Chapter 1390: Shu Ren's Bright Future
Wang Wei exhaled to calm down. 'No, things are not as bad as I think,' Wang Wei told himself. 'The moment I started my path to devour these purple orbs, I should have embarked on a path of breaking my fate.'
Wang Wei was not just saying these words to reassure himself; he had a logical analysis to arrive at this conclusion, and the answer was obvious — Hongjun. No matter how subtle and brilliant Grand Dao's plan was, Hongjun was a Transcendent and should have detected some hints.
'There is no way Hongjun would have helped me if he had any suspicions that I was a Fate Seed,' Wang Wei analyzed. 'So, what most likely happened was the other Fate Seeds were taken into the void, and Grand Dao's test was for them to survive for a period before taking them to reincarnation. However, I broke the mold of the test by surviving and turning into this soul monster.
'This caught Hongjun's attention, and he watched over. He was planning something himself and thought I may become a variable, so he invested a little protection and luck blessing.'
Wang Wei's eyes shine with golden brilliance: 'I should not be too excited. I may have exceeded Grand Dao's test, but that did not change the fact I was branded with the [Fate Seed] title. In fact, my excellence meant I was the best choice for the job.'
He suddenly felt a sense of urgency. He needed to eliminate his status as a [Fate Seed]. 'I wanted to wait until I was about to achieve Half-Step Transcendence before asking Grand Dao, but it seems this must be done before becoming a Paragon. Additionally, I must prepare in case Grand Dao breaks the rule and refuses to tell me.'
If there is one lesson Wang Wei learned from previous experience is that he cannot rely on these powerful entities to be competent or keep their word. So, he needed a backup plan in case things went wrong. Wang Wei stopped theorizing and focused on the task at hand — checking on these mortals.
He waved his hand, and a piece of information manifested in his palm. 'The Rune Body is finished, and it's usable to cultivators. This method should reduce the intensity of the war, but I cannot reveal it yet in case Supreme Unity makes countermeasures.'
He nodded in satisfaction before checking one last time. Most of these mortals were not training in mock battles in the Void Illusion Realm to prepare for the upcoming war.
'Good,' Wang Wei nodded. 'They are developing faster than I anticipated.' He looked in the distance while muttering: 'Mongke is ready, so all that's left is to distract Shu Ren.'
…
Great Chu Dynasty, 33 Nether Hell:
Shu Ren sat on a black throne with souls and bones as an aesthetic. His eyes were closed as he checked the situation of this dimension, and the smile on the corner of his mouth showed what kind of mood he was in.
'Can this work?' Shu Ren thought. His Nether Hell rapidly reached the finished stage after using Five Feather's method. Of course, another great contributor was these wars that allowed him to gather trillions upon trillions of souls.
'As long as I complete it and sacrifice his Nether Hell to the Underworld, they should give me the Earth Emperor Position,' Shu Ren thought excitedly. 'And even if that doesn't work, my actions should be enough to become a Yama King.'
Shu Ren's smile deepened as he thought about his bright future. Shu Ren was not stupid and knew what a bleak future awaited him. His Qi Luck was rapidly decreasing, and a sense of doom loomed over him. Shu Ren knew that even if he survived this catastrophe, two fates awaited him: being Supreme Unity's pawn or the Human Emperor's pawn.
'However, this will be my way out,' he analyzed. 'Either the Earth Emperor or the Yama King Positions are enough to survive this catastrophe and escape my fate as a pawn. And that's not mentioning the benefits of strength.'
Although Shu Ren acted arrogant on the outside, he knew he had long reached the limit of his talent. Even with the world's resources, he could no longer make much progress. However, the destiny of the Earth Emperor or Yama King was enough for him to become a peak Paragon, maybe even a Primal.
'And this may not be my limit,' Shu Ren thought with shining eyes. Previously, he knew his limit, so he never considered achieving such levels, but now, a seed called ambition was growing inside his heart.
'I need to calm down,' Shu Ren reminded himself. The Nether Hell was close to completion but not there yet. But the question is how to perfect it.
'Do I need to understand Samsara Dao? No, I came so far without it. Maybe I can use more people with Earth Dao, or I could use the more extreme way — fuse enough souls into the place and force it to evolve naturally.' These two approaches have merits, and they can be used simultaneously. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire
'The souls required would be astronomical, but luckily, this world lacks nothing but souls,' Shu Ren thought. However, he always felt there were better ways, but he couldn't think of it. 'Forget it. Maybe it will come to me later on.'
Shu Ren teleported away, returning to his throne in Great Chu. He did not summon his ministers but only contacted his shadow. "Report."
"Yes, lord," the shadow knelt on one knee. "Two major things, starting with this." He took out a scroll, and with a wave, the paper flew before Shu Ren. He immediately sneered after reading it. Taoism asked him to participate in this war directly, and this time, they were no longer playing around as they directly threatened him.
Shu Ren wrote an edict ordering his Military Director to increase troops and resources to reinforce Taoism. He also asked his ambassador to use any excuse to explain his absence.
'The issue of soul gathering should be dealt with now,' Shu Ren thought, hiding the smile on his face. "What's next?" The shadow handed him an information talisman.
"The Empress has committed treason?" Shu Ren asked. "It seems that some people treat me as stupid."
"Lord, do you want me to investigate?"
"No need." The shadow looked at him confusingly.
"It's time for me to deal with my unfilial third son," Shu Ren replied calmly. "And they just handed me the perfect reason." Shu Ren sneered. His son has been safe for so long for two interconnected reasons: the bastard allied himself with the Great Qin Dynasty and successfully schemed to take control of a significant part of his 33 Nether Hell.
But now that the thing was about to be complete and Shu Ren saw the hope of escaping his fate, it was time to destroy that annoying pest. His third son has always portrayed himself as filial to his mother, making her the best direction to deal with him.
Swish!
Shu Ren frowned as he looked at the shadowy figure in the room that appeared out of nowhere: "You better have a good reason to interrupt my meeting."
"Lord, there is an emergency."
"What is it?"
"Imperial Consort Shu Shu has fallen into a coma."
"What?" Shu Ren stood up; his body instinctively released a terrifying aura. "What do you mean by this?" However, he did not wait for an answer before teleporting to the Flawless Phoenix Palace. He saw Shu Shu lying in bed with countless maids around her, most of whom were trembling.
"What happened here?"
No one answered him, which riled up Shu Ren even more. He was about to kill someone when the handmaid reacted fast enough by kneeling on the floor:
"Your majesty, forgive us — we don't know what happened. The lady was eating her meals when she felt ill."
"Did someone poison her?"
"I…I don't think so."
"Think?"
"I tested the food, even drunk it myself," the headmaid swiftly replied. "I found no poison."
Shu Ren had calmed down somewhat as his divine sense did not detect anything wrong with the food on the table. "You better hope this has nothing to do with you," he warned, not hiding his killing intent. Shu Ren approached her, ready to check her current situation.
"Your majesty," the primary shadow suddenly appeared before him. "Let me do it."
"This is not the time for your nonsense."
"In times like these, it's best to be careful," the shadow continued.
"Get out of the way before I kill you," Shu Ren snapped.
"Your majesty, I insist," the shadow replied, his eyes firmer than ever in his life. He was prepared to die, but he could not allow his majesty to be the one investigating this woman.
A scythe manifested behind Shu Ren, ready to annihilate this disobedient subordinate. However, the look in the shadow's eyes made him stop.
'Yes, this is not the time to act on emotions.' He exhaled to calm down before canceling his technique.
"Go ahead," he ordered.