"Born into a Marquis Mansion, with three terrifying Celestial Destiny Stars, smelted by volcanoes and struck by the Celestial Hammer, with Celestial Fate itself as the raw material... He certainly lives up to that. Much better than Pang Mingjing... but..."
Sunshine Boy performed a brief inference and finally understood what was wrong.
’For an ordinary person, Ten Thousand Grinds into a Vessel is an impossibly difficult trial. If an ordinary person were to face such an ordeal, they’d probably just die. With such a strong Fate Grid, being tempered into a vessel is a piece of cake for him. But compared to the other three Fate Grids, this one is clearly much weaker. Either he has strayed from the path, or he needs more forging to advance further.’
Sunshine Boy looked up at the sky above the Destiny Stars.
Above the four Destiny Stars stood a monstrous creature.
The monster’s body was dotted with starlight, and behind its head, stars wove into a halo.
The monster’s body was bizarre. Its lower half was a cluster of countless animal bodies—tigers, lions, rhinos, zebras, black wolves, leopards, elephants, and more, all fused into one. Its body was covered in spots, stripes, and long fur, and below were innumerable legs, claws, and hooves.
The monster’s upper half was a tall, yellowstone mountain. Its base connected to the body of a hundred beasts, and at its peak hung an irregular, spherical blue lake that constantly bulged and contracted.
From where the ears of this blue water-sphere would be, two waterfalls cascaded down.
A head of lake water, ears of waterfalls, a body of a mountain peak, and a form of a hundred beasts.
The monster seemed small within this Life Mansion, but with a fixed gaze, it appeared like a towering mountain, vast and majestic.
Where it stood, the heavens knew no peace, the earth knew no tranquility. All living things were plunged into despair, a catastrophe for ten thousand generations.
With just a single glance, Sunshine Boy’s heart pounded wildly. The colossal creature clearly had no eyes, yet he felt as if it were staring at him coldly. He felt his own Fate Grid was not just being seen through, but was on the verge of shattering.
Life God: Celestial Calamity.
Extremely ominous.
Sunshine Boy stood motionless for a long while, thinking and making inferences.
’This is beyond me.’
’I’m totally lost.’
Sunshine Boy even suspected that it was only because Hao Yunsheng was too young, his Fate Grid not yet fully developed. If he were to come here a few years later, the Deceitful Mother would probably kowtow on sight, bat her eyelashes, and coo, "Brother Hao Yunsheng, I offer myself to you. I will surely birth a bedful of Deceitful Infants for you. I beg you to take pity on me."
In this encounter with Deceit, I can’t say for sure about the others, but Hao Yunsheng definitely wouldn’t die.
Even if the Deceitful Mother used every ounce of her strength and was on the verge of killing Hao Yunsheng, a Celestial Fire would probably fall from the sky and kill her instead.
Sunshine Boy glanced again at Sun and Moon Ascending, Sunlight on Golden Mountain, Poisonous Pool Hidden Dragon, Ten Thousand Grinds into a Vessel, and the Celestial Calamity Life God, feeling a sense of helplessness.
’Thankfully, he hasn’t fully matured yet...’
After a good while, Sunshine Boy looked toward the Youth Life Land behind, but a golden curtain of light descended, blocking his view.
He could only vaguely make out three Destiny Stars inside, which had not yet formed a Life Formation.
’I can’t waste my Qi Fortune on him. If I really tried, I’d most likely exhaust it all and still see nothing. No wonder the Celestial Destiny Instrument prompted me to observe his fate before he was Entering Grade. It was a now-or-never opportunity.’
Sunshine Boy pondered for a long time, using every method of inference at his disposal, but still came up with nothing.
Finally, Sunshine Boy walked out of the Life Mansion, looked up at the Life Cloud in the sky, and stared blankly at the small pile of Destiny Stars.
’All roads lead to the Divine Capital, but some people are born in the Imperial Palace. No wonder Hao Yunsheng claims he achieved everything through his own hard work, without a shred of help from the Marquis Mansion, saying he has nothing but his abilities. He’s right. Everyone in the Marquis Mansion combined isn’t worth a single one of those Destiny Stars inside him.’
Sunshine Boy felt his worldview being rocked once again and withdrew from the Life Mansion.
The Jade Turtle Gold Seal hovered above Hao Yunsheng’s head, glowing, but no Destiny Image appeared on it.
