The Aeon of Equilibrium manifested with startling abruptness.
Ordinary folk hadn't yet grasped what was happening, but Xuanquan sensed something was deeply wrong.
Equilibrium was a cryptic Aeon—even by the standards of such beings, HooH was a cut above in mystery.
The Aeon usually maintained the universe's operation in silence, pursuing a state of flawless balance.
If there were business to attend to, an Arbiter should have appeared; for the true body to manifest like this was a flagrant breach of the natural order.
This inexplicable focus from HooH left Xuanquan with a sinking feeling that trouble was brewing.
At that moment, Bai Ming's thoughts mirrored Xuanquan's.
Did granting the Vidyadhara the ability to reproduce really warrant the personal intervention of Equilibrium? Bai Ming didn't think so. It was just one race, after all.
Even if the Vidyadhara could now reproduce on top of their natural cycle of reincarnation, what of it? In the grand tapestry of the cosmos, they were a mere speck—an utterly insignificant lineage.
To put it bluntly, the five High Elders weren't invincible, and the universe was a chaotic place where the Xianzhou Alliance's wars never truly ceased.
Even if the Vidyadhara tipped the scales of balance, what did it matter to the universe at large?
A single stroke of bad luck and they'd be knocked right back to square one. Bai Ming truly couldn't fathom why such a trivial matter deserved HooH's personal touch.
From across the vast distance, Bai Ming looked toward HooH—the Aeon of Equilibrium who existed outside the material realm and yet was omnipresent.
She didn't know what specific "balance" had provoked this divine intervention, but she had made a promise.
Moreover, she needed to observe the results of weaving three Paths together. Like it or not, she had to make her move.
Meanwhile, HooH remained fixed on Bai Ming. Aside from that initial, echoing sigh, the Aeon hadn't moved or struck out, seemingly lost in some unfathomable calculation.
Below them, within the delve of the Xianzhou Fanghu, the Vidyadhara were still undergoing their transformation. The process was ongoing, and Bai Ming had to remain vigilant until it was complete.
After all, when Equilibrium enters the fray personally, it isn't for petty skirmishes.
Suddenly, the chessboard Bai Ming always carried leaped forward.
In an instant, it expanded before her eyes, growing to a scale that felt gargantuan even to an Aeon's form. The board swept out, enveloping both Bai Ming and HooH within its bounds.
The power of Equilibrium began to boil. It felt as though the entire world was being peeled away.
No—Bai Ming realized quickly—the world wasn't leaving; she and HooH were being dragged out of the material universe by the sheer force of the chessboard.
Aeons generally didn't linger in the physical cosmos. From their perspective, the scope of reality stretched far beyond the material plane.
They typically kept their distance to prevent their mere presence from warping the world's operation. Of course, there were exceptions like Qlipoth and IX.
The Amber Lord, fueled by a passion for wall-building, interacted with the material world quite frequently.
Their location—the IPC headquarters at Pier Point—existed in a sub-dimension but remained directly linked to the material universe via stable, man-made channels.
Thanks to the ongoing construction of the Celestial Comet Wall, the IPC even charged people for tours.
IX, on the other hand, was simply too Nihility-stricken to move, yet stayed tethered to the concept of "existence" by its very nature.
Aside from them, the other Aeons mostly kept to their own devices. Generally, they remained remote from the masses, but Bai Ming was an outlier.
She had no intention of settling outside the world and had never visited those far-flung reaches. Even when using Phase Flame to slip into different phases, she never had the spare time to go exploring.
Being suddenly yanked beyond the veil of reality by HooH left Bai Ming feeling a bit out of sorts.
Unlike the material world, the physical laws here were shifted and strange. Only powerful beings born from abstract concepts—like Aeons—could steady themselves here, let alone move freely.
However, Bai Ming had to adjust fast, because Equilibrium was starting to exert its will.
HooH's will was fused with the universe itself, making a direct physical confrontation impossible.
Instead, using its own power, Equilibrium summoned a shadow that stood in stark opposition to Bai Ming. Unlike the illusions generated by the chessboard, this shadow, forged by Equilibrium, felt fundamentally different.
In this nebulous world, the shadow flew toward Bai Ming with aggressive intent.
Yet, because it possessed a stylized, "chibi" two-headed proportion, it was unexpectedly cute.
Clashes between Aeons were usually brief and indirect. They typically used their Pathstriders or chosen Emanators as chess pieces, turning their conflicts into a war of Paths.
But Bai Ming wasn't a conventional Aeon, nor did she have a following of Pathstriders. This made a standard confrontation impossible.
