Quest Maker: 378

Title: The World Divided

"Where... am I?"

She stands in a world of water. Everywhere she looks, she sees an expansive, reflective, and still water. Even looking only reveals a 'sky' that is made of the sea looking down back at her.

She would have been worried about her clothes since she stood with none on her body. No scepter of her could be found. No ornament on her hair could be felt. Yet, in this world, she felt an odd sense of serenity.

'What did that... Beast God do?' She questions and looks around. Her silver-blue hair drapes down well beyond her entire length and stays afloat on the surface of the water.

In front of her, similarly naked, are two beings sitting cross-legged. Each of them possesses the same face as her. But both of them look nothing like her!

The one on the right has her dark blue hair tied alongside shells and bands of kale. Golden-blue scales grow around that person's neck and extend to her cheeks. And her forearms and calves extend into a hybrid of fins and fingers. This woman continues to glare at the figure on the left which makes Bo Saixi look to her left, too.

Unlike the scowling twin, this one smirks cockily. Her silver hair with streaks of grey and black are tied into a thick french braid that collects the entirety of her long hair just up to her waist. A pitch-black hairband with a motif of a lone black eye holds her hair in check. With her eyes glowing green and her arms and legs extending into a hybrid of silver paws and fingers, the woman does not falter under the furious scowl.

She has some idea as to what is going on. An aquatic avatar and a furry avatar locked into a staredown... no, something more. A contest is underway and she can feel something thrumming deep within her.

Suddenly both the avatars in front of her snap their faces in Bo Saixi's direction.

"Choose, maiden. Your oath or corruption."

The left one smiles and speaks such words with her face that Bo Saixi could never imagine, "There is no choice, sweety. This is a will of the divine. However, what you can actually choose between is staying shackled under a fish... or accepting something new and bold to work your way to godhood. The right way."

"Huh?"

"Bo Saixi, the maiden of Poseidon, state your wish and I will bring you victorious under my name. Reverence is not a shackle. It is a power."

"Reverence is just that. Reverence. And power is power. Don't get confused with sentences that hold no meaning but manipulation. As I said, choosing what you like means nothing because your own power is not upto the mark. Once I beat this fragment of a shackle, I'll have you as my own."

'That does not sound any better,' Bo Saixi narrows her glare but the more she observes them, the more she realizes the difference between them.

The one on the left feels like... an enigmatic source of strength. Otherworldy. Mixed. Fiery yet cold. Thunderous yet firm. It's as if he is beloved by the very existence. But behind this power... she senses struggle. Deep, deep struggle. And further within... at its core.

Death.

A void as calm as the abyss of the sea. A calmness that will slice you away. Set you free... in peace. No malice surrounds him. No emotion holds him dear. There is nothing but pure, chilling silence.

The one on the right is a familiar feeling. A feeling of a parent. Supreme strength as deep as the ocean hides in this figure. But it is merely a phantom. A fragment. A fragment blessed to her initially by Poseidon. The Comprehension of Sea at the realm of a master. Unlike the Law of Water, the Law of Sea is based not on the element but on geography. An environment. The sea can be kind and deadly. Deep and beautiful. It breeds life and destruction. It's a fragment of nature's all-encompassing law.

But... now that she is free from Poseidon's blessing, Bo Saixi can feel her own mastery of the law.

The Law of Sea was granted to her by Poseidon as she completed trials. Yes, the divine inheritance provides an opportunity for godhood to the favored few. But... it also means a source of improvement to most.

Bo Saixi has her cultivation practically granted to her like one other priest she has known in her lifetime.

But aside from the Law of Sea, like him, who wields the Law of Sky but keeps it suppressed by his law, she has formed her own comprehension over time.

She looks down at herself. Even if naked, she feels neither weak nor embarrassed. Even if away from the source of her cultivation, she feels neither depressed nor angered.

Enlightened by the other Priest's Law of Comfort, she strived to have her own strength, too.

Her reverence came at the cost of further improvement but it did not snatch away her will to improve itself.

An enigmatic force beyond comfort gave her strength. It keeps her mind cool and collected. Even when understanding her own weakness, it shall not let her show any of it. Her law. The crystalization of her emotions. The failed promise to the Mortal who she foolishly encouraged to pursue godhood only to be left... alone. Had only she spoken then. Had only she let go of her pride and insecurities back then and understood what she truly desired.

But time waits for no man. She felt his presence disappear but she did not despair at the sensation. He failed to reach godhood. She failed at her first flicker of romance. But the crystalization within her would not falter. An active divine intent may make her cower in her boots but that is her body's instinctive reaction.

Even the most dignified dog will reflexively be intimidated by an injured and old Lion much less her against divine threats.

But here?

Her Law of Dignity is not pressured in any manner. The sea cannot destroy dignity. The depths of the Sea are the personification of dignity itself. The one on the left... the shard of strength from Beast God... even it cannot make her falter. In her depths of quiet death, she feels nothing but dignity.

Although...

She does find it quite weird that two deity-like powers possess her form to compete with each other. Yet, not answering any of them, she sits down cross-legged like them and closes her eyes.

"Well, now it's just you and me, Salami."

"You're a fool to question my Priestess' loyalty. Even if this shard of mine in her soul origin is destroyed and mended by your efforts, she will not accept cultivating all over again with a new martial soul."