Sunshine Boy stopped Observing Fate and Qi and gave Hao Yunsheng a helpless look.
"How is it?" the Captain asked.
Sunshine Boy sighed. "His Fate Grid is indeed very strong. But even if it’s enough to resolve the Deceit, he will still suffer some damage."
Hao Yunsheng’s brow furrowed.
Sunshine Boy continued, "However, I happen to know the Life Acceleration Skill, which is enough to strengthen his Fate Grid to fight the Deceitful Mother. The Life Acceleration Skill... you’ve all heard of it, right?"
More than half of the Night Guard nodded.
"I’ve even seen it myself," the foodie said.
"Hao Yunsheng, are you willing to undergo Accelerating Life now? Once it’s complete, I will enter the White Tower and become a Deceitful Infant," said Sunshine Boy.
Hao Yunsheng sighed and said, "You’ve already seen my Fate Grid. Can I even back out now? Go ahead and do it."
Sunshine Boy nodded. "First, I’ll perform an inference, then I will compile a list of Life Materials."
With that, Sunshine Boy closed his eyes slightly, consumed some Magical Power, and invoked the Destiny Measuring Ruler and the Destiny Scale to perform an inference on the Life Materials.
A quarter hour later, Sunshine Boy took out a brush and paper. As he wrote, he said, "One clipping from each of the ten fingernails, a lock of hair, ten drops of blood, a worn inner tunic, a used hairpin, and a pair of worn shoes—all belonging to Hao Yunsheng. Everyone present must also offer a lock of their hair to be mixed in; this will grant you the protection of Hao Yunsheng’s Fate Grid. After that, we’ll also need ten rattan canes, a bowl of sheep’s blood, a stack of Yellow Paper, one arrowhead, three candles, nine incense sticks, two flecks of gold, and two feathers—chicken, duck, or goose will do... Oh, right, we also need an Armor Plate from metal armor. Hao Yunsheng’s Fate Grid is too strong. Those close to him can inadvertently become ’life cushions.’ It’s not a big deal normally, but at a critical moment, you might die because of him. So, I need to resolve that as well."
The Night Guards were reminded of the previous Denggao.
"That’s slander! Captain, he’s framing me!" Hao Yunsheng said angrily.
The Book Listener said, "We’ve heard things about you. Your mother, your uncle and aunt—they all met a tragic end protecting you. They are pitiable, but that doesn’t mean you can just lie through your teeth."
Hearing the Book Listener bring up his mother, Hao Yunsheng’s eyes turned bloodshot as he stared daggers at him.
"Alright, that’s everything. Split up and find these in the village," said Sunshine Boy.
The Captain glanced at the early morning sky. "Is it safe now?"
The Book Listener said, "I expect it is. The ritual for the Lady of Delivery hasn’t begun yet. As long as we don’t break any rules before Sunshine Boy becomes the Deceitful Infant, we should be basically safe."
The group set out to find the items. Before long, all the other Life Materials were gathered, and everyone turned to look at Hao Yunsheng.
Hao Yunsheng sat in his chair, hesitating.
"Hao Yunsheng, don’t tell me you’re not even willing to part with ten drops of blood?" the foodie asked.
"Yeah, you already agreed. Are you a man or not?"
"I’ve never seen anything like it. People from the Demon Hunting Bureau used to praise you, but who knew you were such a coward."
More and more people grew dissatisfied.
Hao Yunsheng shot a fierce glare at Sunshine Boy and said, "I’ll do it."
Hao Yunsheng took out his bundle, produced a spare inner tunic, hairpin, and shoes, and tossed them on the table.
Manipulating True Essence, a faint sound came from his fingertips, and ten fingernail clippings landed on the tunic.
He ran his right hand through his long hair, gave a tug, and pulled out a lock of black hair.
Sunshine Boy handed him a Yellow Talisman Paper Cup. Hao Yunsheng swiped his index finger across a blade’s edge, squeezed ten drops of blood from the cut, and handed the cup to Sunshine Boy.
Sunshine Boy smiled. "Good. Now I believe you’re truly working with us. Next, I will begin the ritual. I must ask you all to guard the doors and windows. Don’t worry, I’ve already sworn an oath that if I intentionally harm Hao Yunsheng, my Life Mansion will surely collapse."