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Chapter 1,217.
🕑 Added 2024-03-10 18:37:28 +0000 UTCZac felt like a burglar, narrowly escaping before the security doors slammed shut, when he was pulled out of the vision. He'd undeniably made off like a bandit, and the day wasn't even over. The madness of two destabilized Dao Tapestries and their infuriated owners was replaced by tranquility. His vision had been split once more, and he faced familiar scenery. He was back where it all started, two spiritual threads floating before Be'Zi and A'Zu.
He was brought here for the first time during the Eastern Trigram Hunt. At that point, he hadn't reached level 75, nor had he discovered all the Dao Seeds that would eventually become the foundations of his path. He had experienced enough major events to last multiple lifetimes since. And yet, his decades of struggle almost felt like a dream when he faced the two Autarchs.
Everything remained exactly the same in the mountain. The Miasmic river of liquified energy slowly swirled around Be'Zi's subterranean island, while gentle winds carried the whispers of possibility around A'Zu on the mountain peak. For all Zac knew, they might not have moved since their previous meeting. A decade or two was nothing for an Autarch, who would often seclude themselves for millennia at a time.
Their promise was straightforward; survive the Atavism within 100 years, and they would impart him something from the Daos of Creation and Oblivion unblemished by the remnant's ancient madness. Zac had accomplished that with flying colors. He was eager to find out what that entailed, but there was something he needed to deal with first.
Or so he thought. There was no hint of the pieces of the Dao he'd stolen. It only took a moment to realize why. The visions came from him being pulled into the remnant. So when he took something back, it should have been deposited within the remnants rather than with his soul. And since he couldn't sense his actual bodies in his current state, he'd have to wait until he was back to investigate his haul.
"Child of Draug, you have—"
Be'Zi stopped and gazed into the cave's ceiling with a slight frown. The surroundings shifted, and Zac suddenly floated inside a grand hall made from alabaster and obsidian. Two thrones were placed on opposite ends, with husband and wife ruling over the side formed from their Dao. Zac was placed on a circle in the middle which looked just like the yin-yang sign of Earth. Profound energy rose from the stone, transforming Zac's spiritual threads into fully-formed avatars.
"You. All this time, you were one?" A'Zu asked, a slight tremor discernible in his voice.
"I'm sorry for keeping it from you. My situation has caused a lot of trouble over the years," Zac said with a bow. "Is… something wrong?"
"It's nothing," A'Zu said, a small smile tugging at his lips as he glanced across the hall. "Just a small side bet with my wife."
"He's alive," Be'Zi calmly countered.
"Fine, it's a wash."
Zac blinked, looking back and forth between the two. They'd actually been betting on him, even whether he'd survive. Zac was slightly annoyed at their cavalier attitude. Then again, neither one owed him anything, and they had guided an outsider brought to them by the System. Be'Zi was even the one who first erected the cage in his mind before the System came along and reinforced it.
"Uh, anyway. I made it through."
"Life… Death… Chaos," Be'Zi muttered as swirls of Oblivion danced around her throne. "Ripples on the lake."
The Aetherlord nodded, his four eyes seemingly trying to peer into Zac's soul. "What have you done?"
"What do you mean?" Zac asked. "I survived the Atavism and was sent right here."
"Don't worry, child. We have no intention to renege on our promise, even if I found it unlikely you'd reach this point. However, something is happening to the Peak of Chaos. We're currently outside time, but we can feel its trajectory changing."
"The timing of your appearance is not coincidence. We need to understand the source of the disturbance," Be'Zi added.
"Oh," Zac said, thinking back to how he survived the process. "I think I might have sent the Spark and Heart down a path of no return. Or at least wounded them badly."
"You? Impossible," A'Zu scoffed, and Be'Zi's usually impassive face revealed doubt.
Their reaction was reasonable, even if they wouldn't have been as quick to dismiss his claim if they'd known the storms he'd kicked up during his short career. Zac still had a strong suspicion that what he'd experienced was more than a vision. At that moment, he'd been faced with the full tapestries of the Daos of Oblivion and Creation, at least as how the two unique entities saw them.
Zac had been almost fully consumed by their collective will, which gave him far deeper insights into their nature than what the short visions provided. He'd realized that Heart of Oblivion and Spark of Creation had never met before. In fact, they couldn't.
The nature of the Peak of Chaos could be explained through the theory of the Three Purities. The Dao produced the one; the one produced the two; the two produced the three; and the three produced all things. The one referred to the Primordial Chaos, the Terminus of the broken peak he climbed. The two referred to Creation and Oblivion, the delineated Dao.
The three could be interpreted in multiple ways, where Zac leaned toward the addition of 'Man.' Man didn't necessarily mean the interference of cultivators. It was any outside input on the unblemished Dao that Creation and Oblivion embodied. When Man was mixed in, Life and Death were born, creating one of the fundamental facets of the cosmos.
The concept of Three Purities could be observed in most peaks. For instance, the Earthly Peak and the Lower Planes were inextricably linked to the Heavenly Peak, with Man forming the bridge in the middle. It was also part of the conflict between the Sangha and the Apostate of Mercy when they fought over the nature of the elemental Daos.
