Old Ancestor Styx's Proposal

There were no lamps in the palace.

Nor were there any windows.

Only dark red crystals of varying sizes were embedded in the four walls and the vaulted ceiling, giving off a faint glow like congealed blood that barely illuminated the empty hall.

Standing in that light, Taiyi felt a little cold. Not the kind of cold caused by low temperatures, but the kind where the light itself seemed to be watching him, sending chills seeping out through the cracks in his bones. The floor was pieced together from some sort of dark, nearly black bone plates. It was hard beneath his feet and carried a creepy slickness, as though he were standing atop the vertebrae of some enormous creature.

The sweetly fishy smell in the air was fainter than outside, but another scent had been added—incense. It was a strange fragrance, cloyingly sweet enough to make one choke, yet mixed with the scent of old dust and herbs. It drifted from the depths of the hall in thin threads, worming its way into his nostrils.

He did not walk farther in. He simply stood not far from the entrance, his back straight, his right hand habitually held behind him while his mutated left arm hung naturally at his side. His gaze calmly swept over his surroundings.

The hall was terrifyingly empty. Aside from several absurdly thick pillars, likewise formed from a blend of bone and dark red crystals, supporting the vaulted ceiling, there was almost no furnishing to be seen. No chairs, no tables, no curtains, not even a meditation cushion. In the shadows at the farthest end, there seemed to be a platform raised above the ground, with something vaguely sitting upon it, though he could not make it out clearly.

This did not resemble a place for receiving guests. It was more like a... nest. Or perhaps an altar.

Taiyi stood there for a while, but Old Ancestor Styx did not follow him inside, nor did any attendant or guide appear. Only that cloying fragrance and faint blood-red light silently enveloped him.

He simply stopped moving and sat down cross-legged where he was. His posture remained upright, his spine ramrod straight. His eyes were half-closed, as though he were resting, but his mind was actually taut to the limit—relaxed outside, tense within.

This was, after all, Old Ancestor Styx's lair, the core of the Blood Sea. Who knew how many deadly arrangements and watching eyes were hidden within this seemingly empty palace?

He slowed the scant mana within him to its lowest circulation, maintaining only the most basic cycle. At the same time, he restrained the aura of True Sun Fire until it was nearly nonexistent, avoiding needless conflict with the dense, foul blood qi around him. Most of his attention sank into his sea of consciousness, maintaining a faint connection with the Chaos Bell's remnant shadow and the imprint of the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint, as though clutching two cold daggers in the dark.

Time flowed with particular sluggishness here.

Who knew how long had passed? Perhaps a quarter of an hour, perhaps longer.

The cloying scent from deep within the hall suddenly grew stronger.

Then, the blurry thing in the shadows atop the platform moved.

It did not walk out. It emerged.

Like a drop of thick, dark red ink slowly seeping out from a backdrop of darkness, it gradually gathered and took shape.

The same dark blood-red robe. The same deathly pale face and scarlet eyes.

Old Ancestor Styx.

He sat upon a... thing that was less a chair than a huge mass of twisted, coiling dark red vines. The surface of those "vines" was covered in fine patterns like blood vessels. Dim light flowed within them, and they wriggled at an extremely slow pace.

He sat there casually, one elbow propped on the vine armrest, his pale hand supporting the side of his face, while his other hand rested naturally on his knee. His posture was lazy, even somewhat absentminded, but when those scarlet eyes looked over, Taiyi still felt an invisible pressure more direct and more specifically aimed at him than before.

"Your Majesty is quite patient," Styx said. His voice carried a faint echo through the empty hall, less viscous than before and somewhat more real. "The Blood Sea is lonely, and guests are rare. If I have been neglectful, I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

His words were polite, but his tone carried little apology.

"Some peace and quiet is good," Taiyi replied evenly. His eyes opened fully as he met Styx's gaze. "I happened to need some time to sort myself out."

He did not mention his injuries. He merely said he needed to "sort himself out," acknowledging his poor state without seeming overly bedraggled.

