"First, I need some of the time essence from the River of Time," Wang Wei stated.

"No problem," the Erudite Duchess nodded without hesitation, pleasing Wang Wei. The time essence can be used to fix his [Time Skipping Orb], and also in preparation to steal [Time Authority] for his Otherworldly Foundation.

"Secondly, I need your method of constructing the [Hall of Record], along with a projection."

"For your wife?"

"Yes."

"That’s also not an issue," the Duchess nodded. The method or the projection is not as valuable as this opportunity for improvement.

"Third, I would like the data on the improved Array Virus you created, and the right to exchange with you a completed product. If you wish, you can keep the final version of the array virus to yourself, but I want the data on the creation process. I also want a guarantee that you will not share it with anyone else.

"This thing is your creation in the first place, so I don’t mind sharing the improvement I make," the Duchess calmly stated.

Wang Wei nodded. Once the duchess improved on it, the virus could be utilized for many endeavors. And assuming she will update it to work against Tribunal Lords, Wang Wei is confident he can abuse other Primordial Chaos Saints with them.

"Anything else?"

"Lastly, I need written guarantees that if you succeed, you will do everything in your power to take me out of this timeline if things go awry."

The Duchess frowned, "Even if you didn’t say anything, I would have done so. But you should also understand that there is a chance that the Beyonder might interfere personally. At that point, if his target is you, I will not risk my life to save you."

"I understand," Wang Wei nodded. "If things really reach such a level of severity, you will not be obligated to help me."

"In that case, I feel relieved," the Erudite Duchess nodded. With a flicker of her wrist, a scroll manifested in her palm. And without hesitation, Wang Wei read every sentence. Although he had a good relationship with the duchess, he would not play with his life. Once he was satisfied, he signed the contract.

"Happy cooperation."

"Happy cooperation," Wang Wei nodded, taking a sip of his tea, feeling calm and peaceful. Now that he had a decent plan of escape, he felt more reassured of surviving the [Time Nexus] and the subsequent events. Of course, he will not rely solely on the duchess. Ultimately, in life, the only person who is 100% reliable is oneself.

"Now that I’m here, there is something I’ve always wanted to know," Wang Wei changed the topic.

"Go ahead, but I also have a question of my own."

"Alright. What exactly were you Saints doing during the Ultimate Taboo?"

"Of course, we were fighting for the path ahead," the Erudite Duchess answered without hesitation.

"Oh?"

"Do you know the primary way Saint cultivates?

"Not really," Wang Wei shook his head. During his time in the Heaven Splitting Holy Land, he primarily read about the sanctification process, not what comes afterward, so his knowledge on the matter was sparse. Although he had a library with the answers, he hadn’t had the time to read them.

"Saints do not have to spend all their time comprehending the laws of the universe or trying to create a method for the next step. This process is too slow and has a low success rate for most. There is an easier way — a way that will directly give them the answer."

"The answer? Are you talking about future timelines?"

"Yes, but the word future timeline might not be the best way to describe it; more like, future possibility," the duchess explained. Timelines are set in stone, while future possibilities are illusory, with a certain probability of becoming real.

"By traveling the future and finding one in which they have ascended to the next realm, things become simpler," she continued.

"There is no way it’s that easy," Wang Wei frowned. If it were that simple, the world would be full of Grand Dao Saints.

"Obviously," The Duchess replied. "Finding the future doesn’t mean you talk to your future self and get the answers you wish. On the contrary, the more you know about that future, the less likely it will become true. Most Saints will only check if they themselves, in that future possibility, have reached a higher level without learning anything else.

"Then, what they must do is follow that future step-by-step, and it must be precise. They cannot rush or skip any event. If they see themselves receiving some kind of inheritance 10,000 yuan epoch from the present, they cannot just rush over to take the pill — they must wait for the 10,000 yuan epoch."

"Why is that?" Wang Wei asked.

"Because future possibilities are often extremely fragile. Even the slightest derivation will alter the course of events, leading to an entirely different future."

"In that case, doesn’t that mean others could disrupt a person’s future?"

"That’s right. That’s why each Saint will protect their future possibilities from each other," the Erudite Duchess nodded.

"The competition seems fierce among you."

"You have no idea," the Duchess sighed. "Some future possibilities clashed with each other, which forced the Saints to fight each other tooth and nail. The cruel part is how random these clashes can be. Two brothers could be loving with one another in one second, and the next, their future possibilities clashed. One of them will ascend to the Tribunal Saint Realm while the other will die. What are they supposed to do?"

"The logical answer is to search for a future in which they both ascend, but..." Wang Wei replied.

"Finding the right future possibilities is difficult. How can anyone just give up?" the Duchess sighed. Wang Wei was silent. The Transcendent Age is coming, meaning the struggle for these future possibilities will become even more intense.

"I envy you."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Wang Wei looked at her.

"There are some futures who are immune to changes, futures who can embrace all variables — these future possibilities have a higher chance of becoming true," the Duchess looked him in the eyes, not hiding her envy. "Your future is one of them: the Lord of Fate — the being sitting at the end of the River of Time, playing chess with all living beings.

"Why do you think it’s so easy for you to summon a future version of yourself? It’s because your future has such a high possibility of becoming true that it has almost solidified, with only a few minor things that can derail it."

"Is that so?" Wang Wei calmly stated.

"That’s your reaction?" the Duchess asked. "Haven’t you realized what this means? A direct path to success — a guarantee to reach the Grand Dao Saint Realm."

Wang Wei shook his head. He had already foreseen something wrong with how these Saints cultivate: they were too obsessed with quick success. In Wang Wei’s opinion, the best way to cultivate was the slow, boring process of comprehending laws and developing a method to reach higher levels. The future was ultimately unreliable, with too many variables. However, the present was something they could control and influence. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"What?"

"You guys are too obsessed with the future. The slow and boring way of cultivation is the right way."

"That’s easy to say for someone like you, who is brimming with ideas and the ability to make them a reality. But for the rest of us mortals? Our minds are our own enemy," she sighed.

"Let’s not mention this. What does everything you said have to do with the Ultimate Taboo?"

"The plan started when someone proposed gathering the destiny of the entire timeline to create a [High Potential Future] like yours. We would work together to gather the destiny, and afterward, everybody would fight it out, with all the reward going to the final winner."

"Did it work?"

"What do you think?"

"Probably not."

"The result was that before we could even start fighting, countless future possibilities smashed together, resulting in a temporal anomaly in which the past, present, and future existed together. Many people died because of that anomaly." A look of terror flashed deep in the duchess’s eyes.

"No one benefited from the event?"

"A few Primordial Saints took another step, but as far as I know, no one has achieved the third step after that event."

Wang Wei squinted his eyes, "Do you know what went wrong with the plan?"

The duchess did not answer.

"It’s not hard to deduce. You guys treated my ancestor Qiyuan as a pawn in your plan, but a few Grand Dao Saints were treated the same way. Whatever it was they were planning was the reason everything went wrong," Wang Wei sneered.

The Erudite Duchess sipped her tea, her silence saying more than any words.

"Why did you choose Qiyuan?" Wang Wei asked.

"It was the logical choice," she replied. "We calculated someone to hand the task to, and our divination led us to the Eternal Ascension World. After seeing there was something unique about this world, we searched for someone to lead the war, and Qiyuan was the best choice out of everything."

"Didn’t you find the Eternal Ascension World odd? A world that had used tribulation to condense its destiny to the peak and was experiencing a Golden Age, and you guys — you just happen to have a plan that required condensing all the universe’s destiny?"