Chapter 427: The Wheel of Fate is Activated

"Is that so?" He Lingchuan picked up the Lifesbane Blade, turned it over, and held it before him. "Take a closer look."

Fu Shanyue didn't stand on ceremony. He drew the blade from its sheath and examined it thoroughly, his eyes wide. "The ring pommel is a dragon's head, very similar. Hmm, but the handle length is different, and the blade's curve is also different." Clearly not the same blade. "Where did you get this knife?"

He Lingchuan shrugged. "It's a family heirloom. You'd have to ask my ancestors about that."

How could such a coincidence happen, that the precious blade given by King Yuan just happened to be in the hands of this unknown young man? Dragon heads were a common decoration for swords and knives; he had seen them before. Besides, there were swords and knives with lion heads and Pixiu heads all over the ground—were they all forged in the same furnace? Fu Shanyue secretly laughed at his own over-suspicion.

He Lingchuan then asked him, "What is the elixir of immortality?"

Fu Shanyue scratched his head. "Its name tells you what it's for, doesn't it? It only comes from Lingxu City; I haven't paid attention to anything else."

"You're about to inherit the throne, and you don't know?" He Lingchuan hadn't missed a single word just now. "It seems that newly appointed demon kings all have to take it, but then they'd be controlled by the gods. So, will you drink it or not?"

Fu Shanyue also seemed to be in a predicament.

"Oh well! We'll see when the time comes." Finally, he waved his hand. "Let's go back; it's almost dawn."

In at most half an hour, the eastern sky would lighten.

He Lingchuan had no objection.

They had been busy all night, but with their cultivation and the strange sights to behold, they didn't feel tired.

Back at the camp, dawn had indeed broken.

The team packed their bags and set off. He Lingchuan and Fu Shanyue returned to their respective groups, both tacitly agreeing not to mention what they had seen last night.

Steward Shi asked He Lingchuan, "Were there any strange phenomena in that city last night?"

"It was very quiet, and nothing strange happened," He Lingchuan shook his head. "We just wandered in. The people in the phantom city snored louder than all of you."

"That's good, that's good." The journey had been thrilling, with more unexpected incidents than in several years combined. Steward Shi sincerely hoped that the path ahead would be smooth and uneventful.

The caravan continued on its way.

The road became increasingly flat, and He Lingchuan, riding on the back of a goat, was unusually silent.

Steward Shi looked at him several times, noticing that he seemed to be gazing into the distance, lost in thought.

He Lingchuan's mind was filled with the phantom scene from Thousand Star City last night.

Clearly, the Grand Flask, the Divine Bone Necklace, and the Lifesbane Blade had all originally belonged to King Yuan. King Yuan even believed that the main reason for Beijia's fierce attack on Yuan Kingdom was the Grand Flask.

Unfortunately, the black box only opened a small slit, and it was facing Shao Jian, so neither he nor Fu Shanyue could clearly see what the Grand Flask looked like.

However, King Yuan had desperately wanted to destroy it but couldn't, so he reluctantly kept it, which ultimately led to disaster.

In other words, "not having it" was crucial.

As someone from later times, He Lingchuan naturally knew that after the Grand Flask was handed over to Zhong Shengguang, it wasn't destroyed but served another purpose. To this day, this treasure was still in the Coiling Dragon Wasteland, untouched by anyone.

Could it be that Zhong Shengguang genuinely couldn't destroy it, or did he have other plans for it once he acquired it?

But this contradicted He Lingchuan's understanding.

The information he had received from Sun Fuping, the former Imperial Advisor of Yuan Kingdom, was that Zhong Shengguang only performed the ritual to appease the gods when the Coiling Dragon Wasteland had become an enclave again and millions of residents were desperate. Then, the God of All Heavens bestowed upon him the Grand Flask and sent a clone to descend into the human world.

But as he saw last night, the Grand Flask was already in the human world; it had been passed from King Yuan to Zhong Shengguang, who later took it to Coiling Dragon City.

Which statement was true?

Combining this with King Yuan's previous words, a flash of insight struck He Lingchuan. He suddenly recalled the sneaky Ghostlings of Jindu in Coiling Dragon City, and Wen Daolun's abandonment of his own son to die.

He even remembered the tribe in the Demon Nest Swamp that had been completely devoured by the Divine Child.

The hidden threads connecting these events gradually became clear lines.

Anyone else would merely sigh in resignation, as the people and events involved had long since vanished, making them impossible to verify.

But He Lingchuan was different.

He had someone to ask.

He could go back and trace this unknown secret.

However, he now faced another suffocating truth:

King Yuan possessed the set of three: the Grand Flask, the Divine Bone, and the precious blade. In the end, King Yuan was defeated, and Thousand Star City fell.

Zhong Shengguang also possessed the set of three: the Grand Flask, the Divine Bone, and the precious blade. In the end, Zhong Shengguang committed suicide, and Coiling Dragon City fell.

It was practically a curse, with a 100% fatality rate.

Now, this set of three was in He Lingchuan's hands.

This curse was clinging to him. How long until it took effect?

After seeing King Yuan's fate tonight, his heart felt utterly cold.

His own destiny seemed to be held by an invisible hand, being dragged towards an unknown abyss, or perhaps a predetermined fate, with these three items as the leverage.

Why did King Yuan and Zhong Shengguang fail?

Without a doubt, they had both faced an unconquerable enemy—

Beijia.

Although he hadn't personally witnessed the final period of Coiling Dragon City's history, the increasingly frequent and undisguised interference from the Demon Kingdom suggested that Beijia was inextricably linked to Coiling Dragon City's ultimate demise.

