Whether for Long Jing or Qin Xin, ascending to a divine throne was actually fairly simple — because both had received divine recognition and t the Convention's rules regarding Envoys inheriting thrones. All they needed was to seek an audience with Justice (Order) at the appropriate mont and have their divine authority legitimized.
The difficult case was Nangong in the God Creation Plan — soone who was actively serving as a Container vessel, hoping to earn the right of inheritance. Her ascension and Li Wufang's would likely have to wait until Cheng Shi held enough votes.
Though that wasn't far off now. The votes Cheng Shi could leverage were about to exceed half the total divine count. [Death], [Silence], and [Ti] were already the Fear Faction's reliable bloc — and now, with [Chaos], [mory], and [War] added in, even without [Void] showing itself, Cheng Shi already held six votes.
[Prosperity]'s vote was with [Fate]; [Truth]'s was with [Deceit] — those two would be hard to covet for a while. But among the remaining divine beings, opportunities still existed.
[Birth] was all about participating, and with the Eternal Sun as a point of connection, it wasn't inconceivable to win its vote at a critical mont. [Decay] was still around — given their prior relationship, and as long as it didn't interfere with [Decay]'s self-rotting, a vote might be possible. [Oblivion] was regrettable — what should have been a solid vote was now simply on hold. As for [Folly]...
Never mind.
With Brother Mouth having railed against [Folly] so thoroughly, expecting [Folly] to grudgingly acknowledge its own foolish act and join the foolish acts faction was more than dreamlike. He'd find another way to get that last vote.
Cheng Shi sighed in resignation, muttering "Folly, Folly..." under his breath. Small as his voice was, Qin Xin caught every word.
Qin Xin's brow tightened. He looked at Cheng Shi seriously. "What's going on with [Folly]?"
Cheng Shi had been about to say "nothing, just thinking aloud" — but seeing Qin Xin's expression, he blinked and turned the question back. "What's going on with [Folly]?"
He could read it clearly — Qin Xin had also run into sothing related to [Folly].
Things had reached this point of mutual disclosure, and everyone's efforts were unified. Qin Xin couldn't very well use Torchbearer secrecy as an excuse to deflect Cheng Shi anymore. So he told him his [Folly] situation.
"[Folly] itself is fine. But its follower ca."
"?"
Cheng Shi imdiately thought of Sun Miao. Now that he thought about it, this person with the Deconstructing Eye was the "mole" he had "planted" in the Torchbearers in the first place. Thinking of this, Cheng Shi's expression turned a little odd. "Her coming isn't strange at all. What's the problem?"
"Strange?" Qin Xin shook his head and exhaled. "I can't find any part of it that's normal. There are too many problems. Never mind how he got here — the most critical issue is, how do I get him to keep the Torchbearers' existence secret?"
"???"
Cheng Shi was montarily confused — but soon realized that this [Folly] follower Qin Xin was referring to absolutely was not Sun Miao. It had to be...
"Wei Mu?!"
Qin Xin blinked. "Who else would give soone such a headache? Jie Shu?"
"..."
In fairness, Jie Shu was pretty headache-inducing too.
Upon hearing that Wei Mu had co to the Torch-Passing Hall of his own accord, Cheng Shi was visibly surprised. "He's here right now?"
"Yes. As luck would have it — shortly before you arrived, he ca uninvited. If I hadn't reacted quickly enough, this little puppet would have walked right into the Fla of Hope.
Fortunately, he didn't anticipate my strength to be able to restrain him — otherwise the eting we're having now might not be happening."
"You captured him?"
"Just temporarily restricted his freedom. I can tell he probably doesn't want to leave in a hurry either. So once we're done here in a bit..."
"No need to wait!" Before Qin Xin even finished, Cheng Shi clapped a hand on his shoulder and said with genuine delight. "I've been wanting to find him too. I'd love to ask the Road to Ascension's perennial top-ranked absents what his take is on the [Void] era's ending. Co on — take
to see him."
Qin Xin paused. He looked at Cheng Shi, looked at the Fla of Hope, then let out a smile of quiet understanding. "It seems the world's future truly has lost its direction."
Cheng Shi shook his head firmly.
"No. The future's direction is right beneath our feet — the path we walk is the world's future. But before taking that first step, we have to be careful, and careful again. The universe won't give us a second chance to start over.
