Lin Fan took out his Death Talisman to activate it. However, the moment he looked at it, he felt something was wrong; it appeared as if it was not functional. No matter how much origin essence he injected inside or how much he checked, it was useless.
For a brief moment, Lin Fan despaired, but he rapidly controlled himself. He knew to remain calm for the slightest chance of survival since this was not the first time he was on the verge of death.
He then focused on how to deal with the current situation. He used the Law of Time to stop his body in his present state and prevent deterioration while also using Death Law to negate his death.
Unfortunately, Lin Fan realized that this method only bought him a few more minutes. Luckily, this was more than enough for him. He decided to take this moment between Life and Death to understand Curse Law to deal with the problem.
As for Xu Shi, she kept on crying while injecting her origin essence into his body to help. Regrettably, she could not even detect that curse, let alone help.
While these two dealt with their issue, Su Ya–who was previously sent flying–suddenly opened her eyes. She immediately frowned as countless memories flooded into her mind.
She remembered her life as "Zi Yuan," and disgust and hatred flashed across her eyes.
'How dare he take advantage of me?'
She used a spell to heal some of her injuries by transferring them to her clones before getting up. She looked at the Lin Fan, squirming on the floor, trying to survive.
'This is the perfect time to kill him.'
Su Ya took a small step forward before stopping. She remembered how she underestimated her opponent before and got herself into the current situation. She would not make the same mistake again.
So, instead of approaching Lin Fan to attack, she activated the Bloodline Curse she previously used. She knew that this was a terrifying curse that could ignore levels.
Even a mortal can kill a Quasi-Emperor with that curse as long as they achieve the harsh condition of bearing the target's offspring or bloodline. And in her years of studying the curse, she understood that hatred and grievances were the primary sources of that curse.
So, without hesitation, she gathered a massive amount of these negative emotions to strengthen the curse. Immediately afterward, Lin Fan vomited a mouthful of black blood, and Su Ya ran away.
She saw madness in Lin Fan's eyes, so she decided to be more cautious in case he did something terrible before his death. Additionally, she was not in the best state of mind after what happened to her, so she quickly escaped.
Meanwhile, Lin Fan soon understood that he would not make it alive in this situation. He tried a tactic that one of his opponents in the Slaughter Trial did: use a Reincarnation Law to escape his current predicament.
Unfortunately, the strengthened version of this curse seemed to have attached to the concept of his [Existence], so even after reincarnation, he would not escape death.
Without any choice, he accepted his death. He looked at his favorite wife, thinking about their time together. He thought about how she was always by his side, supporting him with all her capability.
He smiled before saying: "I'm sorry, Shi'er, but I cannot accompany you anymore."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Husband, don't say things like this. Just wait a while, and the Academy will soon come; you will be fine."
"Unfortunately, it will be too late by then," he replied with a smile. "Before I go, I will give you one last gift."
A seed with Dao Rhymes appeared before Lin Fan along with his space ting. Then, his face instantly became paler.
"A Dao-level Inheritance Seed," said Xu Shi in shock. "Husband, you can't."
"It is for the best."
Xu Shi looked at the seed in front of her, knowing full well the implications behind it. Inheritance Seed is a method some lineages use to pass their powers to other people.
Using this method, a Quasi-Emperor can turn a mortal into the same realm as them by giving them their powers. That mortal would inherit their Origin Essence, Soul Strenght, fleshly body, and even Laws.
Of course, only high-level Inheritance Seed can accomplish this. Additionally, most people who use Inheritance Seed cannot surpass their transferer, nor can they participate in the Heaven Will Battle.
The only exception to this rule is Dao-level Inheritance Seeds. With it, a person can inherit the talent, foundation, potential, state of mind, and even Dao Heart of the transferer; they can inherit everything from them.
So, Xu Shi knew that with this seed, she could perfectly inherit all of Lin Fan's strengths and abilities.
So, after pondering about it for a while, she absorbed the seed, an act that made Lin Fan smile. His action was not simply because of how much he loved or his generosity.
He wanted to make a last struggle, the final gamble. He hoped that one day, once she became powerful enough, she could find a way to revive him.
"I'm sorry I will not be able to see you again," said Lin Fan as he gathered his strength to raise his arm and caress her face. "I wonder what our future would have been like? Would we have kids? How many of them? A boy or a girl? They would be handsome and beautiful–at least if they took after your beauty."
He sighed deeply before muttering: "I hope I could see that day, unfortunately, unfortunately…."
Xu Shi held the lifeless body in her arm as her tear never stopped falling.
"You will, husband. One day, you will."
She suddenly raised her hand to see the fortune mark had disappeared and understood the divination of the old beggar. However, if she knew this is how things would turn out, she would rather not have this fortune.
Xu Shi decided to calm down to think about the future.
'Should I go home or return to the Academy? No, it would be best to remain at the Academy. If I want to become a Great Emperor and revived husband, I will need the support and resources of an Emperor Lineage.
