"Waaaaah!" After a long while, Miao Qingrou finally couldn't hold back her tears and cried so hard, her shoulders shaking.
She wasn't crying because she had lost love, but because she couldn't bear the humiliation and the absurdity of the situation. She was devastated.
Xu Ning really wanted to laugh at this moment, but he forcibly held back, keeping his face serious. "Um, Miss Miao! Call me Grandmaster. It's the proper form of address."
Miao Qingrou paused, opened her mouth to speak, but finally held back from cursing and left angrily, storming off without another word.
"Hahahaha! Finally, some peace and quiet!" Xu Ning stood in front of the thatched hut and laughed heartily, enjoying the solitude.
In the following days, Xu Ning began experimenting with the Celestial Gazing Technique, testing its limits.
Finally, two months later, he found an opportunity. He saw that a servant in the sect had his luck dissipated, his aura collapsing. He also saw that he would die in three days.
So Xu Ning found the person and discovered that he was poisoned by a deadly toxin. Xu Ning could cure it with his medical skills.
To test whether he could change the other person's future, Xu Ning began treating him, administering the proper medicine.
However, three days later, the servant still died, and his spiritual root was given to Xu Ning as before. The result was the same.
Standing barefoot atop Saint Son Peak, Xu Ning stood with one hand behind his back and the other holding three leaves in front of him, deep in thought.
Xu Ning clearly knew he could cure the servant's deadly poison, and he initially thought he could change the servant's fate. He had been confident.
But it wasn't until the poison took effect that he realized he had misdiagnosed him—yes, misdiagnosed. In all his years of medical practice, this was the first time Xu Ning had made such a serious misdiagnosis. It was unprecedented.
This was completely abnormal. It was as if something had blinded him during the treatment, causing him to misjudge the symptoms completely.
And during this process, Xu Ning hadn't noticed anything unusual until the servant died from the poison. Only then did Xu Ning realize his mistake, too late.
"Is this fate? Even I can be blinded by it," Xu Ning couldn't help but sigh, frustrated.
No wonder the ancient cultivators said the future cannot be changed. You can only see it, not alter it. It was a fixed path.
Wait, he thought. What if I had used the universal antidote pill on the other person from the beginning, or even upgraded it? Would that have changed the outcome?
A few days later, another servant in the sect was poisoned, a similar case.
This time, to verify his guess, Xu Ning used the universal antidote pill, even upgrading it to the highest grade to maximize its power.
The result was the same as what he had seen: the servant exploded and died from the pill's overwhelming force.
Wait! Xu Ning realized something again.
It wasn't that the antidote pill couldn't cure him, but that the servant couldn't withstand its power and ultimately exploded from the strain. He was too weak for such a strong cure.
At the same time, Xu Ning realized a problem: there was a traitor within the sect. One poisoning could be explained as an accident, but two were completely abnormal. Someone was deliberately targeting the servants.
Finally, Xu Ning inquired about the formation and found the traitor, a menial servant who had been acting suspiciously.
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After interrogation, he learned that the traitor had been bribed by the Demonic Sect to specifically poison the servants, weakening the sect from within.
Xu Ning didn't kill him, but instead poisoned him and used his clairvoyance technique to see the servant's death two days later. He wanted to test further.
This time, I poisoned myself. I should be able to cure it myself, right? Xu Ning refused to believe it and immediately began treatment, using his best skills.
Two days later, the scene of the servant's death reappeared exactly as predicted. Nothing changed.
Only then did Xu Ning realize that the other party also had a hidden toxin in their body, seemingly administered by a demonic cultivator long ago. It was dormant.
However, Xu Ning hadn't noticed it before, and this toxin should have erupted when the other party tried to reveal their mastermind. It was a failsafe.
But due to a series of unforeseen events, it was resisted by Xu Ning's poison, only erupting two days later instead of immediately. The timing shifted.
During this time, Xu Ning remained completely unaware, as if his eyes were blinded to the hidden toxin.
Taking out a book on the art of clairvoyance, Xu Ning quickly flipped through it, his gaze finally settling on a line: "The future cannot be changed. Use with caution."
