Chapter 263: The Backlash
In front of the three giant mirrors, the Fate Weaving Sovereign raised his hand and gestured toward the mirror that represented the past. The gesture was like a hand gently pulling invisible strings.
As if responding to his call, ashen-colored strings extended from the mirror toward the Fate Weaving Sovereign’s outstretched left hand.
From the middle mirror, which represented the present, green threads of fate extended toward both his left and right hands like obedient children.
And from the mirror on the right, which represented the future, silver threads of fate slowly emerged from the reflection of uncertainty. Then, the moment the reflection changed, the threads shattered into a myriad of sparks.
Pffftt!
Blood seeped from beneath the golden mask. It felt as though molten rock had been injected into his dantian and every spiritual vein throughout his body. The backlash from forcefully manipulating the fate of someone whose destiny affected billions took a tremendous toll on both his spiritual qi and his comprehension.
Especially his comprehension.
The Fate Weaving Sovereign could not easily understand the system of the new world or how it functioned.
Yes, he could assume the identity of the deceased and use their memories as his own, but memory and understanding were two entirely different concepts.
You might remember watching a candy-making machine producing candies onto a conveyor belt, but that didn’t mean you understood its inner workings.
Or when you were a child, you might remember your father grilling barbecue in the backyard for you. You could remember him lighting the fire and grilling meat and sausages, but with the mind of a child, you wouldn’t understand how fire worked.
You wouldn’t know how long to grill the meat so it wouldn’t overcook, or how to control the heat.
That was comprehension.
And manipulating fate without sufficient comprehension was fatal. It was all too easy to suffer backlash from the laws of Heaven and Earth.
Especially when trying to manipulate the fate of someone from another world that operated under an entirely different system.
The Fate Weaving Sovereign’s eyes became bloodshot as he tried again. This time, he forcefully poured his spiritual qi into the mirror, attempting to extract the future thread he desired.
Within his vision, billions of threads of fate intertwined together. Only a handful were the ones he sought, hidden within that chaotic mountain of constantly shifting and intertwining threads.
Such was the fate of someone whose existence affected billions of others. This chaotic, anarchic state, forever shifting beyond order and control, was what the Fate Weaving Sovereign hated most. Combined with his lack of comprehension of that world, it became even harder for him to reach the future he desired.
He was about to succeed.
Then suddenly, a flash of an intruding fate from outside his calculations swept across the future.
The chaotic threads that had been intertwining suddenly transformed into a glowing land mine.
And the moment he touched it...
Booom! Crashhhh!
Splashhhhh!
The mirror that represented the future shattered.
Countless shards of the Mirror of Fate tore through the Fate Weaving Sovereign’s right hand, reducing it to a mangled mess.
"Urgh!"
The Fate Weaving Sovereign was blasted backward by the backlash. Hundreds of shards from the Mirror of Fate pierced his body.
"Who... who was that?" the Fate Weaving Sovereign muttered to himself, recalling the fate of the one who had intruded upon the future he had already calculated.
It was like someone suddenly throwing a random number into a carefully calculated mathematical conjecture while he was solving an incredibly dangerous equation. An outside variable that he could not comprehend.
That face...
It wore a smug, punchable face that made his hand itch to punch it.
The Fate Weaving Sovereign looked at the ruined Mirror of Fate that represented the future.
"I was too hasty... thinking that a world without strong Laws of Heaven and Earth or abundant spiritual qi would be easier to manipulate... I was too reckless."
He then looked down at his mangled hand.
"It seems... the plan will need to be postponed... until I can comprehend more of that world."
The Fate Weaving Sovereign then activated the eyes that allowed him to peer into the fate of beings in the lower realm.
He saw the gate being built within the vast underwater cavern.
"This is the problem..." he muttered to himself.
He needed a new plan. Once the gate was completed, he could forget about sneaking over to the other side.
But how? None of the powerful forces in the lower realm dared intervene with the Underworld Palace anymore.
He could easily provoke some stupid, arrogant, and uninformed powerful force into causing trouble for the Underworld Palace, just as he had done with the three Ancient Hidden Forces.
