Thoughts surged and ideas flashed through Meng Qi’s mind, but he did not act rashly. Instead, he meticulously reviewed his earlier contemplations from start to finish. The more he scrutinized them, the more he dismissed his fear of the other shore and the Devil Buddha, and the more he found the idea plausible—though undeniably audacious, it was not without reason.
Moreover, the “River of Fate” was a trial, not a life-threatening ordeal. It was only natural to make multiple attempts rather than retreat in the face of difficulty after a mere glance.
The only concern was whether this would provoke the “Devil Buddha’s Brand,” causing it to mutate and bring about undesirable consequences. However, considering that the Devil Buddha was currently sealed and unable to exert any power, and that the brand was in equilibrium with the Peerless Heavenly Blade—even if it went out of control, it would remain within certain bounds—Meng Qi steeled his resolve and decided to proceed with the attempt.
Once the direction was set, the rest was a matter of details. After focusing and refining his plan, Meng Qi drew the resplendent yet weighty purple longsword and stepped forward once more into the illusory “River of Fate.”
Around him, the “River of Time and Destiny” manifested once more, flowing endlessly as it resisted the relentless erosion of the fateful currents. Relying on his own characteristics of the other shore, Meng Qi sank like a stone to the riverbed again, anchoring himself firmly in the present and steering clear of the tributaries.
His innate spiritual light shone down from the infinite heights. He did not trace the past nor observe the future, but instead immersed himself in the present moment, comprehending every state and piece of information at this node. Meanwhile, the Peerless Heavenly Blade was enveloped in a purple-black electric glow, its radiance bursting forth, clashing and sparking with terrifying intensity.
At the same time, Meng Qi extended a strand of divine sense into the blade. There, he saw the boundless sea of lightning—once the ancient Thunder Pond—shrouded in darkness and ravaged by gales. Countless thunder dragons pierced the heavens and the “water’s surface,” forming a dense, forest-like spectacle.
The sea of lightning was split in two: half noble purple, half abyssal black. The two were not clearly demarcated but constantly eroded and dissolved each other, erupting in flashes of lightning that illuminated the gloom.
The purple roiled, every drop of thunder and every bolt seemingly containing a deity—one connected to myriad realms, wielding the power of electromagnetism and divine retribution. At the deepest point of this convergence, a purple blade shadow floated and sank. The darkness, however, was profound, with thunder and lightning flickering in and out of existence, channeling boundless malice, endless corruption, and infinite slaughter, all interwoven at the ocean’s depths in a strange rhythm, as if birthing something capable of annihilating heaven and earth. This was the manifestation of the struggle between the Peerless Heavenly Blade and the “Devil Buddha’s Brand.”
—Since ascending to the Legendary realm, Meng Qi had been trying to help the Peerless Heavenly Blade rid itself of the brand left by the Devil Buddha. Yet its nature was so arcane and elusive that, despite its relatively weak power, it clung like stubborn glue. Only through relentless attrition could victory be gradually accumulated, transforming quantity into quality.
Surveying everything from above and grasping the situation in full, Meng Qi suddenly felt a fissure open between his brows. From it emerged an ancient glass lamp, indescribable in color, both illusory and real, illuminating the surroundings and casting light upon the causal universe, revealing all connections in the present moment.
Brilliant star-lines densely surrounded him, countless in number, symbolizing the myriad “presents” determined by the past. These intertwined with Meng Qi, the external “variable,” forming countless links. Taking himself as the core and coupling with the “unexpected” preset by the founding ancestor of Zhixu Mountain, they collectively branched into countless tributaries, exhausting all possible futures—yet every possibility contained the outcome of “Meng Qi failing the trial.”
The grand tide was difficult to alter. The “unexpected” was like a mantis before the wheel of history, powerless to stop it, all within the other party’s calculations.
Taking a deep breath, Meng Qi suppressed all emotions and thoughts, like a celestial sovereign overlooking chaos or a Buddha gazing upon the mortal world, and directly activated the “Cause of All Effects!”
The glass lamp blazed with light, dispelling all darkness and obscurity, then slowly began to rotate like a millstone, pulling the brilliant star-lines into its spin.
The rotation grew increasingly violent, stirring illusory waves in the river as space-time trembled, causality teetering on the brink of losing control.
