Chapter 900: The Power of Destiny

"You control the Grand Cauldron?" Naraku's avatar probed. "No, that's impossible!"

He Lingchuan mused, "Why impossible?"

It was quite entertaining to see a surprised expression on "his own" face.

The Grand Cauldron was a divine artifact with a strong personality; He Lingchuan knew this well. Not only could he not control it, but the Grand Cauldron usually wouldn't even deign to acknowledge him.

So Naraku's avatar wasn't wrong on that point; He Lingchuan wasn't the Grand Cauldron's master and couldn't control the divine artifact. At most, his relationship with the "broken pot" was one of cooperation.

The question was, why was Naraku's avatar so certain he couldn't control it? This true god must know more inside information.

Just as Naraku's avatar was about to speak, the dark red silk net suddenly tightened, making him scream. He Lingchuan saw with his own eyes some pale green, shard-like objects fall from his body and sink into the darkness below.

"Aren't you just trying to trap me and get rid of me? Now you've got what you wanted!" Naraku's avatar seemed to shrink slightly, his face contorted in pain. "I have only one request: don't let the Grand Cauldron erase my consciousness! I know as many secrets as my true form; keeping me here will only benefit you!"

It understood clearly that He Lingchuan had meticulously planned to lure it down, not to destroy it, but to trap it!

A Celestial God could only send one avatar to the mortal realm.

Now that Naraku's avatar was trapped within the Grand Cauldron, Naraku's true form, no matter how furious, could not send down a second one.

Furthermore, a body marked by a Celestial God could not be lent out.

Therefore, even if the divine mark remained in He Lingchuan's mind, no other Celestial God could descend upon him again.

In this regard, he was safer than others.

He Lingchuan instinctively pressed the back of his head. "Can you remove this divine mark for me?"

"Of course!" Naraku's avatar immediately replied, "As long as you agree to my terms..."

Before he could finish, the red silk net tightened again, making Naraku scream in pain once more, with even more fragments falling from his body.

He Lingchuan sighed in disappointment. "It's come to this, and you still want to deceive me?"

He stamped his foot, feigning to leave. "It's all yours."

This "yours," of course, referred to the Grand Cauldron.

"No, wait!" Naraku's avatar cried out. "Tell it to stop! I didn't lie, the divine mark can indeed be removed."

"First, tell me how to remove it."

"Either my true form acts personally, or—" Naraku's avatar looked at him. "If your own spirit is strong enough, you can erase it yourself."

"You call that 'can be removed'?" He Lingchuan scoffed. "Can my spirit compare to a Celestial God's?"

He was well aware of his own limitations. In the current world, no human spirit was powerful enough to rival gods or demons.

"It's not impossible. Someone achieved it not long ago, otherwise I wouldn't have brought it up!"

"Who?"

"The owner of the armor you borrowed."

He Lingchuan was startled. "You mean General Hong? How do you know?"

"After the Battle of the Tombs, I repeatedly recalled it and realized that the armor indeed retained the power of Mitian, but without Mitian's aura or divinity!"

He Lingchuan frowned. "What do you mean?"

"A Celestial God once descended and participated in the final battle of Dragon City. I asked two of them, and their perceptions aligned with mine: when fighting General Hong, there was no trace of Mitian's aura on her." Naraku stated definitively, "This means she had already broken the divine mark in her sea of consciousness and was no longer Mitian's vessel!"

He Lingchuan's heart trembled. "How did she do it?"

This news would take him a long time to process.

"As I said, as long as your spirit is strong enough to rival the host, you can naturally erase the divine mark." Naraku's avatar continued, "Can you bind a true dragon with a straw rope?"

"The strong are not bound; that is the truth in any world." It then tried to persuade him, "I can guide you, teach you how to nourish and strengthen your spirit, and remove the mark yourself."

A captive who wanted to survive had to prove their usefulness.

Letting this guy be his mentor? Was he tired of living? He Lingchuan changed the subject. "How do you know that the Grand Cauldron isn't controlled by anyone?"

Naraku's avatar countered, "Do you know the origin of the Grand Cauldron?"

"Origin?" He Lingchuan vaguely pointed upwards. "Part of the Skyweb Star?"

He indeed had limited knowledge of the Grand Cauldron, knowing only that it was made from fragments of the Skyweb Star.

"The Skyweb Star was a divine object crafted from the nascent origin of a world, full name 'Ten Directions Skyweb,' and it had long transcended the realm of mere divine artifacts. After it was forged, the ancient gods discovered it was completely uncontrollable and acted according to its own will," Naraku's avatar explained rapidly. "Later, when the black dragon struck the Skyweb Star, your mortal immortals refined the scattered fragments into the Grand Cauldron and also discovered this problem. Otherwise, why would True Master Sanshui have forcibly abducted Baogai?"

"Moreover, the Chaos that originally existed within the Skyweb Star has now appeared inside the Grand Cauldron. The situation has become even more serious than I anticipated."

Chaos? He Lingchuan's mind stirred. What was that?

