Wang Wei opened his eyes to find himself in an ample space where everything seemed slightly blue. A man with a mask and a saber hanging on his waist floated not far from him.
The moment he arrived in this place, his body acted in instinct without thinking as he took out a stone and activated it. A golden light as brilliant as the first dawn of the universe swallowed the masked man.
Without hesitation, Wang Wei used the trump cards that saved him from Di Tian with the intent of instantly killing his opponent and not giving the latter a chance.
With this Emperor Tier Attack, the masked man should have been annihilated, but a shield of similar strength enveloped and protected him. Nevertheless, blood trickled down from the mask, signaling he was somewhat caught off guard and injured.
“No matter how much I think I overestimate your capabilities, I’m proven wrong again and again,” said the Saber Wielder, making Wang Wei frown.
This attack was not only to kill his opponent but also to open a breach in this space to leave. Since the opponent summoned him here, he summarized that the latter would have a home-field advantage.
As such, he wanted to break this space to bring the fight to a more neutral environment. Unfortunately, his plan failed. So, Wang Wei began to observe his opponent more clearly.
He concluded this person was a man based on his build and voice, but that was all the information he could gather so far.
So, he checked the latter’s Fate Line, and his frown deepened; he could not read this person’s fate. This fact should not be surprising, as many people have ways to block this ability.
But the odd thing is this person did not use any magical artifacts or techniques, yet Wang Wei could not read his fate; it was like he naturally had this ability.
Furthermore, Wang Wei discovered he could not see knots in this person’s Fate Line. Knots signified a person [Nexus of Fate], but this person did not have any.
Suddenly, his intuition activated as his body acted on its own again. He turned into a gray rainbow as he rushed toward his opponent; however, the masked easily evaded but did not counter-attack.
‘My speed is 12% less than usual,’ thought Wang Wei, as his mind rapidly calculated the reason for this anomaly. The answer he concluded is that his Fate Law has not adapted to this environment.
So, he focused all the Dragon Elephant Force of his fleshly body on his legs. Tiny cracks appeared underneath his feet as he used the very fabric of space as his springboard to launch himself forward.
With such momentum and force, Wang Wei almost reached a speed of a million times the speed of light. He was so fast it appeared as if he teleported in front of the masked man.
[Fate Annihilation Fist]
Everything turned black and white before the masked man grunted in pain before flying and crashing to the ground. The left side of his body collapsed, but a strange power came from the surroundings to heal him.
‘Something is wrong,’ thought Wang Wei as he breathed heavily, almost out of breath. With a wave of his hand, a sword turned from his Proven Dao Artifact appeared in his hand.
Then, his aura changed to that of the ultimate swordsman; it was like he was a man who lived and died by the sword.
[Fate Severing]
A moon-shaped slash came from his sword to directly target the masked man’s, Fate Line. Unfortunately, instead of severing it, the slash passed through it without affecting it in the least.
Wang Wei’s chest kept moving up and down irregularly as beads of sweat glistened on his forehead.
“You’re immune to my Fate Attacks,” he wrote in the air.
“So, you’ve noticed so quickly,” replied the masked man, laughing aloud like a madman.
“Heaven and Earth are fair, and there is no absolute or perfection. Everything must follow the order of Yin and Yang–including fate. So, since fate exists, its antithesis must also exist.”
“The Dao of Free Will,” wrote Wang Wei.
“I prefer to call it Dao of Choice, Freedom Dao, or better yet, Unfettered Dao,” said the masked man, his voice containing a hint of gloat.
“Knowing that you cultivate the Dao of Fate, of course, I had to cultivate something that counters you. I cannot wait to kill you using the Dao, which embodies your lifelong pursuit.”
Wang Wei was in deep thought. Many people like him want ultimate freedom, and there are many ways to walk on that path. He chose the path of controlling fate to escape its shackle.
As for the reason he chose this path instead of cultivating the Freedom Dao like this masked man or any other methods? He did not fully know. Ever since he was young, he always knew he wanted to control fate.
At first, he thought maybe something that occurred back on Earth instilled that idea in his mind. But after reviewing his experience, he could not pinpoint the decisive moment.
‘Maybe, all the pain and suffering I suffered in that void made me realize how cruel fate is.’
When he reviewed the memories from that time, he could feel the loneliness, despair, and anger, always asking why he had to go through all that suffering; why him of all people?
Maybe because of how unfair he felt fate treated in that void, once he had the chance, he decided to control it to achieve the ultimate form of freedom.
All these thoughts flashed across Wang Wei’s head in less than a second. Then, his words appeared:
“You said it yourself; there is no absolute in this world.”
He opened his mouth and said: “Death.”
Although he uttered this single word normally, it echoed throughout the entire surrounding, even shaking the space they were in. His mouth created a sound similar to an infinite amount of strings being plucked and thus creating enormous vibration of destruction. Moreover, these strings were not normal ones but the Strings of Fate.
Wang Wei recently developed this technique because of his Oath of Silence, and he called it the [Roar of Fate]. A little more than a thousand year ago, the time of his oath ended, but he did not break it to wait for this exact opportunity.
