'Well, this was far more lucrative than I thought.' Iori barely resisted the urge to smirk as he flipped through the tome, eyes flicking over the enumerable set of symbols imbued to the brim with intent. A waning thing but it was surely enough to make a mortal head pop like a zit from just a glance. 'And to think, all I needed to do was slap around a Child of Destiny to do it.'
Normally, fighting such a figure favored by the Heavens itself was a sure fire way to sign his name in the Book of Death. As even if he'd won that fight, surely fate would conspire ways to both halt his own advancement while also providing so many opportunities to the Child of Destiny that he would turn around one day to see a peer burning with righteous fury.
And at that point, it would no longer be a battle of skill but a direct clash of their fates. Something all Ancient Senjutsu Practitioners knew was a rather precarious thing to do. What kind of idiot would throw himself on the blade of fate and hope to come out on top? No, it was just better to avoid all those covered in the musk of Providence all together.
He knew personally of many Children of Destiny that had single handedly caused the end of entire bloodlines over a single grudge, they were often all surrounded by jade beauties and imperial princes and such vasts amounts of unearned wealth that it was nearly enough to cause anyone turn green in envy.
Hell, he remembered their appearances causing so much trouble for everyone involved, that an entirely knew profession came to be just used solely to know when to step out of the way of those walking calamities. Diviners, often used their own Ki in order to pierce through the veil of Heaven into order to get a peek at the loosely bound strands. Completely incomprehensible but it did point out exactly where one of these calamities were at all times, as they often attracted so many strands that it was impossible not to notice them. Like a massive, planet spanning spiderweb with that lone troublemaker as the core.
Again, if he didn't wish to be turned into a ring grandpa or a mysterious backer or petty villain to be placed on the alter for the Heaven's Chosen glorious ascent, it would've been better to flee from here as fast as possible. But he noticed something rather heartening.
Children of Destiny were nearly unstoppable from their beginnings to their peak, but the Heavens were fickle as always. The limelight would fade and their ascent would stagnate to almost a complete standstill. The eye of Fate would look elsewhere, stripping them of it's blessings and protections. Tossing them away like a barren first wife and like that same example, the Heavens would soon find another to shower in gifts and love, akin to a fiery mistress.
That was their primary weakness. Once Fate deemed their story done, they became just like everyone else but worse. Most of them died early on because they just expected things to 'work out' for them in the end without any real effort of their own.
This Ikuse Tobio, wasn't quite there yet but his time in limelight was soon at it's end. This world would crown a new protagonist eventually, but that still didn't mean Heaven's gaze was completely off of him. Who knew the kind of genuine wacky stuff that could've happened if Iori had actually been trying to kill him? Would he trip and fall directly into the inheritance? Or awaken some doormat bloodline that allowed him to do something absurd like destroy cultivation bases? Or Heavens forbid, he got his hands on some ancient relic or insect that could send him back in time? Yeah, no.
It wouldn't matter how powerful he was already in the Ancient Era, he still started off as a malnourished farmer barely strong enough to swing a hoe.
Shaking that sense of dread crawling up his spine, he focuses back into one of his prizes. A prized technique held zealously by a cranky old man set in his ways. The king of hypocrites himself, The Lord of the First Peak, also known as the leader of the Righteous Alliance. A man obsessed with forcing people to live the lives of ascetics but in turn couldn't turn down gambling, booze or women. A greedy bastard that wanted to hold the entire world in the palm of his hands….and Iori's potential father in law.
'I bet you're rolling in your grave right now.' That thought of a skinny old man screaming, frothing mad as spectral chains bound him to the Realm of the Dead, caused a wide smile to break out across Iori's face. 'What was it you said? You would only ever turn over this technique to me once I married you're daughter? Look at how things turned out.'
The Lord of the First Peak had been a powerhouse all his life, cutting out a bloody swath through the chaos and used a prized technique to force out the chaotic elements out of his budding kingdom long enough for the Righteous Alliance to form. A traditionalist to the public but acted more as a spoiled young master on his first trip outside of parental supervision.
He could even vividly remember the man laughing in his face when he requested just the chance to view the Sacred Domain, spittle hitting his cheek as the old man laid out his demands. First, Iori would forsake his 'Demonic' ways and join the Righteous Alliance, and marry his prized flower. A figure stated to possess such beauty that it would cause kingdoms to go to war, like an immortal fairy descending from the Heavens to grace the pitiful mortals with her visit.
Normally, many people would literally kill for that opportunity...if only there wasn't one glaring issue.
'Why would I agree to marry a brat?'
Sure, she might had been nineteen when the demand was made but he met the girl when she was a snot nosed brat at the very beginning of his mercenary days. When he was nothing more than a teen with a rusty blade and willing to do back breaking labor for porridge and an intact blanket. And even now, every time he brought up her face he just saw a child crying her eyes out at the beetle that had dared to land on her head.
And when he turned down the man? He got hit with a bounty so massive that it had single handedly probably led to a noticeable dip in Practitioners and why he was so willing to involve himself in the Devil's Civil War just to get away from it all.
Just to think, he'd originally thought he'd have to break into the Alliance headquarters and drag the old coot out by his beard when he exited...It was rather disheartening to not even be given the chance for revenge. And due to the nature of the Sacred Domain, he knew for damn sure none of his disciples had been able to defeat the man either. So he couldn't even take any satisfaction in the situation at all.
'All I got to do was beat up some kid and his dog.'