1128 Madman

'What's going on?' Wang Wei did not detect anything when this sudden change occurred. The worst part is that his intuition was not warning him of any danger, which could be a good thing or a terrible situation in which he's encountering an event in which his abilities are useless.

He immediately scanned his surroundings and found no enemy, but he sensed an anomaly in this room's space. He was on high alert as he activated the court's formation to prepare for whatever was coming. The space broke apart but quickly healed.

In this brief moment, Wang Wei sensed an odd aura on the other side of that space crack. 'Someone is coming?' His question was immediately answered as he heard a loud voice.

"Damn it, why is this place blocked? How annoying.

" The voice was obviously male, slightly grave, with a hint of echo.

"Kazuk Minuk Dodi.

"

The man said a few words that seemed nonsense to the regular listeners. Still, Wang Wei noticed that he pronounced them in a very specific manner, to the point that he perfectly controlled the vibration, frequency, and wavelengths of his vocal cords.

A weird aura emanated from the void, and a portal slowly materialized before Wang Wei. A middle-aged man with a regular-looking black robe, tired eyes, and a head of back hair held by one string but a black and white goatee walked out from the portal.

"Oh, good, it worked.

"

"Who are you?

" asked Wang Wei. His danger intuition was calm, but that was not a sign for him to relax his guard.

"You have something that belongs to me.

"

"I don't even know you.

"

"But you do.

"

"If I did, I wouldn't have asked.

"

"Unless you're trying to hide from me,

" said the middle-aged man.

"Why would I do that?

"

"People often run away from me. I don't know why. Well, I do. They usually don't want to repay their debt.

"

"I don't owe - Wait, are you Madman Chu?

"

"See? I said you know me.

"

"You could have introduced yourself, and this conversation would have been much smoother,

" Wang Wei said. Despite knowing the latter's identity, he did not lower his guard. After all, he knew almost nothing about Madman Chu besides his analysis. So, his mind was already deducing how to escape this scenario if something went wrong.

'Assuming he's really mad, it would mean his spirit has problems. I can use my Soul Dao to recreate the trial I just experienced. It should work, or at least give me time to run away by ascending.'

"I didn't introduce myself?

" asked Madman Chu, genuinely puzzled.

"You didn't.

"

"But how did you know who I was?

"

Wang Wei grunted, feeling that conversing with this man might give him an aneurysm.

"Why are you here?

"

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"Like I said, you have something that belongs to me.

"

"You're talking about your inheritance?

" Wang Wei took out the talisman with the information.

"Why would I want something that I already know?

" asked Madman Chu, looking at him as if he was stupid. The corner of Wang Wei's eyes twitched: this was the first time someone had given him such a look, and he was not happy about it.

"I'm talking about what you did with my work.

"

"You mean this ceremony?

"

"Yes. I've spread my knowledge across the Chaos Universe in the hopes that people will innovate and return the favor, but it has been a while since someone did,

" said Madman Chu with a deep sigh while shaking his head to show his disapproval.

"How can these people be so stupid? I've already done most of the work for them, so they only need to improve on what I've done. But no. They either used it without any intention of innovating and when they do, it's something stupid.

"

He looked Wang Wei in the eyes.

"I hope you didn't do something stupid and make me come here in vain.

"

"See for yourself.

" Wang Wei condensed his ceremony into a talisman before handing it to him. Madman Chu did not hesitate to study the content.

"Assimilating my existence to an event or cause? Brilliant. I see you combine the work of that boy Heavenly Book with mine. Not bad, not bad.

"

Wang Wei squinted his eyes. He now had confirmation that Heavenly Book Paragon created the Paradox Ceremony, and he was his enemy, not the one of the Cardinals.

"I'm very satisfied with this exchange,

" said Madman Chu with a great smile.

"The debt between us is settled.

" Wang Wei immediately felt the tight karmic bond between him and Madman Chu dissipate, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes. In fairness, the latter's inheritance was way more valuable than his ceremony, but he still settled the debt because he was satisfied with Wang Wei's work.

