Preparing for Defiance

Preparing for Rebellion

When the slanting sunlight streamed into the Sun Palace, Taiyi was staring blankly at the distorted mass of light in his palm.

Golden-red True Sun Fire hovered three inches above his palm. It should have been pure, blazing flame, yet it now flowed in a strange state—the edges of the fire flickered between clarity and blur, the laws governing the radiation of light and heat were disrupted, and brief "countercurrents" occasionally appeared, as though time had snagged for an instant within the tiny space shrouded by the flames.

This was the basic application of that ancient secret art: using one's own Dao resonance as a guide to briefly imitate the "state of Heavenly Dao disorder."

Taiyi watched the flame for a long while before suddenly closing his fingers.

The fire went out, and the distribution of light and shadow in the hall returned to normal. He lowered his gaze to his palm, where a faint sense of spatial disorder still lingered, like ripples just spreading across the surface of water.

"Three feet at most, sustained for no more than three breaths." He murmured to himself and shook his head. "Still too short."

There were twenty-two days left until the Zixiao Palace sermon.

Over those twenty-two days, he needed to refine this rather useless secret art until it could prove useful at a critical moment. At the same time, he had to bring his body back to a state capable of handling a place like Zixiao Palace—after all, once he arrived there, even the slightest weakness could become a flaw in someone else's eyes.

Footsteps sounded outside the hall, steady and forceful. Taiyi knew who it was. Without looking up, he merely swept a hand over the jade table, erasing the scattered traces of his deductions.

"How are your injuries?" Di Jun's voice sounded from the doorway.

Taiyi looked up and saw his elder brother standing there in a plain bright-yellow robe. He had brought no attendants and had come alone. There was little expression on his face, but Taiyi could see the scrutiny buried deep in his eyes—that look unique to Di Jun, seemingly calm yet already taking in every detail.

"I won't die." Taiyi tugged at the corner of his mouth and rose from the Warm Jade bed. "In a few more days, I should recover to ninety percent."

Di Jun walked inside and sat at the table. He did not speak immediately. First, he surveyed the furnishings of the hall, his gaze lingering briefly on the pot of nearly withered Sunblaze Grass by the window—it had been accidentally affected when Taiyi tested the secret art a few days ago.

"What have you been practicing?" Di Jun suddenly asked.

Taiyi's heart tightened slightly, but his expression remained unchanged. "A supplementary method for regulating my meridians. The hidden injuries left behind by Blood Fiend Power are difficult to remove. Ordinary methods are too slow."

It was a half-truth. The secret art could indeed help regulate disordered meridians, but that was far from its primary use.

Di Jun stared at him for several breaths without pressing the matter further. Instead, he asked, "Are you certain you want to attend the Zixiao Palace sermon?"

"I have to go." Taiyi answered without hesitation. "Not only must I go, I must sit near the front."

"Why?" Di Jun's voice was calm. "You were just ambushed and severely injured. Going into seclusion to recover is the wiser choice right now. A place like Zixiao Palace... has too many variables."

Taiyi sat opposite his brother and poured himself a cup from the teapot on the table. It was ordinary spirit spring water, but in an environment like the Sun Palace, it quickly began to steam with a faint white mist.

"Precisely because there are so many variables, I need to go." Holding the warm cup, he spoke slowly. "Brother, what do you think this sermon is for?"

"To expound upon the path of the Quasi-Saint and lay the groundwork for the future."

"Yes, but not entirely." Taiyi shook his head. "Hongjun has been Merging with Dao for a long time. Rather than transmitting teachings, this sermon is more like... setting the rules. Setting the path Quasi-Saints must take, setting the future structure of the Saints, setting the great trend of the Great Wilderness for countless yuanhui to come."

He paused and looked at the steam rising from his cup. "At a time like this, whoever is absent will be excluded from the rules. The Demon Race already has one Kunpeng who missed his opportunity for sainthood last time. If I do not go this time as well, how much say will the Demon Race have in the future positions of Quasi-Saints and even Saints?"

Di Jun fell silent.

Taiyi continued, "Besides, Styx and Di Jiang have already joined forces to test us. If I retreat now, what will they do next? What will the other forces watching from the sidelines think? They will think the Eastern Emperor of the Demon Race is afraid. They will think the Demon Race can be bullied. When that happens, forget influence at Zixiao Palace—even over the Heavenly Court's current territory, there will likely be people eager to reach in and take a share."

He spoke slowly, every word seemingly carefully considered. But only he knew there was a deeper calculation hidden beneath them—he had to go to Zixiao Palace because it was his only chance to complete the system's "act of defiance." And this act of defiance would be his first step toward escaping the script of Heavenly Dao.

But he could not tell Di Jun that. At least, not yet.

"You're right." After a long while, Di Jun finally spoke, a trace of weariness in his voice. "The Demon Race cannot afford to lose. But your safety..."

