Reaper of the Martial World

Book 4: Chapter 38: Until Now

“What do you mean he had the love of a celestial deer? Did the 25^th White Mother help him?” Queen Acacia asked.

King Acacia nodded, “In a way, yes. Have you all never wondered why despite the fact celestial will is so rare, even across all of the universes, that it still isn’t classified as a supreme law?”

This was indeed an oddity to them.

Usually, a supreme law was assigned as such based on its complexity, power and by proxy, its rarity. After all, if it was very complex and powerful, it would without a doubt also be rare. It was even weirder because celestial will originated from peak supreme level beasts – the celestial deer. Although they had fallen from those past heights, that didn’t belittle the origins of the will itself.

However, celestial will was never classified as such. In fact, Dyon was aware that despite its potent levels of purity, celestial will was actually second to another unnamed will when it came to purification. Many thought that this was the reason why it wasn’t labeled as a supreme law. After all, a supreme law should be in a category by itself. There was a reason space will wasn’t a supreme law, and that was because void will existed.

But, those who thought this would be wrong.

“The reason that celestial will isn’t known as a supreme law is because it takes a special type of person to raise it to such a level.”

King Belmont scrunched his brows, he didn’t seem to agree, “Why would there be such a restriction. There are plenty of supreme laws that are restricted to certain people. For example, our neighbors, the Uidah. We had many battles with them in our youth. Over that time, we came to understand that their Ethereal Permeation was a supreme law, albeit even the best of them only reached the 5^th or 6^th level of it.

That aside, the Uidah have a special blood line that allows them to learn ethereal permeation. No matter how often we battled them or studied them, we were never able to learn such a will. But, isn’t ethereal permeation still known as a supreme law?”

“You aren’t wrong,” King Acacia continued, “But, it doesn’t apply exactly as you’d assume. Celestial will and ethereal permeation are similar in a few ways. For example, they are both exceedingly difficult to learn. If you don’t have a person willing to give you a kernel of it and don’t have the affinity or genius for it, you will likely never learn it.”

King Belmont and the rest of them nodded. They all assumed that Ri and Madeleine learned celestial will because Dyon was of course willing to diligently guide them. They also knew that with Madeleine’s constitution, it was no wonder that she raised it to the levels it was at. After all, her constitution was purity incarnate and her personality matched it to perfection.

It was also fairly obvious that as the primary and only disciple of the 25^th White Mother, that Dyon would have been guided by her. In fact, they even sensed her essence blood within him.

“However, that is where the similarities stop. If someone is willing to guide you in ethereal permeation, you too can come to understand the first level. It’s just that no one of the Uidah clan would ever do such a thing for an outsider – that, and it’s punishable by death to do so.

But the difference is that when guided for ethereal permeation, you come out with the entire supreme law. However, when you are guided in celestial will, whether you can manifest it into its true supreme law status or not depends on you and no one else.”

A sudden realization came over those listening. Celestial will could be learned by anyone. Just like anyone can learn any will. But, what separated it from others was that a set affinity was needed to bring it to its optimal level.

“Celestial Will is special. And the people who can make it shine at its full capacity are even more so.” King Acacia continued.

“So, the 25^th White Mother could?” Big Red asked.

Surprisingly, King Acacia shook his head no. “No. She couldn’t. Or, what I should say is that she only could for a brief moment in her life and she never reached that peak level again.”

Confusion colored their faces. What kind of break through was it that could be rescinded, just like that? Why was this celestial will so fickle?

King Acacia sighed, “What I’m trying to say is that there was only one moment of perfection in the 25^th White Mother’s life that led her to having the perfect mental state.

When the demon qilin needed her most, the White Mother was willing to give up her life for him. She had no regrets or qualms, in fact, she believed herself to have reached the peak of what it meant to live.

There was nothing else that was important besides the moment between the two of them. Everything else seemed insignificant.

The clash of their clans, the raging suitors, the demon qilin’s competition, the views of their parents and ancestors. Nothing mattered.

In that one moment between the two of them, the Celestial Deer bloodline reached supreme levels for but an instant. And in that instant, her celestial will became a supreme law.”

“Just what happened?…” Queen Acacia whispered.

“The same thing that always happened.

The demon qilin passed the trial with ease. In fact, his trial was slightly more difficult than the norm because he was already talented to begin with – and as you all know, the trial adjusted just enough to make it a difficult task, but not beyond completing.

But, when the demon qilin finally got the sword in his hand, he lost himself. He was no longer himself – but had become the Dragon King reincarnated yet again.”

King Acacia sighed, “The demon qilin’s gamble failed. He had thought that his one chance to win over his competitors was to use the talent of the Dragon King. But, the Dragon King ended up making use of him.”

King Acacia began to recount the happenings.

It seemed that having taken over the body of yet another person, the Dragon King once again began to assert why he was the best.

The problem was that there was nothing the Dragon King hated more than peace and unity. Or, more accurately, he didn’t want peace or unity unless it meant that he was the ruler of all things and things went his way. However, being in the body of the demon qilin, he obviously didn’t have the power to do such a thing – not yet anyway.

