Once you enter, there is no going back, no return.
This Daoist will follow the Dao of comprehension and ponder long and well about this enlightening encounter."
At the same time, Sovereign, while travelling back to the Heavenly Court with Light, self-reflects.
"For thousands of years, this Sovereignbelieved the discrepancy of intelligence among living beings disallowed him to engage with other so called 'geniuses', because they all had at least one major flaw, let alone the common mortal beings.
During all those years, this Sovereign forcibly isolated himself to cultivate the Dao in seclusion.
Only few came close to being called worthy, and even fewer reached a level in which they understood my own principles and teachings.
As such, this Daoist called Doffwy... showcased some immense potential in adaptation...
This Sovereign, just before, noticed the sudden increase of Dao comprehension...
Perhaps, this world is not forsaken in intellect after all?
This must mean, a new era of intellectuals will inevitably erupt anon."
A quiet recalibration is starting to form inside both individuals.
Soon enough, Sovereign arrives at the Heavenly Court.
This time, it is disciple Lang Lang who approaches Sovereign.
"Master, disciple has been awaiting your return, while recovering his internal injuries.
I have taken on the matters of building a righteous murim alliance in said dimension.
However, after the eradication of the demonic sect along with its members,
there has been friction regarding my attempt to establish the murim alliance."
Sovereign then asks the disciple to continue.
"Disciple, you may elaborate further."
"It is as master once taught.
The path of cultivation is seldom smooth.
As such, worldly matters that influence the path of cultivation are directly influenced by that...
It is just, that the mortals, master, they doubt the institutionalisation of justice and righteousness as a murim alliance!
When this disciple asked their representatives as to why, their response was something disciple could not yet comprehend.
Thus, despite my regrets, I saw myself with no other choice than to postpone the establishment of the murim alliance.
Disciple thought, that before establishing it, we ought to solve what seems to be another misunderstanding, or perhaps, negative past experiences?
The only thing this disciple understood was that, according to the mortals of that dimension, righteousness eventually becomes unjust when it is institutionalized in the form of murim alliances.
Forgive this disciple's impudence, but in this case, I fear that Master must intervene in this matter personally to clear everything!"
While listening to these words, Sovereign makes up his mind.
In a breeze, Sovereign descends to the dimension, together with Lang Lang.
Soon enough, they encounter one of the representatives of this new mindset.
"Before you stands the humble Sovereign with his disciple Lang Lang.
It has been brought to my attention that while my disciple attempted to propose to you the idea of establishing the planned righteous murim alliance, you all have showed immense resistance?
This Sovereign asks you, one of the representatives, to state your affiliation and to elaborate as to why you lot yearn to not establish an institution of justice and righteousness in this dimension, in which no clear authority rules over yet?"
"Great Sovereign, this lowly mortal is not worthy of revealing his name.
More importantly, we will not give in simply because a great individual as you appeared!
Facts and statistics do not lie.
In history, the last 'alliances' that promised order and justice were nothing but a gathering of elite powerhouses to suppress the weaker ones.
At first, they pretended to guide us.
Then, slowly, as they gained our trust, the 'alliances' started showing their true colors.
Whoever opposed their principles was silenced."
The mortal glances at the far blue mountains with melancholy.
"But alas, unfortunately the facing of injustice never happened to those in power.
Under the pretext of the Heavenly Will, they justified their own immoral actions.
We were all fooled."
Lang Lang asks, clearly intrigued by this story:
"Then, what happened to those unjust alliances that were unable to exert true justice?"
"One after another, they facilitated room for new unjust actions.
Those 'alliances' declared that the weak are wrong, because the weak were forsaken by Heaven.
Does that mean that power alone makes everything one does right?!
We were told weakness was a sin, and that we could do nothing about it.
They used that pretext to imply that strength was virtue.
Although we mortals are limited in power, we could not tolerate this any further.
While we attempt to walk the path of Righteousness, we had no other choice than to resort to external help.
As such, the demonic factions in this dimensions grew in power.
While they were not any better morally, at least they gave us the right to decide with them!
We could exchange power for power, on eye-level with them!
Even if they took some of the souls of our families, they managed to coup the old alliance!
A new demonic sect, where not just the powerful ruled, was established in this world!
That was until Sovereign interfered in this dimension...
Sovereign, you eradicated the demonic sect from existence, and now plan on replacing them with an institutionalization of Righteousness in the same form?
Sovereign, do you really wish for us mortals to go through the old pain once again?
If so, what crimes have we commited that violated Heavenly Order that much?
Is this really how our mortal efforts will be rewarded?
All we have ever attempted to do was free ourselves from this neverending injustice!"
The silence after this emotional speech of the representative spoke a thousand words.
The sun starts setting, a bright red light shimmers through the deep blue sky.
However, the Sovereign, although in a thinking stance, does not let the silence weigh down any further.
