Chapter 761 – Heaven's Fate
The copper coin lay silently in Mo Hua's pale palm. It looked light and ordinary, yet somehow felt as heavy as a mountain.
A swirl of emotion surged in his chest.
"But…" Mo Hua frowned with doubt, "I've searched this storage ring countless times before. There definitely wasn't anything else in it…"
"Why would a copper coin suddenly appear now?"
Where had it come from?
Did Master hide it there on purpose?
Mo Hua touched his right thumb.
There sat an ancient-looking thumb ring—plain and inconspicuous, invisible to others. But it had drunk his blood and was now bound to his lifeblood. Only he could see it.
"Could this storage ring still be hiding other secrets?"
Mo Hua paused in thought, then sighed quietly.
Time was running out. He didn't have the luxury to think too long. If he delayed any further, Linghu Xiao and Little Wooden Head would be taken deep into the Myriad Demons Valley… and never come back out.
Even if he wanted to save them later, it would be too late.
He glanced at the copper coin again.
Fragments of memory replayed in his mind.
Only now did he recall—he had seen this coin before. His master had used it.
That was back at the Five Elements Sect.
When Mo Hua had used the Zhang Clan's blank zombie ancestor painting to seal the Five Elements Source Runes, creating the "Five Elements Array Flow Diagram" and brought it to show Master—
His master had taken out a few copper coins, placed them on the table in a mysterious formation, and suppressed the volatile Source Runes with ease.
At the time, Mo Hua had understood nothing.
He didn't know what the coins were, nor what their arrangement meant.
But now, in hindsight, he realized: the coin formation must have been a Heaven's Fate Layout, meant to lock the karma of the Source Runes—like eyes being sealed shut.
That, too, must've been a form of Heaven's Fate Deduction (天機衍算).
Mo Hua held the coin between his fingers, sensing the faint warmth of memories lingering on the cold metal. He sighed in awe… but was quickly stumped again:
"But… how do I actually use this coin?"
He knew nothing about this lofty art of Heaven's Fate.
All the mastery his master had shown—calculating fate, manipulating fortunes, turning disaster into blessings with the flick of a sleeve… He knew none of it.
He didn't even know how to begin learning it.
Then… just leave it to luck?
He remembered that some people used coin tosses to determine fate—heads for fortune, tails for doom.
Guess I'll try that too…
Night was deep. Blood reeked in the air of the Myriad Demons Valley.
The valley mouth looked like a monstrous bloody maw, and soon it would snap shut.
"No time left… desperate times call for desperate measures."
Mo Hua clasped the coin in his palm and silently chanted:
"Thread of fate, reveal thyself. Deduce karma through this coin. Let heads be fortune, tails be doom. Show me the outcome of entering the Myriad Demons Valley…"
His pupils darkened. His divine sense emerged, veiled in three layers of ghostly shadows.
In his eyes, patterns of fate began to rise and fall.
A faint golden light shimmered deep within his pupils.
Combining Heaven's Fate Deduction with his own instinctual Fate Trick, he mobilized divine will near to the realm of gods, using the coin as a medium—to peer into his own karma.
Then—flick!
He flipped the coin into the air.
It spun.
Ordinary at first—but suddenly, the world shifted.
Lines of karma wrapped around it. Fortune and misfortune spun wildly.
A low hum rang out—like the tolling of a cosmic bell.
Mo Hua's pupils trembled violently.
In that instant, the world spun, yin and yang separated, and something split open his sea of consciousness—cleaving through the illusions of the world, connecting him to a deep and profound current in the unseen void.
He saw sun and moon shifting. Stars flooding the sky.
He saw the vast earth, teeming with life.
He saw all creation—people and beasts, light and shadow—countless karmic threads looping endlessly.
They all converged into a silver river, stretching across heaven and earth.
Like a cosmic truth itself: dazzling, majestic, bottomless.
In that vastness, Mo Hua gained an indescribable realization:
This river of karma—was Heaven's Fate!
The world is the board.
All living things are the pieces.
Karmic threads intersect, converging into Heaven's Fate.
In that galaxy of karma— He was both a humble pawn on the board… And the one holding a piece beside it, deducing his own fortune…
He used the karma he had calculated to stir the strands of fate—
Dao Prefecture — Celestial Pivot Pavilion.
An elderly pavilion master dozing over a chessboard suddenly jolted awake. His eyes were dazed but tinged with shock.
"Someone… is performing Heaven's Fate Deduction?!"
"The true kind!"
His gaze quivered. His heart trembled.
That person's fate was already broken, karma severed, life force extinguished…
So who could possibly be using Heaven's Fate Deduction now?
Who… is divining?!
He looked to the sky.
And sure enough, amid the dark starry night, a faint—but uniquely wondrous—light twinkled among the constellations.
