Red Clothed Jiang Hou

When he woke up, he found himself in a white sphere, with a touch of violent red. What travelled here was his Conscience(or Sense). The Sea of Consciousness is the most important concept a Cultivator has.

A farmer has his land, farm tools, and himself. The cultivator has the world, his person, his Dantian, and his Sea of Consciousness. The world contains the Spiritual Energy that the Cultivator absorbs and refines. His person is his body and spirit. This is formed in the body. The body houses the Spirit, at the head, in between the eyebrows. The Sea of Consciousness is formed in the Spirit. 

When a Cultivator awakens his Sea of Consciousness which happens at the Qi Refinement Realm, he opens a connection between the body and the spirit, wherein the spirit can inspect the body in-depthly. 

…

In this Sphere, Jiang Hou's Conscience or Spirit, can feel the gloom, because of the red glow. But instead of anxiety, he felt like he was at home.

"You're finally here. Which Fragment of the Chaos Sutra did you obtain?", a voice said, neither man nor woman.

Jiang Hou was not scared, he felt a kind of caress, like being in the embrace of a mother. So, he replied intuitively, "What is that, the Chaos Sutra?"

"Were you reading or reciting something that made your Spirit excited and were brought here?", the voice asked

"You mean, the Untold Truths of the Cultivation Realms? Yes I was reading it. But my Spirit got excited after reading the 'Things begat of Chaos will return to Chaos…'. What are the concluding parts?", he has forgotten. Jiang Hou was not happy that he had forgotten something he just read. And more, he was even bewildered, 'Why am I answering this voice's question quickly, and … truthfully?'

"Things begat of Chaos will return to Chaos. Chaos will renew all things. Chaos will heal the world. Chaos is Law'", the voice said, and continued, 

"Do not be afraid. You're telling me the truth for a reason, and you'll get to know shortly".

"Oh! So?",

"The Untold Truths of the Cultivation Realms, or whatever it is, is not the fragment of the Chaos Sutra", the voice said.

"Then, what is?"

"Things begat of Chaos will return to Chaos. Chaos will renew all things. Chaos will heal the world. Chaos is Law", it replied.

"That's the fragment? Then what is this Chaos Sutra? Why was it able to trigger my Spirit to this extent?", Jiang Hou asked.

"The Chaos Sutra, that is the Absolute of this world. It governs all Concepts, and Laws, and Rules. Whoever has the Chaos Sutra will dominate the World"

"Your Spirit can respond to the Chaos Sutra, because you are a Being of Chaos", the voice replied.

"I am a being of Chaos? What is that?", he asked.

"That is the limit of what I know"

"Even you, you don't know everything?"

"In this Chaos, nobody is Omniscient"

Jiang Hou felt that his Spirit was exhausted. After everything, it still boiled down to mystery. Since the day he discovered his Master's betrayal, he's been unveiling mysteries. But the more he tried to unveil, the more he was being thrown into a greater Mystery.

But when he was feeling Exhausted, the red glow of the sphere enveloped him, calmed him, cleared his mind, and tendered him. And the exhaustion was not.

A figure condensed before him right now, it was a male figure in Fiery Red Armor. He was holding a Crimson Ruler in his hands.

Jiang Hou looked at this figure, and found only one word to describe him: Heroic. He said to him, "Can you tell me what/who you are?"

"You are the curious one. I am Jiang Hou. I am your from the past. You are me in the future. How long that would be, I don't know. But, you will also be Jiang Hou, and will be manipulated several times. You will face something more challenging than I faced", the figure revealed.

"My past? Was that why I didn't feel hostility since I came in? Only warmth, like I was home?"

"That's right?", the Jiang Hou from the Past said.

"How did you fall in your time? And how strong were you when you fell?", Jiang Hou asked.

"Telling you is not enough. I'll show you, so that you can feel it", the Red Armored Jiang Hou said. Then he waved his hand, and the surrounding scene changed. The white sphere with a touch of red glow faded, and what appeared before Jiang Hou was, … a village?

"I was born in Zhao Village of the Ten Thousand Mountains, Leizhou, Leijiu Empire. Born to a family of four. My father, my mother, my younger sister, and myself…"

Jiang Hou was watching the life of Red Armored Jiang Hou at this time. He witnessed his birth, childhood, and youth.

