Nuwa's gaze shifted back and forth between Sun Wukong and Wuzhiqi.
In those eyes clear as autumn waters, understanding grew ever stronger, ever deeper.
She finally understood.
She understood the true meaning of Gu Changqing's earlier words, why he had said, "I, too, have recently taken a new disciple," right in front of Zhunti, and why he had deliberately summoned Wuzhiqi to let Zhunti divine his fate himself.
This was no coincidence, no casual remark, much less drunken nonsense.
This was a meticulously designed-open scheme.
The Heavenly Mandate had never been immutable.
Or rather, where Gu Changqing was concerned, no Heavenly Mandate was immutable.
If he said Wuzhiqi shared a destined bond with the Sea-Calming Divine Iron, then Wuzhiqi shared a destined bond with the Sea-Calming Divine Iron.
This was neither twisting reason nor muddying the waters. Instead... he had used his supreme cultivation to forcibly carve out a path connecting Wuzhiqi to the Sea-Calming Divine Iron within this world's web of karma.
The karmic connections Zhunti had divined, those unseen bonds, were neither falsehoods nor illusions.
They were real.
Because Gu Changqing had made them real.
Marvelous...
Nuwa marveled inwardly, a glimmer of admiration flashing in her eyes.
Brilliant!
Absolutely brilliant!
She had cultivated for countless epochs, witnessed so many dazzling talents and masterful schemes, yet never seen anyone rewrite the Heavenly Mandate in such a way.
Not defying it, not opposing it, not forcibly destroying it, but... merging into it, following its flow, layering new karma over the existing course of the Heavenly Mandate and weaving new connections.
That way, the results you divined were real, the Heavenly Mandate you saw was real, and the bonds you sensed were real as well.
Yet that reality had been bestowed by Gu Changqing.
That was the most terrifying part.
Because