Wang Wei looked at the [8 Trigrams Turtle Shell] and realized that it is only a shell with eight distinct symbols inscribed on top of them. Although he did not know the meaning of these symbols, he knew the ability of this shell and Wang Wei was excited just because of this.
When he finished looking it over, he handed it back to True Monarch Shin Dong, who placed the turtle shell in a specific place of the formation, then he took out a mountain full of origin source as energy for the formation.
After everything was ready, both True Monarch Shin Dong and Li Fen started the formation.
The first thing to happen was that the turtle shell started to glow, then a grey and illusory river appeared in the middle of the room: it was the River of Fate.
If you look closely, you will find that this river is actually made of countless pale grey-white strings entangled together. In the middle of the river, there lies a spinning wheel that keeps on creating thread, tangles them, and entangles them when necessary.
All the people in the room marveled at this grand and mighty river. As they observe more, some of the more powerful one begin to understand the machinations of the universe; how most people's lives are in fact destined from the moment of their birth.
From the moment they were born, it was already determined how they will live their life: who they will meet, how they will get sick, and when they all die.
When all the cultivators saw the River of Fate, they all asked the same question, "Am I in control of my own fate?" Unfortunately, no one can give them the answer.
In fact, the person who suffered the most was in fact Wang Wei. As soon as the River of Fate appeared, the divine rune on his body also activated.
As such, he found himself blinding into the environment, then merging with the River of Fate. There, Wang Wei began to see the lives of countless mortals.
He saw their birth, joy, sadness, sickness, hopelessness, sins, altruism, and death. There were millions upon millions of them. If it was not due to his powerful soul, his head might have exploded.
However, despite not instantly dying with all the information cramming into his head, Wang Wei found himself in a dangerous situation. He was slowly merging with the lives of the countless people he saw.
He started to forget who he was, where he came from, and what he was doing. In one second he believed that he was a poor scholar studying hard everyday to pass the Imperial Examination and provided his mother and wife with a better life.
Another second he was a public executioner who became numb in his life due to all the constant killing. Every night, he has to drink himself unconscious in order to zone out all the wailing from the people he killed.
In just an instant, he lived through countless different lives: both young and old, both man and woman, both rich and poor.
While Wang Wei was slowly merging with the River of Fate and was about to lose his identity, his very existence. He suddenly remembered something. While watching the lives of countless people in the River of Fate, he realized that he could not see or hear their thoughts.
Suddenly, an idea came to Wang Wei's mind. Maybe only the mind, will and spirit are the only things that can allow mortals to escape the shackles that fate has placed on them. Maybe, fate is not as absolute as one would imagine.
With an open mind, determined willpower and strong enough dedication, one can escape the fate that Heaven has imposed on them.
As soon as he thought of these, a sudden clarity overcame him, then he muttered. "My name is Wang Wei. I decided to cultivate with the sole purpose of one day being free from all societal restraints--like good, evil, benevolence, sins, order, and chaos--or conceptual restraint such as life, death, body, soul, and karma. Ultimately, I want to be able to control my own fate."
After saying this, Wang Wei woke up from his state of muddling haze, and all his memories returned to him. In fact, they became more vivid. He could remember every second of his life--from both his lives. He could even remember what it was like in the wound of his mother.
Suddenly, a memory caught his attention. It was after his birth back on earth, there he saw his biological mother. She looks like him back on Earth, or is it the other way around.
However he noticed that she seemed very young. Wang Wei then heard a conversation that she had with the doctor.
It turned out that the reason that she abandoned him was because she believed that she did not have the financial ability to raise a child properly. As such, she wanted to send him to an orphanage so that he could get the proper care he needed.
Wang Wei sighed when he heard her. In the end, maybe he should be happy for the fact that she did not abort him and ensure that he was handed over to the authorities.
Wang Wei continued to go through his memories one by one. Eventually, he realized that he could not remember what happened to him when he entered the white light after his soul had floated in the endless Void for who knows how long.
All his memories showed him was that he instantly became a baby after entering the light. As for what happened in between, he could not remember. It was as if there was a blank space in his memories.
Since he could not discover such secrets, Wang Wei decided to move on as he was in the middle of something important.
He reigned in his scattered thoughts, then began to run the [Ten Thousands Things Adapt To One Sutra], then the formation introduced a few Fragments of Fate Law from the River of Fate into the soul and body of Wang Wei.
Wang Wei's body then began to evolve into a special physique. Although nothing seemed to have changed physically, Wang Wei could feel that his body was changing in a mysterious way.
Of course that was from the perspective of Wang Wei who had his eyes closed to concentrate on running the [Ten Thousands Things Adapt To One Sutra].
The other people inside the room watched as Wang Wei's hair began to turn grey. And it was not the grey-white of older people whose life spans are about to come to an end, but grey just like the color of the River of Fate.
However, the process seemed terribly slow. As such, Wang Wei's grandfather motioned for the other people to add more origin source to the formation.
With the addition of a few more mountains of origin source, the process greatly accelerated. Wang Wei began to absorb energy like he was a bottomless abyss.
When all his hairs were about to turn grey, Great Li Jian took two pills and crushed them, then they were absorbed into Wang Wei's body. These two pills were refined by removing all the impurities and imprints left in the source blood taken from both Ji Song and Han Li.
