Elder Shan repeated the name a few times on his lips. “Yinian, Yinian…”

  He nodded. “It sounds quite pleasing on the lips. By ‘Yi,’ do you mean will and intent, and for ‘Nian,’ thought? Together, it means remembrance and commemoration.”

  Of course, taken negatively, it could also refer to obsession, but Tianyi would never admit to that. It was an unintended meaning of the name he and Daoyi came up with. Well, it was mostly him offering ideas and Daoyi going along with it, rejecting the more unsavory names he thought of.

  “I know you like to use the ‘Yi’ character, so I’m not too surprised, but considering your actions in recent years, I thought you would name your child Mengyi.”

  Tianyi’s lips twitched at Elder Shan’s words. In fact, that was exactly the first name Tianyi thought of, but was rejected by Daoyi. It was too on the nose and for a myriad of other reasons.

  Unaware of Tianyi’s thoughts, Elder Shan continued. “Speaking of which, Yinian is a more masculine name than Mengyi. Perhaps if you have twins, you can name the daughter Mengyi and the son, Yinian. Speaking of which, are you sure it’s a boy? Both of you are divinities, so the pregnancy time can vary wildly.”

  He paused. “If it is a boy, I’m sure Grand Elder Xi will be overjoyed. She might even temporarily abandon her post as Heavenly Empress. Of course, I’m just joking. How can the position of Heavenly Empress be abandoned, even for a slight time? Either way, she will be overjoyed to see her grandchild.”

  Tianyi and Daoyi shared a look. This was the exact reason why both of them chose to have a son. It didn’t really matter to Tianyi and Daoyi if the child was a boy or girl, but Mengfei was different. Growing up in a feudal society, Mengfei still carried many traditional ideas, even more so than other cultivators because she was once a princess of a mortal empire.

  The two talked a bit more before Tianyi found a reason to leave. Afterward, he accompanied Daoyi on a stroll through the gardens. “I forgot why I didn’t like meeting him nowadays. His potential and strength have risen, but it’s like all his emotional intelligence has plummeted.”

  “It might not just be a plummet. I feel like he’s a completely different person…” Daoyi paused. “Or pill? To increase his potential, it isn’t just a matter of upgrading his body. As an alchemist, you should know high-level pills aren’t just about materials, but also about the spirituality.”

  Tianyi stayed silent for a moment. “I noticed that his soul fluctuations differ from before, but he still considers himself Elder Shan.”

  “Who knows? In his mind, he might consider himself Elder Shan, and the previous Elder Shan might also consider the current version the real him. It might not even be the first time Elder Shan had done something like this. Pills and humans might have differing views on life,” Daoyi said, her eyes sparkling with inspiration.

  “Either way, legally or morally, he’s Elder Shan to us.” Still, Tianyi couldn’t hide a hint of melancholy in his eyes. Just like when he was reborn in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System and realized that he could no longer go back to Earth, even in the current situation, many things had changed and could no longer return to the way they used to.

  Even if he returned to the past in a different timeline, it would not change anything. His mother had already reached the Origin Immortal Realm long ago, meaning that her alternate timeline versions of herself had all vanished.

  Originally, the Heavenly Immortal Court would have started fusing the alternate timelines back into the prime timeline, strengthening the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, but it would also strengthen the Heavenly Dao, something the upper echelon of the Heavenly Immortal Court: the Concealed Emperor, Perfected Huanglong, and Jiang Ziya didn’t want to see. And Tianyi would have contributed a large amount of effort to the process, so he also knew of the consequences. Both to avoid an unnaturally powerful Heavenly Dao, and angering Tianyi, they had to halt the plans.

  Naturally, fusing was just a euphemistic term. The alternate timelines would collapse and transform into pure quintessence before being absorbed into the prime timeline.

  Tianyi stilled. His mind went into overdrive. He couldn’t do anything major, like destroying the Huang Realm in an alternate timeline, as that would accelerate the fusion process. Just because the Heavenly Immortal Court halted their plans did not mean the merging process would stop. It simply continued at its natural pace.

  After Mengfei became the Heavenly Empress and renamed the Immortal Court to the Heavenly Immortal Court, Tianyi and the other divinities noticed that the rate of new timelines appearing had actually slowed down. The merging process also accelerated. Having noticed this, they knew it was the Heavenly Dao’s will.

  However, Tianyi wasn’t thinking about slowing down the process. If the Heavenly Dao’s erosion of his mother’s will were not so obvious, he would have been content to draw it out and even interfere with the merging process. At this rate, the disintegration of the alternate timelines would take a hundred million years.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  No, Tianyi wanted to “hire” a few helpers to train his unborn son. How can a strong person appear without hardships? Tianyi conveniently forgot about himself. That said, he was currently experiencing his greatest setback in his life, but by the time it happened, he had already transformed potential into power.

  Compared to others, the amount of danger and tempering Tianyi experienced was far less, but the majority of cultivators followed this path. Daoyi seemed not to have experienced much, but her experience in the apocalypse gave her an unwavering will, which benefited her greatly. Though, she might not have wanted this benefit.

