Prophecy

The Prism Pillar was the same shape and size, and was built from countless little diamonds. If not for the difference in color, Liu Tian might have suspected he'd somehow lost the Prism Pillar he always kept close to him.

"I'd been wondering where I'd seen the thing you got back then." Tian Dao set the Prism Pillar on the table. "But maybe I'm getting old and forgetful. I didn't remember until your senior brother Bai Cinan came by, and I took it out."

At Tian Dao's words, Liu Tian pulled the Prism Pillar he'd been keeping in his sock and placed it on the table.

"You really have been carrying it around with you..." Apparently Tian Dao hadn't expected Liu Tian to still be keeping it at the bottom of his foot. He paused, which was rare for him, then placed his own Prism Pillar on top of Liu Tian's.

The moment Tian Dao set it down, the two Prism Pillars began to glow faintly. The light wasn't strong, but it was just bright enough that neither of them could see clearly. Then, in a brief instant, only one Prism Pillar remained on the table—a pillar unchanged in size, but now streaked with gold and silver.

"What?" Liu Tian hadn't expected the Prism Pillar to have this kind of function. He looked up at Tian Dao, seeking an explanation.

"I found this thing while exploring some ruins more than twenty years ago. After that, I left it lying around wherever. If you hadn't mentioned that the Prism Pillar could help you grow stronger, and if Cinan hadn't come asking about it, I might never have remembered I still had it," Tian Dao explained.

"Senior Brother Cinan needs one too? What does he want it for?" Liu Tian caught the key detail and pressed him for an answer.

"It's not that he needs it. Blue Dream Company does." Tian Dao paused, then continued in one breath. "I don't know where Blue Dream got it, but they found a prophecy—a prophecy from the Lost Empire."

"A prophecy? The Lost Empire had those?" Liu Tian was curious. "I thought they were all about technology. Turns out they put some points into the occult, too? Did they really ascend through psionic powers?"

Tian Dao didn't really understand what Liu Tian was saying, but, mindful of his dignity as a teacher, he didn't ask. He simply continued with the prophecy. "The original prophecy was written in the Lost Empire's language. A lot of the writing is supposedly so blurred it can't be made out at all. But based on what remains, along with some deduction, it may be saying that when the scattered Prism Pillars become one, the gate to Becoming a God will open once more."

"So that's what they're called—the Mysterious Pillars? The gate to Becoming a God? It sounds pretty mystical. Does Blue Dream really believe the result of that deduction?"

Tian Dao had made himself clear, so Liu Tian naturally understood. As they spoke, he picked up the Prism Pillar and, just as he'd expected, absorbed a little more Origin Point. At the same time, he could clearly feel that the steady stream of warmth had doubled. By that calculation, it would now take only fifteen days to gain an Origin Point, instead of the thirty it had taken before.

"If that weren't the case, why would Cinan have gone out of his way to ask about it? And apparently, the Heavenly Martial Artists are collecting these things too," Tian Dao said. "But I don't like Blue Dream, and I don't like that eccentric Mingyue, either. So I won't give it to Cinan or Mingyue. Since you can make use of it, Tian'er, take it with you."

"Is that all right?" Liu Tian patted the Prism Pillar flat in his hand, then peeled it off. "Senior Brother Cinan might need it too."

"I gave it to you, so it's yours. Don't be so wishy-washy." Tian Dao frowned, picked up his tea, and tapped the cup lightly. "Remember, don't let anyone else see it. With Blue Dream's nature, they'll definitely come up with all sorts of strange ideas."

"Yes, yes, yes." Seeing that Tian Dao was already sending him off with tea, Liu Tian stopped fussing. He stuck the Prism Pillar back under his foot and turned to head home.

"Wait." Watching Liu Tian leave, Tian Dao suddenly remembered something and called after him. "The Prism Pillar has a special property. If you flatten it and stick it to your skin, it won't fall off unless you deliberately peel it away. Stop putting it under your foot. You're a grown man—doesn't it stink?"

"It does that? You should've told me sooner, Master..."

"A prophecy." Liu Tian had gotten far too much information today. He hadn't shown it in front of Tian Dao, but he wasn't really the kind of man who never thought things through.

So even after washing up and lying in bed, Liu Tian was still thinking over what he'd learned that day: inner and outer techniques, Secret Martial Arts, Heavenly Martial Arts, Demonic Martial Arts, his master and senior brother both becoming the world's strongest in succession, and the Mysterious Pillars, which could open the gate to Becoming a God and whose properties changed according to the user's conscious intent.

The sheer volume of information left Liu Tian at a loss. In the end, he touched the Prism Pillar stuck over his heart and made up his mind: I'm going to take it easy!

Who cared about Heavenly Martial Arts, Demonic Martial Arts, or prophecies about becoming a god? Given how powerful the Prism Pillar was, he was going to claim every one he could find before he ran out of Origin Points. Anyone who tried to stop him could forget it.

Still, once I break through to Fighter, should I find a second outer technique to practice? If it works, I'll learn a few more. If we're both cheating, there's no way I should be weaker than the Heavenly and Demonic Martial Artists, right?

Besides, Master said outer techniques require medicinal ingredients and hard training, but with my talent, I think hard training alone should be enough.

As he thought, Liu Tian turned off the bedside lamp and closed his eyes.

There was just one thing Liu Tian had never asked Tian Dao: Was Mantis a subordinate sent by Bai Cinan? Did Tian Dao know? Had he foreseen it?

It was just like how Tian Dao had never shown any doubt about Liu Tian's sudden, overnight surge in progress. He'd simply moved on to teaching him Head Severing Path, as though it were only natural.

The two trusted each other, yet kept secrets from one another. How long could they keep going like that?

In the Morning Star Alliance, a man who called himself Saint King Mingyue jolted awake from a nightmare.

This wasn't the first time he'd woken in terror from a nightmare.

In theory, Saint King Mingyue shouldn't have nightmares. He had reached the limit of telekinesis and had broken through to Fighter by practicing Secret Martial Arts.

But for the past ten years, Saint King Mingyue had been trapped in the same nightmare.

A colossal wave that swallowed everything, a gigantic Great White Shark wreaking havoc across the world, a terrifying aurora that destroyed the world—and, in the end, all of humanity covered in blue, bound tightly by chains, bearing an unbearable burden, stripped of any future, and knowing only devout prayer.

The moment that world appeared before him, Saint King Mingyue understood. It was a terrifying world without hope or future, a world of nothing but pallid emptiness.

It was a prophetic dream from Heaven, bestowed upon the strongest Heavenly Martial Artist in history!

Save humanity!

This was the heavenly mandate granted to him!

For ten years, so that this future would never come to pass, Saint King Mingyue had searched the oceans for the gigantic Great White Shark, which might still be growing. He wanted to kill it before it could mature, to destroy that world before it could take shape. But he had found nothing.

As time passed, the dream grew more and more vivid. Saint King Mingyue knew that the moment when everything would be settled was drawing near. Yet no matter how frantic he became, he was still helpless.

All Saint King Mingyue could do was pray: pray that luck would lead him to the Great White Shark, and pray that Heaven would grant him—its chosen son—clearer guidance.

Then, that day, the guidance came: the dream, whose contents had never changed, shifted once more.

A Prism Pillar floating in midair, a laughing demon, a world awash in blood, and an aurora that destroyed everything. But this time, humanity was no longer bound in layer upon layer of chains.

Saint King Mingyue knew the future had changed because of his efforts.

But was this future, where fewer than one in a hundred people survived and morality and law had vanished completely, really better than that pallid world?

Saint King Mingyue was lost...