369: Tianji Pan

Great Wu Dynasty.

Within the imperial palace, which resembled a war fortress suspended in the sky.

The Great Wu Crown Prince’s face was ashen, and the veins on the back of his tightly clenched hands bulged menacingly.

At this moment, he had just finished observing the nation’s destiny.

He was on the verge of a complete meltdown.

Ever since Xiao Shi left the Great Wu Dynasty, the nation’s destiny had plummeted like a cliff dive.

This both shocked and angered the Great Wu Crown Prince!

The previous drop in destiny was only a small decrease, far less severe than the earlier surge in destiny.

But even so, it had already infuriated the Great Wu Crown Prince.

After all, the destiny of the Great Wu Dynasty was their foundation.

It was the most important thing for the Great Wu Dynasty now.

However, this time’s precipitous drop in destiny was comparable to the initial surge, not only causing all the previously surging destiny to fall, but even declining further.

This situation had already exceeded the Great Wu Crown Prince’s tolerance limit.

It nearly made him lose control.

By now.

He had basically realized.

The person who brought a massive increase in destiny to the Great Wu Dynasty back then was most likely this fellow who had now left the Great Wu Dynasty and occupied the Fifth Domain!

The current plummeting destiny of the Great Wu Dynasty was due to this person’s departure from the Great Wu Dynasty.

Although they still didn’t know who this person was.

The Great Wu Crown Prince, however, obtained two important pieces of information from it.

First, this person must be connected to the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect.

After all, when the Great Wu Dynasty’s destiny surged, it was precisely when Xiang Zizhen and his group from the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect joined the Great Wu Dynasty.

While a coincidence might exist.

The probability of such a coincidence was too low.

Second, this person was likely on good terms with Xiang Zizhen.

The decline in the Great Wu Dynasty’s destiny at that time stemmed from the Great Wu Crown Prince’s unwillingness to give the Nan Dou Region to Xiang Zizhen.

This was also the main reason the Great Wu Crown Prince suspected Xiang Zizhen at the time.

At that time, only Xiang Zizhen would harbor dissatisfaction towards him.

And now, Xiang Zizhen could be ruled out.

Then it could be inferred… this person was probably on good terms with Xiang Zizhen.

Therefore, upon seeing Xiang Zizhen suffer such treatment, he became disheartened with the Great Wu Dynasty, which led to the decline of the Great Wu Dynasty’s destiny.

With these two crucial pieces of information.

A cold glint immediately flashed in the Great Wu Crown Prince’s eyes.

He directly arrived in the imperial palace, in front of a dark hall.

“I need to go to the Hall of Fate, you send me there.”

In the dark hall, a blurry black shadow appeared, making a hoarse sound.

“…Alright.”

Then, a black shadow appeared beneath the Great Wu Crown Prince.

Causing the Great Wu Crown Prince’s body to continuously sink.

Merging into the shadow.

Soon.

The Great Wu Crown Prince appeared in a black hall.

The hall stretched endlessly to the left and right, shrouded in mist, with sixteen thick stone pillars supporting the sky, and the crimson ground resembled flowing blood, continuously wriggling.

In the center of the hall, there was a stone platform, upon which a phantom, blurry jade plate was placed.

A group of figures, completely enveloped in black cloaks, were sitting cross-legged around the jade plate.

“I want you to divine someone for me.”

The Great Wu Crown Prince said in a deep voice.

“Please instruct, Your Highness.”

These Black-Robed Men said in unison.

The Great Wu Crown Prince immediately told all the information he had gathered about Xiao Shi to these Fate Diviners.

He intended to use these Fate Diviners to divine Xiao Shi’s true identity and other more relevant information.

Fate Diviners was a special organization personally established by Emperor Wu back then, specifically to deal with Tianji Hall.

The organization was primarily known for its powerful calculations, divination techniques, and prophecies.

Usually, they only needed to know a name to divine all the events of a person’s life.

However, before Emperor Wu’s demise.

Fate Diviners suffered a fatal blow from Tianji Hall in its confrontation with Tianji Hall.

Everyone thought that Fate Diviners had been annihilated by Tianji Hall at that time.

In reality, some people still survived.

These people were moved by Emperor Wu from the open to the shadows.

After Emperor Wu’s demise.

