"...only that I needed a protective talisman before returning to the kingdom."
The mirror remarked in surprise, "Whoa, if you didn't want a complete showdown, why were you going head-to-head with him this morning?"
"Nothing I say could ever make my experiences over this past year add up, and no excuse could dispel his suspicions." He Lingchuan's experience had grown rapidly, and he now saw through He Chunhua far more clearly than he had over half a year ago. "Our relationship as father and son can never go back to the way it was. At best, we can keep up appearances while remaining completely estranged."
Not that it had ever been very good before.
"Since that's the case, I might as well lay bare the rift and draw a clear line between us. Otherwise, he'll still try to use paternal authority to treat me like a pawn."
He Chunhua had a fierce need for control, but He Lingchuan was no longer a pawn to be manipulated.
The hidden premise of keeping a low profile was a lack of strength; a player with real power had to demand corresponding respect.
Only then could he get things done down the road.
He Lingchuan added slowly, "Besides, there's always been one major uncertainty in my plan."
"Ah, what's that?"
"He Chunhua's feelings for his son... well, his feelings for me, I mean." He Lingchuan glanced at the mirror. In the reflection, his own gaze was lupine—ruthless, composed, and calculating. "What I fear most is that he won't be able to harden his heart."
In truth, He Chunhua's feelings toward his eldest son were complicated and fraught. His paternal affection had never disappeared; he simply wavered constantly between fatherly love and pragmatic self-interest. If He Lingchuan still imitated the demeanor of the original self and caused He Chunhua to get cold feet when invoking the god, that would be a catastrophic mess.
Even if He Chunhua didn't invoke the god now, he would do so one day in the future.
As the saying went, carrying a deadly weapon naturally incited murderous intent. Holding the ultimate trump card in hand, one would always be calculating when to play it.
Even if He Chunhua completely gave up the notion of invoking the god from now on, the divine imprint mark lingered in He Lingchuan's mind. He had no way of knowing when Nailuotian might force a descent.
Such an unknown, uncontrollable risk was something he had to eliminate as soon as possible!
"I have to force him to make up his mind and stop hesitating."
"..."
The mirror could not comprehend the complex emotions of humans, and He Lingchuan did not bother to explain.
He had to provoke He Chunhua in word and deed, driving him to commit fully to this dark path without second thoughts.
The more powerful and independent this eldest son grew—or rather, the less he resembled the old He Lingchuan—the higher the chance that He Chunhua would invoke the god.
In other words, He Lingchuan had to make He Chunhua resolve to invoke the god, yet prevent him from doing so immediately. In fact, he needed He Chunhua to perform the invocation at the exact moment he chose.
How to gauge that balance properly and keep the optimal timing in his own hands would depend on this game between him and He Chunhua.
No, it was a game between him and Nailuotian.
"So have you figured it out yet?" the mirror chattered on. "What exactly are you going to use to fight 'fate'?"
This master kept everything locked in his heart; even the mirror didn't know the exact plan.
"I figured it out long ago." He Lingchuan stretched his arms. "There is one thing that neither fate nor gods can resist. It might just be our most powerful weapon."
"Ooh? What treasure?" The mirror was all ears.
"Greed."
...
When He Chunhua returned to his study, before he could even sit down, the candle flame on the desk sputtered with a sudden pop.
He Chunhua stared at it instinctively.
Right under his gaze, the candle flame flickered once more and popped again.
Yet there was no breeze in the room.
He immediately dismissed all the servants, closed the doors and windows, and set out a statuette facing east. Placing an incense burner before it, he lit seven sticks of incense and prayed devoutly.
As the smoke spread, he drew a drop of blood from his fingertip and let it fall into the incense burner.
At once, a tinge of crimson suffused the smoke, gradually coalescing into the shape of a human face.
Calling it a face was generous; it was merely the bare outline of facial features, impossible to make out clearly. Yet He Chunhua could feel it gazing down at him with supreme majesty.
He bowed his head in a salute. "My Lord."
A deep, cold voice rang out. "He Chunhua, has your eldest son returned?"
"Yes." Respectful on the surface, He Chunhua felt a jolt of shock in his heart. How long had Chuan'er been back? How had Nailuotian already discovered it?
"Where has he been over this past half year?"
In a few words, He Chunhua faithfully recounted what he had been told.
Hearing this, Nailuotian sneered. "A load of solemn, straight-faced nonsense."
"Indeed, but we have no way to verify it. Instead, he even managed to bring back funds and Mount Rong men to corroborate his whereabouts." On this point, He Chunhua still felt a touch of admiration.
After half a year apart, he saw his eldest son in a completely new light.
"There is something unusual about him," Nailuotian said. "As long as the divine imprint mark remains, I know he is alive. At times, the connection was even lost—likely because he entered other pocket worlds."
"Did he truly go to Xuluo Kingdom?"
"He indeed went to Beijia, but the divine imprint mark alone cannot pinpoint his exact location." Otherwise, why would the initial divine descent require He Chunhua, the summoner, to conduct a ritual?
It was precisely because the barrier between the two realms prevented the divine imprint mark from locating the vessel accurately and clearly that this ritual was needed to guide the way!
Without the ritual, if Nailuotian wanted to force a divine descent, he would have to search for the vessel's location himself, which would cost immense effort.
"Prepare yourself. Carry out the divine descent soon!" Nailuotian instructed him. "The sooner, the better!"
"My Lord!" He Chunhua looked up in shock. "All is calm and peaceful—why is a divine descent necessary?"
"His thread of fate has undergone a dramatic change. It used to be distinct and discernible, but now it is vague and obscure. I cannot even strip away his luck to transfer it to you. Some force must be interfering. Furthermore, something seems to have shifted in the unseen realms concerning me, and I do not like it at all!"
The final sentence was spoken with harsh severity. Puzzled, He Chunhua asked, "Has something happened on your end?"
Intuition told him that this last remark was the real reason Nailuotian suddenly wanted the divine descent, rather than genuine curiosity about what his eldest son had been through.
The God of Fate did not like surprises—how ironic.
Nailuotian offered no explanation, saying instead, "I must descend in person to see and uncover the truth!"
He Chunhua fell silent.
"What, are you having second thoughts now?" Nailuotian sneered. "When you begged for my help in the past, didn't you solemnly vow that you would offer your eldest son to me?"
He Chunhua's Adam's apple bobbed twice, his mouth filling with bitterness.
Though he had long prepared himself mentally, when this day truly arrived, a stab of pain still pierced his heart like a needle.
Seeing that he did not respond, Nailuotian softened his tone. "You need not worry overmuch. The divine descent will not do him much harm."
"Will it not?" He Chunhua was not so easily deceived. "I have looked into past divine descents over the years. In the end, the human bodies that bore them were almost torn to pieces!"
Thus, whenever he was with He Lingchuan, he could not help but picture his eldest son torn apart, sometimes even waking in terror from such nightmares.
When he had nothing, he could part with what he loved.
Yet as his career flourished and his power grew, the regret in his heart had mounted day by day.
If only he hadn't borrowed Nailuotian's power in the first place...
Chapter 780