The Captain took a deep breath and said, "Enough! Sunshine Boy can swear an oath, but only that he won’t proactively harm Hao Yunsheng. Hao Yunsheng, you must agree to let him perform Observing Fate and Qi, and you must swear an oath as well!"
"Captain..." Hao Yunsheng looked at the Captain, but the Captain turned his head to look away.
Hao Yunsheng gritted his teeth. "I agree! I swear on my Fate Grid that as long as Sunshine Boy is willing to act as the Deceitful Infant and does not proactively harm me, I will allow him to perform Observing Fate and Qi on me, use Inference on my Fate Grid, and use Accelerating Life on me to fight the Deceitful Mother!"
Sunshine Boy said, "I swear on my Fate Grid that as long as Hao Yunsheng does not proactively harm me and allows me to use Inference and Accelerating Life, I will never harm him! Tell me your Eight Characters of Birth."
Before swearing the oath, Sunshine Boy did a very "sunshine" thing.
He quickly swapped the four Destiny Stars on his Life Pillars with the Bait Destiny Stars he had bought, then swapped them back after the oath was complete.
Hao Yunsheng shot Sunshine Boy a glare, then found a brush and paper, wrote down the eight characters, rolled it into a ball, and handed it to Sunshine Boy.
Sunshine Boy unrolled the paper, glanced at it, and put it away.
"Everyone, please protect me. I’m going to perform Observing Fate and Qi on Hao Yunsheng."
The group entered the room, and the Night Guards secured the doors and windows.
Morning light could not penetrate the papered windows, leaving the office dim.
With a dark expression, Hao Yunsheng sat down. Sunshine Boy sat across from him and initiated Seeing the Dragon and Gazing at Qi.
A brilliant golden Official Seal appeared above Hao Yunsheng’s head. Coiled atop the Great Seal was a tortoise—a Turtle-Button Gold Seal.
This was Approaching Officer, one of the four auspicious phases: Longevity, Crown and Sash, Approaching Officer, and Emperor’s Prosperity.
’Something’s not right...’
On closer inspection, the tortoise wasn’t made of Gold, but was Gold-Inlaid Jade.
Only an Emperor could use a Jade Seal.
’This kid is truly terrifying. For others, Crown and Sash is just an ordinary hat, but his is an Emperor’s Crown. For others, Approaching Officer is just a normal Official Seal, but his is not only a Turtle-Button Gold Seal, the turtle button has even turned to jade. Wait... if his Crown and Sash phenomenon is an Emperor’s Crown, then this Approaching Officer phenomenon should be a Jade Seal. Could it be because he lost the Divine Sky Thunder Seed, causing his Qi Fortune to change?’
Looking above the Official Seal, he saw there was indeed no Destiny Image.
He went straight into the vortex. An instant later, Sunshine Boy felt like he’d been blinded.
He found himself in a massive square paved with blue bricks, spanning over a thousand feet. The bricks beneath his feet were laid fifteen layers deep.
At the far end of the square, a grand hall with golden tiles and red walls stood, shimmering with golden light, majestic and imposing.
Between the square and the hall, a flight of Hann White Jade stairs led upward. The imperial ramp between the staircases was carved with a mural of two dragons playing with a pearl.
"Sigh..."
Sunshine Boy couldn’t help but think of his own shabby little hut.
Feeling a brilliant golden light shining from behind, Sunshine Boy turned his head and was blinded for a second time.
Above the white Life Cloud in the sky, brilliant golden Destiny Stars were stacked together like salted duck eggs.
There were about thirty or forty of them.
These Destiny Stars were too bright, shining so intensely that Sunshine Boy couldn’t see them clearly or probe them at all.
Sunshine Boy tried every method he could think of but still couldn’t see, so he had to give up.
He took a step forward, arriving at the entrance to the Life Mansion. The great doors stood wide open.
For the third time, Sunshine Boy was dazzled.
Other people’s ground was yellow earth, stone, or wood. This guy’s, however, was paved with glittering, square gold bricks.
A youth’s Life Land is divided into nine sections, and his looked as if nine blocks of solid Gold had been poured over it.
The Fate Technique says: A Life Mansion with Golden Land will be recorded in the annals of history.
Sunshine Boy thought to himself, ’This Ye Han... Huh? Is that his nickname? I should call him Hao Yunsheng. This Hao Yunsheng is actually the kind of major figure who is destined to leave his name in the pages of history.’
Sunshine Boy narrowed his eyes, staring at the Golden Land as he thought it over and over.
’If I can hunt Fates, can I also scrape the land bare? I don’t need much. I just need to pry up four slabs of Golden Land and place them under my Life Pillars. My Fate Grid would surely be strengthened several times over. Anyway, he has nine sections of Life Land and four Life Pillars. The extra five sections are useless to him...’
Sunshine Boy made a mental note of it and looked up at the four Life Pillars.
