Chapter 246: Tributaries of Fate

Xijun, Xilie Wangfu.

Inside the room, only a stone platform with steps floated, emitting a hazy halo; Xiao Hao's figure was not to be seen. But if one looked closely, this stone platform was magnified thousands upon thousands of times.

Then one could see a black dot upon the stone platform: Xiao Hao.

Xiao Hao stood upon the Heavenly Secret Platform, feeling somewhat lost.

He had just been pondering how to use this Heavenly Secret Platform; how did he arrive here in an instant? Looking at the incomparably vast platform around him, a thought rose in his heart: could it be that he was right on the Heavenly Secret Platform?

A sudden sensation came from within his heart, urging him to continue forward.

Xiao Hao followed the feeling and walked upward, slowly reaching the end of the Heavenly Secret Platform. He cast his gaze outward; all around was vast Void, with no heaven and no earth, dim and dark.

He looked downward, and his pupils instantly shrank; his heart was shocked.

This is... this is... the legendary Tributary of Fate?!

The moment this thought arose, the surroundings changed instantly.

The Heavenly Secret Platform vanished, and the countless Tributaries of Fate below were laid out before his eyes in their entirety; he was suddenly struck with a sense of Enlightenment.

So, by relying on the power of the Heavenly Secret Platform to stand at the current Node, one could see the countless Tributaries of Fate extending from this current Node and observe the future.

Joy rose in his heart, and he wanted to observe them in detail.

The next moment, countless Tributaries of Fate were taken in at a glance, and countless possibilities presented themselves before his eyes. This chaotic scene directly made him dizzy and lightheaded; he nearly went black before the eyes and fainted on the spot.

He hurriedly shifted his gaze away, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Damn it, how could he be so rash? With his current strength, how could he possibly observe all of the future?

But if he could not choose the most likely future among the countless futures, wouldn't the Heavenly Secret Platform be useless?

Xiao Hao gritted his teeth, unwilling to accept this.

He did not ask to know the most likely future, the fixed future; he only needed to know the future most favorable to him, and that would be enough. What a pity, what a pity—it was still a matter of strength!

For the first time, he felt extreme hatred for his own powerlessness.

In the past, he was just a playboy who did not cultivate properly!

Otherwise, how could he be unable to utilize the Heavenly Secret Platform?

At this moment, he suddenly noticed that the number of countless Tributaries of Fate below began to decrease, finally reducing to just one. Xiao Hao's eyes held some bewilderment; could the Heavenly Secret Platform also help him filter the future?

Could it be that the last remaining one...

... is the one most favorable to him?

He lowered his head and observed this Tributary of Fate in detail.

Images appeared on the tributary; it was actually Shanhai Cheng, where their Lie Wangfu was located. Then the image shifted again, arriving before the main gate of the Lie Wangfu, focusing on a strange monk.

The monk pressed his palms together, chanting sutras without stopping, when suddenly he looked up abruptly. Above, there was nothing; one could only see the azure sky and leisurely white clouds.

It did have a certain sense of clouds rolling and unfurling.

He felt somewhat puzzled in his heart.

Back then, the Great Elder had handed him this task of contacting the variable, then threw him here, instructing him not to wander around, saying he would soon find that variable.

But he had been here for a long time; where was the variable?

Though, this gate did have "Xilie Wangfu" written on it...

Could it be that he was expected to walk inside?

But this main gate was closed; he couldn't just be expected to force his way in, right? That would be so impolite! Moreover, Xilie Wang, Xilie Wang—anyone with this name or title must certainly be someone not to be trifled with.

Just as the monk was hesitating,

suddenly, accompanied by the creaking sound of wood turning,

the main gate of the Xilie Wangfu slowly opened.

A head poked out from within; it was a maidservant.

She looked around and locked her gaze onto the monk.

She spoke, "This Master, my Young Master invites you in."

On the city wall of Jinhua City.

Lie Dangkong stood with his hands behind his back, a light breeze blowing, his robes fluttering. Although this appearance, like that of an exiled immortal, did not suit this old man, it had a strange, mismatched sense of style.

He spoke.

"Kid, what are you thinking about? You look so heavy-hearted."

Lie Dangkong looked at Xuan Dao.

Xuan Dao's expression was grave.

He hesitated over whether to tell Lie Dangkong about this matter.

He always felt that Ye Xiaoer's attitude toward him was very strange; he had actually congratulated him on attaining the Dao, as if they were fellow Daoists? They were neither related nor acquainted, so why would Ye Xiaoer congratulate him?

Not to mention that there was enmity between them.

It was as if... Ye Xiaoer treated him as one of his own?

Once this thought arose, he was startled.

Since when did he become one of Ye Xiaoer's own?

Xuan Dao thought again of the Secret Technique for contact that Ye Xiaoer had given him, pondering in his heart whether he should use this Secret Technique; perhaps he could learn the truth from it?

But then he thought better of it, feeling it was inappropriate.

What if this was a trap, or what if he got dragged into something?

No, he still had to wait for Brother Li to return before deciding!

In his view, only the incomparably mysterious Li Heng could resolve such matters. As for his master, perhaps he could too, but his master was very busy and would not care about such a small matter of his.

Ye Family Ancestral Land.

Ye Xiaoer knelt respectfully on one knee to report to Ye Yin.

"I am already aware of the situation, and I will not hold you responsible. To think an accident occurred and Xuan Dao actually reached the Dharma Aspect realm; interesting."

