Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor

Chapter 1976: The Omnicube Trial I: Dao

[Trial 1: Dao]

[Rule: Not fighting or interfering.]

"That's it?" Wu Hong thought as he looked at these words floating in front of her. No direction. No task. No goal — just an explanation that they were now in some unknown trial. Gu Chang'an snorted coldly before walking to the nearest pile of books and immediately began to read them.

"Maybe the ambiguity is the point — the key to the trial," Wu Hong thought. She walked toward a pile and began to look around. "Hmm? There seems to be some organization." From what she saw, the books were divided into history, cultivation, entertainment, religion, philosophy, and a few others.

Without hesitating, Wu Hong walked toward the history section; this was the perfect opportunity to perfect her Alpha-Omega Rune, which meant perfecting her Saint Foundation. After a quick search, she found a pile of records detailing the earliest history.

"I knew that bastard was trying to trap me," Wu Hong thought.

From these records, she learned the Formless were real, but not a race or a civilization: they were just an extension of Grand Dao. To create the Chaos Universe, Grand Dao divided herself into countless physical manifestations to aid the process — and those manifestations were the Formless.

And since they originated from Grand Dao, they didn't have their own free will, mind, soul, or anything that could classify them as a civilization — except for one thing: language. Gu Chang'an's information mixed truths and falsehoods, and one of the truths was that the Formless used a proto-language that would eventually turn into the [First Rune] or the [Alpha Rune].

Upon its birth, Grand Dao relied mostly on instincts. As such, even the language it used to mold [Nothingness] into the [Chaos Universe] was primitive. But as more of the universe formed, Grand Dao learned and became more precise, coordinated, and organized. Eventually, the [Alpha Rune] and the [Alpha Rune System] were created to help her better organize the laws of the Chaos Universe.

After the Genesis Creatures were born, Grand Doa blessed them with the understanding and usage of the Alpha Rune System, which is what Gu Chang'an called the Genesis Language. Interestingly enough, the Alpha Rune cannot be considered the first Civilized Language of the Chaos Universe. No, it's just the language of rules and laws.

The first official language is [Soul Communication]. The Genesis Creatures were born powerful, and when they encountered each other, they did not use words to communicate. Instead, they transmitted meaning and intent directly through the soul. For most of their early civilization, the Genesis Creatures relied on this mode of communication.

As a peaceful, quiet race/civilization, they never needed to invent language. They spent most of their time communicating their understanding of the laws and rules to each other, and Soul Communication proved highly efficient, direct, and personal. There was never a need to change — that is, until the First Sin.

A creature known as [Admonition] was found dead, and someone had killed it. That revelation shocked the Genesis Creature and forever altered that distant age. First, they had to reconcile with the idea of death. Up until now, none of them knew that they could die; the word death was even foreign to them, a conceptual idea preached by only a few in the minority of their kind — an idea that many found laughable and simply the wild imagination of someone unwell.

Second, someone had caused harm to another; an act of senseless violence for an unknown reason. Many of these Genesis creatures could not fathom why this had happened, and many, at first, rejected the idea that one of their own was responsible. They argued that death might be a natural development of the world.

Regardless of how they felt, these ancient creatures adapted quickly. This sudden death raised the issue of trust. Many people began to feel that they needed ways to communicate secretly without others knowing. And that's when their civilization began developing language: the Genesis Language.

Language usually does not come out of nowhere, and that's also true for the Genesis Language. The Alpha Rune System was the closest thing these creatures had as an example, so they used it to build the foundation of their language. Unfortunately, the Genesis Language had too many variations or dialects.

Too many groups or factions created their own languages, and although 95% were based on the Alpha Rune System, they were still different. And after [Perfection] began to cause chaos, most of these languages disappeared, while others fused. Eventually, an official "Genesis Language" was adopted by everyone, but that was near the end of the age.

"There seems to be a record of most of these fragmented Genesis Languages and the official one. There are even some records of the Alpha Rune System. If I could learn all of them, I could perfect my Alpha Rune Foundation," Wu Hong thought before squinting. "But do I have enough time? The rules never mentioned a time limit, which can honestly be interpreted either way.

"…Forget it, let's just use this opportunity to improve. If there is enough time, that'll be good news. If not, I'll use the time granted to the fullest of my abilities."

After making a decision, Wu Hong ignored everything and focused on learning and improving. With each new language or variation she learned, her Alpha Rune rapidly sublimated itself until it reached a state of completion — of perfection. But another issue immediately arose: imbalance. While the Alpha Rune was powerful and complete, the Omega Rune was the opposite.

Luckily, Wu Hong was prepared for this issue and swiftly acted to solve it. First, she used the Genesis Race's destruction to nourish the Omega Rune. She then learned about timelines and civilizations that had been destroyed; the content from this trial was comprehensive, giving Wu Hong the knowledge she needed to achieve her goal. When the two reached harmony, her Saint Foundation was completed, birthing a new ability: Direction.

"I can find the 'direction' to solve most problems I might face during the sanctifying process? That's an interesting ability, and it seems to be based on my knowledge reserve," Wu Hong thought. The books in this trial suddenly became even more invaluable. With enough knowledge, she could use [Direction] to solve most issues, ensuring she sanctified without a hitch.

"This place is truly my Heaven," Wu Hong thought.

Despite her excitement, she didn't rush to the cultivation section. Instead, Wu Hong continued learning the language and the Alpha Rune System. Using it as a foundation, she began updating the [Eternal Rune System], which was just a fancy name she put on the Rune System used by the Eternal Ascension World for all the professions.

From runes used by Body Refiners to the ones used by Primals, and even the newly created Quasi-Saint Realm, Wu Hong completely renovated the entire thing. The new system had three advantages. Firstly, it was highly potent, even more so than before. However, that's expected, given what inspired it.

Second, it was highly changeable. Wu Hong designed it to incorporate other rune systems. She hopes that this new system can be spread throughout the Primordial Timeline and beyond, bringing her endless wealth, prestige, and luck. To make that happen, she designed it to be adaptable and usable in any place, world, or timeline.

The last upgrade was what made the Eternal Rune System truly valuable: progressive teaching. Wu Hong designed it to teach its user how to understand, utilize, and borrow the power of law from a foundational level (Heaven and Earth Qi) all the way to the hidden rule. So, technically speaking, using or learning this system is the same as training to become a Saint; in other words, this method can increase the chances of sanctification for a few people.

"I'm truly a genius," Wu Hong praised herself after seeing the final product. "But did I take too long? Did I waste my time?" For a moment, those hesitating thoughts returned, but she immediately squashed them. It didn't matter. The time spent learning and improving was worth the time "wasted."

Time passed, but Wu Hong couldn't feel it. She spent all her time reading, learning, and innovating. When she was truly bored, she would read a novel or legendary tale from the entertainment section, or create a new dish based on accounts from different civilizations. Unfortunately, she didn't have samples of the materials, so she had to create them from descriptions, but more often than not, Wu Hong was happy with the final product.

"Hmm? What's wrong with him?" While she was doing research to turn her [Universal Seal] into an Innate Saint Art, she noticed Gu Chang'an not far away. But he was different: he was cold, emotionless, and mechanical. He rapidly retrieved pile after pile of books, memorized them, and moved on to the next. His movements were calm, precise, and highly efficient, almost as if he had been doing the same actions for millions of years, if not more.

"Don't tell me he's only been mechanically memorizing the content of this library?"