A coiled Golden Dragon was wrapped around each Life Pillar.
The Fate Technique says: Golden Dragon Pillar, blessed with both fortune and prosperity.
’Today has really been an eye-opener. I’ve finally seen what a top-tier Fate Grid looks like.’
Sunshine Boy’s gaze moved upward. Four Destiny Stars floated above the four Life Pillars, far more brilliant than any he had ever seen before.
Above the Year Pillar, within the Destiny Star, was a clear sky where the sun rose in the east and set in the west.
Afterward, the moon would rise, illuminating the night sky.
When the moon set, the sun would rise again in a ceaseless, repeating cycle.
Within this Destiny Star, there was never any darkness.
Celestial Destiny Star: Sun and Moon Ascending, extremely noble.
The Fate Technique says: Like the rising of the sun, like the waxing of the moon. With the Sun and Moon Ascending, one’s fate will forever prosper.
Sunshine Boy gazed at one of the most legendary, top-tier Destiny Stars, then thought of his own and was left speechless.
’The first Destiny Star has a massive influence on a person. He was born with Sun and Moon Ascending, which is like having a foundation that will last for generations.’
As Sunshine Boy thought this, he looked toward the second Destiny Star.
Above the Month Pillar, within the Destiny Star, a sun hung high in the sky. Beneath it, a shimmering golden mountain rose from the ground, piercing the clouds and mist, looking down upon the world with arrogance.
In that instant, Sunshine Boy felt as if he were looking up at Mount Everest.
Celestial Destiny Star: Sunlight on Golden Mountain, extremely noble.
The Fate Technique says: Its brilliance is like the sun, its foundation like a mountain. Where there is Sunlight on Golden Mountain, defiled snow disperses on its own.
"This is one of the Fate Grids that best turns danger into safety. Paired with Sun and Moon Ascending, his destiny is superb," Sunshine Boy commented sourly, then looked to the third Destiny Star.
Above the Day Pillar, within the Destiny Star, was an endless, pitch-black swamp that resembled an ocean, stretching as far as the eye could see.
A green, poisonous fog permeated the air, and purple bubbles gurgled up from everywhere.
SPLASH! The poisonous fog churned and the swamp water erupted as a massive, single-horned, dragon-like behemoth poked its head out. Its entire body was covered in dense black scales, and its head was as large as a mountain.
Countless venomous creatures slid down its scales.
This dragon-like behemoth thrashed about in the deep black swamp, never revealing its full form. By a rough estimate, its body was ten thousand zhang long.
The behemoth was originally covered in black scales, but its surface now showed dense, pale white cracks from which a faint golden light escaped.
The creature would occasionally raise its head high and gaze eastward, its pitch-black eyes filled with blazing killing intent, its ferocious nature on full display.
Wisps of a strange power from the poisonous pool transformed into threads of dark green mist, continuously merging into its body.
Celestial Destiny Star: Poisonous Pool Hidden Dragon, extremely malevolent.
The Fate Technique says: A hidden jiao in a poisonous pool becomes a hero of a region. A Poisonous Pool Hidden Dragon brings disaster to all living things. A Deep Sea Hidden Dragon cultivates, regulates, governs, and pacifies.
Suddenly, the black Poisonous Pool Hidden Dragon turned its head and looked at Sunshine Boy.
Sunshine Boy felt a chill run through him and hastily averted his gaze.
"This..." Sunshine Boy hadn’t expected to encounter such a malevolent fate.
The last person to have the Poisonous Pool Hidden Dragon Fate Grid was Chen Duanxiong, one of the four great Rebel Kings who was as famous as the Grand Ancestor of Qii Country.
Sunshine Boy sighed. If the other party had the Deep Sea Hidden Dragon Destiny Star, he could grovel a bit and possibly earn the merit of aiding a rising dragon. But this was a Poisonous Pool Hidden Dragon. Once it emerged, it would believe itself supreme, and he would surely be the first to die.
He thought of Chen Duanxiong, who had killed countless trusted followers after declaring himself Emperor.
’To be targeted by this poisonous dragon means it’s either you or me.’
Sunshine Boy pondered for a long time before looking toward the Hour Pillar.
Within the Destiny Star stood a huge black volcano. The volcano was a full ten thousand zhang high, and its crater, a thousand zhang in diameter, had an unusual shape.
Crimson lava churned within the crater.
Above the crater floated a brilliant white Treasure Sword. Its light was so intense that the details of the Sword Body were obscured.
High above the Treasure Sword, tens of thousands of phantom golden hammers descended from the sky. They formed a dense, unbroken sheet, striking down, rising, striking down, and rising again in a ceaseless, repetitive motion.
The sound of CLANGING echoed above the volcano.
Human Destiny Star: Ten Thousand Grinds into a Vessel, greatly auspicious.
The Fate Technique says: A hundred smeltings make iron, a thousand forgings make steel, and ten thousand grinds make a vessel.