The True Universe Lord
However, as he did, Matthew disappeared from his position in the backyard and arrived in a different space.
Scared and stunned, Matthew first thought that the Nine-Ringed Divine Throne had done something horrible, but after he looked around himself, he found himself unconsciously calming down.
The area he was in was a vast and beautiful floral region. With knee-high grass and towering trees around him, it was a serene forest that would be any photographer's dream. Though there wasn't any Spiritual Qi in the forest, even without it, the forest was still able to soothe Matthew's anxious soul.
While he was still scared at the possibility that he had been transported far away from his original location, with no information to go on, Matthew decided to give his surroundings a look.
Walking around, Matthew soon found that a few hundred meters to his right, there was a glass wall that extended upwards, encasing the entire place he was.
The claustrophobic feeling made him feel like he was currently in a snow globe for someone's enjoyment. Even the idea of that made Matthew fume with anger, but without anywhere to release it, Matthew decided to sprint to the center to blow off some steam.
However, after he reached the center, Matthew was stunned into silence. There, he found a dilapidated palace that was on the verge of collapsing on itself. But what shocked Matthew wasn't the palace itself but its appearance.
"Isn't that the Universe Lord's palace?" Matthew muttered.
"Good eye, brat! But you're wrong. It's the palace of the previous Universe Lord."
While Matthew was still shocked at the palace's appearance, unannounced to him, an old man manifested behind him.
"What he-" Matthew muttered as he turned to defend himself.
But before he could turn around, the old man was already in front of him.
"While being rash is good for youngsters, knowing how strong your opponent is before starting a fight is even more important." The old man spoke as he put his hand on Matthew's shoulder.
And before Matthew could even say anything, his surroundings changed once again. This time, however, he didn't move far. As he looked around, he seemed to be inside the dilated palace, specifically the throne room.
Currently, he was on a mat in the center while the old man was sitting on the throne himself.
Taking the chance to see the old man's appearance, Matthew had to admit to himself that this old man had some looks.
Even though his head was filled with white hair and an equally white beard, his face didn't have any of the wrinkles that someone of his age usually carries. And if it weren't for the fact that his eyes were sunken, Matthew would've assumed him to be a handsome middle-aged man with white hair.
The old man was also currently adorned in a gray Imperial Dragon robe, which gave him the look of an old, sagely emperor.
"Have you had enough time to see my looks, brat? We have important things to talk about." Apparently, seeing through Matthew's thoughts, the old man spoke up rudely.
Holding in the instinct to beat the old man up, Matthew forced a smile and spoke, "Senior, may I ask where I am currently? My siblings are waiting for me, and I won't wish for them to worry about my sudden appearance."
"That fake smile isn't going to fool anyone, brat. If you want to beat me up, just run up and try. But I can guarantee that it won't end up well." The old man smiled as he rested his chin on his palm.
As he felt veins pop up on his forehead, Matthew's smile became even more forced as he joked, "How could I, Senior? Someone as mighty as you surely can't be defeated by my mortal self."
"Mortal, huh? You've adjusted well, haven't you?" The old man casually spoke, as if his words weren't full of hidden meanings.
Matthew, able to read through the lines, asked, "Senior, what do those words mean? What could I have adjusted for? I have been a mortal all my life."
"So you've already forgotten about your past as a Divine Lord, then?" The man spoke bluntly.
Almost instantly after the man spoke the word 'past,' Matthew charged at the throne, ignoring the fact that the old man was much stronger than him.
Using his palm as a sword, Matthew swiped at the old man's neck, but just before he could create contact, his hand stopped.
Seeing Matthew's eyes full of ferocity and coldness, the old man put on a smile and mocked, "That's the face I've been looking for! The ice-cold expression of the Spacetime Divine Lord. Not that smile you've been showing those two kids."
Hearing that he even knew about John and Joanne, Matthew put even more force into the slash, even resorting to using the Spiritual Qi he stored in his Conception Vessel. But no matter how strong he made himself, his hand never moved a centimeter closer.
"Old Fuck, speak your purpose! I don't like playing games with my family!" Matthew growled out
At this point, he had already changed from a kind older brother to a ferocious beast who wanted nothing but blood.
"I like smart men, Spacetime Divine Lord. But you're too close." The old man spoke.
After saying so, he flicked his wrist, and Matthew was brought back to the mat he sat on when he was first transported.
"Spacetime Divine Lord, what do you know of the universe?" The old man asked vaguely.
"Call me Matthew or Brat again. I don't wish to be called that title again!" Matthew growled out.
That title, though a compliment to the abilities he had in his previous life, was also used as an insult that the nobles of the universe used against him. Every time he would meet with a young master from the Inner or Core Regions, they would always speak out his title in voices laced with sarcasm. It drove Matthew insane to hear it.
And now, with a different lease on life, he never wanted to hear that name again.
"Fine, I'll stick with Brat! It had a nice ring to it anyway. But answer my question." The old man spoke casually, ignoring Matthew's expression.
"What is there to speak of? Since you know of my previous life, there is no way you don't know of the universe." Matthew answered.
"So you don't know what lies beyond the Chaotic Universe, do you? Or how the Chaotic Universe is but only a third of the true universe?" The old man spoke teasingly.
"What do you mean by that?" Matthew asked as his eyes narrowed.
"So you actually don't? Ha! What a bumpkin!" Hearing Matthew's apparent ignorance, the old man erupted into a fit of laughter.
