The Heavenly Palace

North Lai Ferry is located upstream of Baibei Port, requiring a six-kilometer waterway journey.

This is the location of the official granary of Daoheng County, and also the territory of General Chen Fang (a great warlord) of the First Kingdom of Tonghe. It originally belonged to Da Liang. When the old warlord died and the new warlord took power, the name of the local county and town remained unchanged despite the change of dynasties.

Having dealt with the Blood-giving Monster in the bathhouse, Su Ling simply called over the Luo family members and joined Ling Ao at a table.

After seeing the Flash Butterfly in the photograph, the fishman Left Guard became increasingly erratic, as if his soul had left his body.

Upon hearing of the murder at the bathhouse, the Luo family of Baibei Town sent their patriarch and several younger members to the scene. They were immediately tied up by Su Ling and thrown in front of the bathhouse for interrogation.

"I've already introduced myself," Su Ling emphasized repeatedly. "I'm from the Rootless Tree sect of Wuling Mountain, and I'm the chief disciple of True Immortal Luo Ping'an —this place of yours is filled with demonic energy, so the captain, the adjutant and all that were killed."

The head of the Luo family looked very young; she was a woman who was only twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

The woman was dressed in a purple-gold silk robe and wore many ornaments. She was not alarmed when the immortal captured her and responded calmly.

"Oh, so it's a sorcerer from Wuling Mountain."

Billy, who was listening nearby, felt that something was amiss.

He thought to himself—Mr. Luo Ping'an is one of the very few people in Xia Bang who has come into contact with the civilized world, so why has he become a heretic in the mouths of these common people?

"Do as you please, shout whatever you want." Su Ling wasn't angry at all, and besides, you couldn't tell if this expressionless woman was angry.

The head of the Luo family ordered a roll of bath towel to be tied to the beam of the porch, and her servants and maids to be tied to the other side like a gourd.

Ling Ao received special treatment; his limbs were broken and he was hung from a beam, already in a daze.

Su Ling then asked, "Does the magistrate of Daoheng County in the Chen Kingdom (the state of General Chen Fang was named Chen) need these monsters to protect you?"

The head of the Luo family cursed, "What did you say? That's a powerful immortal with boundless magical abilities! How dare you insult an immortal from the Heavenly Palace? You'll die a horrible death!"

"What's the background of the Heavenly Palace?" Billy asked in a low voice.

"It's the Guiyi Sect, which rose to power alongside warlord Chen Fang. I've been working on the railway and haven't been back to Xiabang for a long time," Su Ling explained in a low voice. "I never imagined that this sect would raise a group of fish-men and even become a local orthodox religion."

For ordinary people, the Guiyi Sect always seemed to bring all sorts of "benefits".

"You Heavenly Palace," Su Ling kicked the Luo family head, "What's so good about it? Is it worth your trust?"

The Luo family makes no attempt to hide or conceal anything.

"--My Lord can reverse cause and effect, alter time, and possesses the heaven-defying power to determine destiny! Even if your Wuling Mountain were to exert all its strength, you would probably not be a match for my Lord, hmph."

Even as a prisoner, Luo still sneered.

"To be an enemy of the Heavenly Palace is to be an enemy of fate itself. What benefit is there in that? Those who obey prosper, and those who defy perish—that is the benefit! This is the law of nature—how could you demonic cultivators of Wuling Mountain understand this principle?"

The Great Xia Emperor always referred to Wuling Mountain as a heretical sect—because of the Wugenshu sect's style of doing things. Luo Ping'an protected the safety of all living beings, while Chen Fugui brought wealth to the common people. These two acted as both father and mother to the Wugenshu sect, which grew from nothing to something over a thousand years in the Eastern Continent of Shambhala, outliving more than eighty emperors.

When ordinary people suffer from natural disasters, they can flee to Wuling Mountain to seek a way to survive. Even if they don't have spiritual talent and can't cultivate to become immortals, they can still live a comfortable and carefree life without having to be treated like meat dogs.

