In the middle of the night, where no sound rose above that of the insects crawling in nature, Zhang Yong awoke from a deep sleep.
"No!" he cried out in pain as he rose from his bed, shaken by a dreadful dream—
The tragedy that had happened to him.
His body was drenched in cold sweat, his breathing ragged.
"It's that again. Looks like this will be another sleepless night."
He raised his hand and looked at it before calming himself down instinctively.
Leaving his bed, he set out for a night walk to soothe his mind.
As soon as he left his room and began walking, he noticed how fast his heart was pounding in his chest.
He had experienced this kind of nightmare several times, yet he both hated and didn't hate it at the same time.
He hated it because it reminded him of his unforgivable mistake, yet he didn't hate it because it served as a driving force for him now.
Unexpectedly, he heard a sound in his ears—a beautiful, melodious sound. The sound of a musical instrument.
When he heard this, his breathing began to settle, his heartbeat slowing down, his body relaxing.
This sound drew him in involuntarily, and he followed it.
As the sound grew closer and closer, he continued walking quietly until he emerged from the trees to a beautiful, shimmering lake that perfectly reflected the image of the moon.
Walking slowly, he noticed someone sitting on the roots of a tree opposite the lake.
Looking closer, Zhang Yong saw that the person was a girl.
She was wearing a beautiful white dress, her black hair flowing in the wind like a waterfall spilling to the ground.
Hearing footsteps behind her, the girl turned toward Zhang Yong. When he saw her face, he noticed she was wearing a white blindfold, her skin pale as snow.
Though blindfolded, it felt to Zhang Yong as if she was looking straight through him.
As she turned, the sound of the instrument stopped, and her voice filled the silence.
'Oh, it's you."
As the music ended, Zhang Yong regained some composure and asked,
"Who… are you? Sister Liu Yan?"
The girl chuckled lightly, covering her mouth with her hand.
"So I suppose they didn't tell you? My sister and I are twins, so I understand why you'd mistake me for her—especially finding a girl alone in such a place at night."
Involuntarily, Zhang Yong's face turned slightly red before he regained his balance"Ah, sorry. Sister Liu Yan did tell me she had a sister, but she didn't mention you were twins. That's why I was confused."
A smile formed on the girl's face.
"Well, I suppose that makes sense—especially with a restless heart like yours."
Zhang Yong's eyes widened at her words.
"What that supposed to mean?"
The girl turned slightly as she spoke.
"It's so loud. Unconscious living beings that rely on instinct start to flee from sounds like that. Ah, I suppose I've said something improper on our first meeting. I assume you came here after hearing my music, didn't you?"
She patted a spot beside her. "Come, sit with me."
For some reason, he couldn't refuse her. Quietly, he stepped forward and sat beside her , she was obviously a bit older than him , but with With a well-built, developed body like his, there wasn't much difference except for her being a little taller
She was holding a wooden Guqin in her hands.
Slowly, she began to move her hands across the strings, playing a gentle melody that brought peace to Zhang Yong's heart. He couldn't help but admire the sound.
In his previous life, he had never really cared for something like music, but now, who would have thought he'd come to appreciate it?
After a while, the girl finished playing. Zhang Yong raised his arms slightly in thanks.
"Thank you, elder sister. But may I know your name?"
The girl seemed to realize something.
"I forgot to tell you my name. I'm called Yin—Liu Yin."
Zhang Yong stared blankly for a moment before asking,
"Sister Yin, may I ask why you wear that blindfold? Could it be you're blind? If so, I might know a way to cure it."
Liu Yin lifted her hands as she explained,
"No, I'm not truly blind. It's just that my eyes are too powerful for me to look with them normally."
A slight frown crossed her face.
"It's not like I need anyone's care, anyway. You're actually blinder than I am."
Her sudden change in tone left Zhang Yong puzzled.
"Eh? Elder sister, what do you mean?" he scratched his head sheepishly.
"That's what I mean—I'm not talking about blindness of sight, but blindness of insight."
At those words, Zhang Yong's body shivered involuntarily. He felt her words held meaning, though he didn't fully understand them
'am i stupid or retarded , i don't know the answer'
Liu Yin's frown faded, replaced by her earlier smile.
"In truth, the reason I hide my eyes is because I possess the Eyes of Fate."
"And what are those?" Zhang Yong asked.
The girl sighed lightly, still smiling.
"As my sister said, you know nothing. These eyes are something I was born with , they are something different from the sacred bodies , and they are dangerous They allow me to see the future."
At those words, a sudden surge of excitement coursed through Zhang Yong's blood.
"You can see the future? Like fortune-telling or something? With such a power, you could rule the world or claim an empire!"
Seeing his excitement, Liu Yin continued smiling.
"You're exaggerating. You don't know how dangerous this ability is. Of course I can see the future, but everything has a dangerous side."
She picked up a dry tree branch from the ground and began to draw.
"Think of time as a river, with humans and living beings as mere fish swimming along with the current. But what happens if a fish jumps out of the river?"
