Chapter 36

"Reporting to the Master, this subordinate has found the Mud Bodhisattva."

It was Duan Lang's voice, with the Wind and Cloud duo at his side.

Nie Feng only realized after returning to the World Society that the trip to Wushuang City was a special opportunity arranged for him by Jiang Xuan, and couldn't help but marvel that the Master truly predicts events like a god.

"Truly one surprise after another!"

Jiang Xuan rose from the secret chamber, his gaze revealing intense interest.

"Let's go, let's meet this Mud Bodhisattva."

Regarding the Fengyun World, Jiang Xuan found it very strange; clearly it was just a high-martial world, yet it involved talk of destiny and fate, which felt very off. He wanted to know what this so-called destiny actually was.

Tap tap tap!

Duan Lang led the way, Jiang Xuan walking unhurriedly toward the grand hall ahead, where a figure wrapped entirely in coarse cloth stood hunched over, waiting carefully and respectfully.

"This one greets Chief Jiang."

"You are the Mud Bodhisattva?"

Jiang Xuan's gaze was deep and remote, staring straight at the Mud Bodhisattva, his eyes seeming to see through that piece of coarse cloth to the scene inside.

"Precisely. *Cough cough cough*, this one's appearance is ugly, so I can only cover my face with coarse cloth; please don't take offense, Chief Jiang."

Accompanied by the aged coughing, the Mud Bodhisattva's already hunched body bent even more thoroughly.

"Since ancient times, physiognomists hold the tongue of fate; leaking heavenly secrets naturally incurs the heavenly punishment of five disadvantages and three shortcomings."

Jiang Xuan waved his hand, not caring that the Mud Bodhisattva wouldn't show his true face; he knew beneath this coarse cloth was a face too horrible to behold.

"Since you are the Mud Bodhisattva, you must know why I summoned you."

Jiang Xuan cut straight to the chase; this related to his subsequent plans.

"Over a decade ago, the previous Chief of the World Society, Xiong Ba, found this one to read his fate."

"A golden scale is no pond-dweller; once it meets wind and cloud it transforms into a dragon. The nine heavens' dragon chant startles heaven's change; Wind and Cloud encounter shallow waters to swim."

"This is the divination text this one gave Xiong Ba; as the saying goes, made by Wind and Cloud, undone by Wind and Cloud."

Speaking here, the Mud Bodhisattva's face showed a doubtful expression.

"This one's divination text would never be wrong; at this time Xiong Ba should be at his peak, and Wind and Cloud have not yet turned disloyal to him, yet for some reason Chief Jiang appeared out of nowhere and crushed Xiong Ba with overwhelming force. Strange, truly strange!"

The Mud Bodhisattva was also bewildered; for the first time he doubted his own physiognomy.

Xiong Ba's fate pattern was originally supposed to soar skyward in the first half of his life, yet precisely when ascending upward he was shot down by a single arrow.

This deviation of fate dealt a tremendous impact to his spirit; even upon learning Xiong Ba would be supplanted, he risked his life to divine again, yet saw only a chaos, vague and unknown.

This caused him agonizing mental pain, pondering a hundred times without solution.

"A person's fate pattern is ordained by heaven; none escape fate's control, unless..."

The Mud Bodhisattva's pupils suddenly contracted violently, looking at Jiang Xuan in disbelief.

He had not calculated or divined why Xiong Ba's fate deviated from its original trajectory, but he had guessed...

Unless... fate is unfixed, a person from outside the realm.

"Made by Wind and Cloud, undone by Wind and Cloud; you look at these two — can you see anything?"

Jiang Xuan pointed at Nie Feng and Bu Jingyun behind him.

"Ethereal and unpredictable, dragon returning to the great sea; can be called a world-shaking talent, opportunities unceasing, once unleashed cannot be reined in."

The Mud Bodhisattva was shocked; these two's fate patterns were like World's Sons, favored by heaven — a fate where jumping off a cliff guarantees a miracle, where a ten-deaths-no-life situation can turn disaster into blessing.

"They are precisely the Wind and Cloud you spoke of: Nie Feng, Bu Jingyun."

The Wind and Cloud duo were also somewhat dumbfounded; are their fate patterns really like this?

Recalling past events, it truly was smooth sailing all the way.

When the World Society blood-washed Huo Family Manor, only Bu Jingyun was missed; over a decade of cultivation surpassing countless martial arts veterans, a peerless sword acknowledging him as master, the Lingyun Grotto opportunity...

Nie Feng was the same; any single one of these taken alone is inconceivable, yet so many inconceivable things all befell them.

"Bu Jingyun, Bu Jingyun... sounds like I've heard it somewhere."

The Mud Bodhisattva suddenly looked blank; he seemed to have seen this name in a volume of ancient books.

Bu Jingyun's brow lifted slightly, but he didn't take it to heart; the fame of Bu Jingyun, Hall Master of the World Society's Feiyun Hall, is known to everyone in the martial world — not having heard of it would be abnormal.

