Heaven-Surpassing Divine Emperor

With his current strength, Jiang Chen could travel from the Imperial Capital to the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm in the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn.

Celestial Demon Canyon had been mostly destroyed since the great battle that took place there.

Furthermore, the stone stele marking the entrance had been hidden by the Black Emperor. As a result, fewer and fewer powerful individuals came here, and it gradually became a desolate, forgotten land.

And yet, today...

When Jiang Chen arrived at Celestial Demon Canyon, he found an old man standing right where the stone stele should have been.

The old man wore a long, cyan robe. He had white hair but the complexion of a young man, and his eyes, as deep as the starry sky, twinkled with a gentle, rippling light.

He seemed to have known all along that Jiang Chen was coming.

He showed no surprise upon seeing Jiang Chen. Instead, he smiled and said, "Young friend Jiang Chen, I have been waiting for you for quite some time."

Jiang Chen froze.

He frowned, studying the old man, certain he had never met him before. "May I ask who you are, sir?" he asked, his brows still furrowed. "Have we met?"

He couldn’t feel the slightest trace of energy fluctuations from this mysterious old man.

He seemed as ordinary as a neighboring grandpa.

But it was this very ordinariness that made him seem all the more unfathomable to Jiang Chen.

The mysterious old man smiled faintly. "We have met," he said slowly, "and yet, we have not."

"Hm?"

Jiang Chen stared at the mysterious old man in confusion, his mind on high alert.

’Even my closest confidants had no idea I was coming to Celestial Demon Canyon at this time. But this mysterious old man... it’s as if he guessed I’d be here, waiting in advance for my arrival.’

’If he tried to claim he was just passing by, I wouldn’t believe him for a second!’

’When something is this unusual, there’s bound to be trouble.’

’This mysterious old man must have a reason for being here!’

The mysterious old man smiled faintly, his eyes—as deep as the stars and as dark as the night sky—fixed on Jiang Chen, scanning him up and down as if trying to see right through him.

After a moment of intense scrutiny,

the old man seemed to tire. He slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again, the gentle smile on his lips never wavering. "Young friend Jiang Chen, there’s no need to be so tense. I was indeed waiting for you, but I assure you, I mean no harm."

Jiang Chen let out a dry chuckle but said nothing.

’As the saying goes, "the hearts of men are no longer what they once were." You say you mean no harm, and I’m just supposed to believe you?’

’Do you take me for a three-year-old?’

The mysterious old man glanced at Jiang Chen, seemingly aware of his thoughts. Unbothered, he smiled, straightened up, and patted the dust from his cyan robe. "Young friend Jiang Chen," he said with a light laugh, "I am waiting here for you simply to ask for a promise."

"A promise?"

Jiang Chen was taken aback. "Sir," he said with a frown, "we’ve never met. Isn’t it a bit presumptuous to suddenly ask me for a promise?"

’A promise isn’t something to be given lightly.’

’If he asks me to do something I shouldn’t, I’d just be bringing trouble upon myself, wouldn’t I?’

The mysterious old man shook his head with a smile. "Rest assured, I will not ask you to do anything against your will. Of course, I won’t ask you to make this promise for nothing. As a show of my sincerity, I am willing to offer you three divinations. What do you say?"

"Three divinations?"

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow, sizing up the mysterious old man.

’Fortune-telling?’

’So this old man is a fortune-teller?’

However...

Jiang Chen shook his head. "Thank you for the kind offer, sir, but I am one who neither submits to heaven nor yields to earth. I firmly believe that my fate is my own to decide, not heaven’s. I don’t put my faith in divinations."

"Don’t be so quick to refuse."

The mysterious old man seemed to have expected this. "My three divinations are not the random babbling of some Jianghu Mage," he said with a chuckle. "With a single reading, I can know the Vast Sea; with a single thought, I can perceive the world’s great changes. This pact of three divinations may very well guide you through your confusion and save you from many wrong turns. How about this? I can talk all day, but a cautious young man like you probably won’t believe a word. So, I will perform the first divination for you right now."

Without waiting for Jiang Chen’s consent, he took out a tortoise shell.

The shell was a brilliant gold, covered in strange, intricate patterns that pulsed with a mystical energy. A single glance at it made Jiang Chen feel dizzy, his vision blurring.

SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE!

The mysterious old man gently shook the shell before placing it on the ground. It spun a few times on its own, and three ancient-looking copper coins tumbled out.

They landed in a triangular formation.

The old man glanced at the coins, a keen light flashing in his eyes. He spoke slowly, "Young friend Jiang Chen, I have completed a reading for you. This is the first of the three I promised. The signs indicate that you will encounter a great destiny and a grand opportunity on your journey. However, fortune and calamity are two sides of the same coin. This opportunity could also become a great crisis. I have but one piece of advice for you: Never forget why you started, and you shall reach your destination."

With that,

the old man retrieved the tortoise shell.

He held the tortoise shell in one hand and the copper coins in the other. His long robes fluttered and his hair and beard danced in an unseen wind, making him look like an immortal who had descended from the heavens, untainted by the dust of the mortal realm.

The old man’s figure began to blur, slowly turning transparent where he stood. Only his weathered, raspy voice echoed through Celestial Demon Canyon. "Young friend Jiang Chen, remember my words. If you come to believe them, then you will have accepted my request for a promise. As for the details of that promise, when the time is right, I will naturally appear before you again."

"Calamity is the foundation of fortune, and fortune is the hiding place of calamity. Who in this world can perceive such things? Only I..."

"With a single reading, I know the Vast Sea; with a single thought, I perceive the shifting world..."

By the time Jiang Chen snapped out of his daze, the old man was long gone.

Jiang Chen’s brow was deeply furrowed. ’What a strange old man. "With a single reading, I know the Vast Sea; with a single thought, I perceive the shifting world?" What a boast! The world is in constant flux; who can truly claim to understand it? Whatever. Didn’t he say his prophecy would soon come to pass? I’ll know soon enough if he was telling the truth or not.’

Jiang Chen took a deep breath.

He then formed a Hand Seal and cast several profound runes onto the ground before him.

RUMBLE...

The earth split open, and a stone stele slowly rose from the fissure.

A circular, spatial portal materialized on the stele’s surface. Jiang Chen stepped through it, entering the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm.

After he vanished, the stone stele disappeared from its spot with a WHOOSH.

But Jiang Chen, now inside the Celestial Demon Ancient Realm, had no idea that after his departure, the mysterious old man’s figure had reappeared in the canyon.

His clear, deep eyes stared in the direction Jiang Chen had vanished. A complex expression flickered across his face as he muttered to himself, "How strange, how very strange. I cannot see through his destiny. Could the legends be true? Ah, well. The world turns according to its own logic. In the great unseen, all is already determined."

He lifted his head and gazed at the boundless heavens.

A look of profound wisdom flashed in his eyes, as if he could see through all things...

"The Mystic Sect is about to appear. I imagine those old slumbering fools won’t be able to sit still much longer, hm? Heh, the wheel of fate has been set in motion by an unseen hand. The Eastern Continent, and indeed the entire Qiankun Continent, will be changed forever because of this!"