Chapter 1

The sandalwood incense drifted, the bells echoed distantly.

I knelt on the prayer cushion, watching Chan Guang through the screen, continuously striking the wooden fish, never speaking. His snow-white kasaya cascaded onto the bluestone floor, resembling swirling clouds surrounding a verdant mountain.

Just like the mountainside of Lianhua Temple, perpetually shrouded in mist and clouds, as if the gods and Buddhas were compassionately sheltering all living beings with their robes.

No wonder he was called the Buddha-child.

One of the geniuses of this generation.

"Brother Xie, why do you sigh?"

My barely audible sigh was caught by his keen ears. I wasn't worried, and smiled. "It's your mind that isn't at peace. Clearly, you're chanting sutras, yet you notice my sigh…"

With that, the sound of the wooden fish stopped. After a long sigh, he stepped out from behind the screen.

Without joy or sorrow, only a trace of absent-mindedness in his eyes as he looked at me.

"You want to say that the one from Jingyun Mountain finishing her closed-door cultivation is an uncertain element that will affect my plan, correct?"

"Brother Xie is from the Butian Sect; you can calculate it yourself. Why do you need me to guide you?"

He sat cross-legged opposite me. I looked at his face, so devout and compassionate, and suddenly laughed.

"From the time my master brought me back to the sect and raised me, he told me that some things should not be calculated, cannot be calculated. Calculating too much can easily lead to losing one's Dao heart and becoming a demon with a single thought."

The previous sect leader of Jingyun Mountain was the best example.

Because he saw his future disciple ascending to immortality, he didn't hesitate to "clear away all obstacles" for him. Unfortunately, he became a demon before his disciple ascended, causing a great mistake!

And now, although I verbally agree with him that some things cannot be calculated, I had actually calculated them long ago.

My fate was to be with her, but we were destined to be apart. The Dao of Heaven forcefully decreed that I would repeatedly miss her.

My master also said that among those who could ascend in this era, besides the woman from Jingyun Mountain with the phoenix mandate, the rest were those with the phoenix disposition born because of the phoenix mandate.

Attracted to the phoenix woman, matched with the phoenix mandate, the geniuses of this era.

I don't have a phoenix disposition, nor will I have a natural liking for the woman with the phoenix mandate. Similarly, I don't have a part to play in ascension.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but look at the Buddha-child opposite me, who possessed the solitary phoenix fate. When I mentioned the phoenix woman from Jingyun Mountain, his eyes were as calm as if I were merely discussing the weather outside.

"I heard that a few days ago, when she came out of seclusion, she came to find you…"

I further probed Chan Guang, asking him about Mei Jiu.

"Yes, she called me 'Little Baldy.'"

Chan Guang's tone was indifferent, but when he mentioned Mei Jiu, a trace of indulgence and helplessness flashed across his face.

Yes, they had grown up together after all…

I even regretted asking him about my fate when Chan Guang saw through my karmic entanglement.

What I didn't expect was that he gave me the only hope.

"Sincerity brings spiritual response; gods and Buddhas will always give those in desperate situations a final glimmer of hope."

Those insightful eyes that could see people's future and past told him that everything I did would eventually be rewarded.

"Take it away. With it, you can tell me at any time when you are confused."

A golden thousand-petaled lotus fell into my palm. I didn't know if it was my imagination, but this golden lotus was chillingly cold.

If fate decreed that only the phoenix mandate woman and the phoenix disposition person could become gods, and the phoenix disposition person was naturally attracted to the phoenix mandate woman, then all I needed to do was break it with an exception.

If there was one, there would be two. If countless things appeared that contradicted it, then fate would no longer count.

What I have to do is create a god.

…

[Sect Leader Qi has recently arrived at our sect. Master is receiving him. I hope Shishu is safe and well during your travels—Xie Chen]

I watched as the message I sent to Mei Jiu through the Thousand Miles Sound Transmission Talisman received a reply in less than an incense stick's worth of time. Compared to my polite and courteous tone, she was still as informal as she was in her childhood.

[Xie Shizhi!! Save me!! Don't let my Shixiong know my whereabouts!! —Mei Jiu]

[May I ask which area Shishu is traveling in recently? Your shizhi's ability is limited, and can only temporarily disrupt the Heavenly secrets in the area of Shishu's whereabouts, preventing Master from divining for a period of time. —Xie Chen]

[That's enough! Shizhi, love you, mwah!! My recent whereabouts are… —Mei Jiu]

I looked at the star chart in front of me, where I had already covered up several areas. One of them was the area that Mei Jiu was about to enter. I held up the golden lotus and told the owner of the golden lotus about Mei Jiu's whereabouts.

