Teleportation

The two returned to the tribe to find the clan leader already back.

"Father!" The young woman rushed into his arms. "I found the one from the prophecy!" she exclaimed, pointing at Chi.

"This youth? Truly a prodigy!" The clan leader stepped forward, looking Chi over before offering the traditional cupped-hand salute of the Central Plains. "I am Lan Cang, leader of the Cloudwater Great Tribe and acting chieftain of the five tribes. This is my eldest daughter, Lan Jin'yao. May I ask the young hero's honorable name?"

"This junior is Chi, from the Central Plains." Chi returned the salute, keeping his introduction brief.

"Young Hero Chi, you come from the future. Do you know... do you know if any remnants of our Yunshui Clan still exist?" As Lan Cang uttered these words, the atmosphere grew heavy.

"Senior... I came here to change fate. Why dwell on the past?" After a moment of silence, Chi asked, puzzled.

"Young Hero Chi, you may not know this, but our clan once possessed a Prophecy Tome. Its prophecies are never wrong; they are all destined to occur. So, from the perspective of time, everything foretold within—including your arrival... is already part of history..."

Chi fell silent. The clan leader guessed the outcome and heaved a heavy sigh. "Heaven does not favor the Yunshui!"

Gritting his teeth, Chi spoke. "In the future, there is a Lan Clan in the Central Plains' Chu State! This junior has read their Clan Annals. It states they defeated that evil entity with the help of someone... someone not of that era!"

"Young Hero Chi, can this truly be?" A light sparked in the clan leader's eyes as he leaned in, asking eagerly.

"Every word is true. It also recorded that, contrary to the classical texts, its attribute had changed from water to wood!" Chi grew more animated as he spoke, as if forgetting he was spinning a tale. "When I arrived, I saw no raging flames upon the dwelling ruins. Instead, thick tree trunks had destroyed everything. Yet those trunks bore numerous irregular marks of melting or charring, likely from fire-based techniques. And I... possess a celestial-grade fire spirit root!"

"Then according to your words, Young Hero, there is hope for our Yunshui!" Overjoyed, the clan leader felt the future traveler's words act as an anchor, steadying his uneasy heart—even though the battle had not yet begun and they knew little of the enemy.

"Jin'yao, take the tribe's elderly, the young, the women, and our cultivation manuals into Chu!" The clan leader gathered his people. "The human Chu State lies over a hundred li from our Yunshui. A full exodus would be pursued! Therefore, the men and I will stay behind to buy time. Once you enter Chu, you will be safe!" He added, "The Clan Annals states: 'Enter Chu, and find peace.'"

No one noticed the troubled look on Chi's face.

That afternoon, the clan leader eagerly sought out the other tribes to make final preparations. The clan's old, weak, sick, and women also began packing, ready to leave the ancestral homeland that had sheltered them for a thousand years.

"Chi! You only said those things to comfort Father, didn't you?" As dusk fell, Lan Jin'yao sought him out.

"My speculation about that entity's attribute change is mostly accurate, but..." Chi clammed up, unable to voice the rest.

"Fine, I understand. Then this journey is a final farewell. Take care of yourself, and take care of little Jinxi!" Lan Jin'yao patted Chi's shoulder. "Jinxi refused to leave. She's in the cave where her mother rests. Over there!" She pointed toward a tall mountain adjacent to the Cloudwater Great Tribe.

Chi's heart churned with mixed emotions. He looked at Lan Jin'yao, then turned his gaze toward the seal on that mountain. "Sister... is fate truly immutable? Is everything truly predetermined?"

Lan Jin'yao was momentarily puzzled by his sudden question but soon understood his feelings. "I suppose I can call you brother-in-law now! I was wild in my youth and did not believe in fate either. But when Mother left, that helplessness woke me. I tried almost everything then, but it was useless. Because the Clan Annals foretold her death, it became unchangeable."

"But isn't it possible that knowing the result is what *caused* the result?" Chi pondered this new thought.

"To be precise, the Clan Annals does not hold prophetic power. A member of the Ying Clan once visited, saying the Annals do not belong to the present. They exist and record the future, and whichever future it is, it is predetermined! Causality cannot be altered."

