Chapter 990: Fate and Destiny!

Xu Qing’s eyes flashed with a strange light, and a massive wave surged in the depths of his heart.

His mind and spirit were both trembling.

Although he was uncertain about the level of this divine authority, the fact that it was interwoven from three divine authorities in itself spoke volumes about the status of this unfamiliar divine authority.

"Is it really fate?"

Xu Qing murmured, his right hand suddenly lifting; the next instant, the unfamiliar divine authority within his body, suspected to be fate, shone with a brilliant light and vanished from within him.

When it appeared, it was shockingly in the palm of his hand.

It had transformed into a... carving knife!

It possessed both a tangible, physical touch and a sense of illusory perception, which was extremely eerie.

The moment it appeared, the surrounding void even seemed to become somewhat viscous, clearly affected by this carving knife.

And Xu Qing had a strong feeling that whether it was the earth, the firmament, or the countless plants and mountains, it seemed that... this carving knife could cut them all down.

Once it fell, he felt as if he could change certain trends.

And this trend was not within the original scope.

This feeling was hazy and somewhat unclear; Xu Qing’s inner thoughts were myriad, yet they seemed unable to converge into the truth, as if separated by a layer of gauze, unable to grasp the essence of this divine authority of his.

But one thing he could already confirm.

"In all likelihood, it is the divine authority of fate, only it is somewhat different from what I have understood..."

Xu Qing murmured, his inner heart surging with waves, unable to calm down.

Because in his past experiences and knowledge, he had seen one person display divine authority similar to fate.

This person was none other than the Ziqing Crown Prince!

The Ziqing Crown Prince, who held the authority of fate!

Xu Qing took a deep breath, the scenes of seeing the Ziqing Crown Prince strike back then surfacing in his mind as he recalled them carefully.

"Ziqing relied on the Upper Desolation of the Remnant Face to be resurrected, so is his divine authority related to the Remnant Face?"

"As for me... my physical body also comes from the flesh and blood of the Upper Desolation, and now, by a twist of fate, I have also obtained this authority suspected to be fate."

"Does some kind of karma exist within this?"

"And Ziqing’s method of fate is related to time."

"Then... what about this divine authority of mine?"

Xu Qing pondered.

After a long while, he put away his thoughts.

He had already realized that he lacked sufficient understanding of this divine authority within his body; to know the specifics, he would need more knowledge of divine authority.

So, rather than exploring without direction, it was clearly the best choice to ask.

Even if Master was not here, the Empress was.

And as the Empress was a god who had already reached the Divine Platform, the answers obtained from inquiring about divine authority from her might be more precise than those from Master.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing looked up, his body surging forward suddenly, his speed increasing as he whistled toward the Tenth Sovereign Mountain.

On the way, he no longer studied this divine authority suspected to be fate, but instead nourished his soul while introspecting his other divine authorities.

"Sound authority, Poison Prohibition..."

After comparing them, Xu Qing was even more certain of the formidable nature of the divine authority suspected to be fate.

Next, he focused his attention on the candle tattoo on his back and that mask.

Just like that, time passed, and two days went by quickly.

At his speed, he was less than half an hour away from the Tenth Sovereign Mountain, and Xu Qing had also formed some basic judgments regarding his research on the candle.

"This candle has completely merged with my physical body."

"It is as if it transferred its carrier from the previous image-recording jade slip to my physical body."

"Perhaps the method of transfer was to extinguish the lit candle..."

"And although it is currently in an extinguished state, the feeling it gives me is that it seems capable of being lit, but it requires some specific preparations."

"Specifically, it still requires more time to explore and attempt."

Xu Qing analyzed in his heart, and at the same time, through more than a day of research, he initially judged that this tattoo was temporarily harmless to him.

"As for that mask."

Xu Qing lowered his head, his right hand flipping, and the mask appeared in his palm, still gazing at Xu Qing, as if waiting for him to speak his wish.

During this day, besides his research on the tattoo on his back, he had also been investigating this mask.

