The Dawn of the New World

"Wait no, what-" Hao Xuan interrupted, "-what the hell is the weave? And what makes you so sure it's that? It could be just in my head right?"

Jin Wang knew he would have to explain a few things from the beginning for it to make sense but he still didn't want to give EVERYTHING away to someone as inexperienced as Hao Xuan, not until he knew for certain why he was chosen.

The one thing he did know for sure was that this was all part of the Emperor's plan from the beginning. He had basically forced Hao Xuan on this path by making Jin Wang change a few key events that changed his path drastically.

It had been almost 4 to 5 years now since he first intervened in Hao Xuan's life without his knowledge. It all started when Jin Wang had first interrupted the secret orders coming from General Ouki's party about bringing Hao Xuan to them. (CH 9)

He made it so that one way or another, Hao Xuan would end up meeting the four-eyed general as instructed by the Emperor, and Jin Wang himself would end up on his squad.

If not for that, Hao Xuan would have gone on to join General Ouki's side and would have never even come to this world. He would have lived a completely different life.

Jin Wang sighed inwardly, cursing his own actions that brought so much pain and suffering to Hao Xuan and the Emperor that ordered it all.

"The weave IS fate. It is the reason for the future and the...no wait, actually, that would be too complicated for you to understand right now. How should I put it so you will get it easily..." he paused mid-sentence and started mumbling to himself before standing up.

Walking over to the adjacent wall he used his now sharpened nail to draw something on it. He moved aside a moment later to reveal hundreds of lines of various lengths.

All the lines that he had drawn were going from the left to right side at different angles, intersecting with another along the way. There was a harmony among them which when inspected from afar, would create a unique design much like a small part of a spider web.

"Look here. Think of the weave as a spider web. Each individual thread or string would be equivalent to a single person's fate. It is a predetermined course of events that cannot be changed or altered in any meaningful way."

"Hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions of these threads work together, connecting with one another to create a particular design that moves in a specific direction. This direction of the weave is what creates the present and the future."

"Obviously, this means that all the individual threads have a very precise position and orientation that they HAVE to follow for the weave to continue progressing that way."

Once he reached this point Jin Wang drew a giant line from the top down, leaving an obvious scar in an otherwise elegant pattern.

"But what happens when a thread that has no business being there suddenly pops up? Akin to a glitch in the system or an error in the code? The answer is pretty simple, chaos!"

"It creates disorder and entropy within the weave. Events that should have never seen the light of day start appearing one by one and the future starts to change, rewriting itself."

"But there must be order. The 'Grand Design' cannot be allowed to change so the weave starts taking action. It tries to put the error in its right place. I'm guessing those were the dreams you had."

"And when that didn't work it tried to eliminate you outright by forcefully merging different timelines where you didn't exist, i.e a different version of events. Obviously, that didn't work either, for some strange reason...!!!"

"Wait, did he knew this was going to happen or was it an accident? What did he wan-"

Jin Wang shut himself up mid-sentence when he realized he was thinking out loud. He quickly looked towards Hao Xuan thinking of an excuse but it looked like his mind was elsewhere and he wasn't paying attention to the last bit.

Jin Wang came to realize the foolishness of his words. He still remembered the first time he came to know of the existence of the Weave and the red strings of fate, that he didn't have any say in the matter and that it was all preordained.

He had wasted almost an entire lifetime away thinking that if it didn't matter why even bother. What WAS going to happen WOULD happen either way so what was the point of it all?

He sat down on the edge of the bed, tapping Hao Xuan's leg jokingly.

"It's not as bad as it sounds. You're a cultivator. The reason your people fight is to gain control over your own destiny. Didn't the ancients tell you the same thing when they brought you to the beast world? "Defy the Heavens" or some shit? This is what they meant."

"By gaining enough power, you alter your fate and maybe even change it...completely, if you're strong enough."

He didn't feel good about lying to Hao Xuan but it needed to be done.

Truth be told, everything he knew about the weave came from other sources like the Emperor. He didn't have any first-hand experience with it although there was much that he could infer.

But one thing that he knew for sure was that changing one's fate was easier said than done. It meant going against the Weave itself and the ones who protected it, the great pantheons of old. He didn't even know if anyone had gone against the weave and succeeded but right now, he needed to give Hao Xuan hope.

Hao Xuan gave a weak nod, "Yeah, they did say something like that. So it can be done then?"

"Of course it can. Every time you breakthrough to a new realm you go against the heavens and the weave to extend your life span and gain enough power to venture into places you normally never would have. This is all a bit too much to take in right now so don't think about it in too much detail."

"The reason I explained all that is so you know what's happening to you. You might be forced into a situation where the consequences of your actions could bring about great change. You need to be extra careful."

"I know I know," Hao Xuan waved his hand. He took in a deep breath and slapped himself in the face to bring him back around.

"Alright. So I'm that big line in the middle then? Meaning I wasn't supposed to be here?"

"Essentially, yes but it also..."

Jin Wang and Hao Xuan continued talking for almost two more hours, and throughout none of them had noticed the figure of Mr.. Hyde standing on the side.