Chapter 1431: The Dragon King Has Led Me Astray! |
Of the sixteen Divine Thrones — setting aside the seat of Corruption, which had never been witnessed — the remaining vacancies were Oblivion, Folly, Time, and Void.
With Sun Miao's disappearance, the only candidate left for Folly was Galusha.
When Fate had sent Hu Xuan into that Trial, the intent had clearly been foreseeing this very moment at the era's end. That was precisely why He had the Sage bring Galusha out — to serve as today's Folly alternate.
And since Fate was Deceit, it meant Deceit had already located Folly's Authority by then and laid contingencies accordingly.
So was Sun Miao also one of His contingencies?
The Oblivion candidate was settled. Old Zhang was right — the Universe demanded stability now, and Oblivion followers were notoriously volatile, forever threatening to annihilate the world. Finding one who was both close to Fixed Destiny and not prone to eruptions was genuinely difficult.
Cheng Shi marveled once more at how every morsel and drop was fated. Back then, sparing Mo Shu's life had been nothing more than a whim. Who would have guessed it'd earn the Universe a "relatively stable" Oblivion?
Fate's Throne would of course go to the Blind One. But that appointment would have to wait, because the Flame of Hope had yet to be found.
Although the Pact's Proxy no longer needed a container to grant the Blind One succession, the Flame of Hope was also their companion. Before seeing him again, Cheng Shi felt he couldn't simply strip away everything belonging to Fate.
That left Time and Deceit...
Deceit was relatively straightforward. Long Jing was, after all, a devout and "loyal" Acrobat, and his number-two ranking proved he'd traveled far down Deceit's road.
But the seat of Time — no matter how hard he thought, the only people Cheng Shi could come up with were old friends who had faith in Time. Their closeness to Time's will, however, still fell far short of qualifying.
What to do?
Just as Cheng Shi wallowed in deliberation, two more figures materialized in the Void.
Li Jingming had arrived — with Long Jing in tow. Bewildered, Long Jing took one look at Cheng Shi and Old Zhang and blurted:
"Joker meeting?"
Cheng Shi was momentarily thrown. He looked quizzically at the Dragon King, who simply smiled:
"I know Time's Throne has been giving you a headache. So I've come to put your mind at ease."
He clapped Long Jing on the shoulder and nudged him forward a half-step. "Isn't there an outstanding Time follower standing right here?
President Gong crossed the spacetime barrier and proved himself through a magnificent sacrifice, simultaneously raising the curtain on another world's pursuit of truth. To forge connections of time between different slice universes with such resolve — how could that not warrant a seat on Time's Throne?"
"!!!"
"???"
The Dragon King's declaration left all three other Jokers dumbstruck.
Honestly, having Long Jing inherit Deceit's Throne was an unspoken consensus among the Jokers. Even Cheng Shi felt there was no one more suitable.
Previously, there had been someone better — Zhen Xin was absolutely the ideal candidate. But Zhen Xin had already taken Chaos's Throne, which forced Cheng Shi to select from among the remaining Deceit followers.
And that person could only be Long Jing.
Long Jing had assumed the same. He wasn't entirely satisfied with the way the number-one slot had "walked off" and he'd been promoted by default, but for the Universe's sake, he was willing to accept the role.
Yet today, the Dragon King's proposal caught him completely off guard. Before coming, the Dragon King had only said the Throne successions needed to be accelerated — never that the Throne meant for him was Time's!
Long Jing stared at the Dragon King in shock, then at Cheng Shi in disbelief. The moment he saw the crease of worry between Cheng Shi's brows, he understood the dilemma:
'There's nobody left for Time.'
Long Jing wasn't averse to Time. On the contrary — he thought it was a fine fit, because the brightest moment of his entire life had been crossing the spacetime barrier and linking the temporal causality of two worlds.
Moreover, he knew the original Time had played a critically important role in the salvation effort — important in the same way he, the man who'd unveiled the Universal truth, had been. If he were to inherit Time, he had no objections.
The real question was: with his seat empty, who would fill Deceit's Throne?
Old Zhang?
Long Jing glanced at Old Zhang. One look at the Fishbone Hall behind him made it clear — Old Zhang had already inherited Death. So the only Joker left was the Doctor.
But the Doctor was slated for Truth's Throne... Which meant there was only one solution: have Zhen Xin select a new Chaos heir, relinquish the Chaos Throne, and return to Deceit's path.
Cheng Shi had arrived at the same conclusion.
From the moment he heard the Dragon King's pitch, he understood the man hadn't come solely to recommend a Time candidate. He must have found a suitable Deceit candidate first — hence pushing Long Jing toward Time.
And the new Deceit whom the Dragon King would endorse? No need to even think. It could only be Zhen Xin.
But that involved a critically thorny issue: placing Zhen Xin on Chaos's Throne hadn't been Cheng Shi's idea alone. It was Deceit's will!
Indeed — during the confrontation that had exposed Chaos's true form, Zhen Xin could never have inherited Chaos so smoothly without Deceit's backing. It was He who, at the crucial moment, returned everything belonging to Chaos and propelled His own follower onto that seat.
Which proved Deceit had also wanted Zhen Xin to inherit Chaos!
Granted, the plan was initiated by Cheng Shi and midway through he'd strong-armed Deceit into cooperating. But if this hadn't been part of Deceit's blueprint, He could easily have warped Cheng Shi's will during execution — He was certainly no stranger to that move.
So Cheng Shi hesitated. Was there a deeper purpose behind Deceit placing Zhen Xin on Chaos's Throne? Or had it merely been a temporary gambit to neutralize Order's vote?
Yet under those circumstances, Order's vote had been virtually moot anyway...
Cheng Shi sank into thought. So did everyone else present.
Seeing the silence, the Dragon King smiled: "Since the core contradiction hinges on the Magician, why not simply go ask her, Cheng Shi?"
"?"
Cheng Shi snapped his head up, eyes sharp:
"Dragon King, do you know something?
Is there some secret about Zhen Xin stored in Memory's Collection Hall?"
The Dragon King shook his head: "Until Zhen Xin consents, I won't share her past. That is respect for memory — and respect for each of you."
"..." 'Your 'respect' sure is flexible.'
Cheng Shi curled his lip: "Want me to call a Pact vote to unseal the Magician's memories?"
"?"
'Is that really what the Pact is for?'
Zhang Jizu narrowed his eyes. Long Jing looked on with eager anticipation. The Dragon King chuckled ruefully: "Don't make me the villain. Just go talk to her."
The words had barely left his mouth when a striking figure appeared before them. The Magician wore her trademark smile and tilted her head at the group:
"Talk about what? Please tell me you haven't been badmouthing me behind my back."
The instant Cheng Shi saw Zhen Xin, something clicked. He understood the Dragon King's meaning.
With a note of surprise, he asked her a single question:
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Zhen Yi in a long time. Where did she go?"
"..."
The smile on Zhen Xin's face froze. She lowered her gaze in silence.
Cheng Shi's heart skipped a beat. He whipped his head toward the Dragon King, thinking:
'This is bad. The Dragon King has led me astray!'
...