Even King Yuan and Zhong Shengguang failed. If possessing this set of three meant he would also face the same enemy in the future, what should he do?

What would be his fate?

Would he meet a tragic end like King Yuan and Zhong Shengguang, or could he find another path and forge his own way?

He Lingchuan had another concern:

The Grand Flask's existence was extremely secretive. How did the Demon Kingdom discover that it had fallen into King Yuan's hands, and then into Zhong Shengguang's?

What method did it use to track the whereabouts of this divine artifact?

Most importantly—

According to King Yuan, Beijia could always find the Grand Flask's wielder, no matter where they were.

The flask wasn't on him, but given the current situation, he could grudgingly be considered the flask's—

...wielder?

He Lingchuan subconsciously pressed the necklace on his chest.

He didn't want to die prematurely, but this Divine Bone Necklace... he couldn't get rid of it!

Then, connecting this to his strange destiny, the two inauspicious divination sticks he consecutively drew at the Water Spirit Temple in Immortal Lake, and the secret he had just learned tonight—all these things seemed to be intertwined.

What should he do next?

He couldn't just continue drifting along and traveling anymore. Who knew when the gods and the Demon Kingdom would turn their attention to him?

Crises always arrived when one least expected them.

To know yourself and your enemy, one must first know oneself.

He had to find a way to uncover the secret of the Grand Flask.

What exactly was this thing, what was its purpose, and why were even the gods desperately searching for it?

The Demon Kingdom was favored by the gods, and was said to be the closest to them. Perhaps he could find some clues here.

In any case, he was already here. If he was destined not to escape, it was better to know sooner than later, and better to be prepared early than late.

Of course, his connection to the Grand Flask was a secret—a secret that absolutely no one else could know. He had to keep it tightly guarded!

***

Two hours earlier.

Lingxu City, Mount Xu Celestial Palace.

At the highest point of the Celestial Palace, in the Star-Plucking Tower, sixteen large oil lamps burned brightly all night, their light always soft and clear.

But people needed rest.

All was silent, not even a sputter from the lamps. Two lamp-keepers stood by the oil lamps, rubbing their eyes repeatedly.

They both possessed cultivation, but during their watch, they were not allowed to close their eyes and meditate. They could only yawn continuously or use nasal mint oil to stay alert.

This night seemed exceptionally long. One lamp-keeper, unable to resist the pull of sleep, leaned against a pillar and dozed off.

Watching someone else sleep always made one's own sleepiness worse. The other lamp-keeper yawned until tears streamed from his eyes. As he was imagining how satisfying it would be to slap his colleague awake, he suddenly heard a rustling sound.

To the lamp-keepers of the Star-Plucking Tower, this sound was very familiar, but why would it occur in the middle of the night?

He opened his eyes to see the flames of the oil lamps surge, and a brilliant red light emanate from the divine altar.

On the white jade platform in the center of the main hall, the Celestial Scroll glowed, turning its pages without a breeze.

It was not made of silk or parchment, but formed from a square of white jade that only became soft as paper at specific times.

The lamp-keeper hurried over to look. On the previously blank Celestial Scroll, red characters slowly appeared:

"The Ten Directions resonate, the Celestial Net stirs."

The lamp-keeper slapped his companion awake. "A divine oracle! Go report it immediately!"

His companion woke with a start. Without time to curse him, he glanced at the Celestial Scroll and rushed out of the Star-Plucking Tower.

Less than an hour later, the area below the Star-Plucking Tower was heavily guarded.

The two lamp-keepers had already been sent far away; only one person stood inside the great hall.

All the oil lamps suddenly dimmed, their three-inch-long pure white flames shrinking into tiny, flickering specks of light, on the verge of going out.

Fortunately, this phenomenon lasted less than two breaths before returning to normal.

A massive silhouette appeared on the pure white curtain, approaching the depths of the hall and stopping before the divine altar.

The person in the hall knelt before it, proclaiming, "Emperor!"

The tall, elongated figure rose, moving past the white jade platform, and became level with the divine altar.

A majestic voice rang out:

"Why has the Celestial Net stirred?"

"Reporting, Emperor, the Celestial Net star brightened significantly two hours ago and remained so for over half an hour. It's just entered the eighth month; by rights, it shouldn't be happening now. The last time the Celestial Net star flashed unusually..."

"I remember, you needn't remind me." The Emperor asked, "I need confirmation: the Sacred Venerable believes this disturbance sensed by the Celestial Net originated from—"

Three large characters rapidly appeared on the Celestial Scroll:

"Grand Flask."

The moment these characters appeared, a deep ominousness permeated their blood-red hue.

The hall fell silent for a moment, the atmosphere heavy.

"Hasn't this item always been in the northwest of Yuan Kingdom? You told me it had merged with the entire Coiling Dragon Desert and couldn't be retrieved at all."

If it could be retrieved, Beijia Kingdom would have taken it long ago. Why wait until now?

The Celestial Scroll did not respond.

Clearly, even the gods couldn't answer this question, which was why the divine oracle was sent down.

Commander Yun said, "We've detected this divine artifact appearing in our country, located north of Twilight and east of Apricot Mountain."

Only then did the Demon Emperor exclaim in surprise, "In our country? Are you sure the reading isn't mistaken?"

"It has never been mistaken before."

The Demon Emperor's voice held a faint sarcasm. "It seems someone *can* retrieve it after all."

No one could respond to this pointed remark.

The Demon Emperor asked again, "'North of Twilight, east of Apricot Mountain' encompasses the southern part of Chiyan Kingdom and the Twilight Plains. Can't the Sacred Venerable be more precise?"