"Material, unknown."

"Although it has spirituality, it is insufficient."

"If I do not make a wish, it seems it will continue to follow."

"As for the price of making a wish, although I still do not know the specifics, judging by its persistence, it must be extremely great."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, his heart calm.

Because making a wish was only his means to attract this mask, not his original goal.

His goal, from beginning to end, had only been one, and that was... to obtain the reason for being untainted by karma, and to find a way to acquire it.

Therefore, the white dust was the key point.

Thus, Xu Qing looked up, his authority shining in his eyes as he gazed at his own threads of fate.

Those threads of his were connected in all directions, brilliantly astonishing, and within them, a few contained a sense of terror.

But at this moment, among these threads of fate, Xu Qing clearly saw... the appearance of white dust.

These specks of dust, as if growing, silently and imperceptibly, were slowly forming outside Xu Qing’s threads of fate.

"Contacting the mask allows this white dust to appear in my fate?"

Xu Qing was thoughtful, and just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration, thinking of his divine authority suspected to be fate.

"If I were to send this divine authority into my own threads of fate, what would happen?"

Once this thought appeared, it took root in Xu Qing’s mind, becoming increasingly intense; finally, after careful consideration, Xu Qing’s eyes revealed decisiveness.

"Try it!"

Xu Qing did not hesitate; he raised his right hand and waved, and instantly the divine authority suspected to be fate within his body flew out, forming a carving knife in front of him, heading straight for the threads of fate floating above his head.

After it merged in an instant, Xu Qing tried hard to restrain the urge to cut, simply letting the carving knife hover within his threads of fate, keeping it motionless.

And the moment the carving knife entered his fate and hovered...

An incredible scene suddenly appeared.

A black light shockingly radiated from the carving knife, instantly enveloping all of Xu Qing’s threads of fate, as if covering his fate.

Immediately following, those specks of white dust all shuddered and flew up, actually being driven away from Xu Qing’s threads of fate, all floating in the outside world, unable to invade even a bit.

And the perception that subsequently surfaced throughout Xu Qing’s body caused even more intense waves in his heart, as if a storm were roaring.

His expression underwent a rare change, and he was even stunned for a moment.

Because, in his perception, the moment the light emitted by the carving knife covered his threads of fate, he suddenly had the illusion of having emerged from water to the surface, breathing freely.

His soul, infinitely at ease.

His body, freer than ever before.

Even compared to the feeling of this moment, Xu Qing had a strong realization that his previous self had seemed to live in suffocation, living in mud, with huge constraints.

Yet, before this perception that appeared for the first time today, he had no awareness of the past suffocation and constraints.

Only through comparison could it be clearer!

It was as if, at this moment, his fate was finally under his own control.

Xu Qing’s breathing was rapid; this comparison truly made him incredibly surprised, and at the same time, a realization surfaced in his heart.

"The feeling of controlling fate?"

Xu Qing murmured.

At the same time, the moment Xu Qing grasped his own fate, in various places across the Wanggu Continent, different existences felt a response.

On the Wanggu Continent, in a vast region shrouded in black fog.

The concentration of foreign substances in this region surpassed all other areas of Wanggu.

Within it, various terrifying roars echoed continuously between heaven and earth, lingering for a long time.

And at the very center of this endless pitch-black fog, there existed a huge city; this was an imperial palace.

Inside the imperial palace, in the great hall, there was dead silence.

It was empty.

Only on the imperial throne sat one person.

This person was exceptionally handsome, wearing imperial robes, one hand supporting his forehead, eyes closed and motionless; in the next instant, this person’s eyes suddenly opened, looking up at the firmament from afar, his brows slowly furrowing.

"Uncoupled?"

This person murmured softly, and after a long while, his brows relaxed, and a faint smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Little brother, interesting."

In the outer sea, waves rose and fell; in the depths, black lines rose from the sea surface, rapidly weaving in mid-air to finally form the figure of Yu Liuchen sitting cross-legged.

He was absorbing his gains.