The Heart of Oblivion and Spark of Creation were the broken avatars of the delineated Dao. Separation was part of their fundamental nature, even if it filled them with a sense of being incomplete. Their existence was exactly like the yin-yang symbol beneath him: forever in motion, their trajectories not fated to intersect.
That had been the case until Zac came along and broke that balance. First, it was through having remnants duke it out. Their fused state could only have one outcome—the delineated Dao would return to its origin, in this case resulting in the appearance of hollow Chaos.
It wasn't that the remnants were stupid by repeatedly falling for his tricks. They had no choice. The Innate Existences couldn't stay delimited when meeting its opposite. Merely encountering each other had broken their inherited nature of separation. It was one thing when it only involved isolated slivers. This time, he had managed to connect the whole network with their collective consciousnesses.
Zac had no idea what would come of that. The undying creatures were extremely powerful, so they might be able to overpower their nature and disengage before it was too late. Even then, it would probably come at a price far greater than the small section he managed to snatch. If something was happening to the Peak of Chaos, that was likely the cause.
"No wonder the Cursed Heavens tried to force our hands, even setting up this Temporal Tributary," A'Zu laughed after Zac explained the series of events, only skipping Tavza's involvement. "Worth it. Definitely worth it."
"The what?"
"You should be aware time has stopped, no?"
Zac nodded. "I actually can't stay too long because of that. I've overused Temporal Chambers recently."
"You don't need to worry. What the System has done is something far more impressive. It hasn't separated our domain from the temporal river. It has created a tributary, allowing time to flow naturally while keeping us in place. It has all the upsides of a Temporal Chamber without the downsides.
"And before you ask, only the System and Temporal Supremacies do something like this. From what I know, the latter are unable to create a perfect loop—at least not a stable one like this. The costs are unimaginable, and the river will fight back with increasing ferocity."
"Why is the System paying such a heavy price?" Zac asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Balance," A'Zu said. "Those things have been a blight on the Heavens for too long, making everyone's lives harder."
"The creatures you faced were born in the earliest period of our Era. The rules of cultivation were different," the Aetherlord continued. "The Heavens were an unstable tangle. Moving the Dao toward its natural state of equilibrium caused great upheavals that gave birth to the first generation of beings. The Heavens was weaker, and there was no one to contend with them. As such, they were blessed with a far stronger connection with the Cosmos than what can be observed in the present. They are often referred to as the Primordials."
Zac mulled over the explanation for a moment before it clicked. "The first generation of Innate Existences were born with Authority?"
"Oh, you know of the concept?" A'Zu said. "Yes. That's correct, in a sense. Even B-grade creatures were born with something resembling Authority. However, that Authority was flawed, just like the primordial Dao. And since few Innate Existences ever advanced beyond the level of their origin, neither did their insights.
"The Peak of Chaos took the longest to reach a stable state, and the Heart of Creation and Spark of Oblivion should be two of the last Primordials to appear. They were lucky, in a sense. Most of the original Primordials had already disappeared one way or another, and the next generations of races had yet to figure out the rules of cultivation of the higher grades. They were left to their own devices until the world caught up."
Zac sighed in awe. It was no wonder those things were considered Pseudo Supremacies with unusually high comprehension of the Dao.
"What do you think happens when Flawed Authority blocks the path to the Terminus?"
"The peaks can't mend," Zac answered, his thoughts turning to the hand he'd seen in the visions, which had effortlessly crushed the Innate Existences.
Zac had never delved too deeply into why that mysterious Supremacy had destroyed the Heart and Spark. He'd always felt the scene came from a pre-system period or at least during the first stretch of the System's expansion. He'd even guessed it might be Laondio or Karz who did the deed. It was hard to imagine anyone else wielding such power.
As for why, Zac assumed it was retaliation or protection. Those things were wandering calamities that left utter destruction in their wake. Who knew how many regions their obsession had turned into ruins? Someone was bound to strike them down sooner or later.
"One individual cannot stop Heaven's reformation, especially not such broken creatures. They can, however, slow down the process. The pieces of Authority they wield are like pools of stagnant water. And with one section blocked, the road for others has grown narrower."
Zac nodded, his notion that the creatures were killed by Laondio or perhaps one of his generals becoming stronger. Reforming the broken peaks was one of the System's prime directives, so it stood to reason the Limitless Empire had a similar goal. They might have hunted down any remaining Innate Existences born with flawed Authority they could find, liberating the Dao from imperfect masters. In fact, that might be why they targeted peak existences like the Primo, too.
"These two have proven exceedingly difficult to deal with. Destroying a fragment will only result in the birth of a new one after some time. You might have found the only way to cause permanent damage. I'm of a mind to kick you out so I can witness the change you've brought," A'Zu continued. "Alas, I'll have to be patient a while longer. First, let me ask you a question.
"What is Creation? What is Life?"