Still, in the eyes of Equilibrium, Bai Ming's actions couldn't be ignored.
HooH hadn't come for the Vidyadhara. While restoring their reproductive rights was an act of imbalance, it was the kind of thing that usually only warranted an Arbiter.
Even if the Arbiter failed, it wouldn't have caught HooH's eye.
The Aeon had intervened solely because of Bai Ming herself.
Bai Ming had grasped the essence of Elation with terrifying speed. Even if there were shards of the concept she hadn't fully mastered, it was only a matter of time.
Eventually, even if Aha reclaimed THEIR power, Bai Ming would be able to extract exactly what she wanted from it.
Had it ended there, it might have been fine—after all, no matter how much she acted out, she was still technically under Aha's umbrella.
But then, in a momentary lapse of oversight, Bai Ming had begun analyzing the Path of Permanence at a breakneck pace. And it wasn't just a fragment; it was a complete version of Permanence, integrated with Abundance and Propagation.
Equilibrium couldn't even fathom how, in an era where Permanence had been utterly shattered, Bai Ming—someone with no innate time-related abilities—had obtained a complete sample of the Path to study.
No other Aeons seemed to be making any moves. Had her knowledge simply manifested from thin air?
According to HooH's observations, Bai Ming wasn't just analyzing three Paths at once; her work with the Vidyadhara proved she could harmonize their powers, exerting a force nearly identical to the original Path of Permanence.
This was beyond the pale.
Equilibrium didn't care if three Paths were simply used in tandem.
After the original Path split, both Abundance and Propagation had incorporated other concepts.
Normally, even if you twisted those three powers together, you couldn't recreate a perfect "Permanence."
The problem was that Bai Ming used them too seamlessly—her combinations and applications were far too precise.
This was something Equilibrium couldn't overlook.
Bai Ming was using the power of masterless Paths as if they were her own.
It wasn't that other Aeons didn't want to swallow the universe's vacant Paths; they simply couldn't.
Normally, one must understand the Path's meaning, walk its way, and slowly assimilate it. Bai Ming bypassed all of that.
To her, if she could decode the Path, she could control it. Or even dominate it.
Now, she had somehow acquired a template for the complete Path of Permanence and was using it to coordinate three separate Paths simultaneously.
When three Paths are harmonized to this extent... well, right now they might look distinct, as if a single external spark could shatter the connection. But if they continued to function like this, who could say what would happen?
Especially since Bai Ming intended to bestow this power upon an entire race.
Every future expansion and birth of the Vidyadhara would act as Bai Ming's messengers, walking the Path on her behalf.
As her understanding of Permanence deepened and her grasp on the details tightened, this would cease to be a mere "combination."
There was a high probability she would actually fuse Propagation and Abundance back into Permanence.
But Yaoshi was still alive!
Would the Merciful Medicus ever accept being swallowed by another Aeon?
Perhaps Yaoshi might choose to merge Abundance into Permanence out of THEIR own pursuit, much like how Order once chose to be absorbed by Harmony.
But here was the catch: Bai Ming wasn't a "pure" Aeon.
She mastered Paths for the sake of mastery, not because she possessed a divine will to enact their tenets.
An Aeon might sacrifice themselves for the sake of their philosophy, but Bai Ming wouldn't steadfastly walk any Path. Why would any Aeon accept self-extinction for a being like that?
In Equilibrium's view, the future was clear: the moment Bai Ming tried to wield the full power of Permanence, a life-and-death struggle with Yaoshi was inevitable. And Yaoshi was already being hunted by Lan.
If the Abundance was plunged into a war of Paths, would the Hunt follow?
It wasn't even a question; the Reignbow Arbiter would join the fray one hundred percent.
Even the Propagation might forcibly resurrect to join the fight, for if their Path was assimilated, the Swarm King would never have a chance to return.
If the Propagation stirred, the other Aeons who participated in the original Swarm Disaster would likely turn their gaze—and perhaps their hands—toward the conflict.
Furthermore, the person sparking all of this belonged to the faction of Elation. Would Aha join in? Absolutely.
The result was certain: a war of gods would descend, and in all likelihood, an Aeon would fall.
That alone would be a catastrophe for the universe, but the problem went deeper because of Bai Ming's unique ability. There was a chance she would seize the Path of the fallen Aeon.
A being who wasn't an Aeon, gathering every Path into a single body, existing entirely outside the established system of Paths and Gods?
To HooH, this was a direct and severe threat to the balance of the universe.
And so, Equilibrium struck.
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL