"If it wasn't for elder sister, I would have died! Right now though, I live and I won't waste this life that she gifted me by dying at the hands of one of those who allowed Tian to kill her! That's right, she may have died to protect me, but you also greatly helped Tian in his intent! Now tell me, big brother, does the eldest of the Divine Beasts, the Divine Earth King, the Black Turtle, only know how to put blame on others?"

Hearing Cheng Hao's argument, the Black Turtle frowned and backed away: in a sense, the boy was right, Ren Hei had been the first to allow Tian to pass, even going as far as guiding him to where Ren Hong and Xu Ling were playing.

Obviously Cheng Hao had enlarged by quite a bit the role the Divine Earth King had in their sister's murder, but the boy was not going to point that out.

The serpent and the turtle looked at each other dumbfounded: they could not attack Cheng Hao because it would mean they were in the wrong, but they also felt that they were in the right and thus had to prove that!

Yet, they obviously could not keep up with Cheng Hao's ingenious arguments: even if he told no lies, he actually hid the truth and only pointed out the flaws of the other person's point of view!

That was something that even the oldest of the four Divine Kings could not do as it had spent too few time in the presence of the cunning humans!

This problem could also be seen in Cheng Hao's conversation with the Roc: although these beasts were millions and some like the Primordial Heavenly Beasts even billions of years old, they didn't communicate much as they didn't find the reason to do so if they were as powerful like they were!

On the contrary, the weak humans didn't have great strength, so they could only evolve by using their heads. Tian had been a lowly servant, weak and fragile, this also allowed him to rely on other means than just brute force to defeat his opponents.

This weakness of the powerful Heavenly Beasts was also the main reason that Tian could fool them all: they simply didn't even put in their minds the possibility that they could be fooled, a narcissistic complex that brought the Heavens of the Jade Emperor to their doom...

And now, Cheng Hao was doing just that! He was using complicated arguments to make the beast's mind waver and think of way to defend itself by those contorted words rather than to attack Cheng Hao physically, because it still thought that it was right but had to prove itself superior.

Cheng Hao smirked as the Black Turtle and the Gigantic Snake stood silent and then headed towards them "It's quite tiring chatting out here, let's go inside!"

The Black Turtle couldn't retort as its mind was already occupied with the previous matter and it subconsciously retreated and turned back into its human form. Before he knew it, he was sitting at a table with Cheng Hao drinking tea and chatting about random stuff.

When he finally realized the situation, it's black cheeks turned red as he hit the table with both palms ""You dare try to fool us?"" he had already turned into a middle aged man, but the two voices still imposed each other: he had dark skin as black as carbon, long white hair tied into braids that went down his back, a prominent chin covered in trimmed white beard and his two eyes had black irises that fused with the pupils.

He wore some kind of leather armor and from his back a snake coiled around his shoulders staring at Cheng Hao. The snake was green and it was exactly the same as the one on the Black Turtle's true body except it was much, much smaller.

Cheng Hao calmly sipped his tea and spoke "What do you mean? Was anything I said a lie? Did I lie to you? Tell me, brother, how could I fool you if I haven't lied to you? Or..." Cheng Hao's eyes flashed "Are you trying to dodge my claims and simply kill me before anyone else gets to know about them?"

The dark skinned man trembled, his expression clearly showing on his face. Cheng Hao's face was calm, but inside he was so amused that he almost laughed out loud 'This guy... I would never want to team up with him for a poker game, he doesn't even know what a poker face is!'

Finally the human form Black Turtle sighed and sat down glaring at Cheng Hao ""What do you want, boy? Have you come here to destroy our reputation? To take over our throne? To break our will? Why are you here?""

Cheng Hao put down the empty cup on the table in front of him, leaned on the table with his elbows and crossed his hands in front of his nose, hiding his expression "No, brother. I have not come to attack you... For now, I have only come here to ask you for help... If you aren't too proud to lend me some!"

Hearing that, Ren Hei gaped and then fiercely grinned ""Oh? So first you threaten us by not allowing us to hurt you in any way, then you ask us for help, implying that the threat is still in place... Quite sharp!""

Cheng Hao almost rolled his eyes hearing that and his mouth's sides twitched 'Don't look so proud if you only figured that out now...'

Cheng Hao continued "Brother, I plan to kill Tian...". Hearing that, the Black Tortoise shook his head ""So? You already planned to, we knew already. Nothing has changed no-"" "... I plan to kill Tian and to claim the throne!"

The Black Turtle stood silent for a while before realizing what Cheng Hao had just said. He trembled and his expression was one of surprise as well as hope ""Y-you mean it? You are not fooling us?""

Cheng Hao nodded "I have embraced my destiny. It was foretold and I have finally come to understand. Prophecies do not predict the future. They shape it. By predicting a good future, everybody will subconsciously be happier and feel everything to be better than it really is. By believing something bad will happen..." the boy's projection shook it head

"Beings with intelligence are scary creatures: they will try to eradicate all threats that come in their ways, but they do not understand... That by eliminating many smaller ones, they make way for a much bigger threat. If you kill off one enemy, a new one will appear, stronger than the one before, otherwise it would not come after you, seeing how you defeated your previous foe"

The black King pondered at the boy's words and listened quietly.

"That is the same thing with Prophecies: you try to eliminate all threats indicated in the prediction, but one will escape, and that one will be the biggest threat of them all, the one you couldn't remove to begin with!"

Cheng Hao stood up: he was much smaller than Ren Hei was, but at that moment, the human form Divine Beast felt that, under the gaze of the one human child, he was just an ant, as he would be nothing in his eyes.

The thing that was being stared at wasn't wasn't him. By staring at him, the child was looking at the whole world through him!

Ren Hei fell on his knees powerlessly and laughed ""Ahaha, Tian! You unlucky fool! You have angered this thing, now nobody can save you! He has embraced his destiny and he will sit on your throne as the true Emperor of Heaven, the Ruler of All. What can you, a mere usurper do in face of the might of the one destined to rule? Tremble, tremble Tian, and have fun as your last days are coming closer!""

The Black Turtle laughed foolishly ""We were wrong, it was our fault that Fourth Sister died! We, the eldest brother, could not protect our youngest brother and youngest sister... We are such a delusion! What Divine Earth King, we are nothing but the Divine King of Fools! Ling' Er come here!""

The tall, burly, dark skinned man lifted his hand and pointed at Cheng Hao ""I, We, the Divine Earth King grant you our blessing, human! The power of the earth, the strength of the greatest mountain and the defense of the most sturdy tree, we give it to you!"" The man began to expand and emit dark mist. The snake also enlarged and the plate armor turned into a huge shell.

The gigantic Black Turtle appeared, it stood tall and proud, in its eyes, in all four of them, was newfound resolve, the will to fight! To get revenge! It opened his mouth and a black spark flew out. It shined black, yellow, green and brown, the essence of the earth!

The spark floated in midair and even Cheng Hao was stunned when he understood what had just happened. He gaped and recovered only after a long while "Brother! What are you doing, quick, put it back!" His usually calm demeanor turned into horror as he knew what that object was.

"This is a shard of our Soul, we give it to you as an apology. Within this spark lies great power, consume it and you will become stronger than any other before you for you will hold part of the strength of the Ruler of the Earth! This strength... You will have to fight for it! Now though, I will bless you with a small portion of it. When you feel your life or the life of those you love is in danger don't hesitate to tap into its power! You will have to conquer it, to make it yours, but when you do, you will hold the strength of the Divine Earth King, the power of the whole world through it!"

Cheng Hao looked at the hovering object in front of him and his expression grew slightly warmer 'Brother... To think that you would love your younger siblings so much that you would give your own life away... It seems like I have misjudged you. When I get stronger, I will repay you for sure!'

The black turtle trembled and its eyes began to grow dull "We trust... That you... Will... Get revenge, for sister! We... We need to rest... This is probably... A goodbye... We will sleep... For a very long time, go... Ling'... Er..."

The great beast drew his four limbs and head back in its shell while the snake gently wrapped around the hard surface of the shell and also fell into a deep slumber. Trees and vegetation began to grow at rapid speeds on the Turtle's back and the Divine Beast turned into a tall mountain inside the Immortal Ascension Tower's third floor.

Cheng Hao smiled and caressed the black shell. He then lifted his head and looked at the spark hovering in mid air: he approached it and slowly picked it up with both hands. It was only as big as the smallest pebble, but Cheng Hao knew that to make something like the Soul tangible from a state where it couldn't even be felt, a large amount of one's life force had to be used. For the Black Turtle to awaken in the next millions of years it would be nothing short than a miracle!

He opened his mouth and swallowed the spark. It didn't reach the stomach, instead it moved towards a region about five inches below the navel, the Dantian, the pill-like object that could be used for refining medicine and special objects.

As soon as the spark entered the Dantian, Cheng Hao was forcibly removed from the meditative state resulting in him spitting out blood from the sudden action: he felt pain, great pain!

Although it wasn't of the worst physical pain that he had ever felt it was still enough that, even with his great control over his own body, he almost yelled out aloud.

His muscles seemed to be constantly ripping and then mending back together in a never ending cycle, his bones broke apart and then reconstructed at such speeds that in less than a second, the whole process had been repeated more than a dozen times and even his nerves seemed to be forcefully cut off before being connected together to one another so the pain came in waves.

Cheng Hao rolled his eyes until they showed only white, foam began to form at his mouth's sides and weird sounds kept coming from his body as he contorted unnaturally. His meridians, veins where the Qi flowed, were constantly pumped with energy and kept enlarging until they were about to break and then recovered, this process also repeating lots and lots of times in the fraction of a breath.

In ten seconds, Cheng Hao felt pain superior to what a human would usually feel during his own life all at the same time, magnified by several times! Yet, he did not utter a single word, let alone yell as he understood that would only have worsened the situation.

After those ten seconds though, pain was replaced with pleasure as the process suddenly ended. The same principle as the question: 'Why would you hit yourself in the head with a hammer a hundred times? Because afterwards, you would just feel just too well [Note: don't try this at home]!'

The pain had gone away and he could feel the changes in his body, it felt as light as feather and yet as tough as iron and as flexible as a bow. Truly, this feeling was too amazing!

Cheng Hao opened his eyes and spat out black blood: that blood was full of impurities both from his flesh and bones but also from the meridians.

He lifted his right arm, waved it around and then punched the ground! A crater was formed from the power of that single punch which had no cultivation backing it, only the Fleshly Body.

This power that he didn't hold up until a few moments ago meant only one thing: he had skipped two levels and had broken through to a Black Iron Fleshly Body!

"Brother... You need not worry. I promise to destroy Tian. When all is done, us five brothers and sisters will all drink together under the starry sky, free from the oppression of the Nine Heavens and free to live!" He lifted his hands "I swear on my very existence, I will keep my word! Ren Hong! Don't worry, I will avenge you, what is death in the face of destiny? Fate is what guides my hand, Destiny what swings my blade!"

Cheng Hao lowered his head as he reminisced scenes of the past, the memories of a girl dressed in red, her body dancing like a flame and her hugs the warmest and most comfortable in the world.

In the depths of his mind another sentence formed but he didn't notice...

'And Love... Is what started it all!'