So, he bid his time, pretending to be the demon qilin. Surprisingly, despite being arrogant, the Dragon King was also intelligent. He didn’t mind pretending to be something he wasn’t for the sake of his survival. After all, if people found out that he was here to sow chaos yet again, they’d kill his host and send him back to the body of his weapon.

The truth was that the real Dragon King had already ascended. But, as Dyon’s grand teacher would attest, being ascended only meant constant warring between factions. The Dragon King loved conflict, but only if it meant he had a clear path to victory. It was like he wanted the game mode on difficult, but not impossible. And, when you were stuck in an all-out war against those equally as talented as you, that was exactly what the game mode was on – impossible.

Much like Dyon’s grand teacher, he enjoyed projecting his mind to the lower the planes of existence and asserting himself again. As such, the demon qilin was the perfect opportunity.

Covertly, he began to sow discord. He slowly revealed his talent and raised himself up in the demon qilin clan before asserting that they should have more power in the alliance. All the while, he was also proving himself to be one of the better candidates for marriage with the 25^th White Mother. But, with the life span of martial artists – and beasts especially – no one was in a hurry to marry her off. So, the Dragon King had plenty of time.

Soon, wars began to break out. They were small at first, just between lesser transcendent level beasts – something the upper echelons would never pay attention to. But, soon, it began to grow in scale. And, it seemed that only one clan was winning time and time again: The Demon Qilins.

Many didn’t understand what was happening and why their once peaceful alliance was breaking apart. But, the more astute began to connect events back to the demon qilin’s wish to conquer the Dragon King’s weapon. The problem was that by now, the Dragon King had already cultivated the demon qilin into a formidable mid level dao expert.

That in and of itself wasn’t so impressive – the cultivation level, that is. After all, these were peak level existences. Even half step to transcendent, although rare, did exist. What was a mere mid level dao expert to them? But, that was only if you were referring to a normal dao expert…

Not only had the Dragon King made the demon qilin and peak first grade expert, the cultivation methods, wills and techniques were all so far past what they had access to, that even those peak experts didn’t dare take him lightly.

The Dragon King came from a time even millions of years before even that day and age. The knowledge he had was untouchable. And, when you consider the insights to cultivation he had as a transcendent, it was like inputting cheat codes to a game you had already played hundreds to even thousands of times.

By the time everyone realized that the Dragon King had won yet again and was about to rule them all, the 25^th White Mother was already in despair at having lost the love of her life. What was the use in having his body if the person inside wasn’t the same?

But, what she also knew was that the Dragon King couldn’t be allowed to rule again.

The Dragon King had a habit of taking multiple wives, but he would always have one trophy wife. Usually, he chose the most esteemed and talented woman of that generation and would swap her out as long as someone better was born or came along. In that generation, it just so happened that the 25^th White Mother was the best there was. There was a beauty beyond words and a talent the Celestial Deers hadn’t seen in millennia. So, the Dragon King wanted her.

Having no need to hide his identity anymore, he proposed marriage to the Celestial Deer Sect, something they had little to no choice but to accept.

On their wedding night, the 25^th White Mother resigned herself. She had no intention of losing her virginity to a man that only looked like her love – not without a price. At the same time, she didn’t want to leave this world without ensuring that he regained himself – even if that meant it would be in her absence.

“As you all know,” King Acacia continued, “There are two wills that celestial deer excel in more than nearly anyone else. The first is celestial will. And the second, is the not as rare, but very powerful, crystal will.

Crystal will is meant to amplify and celestial will works to purify. The 25^th White Mother devised a plan to use the celestial will infused with a celestial deer’s virginity, coupled with a crystal encasement technique to amplify its effect to the extreme…” King Acacia took a deep breath.

“The problem with this crystal encasement technique is that the 25^th White Mother just wasn’t powerful enough to seal the Dragon King. If she was, this would never have been a problem to begin with. So, she had to make a sacrifice. For the sake of saving who she saw as her true husband, she planned to use her life force to fuel the technique. Something that would without a doubt lead to her death.”

They all remained silent. This was truly a sacrifice etched with deep unselfishness. If she became the wife of the Dragon King, her life would be prosperous. After all, he was the most powerful man in the universe at that point. What worried would she ever have? It wasn’t as though the Dragon King was a cruel man, he only sought power. Even if he replaced her in the future, he would never treat her poorly.

The 25th White mother had seen all of this. But, she still chose to give up her life because she knew there was at least one person that wouldn’t be able to ever be at ease… her love… The demon qilin.

“But, before she could sacrifice herself, something amazing happened.” King Acacia continued, “In the instant she lost her virginity and she prepared herself to give up her life, her celestial will broke through the barrier and became a supreme law.

In that instant, her celestial will, which was already at the 9^th level of an intent, one with dao, suddenly became a supreme law… One cannot fathom the level a supreme law of that level brings. We had enough issues with ethereal permeation and it was only at the lower will levels. The Dragon King’s consciousness didn’t stand a chance and was completely cleansed from the demon qilin.

After that, the Dragon King’s weapon was sealed away in the Celestial Deer Sect’s vault, never to be touched again.”

