"Now then go back now, I've left some 'gifts' for you two make sure to use them well~" 

...

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

...

"Interesting, isn't it?"

"Mm," Xin Dongyang nodded in acknowledgment as he recalled the changes in the two who had just left, "Indeed, quite an interesting change... You seem to know something about it, don't you?"

"Not really~ And I'm not hiding or lying about this," Jianyu shrugged.

Dongyang didn't care much either and instead moved on to the next matter at hand, "Will you be meeting with Xifeng now?"

"Yes, I guess I will."

"Well, that's good," Xin Dongyang smiled slightly. It wasn't too bad to have Yin Xifeng as his granddaughter-in-law. But his smile was soon to go away as...

"I'll be breaking this annoying engagement of ours, today,"

...Jianyu robbed him of this small joy.

"...Why?"

"At this point, why shouldn't I?" Simple words, yet the meaning was far more vast than what was said.

...

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

...

"So..." Staring at his grandson who quietly sipped his tea while not saying anything, Xin Dongyang asked, "What happened?"

"Her fearful expression, the scent of despair emanating from her in response to my every single action! It was all just too adorable!" Pumping his fist, Jianyu spoke with much excitement, to which Xin Dongyang looked over him with much apprehension.

"...Anyways, I decided against breaking off the engagement because of that. After all, not much of a point in breaking the engagement. It's not as if she's the sole individual to blame for everything." Jianyu simply shrugged his shoulders and Xin Dongyang stared at him in scrutiny.

"That's quite the difference from what you said earlier."

"Well, always great to have someone who knows the future by my side! Also... She seems like she'd do anything I ask of her..." His smile widened as his mind thought of certain thoughts.

"Haa..." Xin Dongyang sighed tiredly. Even though the current chaotic nature of his grandson's soul and body made it difficult to perceive the falsehoods of his words, as his grandfather, Xin Dongyang could tell that he was lying. "So, when will you be ready to leave?"

"Just let me finish my tea~" His voice was cheery yet, he felt quite complicated inside... He just couldn't reject her... That familiar face that reminded him of the memories of that distant meeting amidst the winter snow...

'She resembles her...but...' Even if that familiarity did not exist, Jianyu could not reject the fact that he had come to adore that fool.

Even if his idea of love had grown warped... Even if he was no longer a human, He could just not reject those tear-welled eyes.

He truly adored Yin Xifeng.

And with that the chains bound his neck. Binding him to that distant finality.

 

 

.̸̭̪̚.̷̙͉͖̗̜̰̰̖̲̺́͜͜͝͠.̸̡̞̗̯̤̫̺̼̠͆͑̐̌̍̈́̋̈͛͆̓̅͜͜͝
̵̡͉̙̠̣̝̜̭̫̗̮̊́̋̓
̸̨̢̙̟̹͖͔̙͎̯͇̞̜̈̈́̈́̾͜⋅̸̡͎̲̣̞̟̾̂̓̓̽̐̈̓̅̄̈͠ͅ•̶̧̢̨̟̣̪͇̝̖̌͆̽̒̑̉̎̋⋅̶̨̹̤̲̯̭̒̓̅̏͝⋅̶͈̾̈̎͂̏̂̓̂̈̍̈́̉̏•̵̢̲̣̜̰̱̝̝̠̻̘͙̗̍̂͋͌͋̅͗̆̓̕̚ͅ⋅̵̢̼̦̦̣͉̘̤̭͉̖͖͙̻̋̏̓̀⊰̸̯̭̳͙̹̒̀̀́⋅̷̝͗̿̎̕•̶̰̬̠̯̲̺̱̭̮̦̳̆̃̐̍̚ͅ⋅̶̨̟͔̘͓̟̜̣͍̻͍̭̪̓́̓̄̉͂̓⋅̷̛̦͍͍͚͗́̕•̴̧͈̬̞̞͖̣͍̫͚̤̯̩̀͗̏̄͠͠ͅ⋅̷̨̛̛͎͖͎͉̰̜̮̪̫͉͚̰̹̞͛̌͗͛͗͋͂̇̀̄̈́͝⋅̷̟̟̔͐̈̿̊̈͝•̸̨͚̫͛̒̈́̂̾͊́̕⋅̵̧̜̓̇̈́̆̾̅̾̚͘
̴̛̛̛̻̺͖̅͊̌̃̾͝͠
̵̛̦̞͂̀̌͐̑̆̚͜͝.̴̧̧̳̺̥̭̬̳̟̠͕̣̑̃̏͐̍̿̈̔̂̊̕͝.̶̛̰̝͉̖̪̙̹̣͕̘̪̰͕̓͌̌͑̓̂̈́̕̕.̴̣̪͓̣̥͇̫̲̻̩͕͂̓̇̈̇
̷̡̫̎͋̄̃
̶̢͙̘̠̹̝͇̗̼͎̯̍͆̍̀͒͘͠ͅͅ