Styx's scarlet eyes rested on him for a moment, lingering especially over his mutated left arm and the obscure, mixed aura around him that had been forcibly restrained. Then his gaze slowly shifted toward some point in the empty vaulted ceiling.

"The complexity of Your Majesty's internal aura is truly rare," Styx said unhurriedly, as though discussing an interesting antique. "True Sun Fire is supremely yang. The residual power of violent blood is supremely savage. Earth vein baleful qi is supremely turbid. Xuan Ming's cold qi is supremely yin... And there is another kind of 'intent' mixed in, one that even I cannot clearly discern. Such mutually incompatible forces coexist within a single body without completely collapsing, and instead possess a kind of... rough stability. Your Majesty's methods have truly broadened my horizons."

Those words laid things out more plainly than he had outside, nearly stripping bare every secret within Taiyi's body. He had even vaguely sensed the "intent" of the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint!

Taiyi's heart sank slightly, but his expression did not change. He even pulled out a faintly mocking smile. "You flatter me, Daoist friend. It was merely a haphazard patchwork under desperate circumstances, treating a dead horse as though it were alive. It cannot compare to your path of the Blood Sea, which forms a world of its own and refines all things for your use."

He lightly dismissed his own condition as "haphazard patchwork," while praising Styx's path again. It showed weakness by admitting it had been a desperate measure, yet kept his distance by avoiding discussion of specific methods.

Styx seemed to give a low laugh. It was brief and dry, like two withered bones scraping together.

"To patch something together into this state through blind improvisation is also a skill." He withdrew his gaze from the ceiling and refocused on Taiyi's face, his scarlet eyes bottomless. "However, does Your Majesty know that such 'patchwork' is ultimately only a temporary measure? The conflict between these forces remains unchanged at its root. It is like carrying firewood to put out a fire; until the firewood runs out, the flames will not cease. It may yield some effect for now, but in the long run, I fear it will damage the very foundation of your Dao."

Was this a kind reminder? A threat? Or... groundwork for what he was about to say?

Taiyi fell silent for a moment and did not deny it. "What Daoist friend says is true. Yet at present, I have no other choice."

He openly acknowledged his predicament and threw the question back—You are right, but I have no choice. Do you have one?

That seemed to be exactly what Styx had been waiting for.

The fingers supporting his face lightly tapped his pale cheek, the motion carrying an inhuman elegance and indifference.

"There are always choices," he said slowly. His voice lowered, yet became clearer. "It only depends on whether Your Majesty is willing to choose, and whether you dare to choose."

Here it came. The real subject.

Taiyi's spirits rose, but his posture grew even more relaxed instead. He leaned back slightly, though there was only empty air behind him, assuming an attentive pose. His eyes revealed just the right amount of curiosity and... a faint, barely noticeable suspicion.

"Oh? I would like to hear the details."

Styx did not answer immediately. The hand resting on his knee hooked its index finger lightly.

"Splash..."

Two small masses of viscous dark red liquid suddenly surged out of nowhere from the shadows on one side of the hall. The liquid swiftly took shape and solidified, becoming two crude chairs formed from the same dark red bone material. One appeared not far below Styx, positioned slightly lower, while the other appeared behind Taiyi.

"Your Majesty is injured. Sit while we speak," Styx said casually, though he himself made no move to leave his vine throne.

It was a subtle declaration of rank. He bestowed a seat, but their positions differed in height. It was courtesy, but also a silent proclamation—here, who was master.

Taiyi's eyes cooled slightly, but he did not refuse. He rose, walked to the bone chair, and sat down without hesitation. The chair was cold and hard, pressing painfully against his wounds, but he sat as steadily as a mountain.

"Thank you." His tone was neither warm nor cold.

Styx seemed unconcerned by his attitude. His scarlet eyes narrowed slightly as he looked toward the palace gates, as though he could see through the thick bone walls to the boundless Blood Sea outside.

"Does Your Majesty know that this Great Wilderness, though seemingly vast, boundless, and full of life, has in truth... long been tightly covered by a great net?" Styx's voice became distant, carrying the indifference of one who had seen through the world.

