Unknowingly, John's next question opened a veritable can of worms.
"Why have you brought me here?"
It sounded simple, yet went straight to the core of the issue. Alas, very often, matters weren't effortless, quick and easy to explain. As a result, the Heavenly Emperor chose to tell him about his past, about what had brought him here in the first place. After all, it was directly related to this matter, and he would much rather provide his potential helper with all of the information that he could possibly need.
So, as a result, John found himself sitting down on one of the comfortable sofas nearby, patiently listening to a divine being regaling huge parts of his life's story.
The Heavenly Emperor was born in a far-off world under the name of Huang Xian, with a terrifying Talent that allowed him to grow in power extremely quickly. There was no doubt that he was destined for greatness. Yet, the world which he grew up in was merely a tiny, insignificant speck of dust compared to the countless other, major worlds connected to it. Although he vastly surpassed everyone in his own world, there were innumerable geniuses rising like weeds after a long-overdue rainstorm.
His experiences were akin to what John would have read within a novel series. Countless friends, rivals and enemies crossed his path, but Huang Xian always had the last laugh. Of course, there were close calls, but with the help of his Unique-grade Talent, he grew stronger without any perceivable limit.
Sometime during his inevitable rise to the very top of all worlds, he came across the woman who would later become his wife, and the Heavenly Empress accompanying him at his side. Regarding her, Huang Xian was surprisingly tight-lipped and chose to clam up, only revealing that she possessed a Unique-grade Talent in the realm of prophecy, and that they were truly in love, trusting each other absolutely.
'... I can see where this is going.'
Even though he had already guessed parts of it, John made no attempt to interrupt the man's words, choosing instead to listen patiently, as there was surely a reason for all of this to be told to him.
Huang Xian, despite his excellence in all aspects, in spite of towering over every single other being, would have ultimately failed to become the ruler of all and assume a new position which he titled 'Heavenly Emperor'... if it hadn't been for his wife. Every bit his equal, in parts due to his own support, but also because of her own incredibly hard work, the two of them formed a power couple that suppressed all worlds. With knowledge of the future directly on hand, they could easily remove thorns in their side in advance, eventually raising countless loyal experts that would form the Heavenly Court.
However, this organization didn't actually rule over 'all worlds', for one simple reason: There was a truly infinite amount of them. No matter how many eons passed, it would be impossible to explore them all, as their number had no upper limit. Why this was the case, nobody could tell. At this point of his tale, the Heavenly Emperor chose to omit a few details, with the reasoning that John would find out about them in due time–it was simply unnecessary to be made aware of them now. Instead, he decided to focus more on how he chose to act after assuming his role and stabilizing his rule.
A very important part of his rise, and the cornerstone of the Heavenly Court itself, was the World's Will of his original home world. He had continually helped it grow, eventually turning it into something completely unprecedented. It ruled over countless other World's Wills, while remaining entirely under the control of him and his empress. Their relationship with the World's Will was outstandingly good, to the point where they saw it as one of their closest companions.
Eventually, Huang Xian named it the 'Heavenly Dao' and–to facilitate a more efficient growth for all of his people that would lead them to a never-ending golden age–he changed and adapted countless laws and rules underlying all worlds subservient to the Heavenly Dao.
It took an eon or two, but finally, he ended up with something utterly unprecedented: Every living being had access to their own Status Panel, which allowed them to accurately track their progress, growth and the Talents that they possessed, amongst countless other things.
Merely knowing exact details about oneself was incredibly valuable and served as a huge motivation. Those who would have given up due to being unable to notice the tiny steps forward that they had taken, those who didn't know how far away they still were from a breakthrough, and those who were ignorant about their own abilities–they were practically given wings.
Of course, this wasn't nearly all that there was to the changes that he had brought to the Heavenly Dao, but the Heavenly Emperor reasoned that going into too much detail now would simply be an unnecessary waste of time. Therefore, the story progressed yet again.
Under his wise rule, the Heavenly Court's territory expanded unceasingly, and the overall strength of the people endlessly continued to rise. He and his wife trailblazed too many new realms to count. During this period of time, he was absolutely certain that he did not make a single mistake, and that his rule was the most perfect that it could have ever been for his people. This was the time that he was most proud of, because it was akin to a flawless gem of his own creation.
And yet, as always, all good things must come to an end. This time, it wasn't because of some mismanagement, an uprising by unhappy Retainers, a lack of resources, or anything else. His rule was as stable as it could be. Rather, it was the Heavenly Empress who chose to usher in his downfall.
Until today, Huang Xian was not sure what prompted his loving wife to suddenly turn her back on him. He had contemplated this topic too many times to count, but he still couldn't find any reason that stuck out in particular. There were some developments that could have influenced her slightly, yet such a complete change simply shouldn't have occurred.