 

Far, far away, in between the chaos seas and the grand nothingness, the void's boundaries,

At the time that was not the present but a close-by past, two entities looked over certain events in the chaos sea with rather odd amusement.

In front of the two was a fissure in reality. Within the fissure, the events of the hidden realm and the battle between a certain inner devil and two meager weaklings took place.

Even though the void lacked a true flow of time and the chaos seas' flow of time differed yet, at the boundary between two such extremities, the flow of time flowed in sync with the whims of the two beings, and all of it was caused by the being loftily sitting upon a throne.

||What are your thoughts on this?|| Looking to his side, the lofty being asked the other entity who stood by his side as they observed a boy face his inner devil.

|A waste of time,| the other one's words were simple and boring, unamusing to the lofty being. |If he struggles to even defeat such a simple shadow of the past, I hardly believe him to hold any value.|

||Is that so...|| The being shook his head in disappointment. ||It seems your viewpoint is still far too narrow-minded.||

|...How so?| While not exactly happy with such statements, he knew that the being who sat upon the throne was not one to say pointless things and thus, he asked.

||Before you met me, this chaos sea possessed many alternate, parallel flows of the river of time, did it not?||

|...|

||Yet, when I first arrived here, this chaos sea was already in a state of temporal singularity with no alternate timelines. Yet, the world acts in a manner imitating a chaos sea with alternate timelines... No such thing as regression had been sensed by us, yet, there are so many menial beings who, for some reason, had such memories... Odd, isn't it?||

|And what does it have to do with anything?|

||A certain being had guided me here back then. Of course, it couldn't have forced me, but due to certain reasons, I decided to humor it, and that's how I arrived at this collapsing existence. The Chaos Sea had already regressed and turned into a temporal singularity by the time I had arrived. A Chaos sea that had regressed yet acted out in a similar way comparative to the past flow of time, to reach a similar conclusion as before, as if in accordance with someone else's plans. As for who the culprit for these plans is...|| His gaze returned to the fissure, upon the boy or rather the creature that had begun to perish struggled...

|You mean...|

||Xin Jianyu of Guidance. He'll be what you'll consider as someone beyond the third grand step of cultivation.|| The being reached out for the empty space with his dull red eyes set ablaze; however, as he touched the empty space, his fingers traced a certain something, and an ethereal branched structure slowly began to reveal itself. ||The fourth step is quite similar to the third one, actually. But you know what's the difference between them? The third step is one where you attempt to comprehend what you call the grand Dao and forge your Dao through it. But in the fourth step, you recreate the grand Dao in your own image without any assistance!||

As the branched structure illuminated to reveal the humongous path once trailed by the guidance, the other being lowered his head, as simply looking at it burdened his existence.

The dull red-eyed being, however, paid no heed to that and instead weaved a small thread of mystical mist from the vestiges of the guidance and sent it to the "dying" young man beyond the fissure.

Even though the young soul would have survived this ordeal, the red-eyed being decided to help him out. After all, he was one to pay back favors, and with this, he owed the guidance that brought him closer to his "goal" nothing.

||Well then, take this,|| the branched structure, the vestiges of the path of guidance, shrunk into a small branch that could easily fit in one's hand, ||Here's a gift for you, 'little Tiandi!'||

[AN- LITTLE Tiandi speaks with |....|, but the other guy speaks with ||....||]

...

...