However, Wuling Mountain is too close to demons and too far from the capital. The emperor has never wanted to see a country within a country, especially one that is a vast force in a different form and with a different ideology.

Even in a world rife with warlords and rampant demons, the Copper River basin nurtured countless bandits and outlaws who held their own armies. These uneducated and ignorant peasants, having gained immortal power and essence, would still kneel before the emperor, accept titles according to his wishes, and cooperate with the officials dispatched by the emperor to manage the meat dogs, becoming tools of violence for the ministers.

But Wuling Mountain is different; this place has long been separated from the Eastern Great Xia, which distinguishes between immortals and mortals.

Those with psychic abilities can go up the mountain to seek the Tao, while those without psychic abilities can still live in peace and contentment.

As for Xia Bang's army and its demons and monsters, if they want to set foot on the territory of Wuling Mountain, they'll have to try Luo Ping'an Ping'an's flying sword.

Therefore, in the mouths of local officials and in the eyes of local gentry, the wandering Daoist priests who came out of Wuling Mountain were all "demonic Daoists" - on the contrary, they brought them benefits. They were blood-giving demons who asked for human flesh in exchange for their future and human blood in exchange for supernatural powers. These cadres of the Guiyi Sect became true immortals.

Ignoring the Luo family head's insults, Su Ling ran to the bathhouse corridor and came out carrying a hanging painting.

That was a portrait of Luo's great-grandmother.

"--You look exactly like your ancestor!"

Su Ling carefully compared the two appearances and noticed that the Luo family head's face was becoming increasingly gloomy.

"Oh"

She vaguely guessed the special characteristics of the Heavenly Palace's soul power.

"This is you?"

Although unwilling to admit it, the Luo family head's expression had already made the answer clear.

This wealthy landowner in Baibei Port also received the favor of the Heavenly Palace. Like the welcoming child in the bathhouse, she, as a mortal who had not received the blood of the Holy One, lived for more than a hundred years, had descendants, and still possessed a physical body of twenty-four or twenty-five years old.

She was the great-grandmother of the Luo family and also the agent of the Daoheng County General Banner, who managed some of the industries in Baibei Port. This bathhouse was the General Banner's entertainment facility, where fishmen and rat spirits could eat human flesh in front of guests in the hot spring dining area—no one cared, as if it had become a natural habit.

This has been the case for many years; what has been agreed upon by custom has become the rule, and the rule has gradually become an ironclad law.

"This soul power is interesting." Su Ling took out her Polaroid camera again, trying to figure out the pattern.

She carefully examined every part of the camera, and at the same time took out the portrait of the flag bearer.

This photograph seems to foreshadow future events, while also documenting the location and the state of the people being photographed.

Pressing the shutter button activates this strange and mysterious power, causing the subject to return to the moment the photo was taken.

Su Ling was very curious: did this power only affect living things, or was everything affected by it?

The things that returned to the "photo studio" with the rat spirit included an arm inside her stomach, a millstone that had been turned upside down countless times, and many other environmental factors that were also affected and changed.

It can do things that are far too complex and chaotic.

Thinking this, Su Ling casually took a picture of herself. Then she waited for the photo to develop.

The pitch-black expanse gradually came into color, revealing a vision of the future.

--That was a selfie of Su Ling holding a broken tooth, facing the camera, making a V-sign with two fingers and smiling at the corners of her mouth.

Billy was confused. "VIP, whose tooth is this? Why are you smiling?"

"I understand," Su Ling turned to look at Billy, then raised her hand and threw a punch.

In the instant Billy the Kid stumbled and tilted his head, she caught a flying tooth and held it in her hand. Then, as shown in the picture, she put a photo gel and a packet of medicine into the camera and pressed the shutter according to the prophetic instructions.

She felt dizzy, and an inexplicable force pulled Billy the Kid's body back to its starting point, while the bloodstained broken tooth flew from Su Ling's hand back into Billy's mouth.

The cold, cutting wind that was originally blowing southeast gradually changed direction, creating a strong vortex between the two people. It seemed that the ability to reverse time caused a large number of retrograde phenomena to appear in this space.