"Eternal Immortal God of the Bu Divine Clan, Bu Jingyun?"

Jiang Xuan's eyes narrowed slightly, a sharp glint flashing across, curiously confirming.

"That ancient book's record is very vague; it faintly has this name, but no specific deeds."

"The Tian Kuai Jing prophesies great events of past, present, and future; how much one can see varies by person; this one does not know this title."

The Mud Bodhisattva shook his head, saying:

"If one truly knew everything, why would this one have spent so many years hiding east and west, and why would this one have fallen to such a state."

From Jiang Xuan's tone, this title — Eternal Immortal God of the Bu Divine Clan — bearing the appellation 'God', was quite remarkable.

"The Bu Divine Clan is a mysterious family; legend says they are descendants of the ancient demon god Chiyou."

"Every member of the Bu Divine Clan can be called a Heavenly Pride; this family inherits powerful talent. Any person of this clan has extremely powerful talent, not merely limited to martial arts but in other aspects as well. Bu Jingyun's birth father Bu Yuanting had mediocre martial arts talent, but his talent in sword-forging was supreme; relying on this talent he became a top-tier swordsmith under heaven."

"The Bu Divine Clan has another special trait: every hundred years a person of peerless martial arts talent appears, ascending to the peak of the martial world; the Bu Divine Clan's name comes from this."

"Even more astonishing is that this clan member who ascends to the martial peak all have the same face, the same name; they are all called —"

"Bu Jingyun!"

Speaking here, the Mud Bodhisattva understood; this person before him had set his sights on this so-called Bu Divine Clan. But such a flourishing family — why had he never heard of it? Not a word in any ancient books.

Bu Jingyun was shocked and uncertain; he didn't know much about his birth father, only that his martial arts were ordinary. He never expected he was actually a top-tier swordsmith.

Even more unexpected was that his bloodline origin was so extraordinary; styling themselves 'God' — what arrogance, and what power.

Duan Lang was also astonished; this fellow disciple he'd never gotten along with since childhood had such a background, destined to stand atop the martial peak. This further steeled his heart toward the martial path; he, Duan Lang, was inferior to no one.

Jiang Xuan also saw the confusion of the several people, only to hear him slowly speak:

"Bu Jingyun, who appears once in a hundred years, naturally possesses peak talent; in just a few decades he reached achievements that ordinary people could not accomplish in ten lifetimes, but this clan likewise has its defect — all Bu clan members have a lifespan not exceeding the limit of forty, and the clan's gods are no exception."

"Five hundred years ago Sword God Bu Jingyun died at forty; afterward the God of Blades and the God of Fists were the same — martial arts unrivaled, fists suppressing Tianxia, yet none escaped the destiny of ending at forty. Until two hundred years ago, the Bu Shen Clan produced a peerless prodigy surpassing all predecessors; with great wisdom he forcibly found a path to longevity within this impossibility, styling himself a god, the Immortal God."

"He created a longevity method named the Moving Heaven Divine Art; not only can it delay aging, when nearing death one can still, through head-transplant surgery, seize another young body, thereby achieving longevity."

"And regarding the seized person's aptitude and degree of matching, who in Tianxia could surpass Bu Jingyun, who appears once in a hundred years……"

Speaking here, Jiang Xuan's expression turned solemn.

"Zhu Shi, do you mean that Immortal God might set his sights on Senior Brother Yun?"

Upon hearing this Nie Feng hurriedly asked anxiously; from Jiang Xuan's meaning that Immortal God would very likely seize Senior Brother Yun's body.

"Not might, but certainly; a hundred years ago the Bu Shen Clan produced a god whose lightness skill was unmatched in the world, imprisoned by the Immortal God as a possession target; I think he now has a better choice……"

……

Inside a palace unknown to the world in Shen Zhou.

In a warm tent crafted entirely of crystal, through the curtain there faintly loomed a burly silhouette reclining on its side.

Merely lying sideways at will, boundless momentum spread outward from this person's silhouette; terrifying pressure forced all subordinates below to prostrate, not daring to breathe heavily.

No one knew that this burly powerful body constantly wore a human-skin mask.

He can avoid death, yet cannot achieve not aging.

Beneath the mask, it was as if a knife named Years tirelessly carved upon it, stroke after stroke, ravines in clusters, deep and ugly.

"How is this god's clansman…… doing now?"

The god spoke faintly, voice hoarse and chilling, like a soul-hooking sound from Hell.

Before the warm tent, the Divine General knelt respectfully and hurriedly replied:

"Bu Jingyun has encountered opportunity after opportunity; his martial arts have already entered the top rank of that time, his physical condition climbing unceasingly, soon to reach the peak of his life."

"Youth is truly good!"

The god sighed faintly:

"That kind of meteoric progress, days forever without a bottleneck, is truly blissful; it has been a very long time since this one felt the exhilaration of surpassing limits and breaking shackles between life and death."

In the words there seemed both lament and aftertaste, and also as if…… envy.

"Soon, soon, just wait a little longer……"

(Chapter End)