Chapter 14: Who Can Compete? The Uncertainty of the Future

People change—some go from extreme poverty to luxurious palaces, from gentlemen to scoundrels, from heroes to bears; others fall from wealth to poverty, from scoundrels to gentlemen, from bears to heroes. (Gu Long)
……
Liu Yi nodded. That was enough. With that, he turned to leave.
Just then, the strange dragon eye emitted a red glow. The mist inside it gradually dissipated, and darkness gave way to light…
Liu Yi, who had intended to leave, turned back to watch the changes within the dragon eye. What was this?
Even Jin Louzhu found it strange, as he hadn’t used any internal energy to activate the dragon eye nor implanted any image to be displayed. Why was it functioning on its own?
As they were puzzled, a spectacular scene appeared…
It was a palace—ancient-looking yet seemingly newly built. Its location was unknown, but it was neither an imperial palace, a heavenly palace, nor an underworld realm. Though not one of the famous palaces in the three realms, it exuded an aura of royalty that made one feel utterly insignificant…
The mist gradually cleared, and the dragon eye shone inward. Inside the palace stood twelve pillars wide enough for three people to hold hands around. Twelve dragons coiled around these thick pillars, radiating awe-inspiring power.
Below each pillar stood a man on a tall mount. Strangely, each of them carried a long sword on their back and was dressed in black combat attire. Armor made of leather or special materials covered their wrists, ankles, knees, and shoulders. All twelve men wore black face coverings, hiding their identities.
What was even more astonishing were their mounts. At first, no one noticed, but when one of the mounts opened its mouth, everyone realized it wasn’t a horse—it was a white tiger. Yes, the mounts of these twelve men were not horses but white tigers, and surely not ordinary ones, as even Jin Louzhu and Da Dao Wang didn’t know what kind of tigers they were.
The twelve white tigers had fangs over a foot long on their upper jaws, sharp like daggers. Their eyes were turquoise, and their limbs were covered in armor made of some unknown material. Their tails were thick and long, with barbed spikes—features absent in ordinary tigers.
The dragon eye continued to explore further. At the center of the palace sat a golden throne. On either side of the throne stood two young men dressed in similar combat gear, with shoulder guards on their left shoulders and masks made of white material covering their faces. Each held a three-foot-long sword.
To the left and right of the two young men stood two monstrous creatures, just like the white tigers before. These creatures were entirely golden yellow, with golden beards around their heads and horns on top. Their lower limbs were covered in dragon-like scales that reflected the light, looking stunning.
Jin Louzhu exclaimed in shock, “They’re guardian beasts—qi and lin.”

Finally, the range of the Dragon Eye stopped in the middle of the throne. On top of the throne stood a figure clad in full silver armor with long white hair. The mask on their face was extremely unique, covering everything below the nose bridge, with two coiling dragons carved on it.

Seeing this, the Golden Lord let out another exclamation: “That, that mask is the ‘Wraith’!”

Looking further down, the white armor covered the figure tightly, and their feet were clad in well-fitted iron boots. A black cloak draped over the golden throne. The mysterious figure in white armor held a black long sword that emitted an endless sense of sorrow, making one feel the sword’s loneliness and helplessness just by looking at it.

Yet, what was even more astonishing was the supreme aura of a king radiating from the figure on the throne, far surpassing that of any king in the three realms. Who in the world could possess such an aura? “I control fate—who dares compete with me?” Who was this being who stood so high above all?

With a snap, the few who were watching intently never expected such a sudden change—the Dragon Eye shattered into countless pieces. What had happened…?

The first to react was, of course, the owner of the Dragon Eye, the Golden Lord. How could his source of wealth wither so suddenly? What was going on? Could it be… the aura in the scene was too powerful for the Dragon Eye to bear?

The Great Sword King was already in tears, saying, “Who, who is this person? Could there really be someone with such an aura in the world? Is he a god? A reincarnation of Buddha?”

Ten Heroes One, on the other hand, had a different thought: “This person is incredibly powerful. Their killing aura can even spread into the void, killing the Dragon Eye itself.”

