道罗邪皇子 (邪神之道 B4)

Faith and Absolute Laws

Time flies as the ten years that Ye Gui Feng has to spend with his family draws closer and closer towards its inevitable end.

There is only a bit over two years' worth of time remaining for Ye Gui Feng to do whatever he wants prior to him having to take over for the Immortal Emperor of the Nine Daos as the overseer of the Starry Seas' magic array.

During this time Ye Gui Feng would frequently check in on the painting that's being refined in the Starry Seas.

The speed of the refinement process is something that didn't exactly meet Ye Gui Feng's expectations but it will have to do as he didn't have any other means of speeding the process up.

Technically it's not that Ye Gui Feng didn't have a method of speeding up the refinement process. The concern that he has on his mind towards the matter is that speeding up the process might cause the painting to die out quicker in the future.

It should be said that this painting isn't exactly something that is meant to last for an eternity as it will eventually perish from the wears of time's passage.

There's really no way of knowing how long this painting will last for but Ye Gui Feng expects it to last for more than a million years at minimum as he also doesn't know how long it would take for this unpredictable plan of his to bear fruit.

Considering the risks of shortening the painting's longevity in the act of speeding up the refinement process it cannot be thought of as worthwhile enough to make Ye Gui Feng put effort into finding some method of speeding the process up.

Remaking another painting from scratch would be extremely difficult and taxing on Ye Gui Feng's mind and body as well.

This only serves to make it even less worthwhile to rush the process that's on the verge of completion given a bit more time.

These are the reasons that's been keeping Ye Gui Feng from rushing the process but at this point-

[...]

The concerns that Ye Gui Feng is now faced with is how much more time is needed for the process to finish and how much time is there remaining prior to the enemy's eventual arrival?

These two questions that are related to time is something that Ye Gui Feng didn't have the answers to and with that being the case he finds himself being forced to make a decision.

The two options that Ye Gui Feng have are to speed up the process of refinement somehow or continue to wait it out and hope that he has more than enough time to allow the process to finish on its own.

The risks of waiting it out are obvious but the risks of speeding up the process with a chance of reducing the painting's longevity might be detrimental to his plans in the unseen future.

If there is a risk-free method to speed up the refinement process then Ye Gui Feng would have already used it. This means that regardless of what he chooses to do there will always be a consequence associated with his decisions.

[*Sigh*]

All this makes it difficult for Ye Gui Feng to decide on what to do as he sits on the wooden couch while rubbing his left temple with a finger seemingly experiencing a bad headache.

"Father does your head hurt?"

Seeing her father with a frown and a series of wrinkles on his mouth and forehead respectively Xiao Lian can't help but raise this question to him.

[Well I suppose you can say that...]

"What's wrong?"

[That's...]

If it were any other person asking him this question Ye Gui Feng wouldn't feel as awkward to answer it.

But then again considering how little time they have left together Ye Gui Feng didn't see any reason to hide it.

[Xiao Lian do you remember when I said that I was painting you a heaven that would accept you?]

Blinking her eyes Xiao Lian gives a nod.

"What does that have to do with father's headache?"

[Well...]

Explaining the matter in detail is rather complicated yet Ye Gui Feng does find a need to tell Xiao Lian of this matter so that she would be prepared for what is to come in the future.

[...Xiao Lian remember everything that I am going to tell you right now.]

"Hm?"

Seeing her father's expression turning unusually stern Xiao Lian puts on a look of curiosity as she nods.

Telling his daughter the details of his uncertain plans Ye Gui Feng doesn't hold anything back as he also goes over the bizarre logic behind his means of achieving a temporary parting with her while allowing her soul to continue existing.

"..."

Listening to her father talking about his plans that is filled with a sense of uncertainty Xiao Lian gradually felt her heart beating heavily with anticipation. She suddenly feels like she had just come across an opportunity that will allow her to escape from the bleak future that awaits her.

The bizarre logic of her father's plans is somewhat flawed but that doesn't mean it won't work accordingly as everything fits together perfectly. However the key to all of this, the painting that her father had created will be the determining factor.

Although Xiao Lian had seen her father in the midst of creating that painting and had also seen how simple he had made it look she suddenly realized the difficulties that her father must have faced under that task that is riddled with unseen hardship.

"Father you..."

The person in front of her who is father suddenly looked a lot older to Xiao Lian. It isn't the appearance but the air that her father gives off that brings her this impression.

The creation of that painting required a lot more than just Ye Gui Feng's force of will and intent. It had also required a great deal of his longevity that he won't ever get back for that painting is essentially an embodiment of an Exalted Celestial's life and "faith."

Having gone through the jade slip that Ling Tian Hao had given to him prior to his creation of the painting Ye Gui Feng had vaguely understood what "faith" is to an Exalted Celestial.

Faith to the common mortal is a type of belief in a man-made concept or dream but to Exalted Celestials it is more than just that.

The explanation of what faith is to an Exalted Celestial is somewhat strange.

But an easy way of understanding it is that an Exalted Celestial's faith is the source of their powers that allows them to control their Authorities or thoughts in their individual ways that befits their styles.

Having faith that they can bring a person back from the dead, a miraculous feat that shouldn't be possible under ordinary circumstances is something that can be turned into a reality so long as the Exalted Celestial's power of faith is enough.

It might sound simple to the point of it being considered ridiculous but the inner workings behind the powers of an Exalted Celestial's faith is more than just believing strongly in an idea.

Till this day no one really knows the true nature of this power.

But after seeing the ridiculous powers of the Eternal Monarch and the Yaksha Monarch's Absolute Laws it has given Ye Gui Feng some insights to believe that the powers of an Exalted Celestial's faith are but a watered-down version of the monarchs' Absolute Laws as they are very similar in some respects.

An easy way to describe and compare the two is that if the attack of an Exalted Celestial contains just a handful of faiths then a monarch's Absolute Law can be considered an attack that contains a million different types of faiths condensed into one.

This idea has also led Ye Gui Feng to believe that the key to becoming a monarch like existence is to understand the true nature of the power called "faith."