When everything returned to normal, Su Ling looked at the still-shaken Billy and carefully searched between his teeth to make sure that the Blood-giving Retinue had no external injuries, as if the damage from the punch had healed.

And then the next photo came out—

--The prophetic photograph depicts the gruesome death of the head of the Luo family, his head severed from his body.

Billy, the "VIP," could still feel the nerve pain in his gums. After seeing the contents of the photo, he quickly advised, "You've already killed four or five today. This woman is even Homo sapiens. Are you planning to take her?"

Su Ling interrupted, "Use her as an experiment."

Ling Xiao's body can be restored, then if the main culprit of the Luo family is dead, can she come back to life?

What exactly happened to that corpse? Why did it transform into Flash Butterfly?

These questions need to be answered and analyzed gradually.

This kind of soul power is beyond Su Ling's comprehension. Even if she gathered all the scholars in the Arcane Library to create a special project on this camera, it would probably take them a long time to study it.

Currently, the only psionic power capable of reversing time is FE204863, the "Regret Pill."

But the Regret Pill is not like a Polaroid camera that can be used anytime. The Regret Pill changes the entire material plane except for celestial bodies with extremely large masses.

The things that Polaroid cameras change are only a portion of people or things; the story must be told within a frame.

At the same time, it also has a predictive function. The camera shutter is like the eye of a higher-dimensional being. When the shutter is pressed, this higher-dimensional being opens its eyes to take a look—the observation results can determine the past and future of the observed.

Luo is right--

--The master of the Heavenly Palace can indeed determine fate.

However, it cannot reverse cause and effect; at most, it opens a small window.

This window allows a critically injured person on the verge of death to crawl back into the "photo studio" and return to the state they were in during their last photo session.

"I really do want to use this woman as a test subject," Su Ling confessed. "She called me a sorcerer, and I'm the kind of person who holds grudges. I repay kindness with kindness and evil with justice, right? A sorcerer should do what a sorcerer should do. Wouldn't it be better to use her corpse for research and inventions?"

Billy felt increasingly uneasy as he listened, but after thinking about the anonymous man's behavior, he understood.

Although these Homo sapiens were not actually given blood, they still benefited from the Blood-giving Monster and were accomplices of the cannibals. It was only natural that they would fall into the hands of the VIPs and become experimental subjects. It was just that this scene was about to actually happen before Billy's eyes—he felt a little scared. This was his weakness, his personality.

Previously, Billy was fearless and determined to become a fighter against counterfeits, even at the cost of his life, so that unscrupulous merchants who harmed the public would pay the price.

But in these life-or-death moments, he would always think of Fay Foroisin, always cling to a sliver of hope, and always feel a pang of reluctance.

Billy wouldn't care much if he were to die himself, but witnessing death firsthand exposed his character flaws—the reason the gunsmith didn't train his two students to be soldiers was precisely because of these flaws.

"Let's give it a try," Su Ling said, mentioning Mingde's remains.

The head of the Luo family immediately changed his expression. "You dare! The Heavenly Palace will not let you get away with this!"

Su Ling: "Any other last words?"

Luo struggled, screaming, "No! No! No! No!"

The servants and maids who had been following the master in his domineering ways also began to struggle, like beasts in a chicken coop about to die, seeing the knife in their master's hand and about to be slaughtered, they immediately began to kick and straighten themselves, trying to break free from the towel bindings.

Su Ling displays the prophecy photo.

"The photo looks like this; your head will separate from your body."

Luo: "That's not right, that's not right."

Su Ling: "If it's wrong, doesn't that mean your sect leader's supernatural powers are ineffective?"

Luo stammered, "It must be you, you sorcerer, who cast this evil spell. How could I die? I... I couldn't possibly be dead."

"So I'm very curious," Su Ling whispered in the woman's ear, "What if I didn't kill you, or used other methods to kill you?"

"For example, stabbing you to death."

