Chapter 165 Destiny

The clear sound of water echoed all around, incessant, resonating nearby, both quiet and ethereal, seemingly extremely close yet also incredibly distant. If one wasn't careful, the sound of each drop seemed to resonate in the depths of one's heart, indescribably profound. The scenery between heaven and earth was filled with such tranquility and mystery.

Mist filled the air, and a pavilion stood amidst this great lake of fate.

A vast expanse of white, the Daoist with green robes and white hair walked step by step, eventually sitting gracefully upon the pavilion. Facing the inquiry of this benevolent connection of [Destiny], Wei Yuan raised his hand and placed the Qingping Sword on the table.

"Then does Your Excellency still remember my sword?"

The Qingping Sword within its scabbard trembled and hummed, as if also questioning.

Thirty thousand miles of sword qi seemed to be contained within the scabbard, flowing out, unpredictable, its sharp aura almost about to explode completely. This pavilion, mysterious and transcending the river of fate, seemed to be stirred by the sword qi, like the bursting of the nine heavens, shaking violently, causing the entire [Water Domain] to surge and ripple, exploding layer after layer.

The green-robed scholar seemed to have already guessed, already anticipated what Wei Yuan would do, and simply took a sip of tea.

"It's been so long, I didn't expect you to still have such a temperament."

"At the slightest disagreement, you draw your sword."

The white-haired Daoist picked up his wine cup and said, "Didn't you suddenly pull me to this strange place as well?"

"Since you use your method to communicate with me, then naturally I should use my method to communicate with you."

"Although the methods used are different, what you are doing is actually the same as what I am doing, isn't it?"

The green-robed scholar paused, then smiled in surprise, "Strange, when did you start being so easy to talk to? And the reasoning you use even has a bit of eloquence to it. Could it be that you have grown because you have experienced so much, or have you met Confucius again, and remembered the Six Arts that you long ago returned to your teacher?"

Wei Yuan looked at Destiny strangely.

Then he answered crisply, "Because I can't kill you."

The green-robed scholar burst into laughter, "Hahahaha, that's the answer I would expect from you."

This was by no means a false, polite answer. In fact, after appearing in this place, Wei Yuan had already begun to observe. He stood in the rushing river, where countless drops of water existed, and within each drop was a person's life. Wei Yuan remained still, and the surging of these waves and currents remained still. As soon as he moved, the currents all moved.

If he were to draw his sword, the fate of billions of living beings would stand in his way.

And all the way to the pavilion, Wei Yuan had not been able to find an opportunity to strike.

Even this pavilion was particularly special. When Wei Yuan sat here, looking at Destiny in front of him, who seemed to be within reach, he felt that the other party was in an extremely distant direction, as if the other party was presented in the superposition of different fates, rather than truly standing here.

If he could directly nail this guy to death with a single sword strike.

Then the Qingping Sword wouldn't just be placed on the table.

Without a doubt, after the experience of manifesting last time and directly receiving a beating from Wei Yuan.

This Destiny had already prepared himself.

He had rich experience in dealing with reckless strongmen.

Destiny's eyes were deep, as if he already knew this, and he smiled and said, "That's natural. If I didn't have some confidence, I wouldn't have appeared in front of you so easily. After all, you are not at the realm you were at in the South Sea. In such a short time, you have actually made such a breakthrough. The strength of your swordsmanship is indeed impressive."

"But fate is like flowing light, how can you break through it?"

As he said these words, Destiny looked at Wei Yuan with a smile, with that calm and composed meaning, and the river of fate around him surged and flowed. Each drop of water represented a person's love and hate, a person's birth, old age, sickness, and death, and the number of waters here was more than a billion.

In an instant, it was as if the fate of all living beings was materialized, like countless heavens and countless earths.

The aura of Destiny grew more distant and profound, his eyes seemed to contain the rising and falling of the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers, like a true concept of a god, without love, hate, worry, or fear, overlooking the birth and death of all things, infinitely terrifying, causing Wei Yuan to feel a trace of illusion in his heart, as if he was becoming smaller and smaller, while Destiny in front of him was becoming more and more lofty and distant.