These people were taken over by the Great Wu Crown Prince.

They had been hiding in the shadows, working for the Great Wu Crown Prince.

Now, as the Great Wu Crown Prince relayed all the information and intelligence he had previously obtained about Xiao Shi to these Fate Diviners, these Fate Diviners immediately began to use this information to divine Xiao Shi’s identity.

For them.

To divine a person’s identity based on this was a very common and simple matter.

After all, the Great Wu Crown Prince had already provided a lot of information.

The more information they had.

The easier the divination would be.

The Great Wu Crown Prince waited patiently at the side.

A cold glint flickered in his eyes.

Although he had deduced many things through the decline of the Great Wu Dynasty’s destiny, he still needed to know more about Xiao Shi’s identity before he could implement the plan he was brewing in his mind.

However, just then.

The group of Black-Robed Men who were divining Xiao Shi.

The expressions beneath their black robes suddenly changed.

Pfft!

They all spat blood simultaneously!

They instantly suffered a backlash and severe injury.

“What’s going on!?”

The Great Wu Crown Prince was startled.

“This person… this person is extraordinary!!”

“He has far exceeded the scope of our divination!”

All these Black-Robed Men of Fate Diviners exclaimed.

Their words were filled with intense fear.

And deep confusion.

They didn’t understand why the Great Wu Crown Prince wanted them to divine a high-ranking existence.

This was simply beyond their ability to divine.

Unless the Master of Fate was reborn.

Otherwise, with their strength and cultivation, forcibly divining such an existence would only result in backlash.

The Great Wu Crown Prince frowned.

He knew that there were three types of people these Black-Robed Men of Fate Diviners could not divine.

The first type was a demigod.

To divine a demigod, one must have an equal status, like the Master of Fate of Fate Diviners back then, who had enough status to divine a demigod.

The second type was someone with a powerful identity.

For example, the Crown Prince of the Great Wu Dynasty, the Hall Master of Tianji Hall, or someone with a significant connection to those past eras.

One of the limitations of divination.

Is that it can only divine people and events of the current era.

It cannot divine past eras.

Therefore, if one is deeply involved with a past era, it will also cause the divination to fail.

The third type was someone who possessed a demigod-level supreme treasure.

The protection brought by a demigod-level supreme treasure was also beyond their ability to divine.

Originally, in the Great Wu Crown Prince’s opinion.

Even if Xiao Shi occupied the Fifth Domain, he did not fall within these three conditions that made divination impossible.

Yet, he didn’t expect that as soon as they started divining.

It failed immediately!

“Indeed, this person can ignore the taboo I left on him, ignore the great wu mark’s cultivation stripping, and possesses some powerful means himself…”

The Great Wu Crown Prince’s face was grim.

He no longer had the mind to ponder which of these three conditions the other party possessed.

For him.

He only wanted to grasp more information and intelligence about this person.

“Since you cannot divine his identity, then focus on one point: divine Xiang Zizhen’s importance in his heart! I only need to know this one thing!”

The Great Wu Crown Prince said in a deep voice.

“This…”

The Black-Robed Men of Fate Diviners looked at each other.

Although divining only one point would greatly reduce their burden, through their previous divination, they had all realized… this person held a very high status, and if they forcibly divined him, it would intensify their backlash and even put them at risk of death.

“What? My words don’t count anymore?”

The hesitation of these Black-Robed Men made the Great Wu Crown Prince’s face grow even darker.

He had an overbearing personality.

He never allowed anyone to defy him.

“We wouldn’t dare.”

These Black-Robed Men immediately bowed their heads, their voices bitter.

“It’s just that with our divination alone, even if we exert all our strength, we are not confident that we can divine this one point…”

In their opinion.

The Great Wu Crown Prince’s request was truly asking for the impossible.

An existence of such a high status was simply beyond their ability to divine.

However, the Great Wu Crown Prince’s attitude was resolute.

His eyes even held a trace of madness.

This was a madness that would stop at nothing to divine a result!

“Since you are incapable of divining, then use the Fate Disk!”

The Great Wu Crown Prince’s gaze focused on the illusory jade plate surrounded by the Black-Robed Men.

As a powerful force capable of contending with Tianji Hall back then, Fate Diviners.

Also possessed a supreme treasure no weaker than the tianji plate —

The Fate Disk!