"You damn old fart! Speak of your purpose! I don't wish to be made fun of." Matthew yelled out angrily.
If he weren't bound to mat forcefully, Matthew would've long charged at the old man again.
However, the old man ignored him and continued laughing until he eventually shed a tear.
After he finished laughing, the old man wiped his tears and gave Matthew a lesson about the true universe.
Apparently, only known to the cultivators living in the Chaos Region, there were two other universes, known as the Worldly Universe and the Universe of Creation.
"Wait. Why are the three universes named after the three Origin Daos?" Matthew interrupted.
In the Chaotic Universe, there were many different daos that had varying ranks. The rankings of the daos were categorized the same as cultivation talents were. With Mortal being the lowest and Origin being the highest. With the three Origin Daos being the building blocks of the universe itself.
The Chaos Dao created Spiritual Qi and all of its variants. The World Dao created every planet, every plane, and every other non-intellectual material thing. While the Creation Dao created life and all intellectual life.
"It's simple. The three Universe Lords named their respective universes after the Origin Dao they comprehend." The old man answered.
Nodding at that, Matthew didn't take long to process the information he was given. Though it was still surprising that there were two similar-sized universes out there, it wasn't impossible.
The universe is infinite. Everyone knew that, so if anything, the fact that there was a limit would be more shocking than if there wasn't one.
"Alright, I have my own question. Earlier, before you brought me in here, you said that this palace belonged to the previous Universe Lord. However, every time you said universe, you spoke it sarcastically, but back then, when you were talking about this palace, you didn't. What does that imply?" Matthew spoke after he had digested the information.
The old man had shown a great deal of emotion ever since Matthew was pulled into here, but every time he brought up the term Universe Lord, his voice became filled with sarcasm and derision. There was a story there, and Matthew was curious.
"Good eye, brat! As expected of the heir, I choose myself!" The old man spoke out proudly, as if he were the one to ask the question.
"But yes, I spoke like that on purpose. And it's exactly what you are thinking. This palace is the palace of the true Universe Lord. The man who controlled the entire universe before it was split into three parts." The old man answered smugly.
"Who was it?" Matthew asked.
"You're looking at him, brat."
"You're joking, right?"
"Brat, do you believe that I can snuff out your soul with a snap of my fingers?"
With cold sweat pouring down his back, Matthew quickly apologized.
"But if you were so powerful, how did your palace turn out like this? And how did the universe get split into three?" Matthew asked.
(Note: As I mentioned earlier, when a cultivator's cultivation base becomes high enough, their palace can leave their body to be used for other things. The palace they have been talking about during this conversation isn't a man-made palace like the one of an emperor, but the palace built in the Palace Formation Realm.)
"Because of betrayal, Matthew. Betrayal." The old man sighed as he visibly seemed to age.
See, Matthew, as you most likely know, our universe is built from the three Origin Daos. And in the center of each of the three universes lay the Origin Daos themselves. They take the form of spheres and are the origin of everything in our universe. From the Chaos Dao Core comes our Spiritual Qi. From the World Dao Core comes the land we live on, and from the Creation Dao Core comes life. And in order to become the Lord of the Universe, I, of course, had to master and control these Origin Daos Cores."
"But as I was invincible for too long, boredom soon came in. And to soothe it, I scoured the universe for three people with the highest affinities to the three Origin Daos. After finding them, I took them in as disciples."
"But I never realized I had taken in three white-eyed wolves. After cultivating them for billions of years to near my level, they realized that as long as I was around, they would always be number 2. And so the three bastards jointly decided to betray me. And in a plot, the three managed to each take control of one of the Origin Dao Cores, depriving me of most of my strength."
"After that, despite the advantage of my cultivation base, I was like a tiger without its claws or fangs against three wolves with theirs. And I eventually fell."
"But if you died, how are you here now?" Matthew asked, puzzled.
"I never said I died. I said I fell. It's almost impossible to kill a cultivator at my level. Those three bastards also knew that and sealed me within my palace. And I stayed there alone and weak for billions of years. Until one day, the man you called the Lord of Chaos got sick of being tied to his fellow disciples. And so he visited me and tried to get me to teach him the two other Origin Daos."
"And I pretended to agree and pretended to preach the Dao to him. But the moment he entered an enlightened state, I escaped and hid in that stupid throne you found. And while you were refining me, I realized that you were my best possible chance for revenge."
"But if I was your best possible chance, why did you let me die?" Matthew asked.
Though he had followed most of the words, he still couldn't understand why the old man had let him die.
"It's because that timeline was a lost game. Not only was your foundation crap, but my disciples were also alerted. You wouldn't have been able to hide from their pursuit long enough to complete my revenge. So with some of my remaining power, I brought the two of us back 5000 years."
"However, this doesn't mean we aren't safe. To comprehend the Chaos Dao, one first needs to comprehend the Time Dao to its limit. So, in this timeline, the Lord of Chaos should have sensed a disturbance in the river of time. Though he couldn't possibly guess what actually happened, it would still make him extremely wary." The old man spoke.
"Any other things I must be careful of?" Matthew spoke through gritted teeth.
Matthew had thought he was a chosen child of destiny when he was first reborn 5000 years into the past, but now, not only did he learn that he was merely a pawn, but now he had the three Universe Lords as his enemies!
Sensing his anger, the old man didn't bother to calm him down but instead smiled and said, "You only have 5000 years of safe growth. After that, the Universe Lords are going to hunt you down."
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