Chapter 303: The Price of Fate
— A Few Months Later - Immortal Realm —
Within the Fate Weaving Sovereign’s Immortal Cave, in the recuperation chamber, the Fate Weaving Sovereign was sitting in the lotus position. Blood had been spilled across the ground around him, with a particularly large amount flowing from his head.
He was not wearing his signature golden mask. Instead, he allowed his long hair to obscure his face while blood continued to pour from the orifices on his head.
His body was greatly weakened. His sagging skin barely covered his bones, with almost none of his usual muscle and healthy physique remaining.
But despite all that weakness and severe blood loss, the Fate Weaving Sovereign still sat upright in the lotus position as if all of these injuries had happened to someone else rather than his own body.
His body was protesting violently, sending signals to his brain and reminding his will that it wanted to lie down so it could rest and repair the damage more effectively than it could while sitting.
But the Fate Weaving Sovereign did not allow himself that comfort.
It was not because he had some weird undisclosed hobby or because his pride did not allow him to fall.
No... those were the things he cared about the least.
Especially pride.
The real reason was his cultivation method, the Fate Weaving Divine Scripture.
It was a very strange, profound, and extremely powerful cultivation method in its own way. What other cultivation method allowed its practitioner to practically bend Heaven to their will like this?
None.
Such power, of course, came with a great price.
And now, the Fate Weaving Sovereign was paying that price.
If he allowed himself to become comfortable or gave in to the protests of his agonizing body, his Immortal Soul would be greatly punished by Heaven. His cultivation could even be severely degraded if he was not careful.
His cultivation might fall below the Great Ascension Realm and return to the mortal realm, which would limit his ability to bend the fate of others even further.
At worst, he might be discovered by the Underworld Palace and that Heaven’s Chosen, Wei Chen.
Even he, with his full power, could not bend Wei Chen’s fate.
No, he could not even touch the fate of this man.
Usually, the threads of fate belonging to Heaven’s Chosen were strong and difficult to affect, even with the power of the Fate Weaving Divine Scripture.
But all of them still had a shape or form.
He could touch them.
But Wei Chen?
It was impossible for him to even touch his fate, let alone affect it.
He had also lost one of his most heavily invested pawns, the Heaven Devouring Tiger.
That pawn was something he had invested in after finally gaining a foothold in this world.
It was even more important than the side interest concerning the realm fracture that led to a completely different world.
That world was fascinating. It contained a completely new civilization, with countless undiscovered mysteries waiting for him beyond that portal.
At first, he knew that the Underworld Palace wanted to seal it off for good, but he had made it impossible for them to do so by tampering with it a little. He made it unstable here and there, causing something to randomly go boom whenever they tried to seal it, without any apparent explanation.
The Underworld Palace also seemed to have someone well versed in reading heavenly fate. That was why they did not push the matter further. Otherwise, it would become a lose-lose tug-of-war between him and the Underworld Palace.
But aside from that...
The Heaven Devouring Tiger was one of his most heavily invested chess pieces, and he had lost it just like that.
He had tampered with the laws of Heaven and Earth, allowing a cultivator from the Upper Realm to descend to the mortal realm with his full power so that it would affect the laws of Heaven and Earth even further.
Thus, he created a chain of events that caused the altered laws to affect one of the fierce beasts with a deeply hidden bloodline from the Primordial Era.
The bloodline of the Heaven Devouring Tiger.
That tiger had benefited from the changing laws, and its cultivation had increased by leaps and bounds.
This created another chain of events that allowed the formation of the beast tide.
In his plan, that beast tide would be devastatingly successful.
Half of Cloud City’s population would die and become fuel for an even greater beast tide. With his plan already underway and the road of fate already paved, the Heaven Devouring Tiger would single-handedly create a Beast Kingdom and become the progenitor of a new species, the beastmen.
This would create a glaring imperfection in the laws of Heaven and Earth, giving him a great opportunity to tamper with them even further.
But now...
Now, all of that had been destroyed.
And now, he had to pay the price.
Cultivating the Fate Weaving Divine Scripture was like building a house of cards.
When one piece of the grand plan failed, all of them could easily collapse like a house of cards.
And in cultivating this niche but powerful technique, he had no choice but to continue tampering with fate and seize the heavenly fate for himself, fueling his cultivation even further.
But when the plan failed, the price had to be paid.
Thus, it left him in his current agonizing situation.
"Grrrr... urrarrrr."
The Fate Weaving Sovereign groaned under the punishment of the laws of Heaven and Earth. He had already done everything he could to soften the blow, leaving him in his current state.
Otherwise, let alone merely suffering through this agony, he might have been faced with a series of world-ending calamities sent by Heaven to punish him.
There was one good thing about the Fate Weaving Divine Scripture, though.
It had myriad ways to soften the blows from the laws of Heaven and Earth, as if the person who invented this cultivation technique was someone who often suffered heavenly punishment.
Like a naughty student who was constantly punished by their teacher. Sooner or later, they would find a way to soften the blows or avoid them entirely, not because they had learned their lesson, but because they had learned how to adapt amid the constant punishments.
Now...
Now, he needed to find a new plan.
His time was running out as well.
He could not distract that ambitious Xiao Ye forever. Sooner or later, he would need to find a fragment of the Heavenly Dao and give it to that man. He had already used many of Xiao Ye’s resources to establish himself and gain a foothold in this place.
He did not want that ambitious bastard to come here and wreck the place. It would be... counterproductive for him.
These fragments of the Heavenly Dao would usually end up in the hands of Heaven’s Chosen, since they possessed strong fates, and the fragments tended to gravitate toward them.
It should be one of those many so-called Heaven’s Chosen.
Wait...
Heaven’s Chosen?
A flash of ingenuity struck his mind.
He thought of a great plan, a plan that might be able to rid himself of that annoying Heaven’s Chosen, Wei Chen.
After all, it would be unwise to allow a variable that could easily destroy his carefully laid plans to roam free.
But first... he needed to completely recuperate. With this weakness plaguing his body, he could not hope to accomplish anything at all.
— Meanwhile - Mortal Realm —
Amidst the bustling streets of Thousand Treasure City, merchants from myriad origins came and went, each with the goal of making a fortune in this city full of opportunities, especially for merchants and traders.
In the air above the public square, a large screen was playing the hottest program currently running, "The Merciless Kitchen". The program had become popular because of its novelty, especially in contrast to the many food porn and food-related programs.
This program was less about the food itself and more about the ruthlessness of the culinary industry, bringing that brutal reality into the world of entertainment.
The program had even drawn the attention and praise of cultivators, including those haughty cultivators who thought they were above common mortals and mundane peasants without cultivation.
The screen was playing in the square, where there were many restaurants, as well as roadside food stalls and food carts parked nearby.
People, both mortals and cultivators, mingled together while watching the program.
On the screen, Ding Lao, who had now become the main host of the program, was shouting and cursing at one of the participants.
"What the hell is this?" Ding Lao asked, looking at the clear soup with disdain after taking a small sip to taste it.
"It’s... er... it’s my special clear soup," the participant answered nervously.
"Is that so? My feet-washing water tastes better than this. Do it again! Give me a more pronounced clear soup this time, and fucking forget about your damn special clear soup! Do what you’re told, and if you can’t, get the fuck out of my kitchen!" Ding Lao roared, pointing at the participant, who shuddered and was about to cry.