Inside his cottage, Wang Wei sat cross-legged, eyes closed, deep in meditation. A transparent Golden Buddha with his face rapidly condensed behind him.
And when the Buddha finally condensed, Wang Wei opened his eyes and exhaled.
'Interesting. A cultivation technique that cultivates the past, present, and future self. I feel that all three scrolls might be significant to me in the future.'
However, now was not the time to think about the other two scrolls. Without hesitation, Wang Wei activated the [Future Buddha Self] in conjunction with his Nexus of Fate.
Then, he saw the moment of his death. To be precise, he saw some information.
He was in a strange place that he could not understand as everything seemed purposefully blurred. He was in the midst of a battle with an individual with a saber.
However, he also could not see the face of that individual, nor his build or height, as he was completely black. What Wang Wei did notice was that person cut him into million of pieces–including his soul, and he died.
Wang Wei opened his eyes with a deep frown.
'All I could learn in this future vision is that someone killed me, that person used a saber as the main weapon, and I seem to be in the Void Shattering Realm during that battle.'
Wang Wei pondered deeply. He did not know anyone who used a saber as their primary weapon. So, unless someone closed to him secretly cultivated the Saber Dao or changed their weapons, he should not know his killer.
However, this goes against what he currently knew about the trial.
'Unless it is someone I have affected in some ways during my cultivation journey. Someone that I have negative Karma with.'
Wang Wei shook his head with a wry smile. If that were the case, it would be virtually impossible to determine the identity of his killer. He has met so many people and negatively affected a lot of them.
Just his recent slaughter in the Western Continent could create countless avengers trying to kill him.
After shaking his head, he revisited his Nexus of Fate, trying to analyze or discover the tiniest of information.
'Wait, something is off,' thought Wang Wei as he double-checked the vision over and over.
'The time of my death has been reduced by five years.'
He was now somewhat knowledgeable about the Dao of Time, so he discovered that the time for his battle with the Saber Killer had decreased by five years, meaning that he died three years earlier compared to a few seconds ago.
He ended the vision before revisiting it, and as expected, the time of his demise was one year earlier than before. As such, with each passing second, he rapidly got closer to death.
Wang Wei immediately searched for the reason for this anomaly. He used the power of Fate, Karma, Time, and other secret techniques he knew before founding the cause.
'Damn you, Di Tian,' he thought to himself, almost cursing out loud and breaking his oath.
He found the cause, and it was the Karmic Sins that Di Tian placed on him. The Outlaw Trial is essentially a Karmic Trial where Heavenly Dao used your actions or connection to schemes against you.
And Di Tian used Karmic Sins to move the time of Wang Wei's trial forward, giving him less time to prepare or even realize what happened.
After taking a deep breath to calm down, he removed the technique affecting his trial. If it were the previous him, he would have struggled immensely before succeeding.
Now, with his understanding of Karma and Time, removing it only took him a few hours. Although, he was drained afterward and needed some rest.
Meanwhile, Di Tian immediately felt it on the Western Continent when Wang Wei succeeded. He opened his eyes, looked in the direction of the Dao Opening Sect, and muttered: "It took him so long?"
His original plan was to ruin Wang Wei's luck, thus causing a void disaster when he tried returning home through the Transmission Array. Then, things could go in many different ways.
His luck would be so terrible that he landed in some dangerous place or World Community, which resulted in his death. In that way, he could kill his enemy and achieve his main objective.
Or he would survive and separate from Wu Hong. Then, the spell would continuously change the cause and effect of Wang Wei's trial and bring it forward and shift the arrival of his death to a sooner date.
According to Di Tian's calculation, Wu Hong should have noticed this long ago and removed the technique. What he did not know was that luck was on his side.
Heavenly Dao interfered, adding to Wu Hong's lack of memories; she overlooked the situation.
Di Tian pondered for a moment the reason for this delay, but he could not think of any substantial theories.
'It does not matter in the end as things worked out for the better. I moved his trial from the Supreme Realm to the Void Shattering Realm.'
He knew that when it comes to unique individuals like Wang Wei, Heavenly Dao likes to take its time planning the trial, to gather as much information as possible to ensure maximum success rate; this was the case for him.
However, Di Tian also knew another essential fact. Fate and Chaos Supreme Outlaws have an advantage over the other 3: they can predict their deaths in advance, discover information regarding the trial, and prepare in advance. Although this was unfair, it was the way things were.
Typically, Heavenly Dao will consider this fact, but Di Tian did not want to take the chance. So, he planned to move the trial forward while also gathering a lot of information about Wang Wei from their fights and handing it to Heavenly Dao.
'Since he discovered my spell, he also discovered about the trial. In the end, my worries were not for nothing.'
He then closed his eyes to continue cultivating as he had already done his part. The rest was up to Heavenly Dao. His clone sent a message that he may have found a method to break the limit of 9 reincarnations, so he waited with bated breath for more news.
After taking many pills to recover, Wang Wei began to watch his future again. He was somewhat angry when he thought about how much time was lost, time he could use to gather more information to ensure his survival.
Ultimately, he sighed as he knew there was no point in anger. This is how the Battle of the Throne was. All Heaven Chosens schemed and killed each other.
If he had the chance, he would not hesitate to do the same to Di Tian. So, he focused on the present situation and watched his Nexus of Fate again. He did not focus on gathering information this time but on changing the outcome.
Wang Wei used the power of the [Future Buddha Self] to simulate different futures or outcomes to discover a way to change his fate. The golden Buddha floated above him as a projection of the River of Time surrounded it.
After an unknown amount of time, Wang Wei opened his eyes, and slight fatigue flashed on them before instantly disappearing; he is used to constantly experiencing death.
More than 200 futures, all of which result in the same outcome. One simulation takes too much time, and things are too blurry. I need a way to do thousands, if not millions, of simulations instantly.
Wang Wei then placed the [Future Buddha Self] back in his Sea of Consciousness before activating his Physique's Vision. It looked slightly different, with a majestic version of himself sitting on a throne.
Previously, he had strings attached to his hands connected to myriad worlds and races. Now, the River of Fate laid beneath him, tied to countless worlds and races.
'Should I find a way to combine the [Future Buddha Self] with the Power of Fate? No, that would take some time to fuse these two, so I need a method to have numerous [Future Buddha Self] and do countless simulations.
'I can use my Spirit Particles, but something else is needed.'
Wang Wei pondered deeply as many ideas flashed inside his mind. He only stopped after creating a basic plan.
'It seems that it is time to end the retreat.'
He did not immediately leave but waved his hand to take out a coiled gray string from the River of Fate: his Proving Dao Artifact. With the Fate Stone that Wu Hong gave him and the nourishment of the River of Fate, Wang Wei finally repaired the artifact.
'It is indeed more powerful than before. To be precise, more suited for me.'
Any fate-related material is rare, so Wang Wei had to use people's Fate Line and some Fate Dust to refine his Proving Dao Artifacts. However, with the Fate Stone–one of the best materials to refine Fate-related magic weapons–he further tempered the artifact and increased its grade to the Supreme Realm.
As he looked at the artifact, Wang Wei could not help but think of Wu Hong. Although he knew she should be fine, he could not help but worry about her. Ultimately, he just shook his head before leaving the secret realm.
As soon as he returned to the Myriad Emperor World, he calculated how long had passed.
'I spent a total of 2100 years in the formation, and 520 years passed outside. So, a four-time increase.'
After nodding his head, he went to see his family.