Writer: StarReader

Proofreader: Silavin

Fate, luck, chance, fortune, it was called many things and, as impossible as it might seem, they were making up new terms for it every other day. But if there was one thing the people were unanimous and unequivocally about, it was that destiny, or whatever kids called it these days, saw one’s future.

How did that even work? Through dice, bones, entrails of some exotic animal hardly anyone heard about? The movement of stars, the moon, the sun? Maybe all of the above?

Humanity had gone above and beyond in trying to read their own future, to know whether the next step they took would take them to Heaven or stumble and fall to their doom. It also had the perks of getting rich quick.

The most common methods that lasted through the endless river of time was mostly through sheer coincidence. Coincidence that divination was proven true. Otherwise, it could be that someone was on the right track, if not in method, then in mindset.

Some might ask if knowing the future instantly changed it? The same future might not come to be. Others might say that reading the future was actually a part of one’s future, no matter how mind-boggling that sounded. Theories about it, as with anything, was so abstract and out of reach. Thus, they greatly differed.

Be that as it may, one man had, in fact, proved to all of Sacred Domain that destiny and fate were very much real, that it was possible to glimpse into a man’s future. This man did it by looking at the stars and reading patterns and seeing plays that weren’t there for the common people.

What did he do with it? He made it his mission to wrest humanity from destruction and endless wars that was killing the simple man. Slaughter and bloodshed because of the whims and greed of the ones in power.

Sovereign Yun’s star path wasn’t perfect in any case, for it could not read anyone’s fate that had a higher or equal cultivation than his own. It was for the same reason he could see Zhuo Fan needing help in his journey to save the Sacred Domain. He used this information along with the other eight Sovereigns to try and wrest the world’s course from total annihilation as Heavenly Sovereign so graciously pictured.

This help came in the form of his treasure, Worldbridge. In his words, this item would help Zhuo Fan find what he sought, and it did point him in Chu Qingcheng’s direction.

As he sat there in his cave, mulling over what fate is and how was one supposed to make sense of all the cryptic signs Heaven threw at him, he was fiddling with the Worldbridge, even in daytime, for time was of the essence and couldn’t spare a moment of rest.

But a week into his commitment to complete the star path, he came to a shocking, yet equally obvious, realization. He could only read the stars at night, while the result of the reading was apparent in daytime, like it happened when he sought Chu Qingcheng with all his being.

As such, he would focus on the Worldbridge at night, using it as a conduit to understand the stars in the sky, who they represented, their shine, their direction, every little detail he could perceive. He would go through all the information he gathered in daytime, analyzing, comparing, and contemplating before checking to see his progress the next night.

This process was lengthy and hard, for it was sometimes impossible to know what you were missing even when it stared you right in the face. Taking something for granted blinds a person from seeing its true value and nature.

This was his greatest challenge, to look where he hadn’t looked before, yet conscious enough not to dally too much in what could very likely be the wrong direction. It was incredibly easy to get lost when he didn’t even know or see a way forward.

Luckily, the Worldbridge covered that aspect, nudging Zhuo Fan back on the straight and narrow. Such was a Sovereign treasure, beyond fathom.

While his mindset had shifted now to Sovereign Yun, that of seeking to read the fate of the world so he could save the people, the temptation his own personality had over him to read the destinies of all the people around him and himself was intoxicating. It beckoned him to find the a shortcut in this mess with Heavenly Sovereign and the sea of blackness. It was a desire that plagued his mind. He would rather avoid having to live through his next lives as a pawn to that man or any other. His previous lives weren’t that… memorable, so to speak.

It proved for naught, just wasting time. Heavenly Sovereign had grown beyond his scope and he could not perceive his star, thus read its direction. As for the Luo Clan and everyone else, their fate grew dark at one point, simply gone. One moment he was watching the stars shift, then they vanish in the next.

He then tried with a more manageable subject, a simple Luo Clan guard, but he too had his fate missing at the same junction. It went on for the many other people he read, even beasts.

It told Zhuo Fan one thing, this was the crux of it all, of Sacred Domain’s outcome. The sudden vanishing of stars could mean that Heavenly Sovereign won and cleansed the world. Other than that, the final battle had such ramifications and scope that it affected everyone’s destiny, but he was just too weak to perceive it.

Putting that aside for now, he wondered. [Would I give up, even if I know of the outcome?]

He shook his head, realizing that he had been fighting against worse odds all his life, and still came on top.

Destiny might play a role, but he believed it was not everything. Which was why he was going to go down swinging.

The ground shook and a prismatic light shone at the entrance of his cave, jolting him out of his musings.

He peeked out of the cave, smiling. “Things are going splendidly, I see, even if a bit late.”