"I'll be careful." Taiyi interrupted him. "And I won't be going alone. Fuxi and Nuwa will come with me. Bai Ze has already gone to contact them. With their support, and with you there as well, no matter how dangerous Zixiao Palace is, they surely will not start killing people on the spot."

Di Jun stared at his younger brother for a long time before suddenly saying, "You've changed."

Taiyi's heart skipped a beat, but he showed precisely the right amount of confusion. "Hm?"

"The old you would not have thought so much." Di Jun said slowly. "You would have said, 'It's only Zixiao Palace. I'll go,' then charged straight in carrying the Chaos Bell. But now... you scheme, you weigh the balance, you consider the gains and losses of every step."

Taiyi lowered his eyes and stared at his reflection in the water. Steam blurred its outline, and the face belonging to Eastern Emperor Taiyi twisted slightly in the ripples.

"People change." He spoke softly. "Especially after nearly dying once."

That was another half-truth. The change was real, but Di Jun would never guess its cause.

A brief silence fell over the hall. Outside the window, the sea of True Sun Fire churned, and the occasional crackle of bursting flames drifted in as the Sun Palace's grand formation automatically regulated the flow of energy.

"What are you planning to do?" Di Jun finally asked the key question.

Taiyi raised his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through his golden pupils. "The cushions."

"The cushions?"

"There are six cushions in Zixiao Palace, and their owners were already decided during the last sermon." Taiyi spoke slowly. "The Three Pure Ones, Nuwa, Jieyin, and Zhunti. But this sermon will be different. It concerns the path of the Quasi-Saint and the future Saint positions. The karma surrounding those six cushions... will be very interesting."

Di Jun frowned slightly. "You want to interfere with who gets the cushions? That was decided by Hongjun. The implications are too great."

"No, I won't interfere." Taiyi shook his head. "I merely want... certain things to happen a little more 'naturally' at the proper moment."

He did not say it outright, but Di Jun understood—without changing the greater trend, Taiyi intended to manipulate some details to secure more room and bargaining chips for himself and the Demon Race.

"Are you confident?" Di Jun asked.

"Fifty percent." Taiyi answered honestly. "Zixiao Palace is Hongjun's domain. Any scheme risks being seen through. But some things are worth trying even with only a ten percent chance."

Di Jun watched him for a while, then suddenly smiled. It was a smile Taiyi had not seen in a long time, carrying both helplessness and relief.

"You truly have grown up." Di Jun rose and patted his younger brother's shoulder. "Since you have thought it through, then do it. I will make arrangements on the Heavenly Court's side. During the sermon, every force of the Demon Race will remain on the highest alert. If... if anything really happens, we can at least bring you back."

"Thank you, Brother."

Di Jun walked to the entrance, then paused and looked back at Taiyi. "Remember, returning alive matters more than anything else. Cushions, opportunities—if they are gone, you can fight for them again. You only have one life."

With that, he pushed open the door and left.

Taiyi remained seated where he was, staring at the closed doors for a long time without moving.

The water in his palm had already gone cold. He looked down at its surface, where his reflection had become clear—a face belonging to Eastern Emperor Taiyi, heroic and unruly, with complicated emotions hidden in the depths of his eyes that even he could not fully understand.

"Return alive..." He repeated those words softly, then suddenly smiled. There was an indescribable meaning in that smile.

He drained the cold water in one gulp, set down the cup, and sat cross-legged on the Warm Jade bed once more.

He closed his eyes and focused.

Within his sea of consciousness, he began to deduce the scene within Zixiao Palace—not through the system, but entirely through his own memories and calculations. He had been to Zixiao Palace twice. The first time, he had listened to the Dao of the Great Luo; the second, to the foundations of the Quasi-Saint. He remembered every scene, every person's position, and every spatial characteristic with perfect clarity.

The arrangement of the six cushions, the distance to the raised Dao platform, the gradient of Heavenly Dao pressure within the hall, even the tangled state of the Karma Threads around every cushion...

Fragments of memory reorganized within his consciousness, gradually assembling a complete map of Zixiao Palace's interior. Taiyi's spiritual sense moved through the map, simulating every possibility.

If things followed the original script of Heavenly Dao, what would happen during this sermon?

Hongyun would yield his seat to Zhunti—that was certain. With Hongyun's excessively kind personality and Zhunti's skill at weeping and putting on a performance, the cushion changing hands was almost inevitable.

But what about the process of it changing hands?

Taiyi carefully recalled the records of the Great Wilderness he had read in his previous life. The details were vague. They only said, "Zhunti wept and begged for a seat, and Hongyun rose to yield it." But exactly how would he cry? How would he beg? Under what circumstances would Hongyun rise?

Those details were where room for manipulation lay.

He continued his deductions.

When the cushion changed hands, the Karma Threads would violently fluctuate. Hongyun yielding his opportunity for sainthood would create karma great enough to disrupt the local order of Heavenly Dao in Zixiao Palace for a brief time. And at that very moment, if some "accident" occurred...

For example, what if a cushion were "accidentally" knocked over?