When Red Armored Jiang Hou(RAJH) turned 14, Mountain Bandits raided their village, killed all the adult men, and took the children and women captive. The young men would become bandits themselves, while the young women would become playthings, or if lucky, wives of bandits. 

Some of them would also be sold as slaves. RAJH's younger sister would also be a part of this unlucky group. Anyone sold as a slave will never have a good time in this world.

Young RAJH would be forced to grow up early. The thought of revenge for his dead parents, and the desire to, one day, rescue his younger sister, fueled his desire to practise. His mother committed suicide to avoid being violated.

As luck would have it, he was quite talented and was soon noticed by the Bandit leaders.

A few years later, RAJH became a Veteran Bandit himself and became one the leaders of the Mountain Bandit group that killed his parents. 

On a raiding mission at one point, he got a big opportunity that caused his cultivation to soar, Two Great Realms above all of the leaders of the Mountain Bandit. His revenge can be achieved, and he got it.

He reorganised the Mountain bandits. Those who don't give up the bandit life, he killed, to avoid future troubles. Those who chose to stay, he made them swear oaths so that there can't be any traitor in their midst. All these he achieved by his own power.

Then he began to make plans, he named his group, Hongyi-men. This is the cause for his Red Armor in the future. They became an Escort Agency. He also formed an intelligence organisation, just to look for his younger sister.

It took 8 years after establishing Hongyi-men before he could find his sister. She was a wreck when he found her. He went on a rampage, and killed everyone involved in his sister's misery.

This offended the authorities. But because of his power, they couldn't do much. Until one year, when one of the descendants of people he had killed when he was still a bandit came back with backups. They killed everyone in the Red-Cloth Gate. And RAJH managed to escape with his life hanging by a thread.

He was saved by an old man who was the ancestor of a Demon Sect, and was also on the run for his life. The two would become Master and Disciple and would turn the world upside down because of the unfairness of life.

When his master died, RAJH swore to enter the path of slaughter and kill everyone who claimed to "Have justice" in their hearts.

He slaughtered his path to hegemony. From a lowly village boy, to the Lord of the Cosmos. He became the devil in people's hearts.

In his years of Hegemony as the Cosmos Lord, he encountered a man who handed him something he didn't know the importance of, until somebody came to challenge him. Then he made preparations for the future Jiang Hou, who is also watching RAJH's life at this moment.

The person who came used "Justice" to win the people's hearts, slayed the 'demon' and became the Lord of Cosmos in the demon's stead. And the scene returned to the white sphere with a red glow.

"The one that challenged me is the one who has calculated against you too. Because he knows a little bit of prediction, so he wants to take everything under his control", said the Red Armored Jiang Hou.

Jiang Hou was quiet for a long time, and RAJH patiently waited for him to absorb and calm down.

Jiang Hou closed his eyes, opened them, and asked, "Why did that one challenge you? And why did he want to control me, us?"

"Honestly, I don't know the whole truth, but what that person wrote in the note said that, I'm about to face a calamity, and said I should prepare. He said the fight is a prelude to the ultimate fight", answered RAJH.

"A prelude to the ultimate fight", Jiang Hou muttered.

"He also gave me the Chaos Sutra. What you have is the Fragment. And that Fragment is the only thing our enemy knows", said RAJH.

"What is the whole Sutra?"

"'Chaos begat Cosmos. Cosmos begat Dao. "Dao begat One, One begat Two. Two begat Three, and Three evolves all things". Things begat of Chaos will return to Chaos. Chaos will renew all things. Chaos will heal the world. Chaos is Law'. This is the Heart of Chaos, 'the Chaos Sutra', he told me", RAJH answered.

"I was expecting something more…"

"Comprehensive? Yeah, anyone would. But it is never meant to be comprehensive, it means what it means only to you. And you won't remember it all the time. When you need it, it will come to you", RAJH said.

"Alright, then…"

"I'll be merged with you, my memories will become yours, and there are side effects" RAJH said quickly. And before he could finish, his figure dissipated, the sphere trembled and began to merge with Jiang Hou from his feet. 

And it was completed in seconds.

Jiang Hou wanted to desperately ask, "What are the consequences of merging with you?". He would soon know.