All present circumstances surged forth along the connections. Were Meng Qi not a Legend and in possession of the Cause of All Effects, he would have been overwhelmed by the terrifying deluge of information, just like the jade puppet.
Standing firm like a reef in the torrent, Meng Qi extended his hands, forming ever-changing seals until he finally settled on the “Dao Yi.”
**Boom!**
An illusory explosion resounded as the glass lamp descended upon the Peerless Heavenly Blade, carrying all present connections and circumstances. The “River of Fate” trembled violently, its once serene and eternal flow now churning with chaotic waves.
**Boom!**
Within the Peerless Heavenly Blade, thunder roared as destruction and rebirth unfolded everywhere, with purple lightning and black radiance writhing like claws. The moment the glass lamp entered, it reversed its rotation, transferring the entangled connections into the abyssal black sea of lightning.
**Tampering with causality, deceiving heaven itself!**
Under the illumination of the “Cause of All Effects,” the brilliant star-lines offered no resistance, raining down like a dizzying storm upon the sea of corruption symbolizing the “Devil Buddha’s Brand.”
The moment they touched the dark lightning and pierced the ocean’s surface, a tempest erupted. Billions of electric arcs merged into one, crashing toward the “Dao Yi Glass Lamp.”
Half the sea was emptied, revealing a dark figure seated in the void—nine heads, twenty-six faces, utterly disproportionate and asymmetrical, embodying chaos and madness. Twenty-four arms held objects such as a bone rosary, a human-skin drum, black flames, and terrifying chaos—manifestations of the world’s greatest horrors, destruction, corruption, and insanity. This was the phantom of the Devil Buddha’s inverted form!
Just as the destructive lightning pierced the boundary between reality and illusion, the purple half of the sea of lightning also underwent a drastic change. All thunder and lightning contracted, merging into the blade shadow, making it almost tangible.
With a flash, the purple blade shadow severed the dark tide crashing toward the Dao Yi Glass Lamp.
The threads of causality fell, adhering to the Devil Buddha’s phantom. Though it repeatedly attempted to reverse the “Adhesion of Karma,” Meng Qi, wielding the Cause of All Effects and the power of the Peerless Heavenly Blade, temporarily suppressed it.
**Boom!**
The thunder wailed as the darkened sky cleared. All connections were momentarily transferred onto the Devil Buddha’s brand.
**Boom!**
The River of Fate convulsed as if on the verge of breaking, its waters turning turbid, unable to process the “variable” of the Devil Buddha’s brand. Whirlpools formed one after another, plunging everything into chaos.
Amidst this upheaval, the future split once more, giving rise to previously non-existent tributaries—illusory and fleeting, as if they might vanish at any moment.
**This was the opportunity!**
Images of the River of Time and Destiny surfaced in Meng Qi’s eyes as he opened his mouth and uttered a grand proclamation, seeking to manipulate fate and guide the future!
……
In the grand hall of Zhixu Mountain, the middle-aged scholar who served as sect master showed no trace of his usual grace as he resumed his argument with the black-robed old woman.
Suddenly, they heard an illusory explosion. The flow of time around them grew erratic, speeding up and slowing down in a bizarre and inexplicable manner—all originating from the sect’s secret grounds.
“What’s happening?” The two sprang to their feet and instantly appeared before the ancient bronze door, where they found Yue Ziqing attempting to enter.
The surroundings had darkened, and an illusory river—its origin unknown—streaked across the sky, flowing into the distance. With the bronze door as its node, countless tributaries branched out behind it, unfathomable in number. Now, each tributary trembled violently, with old ones vanishing and new ones emerging incessantly.
**Had Su Meng found a way to cross the “River of Fate”?**
Stunned, they exchanged glances and prepared to follow Yue Ziqing to investigate.
Just then, a grand and solemn voice resounded—from above the illusory river, from the infinite heights:
**”If I attain the other shore, then in all worldly matters, no matter how dire the plight, there shall always be a sliver of hope!”**
“If I attain the other shore, then in all worldly matters, no matter how dire the plight, there shall always be a sliver of hope?”
The middle-aged scholar, the black-robed old woman, and the others exchanged bewildered looks, as if they had stepped into a Buddhist scripture or a passage from their sect’s history—one that chronicled the words of the Buddha himself!
**Had Su Meng truly passed the trial of the “River of Fate”?**
**Was it possible to succeed without reaching the other shore?**
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