Like the Torchbearers — every source of outside strength available to us must be seized. Only then can we find a single road toward light in the absolute darkness."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the Candle Man floated upside-down near Cheng Shi's shoulder and said close to his ear:
"Strange. Sohow, the fla of torch-passing I sense in you today is stronger than anyone else here. You feel more like the Torchbearers' leader than any of them.
Weren't you the one who refused to draw close to the Torchbearers? Was it the unyielding spirit of the Torchbearers in the false Curtain Call that changed you?
Are you still Cheng Shi? Perhaps you should be called... Qin Shi?"
"..."
"..."
Qin Xin burst out laughing. Cheng Shi responded with a disgusted roll of his eyes and pushed Qin Xin forward.
He didn't deny what the Fla of Hope said. Inside, he thought quietly:
When I face despair — even when I cannot see hope — I still hope that a fla will blaze soplace else where the darkness falls. That is what this false curtain call taught . It is also the continuation of your unyielding will and mine, carried forward into the Real Universe.
The three "divine beings" soon arrived at the room where Wei Mu was being "held." Looking at the little puppet restricted within Qin Xin's room, Cheng Shi imdiately understood — this was nothing but a scouting technique Wei Mu was using. The puppet's true self was nowhere near here, and Qin Xin had no real intention of imprisoning him.
Peak combat power and peak intellect t each other. Both gave the other a degree of face.
After all, no one could be certain what provoking Wei Mu might lead to. Even after Qin Xin had inherited [War]'s authority — [War] was not [Folly]. Trying to outthink Wei Mu was impossibly hard. This ga wasn't about raw power alone. Otherwise, [War] wouldn't be called [War] — it would be called [Origin].
When the puppet saw the three arrive, it blinked with slight surprise. Then, quickly, it jumped up onto the surface of the table and bowed toward all three.
"A humble mortal form, Observer of the World's Folly, Unveiler — Wei Mu, offers his greetings to the three... Envoy Lords."
That phrasing felt familiar. The last ti Wei Mu had introduced himself with such solemnity, they had been in the Theocracy of Growth in Dolgod. But why had "he who draws the curtain" beco "he who unveils the curtain"? What exactly had this wise man of [Folly] co to understand?
Cheng Shi was curious — but before asking his own questions, he felt the need to slightly deflate the other party's confidence first.
Standing before three Envoys as a mortal and still projecting that kind of boldness — would the rhythm of everything that followed not end up entirely in Wei Mu's hands?
So Cheng Shi let out a brief, amused sound. "How do you know three Envoys stand before you?"
Wei Mu considered briefly and answered without hesitation.
"Your identity needs no further elaboration. That of the [War] successor I had not anticipated — though by my understanding of [War], staying hidden and striking at the right mont would naturally earn its recognition.
As for this one..."
Wei Mu's eyes shifted to the Fla of Hope and analyzed.
"[War] is not achieved in a single instant. Before reaching that point, so divine being would have to be sheltering this place. And a life capable of walking side by side with both of you to arrive here... should be the guardian of this place."
The puppet turned and looked at the upside-down Candle Man with curiosity.
"I sense in you a vague, layered void-power unlike that of any currently seated divine being. So — you should be [Fate]'s Envoy? A 'rebel' who has chosen a path entirely different from the current [Fate]?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
The three looked at each other, montarily speechless.
How do you play against this?
He lays everything bare openly — where's your move?
Cheng Shi was exasperated — but he still spotted a gap in Wei Mu's reasoning.
"You're wrong. The one sheltering the Torchbearers isn't the Fla of Hope — it's the Fun God!"
"[Deceit]?!"
Wei Mu blinked in surprise, then nodded thoughtfully. "So it goes. So [Deceit] has indeed been pulling [Fate] down a road that diverges from [Fate]..."
"..."
You can never defeat a sharp and eager learner. Or to put it another way — you can never defeat a master analyst who has no apparent blind spots.
Rather than pressuring Wei Mu, Cheng Shi's remark had only given him more material to "deduce."
Watching the puppet sink into thought, Cheng Shi gave up.
Don't try to provoke an authority in a domain where you don't excel. Better to join them than to keep pushing back.
So Cheng Shi cleared his throat and asked with complete sincerity:
"Wise man — are you open to cooperation?"
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