Staring at it for a long time, Xu Ning suddenly realized something profound.
The art of clairvoyance wasn't about seeing the future, but about fixing it. By looking, he was making it certain.
If, before Xu Ning saw it, the future held infinite possibilities. Xu Ning could have cured these people. There were many paths.
But once Xu Ning saw their fate, everything became predetermined. Trying to change it was tantamount to defying the entire future, defying fate itself.
Therefore, Xu Ning was blinded, everything became a coincidence, and regardless of whether Xu Ning acted or not, the outcome would be the same. The path was set.
"Isn't this just the double-slit interference experiment?! This isn't some kind of celestial observation technique! This is a celestial fixation technique!" Xu Ning exclaimed, recognizing the principle.
Suddenly, the thatched hut spoke up. "Xu Ning, your secret technique is incomplete. There are gaps in it."
Xu Ning frowned. "Impossible! If this secret technique were incomplete, I would have seen it long ago. I've studied it thoroughly."
The thatched hut explained, "The flaws are too obvious. You've been assuming it's complete."
Xu Ning thought. "Thatched hut, could it be that some things are originally not fixed, but rather chaotic? If you don't look at them, they are chaotic. But when you look at them, they can only have one form? The act of observation collapses the possibilities."
The thatched hut elaborated. "I know what you mean, but your secret technique involves time. Some powerful beings, when their time cultivation reaches its peak, can sever the river of time itself."
"In other words, the future can be changed. Even if it's predetermined, it can be altered, though it will bring about some butterfly effects. Nothing is truly fixed."
Xu Ning considered. "You mean I'm not capable enough right now? I lack the power to force change?"
The thatched hut agreed. "This secret technique also has problems. It feels incomplete, like a copy of a copy."
Xu Ning asked, "Can it be completed through upgrades? Could I refine it?"
The thatched hut said, "It's possible, but it requires a complete secret technique to integrate. And secret techniques are inherently very esoteric arts, extremely difficult to cultivate, and easily lost. That's why they're particularly rare in this era. Even if they exist, they're kept secret. It won't be easy to find one."
Xu Ning sighed. "So, I can't use it recklessly anymore. I need to be careful."
The thatched hut advised, "It's not that you can't use it. It just depends on how you use it. There are safe applications."
Xu Ning pressed, "Tell me. How should I use it?"
The thatched hut instructed, "Look at the luck. Look at the general direction, not the specific outcome. Observe trends, not fixed points."
Xu Ning realized, "You mean…?"
The thatched hut confirmed. "That's right. If you see the sect destroyed, then the inevitable result is the destruction of the sect, but it doesn't mean all the disciples will die. The detail is uncertain."
"As long as you evacuate all the disciples in advance, the destruction of the sect won't affect the disciples. You can change the individual outcomes while the larger event remains fixed."
"There's also luck. From luck, you can actually deduce some future trends. This requires you to constantly observe and accumulate experience. Luck is constantly changing. What you see is only the present, so the future is not predetermined. It's fluid."
After hearing this, Xu Ning suddenly understood. Yes! He could think about it from another direction. He didn't have to look at the fixed endpoints.
For example, if he saw someone's luck starting to collapse, then it meant that person was going to die. The endpoint was fixed.
At this time, Xu Ning didn't look at the result, but chose to save and change the other person. Perhaps he could reverse the other person's luck and prevent the endpoint. The outcome wasn't inevitable until observed.
In the future, he should look less at other people's results, especially those important people whose luck was collapsing. Otherwise, it would be like giving them a death sentence. He had to be careful.
And sure enough, later in the sect, there were more poisoned servants, another wave.
This time, Xu Ning didn't check the results beforehand. He focused entirely on treatment, using his skills without knowing the outcome. He ultimately cured the patient.
Taking advantage of this incident, Xu Ning also uncovered another traitor, using the poisonings as a trail.
The Demonic Sect, having succeeded twice before, thought this method was viable and planted a spy again, confident in their scheme.
However, they didn't expect Xu Ning's involvement. They had no idea their plans were being countered.