"Or I might not cut off your head, but bleed you dry, or I might break all four of your limbs and let you slowly die of pain and starvation."

"Does this photo still work? What will happen?"

Luo's face grew increasingly grim. She thought to herself that it would be better to just chop off her head—this evil Daoist from Wuling Mountain was ruthless and vicious, and it would be better for her to die than live in her hands.

Su Ling stepped back a few paces and raised her Polaroid camera.

"What if we take another picture? What will happen then?"

"This Soul Might is really fun; it unlocks a new way to play."

"No! No, no, no! Stop filming! Stop filming!" Luo struggled fiercely, her outer robe tearing open to reveal her bloodied shoulder. "No!"

The camera shutter clicked again.

It's as if nothing happened--

--Because Su Ling did not follow the activation conditions of Soul Power Superpower, and did not insert the photo of the light plasma and the medicine packet.

At the same time Phoenix began recording experimental data.

[--First time taking a photo without a picture, nothing happened]

[The observer, Mr. Luo, seemed to lose control of his emotions, as if pressing the shutter was a profoundly meaningful act, a solemn and dignified ritual, much like the prayer of calling out one's true name when activating one's spiritual power—a process of establishing communication between mortals and deities.]

She calmly and slowly loaded the materials into the camera, replacing both the photos and the medicine kit.

Startled, Luo thought she had escaped a disaster. Seeing that Su Ling, the Sangmen Xing, was about to get serious, she ignored the pain in her body and tried to escape again.

If a camera captures it, then it will be too late.

Prophecies never fail; being beheaded is my destiny, it's just a matter of sooner or later!

If the next photo develops successfully.

"Click--"

The sound of the camera shutter washed away all her will to live; she immediately urinated, and then the urine went back in.

She felt everything rushing away, and her body was being swept away by the strong wind. She returned to the previous "photo studio," to the Aizong Mausoleum, and to this small town that had both saddened and brought her happiness.

In just a few seconds, she traversed more than 7,000 meters, flying back and forth between her backyard and the Baibei Wharf market, cycling between her bedroom and the courtyard more than a hundred times, constantly getting up and going back to sleep, constantly making eating motions, then squatting in the latrine, going for a walk in the fields, giving instructions in the workshop, and delivering gifts to the government office.

In about thirty seconds, or half a minute, it will be over.

She flew into the Divine Revelation Street of Aizong Mausoleum, flew over the abandoned inner courtyard of the Ministry of Works, and flew into the magnificent main hall of the Heavenly Palace.

She was like an alien who had barged into the home of the master of the Heavenly Palace and came before a cloaked figure dressed entirely in black.

Judas, wearing a golden mask, was discussing important matters with the second feather.

Grandma Luo hurriedly got up and then knelt down in front of Master Yu.

"A sorcerer from Wuling Mountain has arrived at Baibei Port! My lord! My lord!"

More than a hundred years ago, it was here that Rothschild took her first photograph—her age was frozen at twenty-four. She could have children, start a family, and live on, returning to her golden age of twenty-four time and time again through new photographs.

Each time the camera produces a new photo, she can foresee crucial events in her future life and use these photos to seize opportunities and gain wealth.

The price was merely serving the Heavenly Palace. As for the 113 lives lost in the Luo family, these were just small gifts given to the master of the Heavenly Palace more than a hundred years ago, and were nothing. Later, during the major missionary work in Daoheng County, the real focus was on the human flesh sent by the Heavenly Palace as gifts during festivals.

Lord Feather has not yet spoken or expressed his opinion.

"In that case," Judas, taking a weapon from beside the throne in the great hall, "You must have escaped back."

The alliance leader was still furious, but in order to weigh the pros and cons, he had no choice but to appoint Axue, the deserter, as a new leader.

Upon seeing Luo, he lost his mind, unleashing all his negative emotions. He swung his knife, chopped off the dog's head, removed the prions from its brain, and prepared to collect the ingredients.

At the moment of decapitation, Luo's remaining chaotic consciousness finally became clear—

--This fate cannot be changed; it's only a matter of time.