Each of those countless Fate lines screamed with the weight of a universe. Each line ended in the same sacrifice....
Wu Tianji's soul shook. He physically gulped, his face turning pale as paper. He looked at the child in pure horror.
He murmured to himself, his voice trembling so only he could hear, "I have lived for eighty thousand years... I have read the fate of Divine beings... I have never... never seen a fate this heavy, this complicated, this... impossible. Just who... what are you, young master?"
He couldn't read it. It was like trying to hold the sea in a teacup. Whenever he tried to read one , another one overlaps . He sighed, forcibly cutting the connection, a trickle of sweat running down his temple. He dropped the idea of seeing the future entirely.
'Fine ! If the future is blocked, then the past.' he thought in his head.
He turned his technique backward.
And the world went BLACK.
He saw it easily this time, as if he was supposed to see this alert of the past. It is not like a memory but a truth carved into the river of time.
A vast, dead battlefield stretching across shattered planes. The sky was cracked and bleeding dark red. Below, plane after plane burned in a terrifying, silent WHITE flame that doesn't radiating heat, only the power of annihilation.
And standing alone on the very peak of a mountain made entirely of corpses such as countless Nether races, bats with human faces, giant corpse-snakes, wailing wraiths, shadow beings, plague rats, and things who's names are unknown stood a man.
He wore a simple, long white robe that fluttered in the void wind, unstained by the blood below. His long black hair whipped around him wildly.
In his right hand was a black sword that seemed to drink the light.
And on his face was a silver mask, expressionless and cold.
From the eye sockets of that mask, two thick trails of red tears, like fresh blood, were slowly flowing down, evaporating into mist before they could hit the ground.
The sheer aura of loneliness, rage, and sorrow was so thick Wu Tianji felt his soul was being crushed.
Then, the most terrifying thing happened.
The man in the vision slowly turned his head. The empty silver mask looked straight through time and space... and looked directly at WU TIANJI.
Their eyes met.
BOOM!
Wu Tianji was violently ripped back to reality. His eyes snapped open in the busy market street.
" PUH !"
A mouthful of hot, red blood sprayed out of his mouth, staining his beard. His stool cracked beneath him. The old fortune-teller beside him screamed....and hurriedly tried to help him.
The crowd of women shrieked and backed away.
Huai still in his ten-year-old form was immediately shocked. He didn't understand why the fate teller was suddenly injured just from looking at him.
Without thinking, his small hand dove into his space pouch. He pulled out a pill that radiated a dense, life-filled green light, a divine grade Nirvana Heart Pill that even divine sovereigns would kill for, and shoved it into Tianji's mouth with his small hands.
" eat this ! "
Tianji swallowed instinctively. Warmth exploded in his chest, instantly healing the tear in his soul. He took a shuddering breath and got back to normal, his color returning.
He looked at the small, worried face of the child in front of him and nodded gratefully, his heart pounding like a drum.
That's when Huai, his light brown eyes full of serious concern, asked, "What did you see?"
In that instant, Wu Tianji knew. The silver mask, the bloody tears, the white robe, the black sword, the mountain of corpses. It was him. The Calamity !
The person who shook the divine realm thousands of years ago . The person standing right in front of him, pretending to be a child.
His lips parted to speak the truth...
But before a single sound could come out, a voice, colder than the void and older than time itself, echoed directly inside his soul, coming from an unknown time and space.
"Don't tell him anything yet. It's not time."
It wasn't a suggestion. It was a Law. As if it is a command from the Heavenly Dao itself, or something even higher.
Wu Tianji froze. He physically stopped, gulped down the words "You are the Calamity," and forced his face into a bitter, respectful smile.
He changed his words mid-breath. "Your... Your Highness ! How could you expect a junior like me, with my shallow cultivation, to possibly see through your past and your future... Your fate is protected by the heavens themselves!"
Little Huai stared at him for a long, long second. Those ancient light-brown eyes seemed to see the lie, but he just gave a small, disappointed nod. He didn't press further.
He took a step back from the stall. A soft white light enveloped his small body.
In the next instant, the ten-year-old boy was gone.
In his place stood His Highness Huai in his true form — tall, devastatingly handsome, his long black hair flowing, wearing his iconic white robe with silver patterns. Taichu Baihua, now perfectly sized, hung calmly at his waist. His aura, though restrained, made the entire street feel heavy.
