349: The deceased are not the enemy; the calamity arises silently.

"It's been that long, hasn't it..." Qin Wangchuan repeated in a low voice, as if confirming the veracity of the number.

Only after a full three breaths did he slowly exhale a mouthful of stale air.

"I wonder if Sixth Brother has found her yet." His voice was very soft, as if he were speaking to himself.

He immediately shook his head again: "Fortunately, I sent a message to Second Brother before I fell unconscious. With him keeping an eye on things, she shouldn't be able to cause any major trouble even while I'm gone."

As for Tan Lingfei... Qin Wangchuan's gaze darkened slightly.

"The outcome should still be the same as in the simulation."

Not all outcomes needed to be changed.

The blood on Tan Lingfei's hands must be repaid with blood.

Death—that was the best ending he could write for himself.

"Thinking too much is useless."

The voice was soft, yet carried the tranquility of certainty after the dust had settled.

"It's time to go out and see."

Seven hundred and one days.

Enough time for an era to begin, for countless people to rise or fall, for many things to happen, and for many people to forget a renowned Prodigy.

After adapting slightly, Qin Wangchuan lifted his foot and walked toward the stone door.

Halfway there, his steps suddenly paused.

Wait—

He suddenly remembered something.

"Although I've returned, can the techniques I once used still be utilized?"

Once the thought arose, it was hard to suppress.

Qin Wangchuan suddenly raised his hand, his five fingers loosely clenched. His mind instantly sank into the depths of his memory—into Chu Wujiu's wheel of fate, where the heaven-opening battle halberd, which cut through illusion and was overwhelmingly tyrannical, resided.

"Come—out!"

His will condensed, attempting to forcibly extract the phantom of that halberd from the Long River of Karma.

However... his palm was completely empty.

Nothing appeared.

"As expected, it doesn't work..."

Karma is a thread, a connection, a weight, but ultimately not a key that can directly open another person's treasure vault.

The moment this thought settled—

The wheel of fate slowly moved in front of him, the dark patterns on its surface flowing like water, seemingly offering a silent reminder.

Qin Wangchuan looked at it and suddenly recalled the most fundamental function of the wheel of fate.

Using this wheel as a medium, following the threads of Karma, one could borrow—Techniques of the Future.

Summoning a Future Self was merely using one's own Karma to borrow assistance from one's Future Self.

And now, the wheel of fate had devoured the Karma of millions and linked the destinies of countless people... "I understand."

His gaze suddenly sharpened, and his voice carried the clarity of seeing through the mist.

"Why you suddenly lost control, why I fell into that Dream of All Beings, and—"

"It's not that I couldn't use their power, but that I used the wrong method."

"Relying on memory is useless. I should borrow techniques by using the wheel of fate as a bridge, just like summoning a Future Self, aiming toward the 'Future Possibilities' indicated by those Karma trajectories."

Qin Wangchuan raised his hand again, but this time, he tried to activate the wheel of fate.

"I borrow the technique, heaven-opening battle halberd!"

The moment his voice fell, an elegant curve, winding like the demarcation line of the Taiji symbol, suddenly appeared in the center of the wheel of fate!

The curve divided the wheel into two, and one half slowly opened.

Buzz—

As a deep hum echoed in the quiet room, the familiar sensation arrived.

Qin Wangchuan instinctively loosely clenched both hands, and his palms suddenly felt heavy.

A pair of short halberds, entirely dark gold with their shafts wrapped in Opening Heaven Dao Runes, condensed into form from the Void Realm!

It was as if they had always been there, only just now grasped by him.

Most critically—the form of this pair of halberds was completely different from the heaven-opening battle halberd currently used by Chu Wujiu.

They were more ferocious, more solidified, and contained greater power.

Qin Wangchuan stared at the twin halberds in his hands, first stunned, then an irrepressible smile curved his lips upward.

...It worked."

He whispered the words, his voice carrying disbelief mixed with a certainty that felt inevitable.

Not only did it work.

