Humans are like fish living in the river of time, lifespan is the length of this fish (affecting time), strength is its breadth (affecting range), and belief or the ability to stir causality is its height (affecting depth).
The boundaries of these three aspects aren’t really as clear-cut as the analogy suggests. It’s just that the analogy makes it simpler and clearer.
With a long life and strength but without stirring causality, this fish can only wriggle at the riverbed, unnoticed, never breaking the surface, unable to influence the overall situation. The river remains calm, with or without it, making no difference to the world.
A short life and lack of strength but can stir up storms, prove that such a person can cause changes to the world under fortunate coincidences. However, this change is not long-lasting, like a small fish leaping from the water—indeed it can splash, but it cannot truly fundamentally change anything.
Only those with lifespan, strength and the ability to stir up the storms can leap over the dragon gate, become a Dragon Snake amidst the wind and rain, alter the complexion of heaven and earth, causing rivers to surge, and radically change the world.
In the original Huai Xu Realm, Fate Pattern is an encouragement for those with sufficient ability to stir causality. Because lifespan and strength can be compensated for by other means, but belief and concern for causality have always been hard to come by. Therefore, to ensure those rare talents have adequate power to change the world, Fate Pattern, which can directly grant Divine Skills, came into existence.
In the current Huai Xu Realm, Fate Pattern has become a benchmark for innate talent: as long as one’s belief is strong enough and the ability to move causality (handle major affairs) is strong enough, then the Heavenly Dao will grant you a Fate Pattern outright.
"Essentially, the Fate Pattern is not something the Gods pick and choose to bestow on individuals, but rather an automatic response mechanism that grants the corresponding Fate Pattern when one meets the standards—it’s fundamentally still a matter of human effort."
Having understood this through ’Heavenly Revelation’, An Jing has a sudden realization: "The so-called man-made Fate Pattern is essentially about nurturing an initially ordinary person through extreme conditions, gradually enabling them to stir up storms—simply put, isn’t this teaching one to rebel?"
"This is my specialty! No wonder, no wonder the Tianyi Demon Sect is so fond of cultivating members who ’rebel out of the sect’; turns out they too have explored the essence of Fate Pattern to this point!"
"Opposing everything that exists is to [stir the great tide of causality]!"
An Jing has now fully understood why the Tianyi Demon Sect is so frenetic, and even understands the essence of what Martial Artists call ’accomplishing great deeds’.
When Martial Artists accomplish great deeds, it’s to stir causality, to become more noticeable in the Heavenly Dao and to obtain a higher title of Fate Pattern. Essentially, this is like taking an exam for a higher qualification through changing the world.
This Heavenly Mandate of mine, in essence, stripped of all its mystical veils, is a highest-level title ordained by the Heavenly Dao!
The awakening of Fate Pattern by Huo Qing and Nian Quan is not just due to their own belief and capabilities, but also to a large extent because they have been affected by my influence—like the fact that I brought them from Tianyuan Realm to Huai Xu Realm. No matter how you put it, this is a massive causal interaction. They may also use my help in the future to travel between the two realms, obtaining resources from both to grow, and thereby changing the Huai Xu Realm and Tianyuan Realm worlds to an even greater extent.
Transmigrators between the two realms are naturally entwined with enormous causality and become Life Holders.
Plus, with me, Heavenly Mandate, by their side, such staggering causality can naturally culminate in the birth of Luo Hou and a Comet, these two Heaven Star Mandate!
"Do you feel that you’ve awakened any sort of abilities?"
An Jing asks eagerly. He does not expect the two of them to awaken a Fate Pattern Divine Skill on the spot like he did, but a bit of special abilities should be within reach.
"Indeed, a little..."
Huo Qing now closes his eyes lightly, and when he opens them again, he has already kindled a rather marvelous, dim and hollow flame in his hand.
This flame is dark red with a hint of gold, resembling the last glimmer of a sunset, like the extinguishing light of a candle, radiating a warmth that is hard to describe. The center is an empty void, with only the outer layer burning.
