Chapter 176: Foresee the Future

Lu Yang believed that the Immortal Fairy's inability to learn foresight was largely due to the Immortal of Time not teaching her diligently.

Lu Yang learned the ancient language from the Immortal Fairy, struggling with a barrage of difficult vocabulary. After repeating them a few times, Lu Yang could pronounce the phrases quite fluently.

"By the way, to revive you, Fairy, does it work whether I chant your name in the ancient language or modern language?" Lu Yang asked, recalling he had used modern language to revive her.

"Hehe, I told you, my Dao Fruit is 'Immortality'," the Immortal Fairy chuckled, "and immortality means existing for all eternity. How could it be restricted by mere language? Ying Tian Immortal and the others don't know about this, though." She smiled slyly, pleased to share this little secret with Lu Yang.

"Don't tell anyone about this," the Immortal Fairy admonished. "I'm only telling you because you revived me and have allowed me to stay in your body for such a long time!"

"Absolutely!" Lu Yang thumped his chest in assurance.

Lu Yang then began to seriously learn foresight. He sat cross-legged, carefully contemplating this profound magical art and divine ability, renowned even in ancient legends. Lu Yang rarely sought guidance from the Immortal Fairy, fearing she might lead him astray. However, if he encountered a concept he couldn't grasp, he would still ask.

The Immortal Fairy watched as Lu Yang gradually approached the core of foresight, secretly astonished. This indicated that he was very close to mastering it. While she often claimed Lu Yang's magical talent was inferior to her own, it was simply because she was too embarrassed to admit his talent surpassed hers. She certainly hadn't been able to learn time-based magic during her Foundation Establishment stage. For a cultivator in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage to have already mastered a space-based spell like "Shrinking the Ground to an Inch" and to be on the verge of learning a time-based spell like "Foresight" was truly monstrous. "Prodigy" didn't even begin to cover it.

The Immortal Fairy quickly dismissed the thought. After all, her greatest strength wasn't magic. Given that, why would she compare her weaknesses to Lu Yang's strengths?

Lu Yang chanted solemn ancient words, his middle and index fingers pressed together, and then he shouted, "Foresight!"

"You succeeded?" the Immortal Fairy exclaimed, amazed at how quickly he had learned.

Golden runes appeared around Lu Yang, then dissipated into the void. Approximately three minutes later, the golden runes re-emerged from the void and re-entered Lu Yang's body. Lu Yang's eyes glowed like gold; he had successfully glimpsed the future!

"I saw... myself from two minutes ago?!"

Lu Yang saw his past self from two minutes prior, standing stiffly with his arms raised, foolishly waiting for the golden runes to return. A twitch appeared in his eye. Theoretically, he had learned foresight and successfully predicted events occurring one minute after casting the spell. In reality, however, he knew he had to wait three minutes for the result.

"What's the point of this?!" Lu Yang complained. He figured it was probably because he hadn't fully mastered the technique yet. "I need to practice more."

Lu Yang reflected on his previous attempt, identified potential issues, rectified the flaws, and cast the spell again. He cast the spell, waited three minutes, and then saw events that would occur a minute and a half after the spell's initial activation.

"...That's progress, I suppose," Lu Yang muttered to himself, trying to stay optimistic.

"Keep it up!" the Immortal Fairy encouraged him from the side.

"Again!"

After the Five Elements Sect departed, Lu Yang's senior brothers and sisters took turns sparring with him, continuing until dawn, after which they left him thoroughly defeated and incapacitated in the small grove on Tianmen Peak. Having passed the Immortal Fairy's trial, Lu Yang began his diligent cultivation from dawn.

As time passed, from dawn until dusk, the sun gave way to the moon. Moonlight cascaded like a tide over the Wen Dao Sect, cloaking it in a mysterious veil. Diligence pays off. Through repeated practice, continually identifying, examining, and resolving issues, the length of the future he could foresee grew steadily, rapidly approaching the three-minute mark.

Suddenly, Lu Yang felt a resonant *boom* in his mind, as if a barrier had shattered. In one swift stroke, he surpassed the three-minute mark in predicting the future. Lu Yang's eyes shone brightly, a dazzling golden hue that made them stand out like two luminous lanterns in the night.

"What did you see?" the Immortal Fairy asked excitedly.

Lu Yang's expression was peculiar. "I only saw a brief snippet," he began. "My Senior Sister was leaving Prison Peak, and I ran up to her and declared that I absolutely had to learn from Master. I said I wanted to emulate his irresponsible ways, spending all day just eating and playing, not cultivating or doing anything serious. My Senior Sister then showed a faint smile, hugged me, patted my back, and said she would take care of me from then on."

"Is that real or fake?" the Immortal Fairy exclaimed, astonished. "What kind of strange future is that?"

"It feels real!" Lu Yang admitted, completely baffled.

"Why do I feel like something's off?" The Immortal Fairy's eyes darted around. "The Immortal of Time said the future cannot be changed. Since you've seen it, it must be something that's destined to happen."

"The only way to verify it is to try it!"

Lu Yang thought the Immortal Fairy had a point and set off towards Prison Peak. At that moment, Yun Zhi had just emerged from Prison Peak, her fists still smeared with blood. Although her face remained expressionless, those who knew her well could tell she was in a good mood. Yun Zhi had successfully extracted a wealth of information about the Immortal Sect from the two vice-cult masters, including the location of their headquarters.

Yun Zhi watched as Lu Yang excitedly rushed towards her. "Junior Brother, is something the matter?" she asked.

Lu Yang flashed a bright smile and declared, "I absolutely must learn from Master! I want to be just like him – completely irresponsible, spending all day eating and playing, never cultivating or doing anything serious!"

*Boom*—*Crack*—

For some unknown reason, the previously clear sky suddenly became overcast, with flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder, as large raindrops began to fall.

"Oh, it's raining! I knew there would be moderate rain tonight!" the Immortal Fairy exclaimed, smugly pleased with her accurate weather prediction.

Lu Yang noticed that after his declaration, his Senior Sister's expressionless face transformed into a faint smile. Though it was a smile, combined with the lightning and thunder in the sky and Lu Yang's gut feeling, this smile exerted immense pressure on him. It was a life-or-death crisis!

Lu Yang swallowed hard, his consciousness quickly retreating to his mental space. "Fairy," he whispered furtively, "when one's cultivation reaches a certain level, can emotional changes affect the weather?"

"They can," came the reply.

Lu Yang finally understood why it was raining at Wen Dao Sect today, a place where it rarely ever rained. He had enraged his Senior Sister!

"Your weather forecast is *so* accurate, Fairy!" Lu Yang ground out through gritted teeth.

In reality, Yun Zhi gently patted Lu Yang's shoulder. "Junior Brother," she said in a soft tone, "have you been practicing too intensely lately? Are you starting to talk nonsense?"

Lu Yang trembled, instinctively shaking his head before realizing his mistake. He then quickly nodded, resembling a chick pecking at rice, utterly unable to utter a single word. He finally understood what kind of spell he had truly mastered.

Foresight – knowing in advance what *won't* come to pass.

(End of Chapter)