Regarding fate, Anbaixiu's feelings had always been complicated.
Back when he had just become a divination wizard, he could hardly wait to kneel before the Goddess of Fate and kiss her toes. Foreseeing the future was exhilarating, and manipulating probabilities was astonishingly powerful—it was practically the power of a deity.
Yet every time Anbaixiu was about to get carried away, the Goddess of Fate would deliver a headbutt, leaving him dazed and disoriented.
Even now, he still remembered his first failure in interpreting a prophecy. It resulted in the noble young lady he was protecting having her head chopped off. Right before dying, she had looked at him with those innocent eyes, seemingly wanting to ask why things hadn't turned out the way they had agreed.
To be trusted, only to let someone down in the end.
That feeling had left Anbaixiu despondent for a very long time, to the point that his entire attitude toward fate shifted.
In the years that followed, Anbaixiu wavered constantly. To him, every use of fate's power was like smearing paints of various colors across a canvas. From blank space to vivid hues, until eventually, as more and more paint accumulated, nothing remained but a muddy, filthy black.
It was unavoidable. When you poured everything into intelligence and developed toward becoming a legendary wizard, your memory and comprehension grew ever sharper. When Anbaixiu made the decisive choice to become a lich, a lack of money was one factor, but another was tied to these burdensome memories.
Only when he cast aside most of his emotions and threw away everything concerning fate did he finally begin to feel at ease.
That was why, even though Anbaixiu knew so many deities, he had never once thought of asking a god to restore his human body. Nor had he ever indulged in the Synesthesia Dreamscape, despite its ability to simulate every human sensation.
The reason was simple: being human was too bitter. Having finally managed to escape it, why jump back in?
When you harbored desires—appetite, lust, greed, the need for validation—you required not only material comforts, but also the approval of others, emotional resonance, psychological validation, and self-satisfaction. Your troubles, then, were everything you yearned for but could never obtain.
When you cared only for money, your sole trouble was being poor.
It sounded like escapism, and in truth, it was. Running away might be shameful, but it worked.
The days after turning into a lich had been the most carefree of Anbaixiu's entire existence. As long as there was money to be made, nothing else needed to weigh on his mind.
Yet fate still clung to him like a shadow, as if unable to bear seeing him live comfortably.
The person Aldarian had referred to as a divination wizard was quickly brought before Anbaixiu. She was a young woman with very ordinary features—the kind who would blend completely into any crowd.
Yet the instant he laid eyes on her, something clicked in Anbaixiu's mind. Before she could even introduce herself, he asked, "Do you recognize the name Selwyn?"
The girl paused, startled, then recited solemnly: "'Unrevealed fate hides within the shadows; within the shadows, I evade my fated demise.' Greetings, Master Ultraman. Selwyn was my mentor, and I have now inherited that name."
Anbaixiu recalled a disheveled old man who looked like a beggar—an adversary he had encountered by chance in the wilderness many years ago.
Anbaixiu still remembered that their wager back then had been quite interesting: a simple coin toss.
Anbaixiu had bet the coin would land on its edge, while the old man bet it wouldn't.
In the end, after the coin flew into the air, a crow swooped down and snatched it away in its beak.
The most intriguing part of that wager was that Anbaixiu had already rolled his Dice of Fate and seen the future where the coin stood on its edge. The old man named Selwyn hadn't been able to alter the future Anbaixiu had locked in, so his method had been to obscure that future instead.
If no one could see whether the coin had landed on its edge, then no one could verify whether that fate had come to pass.
At the time, Anbaixiu had felt the old man was just shamelessly cheating. Only later did he realize the man had actually been more skilled than himself.
Once fate was revealed, it could not be altered. The old man's technique was to prevent that fate from ever being uncovered, postponing its arrival indefinitely.
For a divination wizard running in the circles of the Goddess of Fate, such a trick was practically blasphemy.
Perhaps fate could be interpreted in countless ways, each divination wizard choosing a different path, and the Goddess of Fate was more forgiving than one might think.
The inconspicuous girl before him was just like that old man from back then. She clearly stood right there, yet seemed to stand in nothingness. If Harvey were here, he would have noticed that the threads of fate tied to her were far fewer than those of ordinary people, as though she shared far fewer connections with the world.
Anbaixiu sighed with emotion. "Since you say you've inherited the name Selwyn, I take it my old friend has already passed away."
The girl said calmly, "Master Ultraman, according to my mentor, you two only met once, and you robbed him of all his money."
Without the slightest embarrassment, Anbaixiu replied, "Your mentor refused to accept his loss. Naturally, there's a price to pay for cheating."
Back then, when the crow flew off with the coin, Anbaixiu had beaten the old man up and taken his purse. Since fate had bestowed fists upon Anbaixiu, he certainly couldn't let them go to waste!
The girl seemed to have known what kind of person Anbaixiu was long before this. Showing not the slightest reverence for this senior, she merely handed a scroll to him with complete composure.
"My mentor told me to deliver this to you. My mission is now complete."
Taking the scroll, Anbaixiu did not open it. Instead, he asked, "How long have you been looking for me?"
"Thirty-seven years."
"Your mentor told you to deliver this thirty-seven years ago? Your speed is pretty slow."
Anbaixiu even wondered if the girl had never used a teleportation array. Otherwise, how could delivering a single scroll take thirty-seven years?
"Most of the time was wasted confirming your identity. Master Ultraman, do you have any idea how many aliases you've used?"
"As a divination wizard, if you can't even find the right direction, it seems you haven't mastered Selwyn's craft."
The girl who had inherited the name Selwyn did not take offense. Instead, she said to Anbaixiu, "That is precisely the second reason I sought you out. Master Ultraman, I wish to become your apprentice."
Puzzled, Anbaixiu said, "My path is completely different from your mentor's."
The girl replied helplessly, "I'm not suited for the name Selwyn, nor am I suited for the path my mentor chose. But up until the day he died, I was the only student he ever found who could pass through the threshold."
Anbaixiu understood that feeling all too well. In several centuries of life, hadn't he only stumbled upon Harvey? And the kid wasn't even particularly useful. His senior martial brother, Mister Misfortune, had it even worse—he had never found a single successor in his entire life, and in the end had to fight Anbaixiu over Harvey.
The profession of divination wizard truly demanded immense natural talent; hard work, on the other hand, meant comparatively little.
Neither accepting nor refusing, Anbaixiu simply weighed the scroll in his hand and said, "I'm afraid I won't have much chance to be your teacher. What's recorded in this scroll must be my disastrous future."
Good things never arrived like this. The gifts of fate were usually delivered right to your face; only the price tag was tucked out of sight. A package that took thirty-seven years of twists and turns to reach him was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the accrued price for all his previous smooth sailing.
Come to think of it, it was about time for his luck to turn foul.
The girl who had inherited the name Selwyn shook her head. "I don't know what's inside. My mentor said only you have the right to view it. But that's just how we divination wizards are—if you have a bad premonition, it's most likely nothing good."
Anbaixiu patted the girl on the shoulder and said, "Not bad. Looks like you've already attained some awareness."
With that, Anbaixiu hesitated no longer and reached out to unroll the scroll.
Fate could not be resisted. Even the girl before him possessed that awareness; Anbaixiu was hardly going to be outdone by a child.
He had thought it would contain a prophecy left behind by Selwyn—perhaps even specific visions, perhaps his own death recorded upon the parchment.
Anbaixiu thought he was prepared, but what finally met his eyes was a letter.
A final letter written to him by Selwyn, thirty-seven years ago.
Chapter 497