Chapter 1770: Fate Flows On

The Great Sun Sword Child's cold, gloomy gaze pierced through the vast expanse of space, gazing toward the place where the threads of cause and effect had been subtly stirred.

He did not interfere in any way, only watching in silence.

This place where the threads of cause and effect had been disturbed was within the Great Tu Dynasty, and right in the capital of the Tianlian Realm.

The Great Sun Sword Child did not look further into the more minute location, for examining the precise position would require disturbing the threads of cause and effect, which did not befit his role as an observer of cause and effect.

The Great Sun Sword Child had a clear understanding.

He was certainly not the equal of the Fourth-Step Limit Fate-Rule Dao Child in the Dao of Cause and Effect, so he had always only hidden, hidden, and observed, never plucking at the threads of cause and effect, only seeking out specific times and places to kill those he wished to kill at those specific times and places, rather than attacking through cause and effect.

"This is an opponent who likes to use cause and effect…"

Jiang Ding's voice was cold and grim.

For something this sinister and sneaky, there was no need to compete with him in any sort of heavenly-secret deduction — just lock down his location, descend, and crush him with brute force.

If this were a battlefield without a Supreme Being present, he would already have appeared before this Buddha Child.

But not now — he had to keep waiting, waiting for the Heavenly Punishment Divine Child to enter a specific battlefield: the Xiang King ruins of the Fortune Divine Dynasty, a place that had once thrown a region into chaos in the ancient era of the God-Buddha Great Thousand Worlds. The terrain there played an important role in the Great Sun Heavenly Palace's sealing of the Divine Child's ninth-tier trump card.

The Heavenly Punishment Divine Child would enter here.

Because there was more human fortune gathered here, and human fortune in this era had happened to experience a small eruption — the place most suited to sacrificing and devouring human fortune was precisely here.

This was fate.

"Will you be stronger than the Heavenly Punishment Divine Child?"

Jiang Ding murmured to himself.

……

In the capital of the Great Tu Dynasty, amid the streets of the common folk, a single speck of fine dust.

The Buddhist scriptures say: A single grain of sand contains a world; a single leaf contains a bodhi.

This speaks precisely of such mustard-seed, Sumeru-containing techniques. This single grain of dust did not touch cause and effect, and like the hundreds of millions of grains of dust in the world, it was utterly unremarkable — even if a Divine Dao Supreme Being personally performed a deduction, there was a certain chance they would overlook it.

Moreover, Divine Dao Supreme Beings like the Town-Yue Heavenly King had already descended upon the Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou Starfield battlefield, just like the Future Buddha Maha Tathagata.

"This is karmic affinity."

"The karmic affinity between the Heavenly Punishment Divine Child and this poor monk."

Within that single speck of fine dust, a monk with rosy lips and pearly white teeth gently rolled the Buddhist beads in his hand, his face full of compassion as he said: "The faithful of this Great Thousand World, their hearts turned toward my Buddha, yet because the Heavenly Punishment Heavenly Court interfered, countless faithful could not attain liberation, could not achieve transcendence in their next life."

"This is a great evil."

The Future Buddha Child's face showed an expression of unbearable pity, as if he had witnessed the myriad sufferings of all beings under the Heavenly Punishment Heavenly Court.

"May our Buddha of the Future once again awaken, blessing all beings, his light illuminating all things under heaven…"

The monk lost himself in recitation, continuously chanting the Buddhist scriptures.

No one knew how much effort they had made so that the name of the Future Buddha might once again appear in the world. To this day, after countless eons of Heaven's Change, the name of Buddha had once more become known to all beings.

Although Heaven and Earth still suppressed everything, a tiny crack had already been revealed.

This was the hope of the future.

Amid the sound of sutra recitation, a single Buddhist bead in the monk's hand vanished without a sound, falling into the cause and effect of the Great Tu Dynasty, stirring them with extreme subtlety.

……

The royal palace of the Great Tu Dynasty.

Carved balustrades and painted rafters, palace halls with nine rows and nine columns of bronze nails, gates of vermilion and purple — all of these proclaimed the orthodoxy of this dynasty.