Liu Yi felt the strangest. He neither worshipped nor felt curious, nor did he understand what killing aura was. His only feeling was… familiarity. That person’s gaze seemed very familiar. Though their face was covered, Liu Yi was certain he had seen them somewhere before.

The Golden Lord sighed, “Fate… it must be fate. Perhaps I revealed too much of the secrets of the heavens. This is heaven’s punishment for me. But… who is that person?”

The Great Sword King quickly asked, “Golden Lord, having heard so much from all directions, do you still not know who that person is?”

The Golden Lord nodded and said, “I don’t know. But it makes no sense. In these three realms, I even know about that small Ten-Person Sect. How could I not know about such a massive palace?”

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in his mind. The Golden Lord said, “I understand now. The Dragon Eye can predict the future and sense the past. If what we just saw was a scene from some future time, then it’s understandable that I didn’t know.”

The Great Sword King nodded and said, “If that’s the case, it makes sense. But why would the Dragon Eye show such a scene without reason?”

Jin Louzhu shook his head and said, “It can’t be said to be without reason. In my opinion, there are two reasons. The dragon eye is a supreme treasure of heaven and earth, capable of revealing the future and past, serving as a metaphor. First, I think the dragon eye is trying to remind us that there might be great chaos in the three realms in the future, and such a person could emerge. Second, that person just now was likely one of us. Some force triggered the dragon eye, which is why that scene appeared.”

Da Dao Wang suddenly seemed to understand something and said, “Could it be… that person is Tian Long? On our way here, we met the Wolf King, who said that a thousand years ago, Tian Long was plotting to unify the three realms, but he hasn’t appeared yet. There were also Qi and Lin by that person’s side—could it be Tian Long?”

Jin Louzhu nodded and said, “That’s possible too. But the scene just now was too bizarre. We can’t rule out the possibility that one of us is that person in the future.”

Liu Yi, having seen that scene, felt annoyed for some reason. That person’s eyes seemed to extend into their head. Whenever he calmed down, those deep eyes would appear in Liu Yi’s mind.

Liu Yi waved his fan, and the gentle breeze calmed him somewhat. He said, “Stop thinking about things that aren’t related to us. We have more important matters to attend to. Eleven, we need to rescue Princess Nine quickly. If she really gets married to that bastard, then you won’t be a bachelor anymore.”

Upon hearing this, the Ten Heroes immediately grew anxious. Their dream lovers getting married to someone else was unacceptable. They angrily said, “Boss, let’s go! We’ll go to that cave and crush him! Damn it…”

At that moment, Da Dao Wang ran over and asked, “Young Master Liu, where’s my money?”

Liu Yi glanced at Da Dao Wang, then said with a smile, “Want to earn more?”

Da Dao Wang immediately understood what Liu Yi meant and laughed. “Sure! Who would want extra money?”

Liu Yi smiled and said, “Good. Lead the way.”

Then Jin Louzhu called out, “What about me? What if my dragon eye is broken?”

Liu Yi smiled and said, “Although this incident wasn’t caused by it, it seems related to me. If there’s a chance in the future, Liu Yi will naturally come to paint a picture for you. It may not be as precious as the dragon eye, but it will ensure you won’t starve to death.”

Actually, this couldn’t really be blamed on Liu Yi. It was the dragon eye that activated it on its own. Jin Louzhu knew this as well. Upon hearing that Liu Yi would paint a picture for him in the future, his face immediately lit up with a smile. “Young Master Liu, we’ve made a deal. I, Jin, will be waiting for you here.”

Liu Yi nodded and turned, striding outside…

But who knows who the person in the dragon eye is? It could be one of the Ten Heroes, it could be Da Dao Wang, or it might very well be Liu Yi. So is the breaking of the dragon eye related to them? Is the clever Jin Louzhu confused for once? Even if he knew, would he dare to ask these people to accompany him? Who knows—maybe the person in the painting will crush him in eight or ten years.