Chaotic World Book

Of course, the Wang Family was bound to rebel no matter what.

"When he couldn't curb his greed and knew well that the Sea Mud contained the Sea Race's Yin Qi yet still dared to absorb it, he was destined for such a day. The Sea Emperor's restraining nature… Once he started driving it, he could only rebel in advance, becoming a chess piece manipulated by Xia and the Sea Emperor in their game. Once this move was made, there was no stopping—it could only end with one party's destruction or his own," Zhao Changhe looked at Wang Daoning's corpse and suddenly said, "In some sense… Hai Pinglan really screwed over old Wang."

Xia Chichi nodded.

Indeed, Hai Pinglan exploited a tiger to swallow a wolf, taking advantage of the Sea Emperor's disdain for the insufficient population on the sea and intentionally luring the Sea Emperor ashore to provoke Xia Longyuan… That's what led to the infiltration of the Wang Family.

Regardless of who tricked the Wang Family, Xia Chichi's expression was much improved at this moment.

Her emotions had been too complex before; she needed a release. Now that Wang Daoning had died, it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders, as a great relief washed over her.

"It's a bit ironic, trying to control Heaven and Earth but ending up being devoured by the sea," she laughed briefly, feeling somewhat amused, "Hey, didn't you learn that palm technique, although just superficially… Isn't it a bit ominous? Do you want to forget it?"

Zhao Changhe smiled, "It depends on who uses it. This palm skill isn't bad; its aggressive nature actually suits the Wang Family quite well."

Xia Chichi curiously asked, "How does it suit them? They behave so despicably, yet they aspire to control Heaven and Earth. Are they worthy?"

"Wang Daoning might have been the lowest in terms of style among those I've seen on the Heavenly List, but he was actually the most daring. Whether it was dealing with the tiger back in the day in pursuit of the Imperial Realm or this time staking all on slaughtering the dragon that linked together, it's full of gambling spirit… It has a bit of a recklessness to it. If he had won his bet? It is a bit unbecoming of an aristocratic family, not sure if it's because he has spent too much time by the sea…"

"There are no ifs in life events. Nor do we need to elevate the Heavenly List. With enough talents and resources, finding the right cultivation technique for advancement, anyone can break through the Secret Realm. Your Blood Evil Skill is an Evil Technique, where the only requirement is tenacity, not nature; you are still a hero, not just the magic," Vermilion Bird spoke nonchalantly, then immediately turned and went underground.

She had been standing aside with a tense mood, seeing that these two seemed not to notice her, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that everyone's mind was elsewhere, likely no one pondered much on what Wang Daoning had said. Thus, she felt her dignity was preserved and resumed her venerable demeanor.

Zhao Changhe watched her retreating figure, his gaze flickering.

What Wang Daoning had said was not the key point, but rather Vermilion Bird's reckless rescue at that moment.

This matter… Hmm, this figure…

He didn't dare to jump to conclusions yet and tried saying, "Just now, I thank the Venerable for your help…"

Vermilion Bird paused for a moment, then waved her hand and continued walking, "You are the Room Fire Pig of my Holy Sect; why would I not care for your life? Just continue being loyal to the Holy Sect, and you will not have failed my intentions."

Zhao Changhe's expression turned strange, and he didn't continue speaking.

He didn't know how to respond… What if he had misunderstood… Maybe he should ask San Niang later?

Right now wasn't the right atmosphere, either. Xia's corpse sat quietly on the high platform, and now Vermilion Bird stood before him. Zhao Changhe worried that Vermilion Bird might consider destroying the body and swiftly flew down, subtly positioning himself in front, and pretended to reach into Xia Longyuan's chest, "Old Xia left me something; let me check…"

Vermilion Bird said faintly from behind, "There's no need to intentionally protect… Although I detest him, I wouldn't go that far, especially not in front of Chichi... what do you take me for?"

Zhao Changhe silently sighed with relief.

Xia Longyuan had two pages in his embrace, one was a page of the Heavenly Book with an unknown corresponding direction, the other … Zhao Changhe took out and looked at it, pausing for a moment.

It was a page that looked like random notes, seemingly attached to the Heavenly Book but marvelously merged with it, then directly manifested in the Soul Sea.

It was as if Xia Longyuan's residual soul was conversing with him, though it should have been a preset made to avoid the blind, right?

The residual soul spoke, and the first sentence was quite startling, "This world is actually just a game."

"Because it's clearly a man-made, closed little world, just like many online novels describe—worlds within books, worlds within boxes, worlds within caves, all the same. In a closed environment, the sky is fake, something you can reach the end of and cannot exit from; the earth is fake too, it's not a sphere, there's no life on the other side of the planet. Since it's a false world, treating it like a game world shouldn't be a problem."

