Of the sixteen Divine Thrones — setting aside the seat of Corruption, which had never been witnessed — the remaining vacancies were Oblivion, Folly, Ti, 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 mont 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 ant 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 appointnt would have to wait, because the Fla of Hope had yet to be found.
Although the Pact's Proxy no longer needed a container to grant the Blind One succession, the Fla of Hope was also their companion. Before seeing him again, Cheng Shi felt he couldn't simply strip away everything belonging to Fate.
Besides, he already had suspicions about the Fla of Hope's identity. He believed the Fla would always be the Fla — even if it drew close to Fate, it would never make a decision contrary to Fixed Destiny at this critical juncture.
That left Ti 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 Ti — no matter how hard he thought, the only people Cheng Shi could co up with were old friends who had faith in Ti. Their closeness to Ti'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 eting?"
Cheng Shi was montarily thrown. He looked quizzically at the Dragon King, who simply smiled:
"I know Ti's Throne has been giving you a headache. So I've co 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 Ti follower standing right here?
President Gong crossed the spaceti barrier and proved himself through a magnificent sacrifice, simultaneously raising the curtain on another world's pursuit of truth. To forge connections of ti between different slice universes with such resolve — how could that not warrant a seat on Ti'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 soone 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 assud the sa. 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 ant for him was Ti's!
Long Jing stared at the Dragon King in shock, then at Cheng Shi in disbelief. The mont he saw the crease of worry between Cheng Shi's brows, he understood the dilemma:
'There's nobody left for Ti.'
Long Jing wasn't averse to Ti. On the contrary — he thought it was a fine fit, because the brightest mont of his entire life had been crossing the spaceti barrier and linking the temporal causality of two worlds.
Moreover, he knew the original Ti had played a critically important role in the salvation effort — important in the sa way he, the man who'd unveiled the Universal truth, had been. If he were to inherit Ti, 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 ant 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 sa conclusion.
From the mont he heard the Dragon King's pitch, he understood the man hadn't co solely to recomnd a Ti candidate. He must have found a suitable Deceit candidate first — hence pushing Long Jing toward Ti.
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 mont, 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-ard 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 rely 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 sothing?
Is there so secret about Zhen Xin stored in mory's Collection Hall?"
The Dragon King shook his head: "Until Zhen Xin consents, I won't share her past. That is respect for mory — and respect for each of you."
"..." 'Your 'respect' sure is flexible.'
Cheng Shi curled his lip: "Want
to call a Pact vote to unseal the Magician's mories?"
"?"
'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
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
you haven't been badmouthing
behind my back."
The instant Cheng Shi saw Zhen Xin, sothing clicked. He understood the Dragon King's aning.
With a note of surprise, he asked her a single question:
"Co to think of it, I haven't seen Zhen Yi in a long ti. 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
astray!'
...
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