An idea formed in Zhang Yong's mind.
"The fish would be able to see the river it leapt from—that's the meaning of seeing the future. But in doing so, it wouldn't land in the same place it jumped from and could end up outside the river entirely."
Liu Yin's eyes sparkled with admiration.
"It seems you lack information, but you have the capacity to understand. Yes, jumping out of the river of time - which means death , is possible if this ability is used repeatedly. But that's not the only problem. As I said, humans are like fish—when they jump, all they can do is see the river. They can't, for example, place stones in it to alter its course. If they did, the current would change, creating a new future—and no one knows if it would be better or worse."
Zhang Yong listened quietly.
"I see…"
She continued,
"One more thing—my ability works on humans, but I must look directly at the person. Once I see their future, that future will never change; it becomes fixed forever. If I don't look, there's a chance it may change endlessly. But once I see it, it will never change again."
Zhang Yong gazed at her drawing for a moment, then sighed and lifted his head toward the lake.
Fate truly was a mysterious power, and perhaps it was better not to meddle with it for now.
"Do you wish to see your future? I've told you the conditions so you'd understand," Liu Yin asked with a smile.
Zhang Yong remained silent, contemplating her words. Knowing his future might be something he wanted, but once seen, it would remain fixed.
Why would it remain fixed?
Because fate and the heavens wouldn't allow change?
Was it because humans were bound by the shackles of Fate?
If so, then he would simply have to break those shackles.
Could they not be broken?
Then he would just destroy fate itself and change the future.
Zhang Yong smiled boldly.
"I want to know my future. It may seem selfish of me to ask."
Liu Yin smiled gently.
"This isn't selfishness—everyone always worries about their future and forgets what they have now. But things always change endlessly… until the last drop of the river of time."
She lifted her hands and began removing her blindfold slowly.
"Phew… that's better. Sometimes this blindfold feels suffocating."
Without it, she was without a doubt the spitting image of Liu Yan—but her eyes were like gemstones reflecting the stars, a celestial blue.
When Zhang Yong saw his reflection in her eyes, it felt as if everything turned pitch black. He could no longer see, hear, or feel—an unsettling void of nothingness.
When his senses returned, he was still by the lake. But Liu Yin was crying, twin streams of tears down her cheeks.
"Elder sister?"
It seemed his voice brought her back to reality. Realizing her state, she quickly wiped her eyes.
"Sorry…there was a point I was forbidden from looking at, as if there was a wall , but the far i reached , i should say I don't think you should blame yourself too much, or you'll lose even more in the future—you'll lose yourself , it's already bad , so...please don't make it worse , for your own good"
Zhang Yong nodded and smiled.
"That's nothing for you to worry about. I've already decided—I won't blame myself. I'll blame the world. The heavens tried to kill me and cast me aside, so I'll start with the heavens of this world… and then the true heavens."
The way Zhang Yong smiled sent shivers down Liu Yin's spine. No ordinary person would want to fight the heavens. It was madness.
"You need to stop thinking like that."
Zhang Yong raised his eyes to the sky and laughed.
"Don't worry. I know my limits. If there's someone important to me, I'll protect them. And if I have to fight the heavens to do so, then I will."
Liu Yin sighed, then smiled.
"I don't know if I should call you a fool or someone chasing the impossible. But when I looked into your past, I could tell you're a kind person deep down. I hope you'll stay that way."
Suddenly, Zhang Yong's smile vanished.
"Kind? Kindness won't save you in this world. By casting it aside, I can become stronger—because the kind are bound by their principles, and that weakens them, stops them from making the hard, necessary decisions. I won't allow myself to be weak in this life."
Liu Yin was alarmed.
"That… that's nothing but the demonic path!"
A wide grin spread across Zhang Yong's face.
"And what of it? I don't care if it's the righteous path or the demonic path—so long as it makes me stronger, I'll walk either, or even carve my own. The righteous path is nothing but hypocrisy, and the demonic path is just vile. If walking the demonic path makes me stand at the peak of the world, I'll become the most demonic of all. If the righteous path makes me unrivaled, I'm ready to be a saint."
Her face froze in shock. To her, as a girl who had only lived one life, Zhang Yong's words were far too dark, making her wonder what kind of experiences had shaped him into this. And that's when she realized—this person could not be fixed.
Yet she couldn't just stand by and watch him destroy himself.
"So… you'll walk this road, no matter the cost?"
Zhang Yong looked at her from the corner of his eye, then back to the sky. The clouds above were rumbling, but unlike them, his mind was calm.
He turned toward her and spoke his final words:
"Elder sister, I've made my choice. No matter the price I must pay—even if I must rip out my eyes or cut off my limbs—if it makes me stronger, I'll do it. I've already lost everything I could lose.
This is my character… a desperate character"
At those words, thunder roared in the sky, as if the heavens had swallowed them whole and taken them as a challenge.
Rain poured down on his messy hair, but it could not hide the golden gleam in his eyes—a gleam that radiated boundless arrogance.