"A net?" Taiyi asked cooperatively.

"The Heavenly Dao Net." Styx withdrew his gaze and looked at Taiyi. Blood waves seemed to churn in the depths of his scarlet eyes. "Since Pangu opened heaven, clear qi rose and turbid qi sank, and heaven and earth were first established, this net began to be woven. The Dragon-Phoenix Initial Calamity was its first knot. The Dao-Demon Conflict was its second. Now, with the Witch Race and Demon Race standing opposed and Calamity Qi gradually thickening... the third knot is already before us."

He paused, his tone growing heavier. "Beneath this net, all living beings are like insects. They struggle and flutter, seeming to follow their own paths, yet everything has long been destined. When they prosper, when they decline, when they are chess players, when they are chess pieces... all are fixed by fate."

He was explaining his view of the greater currents of the Great Wilderness, and also laying bare the essence of a calamity—the predetermined process of the Heavenly Dao.

Taiyi's heart tightened. He knew the main act was coming. His face showed an appropriate trace of gravity, but even more disdain. "Destiny? Daoist friend, your words are far too pessimistic. We cultivate precisely to defy heaven and seize our fate. If all things are determined by destiny, then why cultivate the Dao? Why contend for fortune?"

He had to show a reaction befitting Eastern Emperor Taiyi—pride, confidence, and fearlessness before Destiny.

"Defy heaven and seize your fate?" The corner of Styx's mouth seemed to curve in the faintest arc, both mocking and wistful. "Easier said than done. Has Your Majesty's recent experience not made this clear? Your journey to Pangu Hall seemed to be Your Majesty's own initiative, but how do you know it was not a 'calamity point' that the net had already marked for you? Even one as powerful as Your Majesty, bearing the Chaos Bell, has fallen to such a state that you must hide in this filthy place of mine merely to survive."

His words were sharp, striking directly at Taiyi's current misery and undermining his confidence in "defying heaven."

Taiyi's expression darkened slightly, and a flash of stung anger passed through his eyes—of course, an act—but he quickly suppressed it and let out a cold snort. "My fortunes were poor, and I suffered only a minor setback. If not for that girl Xuan Ming relying on the terrain, how could I have ended up like this?"

He deftly blamed his defeat on fortune and terrain, preserving his dignity while avoiding a direct rebuttal of "Destiny."

Styx looked at him but did not continue pressing the issue. Instead, he shifted the topic again.

"Why does Your Majesty think I established the Asura race and opened a separate domain within this Blood Sea?"

Taiyi pondered for a moment. "Naturally, it is where Daoist friend's Great Dao leads. To use killing to end killing, to refine purity from filth, and to walk a... path of transcendence different from the orthodox Dao, the Witch Race, and the Demon Race?"

"Transcendence?" Styx slowly shook his head. A cold gleam flashed through his scarlet eyes. "How can one speak of transcendence? I merely... do not wish to be an insect within the net. I wish to find, at the edge of its mesh, a crack where I can barely breathe on my own."

He leaned forward slightly. The invisible pressure abruptly intensified, and his voice lowered with an almost seductive quality.

"Your Majesty, the third knot—the Witch-Demon Calamity—has now begun. Your Demon Race and the Witch Race are destined to fight, to decide who lives and who dies. This is the destiny decreed by the Heavenly Dao, the trend of the age. It cannot be changed."

"Yet within destiny, there are also variables. When Calamity Qi surges and heavenly secrets become chaotic, that is when the net is most unstable! It is also the best time for people like us to seek that thread of true autonomy..."

The dagger had finally been revealed.

Taiyi's heart lurched, but his face remained calm, even carrying a trace of cautious doubt. "Daoist friend means..."

"An alliance." Styx spoke the two words with perfect clarity. "Not an ordinary exchange of interests, but becoming each other's variables within this calamity, jointly seeking that thread of opportunity to transcend destiny!"

He stared into Taiyi's eyes and enunciated each word. "My Blood Sea can provide Your Majesty shelter, help you recover from your injuries, and even... offer methods for comprehending and regulating the conflicts between the forces within you. When necessary, I can also help Your Majesty restrain part of the Witch Race's strength, or provide certain... methods that the Witch Race is not adept at handling."