As if the true destiny had descended before his eyes!

Mortals, emperors, generals, gods, and Buddhas are all in my control!

Wei Yuan played with the cup in his hand, then suddenly threw it down casually, and said, "You've misunderstood something."

The cup landed on the table with a clang, splashing wine onto the surface, and then flowing down the table, eventually dripping onto the water. Ripples suddenly appeared, gradually spreading outwards, and in the process of spreading, they became faster and faster, rising higher and higher, eventually turning into circles of waves as huge as mountains and as激越 as wind and thunder.

Thus, this river of fate reversed.

One half was turbid, with a deep aura, and the other half was clear as water, flowing and changing in endless reincarnation, like a Taiji.

The white-haired Daoist sat on the Taiji, the supreme Wuji.

A burst of green light erupted from the sword box beside him.

The Qingping Sword directly cut off half of Destiny's head!

Then it circled around, its sword qi tearing apart the sky and shattering the river of fate, finally landing beside Wei Yuan, humming incessantly.

The river of fate was directly broken!

At this moment, in the entire mysterious realm of fate, one half was the gathering of the fates of thousands of living beings, peaceful yet with its own ripples and waves beneath the surface; the other side was the vast Taiji of wind and thunder, the Daoist's sleeves were wet with water, his white hair fluttered slightly, and he said calmly:

"What I said was that I can't kill you."

"Not that I can't touch you."

"[Destiny] should know."

As the calm voice fell, Wei Yuan's senses were not mistaken. What was in front of him was not Destiny itself, but the appearance of countless possibilities of fate reflected at a point in a superimposed state. The green-robed scholar whose head and neck had been cut off by the Qingping Sword quickly returned to his original appearance, as if the divine sword that could produce absolute lethality to the Dao Fruit Realm had no effect on him at all.

However, he was obviously not as arrogant as before.

Or rather, at least he was no longer showing the aura of having everything in his control as he had before.

[Destiny] glanced at the Qingping Sword placed beside Wei Yuan's hand, smiled, and shook his head, "I think that I invited you here just to explain some principles, chat casually, and make a good connection. These three things shouldn't require the use of such a murderous thing that wants to kill people."

Wei Yuan tapped the Qingping Sword with his right hand and said, "I am precisely explaining principles to you."

Then there was a long period of silence. Destiny suddenly laughed and said, "Actually, I think you don't need to be so wary of me. You should know that the [Karma] you currently hold is one-third of what I scattered in those years. It is even more important and more core than Heavenly Secrets."

Wei Yuan said, "But it's not the most core part."

"I am very curious as to why Fuxi didn't take Destiny away as well."

Destiny found a comfortable position and said, "Because the battle at that time was too tragic. Not only the Heavenly Emperor, but even Huntian had taken action. The Dao that I wanted to prove was also too strong. In fact, I had already reached the final step at that time, and the Dao Fruit had already appeared, and the corresponding Turbid World Destiny had already been killed by me."

"As long as I absorbed the Dao Fruit, I could instantly rise to an immeasurable, omnipresent, yet nonexistent realm, which was when Huntian, the Heavenly Emperor, and Buzhou Mountain all attacked together. Because there were three different forces, my power was directly divided into three parts."

"The part that was good at observation became Heavenly Secrets, and the part that was used to interfere with the rules of operation of all things became Destiny."

"And the connection that ultimately exists within all things became Karma."

Seeming to rarely have the opportunity to mention the battle of the past to someone, [Destiny] picked up his wine, took a sip to moisten his throat, or perhaps just to organize his emotions and memories, and then said, "In that battle, I did my best to protect my core from being shattered. Since this battle was defeated by these three, the Dao Fruit should naturally be theirs."

"If Fuxi hadn't suddenly taken action and plundered Heavenly Secrets, Heavenly Secrets might have belonged to Buzhou Mountain."

"Alas, such a strong person actually had the idea of插 a knife in at the last moment of the battle. It really is that people's emotions change in a hundred ways, and each has their own personality."