Instead of replying, the forehead of the avatar on the left suddenly twitches and a third eye blooms in the center with all three golden pupils surrounded by green irides glistening like liquid gold.

The competition of the might has begun with a priestess as their witness.

---

*Yawn*

Lying on his side while resting his head on his hand and his elbow on the sea of clouds, Qian Daoliu stares at his two avatars.

On the right is an angel variant and on the left is a fallen blood angel variant. All three of them are naked.

'As Ja Sun would say... what a total sausage fest,' Daoliu yawns again. While the avatar on the right reveals the Law of Sky, which allowed Daoliu to keep promises saying— He knows Everything that happens under the sky— the one on the left possesses the law of blood.

Meanwhile, around himself, Daoliu has an aura so comfortable that one might sleep in relaxation in his presence.

The Law of Comfort.

One might say, Daoliu literally cannot get out of his comfort zone.

'And they keep on struggling and struggling. Eventually, Xunji's shard will win, of course.'

Daoliu turns around and scratches his ass before closing his eyes, 'Oh, well, I just have to wait. Worrying won't help anything. I'm literally helpless here... Ja Sun... Xunji... they are like this struggle in front of me. Me making a choice will never reduce their conflict and in their life, I am merely a small part... although, I hope they fight over me. Kek, would be funny as shit... ah, no... my vocabulary is getting sloppier without anyone else to converse with. I am tired of resting...'

He scratches his ass again.

Why?

Because this is his comfort zone!

Meanwhile, the corner of the eyes of the two avatars twitches as they struggle for their pride and... well, Daoliu.

The Angel God needs a host down in the mortal realm for any need it may want to be fulfilled and Xunji wants the talents of his father unshackled. Like Daoliu, Xunji appreciates talents to a degree. And... even the Blood God admits, there has never been a talent as great as Daoliu... until a few rare creatures emerged in this era.

---

Above the Sea God Island, a vortex of clouds can be seen from hundreds of kilometers causing fear to almost everyone on the Douluo Continent and other inhabited masses of land. Far from the sea god island, on a deserted island, a quiet pitch-black furred beast with the face of a monkey and a humanoid body sat on a peak of a dormant volcano.

His pitch-black irides surround molten golden pupils and his body is garbed in a simple red monk's habit.

"Out of the 420 prophecies you calculated," he looks at the sky as he feels a familiar, comforting touch of a parent, "You had to make me part of only one. The 69th. And... it plays out as you predict."

"When the Sage Arrives, he shall guide the Domain of Blood to Fruition.

The Devil will live to be devoured by the sage, his curse shall reveal the truth of time and space.

When the divided flicker of life stirs, it shall lead Sage to one's own subjugation.

And when all the karma of the past is fulfilled, the Prince shall be completed by the Sage.

The Heaven Mandates so, The otherworldly shall continue.

The Heaven is Evil, and Evil is Heaven."

The being traces his jaw, "The Sage, the Devil, the Blood, the Dragon, and the Prince."

"The Sage devoured the Devil. The Bood is helpless. The Dragon lies in wait. And the Prince..."

He looks down at himself before chuckling, "Cares little for prophecy or past. I did not spend years after my reincarnation to just become part of another game. Life is so much simpler with just cultivation."

He closes his eyes as various phenomena begin to appear around him.

A droplet of water burst into blue flames that flicker out to form a gust of black wind that coil around and produces tiny arcs of red lightning before snapping on the ground that causes a pebble to bounce up which turns into a droplet of water again.

Laws turn into each other with fluidity.

This is no master.

A master only starts to understand the basics of the law and produce better effects with a similar-natured spirit skill or create a weak spirit skill himself.

This is not a feat of a Grandmaster.

A grandmaster can derive inspiration from other laws— cold flames, soul wind, fiery lightning, devouring earth...

To subdue law out of pure nature. To make the very nature of one law shift to another.

A Great-Grandmaster. And that, too, of multiple laws.

The Exiled Prince continues to cultivate. This is his joy.

Deep within him, familiar and calm depths flicker in silent death.

The exiled prince who matched Asura once. The being is not loved by any law but in turn, loves the act of cultivation to a fault. Laws bend for him. Nature bows to him.

He may no longer have his previous body.

But the bloodline of the Supreme Dragon God and the Evil Sage still flows in his spirit and soul origin. And... it is possessed by yet another being.

The Sage.

It may merely be a droplet of his bloodline but... that's all it takes for miracles to occur or disasters to follow.

"The first prophecy my dear father ever made— Dragon Prince shall be the desired lord of the realm or bring destruction to all... I worked my ass off not to get into politics despite it being a war. I now wonder... how far the prophecy even intended to take place..."

He chuckles.

"People who believe prophecies simply have no courage in their own strengths and beliefs. Isn't that right?"

He looks at the vortex above the Sea God Island again as a deep red color fails to subdue one particularly excited presence.

"Ja Sun."

***

Alternate Title: Dignified; The Dungeon Fest; The Sausage Fest; Don't Judge Daoliu— It's His Comfort Zone!; The Respective Gods and Defiers; One Seeks to Free to Spite, the Other Seeks to Free to Cherish; The Monke!; The Prince; Nothing Better than a Cold Beer and a Day of Cultivation!; No Prophecies Held Up; The Prophecised