  Tianyi planned to keep Yinian in the Nine Heavens Universe until he possessed enough power to protect himself, so he could use natives, but the Nine Heavens Universe was still too young. Or, the denizens had not proliferated enough. None of the geniuses were enough to rival his unborn son.

  Even if Tianyi didn’t know his unborn son’s talent, it would definitely be among the very top—likely the best in the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System’s and Pangu System’s history. And he would feel bad if he used such a genius to temper Yinian, so it was better to seek out someone from an alternate timeline.

  The current geniuses of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System were all part of the Heavenly Immortal Court. Even the geniuses who didn’t join the Heavenly Immortal Court were part of a force subservient to it. And Tianyi couldn’t just kidnap their disciples, could he? Besides, no one knew if a genius would remain a genius. Many cultivators that the world thought would rise to prominence ultimately perished or fell into obscurity.

  Tianyi needed someone who possessed the drive, potential, and a guaranteed rise. The last one was practically impossible as even someone who mastered the Law of Time or the Law of Spacetime could not promise that the future remained unchanged.

  But Tianyi had a candidate. Or rather, candidates. All of them had the same potential, the same drive, and the chance of rising was high. His eyes turned cold, and an equally chilling smile appeared on his face.

  “What’s wrong?” Daoyi asked. She rarely saw such an expression on Tianyi’s face. It was even rarer than her genuine smile. “Did someone make you mad again? Or is someone chasing after Mother online again?”

  Tianyi shook his head. “I just thought of a perfect whetstone for our son.”

  “Whetstone?” Daoyi asked, but quickly realized what he meant. “Who?”

  “It’s an old acquaintance.” As if sharing a secret, he brought his lips to her ear and whispered the name.

  Daoyi blinked. “He’s indeed a good candidate. We’ll have to adjust the plot a bit.”

  Tianyi nodded in agreement. “So we’ll have to adjust the plot a bit.”

  Owing to their experience, they had designed a story with their child as the protagonist. Of course, their child couldn’t be orphaned, as that might leave him estranged from Tianyi and Daoyi. So the two decided to have a nemesis.

  In the script, Tianyi and Daoyi were originally part of a local sect, but because they offended a silkpant—scion of an elder—they were framed on charges and nearly killed. They fled and lived in obscurity, but the silkpant was unsatisfied and constantly hunted them.

  Daoyi wanted to “die” tragically in front of their child to give him motivation and have him learn to be self-sufficient. Tianyi felt it was too tragic, so he changed the plot to directing danger away. They would have Yinian hide while they lured the pursuers away.

  Of course, they would keep watch over their child. Daoyi wanted to act out this plot when Yinian turned ten, but Tianyi felt it was too early. In fact, he had wanted to act out their tragic deaths when the child turned fifteen. Since the danger and stimulation were lowered, she also lowered the age.

  This would be the beginning of their child’s rise. The couple knew that life wouldn’t play out like their scripts, so they would always be watching to prevent any accidents and make full-time adjustments. So, most of the plots were just skeletons, with the fleshing out happening when the plot neared.

  One thing the couple didn’t plan was their child’s love life. Tianyi felt it might be better for Yinian to have a relationship when he was young. Once time passed, the crucial window to form relationships would pass. Daoyi thought the complete opposite. In her view, it would be better to choose a spouse after becoming an immortal.

  That way, the spouse would have a higher chance of already being an immortal, thus signifying their talent. She did not think raising her daughter-in-law’s cultivation to the Immortal Realm was too high of a cost. Rather, she wanted to maintain a better balance in the relationship. If Yinian was too talented and strong, his partner might feel unworthy and unconfident, causing the relationship to deteriorate. Not everyone had the willpower to continue acting as an equal to someone far more powerful.

  If that happened, the emotions in the relationship would dull. Daoyi only thought it was a part of life, but she knew some people couldn’t accept it and would feel lonely.

  The two decided to let it play out.

  Of course, it didn’t stop Daoyi from adding plot points to their outline that would hinder emotional development. Tianyi shed a few tears for his unborn child. He thought he was already quite cruel, but in front of Daoyi, he learned what a villain was like. “Aren’t you going a little far? It feels torturous.”

  “Is it?” Daoyi repeated. “I observed and saw that the willpower of victims in such situations increased several-fold.”

  “Even if it did, it feels like going too far. When the child finds out, he might develop a rebellious mentality or loathing. In the end, we are his parents, so we can’t make him suffer too much,” Tianyi said.

  Daoyi nodded. Logically, she could understand that learning your entire life was scripted would make someone hate the mastermind. Especially if the experience was extremely unpleasant, she felt that it wasn’t a big deal emotionally. It would only cause a split upon the revelation and that the relationship should eventually smooth out with time.

  She glanced at Tianyi. Or perhaps her husband felt that he wouldn’t have time to smooth out the relationship.

  Either way, the two continued to plot their child’s future experiences. Unnoticed by the couple, the fetus in Daoyi’s body shivered, as if sensing malice.

  The couple called the script they planned out for their child, “The Rise of Xi Yinian.”

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