Chapter 479 – A Gamble with the Dao of Heaven

　　Feng Jingyu asked, “What method did you use?”

　　“A magic treasure that can turn back time.”

　　Thus, Lin Xuanzhi saw a conflicted and grave expression appear on Feng Jingyu’s fluffy bird face.

　　After a while, Feng Jingyu spoke, “You know, one always has to pay an equivalent price for opposing Heaven. Don’t look at how you’re alive and kicking right now, but in reality, the Dao of Heaven will ‘settle accounts’ with you sooner or later. When that happens, you’ll understand just how cruel the Dao of Heaven is — this is especially true for magic treasures that can turn back time.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s expression remained unchanged. “If you want something, you must pay an equivalent price. I already knew that in my previous life.”

　　Feng Jingyu asked, “What’s the price?”

　　“I can’t tell you that.”

　　Feng Jingyu asked again, trying to get to the heart of the matter, “Is it related to the agreement between you and Yin Chongyue?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi swept him a glance. “Why do you have so many questions today?”

　　Feng Jingyu squeezed out of Lin Xuanzhi’s hand and jumped to the ground, turning into a handsome young West Phoenix Monarch. He frowned at Lin Xuanzhi. “Because your future is related to my West Land’s fate.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi gave a slight pause. “What do you mean?”

　　Feng Jingyu thought for a moment. “To tell you the truth, when I first came to the Five Continents, I was guided by the Dao of Heaven. For the West Phoenix clan, a phoenix is innately divine as soon as it descends upon the world. The Dao of Heaven will not allow the Phoenix clan to become extinct. Back then, because my dad was already pregnant with me, it meant the Phoenix bloodline had a successor. That was why my father’s soul scattered and dissipated. And I currently have no offspring, so even if I should’ve died in the Nine Lands, I was still reborn from the ashes. When I was reborn, I had a mysterious and unfathomable feeling that those who could save me were in this sealed Five Continents.”

　　He did indeed come to the Five Continents, and met the person who could make him recover very quickly.

　　That person was Lin Xuanzhi.

　　“When the Dao of Heaven guided me, I also saw the future of the Nine Lands.” Feng Jingyu revealed with a grave expression. “I saw desolation and chaos. The vicissitudes of life changed several times, so much so that the blue sea turned into mulberry fields. The Qianyuan Dynasty fell apart, and several Divine Clans died out one by one. In the end, this world became the demons’ world. Humans were forced to retreat to places where spiritual Qi was the thinnest, and cultivators became more and more rare. After tens of thousands of years, the system of cultivation had completely disappeared. Human beings could only live in a small world where spiritual Qi was scarce. Although they could traverse the sky and earth with strange tools, they could never again live a long life, cultivate, or use Daoist techniques. They were also helpless against old age and disease. Even our Phoenix and Dragon clans, as well as those spirits, monsters, and beasts, all became things of legend. I felt that the future revealed by this heavenly secret was very terrible, so I couldn’t help glancing at it a few more times–“

　　He looked at Lin Xuanzhi. “Then I saw you.”

　　At first, Feng Jingyu didn’t know why a man standing high in the clouds on top of a mountain peak would appear together with the scene of the end of the world. However, when he saw the man’s face, he felt that there was no one in the world more suitable to appear high in the clouds than him.

　　He didn’t know who the man he saw was. He just saw the scene change, and the man commanded the clouds and rain with a mere wave of his hand. In an instant, he had already returned the Nine Lands to normal.

　　When he pried into a corner of the Dao of Heaven, Feng Jingyu knew that the man he needed to find was the man revealed to him by the Dao of Heaven.

　　Rebirth was not without a price, and Feng Jingyu’s price was to find that person and follow him until the end of the world.

　　It’s just that Feng Jingyu had never mentioned these things.

　　He didn’t believe that there was such a stunning person in the world, right until he saw Lin Xuanzhi with his own eyes.

　　He had heard of the prophecy about the chosen son of heaven, which almost sent the Yan family into disorder. After learning that Lin Xuanzhi was the eldest son of Xuan Wushe, Feng Jingyu almost threw his head back and laughed.

　　The Dao of Heaven is everywhere. Indeed, it had already arranged everything.

　　Although the Phoenix clan is innately divine, they will never become the ruler of the Purple Emperor’s Heavenly Capital. They had no right of succession and also didn’t need this seemingly supreme authority. They were romantic and free by nature, and they only wished to choose their own Lord to swear loyalty to and rest on the branches of the parasol tree.

　　The Lord that Feng Jiushao chose was Xuan Lou — Xuan Jiuxiao — but Xuan Jiuxiao’s destiny had already changed its trajectory when the City of Twin Moons fell.

　　Everyone knew that the Xuan family lost the supreme throne because they went against the mandate of heaven, but they just didn’t know what exactly the mandate of heaven was.

　　Feng Jingyu’s chosen person was Lin Xuanzhi.

　　At first, he thought that Lin Xuanzhi was eventually going to return to the Nine Lands to comply with the presupposition of Heaven and fulfill his destiny, but he didn’t expect that Lin Xuanzhi was actually a person who had been reborn.

　　A phoenix’s rebirth was in compliance with the Dao of Heaven, but opposing heaven to change fate was in violation of the Dao of Heaven, which would inevitably be punished by the Dao of Heaven.

　　At this very moment, Feng Jingyu wasn’t so sure about Lin Xuanzhi’s future.

　　He even worried that Lin Xuanzhi would die an unnatural death in the near future.