I'm becoming more and more unable to see through Chan Guang.

What is his reason for standing on the same line as me?

At the risk of dragging the entire Lianhua Temple down with us, the Buddha-child with a natural Buddha-bone should be saving the world, but now I saw a touch of black aura on this golden lotus.

…

Mei Jiu, this slow-witted girl, actually fell in love with a boy of unknown origin with ordinary roots.

When I was helping her "mess around" outside again, I discovered that she had picked up a teenager, a wolf-dog who looked unremarkable but whose eyes were full of ferocity.

"Chan Guang, I can't calculate that kid's fate…"

I don't know why, but nothing could be seen from his face, and his birth date was also one of early death, which was completely different from his current situation.

My plan to create a god was unintentionally disrupted by Mei Jiu a lot, but fortunately, she didn't discover any clues.

The failure of these things also made me see the difference between what was recognized by the Heavenly Dao and what was man-made. I still need to modify it on top of this.

"If possible, I hope you can see what his origins are."

After not seeing each other for several months, Chan Guang also broke through to the Yuanying stage. With the abbot's permission, he disguised himself and went down the mountain to train, which made it more convenient for me to see Chan Guang.

Hearing what I said about that boy, Chan Guang's hand that was twirling the prayer beads paused slightly. He raised his eyes, and without any fluctuations, said, "He will be an opportunity in your plan."

Instantly, I understood what Chan Guang meant, and then I laughed.

How ironic! It was clear that the son of the phoenix fate appeared with the birth of Mei Jiu, but Mei Jiu didn't like any of them.

Just like a man with a phoenix fate before, who even gave up his physical body with Mei Jiu's help and became a ghost cultivator and wanted to be with a fairy from Bibo Yaoshan.

These were not within his plan, but it just proved that the thing called fate was actually reversible!

At that time, I thought of such beauty and confidence, even if the future was bumpy, I would always have hope, but in the end, the people around me left one by one, and the entire sect was buried with me. I had no way to turn back.

The deeper I fell, the deeper I sank, eternally sinking and unable to be redeemed.

I looked at the only demon god I had created, I looked at those people who used to know me, now at the eyes that were frightened by my inhuman, ghostly appearance, and couldn't help but raise the corners of my mouth.

I, succeeded, right?

…

"For her, I did everything. She wanted peace in the world, so I returned peace to her."

That young man who I always thought was mediocre was actually a half-human, half-demon. I also saw the turning point that Chan Guang told me about in him, a demon god that was unique in the world!

It's just that this guy, why would he also be captured by Mei Jiu, willing to give up everything, risking being cut into pieces and having his soul destroyed by all the righteous paths?

I, who had been forced into a dead end, didn't want to resist anything anymore, but I still couldn't help but madly question why Mei Jiu was born with a good life, always favored by the Heavenly Dao, and could get everything she wanted.

And why was the Heavenly Dao so cruel to others?

"You, are you doing this for Meimei? You're like this, does Meimei know? What you want to do is ascend to find her? Have you ever thought that your heaven-defying behavior will not succeed in ascending and you won't see her…"

"Shut up!"

I stared at the crowd opposite me in exasperation, especially Mei Jiu, who was surrounded by the crowd, and roared, "So what? If I don't do these things, I won't even have a chance. The end of cultivation, if you don't ascend, your life will come to an end, and you'll turn into a wisp of desolate soul and enter reincarnation…

I don't want that!"

In the end, I couldn't hear what Mei Jiu and the others were saying anymore. A continuous stream of heavenly punishment thunderclouds flew towards my head when my final plan was exposed.

Inside my body, it seemed like something was struggling to fly away from the top of my head.

I looked at the astonished gazes of the crowd not far away. I didn't have time to sense what was on top of my head, because the injuries I had suffered in the previous battle could no longer support me standing.

My vision flickered, and I seemed to be unable to hear anything except the whistling of the wind in my ears. Blood kept pouring out of my mouth.

I thought, this is good too. Not entering reincarnation, my soul scattered, just treat it as paying back all this karma.

It's just that, I won't be able to see the person who rediscovers me every day after all…