Everyone gasped immediately, a collective intake of breath that silenced the whole market. Now, everyone on this planet knew this face. This was the person who had saved everyone just a few days ago from those Nether shadow creatures, not with a sword, but with a single, simple music note that purified the sky.
They immediately fell to their knees, foreheads to the dusty ground. "WE GREET YOUR HIGHNESS!!"
Huai didn't even glance at them. He just waved his hands and made everyone stand up again. His eyes were fixed only on Wu Tianji. He just gave a slight nod of acknowledgment and asked, his voice calm but carrying an edge of worry, "Do you know where Wuhe is?"
Tianji, still shaking from what he had seen and heard, quickly bowed his head low from his stool. "His Highness Wuhe came to me to ask about something from the past. We separated after that. I... I don't know where he is now, Your Highness!"
Huai's brow furrowed just a fraction. He nodded his head once, turned, and disappeared from the spot again, leaving only a faint ripple in the air and a street full of trembling mortals.
After disappearing from the street, he didn't teleport to another city. He went up.
Huai appeared high above the Human Plane, standing silently in the cold void. Below him, the beautiful blue and green world turned slowly, clouds drifting like silk over continents. From here, he could see the faint barriers to the other nearby lower planes flickering like soap bubbles.
But he wasn't admiring the view. He was searching for his Boyfriend.
He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again.
His Divine Eyes opened.
BOOM !
Far above the sky, hidden in the void where no mortal could ever look, two gigantic, illusory eyes appeared. They were his light brown, ancient, and indifferent eyes.
They were as big as moons, slowly turning, and their gaze swept across the entire Human Plane, piercing through mountains, oceans, secret realms, and underground palaces in an instant.
He looked towards every corner of the other planes connected to this one. He searched for that familiar, warm, annoying aura that always followed him around.
Nothing...
Huai frowned, the space around him cracking slightly from his mood. "Wuhe disappeared? How is this possible..."
Yes, just now when he opened his Divine Eyes, he felt it clearly. Wuhe's aura had completely disappeared from this plane. It is not hidden or suppressed. Gone ! As if he had been erased from existence.
A cold feeling he hadn't felt in many years rose in his chest. Panic swept through his whole body...
He immediately called out in his mind, his voice sharp. "System! Find Wuhe for me. Now."
[Ding!]
[Host, Wuhe is still in this plane. He will return after he has fused with his memories.]
Huai's frown got even deeper, his eyebrows knitting together. "Are there any places in this small plane where I can't see through?"
The system answered again, its mechanical voice calm.
[Ding!]
[Yes, Host. This small plane is not as simple as you thought. There are places you still cannot see through. Their levels are higher than you.]
Huai was genuinely surprised. For the first time in a very long time, his calm face showed shock. "Higher than me? Then even a Divine Sovereign can't see through those places..."
He stood in the void for a long time, thinking hard, his white robe fluttering in the void wind. The two giant eyes in the sky slowly faded away. He finally let out a long, quiet sigh, a sound full of helplessness.
There was nothing he could do but wait.
He turned and descended to the Yuxin star again...
He came back to the Jade Serenity Palace, to the quiet courtyard where he had been staying. The garden was full of blooming spirit flowers, peaceful and silent.
He just thumped down heavily onto a simple wooden chair in his garden, like a tired mortal.
With a wave of his hand, he boiled some water in a clay kettle. The familiar ritual. He took out tea leaves, the ones Wuhe liked, and started to make tea.
Steam rose into the cold air.
And a single thought kept circulating in his head, over and over again, louder than any Dao mantra.
"Wuhe... where are you?"
***
On the other side, after getting the information from Wu Tianji, Wuhe took out the reward he had gained from the system and saw the location of his sealed memory... and immediately frowned.
He knows this place too well. He immediately disappeared from his spot and appeared above the Blue Star. He looked down at the beautiful, big planet... he came back here after many days.
Then he disappeared again and appeared above the mountain where he met Huai. Yes, this is the Western Region, the Forbidden Forest. Wuhe came to the location of his sealed memory... it was the exact place where he met Huai.
But today this place is different, as if something has changed here... He came before the tree where Huai was hiding during that time. And suddenly he froze. He saw a person standing on the mountaintop just a few meters away from him... he could only see the broad back of that person.
The person was wearing a black and golden robe, his hands were clasped together behind his back. As if an emperor was watching over his empire silently... but what made him shudder was the sword at his waist....
He stuttered, "Shui Zhong!"