When recalling that experience, [Destiny] only sighed.

Wei Yuan, however, had already been able to deduce what had happened at that time through what Destiny said, as if he saw the numerous experts of the Pure World uniting to kill Destiny in a mighty battlefield. The Heavenly Emperor, Huntian, Fuxi, Nuwa, and Buzhou Mountain, these experts who had either retreated to a corner or were injured and reincarnated in later generations, all surrounded and killed Destiny in their prime.

And just when everyone won.

That Fuxi guy directly picked up the spoils and ran away!

Scum, just too scum...

Wei Yuan said, "I thought he would choose [Destiny]."

Destiny didn't mind and laughed, "Destiny is the most core, and Karma is actually the link of all things, which can be regarded as having the greatest potential. Fuxi ultimately chose Heavenly Secrets, not for himself. At that time, he already held the Dao Fruit of [Yin and Yang], which was first-rate in killing and punishment, Divine Prison Heavenly Tribulation, extremely fierce. The reason for doing this was for his sister."

"The reason why he didn't choose Destiny is not that he didn't want the best."

"But because he was worried that Nuwa's heart was too good."

"With Fuxi's state of mind, he was sufficient to control good and evil and overlook all things and living beings. He knew the principle that Destiny's life and death were all fixed, and that I observed with cold eyes. However, Nuwa and Fuxi are different. Nuwa would try to stir fate and change the future because living beings were suffering. But you must know that fate is not something that can be changed at will."

"Everything has a price, and changing the future fate of all things and living beings is the most difficult, and the price that needs to be paid is also conceivable."

"Fuxi rejected Destiny because he was worried that Nuwa would ultimately bear the weight of all things because of her kindness."

"Choosing Heavenly Secrets was to allow Nuwa to avoid danger."

"Yes, he originally intended to give Heavenly Secrets to Nuwa."

"But how could I have granted his wish?"

A trace of sarcasm reappeared on [Destiny]'s lips, and he said:

"He is not one of the three who defeated me, but a shameless person. Therefore, I directly triggered the Heavenly Secrets Dao Fruit on the spot, directly merging the Heavenly Secrets Dao Fruit with him, causing his path to go astray, and also preventing him from giving the [Heavenly Secrets] Dao Fruit that could allow Nuwa to avoid disasters to her. He could only 'see' Nuwa's various dangers and worry about her various possible deaths."

"Hahaha, if ordinary experts obtained the [Heavenly Secrets] Dao Fruit, they might be overjoyed."

"But for Fuxi, not being able to give this Heavenly Secrets Dao Fruit to Nuwa is more painful than killing him."

Destiny laughed loudly.

Wei Yuan gripped his sword, feeling the urge to strike again, but he did not.

Confucianism values moderation.

Moderation is when joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure have not yet been expressed; when expressed, they are all in accordance with the proper degree, which is called harmony. Harmony is moderation.

Without the certainty of completely killing Destiny in one breath, striking again would only temporarily break through the other party's illusion. The other party could restore their original state with just a thought, a breath, without much damage to their foundation. On the contrary, it would only waste his own qi. Wei Yuan would not do such a losing business.

He was just poor, and poverty was his fate.

A reckless man is a reckless man.

But a reckless man is not a fool.

Thinking about it, if [Heavenly Secrets] had been given to Nuwa, would Nuwa have been able to avoid many of the subsequent disasters? At least Nuwa would not have been deceived by the Fuxi disguised by the Turbid World Heavenly Secrets. At least in that case, she would not have died there, and in the human race of that era, if Nuwa was still there, the numerous subsequent changes would not have occurred.

Just thinking about it made Wei Yuan want to chop this guy to death with a sword.

But thinking about it again.

Nuwa would probably not want the [Heavenly Secrets] that served as spoils for Huntian and Buzhou Mountain, and would return it, right?

After all, she's not Fuxi.

Wei Yuan interrupted Destiny and said, "So, what does this have to do with why you called me here this time?"

