And so, right under the Iron Law of [Order]'s nose, three clowns successfully rendezvoused.
Li Wufang, the only one present who hadn't been in on it, had never suspected that the "Cheng Shi" who followed him in to seek an audience with the Iron Law of [Order] was not Cheng Shi at all. Because the die he'd been holding wasn't Cheng Shi's — it was Zhen Xin's. Never Lost Gambling Gear and Elusive Chip were both talents, and a Magician's specialty was borrowing talents from others — especially when the other party cooperated willingly.
Having been through so much, Cheng Shi had long seen through the Iron Law of [Order]'s true nature. He knew that even if there was confusion, the Iron Law would never admit its [Chaos] identity. Having buried itself too deep into the role, it had completely forgotten the truth of being [Chaos]. Its only obsession now was to preserve the last thread of order in a world where order was steadily eroding — and its own existence, it believed, was the final order.
The Iron Law of [Order] would never believe a mortal's proof. In all likelihood, it wouldn't even bother looking at any mory produced by a [mory] follower.
Presenting those mories wasn't Cheng Shi's attempt to prove the Iron Law's identity on the spot — it was to sharpen the conflict.
But as a precaution, he had made arrangents.
There were many ways to present mories. Cheng Shi had deliberately instructed Long Jing to manifest the so-called evidence in the most fragile form possible — as light bubbles. That way, when the evidence was transferred, the bubbles would be easily burst.
And given a god's pride and the Iron Law of [Order]'s deep resistance to having its identity questioned — once those bubbles were destroyed, it would certainly not ask a mortal for another copy of the evidence.
In this way, the tension between mortal and god over the identity question could be escalated to its maximum point.
And the ultimate purpose of escalating that tension was to drive the Iron Law of [Order] into an emotional trap. Whether irritation or fury — the goal was to make it boil over emotionally, its will destabilized, and through that, draw out the most fundantal [Chaos] will sleeping within it.
But that alone wasn't enough.
Mortals were still mortals. Even if they managed to get a seat at the table, the chips they held were still too few.
Sothing more had to be added to the emotional pressure — and that sothing was the three gods of the Fear Faction.
The appearance of [Death], [Silence], and [Ti] was no accident. They were each aides Cheng Shi had gone and solicited one by one in separate audiences.
Of course, Zhen Xin — playing Cheng Shi — hadn't known any of this, and Cheng Shi hadn't told her. Only by keeping her in the dark could she project a convincing sense of pressure before the Iron Law of [Order] — the sense that "Cheng Shi" himself must be holding critical evidence capable of exposing its identity.
And for that reason, the arrival of the three divine beings further deepened the Iron Law of [Order]'s self-doubt.
The story began moving in the direction of the script Cheng Shi had personally written.
Aside from the small detour to the [mory] Collection Hall, the plan proceeded with extraordinary precision. This wasn't only because Cheng Shi had fully grasped the [Order] lineage's nature and pushed steadiness to its limits — it was also because this script had a second author.
[Deceit].
Yes — [Deceit] had made its move. Just as Cheng Shi told Zhen Xin: it had been left with no choice.
Cheng Shi had used his Fixed Destiny identity as leverage, insisting on claiming an [Order] throne at this particular mont in ti. Though this clashed with [Deceit]'s planned rhythm, it truly could not allow Fixed Destiny to absorb even the slightest risk right now.
So it entered the sche. The first thing it did was make Zhen Xin's impersonation convincing to the entire universe.
No one noticed anything off about "Cheng Shi." Not even the three divine beings.
This was not only because [Deceit] excelled at deception — it was also because, when Cheng Shi requested help from the three gods, he and his patron completed an extraordinary act of silent coordination without a single word of exchange.
He didn't tell the three gods the full plan. He had presented Zhen Xin as himself during persuasion, maximally leveraging his Fixed Destiny identity to cash in on its prestige.
After that, he vanished from the universe's sight entirely — "archived" away by [Deceit].
When the three gods arrived, they simply assud the "Cheng Shi" Zhen Xin was playing was the real Cheng Shi. Hence the scene that followed — [Death] furiously trying to block the Final Oracle, [Silence] descending only to be silenced in return.