The Aetherlord's tone sounded uninterested, but the question was anything but simple. It encompassed the crossroads Zac faced now that he'd survived the Atavism.
The remnants had caused a lot of trouble over the years, manipulating his fate to put him on a collision course with the Spark and Heart. They had also saved his life innumerable times, and they'd been instrumental in strengthening his body and soul. Ultimately, the remnants and the Daos they held were an external strength that approached the limits of their use.
His Creation- and Oblivion-fueled abilities wouldn't be much stronger than his normal skills by the time he reached Peak Hegemony and started to plan for his Inner World. He'd also need dozens of splinters to provide any tangible benefits after his soul and constitutions had evolved again.
It was time to clarify what his path entailed. Was it one of orthodox purity, where his Daos of Life and Death were just the first stop of a longer journey? One that continued into Creation and Oblivion before fusing into the Dao of Chaos. Or should he stake out a path of his own, ignoring the Dao's natural order?
The most relevant example of this path was the Undead Empire, which subverted the traditional hierarchy to make Death a Terminal Dao. There was clearly nothing stopping you from reaching the peak this way, but his recent interactions had given him a better idea of the downside. The price was a greater push-back from the Heavens.
You were trying to impose your path on the Heavens, and the resistance would grow fiercer the higher you climbed. Iz had mentioned that many Supremacies avoided expanding their Authority beyond their Heavenly Territory, and Zac felt this was part of the reason. It was a road that entailed greater struggle. It was also the road Zac saw for himself.
"Life is possibility given shape. Creation is the motor. They are the sun and the moon, two sides of the same coin. Only when they're together can they display the full extent of their power."
This was the answer he'd ultimately reached for his Branches of Kalpataru and Pale Seal. Rather than evolving them to Creation and Oblivion, his path would encompass both. Like the Void upholding the Dao, so would Creation and Oblivion uphold his paths of Evolution and Inexorability.
The first step was infusing the concepts of Creation and Oblivion into his Daos. For this, he'd stolen fragments from the Grand Dao that best suited his path. He was certain they were enough to clarify some of his confusion, enabling him to push the Daos to Peak Branches. Depending on how his words were received by Be'Zi and A'Zu, they might even set the foundations for his Earthly Daos.
Zac understood he was taking a risk with this answer. It was clear that A'Zu and his wife were on the path of fully embracing the Daos of Creation and Oblivion, discarding their inborn Daos of Life and Death. There was a clear difference in the aura Be'Zi exuded from any other Draugr. She had begun integrating Oblivion into her very bloodline, though it was still in an early stage.
Their determination could also be seen in how they'd sealed themselves off in the depths of the Eternal Storm. They'd ridden themselves of any entanglements that would taint their path of purity. Be'Zi had given up on the empire and her clan, and A'Zu appeared similarly unfettered.
In a way, Zac's explanation was a rejection of their path. He was saying there was no need to do what they did, sacrificing one to grasp the other.
"Your vision goes against the natural hierarchy. Life is Creation tainted by Earthly desires. Death is Oblivion diluted with the sorrows of the world," A'Zu said. "It's impossible to travel with someone walking down a different path. If you insist on this answer, we will not take you as our disciple."
Be'Zi's silence was a tacit confirmation of A'Zu's decree. Zac remained unmoved. Rava's guidance over the past weeks was a reminder of the benefits of having the guidance of an experienced senior. A true master-teacher relationship would go even further than the relationship of quid-pro-quo between him and the Eternal Servant.
"Fate cannot be forced," Zac said. "My path is set. I'll follow it to the end, for better or worse."
An oppressive silence lingered in the throne room for almost a minute until a smirk appeared on A'Zu's face.
"Good! Only trash would give up on their Dao to follow in the footsteps of someone else. So what if that means going against the Heavens? How can someone mend a broken peak if they're afraid to face the Terminus head-on?"
Be'Zi slightly nodded in agreement, speaking up after a long period of silence. "We are not fated, yet Karma still binds us. Your gift is larger than what we anticipated. Nevertheless, all things must end, including this chapter of fate. This is Heavenly Law. You have survived the Atavism and excised the lingering will of the ancient apostles. Have you decided on a path forward for the power trapped in your body?"
"I'm planning to keep it contained for now," Zac said. "I'm still not at a stage where I can freely control that power, and their truths need to be refined to better suit me."
"As expected," A'Zu nodded, and a glimmering light of pure Creation appeared on his finger. "This is the first of the four gifts we've prepared."
Zac only had time for one fleeting thought before the glimmering light flew into his forehead and overwhelmed everything else.
'Did he say four?'
Comments
Kconraw
Thx for the chapter
keyra knightley
Why everytime I I think I'm understanding I feel like I need to reread the last hundred chapters ?