Chi fell silent. He believed Lan Jin'yao's words, but refused to believe the future was utterly unchangeable. The future was only predetermined because no one in the past changed it—and he intended to be the first.

Lan Jin'yao led the migration of the five tribes. Most able-bodied men stayed behind, standing ready for battle.

The five clan leaders awakened the Ancestral Artifact, gathering energy for a decisive strike. Chi drew the evil entity's attention head-on while the remaining tribesmen covered the flanks. The clan leaders and several elders had been tending the Ancestral Artifact for days, working without rest.

A chilling, tearing sound issued from the mountaintop. Then it ceased abruptly, and contrary to all expectations, no terrifying giant beast emerged.

The battle had already begun.

The surrounding trees instantly transformed into sharpened spikes, shooting forward. A deep, resonant roar echoed from the jungle as colossal trees thousands of feet tall erupted from the ground.

Tribesmen caught off guard were instantly impaled, their vitality drained in a single encounter. The giant trees acted like vortexes, devouring the life force of anyone nearby.

In the blink of an eye, their numbers were halved.

Chi had originally planned to strike only when the entity's true form appeared. But given the current situation, he had no choice but to force its main body out.

He entered his Magma State once more. The elders following him immediately cast spells, extracting all moisture from the wooden matter in a small area, rendering it ready to ignite at a touch.

The flames grew fiercer. Under the coverage of Chi's spell, the entire forest caught fire. He flew into the air, scanning the sea of fire below for any anomalies. Suddenly, he felt a chill on his back and dodged away as thorns shot from behind him.

A mass of vegetation appeared behind him. It didn't resemble a living creature, but rather a kind of core—perhaps the awakened heart of a mighty being, radiating an overwhelming aura of resentment.

That heart coalesced the surrounding plants, transforming into a giant that loomed before Chi.

"No wonder!" Chi exclaimed in realization, but he didn't idle. Forming hand seals, the air around him instantly combusted. The temperature reached an extreme, causing it to sublime into a substance between solid and gas, which also coalesced into a giant of blazing flame.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The two giants clashed. The extreme heat instantly carbonized the wooden surface of the evil entity, then caused it to sublime.

Relying on elemental superiority, Chi quickly gained the upper hand. Concurrently, support from various pills allowed him to sustain the fight.

However, although Chi consistently suppressed the entity, the pressure was slowly weakening. The entity displayed terrifying adaptive capabilities; after only a few exchanges, it had developed a degree of immunity to his fire-based techniques.

A stalemate gradually set in. It wouldn't be long before Chi's pill supply ran dry, the entity fully adapted, and defeat became inevitable.

Suddenly, a spear pierced through the center of the evil entity—its true form. The entire construct crumbled and scattered like chunks of rotten meat across the ground. The clan leaders had made their move.

The Flame Giant dispersed. When Chi reappeared, countless minor, shallow wounds covered his body. Fortunately, they were not deep, and under the clan leader's healing, they recovered immediately.

Those wounds were inflicted when the entity transformed into the giant. While grappling, it erupted spikes from its entire body. Although Chi's surface was enveloped in blazing flames, he still couldn't avoid injury. Had he been struck without defense, he would likely have lost all resistance and been reduced to nutrients.

As they approached the heart, intending to investigate, the clan leader suddenly seized Chi by his collar and flung him backward. Innumerable thorns erupted from the ground, impaling them all. In an instant, vast nutrients poured into its body. The spear was forced out, its wounds healed, and the situation reversed.

Chi's eyes widened.

An eye abruptly opened at the center of that heart, glaring at Chi. However, it seemed to have little interest in him. Instead, it stared rigidly toward where Lan Jinxi lay and swiftly flew in that direction.

"Bastard, your opponent is here!" Chi roared with a voice that seemed to tear his soul. Then, stifling his exhaustion, he lunged at the heart. Everything in his path instantly combusted and sublimated into nothingness. "Stop for me!!!"

Chi intercepted the heart before it could arrive, pouncing onto it. He let its spikes pierce his torso, allowed it to siphon his life force, and refused to let go. Channeling his cultivation, every drop of his blood began to burn, every inch of his skin turned to molten rock. The very life force being drained became the finest accelerant.

