Chapter 206: Destiny

Wang Dun burst into loud laughter: "Hahaha…"

"As long as you agree!"

"Agreed? Old man… wait…"

"Hehehe…"

"Fuck…"

"Fuck fuck…"

"Hahaha…"

"Tsk tsk tsk… hiss hiss hiss… fuck… this much?"

"Awesome… awesome…"

In He Pingsheng's eyes, Wang Dun stared blankly into the void like a madman, utterly ecstatic.

The surrounding cultivators stared in astonishment.

After about a dozen breaths, Wang Dun drew a deep breath, snapped out of his trance, and looked at He Pingsheng: "Young brother… you're truly my lucky star… fine… don't worry, once we enter Divine General Mountain, I've got your back!"

As they spoke, someone else climbed the stairs below.

It was none other than the empty spirit root prodigy Xiao Xuan.

"Hehehe…" Xiao Xuan spotted Qiao Huizhu and hurried over: "Sister Qiao…"

Qiao Xiaoqiao rolled her eyes: "Get lost. Who's your sister?"

But Xiao Xuan ignored Qiao Xiaoqiao, sitting down right beside Qiao Huizhu: "Sister Qiao, I'm now higher in cultivation than you—calling you sister is only right, isn't it?"

He Pingsheng heard this and quietly extended his spiritual sense to scan Xiao Xuan.

To his shock, he couldn't detect anything.

He Pingsheng's spiritual sense was now immensely powerful—he had already reached Layer Two of the Spirit Refinement Scripture.

His spiritual sense covered over five hundred zhang, not as vast as a Foundation Establishment twelfth-layer cultivator's, but certainly no less than tenth-layer.

So this guy was either eleventh or twelfth layer?

Fuck…

He Pingsheng was stunned.

This was too fast.

When he last fought this kid, he was only Qi Refining tenth layer.

It had only been about… twelve years?

Too fast!

Faster than Wang Dun.

But remembering Xiao Xuan's empty spirit root, He Pingsheng instantly understood.

"Stay away from my sister!" Qiao Xiaoqiao said. "My sister's already taken!"

"Pfft!" Xiao Xuan sneered. "Taken? He's just a fugitive whose clan was destroyed. They say his life tablet was never found—he might be dead or alive, no one knows. You really think he'll come back to marry your sister?"

He was right—He Pingsheng's life tablet had never been recovered by the Beast Taming Immortal Sect.

Ironically, Yu De had been carrying He Pingsheng's life tablet searching for him, but later Yu De was blown to dust by He Pingsheng himself, so the tablet ended up back in He Pingsheng's hands.

Without his life tablet, the Grand Void Gate could not track He Pingsheng, and neither could the Beast Taming Immortal Sect.

"That's true!" Qiao Xiaoqiao's tone shifted. "He's probably dead by now. If he's alive, he's likely changed his heart—out there in the dazzling world, surrounded by beautiful female disciples, who could hold onto loyalty?"

As she spoke, Qiao Xiaoqiao's gaze swept over Zi Lan beside He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng couldn't help but smile bitterly: She's reminding me.

Fine.

He Pingsheng stood, bowed to Wang Dun, Zi Lan, and Zi Xian: "My fellow cultivators, I'll take my leave. When Divine General Mountain opens, I'll return here to join you all."

With that, he left directly.

…

In the city lord's mansion, the testing was nearing its end.

The six testing elders, who had been chatting merrily moments ago, now wore increasingly grim expressions.

Not here.

The person they sought had not yet appeared.

After the final test candidate completed his assessment, their faces darkened further.

"How could this happen?"

The second-ranking female cultivator frowned in confusion.

The middle-aged elder, with streaks of white hair at his temples, frowned deeply: "The Grand Justiciar said the great destiny bearer of Dingxiang Commandery is among these Foundation Establishment disciples selected in Divine General Mountain!"

"We only know this much!"

"Then he didn't come!" the woman declared firmly. "The Nine Dragon Auspicious Destiny Mirror never lies!"

He Pingsheng, Wang Dun, and many Foundation Establishment disciples assumed the mirror measured talent.

It did not.

The nine mirrors measured a person's destiny.

The more dragons visible, the stronger the destiny.

If one could see all nine dragons at once, that person possessed heavenly destiny—unlimited potential.

"Since ancient times, within our Great Qi realm, only the founding emperor possessed nine-dragon destiny. The strength of a nine-dragon destiny bearer can topple a nation, even shatter the balance of the entire cultivation world!"

"They even have a chance to ascend to the legendary Spirit Realm!"

"If we fail to find him, it's a grave threat to our Great Qi imperial house!"

The woman said: "Senior brother, doesn't the Grand Justiciar's 'great destiny bearer' mean it might not be nine dragons?"

"Maybe it's only seven or eight dragons?"

"Are there any eight dragons?" the white-haired elder countered. "In this entire test, the highest was seven dragons—none reached eight!"

"I ask you all to recall carefully—did anyone deliberately conceal their results?"

"Who struck you as suspicious?"

The white-haired elder looked around at them.

Each elder strained to recall.

But no one.

In their memories, nearly everyone had behaved normally.

All performances were perfectly ordinary.

"Senior brother, I still have some questions—please enlighten me," the woman said, turning to the white-haired elder.

The elder nodded: "Speak."

The woman said: "The Grand Justiciar said a great destiny bearer has emerged in Dingxiang Commandery, and ordered us here to find him—correct?"

The elder replied: "Correct."

She asked: "And once we find him—what then?"

"Do we recruit him into the imperial house… or…"

The woman raised her right arm, miming a swift slash.

The elder frowned, remaining silent for three full breaths before speaking: "Do you think a nine-dragon destiny bearer would let our imperial house recruit him?"

"No," the woman shook her head. "I understand."

"But…"

She added immediately: "Senior brother, have you considered this?"

The elder asked: "What?"

The woman said: "If someone can be easily killed by just a few of us, how could he possibly be a nine-dragon destiny bearer?"

"If his destiny is truly that profound, how could he be exposed by us?"

"Hmph…" One of the nine elders, an old man with white hair and beard, sighed deeply. "True… it's a dead end."

"A true great destiny bearer cannot be slain."

"One who can be killed doesn't deserve the title."

"So I've always said—before we even came to Dingxiang Commandery, this mission was doomed to fail."