Lex Luther S
Well its obvious those of the zecia sector and the upcoming addition of the zubor sectors common folk will see zac as some fated war hero and given zacs empire is set up to basically sweep away the other empires with un-surpassed talents and cultivation havens, making the Atwood empire the eventual defacto leader of the new zecia sector, it's all but certain the sector will become a faith generator for him. As for Zac benefitting from the faith build up, honestly I don't think he can use it unless he has a dao of faith or he's a supremacy or maybe it'll have boosting effects to those cultivating faith like Joanna and her faith based sisters as well as the Zhix hive
Palmer Evans
Lol I’m just imagining even Iz being shocked that Zac’s prediction of this being his most chaotic excursion yet resulted in him shifting an entire Peak of the Heavens and most likely coming out on top of a situation while facing four Autarchs. Throw in the Foreign Gods & winning the war and it’s hard to imagine even Zac’s biggest believers expecting something of this scale. Also wondering if Zac will start benefiting from any Faith within his Empire and Zecia. The sheer awe that 99% of the population of Zecia and especially Earth will feel towards Zac should be at least somewhat significant
Kirin
I can see those mofs running for their life when the glimpse of chaos appears…. Run mofs run, but they won’t escape 🤬😁😁😁
Porter
It might have done exactly that. The System's goal is not actually balance, balance is simply what it has to abide by. How would the System balance letting Autarchs sneak into a frontier sector, with the System fulfilling its purpose at last?
Joey
Nah, they snuck in and now they're going to get killed for having their hand in the cookie jar
TorHKU
Which is why it's going so far as to set up the super high end Temporal Tributary for Zac and his not-quite-teachers, to rebalance the scales somewhat
Russell Widger
The system doing that would result in a massive imbalance and simply taking out the autarchs wouldn't really balance it out since it would have done that anyway
TorHKU
I bet the System let the undead and sangha Autarchs into the sector and interfere in the trial so that it would push Zac further, and he'd have to combine the remnants and do the Double Atavism. If things had gone according to plan, he'd do them one at a time and not link them up, and the Spark and Heart would never meet and attack each other, and the Chaos peak would remain more clouded. Now since it put him into a shit situation AND he did it such a solid by clearing up those two, the System has to pay him back in a big way.
Jason Ruddy
Thanks all!
Lex Luther S
The shard and splinters. Remember, all he had to do was survive the atavism and doing so would effectively carve out a section in the shard and splinters respective tapestries for himself. That man that took the splinters of oblivion to kill that fallen god is someone that survived the atavism and etched his own corner in the dao of oblivions tapestry. After surviving the atavism, the shards and splinters undying will becomes extinguished and the power effectively becomes the cultivators.
VAIBHAV MISHRA
Probably the creation and oblivion dao he stole at the end that closely resembled his own understanding from the creation and oblivion. That is stored inside his shards now, he will have access to it once the temporal flow resumes
Henry Wartemberg
I’m guessing there will be link to the question A’Zu asked right before. The gifts could be some kind of refining the insights of the shards and integrating/ using them
Progenitor of Supremacy
Don’t know if that’s possible lol
Tyler
I believe he's just referring to the Dao of Creation and Oblivion, or, rather, the sources of those Dao he has in his body. Remember, Zac still gets damaged from using unrefined Creation and Oblivion, he originally manipulates them into creating his Origin Mark and Annihilation Sphere to actually use the energies the way he intends.
Jason Ruddy
What power trapped in his body that needs to be refined are they referring to? The impartment he just stole?
Collin Sorrells
Ya friend, I purposefully used your own words to show how that definition can be used. The act itself of describing or defining something separates it from something that does not have that same definition. Idk man, I feel like you are just repeated back to me what myself and that other guy said delineated meant. You don't think it's being used correctly in this chapter? They are losing their delineations imposed on them by the Heart and Shard and becoming hollow chaos.
xlinkedx
I really hope that we get more than 1 gift per chapter otherwise the cliff this week is gonna be steep. Thursday and Friday are editing days :( I just wanna see them gains!
SandreX
Remember what the technocrats brought in previous chapter? I bet they will mess systems control over heaven and possibly leave a path for autarchs to survive
Kharas
Yee, a large part of what we have experienced have been if not planned by the system, then its for sure been pushing it right along. Abit like at bowling.. Zac is a large, destructive ball that rolls down the hill on its own volition, and the system puts the bumpers up when he is moving to far in a direction that does not contribute to giving it sweet, sweet chaos.
Kharas
Auch... well.. it is a "reward" of some sort ;)
Thenais
Three Purities my ass, Zac spent too much time with the Sangha.
DrSubterfuge
It's kind of wild to consider that the System had its fingers all over this scenario. The bell happened because of Valari's path, which came from a System resource. As did the solution for how to summon it. The remnants where in Zac's hands now because the System put them in the exchange the moment Zac was able to snag them. And the Graveyard operation is the result of a System quest. It's easy to imagine Zac's approach to the Atavism trial (which wasn't his first choice even if it worked out extremely well in the end) and the subsequent damage to the Primordials being the consequence of the System playing 4d chess.
Thenais
Yup, Tavza would make a fine spirit tool.