But the annihilation of those three armies had made people understand the true extent of the Underworld Palace’s power.
The Fate Weaving Sovereign cast his gaze upon the Ancient Hidden Forces of the lower realm. Each of them had strong ties to powerful clans in the Immortal Realm.
"Hm..."
The Fate Weaving Sovereign studied the Ancient Hidden Clans. One of them stood out from the rest: the Dark Nether Ancient Clan.
This Ancient Hidden Clan was one of the oldest and had deep ties to an Immortal Realm power known as the Immortal Nether Clan.
The intertwining threads of fate resembled a spider’s web. This clan possessed countless connections that could be useful within the Immortal Realm.
Like the chess player he was, the Fate Weaving Sovereign’s eyes reflected a glimmer of satisfaction beneath his golden mask.
The chess pieces on the board were sufficient. What he lacked was a pawn. A pawn consumed by hatred, one whose desire for vengeance was so overwhelming that even the certainty of death could not restrain its recklessness.
The Fate Weaving Sovereign glanced across the countless threads once more.
And finally...
Finally, he found that chess piece.
His left hand manifested the thread connected to that pawn.
Then he pulled and wove it to suit his desires.
This was thousands upon thousands of times easier to manipulate, as both the pawn and the laws governing this world were thoroughly understood by the Fate Weaving Sovereign.
After a moment passed, the intertwined threads of fate were woven into the shape he desired.
But one question remained.
Who was that man?
That punchable face had briefly appeared within his vision, yet was completely absent from the sight of the eyes that could peer through all fate.
He couldn’t see him at all.
— A Few Days Later —
That morning, three flying arks from the Ximen Clan arrived. The first was the large flying ark reserved exclusively for the Ximen Clan’s official affairs. Its decorations and the entourage accompanying it were no less awe-inspiring than those of the Ximen Clan Patriarch himself.
Large white banners bearing the character "Ximen" fluttered proudly, while golden ornaments adorned the flying ark. Behind it came goods transported by freighter-type flying arks.
Youqi, who was in the command center, naturally saw their arrival, but she didn’t bother going out to receive the guests. She was busy enough already. She needed to oversee the gate’s construction in the giant underwater cavern while also returning to the Underworld periodically to inspect its daily operations.
So it fell to Wei Chen to receive the guests.
Today also happened to be the day Mo Xingyao had come to visit and play with little Ningning, so she came out with Wei Chen to welcome them.
Wei Chen glanced at Mo Xingyao, who seemed anxious and looked as though she wanted nothing more than to return to his personal tent and continue their game.
She had paused their Monopoly game midway while playing with Dream Butterfly, little Ningning, and her bodyguard, Yin Lan.
"You know, you don’t have to come out here and receive these people with me if you don’t want to," Wei Chen said.
Looking at her reminded him of himself during his teenage years, when he would get dragged out of the house despite desperately wanting to stay home because he was addicted to WoW.
"Shut up, Chenchen. As the future lady of the Wei household, I need to be here and stand beside you to receive our guests. Otherwise, people might think I’m not a virtuous wife, unlike..." Mo Xingyao declared. But as she reached the end of her sentence, she glanced at Dream Butterfly, who stood to Wei Chen’s left a few steps behind him like the picture of a proper, virtuous wife.
"You know I don’t care about that, right? From my perspective, you already do far better than a lot of people I knew back in my homeland," Wei Chen said, thinking about those wives on social media and streaming platforms who proudly stayed home and didn’t help with anything, especially household chores.
"Ugh... I know you don’t care, but that doesn’t mean other people don’t," Mo Xingyao complained.
Dream Butterfly chuckled at her good sister’s antics.
"Then, Sister Yaoyao, you should quickly find an auspicious day for your wedding! I’ll gladly help shoulder your burden," she said with a smile as she stepped closer and hugged Mo Xingyao from behind.
"Ahem... ladies, our guests are coming," Wei Chen said, clearing his throat to warn his wives.