Chapter 2153: Three Legs of a Tripod (II)

There were many in the ninth rank faction, many were yet to reach the stage of full despair. They questioned their opponents now, possibly also to ask the chaos what wrong they had committed.

To become a ninth rank was the ultimate pursuit of cultivation, but ninth ranks absorbed spirit too quickly.

And yet, that wasn’t their fault.

Perhaps it was the daos in the chaos that were incomplete, or an inherent flaw in everyone’s cultivation methods. If that was the case, then that was not the fault of the ninth ranks.

Someone else would reach ninth rank if they did not. So long as someone did, the chaos universe would ultimately reach the situation that faced them all right now.

“Anyone who’s risen to power has devoured worlds in their time,” continued Calamity. “We’ve done it, you guys have done it. It is not a crime if everyone has undertaken it! I just don’t understand why it was imperative that we reached this point in our hostilities.

“If Su Yu had been willing to give up time instead of blow it up, we could’ve avoided this battle!”

Su Yu snorted with derisive laughter. The Human King curled his lip. Could they have avoided this battle?

Of course not!

Granted, if they’d shown their full strength and sought to keep the dao of time with them, then perhaps the battle would’ve ended right there.

“Calamity, is there a point to what you’re saying?”

“There isn’t much of one,” Calamity shook his head. “I’m not saying this to indicate that the fighting is over either, I just want to get to the bottom of things! I want to know if time can stabilize the chaos or not. I want to know how to resolve the problem of ever-depleting spirit.

“I also want to know what some people are scheming after in this chaos,” he laughed at himself. “We don’t want to fight for an outcome we know nothing about. We’d like to know just what you guys are potting. What a grand scheme it must be to utilize so many ninth ranks as pawns!”

With that, he turned to Skyward with a sneer. “Wouldn’t you say so, Skyward?”

The latter didn’t respond.

“You’ve been concealing something from us from the very start!” Calamity’s eyes narrowed. “What did War tell you when he met you? What did you guys do? You’ve been advocating for the development of time ever since.

“You’re the one who told us that time can stabilize the chaos. We believed you and also had reason to believe in the effects of time. But now?

“Did you really have no way to stop the detonation of time? You are the dao master of space! Other people may not have been able to, but were your hands tied as well? Where has your ability to travel through space gone? Why didn’t you stop him? I want to know, Skyward!

“Since you’ve been advocating for the development of time all along, why did you let it disperse?”

This was the heart of Calamity’s confusion.

Skyward had been waiting all these years, waiting for the dao of time to grow stronger. But in the end, Su Yu destroyed it. The others were hard pressed to stop him, but as the strongest of them and able to withstand five ninth ranks at the moment, surely Skyward could have shot through space and suppressed their enemy!

The third gen of time had only been peak eighth rank. Could a ninth rank really have done nothing against a peak eighth rank?

Of course he could have!

But he hadn’t.

It was from that moment on that the other ninth ranks no longer trusted Skyward. That was why they’d attacked him. Calamity simply laid things out in the open that Skyward had been in the hand in the shadows for events in the chaos.

Calamity looked at Su Yu, then at Fang Ping, and finally at Yuan Shuo.

“Skyward is the mastermind behind all of this,” he smiled. “I’m not scared of you guys, even if you’re much stronger than before. I just want some answers at this point. I want to go to my death knowing full well why I am.

“If possible, I’m even willing to team up with you guys and kill the secret mastermind first! After that, we can fight to the death to see who’s right or wrong. That’s totally fine by me!

“I just don’t want people dying in complete ignorance and having no idea why they’re dying.

“Human King, doesn’t New Martial hate this kind of people the most? If Skyward is unwilling to talk... then why should we keep killing each other and satisfy him by depleting our strength?”

The Human King raised a brow. Calamity... was an interesting fellow. After losing some of his people, he acknowledged how much stronger his opponents were. Now he wanted to ally with them to kill Skyward!

Nearby.

Skyward looked quizzically at Calamity and said in a soft voice, “Calamity, you and I have known each other for many years. You have been the ringleader of recent hostile incidents against me. Whether it was descending ahead of schedule, killing Li Hao, or executing Su Yu... I was a bystander.

“If it comes down to secret motives, perhaps you know them best,” Skyward chuckled. “The strength of calamity has filled the chaos all this time and never dispersed. I just didn’t want to bring it up. You say that spirit has faded away and none has gathered in a million years. People only think of Skyward major world when the topic comes up, but forget that Thunder Region surrounds the four regions.

“You bring all of this up in a manner that sets everyone against me and has willingly settled for the losing side a few times to prove your innocence. Are you really that innocent?”

“I only have 9,500 dao rules, how do I compare to you?” sneered Calamity. “What can I do right under your nose? You think too highly of me!”

“Not necessarily!” Skyward rebutted with a soft laugh. “The strength of calamity is not a weak one. They all say that daos of two extremes are strong, but people have forgotten that calamity encompasses natural disasters, manmade disasters, disorder, darkness, unrest, plague, sickness, punishment, thunder and lightning, and desire.