'Additionally, if the Academy knew that I inherited everything from Lin Fan, they would hunt me down and even destroy the Association of Chamber of Commerce.'
Not long after making a decision, Lin Fan's Dao Protector, Qiu Jin–arrived. He looked at his disciple's dead body on the floor with an ugly look on his face.
'A small accident happened at the sect, and this time, our Heaven Chosen was killed: This is not a coincidence.'
Without saying anything else, he took Lin Fan's body back to the Academy along with Xu Shi.
And this time, Wang Wei's Fate Reading ended. A lot of thoughts rushed through his mind. He learned many things about how this trial operates. Everyone and everything can be a chess piece that will lead to the downfall of the participants.
If Su Ya were not overconfident after disposing of Jian Wushuang, she would never have sneak-attacked Wang Wei after their deal. And If Wang Wei did not have a vindictive personality where he never liked to suffer a loss, he would never have placed the Misfortune Curse on Su Ya.
And in return, she would never have teleported to Ln Fan's mansion nor lost her memory.
And in this trial stage, people's personalities began to play a role. Xu Shi is a virtuous wife willing to do anything to help her husband. So, given a choice to subdue someone like Su Ya, she will take the opportunity.
Lin Fan is a lustful man, so he could not resist the temptation of beauty and having a powerful helper for his rise in power.
As for Su Ya, there have been rumors that she only loved women, and this rumor was most likely true. Wang Wei should have picked on that since she showed up with a woman as her plus one during the beach party.
So, their plans were flawed from the beginning., Su Ya only found women to be attractive even without her memories.
Then there is the curse that she used to eliminate her 'competitor". When and where did she get such a terrifying curse? More importantly, why did she only remember this curse and nothing else?
It could be explained that her desire to be with Xu Shi was so great that her subconscious tapped into her seal memory to give her a method to accomplish her goal.
However, things were too coincidental. Many things in this entire event relied too much on luck or coincidence. For example, why didn't Su Ya detect the malice these two had for her?
As a person with the number 3 physique, she should be able to detect their emotions and react. Now, even if the argument is that without her memory, she does not know how to use her power and physique properly.
But as a powerful cultivator, her intuition should give some warnings. So, why did everything go smoothly?
'My Misfortune Curse and Heavenly Dao's planning,' thought Wang Wei as he raised his head to the sky.
'Is this the power of Fate Manipulation? Nudging events that seemed utterly random or unrelated to the desired outcome. They are also a manifestation of Probability Manipulation.
Dao Rhyme appeared around Wang Wei for a few minutes as he entered a state of epiphany. He woke up a few minutes later with his understanding of Fate deepened.
Finally, he rushed back home, wanting to know why Lin Fan's Death Substitute Talisman.
He believed it should be related to Qi Luck of the Academy but wanted to be sure. So, he directly went to see Ancestor Wang Wusheng.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Brat, what is it this time?"
"Ancestor, I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to know something. Did something happen 15 years ago in the Academy?"
"Huh, how do you know? Something did happen. Three people suddenly entered the Dao Ancestor Realm at the same time. The Academy probably wanted to announce their birth to the world to compensate for the Qi Luck you took away from them.
"However, these three idiots failed to control their strength and almost caused a catastrophe in their Small World."
'As expected.'
"Could their action affect the luck of the entire Academy?" he wrote in the air.
"They were connected to the Academy's Qi Luck."
Wang Wei sighed as the final piece of the puzzle clicked. The Death Substitute Talisman needs a lot of luck to function. And since the Academy's luck was affected the exact moment Lin Fan was attacked, he could not use it.
And this plot goes deeper than the surface. Where did the Dao Source Seed of these three people come from?
'The final reward for the Slaughter Trial,' thought Wang Wei. He gave his ancestor a deep look before bowing and leaving.
"Do you think he noticed?" suddenly said a voice.
"With his intelligence, I would not be surprised," replied Wang Wusheng.
"You seem to have a lot of faith in this kid."
"I do. I believe he will pass this trial."
"That's fine, but you already intervene enough by telling him all this. Plus, we need to prepare in case he fails. So, who do you think we should cultivate next? The Li Clan's Heir, or should we wake up one of the Sealed One?"
…
After leaving, Wang Wei was still in deep thought. He realized Heavenly Dao would consider the Dao Opening Sect for his trial. And most likely, his ancestors knew about it but decided not to intervene so that the sect was not plotted against and injured in the process.
And Wang Wei was okay with this since no one removed his status nor decreased his resources. Whatever he needed, as long the sect had it, they would provide it.
However, as far as the aid given to him would go, that was more than enough.
After returning home, Wang Wei had to find another method to acquire the Absolute Chaos Physique. Furthermore, he was a little scared of how terrifying that curse was, so he wanted to study and find a counter-method against it.
Plus, he had a feeling that this curse was not a normal one.