'So, is this the kind of person he is?' thought Wang Wei.

"Well, goodbye.

" Madman Chu did not hesitate to turn around to head to his portal.

"Wait!

"

"Is there something else?

"

"Can you tell me how you descended in this blocked space?

" Wang Wei was genuinely curious how he bypassed True Heavenly Dao's blockade.

"Such information is valuable,

" Madman Chu replied casually.

"I'll exchange my experience of using the ceremony with you. Such data should help you better understand the ceremony.

"

"Hmm.

" Madman Chu pondered for a good ten seconds.

"Deal.

" Wang Wei immediately gave him the information, and Madman Chu explained:

"I used a technique from the Rulebreaker Race.

"

"What race?

" Wang Wei had never heard of such a creature.

"

"At the beginning of the universe, during the Age of Genesis, Grand Dao was young and ignorant. So, when ruling the Chaos Universe, it experimented with different creatures and lifeforms. The result was that it created too many creatures that were too powerful or had unbalanced abilities, one of which was the Rulebreakers - a race with the power to ignore the rules, restrictions, limitations, or Order-Disorder of Heaven and Earth.

"

"That is terrifying,

" commented Wang Wei. If he had such ability, he would turn the entire Chaos Universe upside down with all his unrestrained ideas.

'Here I thought Fiendgods or Chaos Demon Gods were the darlings of this universe. Compared to the Rulebreakers or creatures from that age, they are nothing,' thought Wang Wei, feeling slightly envious.

"I'm guessing the fate of these creatures was terrible.

"

"That's obvious. These creatures were too powerful, so they had no desire for improvement or innovation - which is bad news for Grand Dao, whose sole purpose was to develop the Chaos Universe. So, it had wiped out its creation and returned to the drawing board.

"

"That means the Chaos Demon Gods were Grand Dao's second attempt at populating the Chaos Universe. So, what happened to them?

"

"That's another question entirely,

" said Madman Chu, and Wang Wei felt it was a shame he could not pull a fast one over this madman.

"Is that it? I'm leaving.

"

"Any chance you can exchange this technique?

"

"Absolutely not.

"

"Oh, come on. Let's at least negotiate a price.

"

"No, no.

" Madman Chu shook his head.

"All traces of the Age of Genesis are almost wiped out, so I went to extreme lengths to get some samples from that era. I doubt you have anything valuable to exchange.

"

"How about an idea of achieving Half-Step Transcendence?

"

"Idea?

" sneered Madman Chu, not hiding his deep disdain.

"I have hundreds of those. Do you have an actual method?

"

"That, I don't.

"

"Then, don't waste my time.

" Madman Chu walked toward his portal. This technique was how he saved his life in many desperate situations, so how stupid would he be to exchange with others for an idea? Even if it were the real method, he would hesitate to exchange - especially if it's one of those shoddy methods with too many restrictions.

Wang Wei calmly watched him disappear. He did not make other offers, like knowledge about the Prehistoric World. As a former salesman, he knew when someone was not willing to sell or even negotiate about certain products.

'It's a shame,' he thought before opening his mouth to utter:

"Kazuk Minuk Dodi.

" Nothing happened, so he tried to replicate the exact same frequency and wavelengths as he remembered, but the situation was the same.

"As expected, it's useless to remember or say the words correctly.

" This incantation was probably a small portion of that technique, so Madman Chu had no issue revealing it to the public.

'Forget about him for now.' The small conversation brought him a lot of information about the Chaos Universe's history. More importantly, he knew who his enemy was; now, he could be better prepared.

'The next focus should be on elevating my Dao Body so I can achieve Taboo Battle Realm,' thought Wang Wei. 'It's also about time grandfather ascended for his battle with Nine Suns.'

Although he was confident in the old man, he was worried-not so much about the fight but about the fact that he would stay in the upper dimension for a short period.

'I hope nothing goes wrong.'