Supreme Swordsman of the Nine Heavens

Time Continues to Flow

Sitting underneath the stars, Feng Haochen leisurely voiced, “You have a lot of questions, don’t you? Go on.”

The siblings regarded each other. Nobody knew where to start, nor did it matter to them anymore because their goal to find and rescue their shifu had been achieved, not to mention the family was reunited.

“Over the past few years, I went to First Heaven to resolve the life qi there. Even I need time to handle a dark herb’s life and death qis,” Feng Haochen started.

“Did Bai Jie never get his hands on you?” Mu Yu questioned.

“Hahaha.” Feng Haochen winked at Mu Yu. “Thanks to your notification, I was prepared for him.”

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“I notified you? When?”

“When you met me at World Manifestation Samsara Cycle Mountain. Forgot?” responded Feng Haochen, referring to Mu Yu’s meeting with his past self in Fiend-Sealing Pagoda. “I was perplexed as to why you told me to beware of Third Heaven Palace’s Bai Jie since I formed Third Heaven Palace.”

“You formed Third Heaven Palace?” Mu Yu looked to his siblings. “How did Bai Jie fool you, then?”

“I formed Third Heaven Palace with the intent of having it protect Third Heaven Palace’s human race when their race was in jeopardy. Otherwise, they weren’t supposed to interfere with cultivators. I never expected this generation’s leader, Bai Jie, to fall into the soul race’s hands.”

Uncle An piggy backed off what Feng Haochen said. “Patriarch designed the rules of this world, sealed it and entrusted Third Heaven Palace with protecting the regulations. In other heavens, the human race is the lowest on the hierarchy owing to their weaker physical traits and shorter lifespans compared to other races. I would go as far as saying that they are but slaves. That’s why Patriarch brought the human race here a hundred thousand years ago so that they could live in peace here. Humans are only allowed to venture into other worlds once they reach Apotheosis Realm to avoid them ending up oppressed again.”

Xiang Nan asked, “But Shifu, why did you not unite everyone when you are so strong? You have more than what it takes to rule as the sovereign of humanity, do you not?”

“A kingdom’s sovereign? Doesn’t sound like something I’d pursue,” Feng Haochen answered. Cultivation meant cultivating one’s mind into that which one desired. Feng Haochen never desired to rule and did not believe he was the right material for it. “I prefer to let mankind develop on their own accord. Although humans are the weakest race among all of the other races, they have the most potential, which tickles my inquisitive nature. I want to let them create their own rules without interference. How boring would it be if everyone mimics my swordplay? They should have the freedom to experiment and come up with more interesting things, be it combat, swordplay, skills, styles or whatever. It’s not cultivation if you aren’t exploring, experimenting, experiencing and tinkering. If you just do what I do, that’s called copying.”

Feng Haocheng’s disciples, even life-loving Mu Yu, had to admit that they could not be as open minded and tolerant as their mentor. In fact, they could see how short-sighted they were compared to him.

Recalling the meeting at Fiend Island, Mu Yu inquired, “Shifu, how does someone in the past know what will happen to the future? My question is, how do you know what I told you at World Manifestation Samsara Cycle Mountain?”

Feng Haochen gazed up at the stars and grabbed his beard. “Someone will gain the ability to live outside the boundaries of time. Maybe that person is me.”

“You mean you remember what I told you? Why didn’t you just kill Bai Jie from the start? That would have avoided countless deaths.”

“You pointed out Bai Jie when he’s just a human under the soul race’s control. If I slay Bai Jie, they might replace him with Li Idiot. Divine Executioner might control Li Idiot. The only thing that would’ve changed is that you would fight Li Idiot, instead.” Feng Haochen grinned. “When you mentioned it to me, I had yet to figure out how Divine Executioner came to this world. I considered sealing the world to avoid further complications in the future. To that end, I had to look at it from a long-term point of view, meaning I had to let the events unfold in order to protect this world. Most importantly, I have to protect you.”

“Me?” Mu Yu pointed to himself since Feng Haochen directed his gaze onto him.

“Time is a miraculous regulator. I am free of time’s restraints. Unfortunately, you aren’t strong enough to escape its shackle. I sometimes peer into the future using World Manifestation Samsara Cycle. Sometimes, the death of a tree of butterfly can alter the future. After finding out you warned me in the future, I was worried about altering the future, consequently costing you your life. It’s not fair if I take in a disciple and then cost him his life owing to my error, is it?”

“A-Dai doesn’t understand. Why would a butterfly’s death alter the future?”

“You’re painfully stupid!” Xiaoshuai elucidated, “Let’s say a group of people go into a valley to hunt, for instance, and unintentionally enter a dangerous fiend beast’s territory. An hour ago, the fiend beast went to catch a butterfly, so the hunters are now safe. If you accidentally killed the butterfly an hour ago, though, the butterfly never would’ve drawn the fiend beast away. As a consequence, the hunters would’ve waltzed into the fiend beast’s territory while it was there and died. Now, let’s say one of the hunters was Mu Yu’s ancestor from eighteen generations ago. If the hunter died because you killed the butterfly, Mu Yu wouldn’t be born, so the future changed, get it?”

“Oi, Xiaoshuai, why didn’t you use A-Dai for your example? You want to go on a fast?” Mu Yu griped.

“You’re the one being protected,” Xiaoshuai grumbled.

“Oh!” A-Dai apologetically expressed to Mu Yu, “A-Dai won’t catch butterflies again in the future so that your ancestors don’t get eaten. I will take care of animals and A-Mumu’s eighteen generations.”

Am I being cursed right now? Mu Yu wondered. He returned to the main topic at hand, opining, “It is not fair to throw away so many lives just to save mine, though, is it? If you sacrificed me, the tragedies could have been averted.”

Feng Haochen smiled. “You can’t interfere with time. Since you met me at World Manifestation Samsara Cycle Mountain, the future must develop down the branch where you exist. If I sacrifice you, there’s no guarantee that the future will be any brighter. Nobody can control the future. I might be liberated from natural laws, but it doesn’t mean I can control the future. The future could venture down any path. I can’t gamble with it… So you must live.”

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