đź“– Chapter 1216 - One Hundred Thousand Worlds, One Hundred Thousand Wills!
“You’re saying that your hometown is also called the Never-Ending Dao Domain? But although there’s also a Never-Ending Clan and a Black Earth Empire, there’s no Underworld Sect?” The Flame Patriarch’s eyes narrowed. Although he tried his best to suppress it, his heart couldn’t help but surge with shock.
Unlike Wang Baole, the Flame Patriarch was a genuine native cultivator of the stele world and didn’t know anything about the existence of true and fake Never-Ending Dao Domains.
In fact, even Wang Baole wouldn’t have been able to hear about secrets of this level if not for Wang Yiyi’s father.
As the Flame Patriarch spoke, Little Fifth smiled wryly.
“Grandmaster Flame Patriarch, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The Never-Ending Dao Domain here is very similar to my hometown, but the progression of history is different. It’s like branching rivers flowing from the same source. The essence is the same, but at key nodes, they travel in different directions.
“Thus, the Black Earth Empire I come from isn’t the Black Earth Empire of this place, but that of another Never-Ending Dao Domain.”
“This place… the stele world!” The Flame Patriarch was silent for a moment before murmuring softly. Wang Baole was the one who told him about the stele world, but even before that, similar rumors had circulated among the top cultivators for many years. It was just that their perspectives had been limited, so even if this starry sky was some stele, the Flame Patriarch didn’t think it was a big deal.
However… if Little Fifth’s words were true, if the Never-Ending Dao Domain here was really so similar to his hometown… the meaning hidden behind this made the Flame Patriarch’s heart tremble violently.
There was a Never-Ending Clan, there was a Black Earth Empire… it was like a mirror image.
“What about the people? It couldn’t be that there are identical people, right?” At the side, Zhao Yameng and Zhou Xiaoya were also startled, and Zhou Xiaoya couldn’t help but speak up.
“I haven’t seen any yet, so probably not…” Little Fifth quickly replied. Then, glancing at the silent Wang Baole and the shocked Flame Patriarch, he hesitantly continued speaking.
“Also… I’ve seen Universe Realm cultivators here, and I feel like… they’re very different from the Universe Realm cultivators of my hometown. For example, my father…”
“Hm?” The Flame Patriarch’s eyes lit up. His sharp gaze made Little Fifth shudder and take a few steps backward, smiling wryly.
“Grandmaster, don’t get agitated. This is just based on my own feeling. With my cultivation base, it might not be accurate.”
The Flame Patriarch fell silent. After forcibly suppressing the trembling of his heart, he slowly spoke.
“Go on!”
Little Fifth hesitated.
"Say it." This time, it was Wang Baole who spoke.
With Wang Baole’s encouragement, Little Fifth took a deep breath and continued speaking.
“My father, and the other Universe Realm cultivators of my hometown… seem to be much stronger than the Universe Realm cultivators here. In this place… the Universe Realm seems incomplete. Although the realm is the same, it’s actually similar to flowers in a mirror, or the moon in water, almost as if it’s…”
“Fake?” The Flame Patriarch suddenly interjected. He couldn’t help but think of a certain rumor that had circulated through the starry sky for countless years. In that rumor, it was said that this universe… was all fake.
“Um, not exactly fake. Like I said, it’s more like it’s incomplete, but there are also exceptions. For example, Daddy… not only is he not incomplete, he seems even more complete than the cultivators in my hometown!” As he spoke, Little Fifth looked at Wang Baole strangely.
“Baole, do you know the truth about this universe…?” The Flame Patriarch’s breathing hastened, and he too turned to look at Wang Baole.
Wang Baole sighed softly. He didn’t know how to describe some things in words, so he simply infused everything he knew into his Dao aura and sent it to his master’s mind.
Aside from the secret of his original form being the black wooden nail, Wang Baole didn’t hide anything else.
As he touched Wang Baole’s Dao aura, the Flame Patriarch’s eyes became dazed, then confused. After a long time passed, he exhaled deeply with a complicated expression.