Naraku's avatar caught his confusion. "Oh, you used the power of Chaos against me, yet you don't even know its name?"

So, that colossal red shadow was called Chaos?

Naraku's avatar was also puzzled. "Then how do you communicate with it?"

Neither the Skyweb Star nor the Grand Cauldron had ever responded to anyone. It was impressive that this boy could actually get the Grand Cauldron to help.

He Lingchuan shrugged. "I can't really say."

The Grand Cauldron didn't communicate with him, but it could cooperate with him to a limited extent. Quite strange, wasn't it?

"What do you mean 'the situation is serious'?"

"Chaos only exists in the primordial, in the very origin," Naraku's avatar licked its lips. "Once it explodes, the destruction it causes will likely be immeasurable."

"..." Was he carrying a super-sized bomb? He Lingchuan was silent for two seconds. "How much longer until it explodes?"

"I don't know," Naraku's avatar said frankly. "Chaos only exists in legends; this is my first time seeing it in person."

"So you've only heard that it might explode?"

Naraku's avatar didn't deny it. How could any Celestial God have personally witnessed such a thing?

He Lingchuan, always pragmatic, decided to set aside matters with no definite conclusion. "I invited you into the cauldron because I wanted the God of Destiny to take a good look at my fate. What's going to happen to my life in the future?"

Naraku's avatar fell silent. He Lingchuan wasn't sure if it was calculating or simply thinking.

Finally, it said, "After the Battle of the Tombs, your lifeline seems to have separated from mine."

"What do you mean 'seems to have'?" He Lingchuan asked, curious. "Can't you divine accurately anymore?"

"After I was captured..." Naraku's avatar gritted its teeth, whether from pain or anger, "that bit of divine power was extracted!"

"Divine power?" It took He Lingchuan a moment to react. "Are you saying, power of destiny?!"

"...Yes."

He Lingchuan pressed a hand to his forehead. Right, considering how greedy the Grand Cauldron was, it must have long coveted such a rare ability.

But this was just a Celestial God's avatar; what good was it for the Grand Cauldron to extract that bit of divine power from it? The true power should reside with Naraku's true form, shouldn't it?

Naraku's avatar's eyes flickered, and it immediately said, "Before I descended into the Dragon City Secret Realm, your fate was already being interfered with by the Grand Cauldron, making it impossible to discern clearly."

"Its power is that strong?" He Lingchuan was very curious. "From the time I traveled to Iris City until I entered the Dragon City Secret Realm, how did you calculate my fate during that period? How could you have been so incredibly wrong?"

If Naraku had foreseen He Lingchuan's victory, why would it have sent an avatar only to be trapped in the Grand Cauldron?

Naraku was silent.

The red silk net tightened again, making it tremble as if struck by lightning, crying out in pain, "Stop it, stop it!"

"Answer the questions properly," He Lingchuan said with a smile. "Otherwise, you'll suffer."

"At the time, your destiny always appeared no different from before," Naraku's avatar said helplessly. "That was the biggest problem! I couldn't comprehend it then, but now I know: the Grand Cauldron was masking the truth for you."

It had calculated everything, but it never foresaw that He Lingchuan could become linked with the Grand Cauldron, thereby altering its own fate.

He Lingchuan seized on the key point. "The Grand Cauldron can modify my fate?"

"Not directly modifying it..." Naraku's avatar spoke in a tone as if addressing a slow student. "If destiny is compared to a spiderweb, the Grand Cauldron concealed many crucial nodes and turning points for you, making your future appear as smooth and simple as before. But this was merely an illusion..."

"A divine object of the Grand Cauldron's caliber, regardless of who it binds with, will shatter that person's fate, making it completely different from its original course. And this is unpredictable." It paused. "From that perspective, it did alter your destiny, do you understand?"

It was a bit profound. He Lingchuan chuckled, "When you and I fought in the Dragon City Secret Realm, didn't you say that no holder of the Grand Cauldron ever came to a good end? Was that also the power of destiny? Why is it unpredictable now?"

"All roads lead to the same destination," Naraku's avatar said with a sigh. "Just as a world begins its journey toward destruction from the moment of its birth. Countless causes and effects are involved, which I cannot calculate, but I know that the day of destruction will inevitably come, sooner or later. This is called 'the prevailing trend.'"

"As for your luck, you are an out-and-out lucky general, usually with very good fortune. But a person's luck has its ups and downs and must always return to the mean. When that time comes, you will have to endure destiny's backlash!"

Naraku quickly continued, "Only with my guidance can you safely pass through this great tribulation. Otherwise, however lucky you were before, you will be just as miserable then."

The God of Destiny offering to teach him how to escape ill fortune—who wouldn't be tempted?

However, He Lingchuan recalled High Immortal Hongli and the Lu family's "Children of Fortune."

High Immortal Hongli had told his descendants that a Child of Fortune would be born every few generations in the clan, protecting the family.

But conversely, who was to say that this one person didn't draw away all the clan's fortune, leaving subsequent generations with no luck to borrow and forced to endure the negative consequences of backlash?