After absorbing the two pills, the process completed itself instantly. As such, Wang Wei opened his eyes--who had also turned from black to grey-- and looked around the room with a look of confusion on his face.
Every time the young master looked at a person, their hearts involuntarily shook as they could feel like someone was watching all of their secrets, all their hidden thoughts. As if their fates were being observed and judged.
It took Wang Wei a few minutes to regain his bearings, then he sensed something and looked up at the ceiling. In fact, he was not the first person to sense it as the four Supreme Elders already did and were discussing the situation.
"Heavenly Tribulation?" asked Wang Wei's grandfather, Wang Chang. "It seemed to be so," responded Supreme Elder Li Fen.
"What? Father, you mean that Heavenly Tribulation is coming for Wei'er? What should we do now?"
"Calm down. How can you be a Sect Master if you panic in such a situation. Although we did not plan for this, this may not be a bad thing. If Wei'er can pass the tribulation, maybe there will be other benefits. Worst case scenario, we intervene and forcibly stop the tribulation."
Everyone pondered Wang Chang's words, then they all nodded. So, they all looked at Wang Wei asking him to decide whether he wanted to go through with it. To which, Wang Wei just nodded in acceptance without hesitation.
"Instead of staying here, we should probably take the Young Sect Master to the Tribulation Peak," said Great Elder Yan Mei suddenly.
This was indeed a good idea. As the name suggests, the Tribulation Peak is a mountain designed by the sect for disciples to go through Heavenly Tribulation. The mountain is refined to be strong enough to withstand most tribulations without destroying it and it can also prevent the tribulations from spreading and harming other people.
More importantly, the disciples can use their sect contribution points to activate the formation in the mountain to help pass their tribulation safely. Or they could use it to borrow powerful magical weapons to use as assistance.
Immediately afterward, Wang Wei was teleported to the Tribulation Peak. He found himself in an empty arena with a single house at the edge of it. He walked inside the house where he saw all kinds of magical weapons: from cauldrons to Pagodas, from spears to halberds. There were all kinds of them.
Next to each weapon, there was the level of the weapon--from Profound Tiers all the way to Supreme Tiers-- and the amount of contribution points needed to borrow them.
Wang Wei walked over and picked up a Holy sword. It seemed that he did not need points to use any of these weapons. He then placed it back and took a token hanging on a shelf on the side of the room.
A stream of information was sent into his mind and he knew that this token was used to activate the formations in the mountain. It also contained the price to activate the formations.
Wang Wei also placed it back. In fact, he could not use this token as he did not have any cultivation. Of course, he knew that if he reminded his father or grandpa, they would fix the problem for him. However, Wang Wei did not plan to use external aid in the first place.
From what he read in the library, Wang Wei knew that tribulations were not designed to kill cultivators, but to test them and reward them if they are deemed worthy.
So, every time a cultivator used external aid to pass Heavenly Tribulations, the reward they received would also diminish. As such, powerful cultivators rarely used external aid to pass tribulations.
Wang Wei returned to the arena where he noticed an ominous group of clouds covering the mountain. It seemed to be gathering power. Wang Wei then sat cross-legged in the middle of the arena, waiting for the upcoming Thunder Tribulation.
Few minutes later, a bright purple thunder descended from the sky and struck Wang Wei directly. He groaned due to intense pain, however, this was just the beginning.
Soon, seven more conservative thunder struck him after the first, each time intensifying the pain exponentially. By the ninth and last thunder, he had to clenched his teeth real hard not to scream in agony.
In fact, Wang Wei's real problem was not the pain, but his body that was slowly falling apart. As the thunder struck him one after another, his skins were burned, thus looking and smelling like burning charcoal.
His heart almost stopped on many occasions due to disruption of electrical rhythm by the lightning. He even felt that his brain was about to be cooked. However, he still persisted until the last thunder strike.
The last strike was different. For one, the pain and suffering it brought Wang Wei only lasted a few breaths. Following which, an unknown qi started to swim through his body and heal all of his injuries.
His skin became smooth like jade, his heart beat regularly and his brain seemed to become more active. Additionally, Wang Wei felt that something was added to him, no, something was gifted to him.
And he was right. Soon after he passed the tribulation, massive amounts of purple qi and clouds enveloped the entire Myriad Emperor World. This was an auspicious sign that covered the entire world.
After that, a gigantic scroll appeared in the sky with the word "Heavenly Physique List" written on the top.
The moment that list appeared, all the cultivators in the world felt something, stopped what they were doing and looked in the sky. And they saw a list with names on it.
Heavenly Physique List:
1. Absolute Chaos Physique-- Lin Fan
2. Heavy Axe Physique-- Ji Song
3. Seven Emotions Six Desires Physique-- Su Ya
4. Fate Puppeteer Physique-- Wang Wei
5. Yin Yang Eyes-- ???????
6. Five Elements Balance Physique-- Zhen Biyu
All the cultivators in the world were shocked by what they saw. Throughout the years, the Heavenly Physique List has remained the same and never changed. Some information suggests that this list existed since the Primordia Era, and there have never been any record of it changing.
And yet, today, some guy called Wang Wei managed to do so. All the cultivators in the world started to search for who this person was, and soon information about Wang Wei started to circulate in the hands of all the factions of the Myriad Emperor World.
Years later, many people will label this day as the beginning of the Glorious Times of this generation's Heaven Mandate Battle.