Even [Ti] only realized it had been deceived at the very last mont, when it heard the real Cheng Shi's prayer.
Two deceivers — one grand, one small — without exchanging a single word, had fooled the entire universe.
The second thing [Deceit] did, when [Chaos] returned, was to hand back everything it had stolen from [Chaos] — all of its divine authority — in full.
[Deceit] understood [Chaos] better than any other god. It had to — because otherwise it could never have pulled off the trick of making [Chaos] believe it was [Order].
Previously, [Deceit] had needed [Chaos]'s authority because there was a secret it had to hide from the entire universe. But now it no longer needed to hide it. And more importantly, it needed to resolve this upside-down identity crisis before the final plan could be executed.
It knew that this mont was a perfect opportunity to eliminate [Chaos]'s latent risk — so riding the montum of Cheng Shi's operation, it began drawing in its own net.
And so, the mont [Chaos] tried to issue a Final Oracle to corrupt Cheng Shi's Fixed Destiny — [Deceit] did sothing suprely in character and suprely crucial at the sa ti: it deceived away Cheng Shi's na, making the universe forget in that instant what the na "Cheng Shi" ant.
This wasn't difficult. [Deceit] was [Void]'s surface — concealnt was its nature. And before this, it had also seized [mory]'s authority. The river of [Existence] flowing through [Void] was the clearest proof of that.
So in the mont before [Chaos] self-destructed, it suddenly could no longer rember the na. All it could do was point in fury and panic at the specific person before it — "Cheng Shi" — and declare:
"I bestow him as my Envoy — granting him dominion over [Chaos]'s Authority — permitting him to inherit my everything!
[Deceit] — I know your thods. But there are so things even you cannot defy!
Because — this is the Final Oracle!"
[Chaos] realized [Deceit] was interfering, but it had also found its solution: point at the target and designate "that one" as the inheritor of its throne and authority.
The Final Oracle truly was inviolable.
And so — recognized by a dying god, carried out with Justice (Order)'s rigid impartiality — Magician Zhen Xin inherited [Chaos]'s everything. Under the witness of all the assembled divine beings, she ascended the throne and beca the first person in this entire ga to make the true, genuine transition from mortal to god.
It had to be said — the plan was executed with extraordinary precision. Almost every step moved exactly in accordance with Cheng Shi's will.
Though the process wasn't entirely without risk. At least in Cheng Shi's estimation, the only real risk in this entire succession performance was Zhen Xin herself.
If Zhen Yi — the sister who found amusent in everything — had suddenly woken up halfway through and decided to improvise a one-woman show in the middle of the script, the entire plan would have been finished.
Fortunately, Zhen Xin had promised to keep her sister in check. Zhen Yi truly didn't appear. That alone let Cheng Shi exhale with relief.
There was one more thing worth pondering.
How had [mory] known that [Order] was replaced by [Chaos]?
In truth — the artifact inside the Collection Hall was simply wrong. What it depicted differed from actual history in multiple details. But strangely, the perspective of that artifact was unmistakably Cheng Shi's own — which ant [mory] had drawn from Cheng Shi's mories to create its artifact.
But the question was: on what basis could it have done that?
And why had it placed a fabricated, overwritten mory inside its own Collection Hall?
That was very out of character for [mory].
If [mory] could freely cherry-pick mories from Cheng Shi's mind, it would have known the universe's truth long ago. [Deceit]'s protection was no impenetrable fortress against every intruder, and Cheng Shi didn't believe [mory] would be so heavily biased toward the Fun God — so after arriving at the scene, Cheng Shi cast a aningful glance at Long Jing.
Perhaps only Long Jing could explain that to him.
Of course, before any of that — there were so thorny matters that needed handling first.
Deceiving soone is a mont's joy — the explanations afterward are an ordeal. Deceiving [Death] and [Silence] like this...
[Silence] was manageable. It could only swallow its objections.
But the boss at [Death]...
The great skull — released at last from the Convention's binding — turned its gaze upon the "just arrived" Cheng Shi, and said, one word at a ti:
"Well. Well. Well."
Cheng Shi's expression froze. He didn't dare smile.
Boss, please stop complinting . It's making
scared...
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