When the deadly fate is accomplished, only then can destiny be altered.

After searching for so long without any news, it was only a few days after Elder Sun spoke up that information finally arrived. I couldn’t help but feel excited, gazing expectantly at Hao Jianguo.

“There’s word from Longma County. Five days ago, someone matching the description of the man you’re looking for was spotted. The local authorities have already searched the county town but couldn’t find him. It seems he must have already left.”

Though there was still no definite news about Xu Buhuo, at least I now knew he was alive. The tension that had been straining my heart finally eased, and I couldn’t help but feel a rare surge of happiness.

Matters on Elder Sun’s side still needed to be handled, so I couldn’t leave just yet. Suppressing my anxiety, I instructed Hao Jianguo to notify me immediately if they found him.

Time passed slowly. In order to change Sun Qing’s fate, each night I attended to the father and son, adjusting their energies.

After several sessions, Sun Qing awoke from his coma. Upon learning that Elder Sun planned to exchange his own life for a sliver of hope for his son, Sun Qing erupted in furious protest. He shouted and raged, refusing to consent under any circumstances.

Faced with this, I could say nothing.

After a long silence, Elder Sun politely said to me, “Young master, could you step outside for a moment? I have something to say to Qing alone.”

I closed the door and waited outside in the courtyard. About twenty minutes later, the door opened again, and Elder Sun invited me back inside to continue the unfinished ritual.

I didn’t know what Elder Sun had said to Sun Qing, but his eyes were red, and though anger still flashed across his face, he no longer objected to the ritual to change his fate.

Ten days later, Elder Sun’s sixty-fifth birthday arrived. Because of everything that had happened, Elder Sun declined the disciples who wanted to celebrate the occasion, allowing only Hao Jianguo to enter the courtyard and assist.

The ritual to change fate had to be completed before the day of the greatest celestial conflict arrived; otherwise, when the full force of the celestial clash descended, even secret arts would fail. After careful calculation, I determined that Elder Sun’s birthday was the most auspicious day. Both the ritual to seize life from the malevolent force and the fate-changing rite for Sun Qing would be performed in succession.

As dusk fell, I placed incense sticks in each corner of the main hall. Elder Sun and Sun Qing bathed and changed clothes. Elder Sun sat quietly in the ritual formation, while Sun Qing lay in the coffin prepared beforehand.

Around and atop the coffin, ritual diagrams were drawn to bind the two together.

I took the five talismans, prepared in advance, and the bowls inscribed with incantations, and called Hao Jianguo to the yard, beside the pit where the five livestock had been sealed.

After these days, the five beasts had surely died, trapped and perished. Their suffering had bred malevolent force, and now all that remained was to collect it.

Following my instructions, Hao Jianguo carefully moved the stone slab blocking the ox’s hole. The stench was overwhelming, causing Hao Jianguo to instinctively close his eyes.

I lit a yellow talisman and tossed it into the vat.

With a whoosh, flames erupted from the vat, and as they burned, the stench gradually lessened.

Once the stone slab was fully removed, I found the black ox’s head and lifted it. On its crown was a bulge, the size of a baby’s fist.

By the secret arts, the ox’s malevolent force had concentrated in that swelling.

I carefully sliced open the hide, and a soft, bloody bead emerged. I dared not touch it with my hands.

Human resentment can alter one’s fortune and fate, and animal malevolence is no different. Touching it would cause pus to flow from the body, bringing death by agony.

Using the bowl marked with talismans, I caught the bead of malevolent force, then moved to the vat containing the dog and extracted its bead in the same manner.

Each of the five beasts bore a bead of malevolent force, though their sizes varied with the animals.

Five beads, each placed in a talisman bowl, were set around Elder Sun.

Next, five red threads fitted with needles: one end without a needle was tied to Elder Sun’s hair, wrists, and ankles. The other, with the needle, I carefully pierced into each bead.

I lit yellow talismans, burned incense as I walked.

Three circles clockwise, three circles counterclockwise.

After six circuits, a sudden wind swept through the room, and the beads in the talisman bowls began to tremble, as if something inside struggled to break free.

I performed the incantation, using the burning incense to prod each bead.

The beads burst, and the blood within was transformed by the secret arts into fresh blood.

At that moment, Elder Sun let out a painful groan.

The onset of malevolent force was agonizing; I had warned Elder Sun of this beforehand. But if he endured, the ritual would succeed.

A soldier by background, Elder Sun’s resolve was strong. He quickly suppressed the pain, though his body trembled and he made no further sound.

Seeing this, I didn’t waste any time, continuing the ritual steps around Elder Sun, determined to complete the life-seizing rite as quickly as possible.

Round after round, Elder Sun’s body shook under the assault of malevolent force. Hao Jianguo, watching from the side, looked deeply worried, for Elder Sun was already showing signs.

On his skin, red and black boils erupted, multiplying until his body was covered in a frightening array.

Through my spiritual vision, I could see the shadowy forms of the five beasts beside the talisman bowls. They faced Elder Sun, mouths wide as if yearning to devour him.

I ignored this, pretending to see nothing.

Once the malevolent force takes hold, the ritual cannot pause.

Though I had never experienced it myself, Elder Sun’s contorted face made clear the severity of the pain.

To gain, one must pay; that is an immutable law.

Elder Sun wished to trade his life for one more year for his son Sun Qing. This pain, he must endure.

The ritual required eighty-one circuits in total. By the forty-ninth, Elder Sun could no longer suppress his cries. At that point, anyone seeing him would be shocked.

He was unrecognizable, his face and hands covered in enormous boils—red, black, yellow, and white—like someone infected with a bioweapon in a film, repulsive and horrifying.

When the eighty-one circuits were complete, I was drenched in sweat, my legs trembling. If Hao Jianguo hadn’t been quick to support me, I would have collapsed on the floor.

Elder Sun fainted from the pain.

Summoning the last of my strength, I completed the final incantation, then sat on the ground to rest.

With the ritual finished, a miraculous change unfolded before Hao Jianguo’s astonished eyes. The boils on Elder Sun’s body, like bubbles, vanished one after another by the second.

After more than ten minutes, every boil was gone. Except for a slight bluish tint, his skin showed no trace of the horrors of minutes before.

The disappearance of the boils signified the completion of the life-seizing ritual; henceforth, even without changing Sun Qing’s fate, Elder Sun had only a year left to live.

After half an hour of rest, a bath, and fresh clothing, I returned to the main hall. Elder Sun, who had fainted, was now awake and looked in good spirits.

For the coming year, he would not fall ill, and his body would be robust—a secondary benefit of the life-seizing ritual.

Following my instructions, Hao Jianguo had already cleaned the ritual formation used earlier. I immediately began drawing a new formation for Sun Qing’s fate-changing rite.

As soon as the formation was drawn, I let Elder Sun sit inside. He looked at me beseechingly and said, “Young master, I’m relying on you.”

Destiny cannot be defied—an inviolable principle.

Thus, I wasn’t entirely confident about the outcome. But I didn’t want Elder Sun to be disappointed, so I nodded earnestly and said, “We do what we can; the rest is up to fate.”

Unnoticed, midnight had arrived.

Seeing the hour approach, I lit the oil lamps placed around Sun Qing’s coffin, then three incense sticks, inserting them in the censer before the coffin.

Sun Qing’s effigy was handed to Elder Sun. A needle pierced its brow, and another needle at the end of a red thread was driven into Elder Sun’s own brow.

Ten oil lamps were placed around Elder Sun and all were lit.

“Are you ready?” I turned to Hao Jianguo, for I would need his help with certain matters.

There was only one chance to change fate. The life-seizing ritual had succeeded, meaning Elder Sun could only stake everything on this.

Though destiny is hard to alter, I wanted to try—not only to test my abilities, but also to repay Elder Sun’s kindness.

Hao Jianguo took a deep breath and nodded. Without wasting words, I cast the eighteen yellow talismans onto Elder Sun’s head, held a burning incense stick to mark time, and began the ritual steps, uttering the incantations.

The fate-changing rite must be completed within the time it takes one stick of incense to burn. If it fails, all hope is lost.

Time was of the essence.

As I began the ritual steps, a gentle wind swirled through the room.

Meanwhile, outside, the yin energy gathered in the mountain woods seemed to respond, rushing forth in waves.