But what was it that actually happened? Well, one night, as the two of them were happily touring their worlds, enjoying a bit of hard-won leisure time in private, the Heavenly Empress assassinated him, killing him in a single strike. Knowing him best, and with his guard completely down around the partner who had been with him day and night for almost his entire life, Huang Xian had no chance to survive.
He still recalled the extreme coldness in her gaze, those heartless eyes that didn't hold any emotion at all as she eliminated him completely. He was certain that she was his wife, and not an impostor. She wasn't being controlled either, as–with her ability to see the future–she couldn't have been taken aback. There was one most likely explanation for it all: For whatever reason, everything up until that point had been an act, and something had prompted her to get rid of him now. But he did never find out what it was.
Because at that moment, the Heavenly Emperor disappeared forever.
"Then... how are you here?"
Smirking at the contradictory nature of his statement having been pointed out by John, he chose to elaborate.
"It's rather simple. 'I' am already long gone. But when the real me met his end, shadows of 'me' still existed within the memory of the Heavenly Dao. My wife took extra care to almost immediately eliminate them as well, but the key word here is 'almost'. At the very moment of real me's death, during the fraction of time that she was focused on 'me', the me before you now split off from that shadow within the Heavenly Dao's memory, expelling myself from the Heavenly Court's area of influence. I then drifted for countless more eons, making use of various natural phenomena existing throughout the spatiotemporal-transcending True Void separating all worlds to cover my tracks. As a result, I lost pretty much all of my power and was left with a vestige of what was originally merely a shadow of a memory."
Despite having just got exposed to some very unfamiliar concepts and terminology, John didn't interrupt any further, realizing that these matters were a little bit too advanced for the current him. It was no wonder that the Heavenly Emperor didn't really go into all details–they would only serve to further confuse him.
After Huang Xian's vestige of a shadow of a memory–or whatever it actually was, as the one telling the tale didn't bother revealing everything–reached his limit, he fell into a deep slumber. During that time, he drifted through the True Void before finally entering what the Heavenly Court classified as a 'Desolate Inferior World Fragment'. In other words, it was a place that would usually be tossed aside and ignored after a rough search during their expansion.
And this, unsurprisingly, was the world in which John grew up in. Despite accommodating an entire universe, it was nothing in the Heavenly Court's eyes. Yet, just like every world, it had a World's Will.
Huang Xian's arrival slowly led to the awakening of this will, which then absorbed some of his memories and experiences that unconsciously passed through his defenceless mind via osmosis. As a result, it chose to emulate many of the things that it had seen. Initially, it was filled with innocent intrigue. It kick-started the universe and billions of years passed until the first appearance of intelligent life. Ever since then, it had led a universe-spanning game between countless different alien species, nearly all of which were humanoid in nature. The humans of this planet were only its most recent creation.
The reason for all of them developing in a humanoid direction was the influence of Huang Xian. As the first living being it had ever seen, especially as one of a power and status vastly surpassing its own, the World's Will felt reverence from its very core, shaping its own creations after him.
Yet, over time, when it realized that it couldn't improve any further, that all that it made could not even attempt to approach the perfection of the Heavenly Emperor... it grew envious and discontent. The way in which it steadily tortured the living beings it had created throughout their lives–slowly but surely, as if it was trying to boil a frog–became increasingly disturbing.
Very often, both non-religious and religious people asked why there existed evil in the world, and the answer–in this world's case–was simple: Because the World's Will wanted to be entertained. Of course, there was nothing inherently wrong with this, just like how good and evil were merely concepts solely existing within the minds of those who chose to classify things and actions as such.
Still, Huang Xian wasn't particularly happy about it all, especially about giving innocent people false hope via religion. He had awoken sometime before dinosaurs first appeared on this planet, and ever since then, he had been paying attention to the World's Will's actions.
But while the games it played merely didn't line up with his personal values, the fact that it had been constantly absorbing his power and was very close to utterly assimilating and annihilating him was what really enraged him. Fortunately, he woke up in time and isolated himself thereafter, so no further decay occurred from that point onward.
"In other words, you could be called Huang Xian's remnant of a vestige of a shadow of a memory?"
Chuckling at John's cheeky, joking question, the Heavenly Emperor nodded.
"You could put it that way. Still, the important point that you should take away from this is that I'm not on friendly terms with this World's Will. But neither of us two will be dealing with it, as that is not why I brought you here."
Taking a deep breath, an unprecedented solemnity started to radiate from his golden eyes.
"I could have left whenever I wanted to after my awakening. There is only one reason as to why I didn't: I was waiting for you."