This dynasty had already left behind humanity's age of ignorant wilderness, left behind the age of slavery, and was entering a period of rapid civilizational development. The dynasty's fortune and laws were strict and solemn, its statutes stern.

Yet, just last night, a bloody upheaval had occurred within the royal palace.

Numerous corpses, numerous streams of fresh blood flowed across the glazed-tile floors, trails of blood crisscrossing in every direction, making this royal palace bloody and terrifying, no longer sacred.

"Cough, cough!"

Tu King Tu Ying San Yi leaned against the imperial throne, coughing up great mouthfuls of blood, staring in horror at his own heart.

Just a hair's breadth more, just a hair's breadth more, and his heart would have been pierced through by a terrifying dark-blue arrow — it had nearly taken his life!

A sovereign invincible on the battlefield, worshipped by hundreds of millions of commoners, was about to die within his own royal palace.

He had only just begun making some preparations, and had not even truly set his hand to anything yet!

It was precisely this extremely minor probe that had drawn such a terrifying consequence. That dreadful shadow had only revealed a single corner of itself, yet it had completely swallowed him whole; only by a sliver of luck had he narrowly escaped in the end.

But had he truly escaped?

Tu Ying San Yi could not help but tremble within his heart.

At this moment, the invincible founding sovereign of the dynasty was as fragile as an ordinary mortal.

Because he had seen that dreadful darkness.

It was simply not something any Fortune Dynasty could compare to — no wisdom, no power could affect it in the slightest; the only thing that could be changed was one's own fate.

"Cough, cough!"

"Cough, cough, cough, cough…"

"Liu Da,"

Tu Ying San Yi forcibly endured the searing pain, looking toward a burly armored warrior before the imperial throne.

This was his commander of personal guards, a warrior who had experienced countless life-and-death trials and remained loyal — it had been precisely his desperate protection just now that had spared Tu Ying San Yi from death.

Was he loyal?

Tu Ying San Yi did not know.

Because, also just now, many fierce warriors who had likewise endured countless life-and-death trials, whom he had regarded as sharing in weal and woe, absolutely incapable of betrayal, had suddenly betrayed him without a moment's

hesitation, raising their butcher blades and slashing toward him, savage and terrifying.

In such circumstances, whom could one trust?

"Your Majesty, please speak!"

The burly armored warrior dropped to one knee.

"Where is the Queen?"

Tu Ying San Yi asked.

"Your Majesty,"

"The Queen has remained in the Luhua Palace the entire time and has never left."

The burly armored warrior said deferentially: "Only the little prince was taken out of the palace by an unknown person, and his whereabouts are now unknown. Please dispatch skilled men to investigate thoroughly and exterminate every last member of the rebel traitors who caused this uprising — leave none alive!"

He said viciously.

In this rebellion, he did not know how many brothers had died because of it, and his eldest brother — on whom he had placed all his lifelong fortune and emotional devotion — had nearly lost his life, making him itch to kill every last one of the rebels.

"Investigate the rebels thoroughly?"

Tu Ying San Yi fell silent.

For a long while, he did not utter a single word.

Because he was afraid.

He, this King Tu, was not indispensable.

The little prince was his own bloodline; if enthroned, he too could become king.

It might not even require his bloodline.

The Tu clan had been born of serfs for generations — his father, his grandfather, his Ceng Zufu, all of them were mud-legged folk scratching a living from the soil, not even possessing a proper name, so where could any noble bloodline come from?

Of the many civil officials and military commanders in court, which one was not a man of outstanding talent?

If the people's hearts were won, which of them could not proclaim himself king?

"Issue this king's decree,"

Tu Ying San Yi was silent for a long while, then said: "Those who stormed the royal palace today were remnants of Yu Yong and the Wei King's spies, who colluded with traitors within to break into the royal palace. Thanks to the protection of our ancestors and the devotion of all the people, every one of the bandits has been executed, and the accomplices of the rebels have likewise all been put to death — not a single one remains."

"This matter is concluded."

"All of you ministers have rendered great service in this battle; each of you shall be promoted in rank and title, and receive generous rewards."

"In seven days, this king will personally lead an expedition to exterminate the Wei King!"