However, these Black-Robed Men of Fate Diviners smiled bitterly.

“Reporting to Your Highness, last time we used the Fate Disk to predict the Hall Master of Tianji Hall, which caused the Fate Disk to fall into a sealed state and become unusable…”

When Tianji Hall reappeared back then.

To draw out the Hall Master of Tianji Hall, they once used the Fate Disk to make a prophecy about this new Hall Master of Tianji Hall.

This resulted in the Fate Disk being sealed.

Currently, it cannot be used at all.

They are now desperately trying to unseal the Fate Disk, but this will take some time.

"I can temporarily unseal the Fate Disk," the Great Wu Crown Prince said in a deep voice.

He raised his hand.

He waved it at the Fate Disk from a distance.

He directly mobilized the destiny of the Great Wu Dynasty to break the seal on the Fate Disk.

When the Master of Fate who performed the Fate Diviners died, the Fate Disk was subjected to a strange seal.

Each time the Fate Disk was used,

it would be sealed, and then it would require a long period of deciphering before the seal could be broken.

But once it was unsealed and then used again,

the Fate Disk would fall back into a sealed state.

This was a seal that could never be completely removed; it would permanently exist on the Fate Disk.

Even if the Great Wu Crown Prince mobilized the destiny of the Great Wu Dynasty to break the seal, he could only temporarily unseal it; after use, the Fate Disk would once again fall into a sealed state.

In an instant,

under the influx of the Great Wu Dynasty's destiny,

the entire illusory and blurry jade disc immediately became clear and quickly condensed into a tangible form.

Thus, the seal was broken.

"Why aren't you acting!" the Great Wu Crown Prince roared sharply.

The Black-Robed Men who were Fate Diviners all trembled.

They clearly felt the Great Wu Crown Prince's determination and madness.

With the Great Wu Dynasty's destiny severely declining, the Great Wu Crown Prince was even willing to expend his limited destiny to break the Fate Disk's seal, which showed the intensity of his resolve.

In response, these Black-Robed Men, who were Fate Diviners, could only grit their teeth.

They immediately activated the Fate Disk to perform a divination.

The Fate Disk, as the strongest treasure for Fate Diviners,

was equivalent to the tianji plate of the Tianji Hall.

Besides being able to make prophecies, it could also be used for divinations.

In an instant, the entire Fate Disk began to spin at high speed under the operation of these Black-Robed Men, emitting an incredibly profound and mysterious aura.

And as the Fate Disk operated,

the burden on these Black-Robed Men, who were Fate Diviners, grew heavier and heavier.

Pfft!

One of the Black-Robed Men's arms suddenly ripped open, and cracks spread rapidly across his body at an alarming speed, covering his entire body within a few brief seconds.

Then, with a bang,

the Black Robed Man's body exploded directly,

turning into a mist of blood.

Although the other Black-Robed Men did not directly explode, they all suffered varying degrees of injury.

Some Black-Robed Men's arms exploded.

Some had their legs blown off.

Other Black-Robed Men had bulging blood vessels on their faces, and scarlet blood continuously flowed from their eyes, dripping down, their entire heads in an expanded state, on the verge of exploding.

If this were normal times, they would have immediately stopped the divination.

But the Great Wu Crown Prince's attitude of sparing no expense made them dare not stop.

They could only exert all their strength to perform the divination.

And so,

when three more of these Black-Robed Men died,

they finally succeeded in completing the divination.

The Fate Disk immediately transformed from a tangible object back into an illusion, returning to its sealed state.

The surviving Black-Robed Men all lay on the ground, panting heavily, covered in blood and sweat.

Their hearts were still filled with lingering fear.

Through this divination,

they realized that the mysterious person's status was even more astonishing than they had previously imagined.

Among the three conditions that made divination impossible,

the person clearly occupied more than one.

They occupied multiple conditions!

Such a high-status existence was entirely beyond their ability to divine.

Fortunately, they only divined one related piece of information, not the person's identity.

Otherwise, even with the Fate Disk's blessing, if they had forcefully divined the person's identity with their current strength and cultivation, even if all of them had exploded and died, they would still not have been able to divine the person's identity.

Now, merely divining one related piece of information had caused them to pay an enormous price.

"How is it?" the Great Wu Crown Prince asked impatiently.

