Chapter 1864: The Forgotten Link

[Unedited Chapter]

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The Erudite Duchess conjured a pot of tea and served the two of them. Now that she knows who her enemy is and that they are planning, the next issue is what to do: should she strike first? Use a more defensive approach? Maybe wait until the enemy attacks before countering? There are too many possibilities.

"What do you suggest our next move be?" she asked.

"We need allies," Wang Wei directly answered.

"The Primordial Heaven Sword Saint?"

"You can consider him," Wang Wei nodded. "With his poor relationship with Trinity Venerable, he could be a good ally, just be careful in case they were just putting on an act. But, I was referring to the...Time Cardinal."

As soon as he uttered these words, the two immediately glanced at each other: the Time Cardinal — they had forgotten about him. Before the destruction of the Chaos Origin Realm, the Heaven and Source Qi Cardinal showed up, but the Cat Time Master was nowhere to be seen.

"In all the meetings, was he there? I seem to remember vaguely that he was there, but I cannot be sure," Wang Wei said.

"Same. I have this vague feeling he was there, and that I looked at him, but beyond that, I cannot say for sure," the Erudite Duchess replied with a solemn expression.

"Another spiritual hint?"

"No, this was not just a spiritual hint," the duchess shook her head. Her eyes shone with a wonderful light of wisdom, and soon afterward, the secrets of the universe neatly revealed themselves to her like pages in a book.

"He removed his existence from the influence of the River of Time, which made everybody forget he even existed. Then, he sent a time projection, which made it appear as if he were in these meetings, but he wasn’t — at least, not in the conventional sense."

Wang Wei frowned, "What’s his purpose for going to such lengths? What is he planning?"

"It’s hard to say," the duchess shook her head.

"What was the last time you vividly remembered seeing him?" Wang Wei asked.

"It was before the attack on the Heaven Splitting Holy Land. These Cardinals were against the plan, but that was nothing new; they always prevented us from gaining more resources and power. However, their presence could disturb the situation, so we had to include them in some capacity – at the very least, we couldn’t allow them to mess things up."

"That’s not much to go on," Wang Wei frowned.

"There is a line of thinking we can follow to find the truth," the duchess suddenly said. "You’ve been suspicious of Death Reverence since the beginning, correct?"

"That’s right. Although most of it was because of some personal bias, I have been keeping my eyes on him."

"Well, there is someone else who knows how dangerous he is and would not fail to keep tabs on him."

"Grand Dao," Wang Wei responded. After fighting with the Beyonder for so long, Grand Dao would not be stupid enough to leave one of Deathbringer’s most powerful ambassadors alone to do as he pleased.

"You think the Time Cardinal has been keeping eyes on Death Reverence the entire time?"

"Yes. My theory is that even the one who entered the Chaos Origin Realm was also a time projection."

"If he was keeping an eye on Death Reverence, how did the situation become so dire?"

"I don’t know exactly, but it’s probably because he failed in his mission, or another possibility is that he has an even more important mission that requires his attention."

Wang Wei stood and put his hand behind his back. Then, with his empty and eerie eye sockets, he gazed deeply into the distance. "Now that I think about it, Death Reverence has taken a bit too long to stabilize this Death Ritual. Before, I thought things involving a third-step powerhouse and an entire timeline required time, but now, there is the possibility that someone else is fighting and delaying him." His mind began visualizing a hidden battle between these two mighty forces.

"The only flaw in this theory is why haven’t the other Cardinals also been helping? Why did the Time Cardinal hide his mission from them?" the duchess added.

Wang Wei did not immediately reveal his opinion. Instead, he asked, "Is it me, or has the Heaven Cardinal been acting strange?"

"He has," the Erudite Duchess nodded. "Ever since the expedition started, he’s been acting more arrogant and aggressive than before. It was almost as if he wanted to antagonize everybody. I previously thought it was because Grand Dao had granted him a hidden trump card, but now, I have doubts."

"I did find it odd that Grand Dao chose the Qi Cardinal to represent her for the purification since the Heaven Cardinal was the better candidate. However, now, I believe that Grand Dao may no longer trust him; she might suspect he’s planning something personal, and his erratic behavior is a part of that plan."

"That explains why he’s not helping the Time Cardinal, but what about Source Qi?"

"How do we know she’s not helping? Have you noticed how quiet she’s been ever since the Beyonder appeared?" Wang Wei sneered.

"Secretly helping? That’s possible, but that raises another question: why? Why not ask for our help? Is it really just because we are not trustworthy? In such a dire situation, is this truly important?" the Duchess asked with a frown.

"Maybe there is some secret involved, but isn’t the lack of trust enough?" Wang Wei asked. "Think about it, Grand Dao is not even willing to use her own people, why would he trust this group of people? If you think about it carefully, you are probably the only trustworthy person here. Unfortunately, after being associated with me, in Grand Dao’s eyes, you’re probably now labeled as a troublemaker."

"Billions of yuan epoch of a good reputation, and it’s all ruined by you," the Erudite Duchess joked.

"What can I say? I am both a blessing and a curse," Wang Wei uttered before returning to his seat. With a wave of his hand, he reheated his tea before taking a sip. "Now that we have some understanding of the situation, it’s no longer wise to ally with the Time Cardinal."

"Why not? Now that he’s probably in danger, we can better negotiate with him," the Erudite Duchess stated. The fact that they were able to notice the Time Projection was malfunctioning is an indication of the Time Cardinal’s current state.

"As for the lack of trust? That is still negotiable." The duchess did not truly believe that Grand Dao would refuse to work with her because of her association with Wang Wei. Her reputation has been built for years, and one event — one individual cannot completely erase its impact.

"Any sentient creature will develop certain habits, and that’s even more true for an immortal creature such as ourselves," Wang Wei explained. "Tell me, what do you think the Time Cardinal will do when facing a powerful enemy? What habit would he instinctively resort to?"

"Manipulating the River of Time."

"Yes, his peak fighting prowess is while manipulating the River of Time, so there is a high chance he’s doing that right now. And our plan requires us to sacrifice this construct. Do you think he would agree to help us or not?"

The Erudite Duchess was silent.

"Did you notice any anomalies in the River of Time?" Wang Wei asked. According to their plan, both the River of Time and the Six Path Samsara should now be filled with the Quantum Arrays.

"No."

Wang Wei groaned softly. This answer wasn’t unexpected. Throughout the Infinite Trichiliocosm, few individuals understood the Grand Constructs as well as the Cardinals. Other people might be more powerful than them; some might even surpass them in their mastery of their given Dao, but when it came to the constructs themselves, they were unrivaled.

"What about Samsara? Did you discover anything?"

"I did," the Erudite Duchess nodded. "Besides Death Reverence, someone is using its power. According to my prediction, it’s most likely Suiji."

"Did you detect any class between the two forces?"

"Yes."

"The result?"

"Death Reverence has the overwhelming advantage, but the other force is cunning. All attempts at capturing or luring it out have failed, and more importantly, I can sense their aura is slowly recovering."

"I think we just found our ally."

"You want me to unite with Suiji?"

"Of course not," Wang Wei shook his head. "You just need to ensure she’s not captured while keeping yourself safe and out of sight. Once we start our plan, you can just allow nature to take its course, and Suiji — or whoever this force is — will definitely take advantage of the situation."

"That’s doable," the duchess nodded. "Speaking of, what time do you think is the best for us to launch our plan?"

"Hmm, that’s a good question. A part of me wanted to delay as long as possible, but another also understood that the longer the delay, the more variable," Wang Wei answered. He turned to gaze at her, "What’s your opinion?"

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