# 580
Chapter 581: The Buddha of Fate
Mount Jiuhua.
Buddhist chants drifted in the air, sandalwood incense curled upward.
A figure in a dark-red cloak, a Straight Blade at his waist, climbed the straight stone stairs, step by step, toward the temple at the summit wrapped in Sanskrit sounds.
He set foot on the final slab and stopped.
In front of the ancient, majestic gate, Ye Fan stood silent for a long time, then finally walked in.
“Ye Fan.”
Zuo Qing, who had waited inside for some time, rose from the steps before the main hall, brows locked.
He opened his mouth to speak; Ye Fan lifted a hand to stop him and asked calmly, “Did you bring everything?”
Zuo Qing’s lips trembled. After a moment he nodded. “I brought it…”
“Master hasn’t left seclusion yet?”
“Great Master Jinchen is still repairing the Heavenly Court’s origin; he isn’t here.”
“Good.”
Ye Fan nodded, gaze fixed on the Buddha statues in the hall. He drew a deep breath and said slowly, “Seal the mountain—no one is to enter.”
“Ye Fan, I think… even if you insist, you could still wait!” Zuo Qing couldn’t help saying.
Ye Fan shook his head. “There’s no time. After Transcendence, the soul is drawn into the laws and merges with the world’s principles… Calculations show that from the moment the soul begins to merge until it’s completely lost, there are at most twenty-four hours.
Now, Zhou Ping’s soul has likely been swallowed by nearly three-quarters. Any longer and he’ll never return.”
He turned toward the center of the hall: the black coffin holding the night-shrouded heart and the Dragon-Elephant Sword. Resolve flashed in his eyes.
“Guan Zai was right—I owe Zhou Ping too much. Now… it’s time to repay.”
Zuo Qing’s brows knit tighter. He knew he couldn’t stop Ye Fan today. After a long struggle he closed his eyes and sighed helplessly.
“Zuo Qing, after today, you know what must be done.” Ye Fan reached out, patted the gloomy Zuo Qing’s shoulder, and smiled faintly. “What I can do, you can do as well… I believe in you.”
“I… will try.” Zuo Qing forced a bitter smile.
Ye Fan stepped onto the stairs, crossed the threshold, and walked straight into the Buddha hall.
With a low groan the heavy doors slowly shut. The dark-red figure stood before the black coffin, facing the towering statues, his silhouette vanishing between the closing doors—
Bang!
A dull boom echoed; the hall sealed completely.
The summit temple sank into deathly silence.
Zuo Qing stared at the closed doors for a long time, then shook his head, walked to the last step outside, and sat down.
He gazed at drifting clouds and the soaring peaks below, lost in thought.
Inside the hall.
Ye Fan shifted his gaze from the statues to the coffin. Inside lay the heart wrapped in night and the ancient Dragon-Elephant Sword.
Atop the coffin rested a string of dim, cracked prayer beads. Their fine lines interwove, hinting at some great Dao—utterly mysterious.
Ye Fan didn’t know how Lin Qiye had preserved Zhou Ping’s heart, nor what Lin Qiye meant by saying Zhou Ping could be reborn. If Lin Qiye were here, he would ask…
But the entire Fifth Special Squad was missing.
He didn’t know the heart’s purpose, yet it didn’t hinder the plan he had long prepared…
Just then, six streams of yellow-gold qi condensed from the void, forming six faint-gold figures standing in the hall.
Startled, Ye Fan bowed respectfully.
“This junior Ye Fan greets Marquis Huo, Lord Gongyang, Commander Nie, Commander Li, Commander Tang, and… Sister Wang.”
Seeing Wang Qing’s eyebrow arch, Ye Fan quickly corrected himself.
Wang Qing’s eyes curved into crescents. She looked at the others. “See? The junior I picked isn’t bad, right?”
Wang Qing had been the fourth commander of the Night Watch. When Ye Fan was a common Night Watchman, she was already a Human Apex. Later, as he rose swiftly to high command, she became his direct superior—just as he now was to Zuo Qing.
To her, Ye Fan was indeed a cute junior.
The other heroic spirits knew of Ye Fan but had never met him; they normally slumbered within the nation’s fate. Had Ye Fan not awakened them, they would not walk the world again.
Huo Qubing studied Ye Fan and nodded slightly. “Not bad.”
Gongyang Wan’s eyes narrowed at the prayer beads. “The Fate-Transferring Beads? You actually found them?”
“I found them back then,” said Tang Yusheng in a white shirt. “Twenty-odd years ago, while exploring an underground ruin among the southern mountains, we uncovered this legendary forbidden artifact. It’s been sealed at Night Watch headquarters ever since.”
Wang Qing nodded. “I was there too.”
Huo Qubing squinted at the beads. “What is it?”
“In the Ming Dynasty there was a young monk with an unprecedented Forbidden Ruin called the Buddha of Fate—able to peek at, alter, twist, or even graft the threads of destiny,” Gongyang Wan explained.
“When we later compiled the Forbidden Ruin sequence, we listed it as Sequence 007, Second King Ruin: Buddha of Fate,” Tang Yusheng added.
“The monk was gifted, but after too many changes to others’ fates, his own destiny spiraled into uncontrollable ruin. For unknown reasons, he died. His disciple cremated him; part of the Buddha of Fate’s power condensed into these beads, becoming the forbidden artifact known as the Fate-Transferring Beads,” Gongyang Wan finished.
Huo Qubing nodded.
“Little Ye Fan, what do you intend to do with them?” Wang Qing asked, puzzled.
Ye Fan was silent a moment. “Save someone.”
Gongyang Wan frowned. “The artifact is powerful, but fate is not to be changed lightly—the monk’s end proves that. Even with the beads, altering destiny demands a price.”
“I know.” Ye Fan lifted his eyes to them, calm. “So I will trade my life… for his.”