Aksai realized many things about his life in general after hearing Naisha’s explanation.
He understood that it wasn’t a mere coincidence that the meteor stone was brought to Cavereach City on the same day he was attending the auction event. It wasn’t a mere coincidence that he had obtained the lost scrolls from a long-forgotten sect.
Why did he get his hands on that pendant and Bloodfiend manual in the antique store? Why was the 3rd-order cultivation cave discovered after he claimed ownership of the Emerald Cove?
They might all be fabricated coincidences.
Why would fate care to fabricate such lucky encounters for Aksai? Because it wanted him to come across greater “unlucky” encounters in the future. It was as if luck was a rare privilege, a limited currency that was meant to be earned or spent without a person’s control over it. Fate wanted Aksai to spend on seemingly insignificant things so that his “luck” wouldn’t be able to save him during critical moments.
It seemed that the so-called fate was also forced to follow the Great Dao that ruled over the boundless cosmos. It couldn’t just squash an anomaly like Aksai because it wanted to. It needed to follow the rules of the Heavens while dealing with cultivators like Aksai.
Why did Aksai inadvertently come across Lian Lakir and the Blood Bakshi members after gaining something significant in Wilben City? Why did he meet fierce opponents during the Emerald Cove’s conquest battle right after his initial success in the Martial World Sharang?
There were many other ‘why’s like these. They probably had only one common answer– it was fate doing its best to take care of anomalies like Aksai.
Aksai was glad, more than ever, that he hadn’t taken any unnecessary risks by venturing into secret realms. He had always been a cautious man who did his absolute best to ensure his safety– which might have saved him from his fate.
No matter how treacherous fate’s ways were, it couldn’t block Aksai’s path to survival completely, as it would go against the rules set by the Great Dao that governed the boundless cosmos. As long as Aksai’s chances of surviving a certain fatal event weren’t completely zero, he could use his wits and advanced preparations to his advantage, allowing him to grasp one right path among many dead-ends.
***
Naisha seemed to understand what Aksai was thinking. She smiled before speaking further.
“Big brother, don’t second-guess your actions now. If you think about them deeply, it might seem like they are all connected events.
However, if you empty your mind and biases towards the Heavens, they would all seem like random events that have nothing in common.
The so-called fate and destiny are nothing to those who don’t believe in them. And they are everything to those who recognize their influence over them. It’s almost like we give power to these things with our beliefs.
My master often says that life is not meant to be understood, it is intended to be lived. So one shouldn’t worry too much about what fate has in store for them.
I told you what I know because you seemed like a good person. My explanations weren’t to make you second-guess your decisions. They were only meant to make you take extra precautions.
Besides, although you are the only one who suffers by fate’s hand. For better or worse, you are the only one fate tries to control.
As Spirit cultivators, we all aim to defy our fates. We all challenge our destinies as we walk further in our cultivation journey. The act of defying the heavens is also not something that only you engage in.
Rather, it’s not like Heaven itself doesn’t like to be challenged. It only tests the will of the challengers. The greater a challenger’s potential, the more difficult their ‘tribulation’ will be. However, the increase in the difficulty of the tribulation also correlates directly with the kind of benefits one gets after their tribulation passes.
You are the highest-order anomaly I have ever come across. However, you are also the only person who has reached the Foundation Building realm despite the kind of ‘shitty luck’ you have.
It means that your decisions in critical situations so far have been right for the most part. If I were you, I’d trust my instincts more than worrying about the so-called fate and destiny which we have no control over.
We Spirit cultivators can’t decide our prewritten destiny but we have the power to rewrite some of its finer details based on the efforts and hard work we put into our cultivation journey,” Naisha said in a clear voice as she looked at Aksai with a bright smile.
Aksai flashed a subtle smile in return, offering a nod.
“You are right. It doesn’t matter what fate has in store for me. As long as I make use of my advantages, I will eventually find myself out of sticky situations,” Aksai chuckled, finally putting an end to countless unfinished thoughts in his head.
“Little girl, might I ask if you can share your cultivation technique with me? Don’t worry I will offer you fair compensation in return,” Aksai asked suddenly, eyeing Naisha.
The latter smirked as she guessed his intentions. “Hehehe. Do you want to use this technique on yourself, big brother?”
Aksai nodded immediately.
Naisha’s cultivation technique was as useful as it was mysterious. However, it had an obvious flaw. It made its practitioner consume their lifespan in order to look into someone’s future.
However, to a druid like Aksai, this so-called “debuff” was nothing more than a mere inconvenience.
Aksai could replenish his lifespan as long as he had the demon tree helping him. As such, the repercussions caused by the use of Naisha’s cultivation technique were practically negligible to him. He could make use of the technique to himself and some of his allies to know about their future while facing practically no side effects in return.
Aksai didn’t want to make use of the cultivation technique as his primary technique. He already had Sun-Moon Duality. He didn’t think switching to a completely different cultivation technique was a good idea at this point.
However, he could study some of the concepts in Naisha’s technique and try to come up with better ways.
Ways that would allow him to take a peek into the future of his targets at the cost of burning away some lifespan, which he could recover eventually anyway.