The terms were tempting. Shelter, healing, guidance in regulating his power, and even military assistance.

"And the price?" Taiyi asked directly. He did not believe free meals fell from the sky.

The faint smile on Styx's pale face deepened. The greed and calculation in his scarlet eyes were no longer concealed.

"First, during the calamity, Your Majesty must advance and retreat alongside my Blood Sea. At certain critical junctures, you must act according to our agreement. We will support each other and jointly resist the pressure from that net." What he emphasized was "that net," rather than any specific enemy.

"Second," he paused, his voice growing slower but carrying an unmistakable air of refusal, "Your Majesty must tell me... the whereabouts of the Primordial Violet Qi. Or, if Your Majesty already possesses clues, you must share them with me."

Primordial Violet Qi!

The foundation for attaining sainthood!

Taiyi's heart shook violently. He had not expected Styx to set his sights on that! Of course. Though Styx was powerful, he lacked a Saint position and had no chance to reach the peak of the Great Dao. His desire for Primordial Violet Qi was likely carved into his bones!

How could he possibly know where the Primordial Violet Qi was? Hongyun's strand? He did not even know where it was drifting now. As for his own strand—if Eastern Emperor Taiyi was even supposed to have one in the Heavenly Dao's script—that was even less than a shadow.

But he could not reveal weakness now.

Taiyi showed just the right amount of extreme shock, which immediately turned into vigilance and anger. He abruptly raised his head, his gaze sharp as a blade as he glared at Styx.

"Styx! What do you mean by this? Primordial Violet Qi is granted by the Heavenly Dao, proof of a Saint position. Is its whereabouts something you can pry into? If I had clues, would I tell you?!"

His reaction had to be intense, fitting Eastern Emperor Taiyi's proper attitude toward someone coveting the very foundation of sainthood.

Styx seemed to have expected his fierce reaction and did not grow angry. The gleam in his scarlet eyes only became deeper.

"Why must Your Majesty be angry? A Saint position may be exalted, but it is also the firmest node of that net. Obtaining it is an opportunity, but also a shackle. What I seek is not necessarily the violet qi itself, but the... possibility it represents of breaking free from the net. Your Majesty bears immense karma and great fortune. Furthermore... you act without regard for convention. Perhaps you are precisely the variable. Clues to the violet qi are merely a token of sincerity for cooperation, a foundation for... mutual trust."

He changed his phrasing, wrapping his demand for clues about the Primordial Violet Qi in the guise of "sincerity for cooperation" and a "foundation of trust." He even implied that Saints were also nodes in the Heavenly Dao Net, attempting to lessen Taiyi's resistance.

The anger on Taiyi's face slowly faded, but his gaze remained cold and appraising. "Daoist friend truly has a good scheme. Shelter and healing in exchange for binding me to you during the calamity, and you also want me to hand over clues to Primordial Violet Qi that may not even exist... No matter how one looks at it, I am the one losing out."

He began bargaining. By pointing out that the clues might not exist, he was also leaving himself room for not knowing them.

"Losing out?" Styx shook his head slightly. "Your Majesty, in your current situation, do you have a better choice? Remain in the Blood Sea, and at least you have a chance to recover and time to plan. Leave the Blood Sea, and faced with the enraged Witch Race and that invisible net, how certain are you that you can survive until the calamity ends? Let alone... seek transcendence?"

He struck at Taiyi's greatest weakness—he had no other choice. At the same time, he dangled the bait of "transcendence" again.

Silence fell over the hall. Only the cloying fragrance and faint blood-red light continued to flow.

Taiyi's expression shifted constantly, at times dark, at times struggling, at times revealing unwilling arrogance. He was acting—acting as an Eastern Emperor Taiyi locked in fierce inner conflict, weighing gains and losses.

After a long while, he let out a long breath of foul air carrying the scent of blood. The sharpness and anger in his eyes slowly gave way to deep exhaustion and helpless acceptance of reality—also an act, of course.

