"Wonderful! Wonderful! Everything in the entire Wind and Cloud has been disrupted, and the thread of destiny is becoming increasingly clear!"
Xu Xiao was still in the manor in that small town, enjoying tea alone.
However, unlike before, this time he had a chessboard with several black pieces in front of him.
There are no white pieces, only black pieces, but overall, it presents a predicament, waiting for someone to fall into the trap.
During this period, aside from occasionally observing the specific movements through the Divine Sense left with the four 'Chosen Ones', Xu Xiao spent most of his time studying the Dao of Cause and Effect.
The chessboard in front of him is the result of his insights over the past two years— Chess of Fate.
By manipulating the lives of supporting characters destined by heaven and earth, and altering the course of Wind and Cloud, Xu Xiao has taken a small step on the path of cause and effect.
Although he could forcibly interfere with, modify, and weave cause and effect with divine power or even higher-level World Power, that would only be the application of power, not the control he has now.
This involves genuine research and planning, using external influences to affect the fates of individuals, thereby gaining an understanding of predestined relationships.
With just a little more progress, Xu Xiao could grasp this elusive Great Dao of Cause and Effect and Effect, thereby mastering another Great Dao.
"However, now that things have come to this, and everything in Wind and Cloud has been completely messed up, it's amazing how those behind the scenes can sit still!"
Is it that they don't want to get involved, or that they can't easily intervene?
Xu Xiao held up his teacup, lost in thought.
By manipulating the destinies of Wind and Cloud figures, he discovered that the connections behind cause and effect were not so simple, and seemed to be beyond the control of a single powerful being.
It seems more like the world itself is manipulating things.
"So many story worlds, each seemingly developing along a familiar plot, even with many obvious flaws, yet no one seems to bother to correct them."
Xu Xiao thought of the worlds he had experienced, those so-called chosen ones, protagonists of destiny—in fact, sometimes their choices weren't always right.
If cause and effect are truly manipulated by certain powerful figures, shouldn't they logically correct it or intervene?
But almost none!
"No, there are exceptions. For example, when I disrupted the storyline in the Spider-Man World, Doctor Strange was responsible for world correction, intervened."
This was also the most memorable experience for Xu Xiao, and the first time he had ever escaped from the world.
It disrupted the order of the Spider-Man World too much and completely changed Peter Parker's life, thus attracting attention from those who usually pay attention to the universe.
However, Xu Xiao was prepared for this.
Because in the Marvel Universe, there are organizations that exist that maintain stability across worlds, such as the Illuminati, the Avengers, and the Spider-Society. These are organizations that spontaneously maintain world stability.
"But did they come on their own, or did someone manipulate their karmic connections to send them to interfere?"
Who, then, holds the reins of cause and effect for all beings, and designs the scripts of their lives?
What benefit does He gain from this, or rather, why would He do it?
"Furthermore, why must every world develop according to a predetermined fate? And where does the cause and effect of these worlds come from?"
Xu Xiao had many questions, and at the same time, he was speculating that this might be a design from a higher level.
The Great Dao principle of cause and effect is so profound that the more one studies it, the more bewildered one becomes, making it far more difficult than the Dao of Desire or Dao of Cultivating Perfection.
At least the latter knows that what they're doing is to improve their strength, but the former, even if they've grasped the concept of cause and effect, do they really want to change their own cause and effect?
Dream on!
At least in Xu Xiao's eyes, who had done some research on the Dao of Cause and Effect, this was completely impossible.
Humans cannot see through the cause and effect of things at a higher level than themselves, including the cause and effect of their own lives.
Only beings at a higher level than you can see through or manipulate the cause and effect of your actions, just like Xu Xiao, who manipulates the Wind and Cloud.
The more Xu Xiao studied the Dao of Cause and Effect, the more worried he became: could someone be manipulating his karma from behind the scenes?
Of course, worrying is useless.
Just like Duan Lang and the others, even if Xu Xiao told them now that their lives weren't originally like this, and that everything had become this way because of his manipulation, what could they do?
The weak have no other option but to accept it.
"So this is why I've always pursued more power and greater transcendence. Perhaps everything I have is just a source of amusement for some beings."
Xu Xiao sighed a couple of times, then focused his attention back on the chessboard.
On the chessboard that originally only had black pieces, a few white pieces slowly appeared, which could be seen as an indication that something was about to appear.
Wind and Cloud Shaolin Temple
Don't be surprised, the Wind and Cloud World does have Shaolin Temple, and it is even known as one of the Twelve Terrors Sects, just like Wudang.
However, because Wind and Cloud was so eye-catching, many people didn't pay much attention to Shaolin.
Today, the golden statue of Tathagata enshrined in Shaolin Temple emitted light and appeared miraculous. A young novice monk in the temple suddenly fainted, supposedly receiving guidance from the Buddha.
Upon waking, the young novice monk suddenly made great progress in martial arts, becoming the strongest fighter in Shaolin Temple. He also obtained a formula that supposedly could cure corpse poison and was determined to go down the mountain to save all living beings.
The monks in the temple couldn't dissuade them. They had heard about the chaos caused by the zombie horde outside, which had destroyed many bustling cities in the Central Plains and killed at least a million civilians.
Because Shaolin Temple has many highly skilled martial monks, they were able to eliminate the small groups of zombies that emerged around them first, thus avoiding being greatly affected.
Of course, most importantly, this zombie horde is said to be the vanguard of the Dongying invasion of the Central Plains. The Dongying have the means to manipulate the movement of the zombie horde, prioritizing attacks on the so-called most important forces in the Central Plains — Peerless City and Tianxia Society.
The cities of these two factions were not only attacked by the zombie horde, but also by the fierce attacks of Dongying martial artists. If it weren't for the fact that both sides had top-notch experts stationed there, they would have fallen long ago.
At this moment, Shaolin has finally produced a peerless expert, and everyone is unwilling for him to get involved in this mess.
" Master Huixian, if you leave, who will lead Shaolin to rise again in the future?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Let them fight and make a scene first. We, the Shaolin, can clean up the mess later."
Many monks offered words of advice, showing no compassion whatsoever.
The human heart is inherently the most selfish, secretive, and ever-changing thing; where would you find so many virtuous and eminent monks?