The Gods Who Rule from Behind

The wind outside the cave was cold today, howling over the mountaintop like a starving beast clashing its teeth.

Vaen sat cross-legged before the old Qi Scholar. The stone chamber was dim, lit only by the bluish glow of a single spirit lamp and the soft hum of a formation inscribed into the ground. The silence between them stretched like a bowstring—tight, ready to snap.

The old man finally opened his eyes. "You're getting close to Half-Step Nascent Soul Realm in combat power, huh?"

Vaen said nothing. He merely smiled faintly. It was true. Having set his Origin Qi understanding foundations and refined his mastery with the Tenebris transmogrification technique—though he never once spoke the word—the difference was obvious. He could kill most Golden Core cultivators in an exchange now. Even his blade technique had been upgraded. And yet, he was still incomplete.

The elderly man sighed and filled himself a glass of spirit tea. "Well, since you're going to keep your nose more deeply into the muddle that is our world, you may as well hear something most don't."

Vaen leaned forward, sensing that something was going to be shared with him.

"Gods exist, Vaen. Every race has one. Humans, beasts, spirits, call them whatever. And no, I do not mean cultivators who became immortal. I mean real gods, worldly creatures born from the essence of the world, forged by fate and worshipped."

He sipped. "Humans have the Human Ancestor. That is our god. Forgotten by most now, but still keeping watch or maybe sleeping. Who knows? Before all of this," he gestured vaguely at the world outside, "the Arcane Race ruled everything. Formations, elemental arts, even racial harmony. You've heard of them, I hope?"

Vaen nodded.

"Then you know they were called the Enlightened. But nobody explained to you that their god trumped all gods."

That made Vaen blink.

"The Arcane God," the old man said. "He wasn't strong, just. He was balance himself. The gods did not fight each other under him. They did not rebel. Not even the demonic ones. But then…."

A pause. A long one.

"An Origin Beast awakened."

Vaen's brow creased. "Origin Beast?"

The old man's lips compressed. "Something that ought to have remained in the ground. It wasn't merely powerful, it was immortal. The kind of thing that warps reality just by being."

He shook his head. "That beast wreaked havoc the world still hasn't recovered from. The Arcane God fought it and died. The Arcane Race? Wiped out in days. The gods of the other races tried to suppress the Origin Beast, and one of them finally succeeded ; the god of ferocious beasts."

"That sounds. good?" Vaen asked warily.

"No. It wasn't. That beast god did not possess a mind. It did what was natural to it. It killed the Origin Beast, but then it destroyed everything else. Could not be reasoned with. Could not be stopped. So."

He placed the cup on the table.

"The other gods chained it. The leader of that movement was the god of demon beasts. Cunning, powerful, and most importantly, still quite unscathed."

"And let me guess," Vaen replied, already piecing together. "He took the throne?"

"He didn't need to. He negotiated. The Origin Pact. All the gods signed on,humans, spirits, beastkind, everyone. They agreed: no war between the gods. No interference. And in return, the god of demonic beasts would take care of things. Govern in the background."

"And the pact still stands?"

"As far as I know, yes. That god now resides on the world's tallest mountain, Mount Eltheran; in the center of the three great empires. No one dared tread there. No mortal can withstand the divine pressure."

The cave returned to silence.

Vaen sat back against the wall, absorbing it all.

So even the gods had fallen to calamity. Even they had needed pacts and alliances. It put the enormity of the Union and the cultivation world into somewhat less eternal perspective.

The old man glanced at him sidelong. "You're not normal, Vaen. That much I'm certain of. There's something inside you—something I can't pinpoint. But I won't pry. Everyone has their secrets."

A smirk danced across Vaen's face. "Thanks."

"But listen—if you ever do manage to escape from here. if you go into the wider world. Be careful. Some people, some powers, won't see it so kindly in a person like you."

He made that clear. He wasn't just talking about humans or beasts. He encompassed the gods as well.

Vaen nodded slowly. "Got it."

The old man put down his tea and stood up. "Go for a walk. Let that sink into your head. You'll learn more out of this than anything technique I can demonstrate."

As Vaen exited the cave, the cold mountain air hit him with a slap into wakefulness. Gods and Pacts and Ancient beasts.

He chuckled in derision.

"And here I was worried about finishing his little formation test two weeks ago."

He looked up at the sky. For the first time in a long while, he felt something old stirring in his blood.

A call. A warning.