Longevity Martial Arts: Grinding Experience in the Chaotic World

Chapter 1701: Chapter 863: Abrupt End_2

”Yet I have also glimpsed a corner of the future... In the era where you dwell, human hearts are no longer as of old, the Heavenly Dao is veiled in dust, the myriad beings are all drowned in the struggle for power and conquest, in selfish scheming... The people of this age are without virtue to inherit the seat of Fate, without qualification to pluck the strings of destiny!”

”Therefore, I would rather let this inheritance be buried together with me, and absolutely refuse to leave it to the present age and stain the glory of those who came before!”

The voice of Fate was resolute, carrying a determination that would rather shatter like jade than survive as mere tile.

”Before my final limit arrives, I shall exhaust the last of my Divine Power and seal the core inheritance of Fate... within the river of years! Let it wait for a true later one, qualified and virtuous!”

”And you...”

The voice of Fate once more focused upon Gu Sheng.

”Your soul is rather peculiar; there may be a sliver of fortune... but not at this moment. To tell you this is not to have you seek it now, it is merely... to plant a single seed.”

Gu Sheng’s thoughts flashed, and combining this with what Fate had said before, he probed tentatively.

”So, you tell me all this because you want me, in the future, to seek out a suitable successor for you, to inherit this Path of Fate?”

”No.”

The reply from Fate was beyond his expectations.

”It is not a matter of appointing you to search for a successor. To be able to converse with you at this time and place, across the river of years, is itself a faint ripple of destiny in the unseen, a certain possibility. I merely... disclose this news to a later one whose soul-essence is special, who perhaps can bear this strand of Cause and Effect.”

That ethereal voice paused, as though carefully perceiving something, then spoke a sentence that made Gu Sheng’s pupils abruptly contract.

”Moreover, upon you, I sense a trace of... an aura from an even older, even more distant age remaining.

That aura seems not to belong to this world, and its rank... makes even me feel somewhat apprehensive.”

Gu Sheng’s heart shook fiercely! An aura of an older, more distant age? Not of this world? In an instant he thought of his greatest secret—his soul that comes from Earth, and that enigmatic Nine Dragon Universe Cauldron! Especially the Nine Dragon Universe Cauldron: its origin a mystery, its might boundless, it is highly likely to be the source Fate was sensing!

But he clamped his mouth tightly shut, uttering not a single sound, even striving to restrain any fluctuation of his Consciousness.

He did not dare to be certain what consequences would be triggered if the other truly learned of the Nine Dragon Universe Cauldron’s existence. Would it, by meddling with the past, cause unpredictable turbulence in the long river of time, even directly alter his own Cause and Effect and destiny? The risk of this was far too great!

”You are very cautious, and very clever.”

Fate’s voice seemed to see through his wariness, carrying a faint, elusive note of approval.

”No need to worry. Though I can glimpse a corner of destiny, I am already on the verge of falling; I lack both the strength and the intention to delve into the specific secrets upon you, nor will I do anything that would disrupt the stability of the long river of time—the backlash it would provoke is more than I could endure. I merely... inform you of this fact.”

Fate’s tone shifted, once more casting out information that made Gu Sheng’s heart tremble.

”In addition, I have also perceived that the Martial Arts path you pursue... seems not to be the mainstream of this age, but that you intend to walk that far more arduous, and far more powerful... Ancient Fusion Method?”

Gu Sheng’s heart jolted yet again! This Fate’s ability was simply inconceivable—he could even perceive that Gu Sheng was preparing to walk the Fusion Dao path? Then the matter of him bearing the Nine Dragon Universe Cauldron...

As though to dispel his doubts, Fate’s voice continued to sound.

”Do not be tense. I bring this up because I wish to make a transaction with you.”

”A transaction?”

Gu Sheng’s brows lifted slightly.

”Indeed.”

Fate’s voice carried a detached calmness of one who had seen through worldly affairs.

”You walk the Fusion Dao path; though its future is vast, every step demands a sea’s worth of accumulation and enormous fortune. Observing your present state, your Fusion Dao road seems to lack that final push; thus your Cultivation is halted at the Heavenly Martial Realm, finding it hard to truly set foot upon the threshold of the Sect Realm.”

