On the southern edge of the Tianhun Continent, there stood a rather small province known as the Star Ocean Province.The majority of its terrain is comprised of trees and mountains. One mountain range, in particular, had a specific mountain known as the Disorienting Mountain.
The mountain itself wasn"t very wide or large, but the mist that covered the entirety of it was especially notorious for causing travelers to lose their way. It disorientated their senses, and thus, the mountain came to be known as that.
But other than that, there wasn"t any spectacular about this mountain. It captured the interest of neither commoners or soul cultivators, so not many people came here.
What people didn"t know was that the mountain had a secret. A single manor was hidden deep within the Disorienting Mountain. This was the stomping grounds of the Fate School.
To those of the Fate School, the Disorienting Mountain was a land filled with energy and beauty. A hidden paradise, almost. Only here were they able to focus on their own art without disturbance. Any commoner would surely call this place a wonderland if they knew.
Yes, a wonderland. With how the cranes would often soar through the skies and how the deers would prance and run on the ground, this place could be what legends often described as being a paradise.
In one of the courtyards of this manor, the innocent cries of laughter could be heard from within. Two children, both of seven years of age and of opposing genders, could be seen playing tag with pure childhood innocence.
They were none other than the children of Li Chengfeng, Li Ruofeng and Li Ruoling.
The two continued with their game of tag for some time until one of them tired. Racing to the table where a young woman sat, Li Ruoling fell affectionately into her lap, “Mom, why isn"t dad back yet! I want dad…”
Li Ruofeng caught up to her shortly afterward, “I told you not to bother mom so many times already, sis! What if you accidentally hurt mom and our little brother!”
“Oh…” Ashamed, the girl stepped back from her mother two steps, but not before giving the belly of her mother an affectionate rub. “Mom, was I like this? When will he be born?”
“How many times are you going to ask that question,” Her brother started before the mother could even respond, “didn"t grandfather Ge say he"ll be born on the sixteenth of the eighth month? That"s in two months!”
Disgruntled, Li Ruoling sent a withering glare at her brother, “Know-it-all! I just want to see how he"s doing, that"s all!”
The mother couldn"t help but smile fondly at the sight of this interaction. Affectionately caressing the head of her daughter, the woman answered, “Worry not, your father will be back soon.”
“But how much longer is that?” Li Ruoling seemed unsatisfied by such an answer. “I might as well ask grandfather Ge and see if he can divine an answer!”
“Don"t even bother, grandfather Ge already has a lot on his mind! He"s always in the back mountains, I never even see him anymore.”
“Yes, be a nice child, Ruoling, and don"t bother grandfather Ge. Don"t travel far from here in the coming days and wait for your father to return, okay?”
“Yes…” Li Ruoling nodded her head sadly.
Motherly affection filled the eyes of Ling"er. However, she couldn"t help but feel a sliver of concern cross her mind. There were things she couldn"t tell her children, after all, and the atmosphere of the Fate School was substantially different nowadays. Even she could tell from where she was.
……
At the current moment, where Li Ruofeng said the "back mountains". A room carved out from the belly of a mountain.
A man stood there within the halls of the cave. Ge Yiyun. Completely unchanged from when he first met Bai Yunfei from ten years ago, the elder male was currently lost deep in thought about something.
If there was something that could have the headmaster of the Fate School, a Peak Late-stage Soul Emperor, so troubled, then it surely must be something especially troubling.
In front of him was a giant roulette. Carved entirely out of stone, it looked almost similar to that of a clock or a geomancy board. All sorts of complicated runes and markings adorned the surface of the roulette and gave off a mystical feeling to everyone.
Ge Yiyun was currently staring at this giant roulette in wonder.
After what seemed like an eternity, he signed. “So…the ancestor"s Rune of Fate has finally returned after five hundred years….what information is recorded on here? Could it truly be, the Supreme Saint"s Inheritance? The ancestor has been searching for so long without returning, did he die where the Inheritance is? Is the crisis of our school related to that…?”
His eyes landed upon several markings on the central-left portion of the board. The markings in that portion seemed to flicker with light somehow. This was the Rune of Fate Ge Yiyun talked about and worked similarly to the Life Slips of the Crafting School. Every person of the Fate School would have a Rune of Fate with them and would return to the Fate School upon their demise. And on the roulette, information would be recorded about what the individual came across.
But there was something required for one to decipher the information recorded by the Runes of Fate. It required a "central piece", the Heart Compa.s.s.
A palm-sized indent could be seen at the center of the roulette. This was the area where the Heart Compa.s.s was supposed to fit. And only when the Heart Compa.s.s was fitted in there could the entire roulette be complete and be used.
The giant stone wheel was named the "Wheel of Fate". Serving as an amplification device for the Heart Compa.s.s, the Wheel of Fate could heighten the chances of divining the future. Last time, Li Chengfeng took out the Heart Compa.s.s so Bai Yunfei could upgrade it. Because of that, Ge Yiyun was able to make use of the Wheel of Fate and confirm a few things relating to the Crafting School. Consequentially, Li Chengfeng made use of this information to run off and warn Bai Yunfei.
That was roughly around the same time when an ancestor of the Fate School had their Rune of Fate return to the wheel. It caused no small amount of shock when it did, but because Li Chengfeng wasn"t here, Ge Yiyun had no way of deciphering the information.
And that was also the same day Ge Yiyun began to feel an abnormal amount of pressure. It was a sense of foreboding that caused a great amount of unrest within him.
……
After standing in front of the Wheel of Fate for so long, Ge Yiyun let out a sigh and turned around. It was finally time to leave.
“Bzzz…”
It was faint, but a distinct rumble erupted from the Wheel of Fate at that moment. Whirling around, Ge Yiyun stared in shock at the Wheel of Fate.
Concentrating on the Wheel of Fate, Ge Yiyun began to manipulate the energy around him with his ten fingers. He was seemingly trying to make sense of the strange energy around him.
“Oh no!!”
Moments later, Ge Yiyun began to let out a shocked cry!
The crisis of his school was something he learned about over ten years ago. He was never able to divine any legible information about this crisis after that. Not until right now. Somehow, his divinations today were different than his previous attempts. Finally, he was able to discern something new—the crisis was finally here!!
It was right now!!
But he wasn"t even given enough time to register that shock. It was at that moment he felt a presence at the entrance of the hall.
It was a handsome youth, but his face was ruined by the fl.u.s.tered panic on his face. Without even waiting for Ge Yiyun to say anything, the man began to make his report, “Bad news, teacher! The Seven-layered Illusion was broken just a few moments ago. They"re right outside our school, but even the final layer of the illusion is about to break!!”
“What?!”
Another tremor of shock ran through Ge Yiyun, but he managed to suppress it long enough to bark out commands. “The school is now on its highest alert, no one is to do anything without further instructions! Alert the first elder and prepare to activate the Hidden Horizon!!”
……
Meanwhile, in a city far far away.
Li Chengfeng was walking through a bustling city at this moment when he suddenly froze up. His hand flew to where his heart was and clutched at it as if he was in pain. Terror filled his face at once as he realized what the pain meant.
“Oh no!!”
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