...

||Guidance... Quite the foolish path. Nothing special, not much in strength, nothing exceptional at all. But a selfless path guiding all of creation.|| He spoke to himself in his lonesome, a habit he kept from his younger self.

||In a way, a path that could be easier to trail... But even then...|| An unceasing illumination blazed around him, a branched structure far too grand, a path that kept on splitting, crossing itself, ending up in dead end over and over and retracing it's path to create a new path... This was the path of the Guidance, Xin Jianyu.

||Even then, it wouldn't explain the "length" of this infantile path.||reaching out for the grandiose path, he simply reached out, ||Who am I kidding, I already know the answer to such questions all too well|| The immense path was now held within his palm.

||Little Tiandi won't be needing any more of  this... He should be able to reach the next step soon... Moreover, I still have to continue my work... Perhaps I should make a tower with this! Been so long since I did any such thing~ However before that...|| His smile deepened as the dull red eyes moved to meet the others,

||Don't you think it's rude to peek at othę̷̘̦͈͗͗̓́̍͐̋̏͌͌̇͠ŗ̶̖̗̺̬̺͇̣̠̣̄̅͗̉'̷̞́̂͌̀͊͒̈͑̂̀͐̈́̿̈́͝s̷̳̊|̵̛͕̞̇̒̂̒̈́̃͛̃̂͐|̵̢̢̨̧̢̺̙̫͖̻̣̼̣͓͈̉̽͆̀͊͆ ̷̧͎̹̯͚͇̰̙̆́̍̇̏̀Ę̴̢̝̩̦̙͉̗̣̩͌̽̽̌͋̾͘͜ͅỳ̶̡̪̝̜͔͉̰̲̻͂̕ͅe̴̪͙̰͆͋̊̃̍͊̀̑͛́̿͋͝͝ş̷͓̦̜̬̲̩̰̬̼͈͙͍̣̰͂̀̈́̃̽̈́͌̂͝ ̸̠̯̪̘̔̉́̎͑̈́̆̃̒̕͘bled t̵͔̩̻̱̉̊h̸̺̳̱̱̋̔̅̆͆̈́̑͒͘ȓ̸̻̜̦̩̓͛̇̑̈́̓̌̎̄̂̚͝͝ơ̵͖̘̞̺̲̲̱͂͒̇̎̇̒̉ű̵̜̃̈́͗̌͝g̸̺̱̩̱̳̳͌̒͆͆͑͜h̷̢̜͖̟̪̞̙̟̗̓̓͐̔͛̇́͊̚͝ ̸̢̡̨̡͓͙̱̗̬̪̰͕̣̥̎̐̾̒̈́̍̑̋̄̂̈́̎̂ẗ̶̛̬͖̥̠̱̪̥͍̳́̈́̓͆͜h̷̢̛̻̯̣̓͆́̓̀̄̿̉̀͋̓͝e̸̢̼͇͎͈̻̳̝͂̈́͜ ̴̛̻̘̣͇̺͙̼͇̬̣̘̯̘̾̐̈́͗͐̐́̃̆̇́̑̿words,̵̙̤̖̃̑͛́̍̾̎͘͘ ̸̥̔̆̑̄̓̃̀͆l̴͓̎̔̀̿͌̒̄̅̍̈́̓͋̍͠o̴̙͓̠͉̥̦̺̺̙̣̓͒̈̓̑̒͗͠o̸͕͉̓̂̄́͑͑̽̄̽́̾̈́́ķ̸͓̻̱͖̰̫̻̠̱͒́͐̎̎̈́̈́į̵̘̖͉̣̈̍̃̈̑́͌ņ̸̱͕͇̺̣̝̖̤̲́́́̓́̈́̈̑̈́͐̚g̴̢͉̬͙̝̀̔̉͌͐̀̌̄͐̇̅͘͠ ̸̧̛̟̳̦̙͉̺̣̳͙̞̞͙̲͔͛̿̓͐́̈́̽̕͠ḁ̶́̇̒̀̂̾̉͋̏͊̀̈́̌͘̕t̴͎́͐̏̐̏̅̃̀͘͘͝͝͠ ̶͉̥̮̿͛̈̄̾̃̉̾̽̽͘͝ͅt̵̢̧̧͖͈̩̥̫͖͓̓̉̋̋̆͜ḧ̵̛̛̯̖̳̦̈̀͋̈́̍͑͛͝ẽ̶͉͙͎ ̸̙̱̭́͊́̿̐̋̽͗͒̈̅̅͌̒͝ờ̵̤̲̬̟̻̰͌̋͘͠ņ̸̳͍͓͙̗̜͋́̈́̆̈́̆͠e̴̹̦͈̗͔̤̣̫͕̰͗̾̐̐̐̔̎̈̃̅̃̉̓ ̸̛͈̻͉͑̍̓̆̐̊͗̾̓͒͒͗̽̚b̵͚͇̝͒̇͊̈́͌͂̃́̚̕ͅe̸͍͕̭̪͂̀̆̆̒̀͐͛̇͋͊̒̿͜͠͝ỳ̶̯̣̮̻̼̘̱̖͓̥̬̫̙̗͋̈́̏̏̈̋͋̂̀͑͜͝ö̸̱̯́̓n̷̻̋͂̀̈́̀͊̔̈́̏͘̕ḓ̵̛͊.̵̞̻̱͓̥̙̬̖͉̦̗̜̲͒̓̌̄̈́ ̶̢̖̘̘̊̆̀̇̀̄͆̑͛͊̔̓͠͠T̶̨̺̤̳͍̗̹̲̼͍̩̐̿̔͆͐̄̉̔ḧ̸̲̬́̄͗̽̎͝e̸̗̠̞̓͒͂͌̎̅͒̍̓̀̊͗̚̕͠ ̶̛̜͎̭̱̈́̊̅͂̂̓countless eyes p̵̣͚̟̟͔͇͎̪̈́̓̌̊͐̚͝ę̶̢̨̢̖̣̲̻͓͕̯̮̊ͅr̵̨͍̫͉̭̖̼̟͗͒̒͂̋̿̋̉͑́̔̐̋͜͝ͅc̷̡̻͓̱͇̯̯̹̯͉̫͇̱̎̓̍̆͂̀͗̂̒̊͝e̶͚̼͋̾̀̍̋̓̄͂̿͆̈́͋̕͝ǐ̷̧̛̥̱͓͈̝̥̬͖̺̈́̑̒̌̈́̽̓̚v̸̡̢̻͚͎͕͍͈̖͗̐̇̏͊̕e̵̛̥̲̬̼̞͖̭̙̤͐̍͊͆̏̃̑͜͠d̵̦̰͖͓̜͓͖̞́͜ ̶̨̻̭̖̻̰̺̲̲̩͔̟̖͖̪̎̓̀̈́̈͒͌̃͝ą̷̡͓̫̫̝̠͇̘͕̥̠̦̎̎͊̃̂̋̿͒͛͋͜͝l̷̙̫̋͊̇͋ļ̸̬͍̺̩̆̐͌̈̿̅̔͗̋̌͗͋̚͝.̶̻̮̀̾̿͋̀̊͐͝ ̴̧̧̛̗̪͚̝̪̖͓̣̰̾̆̓̀̚͜  Ṯ̵̛̳͕̠̻̟̰͕͚͇̃̇̐̀̆̑̀̑̋̇̉̚͜͝ͅh̶̨̨̙̞͍͚͈͚͇͇̬͍͕̲̑͋̅͛̿͒̈́̆̓̕͝ͅȩ̷̡̼̥̰̭̜̠̪̳̞̥̜̱̌͛̾̏̆̈́͜͝ ̸̡̧̧͇̠̘̫̦̣͉̩̞̱͙̭̒̑̒̊̐͑̉͝s̸̘͍͐̌̌͆̆̋͝h̸̢̫̗̽͗̓͂͂̈́͗͐̓͗̑͛͜ǎ̵̜̳̭͇͉͇̼͍͎̭̅̂̀̈̈́̽̈́̈́̈́̑̉̚͝d̴̻̩͉͛̌̏̒̕̕͠ō̷̈́̂͊͆͂͐̃͛̀͘̕͜w̵̧͉͔͚͈͕̰̯̠̺̠̙̙̻̠͗̀́̓̈̓̀s̶̨̜͍̟̹̬̬̳̻͑͂̐̓̏͊̓̓̂̽̊̚͘͜͝ ̷͖̣̳̲͕́͋̒̌͊̾̑͆̚͘͝c̸̞̺̼͉͖̟̬̀̂͗́̈̓́́̀̐̃̐͊̏͜ǫ̶̖͎̞̩̪̯̬̻̙̞͎̖́̈́ŗ̷̜̠̮͕̾r̷̡͈͈͚̭̠͇̖̝̥͖̆ö̸̼̖͈̟̗̖̬͎͓́̿̔̍͆̆̔͆͝d̸̡͈͎̮̞̻̻̯̟̲̬̙̉̌͋i̶̡̛͉̝͍̻̙̤̣̻͉̘̭̱̖̙̒̈͑̂͗̅̉̏̕͠n̶̢̯͇̣͈͛̂́͗ͅͅg̵̡̺̤͉͓̺̣̓͂̂̔ ̸̡͓̜̦̯͕̜̖͓̿̎͛̂̋̓͐͛̎͑͊̍̚̚ͅt̸̞͍̪̮̹̖͇̹̒̓͐͆̂h̶͇̫̉͌͋̑̈́̎̔̌̚̚͜é̸̢̮̦̤̭̱̟̝̯̹͚̲̺̽͛̈́̽͘̚͠ ̴̫̤̥͈̘́̿̕w̴̢̭̪͚̳̫̘̤̻͒́͑̈̍͛̏̀̿̿̏͊̃͠ͅò̴̩̳͎̮̜͔̋͛̽̈́̌̂̐̊̅̚͜r̸̛̯̝̈́̊̄̂̒̍̇̈̋̿̍͗̚ḑ̶̣̼̹̺̠̍͌͝ş̴̛̗̺̹̙̽̀̈́͆̃̅͑̐͋̓͐͝ ̷̠̞̟̼̤̼̻͍̳̤̭̊̌͑̍̃á̶̢̢̝̜͚̭̲̝̎̿̄͗̍̈́͑̽̕n̴̢̡̹̫̠͎̻̘̱̪͈͕̿͆̏̒͗͌̆̐̐͐͌̿̀d̴̡̡̛̛̠͈̠͉̅͋͐͋̃͑̔͊̿̽͐̎ ̵̡̮͓̖̦̦̈́͌t̵̖͐̔̓͒̐͒̾̈̈́͝h̵̬̍́̿̏̒̓̐͂̍̇̒̔̆͝e̶̩̮̽̉̇̈́̓̀̿̆ ̶̲̜̏͒̊͘͝w̵̡̧͖̗͚̠͈͉̖̱͓̫̠̦̾͛̐̊͒͂̑̾͂̄̑̏̐̈͘ó̷̻͍̘̼̩̙̰͓͖͔͍̻̳̊̊̎̈̃r̶̬̙͓̉̆̉͂̊̏̈̑͛l̶̨͉̠͚̥̼̘͓̺͚̻̈́͂̀̋͛̋̚͝d̷̡̗͇̫͖̦̼̱͖̹͇̝̫̓̽̀̚͝s̴̼̗͙̗̀͂̈́

 

...

...

...

The echoes of these events could be heard throughout the distant chaos seas and void, the Architect of ruin's path had gained a scion... The path of that crazed maniac who had slaughtered countless to fulfill his own dreams had gained a successor... Yet none could do anything as none could find the scion's whereabouts.

Till now even though, it was crumbling, the Architect of ruin's path, the path of  Dream forge had never gained a successor for that went against it's ideal dream.

||Finally! The Dream forge will have a true successor, not a false one like that thief!||

The crumbling path, the shattered dream, had begun to dream under the distant Guidance and it's promise.

...

A similar event happened for yet another master-less path, however, most did not know about any of this except for the countless beings that knelt before that path.

They were beings that had forged their own path separated from the "origin". Yet, despite that they had dedicated their everything to this master-less path, that ultimate finality, that shadow that engulfs all sooner or later... And were overjoyed to see their dreams come to fruition.

Yet, they didn't question why they couldn't locate the scion, for they were believers, their paths, their existence, their everything was dedicated to this master-less path... the path of despair.

The violet eyed fragment smiled staring at the countless fools kneeling to it's vestiges.