"Still raw… hasn't learned to hide his light…"
The old man sat motionless before the chessboard, gripped by the urge to divine.
To figure out who this faint star belonged to.
To calculate who, after that prodigy's life was extinguished, still managed to learn the true art of Heaven's Fate.
To uncover… this almost imperceptible variable in the tapestry of fate.
But in the end—he held himself back.
His gaze drifted to the tabletop.
There sat an ornate candlestick: adorned with crane and cloud motifs, dragons soaring and phoenixes dancing—exquisitely grand, out of place in this humble room.
Within the candlestick, a special formation was carved.
It had been a gift—back when that person was still radiant with talent, serving as Inspector of the Pavilion.
But now… the candlestick was old, used for many years.
Even the flame inside was faint and flickering.
The old man fell into silent thought, and murmured almost inaudibly:
"The flame is too weak… one gust of wind, and it'll go out…"
So just let it burn… a little longer…
One flicker at a time.
Within the ancient, elegant candlestick, the feeble flame still danced—delicate, spirited.
The elder smiled—half wistful, half amused.
"Lived too long, haven't I…"
"The ones older than me are dead. The ones younger are gone. Used to think life held no joy anymore. Just another day, then another…"
"But who'd have thought— This mortal world… still has interesting things."
"So long as you live long enough, You'll always run into something…"
Having said that, the old man felt his drowsiness vanish. A rare excitement stirred within him.
His cloudy gaze lit up slightly, shifting to the chessboard before him.
Upon it lay a half-finished game—long forgotten.
This was a game the Pavilion Master had been playing alone.
But the players… were many.
They just didn't know who they were.
Didn't know where they sat.
Didn't know what they were playing for.
With the Abyss as the primer and Heaven and Earth as the board— The first round… had begun.
The Pavilion Master chuckled with interest:
"It's been so long since I played a proper game… Wonder if I'm still any good."
He picked up a chess piece and placed it.
A move was made. The silent board stirred.
And on the table nearby, there lay a jade slip—bearing a joint proposal from the Four Great Sects of Ganxue Province, regarding a reform of the sect system…
...
Meanwhile— At Demon-Taming Mountain, just outside the Myriad Demons Valley…
The copper coin flipped through the air, entwined with threads of karma and fate, fortune and misfortune shifting repeatedly, until it finally landed in Mo Hua's palm.
It landed heads up.
Mo Hua blinked in surprise.
"It actually says fortune?"
And it was a clean result—no interference, no ambiguity.
The Myriad Demons Valley… is a place of great fortune?
He raised his head and looked into the distance.
In the pitch-black night, the Myriad Demons Valley was a land paved with bones, shrouded in blood mist, crawling with grotesque demonic cultivators, and exuding a vicious, ghastly aura.
What kind of "auspicious land" looks like that?
Mo Hua didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
My first-ever divination… and I botched it?
"But that shouldn't be…"
Just a moment ago, he felt himself attuned to the world's fate—he'd caught a glimpse of the vast web of karma between all things.
It lasted only an instant, a single glance.
Then it vanished, like a dream.
But in that one moment, Mo Hua truly had the illusion that he had seen through Heaven's secrets, traced the roots of karma, grasped fortune and misfortune in the palm of his hand—as if he were an expert diviner.
At least at that moment, his Heaven's Fate Deduction had felt spot on.
Even if not perfectly accurate, it shouldn't have been this far off.
Unless… the Myriad Demons Valley only looks dangerous on the surface,
but in truth, it's a land full of hidden opportunities?
He frowned, then shook his head inwardly.
"Whatever. I have to go in either way."
"Since I've already done a divination and there's no ill omen…
Might as well go check it out."
The copper coin was left to him by his Master.
If he couldn't trust himself, then at the very least—he could trust Master!
Besides, only one of the three demon elders stationed in the valley was still inside—the other two had left.
In theory, as long as he could avoid that one demon elder, the dangers of the Myriad Demons Valley would drop significantly.
And the valley was huge.
With such a vast space… surely his luck wouldn't be so rotten that he'd run right into the only boss-level demon elder, right?
Mo Hua nodded slightly to himself.
Down the bone-paved path, the coffins holding Little Wooden Head and the others were chained to a cart, slowly being dragged forward by several demon cultivators. They were getting farther and farther away—nearly out of sight.
No time to waste. Mo Hua moved.
He activated his Lesser Five Elements Concealment Technique, masking his presence. He also covered himself in a divine path formation pattern, then slipped into a stolen black robe with array markings copied from the demon cultivators. Leaping lightly down from a tree, he landed soundlessly.
Looking around and confirming no other demons were nearby, he cautiously stepped onto the Bone Path.
The path was entirely paved with white bones.