[Reject Determinism]
The masked man used a technique as a silver aura surrounding his body, making him somewhat intangible, at least to Wang Wei’s attack. As such, even if the entire space shook and numerous destruction ensured in the surroundings, he was intact.
Well, relatively. A few of his organs shook, and a hole appeared in his stomach. Unfortunately, he healed in an instant.
“*Sigh* I have to say, you’re truly one of the most remarkable individuals I have met. Even though I cultivate a Dao opposite yours, you could still temporarily overwhelm me with pure brute force.”
Wang Wei ignored him as he continued to breathe heavily, then coughed for no reason. He finally noticed something odd.
“Have you finally noticed?” said the masked man.
“Poison: to be specific, a poison targeted specifically to the fleshly body,” he replied as he felt the strength of his body reducing at an alarming rate.
“As I said, Heaven and Earth are fair,” said the masked man. “Body Refiners are the most powerful individuals in existence. Because their path involved suffering untold hardship and an unimaginable amount of resources, they are more powerful than Qi Refiners or Soul Cultivators; this is their reward from Heaven and Earth.
“However, all things need to be balanced. So, some things–mostly poisons–are their natural enemy.”
The masked man raised his hand to condense a blue sphere in his hand and looked at it intently.
“Dragon Binding Grass, the rarest type of fleshly body poison, and arguably the most effective one. Do you know there is an interesting story behind this heavenly herb?”
“You’re very chatty, aren’t you?”
“That will happen when you spend all your life in hatred. Talking helps relieve the pain and loneliness,” replied the masked man without looking at him. Then, he continued his previous tale:
“Back during the Innate-Acquired War, the Dragon Binding Grass was not as rare. Instead, it could be found across every World Communities. However, during the war, the Innate Lifeforms wanted to destroy them entirely as it was the nemesis of their strong fleshly body.
“However, human Body Refiners wanted the grass, not to destroy their enemy, but to use it to temper themselves. I find the different cognitive views of humans and these Innate Lifeforms fascinating.
“They seek to destroy anything threatening to them, while we want to use it to grow and develop. I think it is this mindset that makes humans one of the most powerful races in All Heaven and Myriad Worlds.”
The masked man removed his eyes from the blue orb in his hand to look at Wang Wei.
“Don’t bother using your [Ten Thousand Adapt To One Sutra] to stop the poison from weakening you. I have evolved this grass to constantly evolve just to counter your technique.”
As he felt the weakness throughout his body, Wang Wei looked at the masked man as something finally dawned on him about his trial. Unlike Lin Fan or Jian Wushuang, he had too little emotional or spiritual weakness to use against him.
Furthermore, he is more alert than those two since he learned of the trial. And his strength has to be taken into the equation. So, Wang Wei has always wondered how the Saber Wielder could kill him?
If it was a situation similar to Lin Fan and Jian Wushuang, with how fast his mind function and his intuition, he could react in time to save himself from danger’ he knew this, and so should Heavenly Dao.
So, that could only mean he died because of a lack of strength.
But who could kill him? With his ability and growth rate, only two types of people could kill him: Immortal Tier Powerhouse or Heaven Chosen like Di Tian.
Using an Immortal Tier cultivator to kill him made no sense; Heavenly Dao could just isolate him and drop Divine Punishment Thunder on him, and that would be easier. Furthermore, his divination never revealed that the Saber Fiend was an Immortal cultivator. Of course, this act would contradict the essence of the Trial as a Karmic Tribulation.
As for the second possibility, logically, it made no sense as well. Could Heavenly Dao cultivate a genius on Di Tian’s level just to kill him? That would require so much time, energy, and resources.
Wang Wei once enlightened in the concept of Order that exists in Fate, so he had some knowledge of how Heavenly Dao functioned, its rights, and its limitations. As such, he knew it could not intervene as it pleased; it could not choose someone and grant them all the resources and time needed to become as strong as Di Tian.
Such an act would break the balance between Order and Chaos that runs any world. The best Heavenly Dao could do is endowed someone with tremendous luck (Sons of Destiny). However, luck is not enough for a person to reach Di Tian’s level.
So, he concluded that his enemy for the trial would fall in the third category: a brilliant tactician who knows everything about him and counter his ability.
The Dao of Heaven involves information and knowledge; it is essentially the path of using information or knowledge to achieve absolutely anything.
‘With Heavenly Dao secretly manipulating and feeding this Saber Fiend with my information, it’s no wonder he seemed to know me exceptionally well.’
As he came to this conclusion, many other events in his life began to fit like a puzzle, for example, Li Jun’s actions. Maybe, its real purpose was to affect his state of mind.
Meanwhile, Ji Su’s action was to weaken him before the confrontation with the Saber Fiend.
“So, who are you?” asked Wang Wei. “For some reason, I cannot sense any hatred from your body.”
“I had to learn to control my hatred or emotions. Otherwise, wouldn’t you take advantage of them,” replied the masked man with a breezy and calm tone.
‘Something is wrong. Why does he seem to be delaying time like me, even though time is in my favor? I need to be vigilant at all times until I cut off his head,’ thought the masked man, warning himself not to make a mistake as he is so close to his vengeance.
“I guess it will be more satisfying to watch you die knowing who kill you. So, I’ll show you who I am.”
Then, the masked man removed his mask.