Matt Creighton
Now that's some deep thonkin
StuBee3
Cool chapter, thanks! 😎
Chloe
Would love to see Iz and Ogras just shaking their heads
BearHandMan
Because their view of chaos was limited because the peak has been broken for so long. In comes Zac reforging fate and redefining what it means to be chaotic haha
Salvo
4 gifts, probably some official backing or ‘authority’ It would be nice if they gave him skill designs that are compatible. Wouldn’t say no to some primal Dao. Zac really lacks in the sense area of skills so maybe something that would detect other shards. Finally, the building materials for an inner world. Also, a sooper long receipt with those coupons on the back.
Aaron Schwartz
To be fair, he was explicitly, promised an amount of creation and oblivion from each of them. That was part of the deal They made. the other two gifts are a mystery.
Salvo
More like they are D-grade treasures, and his soul is too strong now. The fractured authority was the barrier that made them appear strong. Did you miss the last fight both creation and oblivion failed against a D-rank Eonic seed? His Earthly Dao was stronger.
DrSubterfuge
My guess is he bargains with the System to teleport him like in PV. Bring at least him and the bell to the wall, then unleash Chaos. And hopefully sic the System on the interloping Autarchs so they don't immediately ruin his day once everything is done popping off. And yeah, all this is happening when he's in accelerated time or this infinitely faster instantaneous tributary, so from the outside everything is happening in a blink.
sarvashaktimaan
Yeah, the Autrarch outside are breaking the systems rules while trying to hide from it's gaze. Zac just sounded an airhorn and lit a lighthouse when consuming the fragments. They will have different things to worry about.
Telewyn
There are peaks and boundaries between each Dao, and territories delineated by conflict. If Zac’s path takes him all the way to the top, it could be Void Chaos in between each peak, making Zac’s territory equivalent to any border between Daos. Putting him in a position the System would presumably like to occupy.
Mouser
It's all good friend....books were an escape while overseas.... He loved the big demon O, thought Zac did well with that as a num 1
Joey
The system is going to kill them because they shouldn't be there
Dols1618
I'm not so sure. To me it sounds like both innate existences of Oblivion and creation are now fighting. Not just the smaller wills that were present in zacs set of remnants. So I don't see why that wouldn't affect all of them. Also @maxwell I didn't mean chaos motes. I know those are unstable, but if Oblivion and creation become a single innate chaos existence, the shards/remnants may not be similarly unstable if they followed suit
Joey
Nah, time's frozen given they're basically in a time chamber. I hope Nutzu sells her the tape from the fort later.
R. Maxwell Steele
He does have to influence it. Because the bell hides the creature inside. So for Zac to sick the system on it, he has to destroy the bell, removing it's cover from the system. He is incapable of doing this, which is why he makes the bell attack the fortress of the Kantanu heart curse people. The bell creates an opening for them to slip in and the heart curse cultivators do all the work of destroying the bell for him. Then the system will go after the bell creature. Assuming it doesn't have other ways to hide. At which point he will have to light a flare (chaos) to bring the systems eye to see the bell creature.
Collin Sorrells
The Heart of oblivion and Shard of creation have somehow never met each other or were even aware of each other's existence somehow due to their nature, obsession, and possibly the biggest blind spot in the history of the multiverse. Zac forcibly made a connection between them and forced them to snap out of their psychosis and look at each other. They are currently going at each other like 2 Tom cats trapped in a burlap sack. This is probably the most destructive thing Zac has ever been associated with and unless they can break apart, and go back to not seeing each, they are probably gonna kill each other.
Porter
There is no way he can defeat the Autarchs outside still... But if he made the lives of life/death pathed autarchs and supremacies easier, didn't he just blow the walls off the Primo's cage?
Collin Sorrells
The top theory right now is that Karz's and maybe Leondio's being or soul was used to create or was an ingredient in creating the system. A sub theory is that Leondio's will is fattening up Zac like a hog for the slaughter to improve the system and add void cultivation or something and Karz's will is trying to warn him.
R. Maxwell Steele
Nah, the bell was going to punch through for them. That's why they dragged it over. Then once inside they would use the chaos to bring the sysyem to finish the bell creature, get Vilari back, and then summon the foreign Gods to finish the heart cursed unorthodox cult. If they use the system to kill the bell before they are inside, only half the goals are accomplished, and the most important part of saving the realm would fail. The system isn't going to fight the war for them and break through the wall for them. It will, however, go after the bell creature because the bell creature is hiding from heavenly punishment.
Porter
They might have prepared for that, but they are giving 4 to sever karma. Their hand is forced.
Russell Widger
The system would have gone against the entity in the bell purely because it exists, Zac wouldn't need you influence that at all. But to get the entity to show itself Zac planned on using the chaos
Skai
Sooo 16 years +?
Skai
This tempo prob around chapter 5-6k+
Jeff McCulley
Pretty sure that what he’s trying to say is that the two were distilled, separated or segmented from pure chaos into its two composite elements.
Collin Sorrells
So massive cliff on Wednesday?
R. Maxwell Steele
The pseudo supremacies would be all the shards combined and all the splinters combined. Fighting off 5/5 that have atavism is not the same as fighting off the actual heart of oblivion or the actual spark of creation. He did have an impact on the Dao but that impact was the equivalent of plunging the toilet of a few flakes of couple of dead false supremacies. It was a just a plug that he unplugged. I'd say his path had more impact then he refused the "one destiny" choice in the tribulation throne.