It was hard underfoot, with a subtle, eerie chill.
But thankfully, nothing else strange happened.
Staying hidden and silent, Mo Hua crept forward along the path.
The demon convoy's pace was slow. After about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Mo Hua spotted the coffin cart.
The coffin was tightly sealed, chained to the cart, surrounded by demon cultivators.
"Need to find a way to slip in…"
While pondering, his gaze shifted and noticed another "demon cart" not far ahead.
This one had an iron cage.
Inside it was a black bear demon, bound in chains. Its blood-red eyes were full of savage fury, but it could only roar helplessly.
Mo Hua took a closer look—the chains were inscribed with formation runes.
Ordinary chains, but reinforced by a Five Elements–type Metal Lock Formation, using standardized sect patterns.
Looks like these demon cultivators "procured" them from some family clan…
Eyes flashing, Mo Hua crept along the edge of the Bone Path and stealthily approached the cage, starting to tamper with the formation.
The suppressive aura of the Bone Path kept the demon cultivators subdued, their heads bowed. None noticed him.
Thin streaks of ink appeared out of nowhere, seeping into the black bear demon's chains, spreading silently as they rewrote the runes of the Metal Lock Formation.
Moments later, the formation flickered—and failed.
The bound and stifled black bear demon instantly sensed the shift.
A red glint flashed in its eyes—its ferocity exploded.
In the gloomy silence of the Bone Path, a roaring howl suddenly tore through the air.
With a snap, the black bear demon shattered its chains, smashed open the cage, flipped the cart, and lunged at a nearby demon cultivator.
The poor demon didn't even have time to react—half his body was gone in an instant.
Chaos erupted.
"What the hell?!"
"Damn beast—how did it break free?!"
"Quick!"
"Catch it!"
A swarm of demon cultivators instantly transformed, engaging the rampaging black bear in brutal melee.
Mo Hua, of course, had already slipped far, far away.
The black bear demon was powerful even among Tier 2 demon beasts. Now in full berserker mode, it slashed and bit with vicious force, making it incredibly hard to subdue.
More and more demon cultivators were drawn into the fight.
Even the ones guarding Little Wooden Head's coffin had to join in. They activated their demonic runes, transforming into monstrous forms to battle the bear.
Mo Hua seized the moment, while all eyes were occupied, and silently slipped under the coffin cart.
A while later, the chaos died down. The black bear demon was finally subdued.
But two demon cultivators had died.
One had been bitten in half.
Another had fallen from the Bone Path during the scuffle, straight into a Blood Stream—where his divine sense shattered, and he went mad on the spot.
The others had no choice but to kill him.
Enraged, one demon cultivator moved to kill the black bear.
But someone stopped him.
"Young Master said… the beasts must be kept alive. If you kill it now, you'll be dead next."
"But two of our men are dead…"
Someone sneered,
"So what? At this point… we're not even 'people' anymore."
A cold silence followed.
Someone muttered,
"The beast was fine a moment ago. Why did it suddenly go berserk? Wasn't it chained?"
Some checked the wreckage.
But the chains were in pieces, and the formation runes scattered and broken. No one could figure out what had happened.
"Must've been some idiot who didn't bind it properly."
"Damn it—nearly got me killed!"
"Next time anyone slacks off, I'll skin them myself!"
"Enough!"
A demon cultivator with the strongest aura and the most senior status barked coldly:
"Let's move. No more nonsense."
Everyone held their tempers and lowered their heads.
"The gate of the Myriad Demons Valley is about to close…"
The elder's voice was hoarse and aged.
The dead demon cultivators' bodies were casually tossed aside, and the team reformed ranks. Dragging their carts, they continued their march along the Bone Path—toward the heart of the valley.
Unbeknownst to them…
Underneath one coffin cart…
A very dangerous little cultivator had successfully slipped in.
...
Meanwhile… deep in the forests of Demon-Taming Mountaina…
Rocks were shattered, trees collapsed, and the ground was clawed with deep gouges—as if torn by some savage beast.
Everywhere bore the marks of a brutal battle between cultivators and monsters.
Xun Ziyou's expression was cold as water. The Great Void Sword floated before him, sword intent swirling like a killing wind around his body. His robe, however, was marked with several deep gashes, blood pouring out beneath them.
Even worse—demonic poison had seeped into his wounds.
Beside him stood the elder from the Chongxu Sect, face pale as paper. A bloody slash marked his chest, another across his back, and countless smaller wounds covered his body. The hand gripping his sword trembled—he was clearly gravely injured.
Opposite them stood two demon cultivators, both at the late-stage Golden Core Realm.
One had transformed into a bear demon, burly and towering like a small mountain.
The other had a face like a viper, flicking a forked tongue from between its lips.