King Belmont, Acacia, Big Red and their wives looked off into the distance, all towards one young man happily spinning with his wives in his arms.

“Until now…”

“Dyon!” Ri, still being spun around in Dyon’s arms finally called out, blushing profusely.

Dyon finally settled his wives down, but the grin on his face hadn’t disappeared.

“What are you so happy about?” Ri asked, patting down the wrinkles in her dress – clearly exasperated.

Madeleine giggled. If Dyon was happy, she was happy.

“If what I feel is correct,” Dyon secretly messaged with using his wind will, “Then it might only take me about ten years instead of the centuries it would have before.”

“You mean?” The two of them looked down at Dyon’s wrist. Was that weapon really so spectacular?

In typical fashion, they had already understood why Dyon’s master’s memories had no information on the weapon. It without a doubt had to do with the destruction of the Celestial Deer Sect.

Ri and Madeleine smiled. They knew how taxing it would have been on Dyon’s psyche to not be able to protect them. If that feeling was extended for centuries, who knows if their husband would have come out the same on the other end. But, if it was only such a short time, then even Dyon would find it acceptable. After all, they could spend all of that time cultivating in the Epistemic Tower. They wouldn’t have to challenge other universes until Dyon was ready.

Suddenly, though, their smiles froze into bitter ones. Looking past Dyon, the second bracket had just concluded. Akash, who was ranked within the top 80, managed to keep her spot and move on. Zaltarish had also managed to replace the top 100 ranker and take his place in the final rounds. However, what left Ri and Madeleine feeling bitter was the fact their names were set for the 3^rd bracket.

On the surface, this was good. The fact they were together meant there was less pressure. If Planet Deimos wanted to work together against them, they would have to split their forces. But, what wasn’t so good was the list of names aside from them.

The truth was that there was little to no one who could rival Madeleine outside of the top 20. Even when she fought Ri, she was handicapped. After all, one of her most powerful wills was sealed.

Music will was something that Madeleine based much of her combat on. Before she earned Amethyst’s faith seed, all of Madeleine’s attacks were a combination of celestial will and music will – usually with music will amplifying the former. So, when she had that stripped from her, her combat prowess dropped to Ri’s level.

That wasn’t to say Ri was weak, of course. After all, Ri was still a meridian formation expert and Madeleine had long since stepped into the essence gathering level. This was because Ri had restarted her cultivation twice and she was also two years younger than Madeleine.

The problem was that Dyon’s enemies also knew this… So, they faced a dilemma. In a system where only one expert per rank tier was allowed into a bracket, how could you possibly pressure someone as powerful as Madeleine? And the answer they found, ironically connected to the “True Top Ten”.

Because Dyon’s name had been smeared, the top ten was actually taken to be as the top eleven. But, the problem with this system was that it resulted in one less top 20 member and one more top 100 member. This meant that no matter what, there would be at least one or two groups that did not follow the normal rules.

Knowing this… The ‘organizers’ took full advantage.

Suddenly, the booming voice of Elder Den filled the stadium, “As you all know, there’s been an imbalance caused in the bracket due to some unforeseen cheaters.”

Elder Den wanted to sneer, but the response of the crowd shocked him.

Boos rained down at Elder Den’s words. Curses began being flung at how rigged and biased the Cavositas ‘Clown’ Clan was. The crowd had clearly had enough of being manipulated and were tired of being seen as stupid. They had seen for themselves how powerful Dyon was, even if he did cheat, it wasn’t so blatant a difference between him and the top ten for the Cavositas to keep revolving the matches around his mistake – a mistake they didn’t even have proof of.

Hearing his clan being called a clown clan, Elder Den broke out into a mix of a cold sweat and anger. If he lost control of the crowd, especially like this, he’d be dealt with just like the previous announcer. He had to quickly remedy the situation.

“Please, Please, Understand. By unforeseen cheaters I only meant those who mislead others into falsely assumed the great Demon Sage was a cheater. Unfortunately, we cannot undo what has been done and the tournament must move forward!”

Seeing that this appeased the crowd a bit, Elder Den seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. But, Dyon wasn’t taking this so lightly, because he too had seen the names on the list. Regardless of what they said, they were clearly still plotting. An they had brought his wives into the situation.

All of Dyon’s previous happiness disappeared as his fists clenched.

“Because of the imbalance of the brackets, and to make up for our mistakes, we’ve decided to spice things up a bit. We won’t insult your intelligence by saying that this was the most efficient way to do things, but, what we will say is that this is the most interesting way to do things.”

The interest of the crowd was clearly piqued. They were only in this for entertainment after all, if these new rules gave them more entertainment, they’d be quick to forgive.

“It’s clear that we’ve made a few mistakes.” Elder Den continued. “So, it’s become even clearer that there may be those ranked highly that simply don’t deserve their spots.

To counter balance this, we’ve decided to pit those high rankers against each other much sooner.”

Cheers erupted in the stands. Pit them against each other? Did this mean they were going to get top 100 caliber battles sooner?

Elder Den sneered, “I introduce you to our Death Bracket.”