Jeff McCulley
Sigh. “Delineated borders” means that they are precisely described.
Collin Sorrells
They were not aware that he was an edge walker, and assumed he was 2 different people but they had some suspicions and bets between themselves.
Jeff McCulley
Ummm…no. You are literally using that “describe precisely” in your initial statement. You delineate (precisely describe) boundaries in order to separate them. To distinguish one from the other. Divide, sunder, segregate. Those are all more appropriate terms. Shockingly, I looked up multiple dictionary definitions before I decided to run my mouth. Here’s one: delineated; delineating Synonyms of delineate transitive verb 1 : to describe, portray, or set forth with accuracy or in detail delineate a character in the story delineate the steps to be taken by the government 2 a : to indicate or represent by drawn or painted lines b : to mark the outline of lights delineating the narrow streets
Shawn Lockhart
I think it makes perfect sense. He is saying that Dao of Creation and Oblivion within the shard and splinter are clearly defined like the lines of a map creating borders that clearly represent their distinct separation.
Collin Sorrells
Yeah, what that guy is saying is on the mark. Think of it like 2 adjacent regions or countries with delineated boundaries or borders. The way he's using it for those daos is, precisely described and quantified concepts unrelated and within their own borders and believing they are unique and separate. So when he says that when meeting they can't stay delineated, their concepts reacting with violently and bleeding in to each other. They can't refuse and can't accept that they are the same and the opposite. You could say two chemicals that are reactive to each other would not stay delineated if they came into contact. Hydrogen and oxygen will not remain delineated at the point of combustion and fuse into water.
Jeff McCulley
No, the chaos was supposed to draw System attention to the Bell to *break* the blockade. Then he’d slide through towards the breach. Which havoc is about to happen whenever Zac gets back.
Jeff McCulley
“He'd also need dozens of splinters to provide any tangible benefits after his soul and constitutions had evolved again” Looks like confirmation that Zac’s gonna keep on gobbling up frags.
R. Maxwell Steele
I imagine everyone watching has basically just blinked. They will be more shook when he brings he system down on them with his biggest chaos spark yet. Though he was supposed to be through the blockade and use the chaos to make the system go against the bell creature and summon he foreign Gods. How's he going to do any of that from here?
R. Maxwell Steele
It's a little weird since the remnants are D grade. So maybe the combine atavistic remnants are C grade? And then the combined C grade atavistic remnants combine to form bigger C/B grade Chaos sparks. Though he was supposed to be through the blockade and use the chaos to make the system go against the bell creature and summon he foreign Gods.
Chase C
You really have to learn to love all the waiting and cliffs.
R. Maxwell Steele
I think they prepared 4 gifts thinking they would give him 1 gift and then chose one of the four depending on his performance... only to see him do in a decade what they thought would take 100 years and then decide to give him all 4 gifts.
R. Maxwell Steele
If a shard/splinter is destroyed the will comes back. But if the shard/splinter is combined in atavism, the will that forms is cancelled out. So he permanently destroy the will of 5&5 which impacts their Dao tapestry by reducing a percentage of the whole but I don't think it perpetuates to the other shards/splinters. Once they do combined the are sparks of chaos and I don't think the sparks can exist naturally without external pressure. They are too reactive. I don't think there would be anything left by the time he got there. Maybe by the time he reaches the broken peaks and joins the two under his authority, his authority will make chaos self perpetuating so it can exist on its own.
Jeff McCulley
Time is flowing normally for them. Zac is on a side trip, and will return at the moment he left—when they all turned to look at him. So most probably, they don’t have any idea that anything has happened. Yet. Give it about two seconds after Zac pops back to “reality”. Make that two-tenths of a second. Then all hell breaks loose!
Jeff McCulley
Sweets?
Jeff McCulley
Heh. Many authors live to torment their readers,
R. Maxwell Steele
While this is true, in science we delineate things to categorize or separate them. So a delineated dao is a Dao that is precisely described, but if there is 2 daos that are delineated it also means separated specifically by their definition. Even most dictionaries will reference this separation by including words like "a border" or "a boundary" or "clear edges" or even go so far as to use the word "separation" itself. Which fits what he's saying exactly.
Jeff McCulley
A’Zu and Be’Zi, originally seeing Zac for mere moments, and only as a vision (and only as Draugr?) originally assumed that he was “merely” an Edgewalker cultivating Creation and Oblivion. Thus if he passed the Atavism test, they were willing to dually take him as a disciple. Zac…forged a different path. And given that both are dedicated nonconformists, they’re tickled to realize they’re getting far more in Zac than they anticipated. Little Mister Chaos, indeed.
Jeff McCulley
The shards and splinters “everywhere” aren’t connected to their respective Tapestries.
Jeff McCulley
I feel like “delineated” is repeatedly used incorrectly. The word means “precisely described”, and I don’t think that’s what TFD is going for. And it makes that narrative passage that much harder to sort out.