They too bore injuries, but thanks to their potent demon Qi, their wounds were slowly healing.
Both sides had unleashed every trick in the book—this was a life-and-death battle, with no room for mercy.
But with the Chongxu elder critically wounded, Xun Ziyou was essentially facing two foes at once, and the pressure was overwhelming. He was steadily being pushed back.
Now, the two sides stood locked in a tense standoff.
Xun Ziyou's gaze turned icy as he growled:
"Beasts—just who are you really?"
The two demon cultivators exchanged a sinister look, but said nothing.
Xun Ziyou formed a sword seal with two fingers, channeling his Golden Core spiritual power to its peak. His entire body was enveloped in the radiant Great Void Sword Intent, its glow like starlight cascading around him.
Although the Great Void Sect's Sword of Divine Will technique had long been lost, some remnants of the Great Void Sword Intent still survived in fragments.
Even so, sword intent had always been notoriously difficult to cultivate.
Xun Ziyou's mastery wasn't considered exceptional—but it was more than enough to deal with these two demon cultivators.
If he didn't go all-out and seize the initiative now, they'd be ground down in a battle of attrition—and two sword cultivators were no match for two peak-stage demon beasts in such a prolonged fight.
His sword intent surged.
The two demon cultivators' expressions grew grave.
Just as they were preparing to attack—first to finish off the heavily wounded Chongxu elder, then take their time dealing with Xun Ziyou—a change occurred.
The moonlight flickered above, its chilling glow fading slightly.
And in the forest beyond, the demonic aura began to dissipate.
The two demon cultivators froze.
They suddenly realized—time was almost up.
They couldn't afford to linger any longer.
With a glance at each other, they turned and fled—choosing neither the dense forest, nor the direction of the Myriad Demons Valley.
Instead, they escaped toward the inner region of Demon-Taming Mountain.
At this moment, returning to the valley was absolutely not an option—that would only lead their enemies right to it. They'd be leading the wolves to their den.
Their only chance was to vanish into the Inner Mountains—a perilous realm swarming with Tier 3 demon beasts.
A dangerous place—but also the best possible place to hide.
Xun Ziyou was about to pursue—but the Chongxu elder grabbed him.
"Save them first!"
Xun Ziyou paused.
The elder's face was filled with pain and remorse.
"That child Xiao'er… I failed to protect her…"
Xun Ziyou's gaze hardened.
"What happened?"
The elder shook his head bitterly, his face deathly pale.
"There's no time to explain… we have to find her. If we can't—then I've committed a sin so great, even death a thousand times wouldn't redeem it. I won't be able to face the Patriarchs… or our Chongxu ancestors…"
Xun Ziyou's expression turned solemn. He nodded firmly.
"Understood!"
Then he asked,
"Where was she taken?"
The Chongxu elder pointed west.
"A group of demon cultivators… they took Xiao'er and fled west…"
Xun Ziyou turned to look in that direction—and his heart skipped a beat.
That's the direction of the forest.
That's where the Myriad Demons Valley is!
The demon cultivators had taken Linghu Xiao… into the Myriad Demons Valley?!
His pupils contracted sharply. A sense of dread swelled in his chest.
And then he suddenly remembered—he had another important duty!
He quickly pulled out his Great Void Command Token.
In the intense battle just now, locked in a deadly struggle with two powerful demon cultivators, he'd had no time to spare—no attention to spare for his token.
He hadn't even noticed that messages had been pouring in.
Now, as his divine sense sank into the token, a flurry of notifications emerged:
"Elder Xun, are you okay…?"
"Are you back yet?"
"Elder Xun—something terrible has happened!"
"Demon cultivators have captured Ouyang Mu of the Tai'a Sect and Linghu Xiao of the Chongxu Sect—they've been taken into the Myriad Demons Valley!"
"Hey! Elder Xun? Are you there?!"
"I'm going to sneak into the Myriad Demons Valley and scout…"
Xun Ziyou's scalp went numb. His face drained of color.
It's over… I'm done for.
I too have committed an unforgivable sin… how will I face the Patriarch and the ancestors of the Great Void Sect?!
His hand trembled slightly.
With stiff fingers, he began to send a message to Mo Hua:
"Mo Hua…"
"Are you okay…?"
"Did you… enter the Myriad Demons Valley?"
Silence.
No reply.
Xun Ziyou's heart sank deeper and deeper— like plunging into a frozen abyss. His limbs turned ice-cold.
Just as he was about to despair completely— the command token quivered.
Xun Ziyou's dying heart jolted violently. He immediately lowered his gaze.
From the token came Mo Hua's message:
"Yes. I successfully snuck in!"
"All safe."
And at the end, Mo Hua had even drawn a little smiley face in magnetic ink: 😊
(End of Chapter)