Ye Yin laughed lightly.

"Family Head, are we just going to let Lie Dangkong go like this?"

"Naturally not, but Lie Dangkong will have plenty of trouble ahead. News has arrived that a county has been blood sacrificed by a Great Demon of the Sunset Organization; the Great Demon will clash with Lie Dangkong sooner or later."

"We will behead Lie Dangkong at an opportune moment; I believe the other noble families think the same. Withdraw; you have only just advanced to the Dharma Aspect realm and still need to continue consolidating your cultivation."

"Yes, Family Head."

Ye Xiaoer nodded, stood up, and turned to leave.

Once he had completely left the room and was far from Ye Yin, a look of confusion appeared in his eyes. What was going on? Why hadn't that Xuan Dao contacted him yet? Could it be that he hadn't awakened yet? That shouldn't be.

He returned to his own seclusion chamber.

Ye Xiaoer secretly channeled a Secret Technique, his Divine Sense drifting and breaking through the Void to arrive at a hidden place that seemed to exist yet not exist, located in the nether; many other Divine Senses like his also existed here.

He manifested his Divine Sense and spoke aloud.

"Everyone, we have gained another companion."

"Oh? A companion? Who is it? Who broke through to the Dharma Aspect realm? The prefecture I am in is full of trash; no one has broken through to the Dharma Aspect realm."

One Divine Sense spoke hoarsely.

"There isn't one in the dynasty on my side either; the damn dynasty has even forbidden everyone from breaking through to the Dharma Aspect realm. What on earth are they thinking!"

Another Divine Sense said bitterly.

"Forget it, your situation is already considered good enough; I am still under house arrest to this day. My master and my Dao companion still do not believe me to this day; damn it, it is clear that I have always been me!"

A third Divine Sense appeared and said dejectedly.

Ye Xiaoer felt very indignant upon hearing this.

These ignorant masses, these rotten dynasties, this group of old fogies who hold positions without doing their jobs—they are all ungrateful! They are actually all, to a greater or lesser extent, preventing the increase of their companions.

But fortunately, he brought good news this time.

"Fellow Daoist Xuan Dao of Dali Beijun just broke through to the Dharma Aspect realm not long ago and became our companion. However, he hasn't contacted me yet; I suppose he hasn't fully awakened, but according to the time, it should be soon."

The many Divine Senses in the hidden place also expressed their agreement one after another.

"We have gained another companion."

They shouted in unison, fanatically.

"Snap!"

Accompanied by the breaking of the wall and the splashing of stone fragments, Xiao Tian narrowly dodged this blade from Li Heng, avoiding the outcome of his head falling to the ground.

Li Heng shook his head, somewhat disappointed, and swung his blade again.

"Xiao Tian, why are you running?"

"You damn human."

Because of the influence of Li Heng's Causal Poison, the Aberrant Will naturally adapted to the fact that it possessed emotions and roared.

"Why? By what right? You mortal haven't even come into contact with the Heavenly Human realm; what qualification do you have to deal with me, a Heaven!"

He felt incomparably aggrieved in his heart and also found it inconceivable.

How supreme and lofty was he before?

In the end, he even embraced glorious evolution, obtained even greater power, and looking down upon the birth and destruction of all things was easy!

But now.

He was actually trapped in this body, reduced to a living being.

And a mortal, the lowest of all living beings at that!

Furthermore, in order to avoid the pursuit of this damn mortal before him, he had to use these architectural ruins to hide and conceal himself, hiding in dark corners like a street Mouse.

The stark contrast drove him mad.

Little did he know that the more mad he became, the happier Li Heng was.

The more mad he was, the more intense his emotional fluctuations were, and the stronger his human side was; this meant that the Heavenly Position on the Aberrant Will was becoming weaker and smaller.

Until he would be killed by the great machete in his hand!

This machete was created by Li Heng's Source Power and was naturally no ordinary weapon; it possessed a trace of divinity sufficient for God-Slaying, enough to behead this Aberrant Will whose position had been struck down.

As for the "by what right" that the Aberrant Will spoke of?

It was naturally by virtue of Li Heng's hard work.

He had no idea what price Li Heng had paid to deal with him, using the Causal Poison with great heartache and condensing the great machete with great pain, all just to hack him to death.

If he didn't drop a big loot, Li Heng would have suffered a huge loss.

At this moment, the Aberrant Will had been driven to a dead end.

He sensed that his aura had been locked onto by this damn human, this damn mortal before him. No matter how he fled, even if he fled to the ends of the earth, this mortal could find him!

This was originally his hunting ground, his place of entrenched power.

Now, however, it had become this mortal's hunting ground.

He had changed from an existence above the hunter to the prey.

Endless grievance plunged him into boundless rage, wanting to exhaust all his strength to fight this damn mortal to the death.

"Mortal, do you really think you have won!"

"Don't think that just because you struck down my position, I cannot mobilize the power of those eyes in the sky. As long as I disturb it slightly, you will die, you must die!"

He pointed at Li Heng and warned him.

Li Heng smiled lightly and did not answer, slowly walking toward him until he reached a certain distance, then his figure moved instantly, arriving before him, and the great machete swung down!

"Heaven, is this how you watch my joke!"

The Aberrant Will roared, mobilizing all his power.

The blood-colored eyes in the sky moved slightly.

Seeing this, Li Heng also smiled; it was exactly what he intended!