Ji Xiang's future sight could only perceive fragments. The "Ni Qian Kun" divine ability, though powerful, had its limitations. Some futures could be altered, while others were difficult to change, and these unalterable futures could not be seen.
But the moment the divine ability was activated, a massive dark torrent obscured the future. Immediately, a vast mist followed the dark torrent, and a ghostly city appeared and disappeared within the future.
At this moment, a humanoid figure radiating golden light appeared before the ghost city. Through the illusion, Ji Xiang could vaguely sense the aura emanating from the figure. It was the aura of "Hao Ran Zhi Qi" (righteous energy)!
And as Ji Xiang looked at it, it turned its head.
Then, the scenes of the past and future began to invert and reverse, and everything seen vanished from Ji Xiang's consciousness. Only the golden figure remained. Nothing else could be seen. Afterward, no matter how he activated the divine ability, he could not see this future again.
Ji Xiang's divine light dimmed. The Inner Scene Divine Tablet emitted a faint white light to protect him. The images that had been erased in an instant re-emerged in his mind, nullifying the effect of the unfathomable technique.
"Heavenly Heart Realm!"
Ji Xiang was greatly shocked. Interfering with karma was a skill possessed by beings in the Heavenly Heart Realm. By reversing the past and future, the scenes previously seen became unreal.
"Fortunately, the Inner Scene Divine Tablet protected me, otherwise, everything just now would have been forgotten."
Beings cultivating the Da Luo Dao in the Heavenly Heart Realm could invert karma, incorporating future events into the past, making them actual occurrences. Therefore, although the other party was in the "present," they could see the "future" as if they were there. From this illusory "future," they turned their heads, saw the "peeping" from the past, and thus erased that segment of history. Similarly, they could even turn this future into a "past" that had already happened.
The Heavenly Heart Realm was a mysterious and unfathomable realm, symbolizing the second most powerful realm below the true realm of the Heavenly Dao. As for the highest realm, the Hunyuan Realm, Ji Xiang had not yet encountered any individual at the Hunyuan level.
"To interfere with time, to sever the past and future, this is a highly cultivated individual in the Heavenly Heart Realm. Who could it be..."
Ji Xiang could not see the future of the Chuan Shu rebellion. After a brief period of thought, he adjusted slightly and activated his divine ability again, focusing only on the future of Yang Yinglong, the rebel. He intended to change his fate of death by activating the divine ability with this thought.
An illusion began to appear. A person clad in armor was at the brink of a dead end, surrounded and besieged by a large army, seemingly no different from his original fate. But the next moment, a giant stele suddenly appeared, rising from the ground. The armored person approached the stele, and then a huge, dark, ghastly face emerged from the inscription.
And then... the Battle of Bo Zhou was reversed!
A large number of soldiers were transformed into ghost soldiers by the stele's inscription, and a talisman emerged from the inscription. Yang Yinglong grasped it with ecstatic joy.
"What is that thing?"
Ji Xiang was startled. Just as he was about to continue observing, the fragment abruptly ended. The divine ability was activated, and he could no longer see what happened next.
This time, there was no interference from the Heavenly Heart Realm, yet the future could not be reversed. Thunder rumbled in the sky, causing Zhang Tianshi, who was beside him, to look puzzled.
"Senior Brother, what did you see?"
Ji Xiang also looked up. The heavenly thunder vibrated, which was a warning from heaven caused by the "Ni Qian Kun" divine ability. When the user of the divine ability repeatedly attempts to view unalterable futures, it is considered "acting against heaven." As a heavenly demon, he could not defy heaven's arrangements.
This meant... the talisman that emerged from the stele... came from heaven!
"How could such a thing be possible? There are no living beings in heaven, and the only ones who can represent heaven are..."
"Yuqing cultivators!"
"As expected, the matter of Bo Zhou will not end so easily. This has become troublesome."
Ji Xiang recounted what he had just seen to Zhang Tianshi, which also made the Heavenly Master's expression grim. A talisman that could transform living people into ghost soldiers? Was this more unreasonable than Japan's ghost and god transformation techniques? Simply touching it would result in transformation?
"How could such a thing exist? I have never seen anything like it in any ancient texts."
"If such a thing truly existed, then Xu Fu, as the only ancient alchemist who has lived from the Qin Dynasty to the present day and has always existed in the outer world, would he not have had any thoughts of acquiring this thing over these two thousand years?"
"If such a thing truly existed, then what exactly was Xu Fu researching for the past two thousand years with his ghost and god transformation techniques?"
The Heavenly Master did not believe such a thing, but the facts were undeniable. Ji Xiang had indeed seen such a thing. This indicated that there were ancient secrets in Shu that had not been discovered, and it was unknown who had buried them. Furthermore, the fact that even the Heavenly Heart Realm was alerted and even erased this future to prevent others from peeking, coupled with the involvement of Yuqing cultivators, all pointed to one person.
"Could it be Yuan Huang again?"
The only Heavenly Heart Realm being who existed outside the Three Teachings and alchemists, forming his own faction, and also possessing the identity of a Yuqing cultivator, being the closest to the human world. If anyone was most capable of causing trouble, it would be him.
"No... I don't think it was Yuan Huang."
Ji Xiang recalled the Heavenly Heart Realm being that appeared, radiating golden light, but without the characteristics of a Yuqing cultivator.
"That Heavenly Heart Realm being possessed Hao Ran Qi."
"It's someone from the Confucian school."
"And, this Heavenly Heart being and that talisman might not be related."
The Heavenly Master's expression became serious: "I want to see what is in Shu!"
With that, a halo erupted from his body, and a Yang Shen avatar detached itself, immediately soaring into the sky and heading west. Sending a Yang Shen avatar to investigate, even if some ancient strange artifact existed there, losing an avatar would not be too painful. The Heavenly Master had recuperated sufficiently and was overseeing various regions. How could a dignified immortal allow such a strange object to kill the imperial soldiers in the human world?
Seeing the Heavenly Master dispatch his avatar, Ji Xiang knew that if the Heavenly Master could not handle this matter, then he himself would find it difficult to do so. After all, with the intervention of the Heavenly Heart Realm, if this muddy water were to be stirred further, the best course of action would be to inform the Huiji Vajra.
"Let's look at the situation in the South Sea again... are there any changes this time?"
The divine ability was activated again.
...
In the inner world, the Great Sun Tathagata suddenly had a thread of karma appear between his eyebrows. His eyes, like torches, instantly opened, and the nine heavens and ten earths were illuminated!
"My attainment of the Yuan Shi Venerable position hinges on the Buddhist teachings in the human world's South Sea!"
The Great Sun Tathagata had thoughts in his heart. He had already seen the cycle of karma, and the future was predetermined, to be transformed into the past by him. Once set, it would be difficult to change. In this way, the Great Sun Tathagata could, with one hundred percent certainty, secure the Yuan Shi divine position, as if he had witnessed the birth of the Primordial Buddha. This made the solar radiance on his body even more intense.
Elsewhere, as Ji Xiang's thoughts turned to the South Sea and he peered into the future, a golden hand extended from a high mountain within the Southern Continent. This mountain was named Mount Luojia.