But what he borrowed was a more perfect form than the current one.

"Strictly speaking, this phantom isn't a 'technique,' but if I can borrow even this, doesn't that mean the Heaven and Earth Law can also be borrowed?"

Qin Wangchuan's mind stirred slightly, and the twin halberds trembled gently in response.

A faint yet sharp edge burst forth from the halberd blades, silently slicing through the air ahead and leaving behind two spatial cracks that existed briefly before rapidly closing.

"Interesting..."

Just as he was about to try again, he suddenly let out a pained groan.

He saw an unpredictable bloody gash split open on his left shoulder blade, deep enough to expose bone!

The twin halberds in his hands instantly disintegrated with the sharp pain, transforming into specks of flowing light and vanishing.

"Tsk, there's a price..." Qin Wangchuan lowered his head to look at the wound, his expression unusually calm. "That's normal, though."

"If a Heaven-Defying technique like this had no price, that would be strange."

He tried a few more times, figuring out several rules.

First: The borrowed "technique" can only be maintained for a very short time.

Second: After each borrowing, a wound is certain to appear on his body. The location is random, the depth varies, and the cause is unknown.

Third: He can borrow not only the techniques of others but even his own techniques from different times and spaces.

Fourth: He can only borrow two techniques simultaneously, corresponding to the left and right halves of the wheel of fate.

"This is my unique Divine Ability—"

"'Borrowing Laws'."

As Qin Wangchuan spoke, he looked down at the wound on his shoulder that was mostly healed, his voice carrying a definitive confirmation, as if the dust had settled.

"Although there are many restrictions, it is enough."

"At least, these seven hundred and one days of 'dreaming' were not in vain."

Having finished speaking, he no longer lingered, turning and walking toward the stone door.

This time, his steps were steady, devoid of any doubt.

The heavy stone door slowly opened with a deep grinding sound.

The first person Qin Wangchuan saw was Qin Zhaoer, sitting on a chair, resting her head on her hand and staring at the stone door.

The moment their eyes met.

Qin Zhaoer's eyes instantly lit up, and she practically sprang from the chair.

"Stinky Little Brother! You finally—"

She rushed over like a gust of wind, but suddenly braked a few steps away from him.

That familiar air of arrogance still lingered on her brow, but her gaze slowly sank, as if weighed down by something.

She opened her mouth, then pressed her lips tightly together. She looked away, staring at the ground for two seconds, before raising her eyes to glare at him—still maintaining the posture of "I'm not afraid of you."

But her voice dropped:

"...Hey, listen up."

Qin Zhaoer took a breath, her tone still aggressive, but her words were uttered softly:

"That friend of yours..."

"Died."

Upon hearing this, Qin Wangchuan paused slightly, then a hint of understanding flashed across his eyes.

"Was it Tan Lingfei?" He blurted out the question.

After more than seven hundred days in secluded cultivation, if anyone was most likely to die during this period—it was naturally Tan Lingfei.

That was the established Karma, the outcome he had already glimpsed in previous simulations.

Qin Zhaoer frowned, subconsciously wanting to ask, "Who was that?" but the words died abruptly on her lips.

She pressed her lips together firmly, swallowing the inappropriate question, and simply shook her head gently:

"...It wasn't him."

Qin Wangchuan frowned very slightly.

"If not Tan Lingfei, then..."

Before he finished speaking, his entire body suddenly froze.

A detail he had completely overlooked, like an ice pick lurking in the shadows, pierced his thoughts without warning, creeping up his spine inch by inch—

It was mentioned more than once in the simulation that the reason the two sides of the Academy started fighting was because Human Race Prodigies kept disappearing, leading to a retaliatory killing of an important Alien Race Prodigy.

Taking this as the fuse, the great war had no room for reversal.

Qin Wangchuan had originally thought that as long as he prevented the Prodigies from disappearing, everything that followed would not occur.

But the key point was.

That killed Alien Race Prodigy... was it truly the Human Race who did it?