In a void unknown to anyone, in a space that even Chu Ge himself could not identify, his consciousness was speaking with the Buddha Ancestor's remnant soul.
"Hmm... I didn't let you throw out a few threats before you left, or say something like 'Only today do I know who I am'... Did that lack a little grandeur?"
The Buddha Ancestor: "..."
"Actually, I never even gave you names. The Heavenly Emperor was the same. None of you got much dignity."
The Buddha Ancestor finally said, "You have already schemed me to death. Now the Heavenly Dao has brought me here to humiliate me as well. Is that so amusing?"
'"Scheming' is a word that suits you people well enough, but it doesn't quite suit me."
"Oh?" The Buddha Ancestor sneered a little. "Your arrangements were certainly rather interesting... especially that final matter of Dabei becoming the Future Buddha. I even wondered whether you manipulated me into making that decision, or whether you truly calculated even that. It was impressive indeed. But however interesting it was, it was still scheming. How was it not?"
Chu Ge gazed at him for a long time before sighing softly. "I'm just a guy who writes."
The Buddha Ancestor: "?"
"Arranging all sorts of schemes and bringing them together into a progression readers find logical is my job. Hmm... in other words, my duty as the Heavenly Dao. When I apply that duty to you, what do you call it?"
The Buddha Ancestor fell silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Fate? Then had I actually escaped your control before?"
"You had." Chu Ge sounded a little tired. "But there was one problem... I could see what you were doing."
Understanding dawned on the Buddha Ancestor.
No wonder the Heavenly Dao now seemed to