"You will," the Flame Emperor—the embodiment of the World Will—gazed at Xiao Yan with deep intent. "Otherwise, I would never have revealed myself to you."
"You speak as though you know me inside and out. What gives you such certainty that I'll agree?" Xiao Yan let out a cold laugh. "Don't you know the thing I hate most is playing savior?"
"Of course I know your personality," the World Will replied calmly. "But haven't you heard this phrase before—'When the nest is overturned, how can any egg remain intact?' If you refuse to act, then when the catastrophe arrives, you and everyone you care about will face an unprecedented calamity. With your temperament, wouldn't you want to crush that kind of doom in its cradle before it ever reaches them?"
"Tch..." Xiao Yan turned his face away in silence. He didn't like being seen through so easily. But soon, another thought struck him, and he asked, "If you have a will of your own—and your power clearly surpasses that of any Heavenly Sovereign—then why don't you just deal with this calamity yourself?"
"Because my power is maintaining the operation of the entire Great Thousand World," the World Will sighed. "If I truly diverted that power to stop the catastrophe, I could indeed destroy it. But in doing so, the entire Great Thousand World would collapse into dust. That's a price we cannot afford. So this task must be handled by someone else."
"This catastrophe you're talking about… what exactly is it?" Xiao Yan asked.
"The Extraterritorial Evil Clan."
"The Extraterritorial Evil Clan? What's that?" The unfamiliar name made Xiao Yan pause before he pressed for more details.
"They are a race from beyond the Great Thousand World," the World Will said gravely. "Tens of thousands of years ago, they arrived with the intention of conquering this realm. In the end, thanks to figures like the Immortal Emperor, they were barely repelled—but not without cost. Half of the Great Thousand World was lost to them."
"The cultivation system of the Extraterritorial Evil Clan differs from our spiritual energy system, but their strength is in no way inferior. In fact, their overall might is even greater than ours. Worse still, their power can corrupt the very fabric of heaven and earth, converting it into an environment suitable for their kind."
"From beyond the world… capable of corrupting spiritual energy…" Xiao Yan's brows furrowed. These traits sounded strikingly similar to the demonic beings he had once eliminated in the Tianxuan Continent. Could they be related?
"Your guess is correct," the World Will said. "Those demonic beings you eradicated were merely a tiny offshoot of the Extraterritorial Evil Clan. They were nothing special. The Evil Clan includes countless branches similar to the Demon Race, but for lower planes, even those are impossible to contend with."
Xiao Yan didn't doubt that. The fate of the Tianxuan Continent was fresh in his mind. Without the Symbol Ancestor, the continent would've already fallen. Clearly, the World Will wasn't exaggerating—lower planes really couldn't resist such forces.
That said, the Dou Qi Continent where Xiao Yan had come from was indeed special. In ancient times, it had produced many Dou Dis. Even now, if not for the disappearance of Origin Qi, the Dou Qi Continent might have birthed four or five Dou Dis. Its power was unquestionably far above that of the Tianxuan Continent.
Xiao Yan had often wondered—what if the Extraterritorial Evil Clan had targeted the ancient Dou Qi Continent instead? They would've been chased off, tails tucked between their legs. Yet now he was shocked to learn that the Demon Race he had faced was nothing more than a small, insignificant offshoot.
He had thought the Dou Qi Continent's strength was enough to repel enemies like the Demon Race. But now it seemed the ones he had defeated didn't even count as threats. If an even stronger branch of the Evil Clan ever set its sights on the Dou Qi Continent…
A deep sense of urgency welled up in Xiao Yan's heart.
He had to grow stronger—and quickly. Otherwise, if the Dou Qi Continent were discovered, it might suffer the same fate as the Tianxuan Continent... or worse.
"From what you've said, it looks like I can't avoid this even if I wanted to," Xiao Yan said. "But I've got another question. What exactly is that power of fate I encountered? Can you deal with it?"
"I'm sorry," the World Will shook its head with a trace of bitterness. "That power... I can't resolve it either."
"You can't?!" Xiao Yan's pupils narrowed. He didn't know the exact limits of the World Will's strength, but if surpassing the Heavenly Sovereign realm required leaving your name on the Sky Rankings—something that was part of the World Will—then that meant the World Will's recognition was essential to reaching that level.
In other words, even transcending Heavenly Sovereign required the World Will's approval. The World Will itself had not been surpassed.
And now it said that even it could not overcome the mysterious force of fate? That meant… the power of fate was at least on the same level?
"I've never had a direct confrontation with that force of fate," the World Will said, seemingly guessing his thoughts. "So if I really fought it head-on, I might not necessarily lose. But that power is bound to the lives of billions within the Great Thousand World. If I try to destroy it, the world would suffer unimaginable damage. And that is a risk we cannot afford."
Seeing Xiao Yan still troubled, the World Will added, "Besides, the power of fate itself is not inherently evil. The real problem lies with the one who interferes with it—the one trying to control it from behind the scenes. Even if we destroy the force of fate, it won't hurt the person manipulating it."
"Then do you know who that person is?" Xiao Yan asked.
"That individual acts with extreme secrecy," the World Will said with a sigh. "Even I cannot detect their presence. I can only vaguely sense... that they do not belong to this world."
"Not of this world? You mean... one of the Extraterritorial Evil Clan?"
"No," the World Will shook its head. "There is one within the Evil Clan capable of such manipulation, but that entity is currently sealed—and I monitor them constantly. It couldn't have been them."
"While I can't pinpoint their exact location," it added, "I can just barely sense that this hidden manipulator is not the same as the Evil Clan. They are… something else entirely."
(End of Chapter)
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