"An alliance... is acceptable," he said slowly, his voice hoarse. "But there must be three terms."

"First, advancing and retreating together must be premised on not harming the fundamental interests of my Demon Race. Specific actions must be decided through discussion by both sides. You may not make decisions for me on your own."

"Second, the Blood Sea must provide a safe environment for healing, as well as... the insights you mentioned about regulating conflicts between multiple forces. But my path is ultimately mine to walk. You may not forcibly interfere."

"Third." He stared at Styx, speaking each word distinctly. "I have no definite clues regarding Primordial Violet Qi. That is the truth. But if, through some fortunate coincidence, I discover something in the future... I may inform Daoist friend. However, how it is handled must be discussed separately. And this matter must never be known by a third person!"

He gave an ambiguous answer: there were no clues now, there might be some later, and if there were, he could tell Styx—but how to divide them would be another matter. It met part of Styx's demands and left room for cooperation without making a promise he could not fulfill, while emphasizing secrecy.

Styx's scarlet eyes stared deeply at him, as though judging the truth of his words.

After a moment, he slowly leaned back against the vine throne, his pale face revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Agreed." He uttered a single word.

"Since that is so..." Styx raised a hand and traced through the air with his fingertips.

A strange dark red, nearly black pattern composed of countless twisted tiny runes appeared out of thin air, floating between them. It emanated a dense bloody odor and an ancient power of contract.

"Let this Blood Origin Contract serve as proof and establish this temporary alliance. It will remain effective during the calamity, and after the calamity we shall discuss matters according to circumstances. Your Majesty, please imprint a trace of your origin aura into it."

The Blood Origin Contract was a contract drawn upon the Blood Sea's origin and the auras of both parties. Its binding force was extremely strong, but for someone like Styx, who controlled the Blood Sea's origin, it clearly left greater leeway.

Taiyi looked at the dark red pattern and knew this was another test and restraint. Yet he did not hesitate. He raised his right hand, forced out an extremely faint thread of origin aura from his fingertip, mixed with True Sun Fire and other chaotic auras, and lightly touched it to the pattern.

The instant his aura merged into it, the pattern flashed brightly before vanishing into the void. Only a faint, cold connection remained between Taiyi's and Styx's minds.

The temporary alliance was formed.

"The contract has been established." Styx's voice returned to its previous calmness. "Your Majesty may rest for now in the side chamber of this hall. Whatever you require will be delivered by Blood Slaves shortly."

He waved a hand, signaling that the discussion was over.

Taiyi rose, gave a slight nod, and said no more. He turned and headed toward an entrance hidden in the shadows on one side of the hall, the place Styx had indicated earlier.

Even after Taiyi's figure disappeared into the entrance of the side chamber, Styx remained seated upon his vine throne, utterly motionless.

Blood waves churned in his scarlet eyes, reflecting the faint blood-red light.

After a long while, an almost inaudible murmur drifted through the empty, deathly silent hall.

"No definite clues... Heh, interesting. He carries the aura of Father God's hall, acts against all convention, is entangled in Calamity Qi yet bears signs of transcendence... Primordial Violet Qi, do you truly... know nothing at all?"

"No matter. With this contract as proof, during the calamity, you will be the variable of my Blood Sea. Let us see just how great a storm your 'chaos' can stir..."

The shadows wriggled, slowly swallowing his figure.

The hall returned to deathly silence.

Inside the side chamber, Taiyi leaned against the cold bone wall. All the exhaustion, struggle, and helplessness he had feigned vanished from his face, leaving only icy calm.

He spread open his right hand and looked at the nearly imperceptible dark red mark left on his fingertip by the contract.

"Blood Origin Contract... Styx..." he murmured softly, his gaze deep.

"An alliance where each harbors ulterior motives... Fine."

"This Blood Sea may truly allow me to... recover 'properly.'"

He closed his eyes and began carefully sensing the side chamber's environment, as well as the extremely subtle new changes occurring among the several forces within his body in the heart of the Blood Sea.