He begins his verdict, a verdict which does not ask whether Righteousness is wrong, but something entirely different.
"What you described was the inevitable imbalance of usage of the law and authority in this world.
It is as this mortal said:
Institutions of Righteousness and Justice themselves are flawed most of the time.
It is not because go against the Heavenly Will, nor because demonic sects existed before.
It is precisely due to the fact that in this dimension, there was a lack of proper embodiments of justice.
Up until now, it has been humans who have attempted to turn Righteousness into a forced institutions.
What is more is that, given their lack of authority, those elites in control were not aware of how to properly infuse Heavenly Will with worldly matters.
In rare cases, humans with higher cultivation realms, were able to partially glance at the Heavenly Secrets and somewhat resonate with them.
Those humans, normally, should have guided said alliances toward the path of Righteousness.
However, due to worldly affairs and mundane negative influences, those humans misinterpreted the Heavenly signs despite their small yet significant amounts of resonance.
Instead of catching a bird, they attempted to catch a dragon!"
Lang Lang was surprised upon hearing this.
"How can Sovereign compare the previous institutions of Justice with the act of catching birds?
This could have a deeper meaning disciple cannot yet comprehend.
Still, that kind of wording goes against common practice..."
"In essence, this dimension lacked proper alignment with Heaven itself.
That is what led this whole realm astray by mundane matters.
With time, as morality decayed, given the recent anomalies regarding the Primordial Void Core, the pacing of decaying increased even further.
The fact that members of the demonic sects caused inner conflicts within said alliance is also to be considered."
The representative of the mortals is sparked with curiosity and hints of doubt.
"Sovereign, then, how do you plan on solving this current problem?
With historical examples seen, these institutions of power will only continue to abuse Righteousness as a weapon, instead of a portraying and living it as a virtue!"
Sovereign continues.
"This Sovereign shall decree.
Murim Alliances, that serve as institutional Righteousness, need not be abolished. They shall not be established in the same form they have existed in the past either.
It would be foolish for someone to establish a new alliance without a different foundation.
As such, given the current moral decay in this dimension, corruption would arise even faster than before.
In the past, these alliances measured one's virtue by their power, while it should be measured by one's alignment.
Heaven's name was preemptively codified with resonance as a pretext.
However, said resonance was never verified.
Before, their power ruled over people without ever being held accountable to each actions' karmic consequence due to the absence of authorities interfering in this matter.
Now that this Sovereign descended to this realm he believes tyranny has no place in this world.
I sometimes ponder, how can there ever be true equality?"
The sun has now almost completely set, the view above the blue mountains deep red.
Sovereign prepares for another monologue, using his prior enlightenments as a guidance.
"Ahem. This dimension is a perfect example for the teachings during this Sovereign's enlightenment.
In order to arise while having functional sense of Justice that is upheld, this dimension first needed to fall.
And - due to the scale - it had to fall very deep at that.
These institutions, which attempt to represent the Heavens, are no different than deep dark forests.
Without a clear path, one naturally gets lost and is inevitably led astray.
After reading the Grand Heavenly Cosmic Order closer, I came across something unexpected.
In the ancient records of Paragraph 835, a hidden subsection warns mortals that for everyone under the Heavens, excessive inadequate correlations of the spiritual resonance with the Heavenly Will will lead to Divine Intervention.
This crucial anchor must only convey that a misalignment naturally deducts one of their karmic merit and thus lowers the individual karmic flow.
By now, it is known what happens with those of low karmic flow.
Mundane temptations, taking on demonic paths, inner demons, Qi deviation and further distractions are a common effect."
A swift breeze of sea wind sweeps this vast land of humans.
"This Sovereign yearns to propose a new question.
Do you humans believe to be ready be walking the path of Righteousness in this world, not to be simply guided the path, but to actually endure the hardships that, naturally, come along with it?
More than that, do you have what it actually takes to be a Carrier of the Mandate?
In the past, people could not bear the weight and the consequences of Righteousness.
Those people tried to bypass those consequences and shifted their view in an unjust way.
After that, the people were guided towards a different path.
However, they were blinded and could neither realize what was wrong nor right.
And now, these people, after having fallen so deep, perhaps could be ready to arise.
That is, if they accept their mandate to carry the Heavenly Will itself."
The orange sky now dissipated into the pitch dark night sky, and only the myriad of stars shine bright now.
The representative, although slightly confused, thinks to himself.
"A recalibration... what could that exactly mean...
Perhaps the Elders will understand better..."
Disciple Lang Lang, meanwhile, is in epiphany.
"Disciple now understands...
Resonance must guide, not power.
It is the alignment that allows one to carry the Mandate itself..."
Sovereign has a slight look of satisfaction on his face, and thinks to himself.
"I am now content. Perhaps, a new era during this recalibration might emerge sooner than expected."