　　“Extra time won’t appear for no cause and no reason; similarly, a person won’t be reborn for no cause and no reason.” Feng Jingyu took a deep breath and stared at Lin Xuanzhi. “That’s why I want to know: exactly what kind of price did you pay?”

　　After a moment’s silence, Lin Xuanzhi said, “Since you’ve already said this to such a degree, if I still don’t say a word, it’ll seem like I’m unreasonable.”

　　“It’s good that you know that.”

　　“When I returned to the past, I did indeed gamble with the Dao of Heaven — the Dao of Heaven is not a person and cannot speak, but just when I was about to succeed, a consciousness suddenly appeared in my sea of knowledge. It told me that if I continued, the Dao of Heaven would completely erase me. However, if I gave up on turning back time, then in another ten thousand years, my physical body would be reshaped into something outside the constraints of the five elements and would jump out of the three realms, becoming a person who exists outside of the world itself and reaching the highest possible realm.”

　　Feng Jingyu couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath. His voice was full of astonishment, “So, you still chose to turn back time?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi replied flatly, “Otherwise, what are you looking at right now?”

　　Feng Jingyu said, “I can’t understand your choice.”

　　“What’s wrong with becoming a person who exists outside of this world? To not suffer from old age, death, and miserable reincarnation — what’s not to like about that?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled and answered, “There is nothing wrong with it. It’s just that as long as there’s no Ah Hen, this world is just as miserable.”

　　Feng Jingyu went silent.

　　Lin Xuanzhi continued, “In fact, ever since the Dao of Heaven told me that I would be completely erased after turning back time, I was prepared to never reincarnate again. I just didn’t expect that when all was said and done, the Dao of Heaven was merciful and actually gave me a chance to start over with Ah Hen. But this so-called opportunity has always been stolen, so sooner or later, it will be returned.”

　　Feng Jingyu asked with some sadness, “Is it worth it?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded. “It’s worth it ah. At least, I once had all of him. Moreover, Ah Hen still has a long life in the future…”

　　“But do you think that Ah Hen will be happy with that long life if something happens to you?” Feng Jingyu interrupted Lin Xuanzhi and asked sharply.

　　Lin Xuanzhi replied that of course — he has already arranged everything, and Ah Hen will completely forget him.

　　Feng Jingyu watched him talk so calmly about what would happen afterwards and couldn’t help but scold, “Like hell you can arrange everything. Does Yan Tianhen need you to arrange his life for him? He’s an independent, living and breathing person; he has his own choices and ideas.”

　　“You’re not the first to tell me this, and you likely won’t be the last either, but the Dao of Heaven is like this. I will try to defy it, but I can’t guarantee the result. I always have to take the worst case scenario into account first and think of a corresponding solution.”

　　Feng Jingyu said with a cold voice, “You really are selfish.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi tilted his head. “Do you have a better solution?”

　　Feng Jingyu thought about it, then spoke faintly, “Actually, there’s nothing wrong with being selfish either.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi, “…”

　　Feng Jingyu finally flapped his wings anxiously. “Is there really no better way?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi replied with there might be, but he really can’t think of it.

　　Feng Jingyu said, “Let me think about it some more.” Then he flapped his wings and flew away.

　　How could the Dao of Heaven be so easy to fool? After all, in the gamble, the Dao of Heaven had already lost once, so it would never let itself lose a second time.

　　After setting up the arrays, they just had to wait for that thing to be caught in the trap.

　　It’s just that the thing seemed to know that powerful arrays had been set up inside the Lin residence and didn’t come out again to harm people for several days. For a while, it did exhaust Lin Xuanzhi and the others.

　　However, this could at least prove one thing — the strange occurrence indeed originated from the Lin family.

　　Yan Tianhen was even worried about whether that thing would just give up and never come out again. You Ming soon dispelled his concerns.

　　“No matter whether it’s nurturing a corpse or advancing its own cultivation, it’s impossible to stop once its hands have been stained with blood from human lives.” You Ming curled his lips. “Just wait a few more days and see.”

　　Sure enough, three days later, Lin Xuanzhi was meditating in the middle of the night when he suddenly sensed a strange aura appear inside the Lin residence.

　　Lin Xuanzhi suddenly opened his eyes and disappeared in an instant.

　　At the same time, Yin Xingli and Esteemed Lan Yue were also heading for the place where the array was affected.

　　When Lin Xuanzhi arrived, he saw a Lin family disciple in the garden. The whites of his eyes could be seen, and his entire body seemed to be trembling, but they couldn’t see anything around him.

　　Without another word, Lin Xuanzhi directly pulled out Zhige and slashed towards the disciple’s entire body. All he heard were bangs and tinkling noises, then the disciple fell to the ground, dispirited and listless. A gust of wind blew around them. That thing seemed to have escaped.

　　Yin Xingli rushed over in a hurry. He looked at the stone that had been moved and frowned gravely. “It can break my trap array. That thing is not simple.”

　　There was a delicate fragrance floating in the air. Although it was light, it wasn’t hard to smell.

　　Lin Xuanzhi first examined the disciple’s body and made sure that he was still breathing, but there was a bloody mark on his head, so he sent the disciple back to his room and asked the doctor to look at the wound.

　　You Ming also rushed over, dressed in a bright red robe. He said with a dark expression, “Just now, I saw that thing from afar. I’m afraid it’s neither human nor demon.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded. “Indeed, it doesn’t look like either. However, I did find some clues just now.”

　　He took a deep breath and looked towards the back of the mountain with narrowed eyes. “There is residual incense smell on that thing. It must have come from the ancestral temple.”