Zhao Changhe looked up and thought for a moment, unsure how to evaluate this.

A closed little world is one thing; equating it directly with a false world is another.

But Old Xia thought this way, and not without his reasons. After all, this is just a preset image, meaningless to converse with, just listen.

"Assuming this is a world within a book, then this book is the Heavenly Book, it should originally be a magical treasure belonging to an extremely powerful Immortal God. But the owner died, and even this treasure was shattered, hence the so-called 'death of Heavenly Dao' and 'shattering of the epoch'. It's supposed to be about humanity rising again from ruins, where almost everyone significant in the world is either dead or barely clinging to life. Ordinary people surviving is nothing but a rebirth of life spirits after the destruction of the Heavenly Book World..."

"The more I think about it, the more it resembles a game world where everyone who dies will just pop up again; isn't that what an NPC is?"

"The blind woman wants me to collect the Heavenly Book, she can go to hell. There are many God Demons hiding in the shadows of the world, each aiming for the Heavenly Book, thinking if they collect it all, they can replace the Heavenly Dao. I only need to keep one page so none of them can complete it, let them bite each other for the rest."

"Including that blind woman who thinks she sees everything, she'll soon be thrown into the fray, from her high clouds to the fighting pits. I really want to see the day she gets bitten to pieces."

"As for replacing the Heavenly Dao, she thinks everyone would be interested, but I frankly don't care. How many players in a game want to become the GM? She understands shit. She hasn't stayed in the real world long enough to understand everyone. What I really want is to destroy the Heavenly Book, but I can't… I know it can't be destroyed, it's the manifestation of the Heavenly Dao transformed. If I could destroy it, I would be able to end the world. Or perhaps I could think about it in reverse; if I end the world, it would be destroyed? Don't know if I'll be able to do it, better leave a note for later."

"Anyway, if it's just about collecting the Heavenly Book, the ending would definitely be me preparing a bridal gown for her at the last moment, just as she thinks she's able to replace the Heavenly Dao, she'd find she's just a mere tool."

"If there's any benefit in collecting the Heavenly Book, it would be battling with these God Demons during the process, which I do desire. I want to hunt down these God Demons one by one, which could level me up. But thinking that the blind woman is watching, I don't want to proceed that way. I have other ways to find where these people are hiding. I've constructed the Heavenly Vault under the Temple, owning mountains and rivers, creating the Vault for observing any place and descending divinely to any location at will..."

"That page of the Heavenly Book at Ancient Sword Lake is the basic cover page, very tempting. I've known about it for a very long time but never took it. I deliberately left it there to lure the God Demons out for me to annihilate. However, the blind woman deliberately obscured the aura and even changed its form, causing the God Demons to remain unaware, leaving only the Aristocratic Family and the Demon Sect searching for the sword. This game between me and the blind woman, I lost a round, but the item was either in my daughter's or son-in-law's hands, she might not win it either."

"Though I don't think I'll die... If my page will end up in anyone's hands in the future, that son-in-law is more likely to get it. I'll just leave these random notes here. It doesn't matter who gets them, as long as it blocks the blind woman. Whether you want to be her tool or not is up to you."

"As for the Maitreya Sect, I originally thought they had a page, or their goal was for a specific page. I've been waiting, watching them afflict Jiangnan, not wanting to intervene, only wanting to see their ultimate goal, the moment when that God Demon jumps out. Wanzhuang and Changhe were making trouble out of nothing, interfering too much. Unexpectedly, Changhe was actually able to call upon friends to kill the God Demon behind Maitreya... which just shows how trash those rats in the gutters are."

"The one with more guts is actually Hu Shen... this guy tries to restrain me daily. When Changhe met me for the first time, as I raised my hand and thundered, knowing I had left the Temple, he tried to see if I would be weaker away from my base, but ended up getting beaten back by me. The headache is that it's really not appropriate for my true body to leave the Capital City. If someone takes advantage of my absence and seizes the Capital, it would be troublesome..."

"I also sense... if I lose my foundational rule, it might complicate my cultivation... When I chose the path of unifying everything under heaven, it seems I chose the wrong direction, unknowingly it became my constraint and shackle. My son-in-law says if I were to fail, it could be on this... "

"I don't want to believe. My target is the God Demons, how could I possibly be overthrown by a bunch of low-level slimes? Games are fun because they have limitations. Ideally, I should stay here, surveilling all directions, letting my son-in-law grow up faster so he can go out and battle."

"This guy is actually not bad, just a bit more lustful and a bit of an idiot, hasn't really seen many NPCs, after all, my daughter is at least half a person, can't he just be exclusive? The problem seems to be that he's fast becoming like an NPC himself... With this kind of mentality, sooner or later, he will fall into the blind woman's hands."