Aaron J
Can’t wait to see what the 4 gifts are
ouroboros
Ah, the terminus must be chaos. Only someone who can tame chaos and pathfind would survive. Otherwise you have children without supervision around a loaded gun.
Dols1618
"Their fused state could only have one outcome—the delineated Dao would return to its origin, in this case resulting in the appearance of hollow Chaos." This is interesting because if their individual wills are destroyed and/or combined into Chaos wouldn't that also affect the shards and splinters everywhere? I'm imagining a new chapter in the remnant treasure hunt where Zac is searching out Chaos shards/splinters instead. If that happened they would probably become one of the most valuable resources in the multiverse.
Progenitor of Supremacy
How many more years do you think it’s gonna be before Zac reaches supremacy.
Kris Piskorski
Amazing stuff, I wanted for so long for this
BearHandMan
I think they’re indirectly involved Fate due to their concepts getting caught up in the wake Zac is stirring up creating his path. Reforging the ideas of life, death, creation, oblivion, alpha, omega, etc. via chaos.
X_XSilver
Yeah, and to think the war is a build up for a much bigger and higher stakes event like Ultom. If the conclusion to the war is this crazy, can't even imagine Ultom. Also seems like we're still a long time away from a rest and recovery arc like the Orum World
Rabauke
Oh man, that's really sad to read. Hope you're doing well. Hope you're still feeling connected to him through this series. Head's up. Dunno if I'm talking shit right now. Nevermind. Be safe
Mouser
What a Zac thing to say!!!!
Lucas Gulick
Ah appreciate the call out, I tend to lose track of the schedule
David Giles
They've gone a long way to sever Karma, but Zac is naturally karma severing, and he's likely to end up a peer of theirs so a little link may be something worth considering.
Mouser
Know what you mean, a close military friend of mine just passed... We talked about this series a ton!!! We didn't know about Patreon... He would have loved saying hi to TFD!;!!
PapaJohn
FOUR?!
Kaladin
Sadly Thursday and Friday are editing days so waiting from Wednesday to Monday this week.
Rabauke
This is so fukin satisfying. Zac gets what he deserves. I need just one close friend to talk about it. Why the fuck does no one of them reading this. This is too exciting to just think about it alone.
Darnell Maxwell
Uuuuuh, let's agree to disagree. Personally I think the sustem is in the top 10 in terms of people screwing Zac over. Possibly top 5. I think it's more likely that his luck just works retroactively
Kharas
Doubt that Be´Zi and A´Zu were part of the original plan, they are after all "only" autarchs ;) But I think Emperor Limitless went around and tried to restore as many peaks as possible for his project, and by that killing and freeing as much of the Dao as possible. Be´Zi and A´Zu came along much, much later and started working on their little hobby project.
Jibryl
Well the system should have been able to predict everything up to the formation of the first slivers of chaos. It would make sense that it manipulated some event to make Zac form chaos, and manipulating the rng at the start would be quite easy.
support!
Could be something for his voids
Progenitor of Supremacy
I said it before and I’ll say it again. It truly sucks being caught up. Didn’t realize how good i had it when i had to catch up from the latest audiobook.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Zachary Blevins
I call foul you could’ve gave us two or three more paragraphs
Jeff McCulley
Zac: “I’ll wait to use them until I understand them better.” Be’Zi and A’Zu: “Man, do we have some good shit for you, then!”
Jeff McCulley
True Zach.
Jeff McCulley
Not sure about that. The part I am sure is that the System’s plan was break the Primordials to clear the path to rebuilding a Broken Peak.
Michael
4 gifts they “prepared” but they also said his gift was greater than they expected. So, to truly sever karma they might have to fork over a little more than that
Neneera
So, the plan all along was to permanently kill the Primordials to free the Authority of Creation and Oblivion for A'Zu and Be'Zi.
Michael
I just how the system doesn’t skimp out on the other rewards since it’s extracting a heavy cost just for this meeting.
Lucas Gulick
Sunday chapter feels pretty good, kinda like only having to wait one day for a chapter rather than two. Obviously we get two cliffs but still
Kaladin
Maybe not just impartments but authority? Not sure if either Autarch has secured a slice yet though to give him a corner.
TKOva
System has also helped him immensely. I'm pretty sure the system rigged his first encounter with the random number generator.
Random Information
'Did he say four?' 'Surely he meant ten?'
Michael Fannon
My first thoughts too.
Jeff McCulley
Whatcha wanna bet that when Zac said he was gonna wait until he said that he was gonna wait until he understood them better to use them (and they expected that)…that the gifts include A. Better understanding, and B. How to use them, one each? lol!
Jeff McCulley
Ooh, I see what you did there!
Jeff McCulley
I like this idea. After all, it’s just a matter of when TFD decides to post them…right? Does Patreon have a timer?
Jeff McCulley
The best thing about TFD having a delay last week is that we don’t have to wait THREE DAYS for this cliffy to be answered!