At a glance, it looks somewhat like the corona of light one can see around the dark perimeter during a ’solar eclipse’, a light that can only be seen when the sky and earth are dim.
An Jing is quite curious. He knows that both Luo Hou Star and Jidu Star, like Heavenly Light, are derivatives derived from the Sun and Moon Eclipse.
Cang Linzu is Jidu, whose Divine Skill precisely stems from the shadowy power of "In the darkness of heaven and earth, I am the shadow" derived from ’Sun and Moon Eclipse’. Because the Jidu Star is the remaining Star Suppressing Earth, he can also link to the Underworld, performing shadowy vanish through virtualization from the Netherworld side. This time, An Jing has obtained quite a number of Spiritual Objects and Cultivation Techniques from the Night Niche Gang’s warehouse, which can later be directly transmitted through resonance with the Fate Pattern.
As for Huo Qing’s Lu Hou, what derived from it is actually the ’Derivative Fire’ from ’Ring Sun and Moon Eclipse’, which is precisely the remnant of Mars’ fire. He was really curious about what this power represents.
Huo Qing also felt quite strange. The Special Abilities of his Fate Pattern were different from the powers cultivated on his own. Upon possessing it, it was as intuitive as moving one’s limbs, controllable without thought, like an innate part of the body. But exactly because of this, he couldn’t articulate the essence of this power: "I feel, it seems to be used to burn oneself?"
An Jing was stunned for a moment, and Huo Qing actually really pressed the Luo Hou’s Fire against his own left arm.
In that instant, both Huo Qing and An Jing realized that the Spirit Qi in Huo Qing’s left arm was ignited in a flash, then transformed into a stream of profound force, filling his limbs.
His arm muscles began to swell, tendons and bones crackling with sound, and the entire arm grew sturdier by one size, bursting his clothes!
The exposed skin glowed with a dark golden sheen, clearly exhibiting unparalleled sturdiness.
"Ah?" Huo Qing was stunned, he said in amazement: "The Spiritual Fiend in my hand is gone—But, it’s been enhanced!"
"And also, so hungry!"
Almost at the exact moment when Huo Qing spoke, the sound of his rumbling stomach came through, very loud, to the point that even Nian Quan, who was pondering his newly acquired Fate Pattern power, couldn’t help but turn his head to look.
"A sacrifice-like temporary Body Refinement?"
An Jing keenly grasped the essence and thought to himself: "That’s right, Luo Hou is the Fire Heavenly Light, engulfing the Sun and Moon Gods; its flame is not real fire, but Derivative Fire, a fire yet not fire, Void Flame, lacking the outward appearance of fire but possessing its essence."
The outward appearance of fire involves burning, igniting, temperature, destruction, and a series of other principles, but its virtual essence is a very simple matter.
Igniting (sacrifice) something, whether to warm or to destroy (exchange) something.
Flame devours fuel, in exchange for warmth and destructive power.
The Luo Hou’s Fire that Huo Qing received should be a derivative of this concept.
"There’s plenty of food here."
An Jing’s Great Void Magical Instrument always had food in stock, which included many Tianyuan Realm canned foods, compressed biscuits, and clean water, as well as a large quantity of Fasting Pills—he immediately moved these foods in front of Huo Qing, who was so famished he could hardly stand straight and was starting to feel dizzy from low blood sugar; forcefully feeding him two bags of liquid food and sugar water, and then gradually stuffing him with compressed biscuits: "Next time don’t recklessly use your Divine Skills; it may not harm you, but it will definitely consume your strength!"
"But... this is Fate Pattern..."
With his mouth full of compressed biscuits, and swiftly regaining some strength with the help of sugar water, Huo Qing felt a bit wronged: "I feel that this is how it’s supposed to be used—can the Fate Pattern still deceive me?"
"Then it means you got the details wrong in using it, trust me, I understand Fate Patterns better than anyone."