"There's a result," one of the Black-Robed Men, who was a Fate Diviner, said weakly.

"Xiang Zizhen holds a very important place in this person's heart. The two should be very close friends, the kind one would entrust their life to."

"Very good!" the Great Wu Crown Prince was very satisfied with this result, a sinister smile appearing on his face.

Through this point, he could basically confirm all his previous conjectures.

He could also use this important information to implement the plan he had been brewing in his mind.

Immediately,

the Great Wu Crown Prince's body sank into the shadow beneath him, leaving the Destiny Hall and returning to the imperial palace.

And the moment he returned to the imperial palace,

he immediately conveyed an order to Chen Yuan.

"You don't need to investigate the matter of the declining destiny anymore. Immediately bring Xiang Zizhen to the imperial palace to see me."

When Chen Yuan received the Great Wu Crown Prince's order,

his brow immediately furrowed.

Through the current sharp decline in the Great Wu Dynasty's destiny, not only did the Great Wu Crown Prince realize that the person who brought the increase in destiny to the Great Wu Dynasty was the current ruler of the Fifth Domain,

Chen Yuan also realized this.

Originally, he had breathed a sigh of relief about it.

He felt that with such confirmation, Xiang Zizhen would be safe.

But the Great Wu Crown Prince's current order caused a wave of unease to rise in his heart.

Based on his understanding of the Great Wu Crown Prince,

the Great Wu Crown Prince choosing to summon Xiang Zizhen at this time was certainly not a good thing.

Chen Yuan's brows were tightly furrowed over this.

Xiang Zizhen was, after all, his disciple.

He still had feelings for Xiang Zizhen.

He didn't want to see Xiang Zizhen in danger.

But... imperial orders could not be disobeyed!

Even if he was unwilling in his heart, under the Great Wu Crown Prince's order, he could not disobey.

He could only personally go to Xiang Zizhen's domain.

And bring him to the imperial palace... Inside the Tianji Hall.

Xiao Shi looked at the fully repaired [tianji plate] with excitement.

The entire [tianji plate] was triangular, covered with profound and complex runes and incantations, making it quite extraordinary.

And the moment the [tianji plate] was repaired,

wisps of fragmented starlight continuously poured into the [tianji plate].

As if imbuing the [tianji plate] with a soul.

Thereby making the aura of the entire [tianji plate] even more profound and ethereal.

Furthermore,

with the formation of the [tianji plate], the entire Tianji Hall also underwent some changes, becoming brighter, and the four areas within the Tianji Hall also expanded to a certain extent.

Xiao Shi gazed intently at the [tianji plate] in his hand.

Related information about the [tianji plate] then appeared in his vision.

[Name: tianji plate]

[Type: Auxiliary Tool]

[Grade: Demigod Grade]

[Introduction: When heaven and earth first opened, there were two energies in the world: Tianji and Destiny. The first Hall Master of Tianji Hall, by chance, obtained the energy of Tianji and used it to form the tianji plate.]

[Remark 1: Tianji Revelation, capable of foreseeing the nearest and greatest crisis through the revelation of Tianji.]

[Remark 2: Tianji Warning, after taking charge of the tianji plate, the tianji plate will not only issue a strong warning when one faces a sudden crisis, but also when those one cares about encounter a crisis. The Tianji Warning cannot be shielded or hidden.]

[Remark 3: Peeking into Tianji, when making some major decisions or actions, one can foresee the outcome by peeking into Tianji. The stronger one's strength, the more accurate the foreseen outcome will be. After each use, a long period of time must pass before it can be used again; the interval depends on the degree to which the tianji plate has been nourished.]

[Remark 4: Deriving Tianji, by deriving Tianji, one can deduce a complete unknown event from subtle clues. Only those who have reached the Upper Three Realms of Martial Dao possess the ability to derive Tianji.]

[Remark 5: Although the tianji plate is a demigod-grade item, its use has no cultivation restrictions; even those in the Entering Martial Realm can use the tianji plate. However, the stronger one's cultivation, the better one will be at utilizing the tianji plate.]

[Remark 6: It is rumored that the two energies of Tianji and Destiny can intermingle. If one can obtain a Fate Disk that possesses Destiny, perhaps one can try to merge it with the tianji plate, thereby fusing into a stronger artifact.]