Or, at the instant the cushion tipped over, what if a faint yet sufficiently special Dao resonance spread outward, briefly distorting perception within three feet of the area?

Taiyi opened his eyes, and True Sun Fire rose from his palm once more. This time, the flame did not assume a disordered state. Instead, it began imitating another condition—the form and rhythm the flame should possess under the Heavenly Dao pressure that blanketed Zixiao Palace.

The fire shifted slowly in his palm, sometimes gathering like a golden lotus, sometimes scattering like flowing dawn clouds. Taiyi controlled the path of every wisp of flame with complete focus, trying to make it blend as seamlessly as possible into the imagined environment of Zixiao Palace while retaining the essence of True Sun Fire.

This was delicate work, far more difficult than simply imitating a disordered state. The pressure of Heavenly Dao within Zixiao Palace was not constant. It fluctuated with the progress of the sermon, with Hongjun's emotions, and with the condition of those listening to the Dao.

Taiyi needed to predict those fluctuations and construct corresponding models in his mind. The system could not do this for him—the system could only provide information and limited support for deduction. The true calculations and simulations still had to be done by himself.

Time passed bit by bit.

Outside the window, the sun moved from the east to its zenith, then slowly declined toward the west. Light and darkness alternated within the hall, casting ever-changing shadows across Taiyi's face.

The flame in his palm had already shifted through three hundred and seventy-two forms, corresponding to three hundred and seventy-two possible states of Heavenly Dao pressure within Zixiao Palace. But it was not enough. Far from enough.

The real Zixiao Palace had too many variables. A single look from Hongjun, a single exchange of divine thoughts between the Three Pure Ones, even a minor disturbance of spiritual energy caused by a listener's breakthrough could trigger subtle changes in the pressure of Heavenly Dao.

Taiyi took a deep breath and dispersed the fire in his palm.

He needed a more efficient method.

Closing his eyes, he sank his consciousness into the depths of his sea of consciousness. There, three Dao Flowers floated quietly, representing the path he had traveled in the Great Luo realm. Beneath them, the phantom of the Chaos Bell trembled faintly, emanating an ancient Dao resonance that suppressed time and space.

The Chaos Bell...

Taiyi suddenly thought of something.

The Chaos Bell was a supreme treasure from the opening of heaven, inherently containing a portion of the laws of time and space from that event. As a place where Heavenly Dao manifested, Zixiao Palace's spatial structure was certainly different from anywhere else in the Great Wilderness, but at its root, it had still emerged from the world framework established after heaven and earth were opened.

If he could use the Chaos Bell's perception of time and space, perhaps he could construct a spatial model of Zixiao Palace more quickly.

No sooner thought than done.

With a thought from Taiyi, the phantom of the Chaos Bell in his sea of consciousness trembled lightly. A faint bellwave spread outward—not an actual bell chime, but a resonance at the level of laws.

As the bellwave spread, Taiyi's perception of the surrounding space abruptly became several times clearer. He could "see" the flow of energy through every formation rune in the Sun Palace, "hear" the bursting rhythm of every flame within the sea of True Sun Fire, and even faintly sense the operational cadence of the Heavenly Court's grand formation farther away.

This was the power of a supreme treasure from the opening of heaven.

He guided that perception and began reverse-deducing the spatial properties of Zixiao Palace. Since both belonged to the Great Wilderness, since both had been established upon the world framework following the opening of heaven and earth, certain underlying laws had to be shared.

Time continued to pass.

When night fell, Taiyi finally opened his eyes. A flash of understanding glimmered in the depths of his golden pupils, along with exhaustion he could not hide.

He had succeeded.

It was only a crude model, and many variables still could not be included, but he had at least established a deduction framework capable of simulating seventy percent of Zixiao Palace's environment.

Within that framework, he could rehearse various possibilities, calculate the best moment to intervene when the karma around the cushions stirred, determine where he should stand and at what angle he should "accidentally" knock over a cushion so that everything appeared most natural.

All that remained was repeated practice until his body formed instinctive reactions.

Taiyi rose from the Warm Jade bed and walked into the open space within the hall.

He closed his eyes and imagined himself already standing in Zixiao Palace—the raised Dao platform lay ahead, mighty beings listening to the Dao stood on either side, and behind him swirled hazy chaos qi.

He took one step forward.

The rhythm of his stride, the angle of his footing, the shift in his center of gravity... every detail required calculation. In an environment like Zixiao Palace, the slightest disharmony could draw attention.

One step, two steps, three steps...

Taiyi moved slowly through the hall, sometimes pausing, sometimes turning, sometimes assuming the posture of conversing with someone. He was completely immersed in his deductions, as though he truly stood amid the coming grand sermon.

Outside the window, moonlight poured down, coating the Sun Palace in a layer of silver radiance.

Within the hall, the figure continued to move, again and again, tirelessly repeating those seemingly simple yet profoundly precise motions.

There were twenty-one days left until the Zixiao Palace sermon.

Time was running out.