Chapter 1751: Chapter 495: Closing the Net

For many ordinary Wizards, destiny is an abstract and barren concept.

It is the mist swirling inside the Diviner’s Crystal Ball, the variegated base color under the flame-scorched Turtle Shell, and the joy of opening a Pandora’s Magic Box bought from the Apple Pavilion to find a Ruby.

Empty, yet truly existing.

But for the Great Diviners, destiny is not so illusory.

In the eyes of the Great Diviners, the entire World is outlined by lines of varying thickness and colors. Each Stone, each Tree, each person is connected to those lines.

These lines are of varying lengths, intertwined and interlinked, clustered together, constructing a River that surges and flows endlessly in a void and hollow darkness, known as the River of Destiny.

Ordinary Wizards are bound by these thin lines, merely drifting with the flow of the River; whereas the Big Wizards, having forged their True Form, possess thicker, isolated, and prolonged lines—illustratively speaking, if ordinary Wizards are like droplets in the River, then Big Wizards have become fish swimming in the River; Legends perch atop the riverbank or a lone boat, fishing, free from the bindings of the River of Destiny.

Among them, the Great Diviners form a relatively unique group.

Compared to ordinary Big Wizards, their combat ability appears somewhat frail, yet their vision is broader. If ordinary Big Wizards are fish in the River of Destiny, then Great Diviners are birds flying over the River, with their ankles still bound by thin lines extending from the River, unable to escape, but their gaze sits above the River, able to see the rise and fall of the River, see the shallows, vortexes, and even divergences and tributaries.

This rise and fall is what Great Diviners observe as destiny.

Every drop of water has its own destiny, be it high or low; every body of water also has its destiny, be it more or less; every shallow dip, every river bend, every tributary has its own destiny—when destiny burns bright, everything goes smoothly, a drop of water can soar into the air a thousand meters away, a shallow dip can give birth to a soaring Giant Dragon; when destiny wanes, a body of water might crash into a reef and crumble, a tributary might flow into a dead end and eventually dry up.

A drop of water is a Wizard.

A body of water is a Wizard organization.

A tributary could be a possibility of destiny, a newly opened rugged ‘Path’, or even a real parallel World.

Before the great war, Wizards had consolidated the timeline of the Black Prison World, sealing off the cause and effect within the Black Prison’s range—like digging out a near-sealed small inlet on the edge of the time River—making the size of the bodies of water or the flow of tributaries entering the ‘small inlet’ clear and distinct compared to normal days.

Therefore, the birds floating above the inlet can clearly judge that the destiny belonging to the Demons is continuously being diminished, inversely allowing their allies to gain more benefits.

This is contrary to the Demons’ usual style.

“What is Xiangliu spending so much destiny on?” Professor Yi asked the question that everyone was pondering: “Does it intend to completely destroy this World?”

This is a somewhat absurd, yet very reasonable speculation.

Actions like destroying the World would face strong backlash from the World’s consciousness, which explains the rapid decline in destiny on the Demons’ side. Destroying the Black Prison would, on one hand, cause huge losses to Wizards, hampering their efforts to hunt Demons; on the other hand, it would greatly boost the confidence of the entire Demon World, allowing all Demons to see their power.

However, if the Demons’ goal is to destroy the entire Black Prison World, then their allies, the Dark Council, Multiple-Armed Giant, and the three giant beasts, should also be subjected to the world’s Will backlash, unable to obtain those Xuanhuang Fruits.

This is an undeniable contradiction.

Jiang Shang, a Great Diviner from the God Zhou hunting group, spoke softly: “Gathering all destiny in one, besides intending to destroy, it might also be an attempt to transcend.”

“Xiangliu has spent too much time in this River…perhaps it wants to look outside the River.”

Beyond the Legend, lies the Ancient.

For Wizards, it’s the Ancient Wizards; for Demons, the Primordial Demons. For travelers who tread the path of the supernatural, ancient signifies the end—a place that spans the entire time and River of Destiny, nearing the end of the entire extraordinary journey.

Compared to Professor Yi’s speculation, this inference seems less likely, but also more—less likely because no one can imagine the scene of a top Legend impacting the status of the Ancient One; more likely because this inference perfectly fits all the facts observed by the Diviners.

The room fell silent for a moment.

The firelight illuminated the fluctuating expressions of the Big Wizards, and faint sounds were heard as the internal cracks of the Turtle Shell made crackling noises.

For a long while.

The leader of the Divination Group, Mr. Zhuge from the Xianqin Hunting Group, finally spoke again.

“Jiang’s inference is very likely.”

He first affirmed Jiang Shang’s statement and then briefly explained: “In the past decade, the department responsible for star observations in the Xianqin Hunting Group has noted no fewer than three phenomena of Legends impacting the Ancient status, according to the star spectrum, belonging to the strongest Outer Gods in the starry sky. You should have observed them too, right.”

He looked around.

The Great Diviners from the God Zhou hunting group, Holy Tang hunting group, and the First University all lowered their eyelids, offering no confirmation, endorsing with silence.

Zhuge smiled silently, then looked up at the obsidian ceiling, his gaze seemingly able to see through layers of heavy Barriers to the starry sky beyond the Black Prison:

“All the aforementioned phenomena happened in the Deeps of Starry Sky. It’s conceivable how many top Legends are impacting the ancient status in places beyond our observation…and the reason they have the courage to take this step, according to my own ideas, is very likely because those older trailblazers before them have taken a further step.”

Beyond the Ancient, lies the Unknown realm.

It’s a place ordinary Wizards can’t imagine, even Big Wizards have no concept of, a realm. Even those Great Diviners whose gaze covers the entire Wizard World can’t help holding their breath when considering this possibility.

Like a bird on the River gazing up at the Starry Sky.

They see the splendid sky, cheering, yet unable to understand or even feel awe.

“Xiangliu just repeated the phenomena we observed.”

Mr. Zhuge withdrew his gaze, looking again at the circle of Great Diviners around him, his tone calm: “Regardless of the Unknown realm or Ancient Wizards, both are still far from us…even Legends are existences most of us have to look up to. Their powers are hard for us to grasp.”

“So, my suggestion.”

“Abandon the initial concept and start to close the net now. Do not hope to completely catch all the invading Demons in the Black Prison, but try to leave behind as many old friends as possible, as current conditions are still enough.”