Chapter 887: Destiny

Li Huowang’s mind replayed the long-haired emperor’s recent words: “The destiny was seized from a shaman.”

According to him, this world exists because of that destiny.

However, he didn’t know what kind of shaman it was, which left Li Huowang feeling confused.

This time, Li Huowang didn’t simply disregard it. He knew that while some parts of these legends might be false, they required careful consideration. It was likely similar to other myths and legends: distorted, yet containing a kernel of truth.

After pondering for a while, Li Huowang thought the destiny was most likely related to “time.” After all, without it, this place would probably be as unstable as Great Qi, on the verge of collapse at any moment.

Li Huowang, with half his body embedded in the wall, turned to Xuanpin beside him and asked, “They all say there are no 司命 (controllers of fate/time), but don’t you think, from this statement, that if that shaman was the 司命 who controlled time, everything would make sense?”

Xuanpin paused, then nodded silently.

“Then, senior, do you know what the shaman who stole the destiny looked like? Was it a golden dragon?” Li Huowang, noticing the dragon scales on their bodies, pressed them with his most pressing question. If that golden dragon was indeed the dragon pulse of Tianchen, then it seemed different from the dragon pulses of Great Liang and Great Qi, which apparently didn’t require a succession of emperors as vessels.

“We don’t know about a golden dragon.”

“We are the true Dragon Emperors; we are the dragons!”

“Ling Yang is a dragon, but not a golden one.”

Listening to their answers, the more Li Huowang thought about it, the more he considered this possibility. If that were true, then what happened in ancient times gradually became clear. Perhaps people in the past weren’t like they are now. To avoid enslavement, they had the “Heavenly Dao” stolen from the 司命 who controlled time. Because no single person could bear the power of the Heavenly Dao, it was divided into sixteen dragon pulses, which also corresponded to Great Liang’s initial “sixteen sealed hours.”

However, upon reflection, he felt something was off. There wasn’t just one layer of history related to Great Liang; there were a total of five layers of history, each moving in a different direction. And in all five layers of history, there was time and “the shaman’s destiny.” If his theory was correct, it meant that people across these five layers of history had completely divided the Heavenly Dao from the 司命 who controlled time. If each layer of history originally had sixteen dragon pulses, and there were exactly five layers of history, that would make precisely eighty dragon pulses. This reminded him of the Unborn Mother’s past experience; her Heavenly Dao had also been divided by the people of Tianchen. He had previously found the people of Tianchen strange, but now it seemed such events had occurred in the distant past. It was just that, as history progressed, people had gradually grown accustomed to all the strange occurrences around them.

“Father, what if that golden dragon is a dragon pulse? When you go there this time, it would be best to estimate how many ‘hours’ a day has in Tianchen.”

Li Huowang nodded. He understood what his daughter meant: the number of “hours” in a day in Tianchen would indicate how many dragon pulses Tianchen possessed. If the people of Tianchen could easily access the Heavenly Dao, it was possible they could do the same to the dragon pulses to fight him. If this were true, the combined strength of more than ten dragon pulses might be insurmountable, even for him. What’s worse, the dragon energy from so many dragon pulses could easily grant a group of masters immunity to all Heavenly Dao divine abilities. If they were truly willing to invest such a huge cost just for him, even summoning the avatar of Dou Mu might be useless.

Li Huowang pondered for a long time, then decided to take things one step at a time. Merely thinking about these possibilities now was pointless. Since the other party hadn’t used such tactics before, there must be some restriction preventing them from doing so.

“Thank you for enlightening me, seniors.” Li Huowang bowed to them, then, pulling Li Sui, stepped onto the coffin wall and began to ascend.

“Father, is this useful? I don’t think anything they said helps our current situation.” Li Huowang, having just exited the imperial temple, heard Li Sui’s words and nodded. “Although it’s a bit confusing, it’s still somewhat useful. Even if it’s not immediately helpful, it might be useful later, so we won’t be completely clueless when something happens.”

Li Huowang slowly raised his head, gazing at the starry sky before him. After a moment of thought, he said with emotion, “And through this conversation, I suddenly realized something.”

“What is it?”

“Haven’t you noticed? This world isn’t static. Both history and the Heavenly Dao have been altered. Everything in the past has changed. Do you know what that means?” Li Huowang raised his hands, seemingly encompassing the sky. Then, Li Huowang clenched his fists tightly, and his eyes suddenly lit up. “It means that as long as we have enough power, we can reshape everything into exactly what we want.”

Li Sui slowly looked up, joining him in gazing at the starry sky. “Father, how do you want to change this world? Don’t you think it’s fine as it is?”

“It’s not ‘not good,’ it’s just... I can’t stand some things. Do you remember Dan Yangzi?” Li Huowang used “Shrinking the Ground into an Inch” and quickly left the Great Liang imperial palace.

“Yes, I remember. You told me before, a ruthless, illiterate fool who kills without batting an eye.” Li Sui’s entire body floated up, quickly following behind him.

“When I was at Qingfeng Temple, I really hated him. To kill him, I was even willing to risk my own life to do it. But you know what? After all this, I now understand why he became so bad. It wasn’t because he was inherently evil; it was this absurd world that made him that way. If he hadn’t been so bad, he might have died long ago. He was just constantly choosing the optimal solution in the various choices of his life.”

The two walked out of the imperial palace and along the main road. When they reached a crossroads, they saw many people drawing circles and burning joss paper and paper ingots, indicating that Qingming Festival had arrived. Great Liang had suffered many disasters in recent years, leading to numerous deaths, which meant many people were burning offerings. Everyone knelt by the fires, softly speaking words they wanted to convey to their deceased family members as they burned the paper. Li Huowang’s acute hearing allowed him to hear everything clearly. Most of them were asking how their families were doing in the underworld and reminding them to send dreams if they lacked anything.

“Sui Sui, don’t you think this is wrong? In this world, the wicked can live to old age, while good people die quickly. Why is that?”

As he spoke, Li Huowang walked over to a nearby stall selling joss paper and paper ingots and bought some.