[Running away, conjecture, the first signs of [Heaven's Mandate]]

[Your hands trembled slightly as you held the two sheets of Parchment.]

["What was going on?" Towering waves surged through your heart,]

["Were the side effects of [Heaven's Mandate] this severe? Could it actually change the Past? Or... had these two decrees always existed in different 'possibilities'?"]

[Of the two sheets of Parchment, one ordered you to "reach Foundation Establishment without fail," while the other warned you to "never reach Foundation Establishment."]

[Chen Qingyan had guided you to dig up the first; the Chen Family Ancestor had delivered the second.]

[Which was true? Which was false?]

[You abruptly raised your head and fixed the Chen Family Ancestor with a sharp gaze. "Who are you?"]

["I am the Chen Family Ancestor," he answered calmly.]

["Heh." You sneered. "How could the ancestor of a Foundation Establishment lineage obtain a decree involving a [Spirit Transformation Dao Master]? Did you pick it up somewhere?"]

[The ancestor did not grow angry. He merely said slowly:]

[“I once said that I had encountered three great opportunities in my life. One of them concerned the [Lord of Beyond Heaven Ruler].”]

[You remembered.]

[He had indeed mentioned receiving a favor from Lin Feng.]

["When I received that opportunity, I also received a jade casket."]

[With a turn of his hand, he produced a palm-sized wooden casket, blue-gray throughout, with natural cloud patterns on its surface,]

["That person left a message: wait quietly. It will open on its own when the time comes."]

[He held the wooden casket out before you.]

An archaic character was carved into its lid—"Fan."

[Your pupils contracted slightly.]

[The handwriting, the aura... they shared the same origin as the Parchment.]

["Yesterday, it suddenly opened on its own, leaving only this sheet of Parchment." The ancestor looked at you, his tone certain,]

["It belongs to you, and can only belong to you."]

[You fell silent for a moment, then took the wooden casket and examined it closely.]

[The casket was cold, its interior empty. Only the faint residual fluctuations of space and time testified to its extraordinary nature.]

[The carving of "Fan" was ancient and weathered, certainly not newly made.]

[You believed him somewhat.]

[In the end, you merely confirmed a few details with the ancestor—he did not know whether Lin Feng had left any other contingencies, nor could he explain why the jade casket had opened at precisely this moment.]

[After passing on the information, he hurried away, seemingly unwilling to linger.]

[Silence returned to the meditation chamber.]

[You sat cross-legged and placed the two sheets of Parchment side by side before you, weighing them over and over.]

["Both mention that Chen Qingyan cannot be trusted... that shouldn't be a coincidence," you pondered,]

["In that case, staying by his side would be too risky."]

[You leaned toward believing the second sheet of Parchment—its origins were more secretive,]

[And it explicitly stated that "Chen Qingyan has never reincarnated," which better matched the warning that "the [Spirit Transformation Dao Master] may disguise himself as someone close to you."]

["If this parchment is genuine, then I must never reach Foundation Establishment. The day I do will be the day I am harvested."]

[A bold thought then surfaced:]

["Since the Spirit Transformation Dao Master needs my [Heaven's Mandate] as an 'anchor' to return to the present world,]

[Then before I successfully reach [Foundation Establishment] and [Heaven's Mandate] fully awakens, [He] will never let me die!"]

[That meant that, before breaking through to [Foundation Establishment], you stood on virtually Undying ground.]

[[Nascent Soul True Lords]?]

[In the eyes of a [Spirit Transformation Divine Dao] Master, they were merely larger ants.]

[As long as [He] needed you to live until the moment you reached [Foundation Establishment],]

[Any being that tried to kill you prematurely might be stopped by the unseen "[Heaven's Mandate]" or [His] covert intervention.]

["In that case..."]

[Resolve flashed in your eyes.]

[Run!]

[Under cover of night, you quietly left the Chen Family without leaving a single word.]

[Age 21]: [You did not flee far and remained within the Blazing Fire Sect's sphere of influence, eventually settling in a remote market town called [Blackstone Town].]

[Even so, you were only seeking a little peace of mind.]

[After all, unless you possessed a corresponding talent, the [Spirit Transformation Dao Master] could easily find you.]

[Spiritual energy was thin here, and cultivators were rare.]

[The strongest was merely a rogue cultivator at [middle Qi Refining], who did not even know any decent [spellcraft] and swaggered about arrogantly all day.]

[Not long after your arrival, you happened upon him bullying mortals in the street.]

[With a casual burst of spiritual power, you sent him flying.]

[After climbing to his feet, rather than becoming angry, he was delighted. He immediately bowed low, called you "big brother," and asked to follow you.]

[Watching this theatrical scene, you recalled the trope from novels in your previous life where "the protagonist shakes his mighty frame, and underlings flock to his banner." You were left speechless.]

[But remembering that you bore [Heaven's Mandate], you felt it made sense.]

[And so, you became the de facto "boss" of [Blackstone Town].]

[Life was unexpectedly peaceful.]

[Your idle cultivation progressed steadily. Your spiritual power grew purer by the day, drawing ever closer to some invisible limit of the Qi Refining Realm.]

[There were troubles, too, but they were peculiar in nature.]

[Female cultivators kept "happening upon" you.]

[Some were innocent, some alluring, some gentle, all quite beautiful, and they found every excuse to approach you. You coldly rejected them all, yet they kept coming in an endless stream, like moths flying into a flame.]

[You understood that this was most likely a hidden effect of the [Heaven's Mandate] talent.]

[—"All things change in a favorable direction" naturally included luck in romance.]

[But your heart was iron and stone. You only wanted to stay clear of trouble.]

[On the most outrageous occasion, you "picked up" an unconscious female cultivator in the wooded hills outside town.]

[Her clothing and ornaments were luxurious, her bearing cold as frost. The Jade Pendant at her waist bore the name "Yao Guang."]

[—This was the emblem of the [Eastern Region Sacred Land].]

[Her cultivation had already reached [Foundation Establishment perfection], yet for some unknown reason, she was gravely injured, her spiritual power dissipating.]

[You had intended to skirt around her, but an inexplicable intuition told you that if you abandoned her, she would surely meet Certain Death.]

[You frowned, but ultimately carried her into a secluded cave, used your spiritual power to stabilize her injuries, and laid down several layers of restrictive wards for protection.]

[Once you had finished, you stared at her pale face in silence for several breaths.]

[Then you knocked her unconscious with a palm strike.]

["Sleep. Leave on your own once you wake," you murmured. "Saving your life is already the utmost kindness and duty. The more entanglements, the more uncertainties."]

[You turned and left without leaving a trace.]

[The wooded hills were silent. Only the faint glow of the restrictive wards flowed within the cave, protecting that True Disciple of the sacred land with her extraordinary status.]

[You knew that these "coincidences" and "opportunities" might merely be the tip of the iceberg under the influence of [Heaven's Mandate].]

[Fortune blessed you, yet that also meant greater trouble was drawing near.]