And originally, he would not have awakened before fully absorbing them.

But now, an inexplicable feeling he had never experienced before caused him to wake from his slumber; after appearing, he looked toward the firmament.

"A certain character in my past stories has vanished from within the story..."

At the summit of the Tenth Sovereign Mountain in the Demon Feather Sacred Land, the Empress, manifesting as Lu Ling, opened her eyes.

Her gaze rested upon the mountain below, her expression peculiar.

Not until half an hour later did a voice drift up from the mountain base.

"Xue Chenzi requests an audience with the Sovereign!"

The Empress, lost in thought, raised her hand and made a grasping motion toward the space below.

In the next instant, the figure of Xu Qing appeared directly within the great hall, standing before her.

The moment he appeared, Xu Qing hurriedly bowed, about to speak.

But the Empress's voice had already echoed out.

"To be able to keep me from seeing the truth while in the secret realm, even with my avatar present, and only be perceived by me now, at the moment this divine authority was activated... Xu Qing, this divine authority you have gained."

"Its name... is Fate!"

Xu Qing immediately looked up at the Empress.

This was exactly what he had wanted to ask about. Now that the Empress had seen through it at a glance, his desire to understand this divine authority grew even stronger, so he took a deep breath and spoke respectfully.

"Your Majesty, may I ask for your guidance?"

The Empress's gaze fell upon the top of Xu Qing's head; after a long moment, she spoke slowly.

"Fate, meaning destiny and luck, refers to the trajectory formed by the combination of fixed constants and variables in all things in the world, and it is also one of the supreme divine authorities within the divine system."

"And destiny and luck are two completely different concepts."

"Destiny is the fixed constant, referring to specific trajectories, like paths that already exist."

"During my battle to become a god, you must have seen with your own eyes the means by which the Ziqing Crown Prince controlled the fates of others; it was just like this."

The fates of others became a book in the hands of the Ziqing Crown Prince.

Through fate, he could see the past and deduce the future.

This future could be deduced into countless possibilities, but all of them already existed.

He would extract the one future that was a dead end, replace all others with it, and thereby change and influence the fates of others."

Hearing this, Xu Qing’s mind suddenly grasped the majority of it, a feeling of sudden enlightenment washing over him, while his inner turmoil was also immense.

Scenes of the Ziqing Crown Prince’s actions flashed before his eyes; that divine authority was extremely formidable.

"So, the countless future trajectories of his opponents that the Ziqing Crown Prince deduced through this divine authority were all real and existing; this is the fixed constant."

"At the same time, is this also the 'destiny' part of the Fate divine authority?"

Xu Qing murmured.

The Empress nodded and continued.

"And luck is the variable, referring to traces outside of the fixed constants; to be precise, it refers to those new paths that might be carved out."

"Future paths that did not originally exist are created through the fusion of good fortune and misfortune, exceeding the established scope."

"This is the variable."

"Your divine authority is the 'luck' within Fate, and it is also the variable!"

Xu Qing took a deep breath, his train of thought becoming completely clear at this moment.

"Your Majesty, do you mean that my Fate divine authority can use good fortune and misfortune as two hands to manipulate a person's fate, allowing it to form a new fate outside of the existing fixed constants?"

The Empress nodded.

"Your understanding is correct."

"Although your Fate divine authority and Ziqing's are of the same origin, their directions differ, yet both can be described by a single sentence."

"Everything is possible."

"For fixed constants, their countless already-existing trajectories all have the possibility of becoming reality."

"For variables, creating a new path to replace the original is naturally also possible."

Xu Qing closed his eyes, carefully analyzing and absorbing the Empress's words in his heart, then opened them again.

His eyes were clear as he said softly.

"So the Ziqing Crown Prince's Fate divine authority is like a book; because that fate is already written, the Ziqing Crown Prince flips through it to find the most suitable page."

"And the carving knife transformed from my Fate divine authority... its purpose is not to flip through the book, but to engrave a new trajectory of fate upon it, becoming a new page."