“Neither true nor false… I see, so that’s how it is…” The Flame Patriarch seemed fatigued as he muttered. These revelations were hugely impactful, and even someone of his cultivation base would need some time to digest everything. Thus, after sighing, the figure of the Flame Patriarch suddenly disappeared.
“Baole, I’m heading back to rest.”
The old ox and First Senior Sister also disappeared at this moment. The others thought that they had left along with the Flame Patriarch, but Wang Baole knew that it was because of his master’s internal shock.
After the Flame Patriarch departed, Little Fifth looked at Wang Baole helplessly. Unlike his master, Wang Baole was still rather calm. This was because he already knew much about the truth of the world, and Little Fifth’s explanation was more confirmation than anything else.
It confirmed some of the things he already knew, and it also gave him a clearer understanding of this stele world. Taking into account the story of Little Fifth’s origin, a general series of events appeared in Wang Baole’s mind.
Countless years ago, in the true Never-Ending Dao Domain far, far away, there was a divine spirit who was called the Emperor. Perhaps he was the Immortal, or perhaps he was a being who surpassed the Immortal.
Either way, he clearly wielded unimaginable power. However, that didn’t mean he was without enemies. At some point, his brows were pierced by a black wooden nail, leaving him in a suppressed state.
In order to break free, he sent out countless clones and created countless Never-Ending Clans in the innumerable universes outside the Never-Ending Dao Domain. Then, after his clones fully matured, he recalled them one by one to strengthen himself, giving him hope of breaking free.
“Perhaps All and Ancient, who originated from different universes, came under the command of the Emperor for a period of time…”
The illusory scene he saw with the help of the red-clothed woman beneath the Underworld River came to mind. In that scene, numerous smaller figures were sitting beneath a gigantic one sitting cross-legged in a mysterious starry sky.
Most likely, each of those figures was a Paragon!
“The Emperor was pierced by a nail, Ancient and All fought over the Immortal Inheritance in a land far away…”
At the same time, there was the matter of the Black Earth Emperor. The Black Earth Emperor had a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering cultivation base and was probably one of those figures sitting beneath the Emperor in the true Never-Ending Dao Domain. Eventually, he had chosen to go independent.
But in the end, he was defeated by the Emperor, and the Black Earth Empire was destroyed. At that time, the Black Earth Emperor must have realized something, so he arranged for his son, Little Fifth, to enter a spell formation that flung him through time and space.
When Little Fifth reemerged, he was in the present-day stele world.
With the compounding factors of All’s seal and Patriarch Never-Ending standing guard over the stele world, Little Fifth should have been unable to leave. But in the end, Wang Baole appeared…
“The plans and calculations of all parties seem to hinge on this place. Perhaps the Emperor’s clone here is the most critical one.” Wang Baole’s thoughts were clear. He felt that even if his analysis wasn’t completely correct, it should still be in the right direction.
“This is all a giant game of chess, with the stele world as the chessboard… On one side of the game, there’s the Emperor. On the other side are experts like the Black Earth Emperor and All. As for the chess pieces… I, this universe’s Emperor’s clone, and Little Fifth can all be considered chess pieces.” Wang Baole sighed softly, then fell silent. Now that he’d sorted out his thoughts, he planned to put these speculations aside and ask Little Fifth for details about the temporal distortion.
After all, no matter what, his own strength was the foundation for everything.
But at that moment… maybe it was because there were too many thoughts in his head, causing collisions between them as he sorted them out. In any case, a shocking idea suddenly occurred to him.
“Wait!
“Why would they choose the stele world as the chessboard? How come I appeared here? Couldn’t it be that… the chessboard isn’t just one place? Maybe I’m not alone, maybe… in each one of the fake Never-Ending Dao Domains in the countless universes, in each place that houses a clone of the Emperor… there is also another me!”
Wang Baole’s eyes abruptly widened. Even with his deep cultivation base, this thought still caused him to tremble uncontrollably.
The Emperor formed a hundred thousand bodies and created one hundred thousand worlds.
The nail formed a hundred thousand minds and gave birth to one hundred thousand wills!