"Or are you actually very lonely, and have been bored for too long, so you want to talk to someone, chat about your past? If that's the case, I can invite a few friends to come over together. How many days do you want to chat, we can accompany you for as many days as you want. By the way, there is also a friend named Shi Yi."

"He probably wants to persuade you very much."

"To realize the great era of [equal opportunity, rather than absolute average] from the perspective of fate, right?"

Destiny stopped the topic and smiled, "It seems that I have said too much. But when you get older, you always want to say more. As for why I want you to come here, why I want to say these things to you, the reason is actually very simple, but to explain it, we have to talk about yourself first."

"Me?"

Destiny nodded, originally wanting to point his finger at Wei Yuan, calmly and with a bit of pressure.

But glancing at the Qingping Sword over there, and the Qingping Sword even hummed at this time.

So Destiny withdrew his finger without changing his expression and extremely smoothly, lightly and without any fanfare.

He said, "Yes, Wei Yuan, a member of the human race. The beginning of all stories was just eating that immortal flower, and then spending thousands of years reincarnating, experiencing troubled times and displacement, and finally proving the Dao of Karma, calling himself the beginning of all Karma, the Primordial Beginning. It really is very bitter."

"But, Wei Yuan, the Primordial Heavenly Lord."

"Is everything you have now really earned through your own desperate efforts and struggles?"

The green-robed scholar's smile was bright and playful.

"You just ate the immortal flower and survived in the world in the lowest way."

"Physical fitness cannot be retained, and the methods of cultivation and the instincts of swordsmanship are no longer remembered after reincarnation, as if they have been bleached. It is the so-called mystery of the womb."

"Such a low-quality reincarnation and long life can allow you to step into the Dao Fruit realm in a short five thousand years and master the Dao of Karma at this level. Those gods who have lived longer than you, however, many of them have only barely maintained their positions in the first and second tiers under the Dao Fruit, and want to take another step forward, even if it takes thousands of years. The Dao Fruit Realm, which claims that the world will be destroyed but I will not be destroyed, dare not even imagine."

"Is this really relying on the experience of a mortal?"

"Of course, you will say that it is because you met those people, those people who led you through the troubled times and pointed out the direction."

"This is not an unacceptable reason either."

"But, don't you think that after you began to realize the true usage of [Karma], the path you walked became particularly smooth?"

The smile on Destiny's lips became more and more playful:

"Unwilling to plunder Buzhou Mountain's Dao Fruit body, then karma will feedback on its own, allowing you to obtain a portion of Buzhou Mountain's power; and the Turbid World's foundation wants to break this situation, and even allow the Turbid World Great Lord to break through his confusion and return to the peak of his state of mind, but it only allows you to obtain corresponding feedback, and even allows you to comprehend the Supreme Lord's body."

"And the further advancement of the Turbid World Great Lord brought huge feedback, and you happened to have Turbid World Karma, so you could obtain this feedback, and there was also the Confucian Master beside you, who taught you the Confucian Master's thousands of years of comprehension, allowing you to completely unite the Pure and Turbid, and through the Supreme Lord's body, evolve the Chaos Primal Qi."

"Don't you think it's too opportune?"

"Everything is leaning in the direction I need, although it's just leaning and not destined. But as long as it is combined with sufficient martial force, it can guarantee the greatest probability of extracting these forces and opportunities."

The smile on Destiny's lips gradually widened, and he finally said decisively:

"This is not Karma at all, but Destiny!"

"It was I who left my partial fragments on both the Karma Dao Fruit and the Heavenly Secrets Dao Fruit. So when you finally cultivated the Primal Qi by relying on both Confucianism and Daoism, and the unity of the Three Purities, you gradually triggered the backup plan I left behind and came here to see me."

"Wei Yuan, this is not a threat, nor is it a backup plan. This is a true plea and hope."

"This is the true benevolent connection!"

"Do you want to give up the Primordial Heavenly Lord and become the [Heavenly Mandate] who controls the trajectory of the fate of all living beings?!"

"Become the fate of all things, become the true master!"

ps: Today's second update...