Chapter 368 - Rediscover (1/2)
Translator: StarReader
Editor: Elitecoder
Zhuo Fan was listening to Yun Xuanji’s every word.
“People’s fates are ingrained in the world. Although choices are innumerable, anything hardly throws the world out of balance. My belief was firm in this truth and with my ancestor’s eyes, I was able to point out a safer path for the people. But eight years ago, something happened that collapsed my faith.”
Zhuo Fan curled an eyebrow. Seeing Yun Xuanji gasping, he muttered, “High Priest, restrain your grief. Who hasn’t been disappointed in the world?”
“Ha-ha-ha, you think I fell in despair because everything I knew had been turned upside down?” Yun Xuanji sighed, “Perhaps, but I was more surprised than anything. I used to think every life is bound to the world’s laws. The more I saw, the duller the world became. That is why the Yun clan has always lived in tranquility and never engaged in power play. But that moment opened my eyes, that not everything was set in stone. Heaven and earth are keeping us prisoners while still presenting us with a way out. All that is left is for us to find it…”
Clueless to high heavens, Zhuo Fan scratched his nose, cursing the old man, [What the hell had the old coot been smoking?]
Yun Xuanji laughed in reply to his thoughts, “Steward Zhuo doesn’t look too keen to delve into the mysteries of fate. Then I shall speak plainly. Eight years ago, you killed You Guiqi in Blue Expanse City. Your act defied fate. His destiny was fraught with dangers but it was not meant to be cut so short.”
Zhuo Fan’s heart seized. Eight years ago was his first turning point in Tianyu, the one that made him (in)famous. All the fate defying that came after this event went way over his head.
[You mean to tell me fate includes killing? What am I supposed to do? Wait for the auspicious day when I want to kill someone since it wasn’t in the stars for him to die earlier?]
That only meant this Parish ought to change jobs, scrying for an assassin’s target’s due date. Or no matter what the killer tries before the due time, all attempts would be for naught.
Yun Xuanji knew his thoughts before they had even formed, “Each man’s fate is linked with the world, just like the starry sky. And every one of them touched one another through unseen rules and intricate interactions. Since everyone has their own will, they all take different walks in life. But the path to death never even existed for You Guiqi at that point in time. It only appeared twenty years later, in a time of great national unrest.
“The news of his death shocked me to the core. I turned to the sky at once and found a dead person still alive. Along with him, the strings of fate were now entangled and he had escaped the ties that bind. Every single action of his changed the fates of everyone he met. The strong become weak, and the weak turn strong. Like a Demon Archon incarnate, he literally flips the world upside down!”
“Uh, High Priest, you don’t mean me when you mention Demon Archon, right?” Zhuo Fan pointed at his nose, blinking his big puppy eyes.
Yun Xuanji smiled, “What do you think? Ha-ha-ha, you know better than anyone. Just how many people’s fate has taken a sudden and unconceivable turn on your path?
“Luo clan, a washed-up third-rate clan is experiencing a complete rebirth, as the head of the Eight Noble Houses. If not because of you killing You Guiqi, Blue Expanse City’s Xue clan would’ve never served under Sword Marquise Abode; their third miss’ life would’ve run its sordid course. Drifting Flowers Edifices was destined to be Regent Estate’s first victim in their house unification plan, greatly bolstering their power, all leading up to a huge civil war. All it took was one particular man, you, and Drifting Flowers Edifices made a comeback from the brink of death, Regent Estate’s plans were thwarted, and on and on it goes. Need I say more?”
“Uhm, all of this sounds like fate’s plan to me. Maybe I’m just Regent Estate’s nemesis, the one to turn all of it around!” Zhuo Fan stuck out his nose as he spoke with sophistry.
Yun Xuanji nodded with a smile, “Perhaps, but my eyes still fail to see any trace of fate around you. As if you are walking between two worlds, having long since shed the shackles of destiny.”
Heart tense, Zhuo Fan may speak tough but he was already starting to believe it on the mushy inside.
Although he was allergic to this bullshit called fate, this old coot was right about one thing. He truly was walking between worlds, that of the living and the dead.
An Ethereal Stage losing his body could live on by possessing others with his soul. But that was no true rebirth, since he didn’t die to begin with.
While Demonic Emperor Zhuo Yifan had his soul pulverized, annihilated. Luo clan’s servant, Zhuo Fan, of meager cultivation, was also struck down.
Yet through the mysteries of the Nine Serenities Secret Records, life was born anew from these two strangers housing one body, a life walking the thin line between the living and the dead yet above the laws of this world.
Separated, they were dead, but together they were at least half-alive!
“Steward Zhuo, I don’t know how you did it, but please believe me. Your very existence changes everyone’s fate as they know it.”
Yun Xuanji paused for effect, then continued in a heavier tone, “I intended to keep this matter hidden, but in exchange for your trust, I will tell you a secret. The one you killed, Huangpu Qingtian, had all the qualities and fate to be a ruler. He had a high chance of becoming the new emperor.”
“What?!”
Zhuo Fan could hardly believe his ears.
He was always of the belief that Huangpu Qingtian’s rants about providence this, providence that, were just that, rants – and a heavy dose of narcissistic tendencies. But now, even the High Priest vouched for him, making it all the more crazy.