This point indeed struck directly at Gu Sheng’s heart.

His accumulation was already more than sufficient, but to perfectly fuse multiple powerful ’Daos’ and forge a unique Sect Realm foundation, he truly still lacked a crucial opportunity, or some supreme principle to serve as catalyst.

Fate’s voice carried temptation as it slowly spoke.

”If you consent to help me complete one task, then I shall use this soon-to-disperse remnant Divine Power to provide you with... the complete Path of Fate! Not to have you change your practice, but to take it as one ’cornerstone’ of your Fusion Dao foundation—a cornerstone for peering into destiny and seeing through Cause and Effect! Using it as lead, it may help you shatter the barrier in one stroke, take that critical step, and achieve an unprecedented Fusion Dao Sect Realm!”

The complete Path of Fate! As a Fusion Dao cornerstone!

For Gu Sheng, stuck at a bottleneck, this temptation was without doubt enormous! The Path of Fate touches upon destiny, Cause and Effect, and time; it is one of the most abstruse Daos under heaven. If he could fuse it into his own Martial Arts, the benefits would be beyond measure!

Gu Sheng forcibly pressed down the surging of his heart and asked in a deep voice.

”What do you need me to do?”

Fate’s voice became solemn and grave.

”My fleshly body, after its fall, was sealed in the deepest part of this main hall.

And my Spirit Pet lineage will guard it here generation after generation.”

Spirit Pet lineage? Gu Sheng’s heart stirred, and he vaguely formed a guess.

Fate confirmed his speculation.

”Correct, it is exactly the Golden-winged Roc clan you know of.

They are not natives of this place, but the descendants of my Spirit Pet, bound by my dying decree to guard this hall generation after generation, protecting my fleshly body until... the day the inheritance reappears.”

He continued.

”Within the heart of my fleshly body there is contained a special ’Circulation Star Compass.’

Sealed within that Compass is the complete Path of Fate Source inheritance!”

”I hope that the Fate inheritance may one day reappear in the world, not be completely buried in the dust of time together with me.”

Fate’s voice bore a thread of barely perceptible sorrow and longing.

”Thus, I hope you can enter the deepest part of the main hall, find my fleshly body, and retrieve that Compass.”

”As for this inheritance, whether you, in the end, personally comprehend it and fuse it into your own Dao, or choose another successor whom you deem qualified and virtuous to inherit it... all shall be decided by your own heart. I will no longer insist.”

Just as Fate finished speaking, Gu Sheng clearly felt that the mysterious and unfathomable power sustaining this conversation across time and space was receding like the tide.

The radiance upon the bronze tablet also began to flicker uncertainly; those Ancient written symbols surrounding his body dimmed, as though they might vanish at any moment.

”The power of the Great Prophecy Technique... is about to be exhausted...”

Fate’s voice grew intermittent, ever more ethereal and distant.

”I can no longer... from the far shore of time... continue this... conversation across the ages... with you...”

”Later one... remember... find... the... Compass...”

The last few words seemed to be forced across from the very end of an extremely distant time-space, thin as gossamer, and then utterly dissipated without trace.

And at the very instant Fate’s voice completely vanished!

Boom!!!

The ancient bronze-colored stone tablet beside Gu Sheng seemed to have exhausted its last thread of energy and suddenly erupted with an unprecedented, sun-bright, blindingly dazzling radiance!

This light was so intense that it instantly drove away the seemingly eternal, endless darkness within the vast hall!

Gu Sheng felt a violent sting in his eyes and reflexively closed them.

But now, the storm raging in his heart was a hundred times fiercer than the assault on his sight!

The Golden-winged Roc lineage turned out to be the descendants of that last Fate’s Spirit Pet!

This Secret Realm was the place where Fate’s Spirit Pet line had guarded their master’s fleshly body generation after generation!

That last Fate, before death in the Ancient era, had relied on the Great Prophecy Technique to arrange such a layout spanning the boundless river of ages!

And he himself, by a twist of fate, had become a selected piece upon this board that crossed ten thousand ages... or rather, a collaborator endowed with the right to choose!

These truths, heavy with immense information, boomed again and again in his mind like successive heavy bombs, making his spirit sway, hard to find calm.