Flames ignited across every part of the heart—not just the surface, but internally too. Wherever its energy passed, fire followed, engulfing everything within.

A pained howl came from the far distance—the direction where Lan Jin'yao had led the evacuation team!

While Chi was pursuing the entity, or perhaps even earlier, just as it had broken the seal, it had already dispatched hidden vines to chase the retreating troops. No one had anticipated this.

Under Chi's very gaze, the life force of the Yunshui clanspeople was channeled along root systems into its interior. Chi wanted to stop it, but his entire body was locked fast to its surface, unable to move an inch.

With the influx of vitality, the entity recovered substantially. It violently blasted Chi away. A branch behind him shot through his chest, pinning him to the structure.

"You... stop..." Chi glared deathly at the entity, but his gaze gradually grew unfocused. He felt his arms grow heavier and heavier until they completely slackened. A crystal fell from his clothing.

Ignoring the lifeless Chi, the entity moved toward Lan Jinxi, who lay unconscious before her mother's tomb. It extended a thorny tendril, already brushing against her cheek.

A woman launched herself forward, kicking the entity away, and shielded Lan Jinxi. It was her elder sister, Lan Jin'yao. Having stayed behind to cover the rear, she was now the sole survivor.

"Brother-in-law..." She saw Chi's remains, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. But she swiftly steeled herself from grief, positioning herself between the entity and her sister.

The thorns did not slow for her survival. The sharp spikes did not dull for her fury.

Rotten wood pierced her body. The entity drained her life force. She did not retreat. If the prophesied future was false, then she would become the final witness, the final variable.

Countless vines seized her moment of hesitation, entangling her legs. The entity pressed directly against her. Tentacles pierced every one of her wounds, probing her organs. Life left her amid excruciating pain, her body desiccating into a mummy. The tentacles retracted, and she toppled rigidly to the ground, eyes wide open in death.

A few drops of her blood, having earlier trickled down her skin and into the earth, finally reached her mother's grave. A dazzling white light erupted from it, instantly enveloping Lan Jinxi. The power of time radiated outward, though the teleportation still required a few moments more.

The abomination immediately rushed forward, shooting out vines, only to be blocked by a wall of fire.

"Your opponent... is me!" Chi had resurrected using that crystal and a few drops of Lan Jin'yao's blood. Though profoundly weak, a tremendous change had occurred within him.

Seeing its plan fail, the infuriated entity lunged at Chi. He dodged. In that same instant, all its tentacles and vines erupted into flames. Unlike before, this fire was fiercer, more domineering. The creature couldn't adapt in time.

Seizing the opening, Chi ignited himself. Leveraging his enhanced physique, he thrust his palm through its eye, piercing into its core to seize its root—a clump of void-fire. Agitated by his manipulation, it erupted violently, radiating a sinister, bone-chilling aura.

Wrapped in two utterly different conflagrations, the entity shrieked and howled in agony until it finally collapsed, motionless.

Lan Jinxi had already been teleported away. They didn't even get a final glimpse of each other. But presumably, Lan Jin'yao had already told her—told her betrothed not to seek any method of yin-yang harmonization.

Coming back to his senses, he found everyone dead. The path home was gone, too.

Chi walked on with hollow eyes. He returned to the Cloudwater Great Tribe, now nothing but ruins. Within the debris, he found the jade pendant that belonged to Lan Jin'yao. Its companion piece was missing. He knew it had been secretly placed on Lan Jinxi and taken to the future.

He buried the Yunshui Clan members and rebuilt the Cloudwater Great Tribe. He recalled the vibrant bustle from his first arrival. He hadn't stayed long, but the people here had been good and honest, free from the scheming and deceit of the Central Plains.

But now, everything was gone...

He had returned to her era to save her, yet she waited for him in his own time.

Clutching the foundational cultivation manual of the Yunshui Clan, Chi returned to the cave where they had parted. To ensure Lan Jinxi could find it, he had marked the path with his unique flames—a signature only the other eight members of his squad and his masters or elders could see and understand.

And so he sat in that cave. He just sat there...