Chapter 16: The Garden of Former Glory

Reality shifted without transition. One moment Wei Liang was attacking futilely in the void between universes; the next, he stood in an impossible garden that stretched beyond all horizons. Trees grew here whose fruits were entire cosmologies. Rivers flowed upward carrying the dreams of unborn civilizations. The very air sparkled with condensed possibility.

And tending to a grove of reality-trees with simple gardening tools was a figure Wei Liang recognized from countless legends and historical murals.

Ling Tian, the Demon Emperor whose name had been whispered in fear across ten thousand worlds, was pruning branches with a pair of golden shears. He wore simple robes of undyed hemp, his legendary demonic aura completely absent. When he looked up at their approach, his eyes held only weary acceptance.

"Another student?" Ling Tian asked the Architect with mild interest. "This one seems... angry."

Wei Liang's blood-form trembled with conflicted emotions. Here was his predecessor, the cultivator whose achievements had inspired Wei Liang's own pursuit of power. Yet Ling Tian appeared completely broken, content with menial labor in service to the Architect.

"I am Wei Liang!" he declared, trying to project strength despite his growing uncertainty. "I followed your path to transcendence! How can you accept such... diminishment?"

Ling Tian set down his shears and studied Wei Liang with ancient eyes. "My path? Young one, I walked no path. I carved a bloody trail through existence, consuming everything in my desperate hunger for supremacy. Just as you have done."

"Then why do you serve him?" Wei Liang gestured angrily at the Architect. "You were the Demon Emperor! Your name shook the foundations of reality itself!"

"And where did that power lead me?" Ling Tian asked sadly. "I devoured civilizations, consumed gods, destroyed entire dimensional frameworks in my quest for strength. When I finally stood alone at the peak of achievement, I discovered something terrible."

"What?" Wei Liang demanded, though part of him dreaded the answer.

"There was no one left to acknowledge my supremacy. I had killed everyone worth surpassing. My ultimate power became meaningless because I had destroyed all context that gave it significance."

The words hit Wei Liang like physical blows. His own journey had followed an identical pattern—consuming masters, devouring sects, absorbing entire cultivation realms until only he remained. He had never considered what would happen after achieving ultimate strength.

"The Architect found me in my empty palace of bones," Ling Tian continued, returning to his pruning. "Alone, insane with solitude, begging the void itself to provide worthy opponents. He offered me something I had lost—purpose beyond mere domination."

"Servitude is not purpose!" Wei Liang snarled, his blood-form writhing with rejection of such weakness.

"Is it not?" The Architect interjected gently. "Ling Tian's work here maintains the fundamental patterns that allow new realities to grow. His cultivation, rather than being suppressed, has found its proper application. He is no less powerful than before—merely more wisely directed."

Wei Liang watched Ling Tian carefully trim a branch that contained an entire galactic cluster. The precision required for such work was staggering. A single mistake could collapse billions of potential worlds into paradox.

"I refuse such a fate," Wei Liang declared, though his voice lacked its earlier conviction. "I will not be reduced to a gardener."

Ling Tian paused in his work. "I said similar words once. Would you like to know what changed my mind?"

"Tell me," Wei Liang said reluctantly.

"The Architect showed me what lay beyond the garden."

The Architect gestured, and the garden's peaceful atmosphere dissolved. Wei Liang found himself standing at the edge of a vast cliff that overlooked an impossible vista. Below stretched an infinite cascade of realities, each one containing countless universes like nested dolls of existence.

"This is the true structure of creation," the Architect explained. "What you considered the ultimate universe was merely one leaf on one branch of one tree in the smallest section of the garden."

Wei Liang's blood-form trembled as he processed the overwhelming scope. His consciousness, even enhanced by the ninth stage of the Iron Blood Manual, could barely comprehend the fractal complexity spreading endlessly below.

"Each level down contains beings who consider themselves the ultimate powers of their reality," the Architect continued. "Just as each level up contains entities who view our entire framework as quaint children's games."

"Then what is the point?" Wei Liang asked, his voice barely a whisper. "If power is always relative, if there's always something greater..."

"Now you begin to understand," Ling Tian said, appearing beside them. "The pursuit of supremacy is an infinite regression. There is always another level, another challenge, another transcendence that makes your current achievements seem trivial."

Wei Liang stared into the endless cascade of realities. Somewhere far below, he could sense other versions of himself just beginning their cultivation journeys, believing they would achieve ultimate power through the Iron Blood Manual. Somewhere far above, beings existed who could snuff out his current existence without noticing.

"But there must be a peak," he insisted desperately. "Some ultimate level where true supremacy is achieved."

The Architect's expression grew sad. "Many have sought that theoretical peak. They ascend through the hierarchy, growing ever stronger, consuming ever greater powers. Do you know what they find at the highest levels they can reach?"

"What?" Wei Liang dreaded the answer.

"Others exactly like themselves, still seeking the next level up. The hierarchy has no end, Wei Liang. It curves back upon itself in patterns that defy comprehension. Ultimate power is a beautiful illusion that keeps climbers ascending forever."

The revelation struck Wei Liang like lightning through his blood-essence. His entire cultivation journey, all his sacrifices and achievements, were merely steps on an infinite staircase that led nowhere. The Iron Blood Manual itself was probably just one of countless similar techniques scattered throughout the hierarchy.

"Then what is the alternative?" he asked, his voice hollow with despair.

"Purpose," the Architect replied simply. "Instead of seeking to dominate everything, seek to improve something. Instead of consuming all power, create new possibilities for others to explore. Instead of standing alone at an imaginary peak, help build structures that make the climb itself worthwhile."

Wei Liang's form wavered as his fundamental worldview crumbled. The rage and ambition that had driven him for so long suddenly seemed childish and pointless. If ultimate power was impossible, what meaning did his struggles have?

But then something deeper than ambition stirred within his consciousness. Not the hunger for dominance, but a different kind of desire entirely.

"Show me," he said quietly. "Show me how to find this purpose you speak of."

The Architect smiled, and for the first time, it seemed genuinely pleased. "Excellent. But first, you must complete your current advancement. The ninth stage of the Iron Blood Manual is only the beginning of true understanding."

"What do you mean?" Wei Liang asked.

"The technique has a tenth stage," Ling Tian revealed. "One that your predecessor who wrote the manual never achieved. It requires abandoning the consumption-based approach entirely."

"Impossible," Wei Liang protested automatically. "The Iron Blood Manual is built upon consuming power from others. Without that foundation, the technique would collapse."

"Would it?" the Architect asked pointedly. "Or would it transform into something entirely new?"