Scott Mingo
I can just imagine the Autarchs sitting outside wondering what the HELL just happened.
DrSubterfuge
As cool as this special time tributary is, it sort of feels exploitive in a way. There are all kinds of resources that Zac might ask for if he could call in the debt himself, and this is giving him something transitory that carves into that debt a lot. On the other hand, maybe this is the only way he can power up quickly enough to crack the bell. Regardless, this is hype as hell and we haven't even seen the full payoff for finally surviving Atavism.
Kharas
Im not salivating just at the thought of the 4 gifts... Im really not!! Stop looking!!! I imagine that 2 of the gifts, one each, is a Dao impartment for their respective dao so he can move closer to those earthly daos he need to compete with the big boys inside the trial. And the 2 others... Could it be something for his 2 weapons? Maybe something that move his weapons from their current Life for Veruns Bite and Death for Loves bond and closer to Creation and Oblivion? Other than that, its interesting that he mentioned that both Be´Zi and A´Zu still are autarchs. Zac really is spending more time with that power level these days than the Hegemons he really should be contending with :) And on a last note.. I really do hope that Tavza got trough this without any more hiccups. She deserve something good for helping Zac out when he needed it the most.
DrSubterfuge
Any thoughts on what the gifts are? Impartments for Creation and Oblivion seem like a given, but what about the other two?
BelligerentGnu
Still a merry sea of cultivation jargon, but man I'm looking forward go next chapter.
Alexander Dupree
The four things are (Thanks, for, the, chapter)
Jeff McCulley
I’m gonna be totally honest here. Zac keeps having all of these encounters lately with Authority…when I’m pretty sure this should be his theme song. https://youtu.be/h9m43idPw6w?si=XD9Jpr5heT8dYNzL
Darnell Maxwell
FINALLY!!! WE FINALLY GOT SOMETHING EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE TO THE REAL DEFINITION OF BALANCE IN THIS GODDAMN BOOK! And it was from the system no less! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about. Characters in this book love to say shit like balance has been restored. But their version of balance is. Zac wipes out an entire army, kills an incorporeal demon that has the strength of a mid to late hegemon while Zac is in e grade, and cripples the entirety of an enemy sector by stopping their early invasion plan. And his reward for not only doing all this but keeping it a secret so the people responsible for this bs face no consequences. Is a name and early warning the war will start in 3 years. Because yeah, thats a balanced outcome! Still can't stand the Vigil. Here Zac fought off two psuedo supremacies and changed the dao itself which widened the path of every cultivator focused on life and death. And not only did the system throw him a bone so he had more time to talk to the autarchs. But extra gifts as well! Lets go! This almost makes up for the fact that the system is definitely gonna screw him over when it takes that glimpse of chaos. Still don't know what he got for the last one. He teleported home on his own, my best guess was that some tribulation lightning struck the mountains to make the environment better for Zac's core.
Jack Trowell
... of four gifts 😁
Joey
So another mini training arc and a lot of free shit from the system before they get a chance to loot the fort or enter the graveyard?
The Lost Pages
Epic!
Kenneth Dennis
Ok does anyone else feel that TFD has been pulling out all the stops in the last several chapters? Darn good writing, and story telling. So much info in the last like 5 chapters to unpack.
Sanc Asura
I've been waiting years to see what comes of this. Thanks for the exciting chappy.
DrSubterfuge
Four gifts! Two more than what we were hoping! Nice
Lex Luther S
Given the way TFD does things, that could very well be the case.
Chemistrywarrior
28h actually 😂 but yeah I agree. Let's always skip wednesday and go for a sunday chappie
Danny
damit i wanna know what sweets they got for our boy zac :D
frankie doerr
Damn just how big of a mess did Zac create that the system had to put its full might to reward him I hope we get a different pov tomorrow preferably iz laughing at the mess
Shafan Knight
Damn!
Lex Luther S
Holy shit. So zac just gained a big dose of needed karma in what he's done to the tapestries of the heart of oblivion and spark of creation. So much so that the system was even willing to spend a massive price keeping their time OUTSIDE the river of time. Insane man. Then there's zac moving his path forward to what he wants to build, even going against what Be'Zi and her husband are doing and they're both rather happy about that; then there's them both finding out that the human and draugr are one🤣 man zacs probably one of the few D grades that could surprise an Autarch on their level. Now, peak branches and maybe even some headway into how he wants his Earthly daos set up, truly big gains. And 4 gifts!!!!????? Man this just shows how much of a cancer and blight the heart and spark are and boy ohh boy the next 3 chs are gonna be lit. Maybe 5 if he changes the editing days.
Themo Grulld
On Sunday a special is crazy.Will read it now.Hype Hype.15 min after release .
FriendorFo
Cliffs are so much easier to stomach when you know a chapter is coming in less than 24 hours hahahaha
Laura Pilkington
Four gifts, Four Laws?
James Faulkner
Let’s gooooooooooo
Andrew
Thank you!
Thenais
Hell yeah
Berry McCockiner
Sunday special
Rouslan Tourtsev
First