“All that is unpleasant is calamity. The more that a chaos is shaken, the more people die. When the entire universe is wracked by unrest, the greatest beneficiary is not space, but the dao of calamity!

“Ergo, Calamity’s strength has been rising all this time,” Skyward pointed out. “It’s not a big loss to him no matter how many die. In fact, it facilitates the recovery of his spirit instead!

“Chaos Sky being taken possession of happened right in front of you. And yet, you stopped everything you were doing and watched it happen. How can you point fingers at me?”

People’s eyes darted around rapidly at this rebuttal. The ninth ranks around Calamity looked at each other with alarm. Calamity...

Thunder Region had indeed wrapped around the four regions in the past. Could Skyward be believed?

He did make a bit of sense.

“If that was the case, then I wouldn’t have had everyone gather to me,” sneered Calamity. “I would’ve had them continue fighting to strengthen my spirit. What you say doesn’t work, Skyward!”

“Is that so?” Skyward sniffed with amusement. “Isn’t it normal that you need some time to digest the spirit? Aren’t you concerned that you won’t be able to absorb everything in time if people keep dying? They’re all powerhouses! Calamity is everywhere. Natural and manmade disasters are found everywhere!”

“So you guys are both vicious rats among ninth ranks?” The Human King abruptly realized. “I think both of you are planning on killing the other ninth ranks to satisfy your own whims. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“The Human King...” laughed Skyward. “Is playing the fool to the hilt, aren’t you? What’s the point in doing that?”

“I’m not as shameless as you guys!” Fang Ping roared with laughter. “I don’t go after my own friends! Look at me! When have I ever schemed against my friends? All of you guys cultivate and cultivate to your present heights, but is there a single friend among your acquaintances that you can trust your back to?”

“That’s fair enough!” Skyward nodded with emotion. “Therefore, the great dao is heartless. Our emotions are extinguished when we cultivate to an extreme.”

It was a face-off between three sides now.

Silver Moon, New Martial, and Myriad Realms were one side. One could perhaps count Spring Autumn among them as well.

Calamity and the ninth ranks were another.

Skyward... was the third and all by his lonesome.

However, this singular person instilled a great deal of wariness among the others. Calamity might have exaggerated some of his words, but one thing he did get correctly.

Skyward was very strong and had been plotting something all along.

The loss of time hadn’t ruffled his feathers. He was an unfathomable fellow.

He was also the only one, to present, to gather a myriad of daos and truly comprehend all of their dao rules.

Skyward could also hold his own against five ninth ranks.

Meanwhile, the Human King didn’t care about any of this. “Whatever,” he grinned radiantly. “I’m not interested in the tons of plots you guys have cooking. Working together isn’t out of the question if you really want to kill him, Calamity!”

With that, Fang Ping smirked into the distance. “Those of you with Li Hao... should come back as well. Li Hao’s crippled now! What do you have your eyes on him for?”

Crippled?

The young man had fought the three of them for so long and was still fine for it. How could such a person be crippled? Did the Human King think they were all blind?

If one said that Skyward’s schemes were numerous, then Li Hao was very much cut from the same cloth.

He’d established the new chaos that gave birth to Su Yu. Today, Su Yu led the heavyweights of Myriad Realms to kill Chaos Sky and stop a few ninth ranks. He also shifted everyone’s gaze to him from Li Hao.

The ninth ranks might’ve believed it before that Li Hao didn’t have anything up his sleeves, but now?

Who would believe him now?

Calamity didn’t say any of that. He simply assessed Skyward with a serious look.

“I ask you, Skyward, is there truly no other way for the chaos to tolerate ninth ranks other than the dao of time? Or can time be remade?”

He didn’t truly believe that this was the end of the line! If that was the case, why wasn’t Skyward frantic? His two million years lifespan was up. Even if ninth ranks lived for a very long period of time, his was coming to an end.

“Time is always present.” Skyward didn’t mind enlightening the rest at this stage. “It has always been present and by our side. Every moment in front of us is passing. Time... has never disappeared.”

What did that mean?

Everyone naturally knew that time was always passing. However, that was different from the great dao.

“The disappearance of spirit also has to do with the lack of order in the chaos,” Skyward continued in a different tack. “Have you guys not noticed that the order of Myriad Realms has been strengthening ever since its establishment?

“It only absorbed a little bit of spirit when it was formed. But now, it’s given rise to so many powerhouses with a dense concentration of spirit. Therefore, spirit improves as intelligence flourishes!

“Spirit is not a unique energy, but an ascension of the mind! Intelligence, civilization, and order all serve to fortify spirit. There is so little order in the chaos that it has caused spirit to disperse.” Skyward looked at Su Yu, interested in the youngster in this moment. “Little friend Su Yu, I’m thinking that the spirit of Myriad Realms has continuously grown stronger alongside the establishment of your rules and order, correct?

“Your era should be even stronger than when your chaos was first formed. You haven’t been growing steadily weaker. That would be what’s happened to the chaos universe. The difference after a million years is stark.

“Many ninth ranks were born back in the day, but now only Chaos Sky has barely managed to set foot into ninth rank thanks to the spirit from your chaos...”