Chapter 1771: Fate Cannot Be Changed

"Why should I care?" Jing Teng said with a faint smile playing on her lips.

"Your true form was stolen, and you don't care? Who knows what others will do with it?" Even Qiu Honglei's attention was drawn away, making her forget about settling scores with Zu An.

Wei Suo nodded eagerly. He had already imagined many absurd scenarios, wondering how many inappropriate things others might have done with her true form.

Noticing their gazes, Jing Teng let out a wry chuckle. "You're overthinking it. It's just a section of a vine."

"A vine?" The others were relieved when they remembered she was indeed a vine spirit.

Only Zu An asked curiously, "Doesn't your true form contain your power? Someone else might absorb it if it falls into their hands."

"Don't worry, they can't absorb it." Jing Teng shook her head. "Anyone who thinks my power is in there will find their plans ruined."

Zu An simply assumed her true form was special, perhaps with a restriction that only she could use. "But now that your true form is lost, you can't recover your power, so you clearly can't fulfill your promise to help me find my companions..."

"Are you trying to abandon me?" Jing Teng's eyes lowered, and her expression turned somewhat cold.

"That's not what I mean, I just..." Zu An was interrupted by Qiu Honglei before he could finish.

"We made an agreement earlier: we help you find your true form, and you help us find our companions. It was a fair deal. We've escorted you all the way to where your true form was supposed to be, but now it's vanished, and you don't even know who stole it. We still need to find our companions. Where do we have the time to waste with you anymore?"

Qiu Honglei had clearly made up her mind that the two of them absolutely couldn't be together; it was too dangerous.

Sensing Qiu Honglei's furious expression, Jing Teng smiled faintly. "Miss Qiu, I merely borrowed your man for a moment to sever some of Zang's lingering thoughts. I hope you won't take it to heart."

Qiu Honglei was stunned. "Really?"

She had actually considered that possibility before, but Jing Teng's performance had been too convincing.

Zu An gave a wry smile. "Of course it's true..."

Qiu Honglei didn't listen to his explanation and stared intently at Jing Teng instead.

Jing Teng smiled. "It's true. Even if you don't believe me, you should believe your own man."

Qiu Honglei's face flushed. "It's precisely because I trust him so much that I know you're exactly his type."

Jing Teng's eyes lit up, and she looked at Zu An with a half-smile.

Zu An cleared his throat. "What are you talking about?"

Qiu Honglei also felt a little embarrassed, but she didn't fully believe Jing Teng. "If it was just to deceive Zang, why didn't you pick Wei Suo? Why did it have to be my A'Zu?"

Wei Suo nodded repeatedly. "Yeah, yeah, I could've pretended to be your boyfriend too!"

Jing Teng glanced at Wei Suo and couldn't help but sigh. "Do you think Zang Ao would have believed that?"

Qiu Honglei looked at Wei Suo's large front teeth and subconsciously nodded. "You have a point..."

Any woman trying to deceive an ex-boyfriend would surely find someone handsomer and more outstanding to make him feel pain, inferiority, and regret. If she chose someone like Wei Suo, wouldn't she just be ridiculed by the other party instead?

Wei Suo: "..."

Although neither of them said anything specific, their expressions seemed to plunge thousands of daggers into his heart.

"Even so, you have no clues now, and we can't afford to waste any more time," Qiu Honglei said, as if suddenly remembering something.

A woman's natural intuition made her realize that if those two stayed together any longer, something inappropriate was bound to happen.

What's more, Yan Xuehen had just secretly sent a message reminding her to keep an eye on Zu An.

Huh, wait, why did she remind me like that?

It's probably because of Chu Yan...

"I'm not entirely without clues, and didn't I help you find one of your companions?" Jing Teng thought of the woman in white she had just seen, wondering why Zu An's friends were all fairy-like. She had thought Qiu Honglei was already a rarity in the world, but then another one appeared?

Qiu Honglei was surprised. "Does Master Yan count?"

"Of course," Jing Teng lifted her chin. "Would you have reunited with her if you hadn't come here with me?"

"That's true, but..." Qiu Honglei still felt something was off.

"Don't worry, I'll find my true form soon, and then I'll find all your companions," Jing Teng interrupted her.

A hint of struggle appeared on Qiu Honglei's face. Finally, she let out a reluctant sigh. "Alright."

If it had been her master they encountered today, perhaps she wouldn't have bothered looking for the other two women. But with her master's whereabouts unknown, she couldn't help but worry.

Worst case, she'd just keep a close eye on this woman afterward.

"Do you have a clue about the whereabouts of your true form?" Zu An asked curiously. Her demeanor was too calm, as if everything was expected.

She didn't rush to answer. Instead, she waved her hand to set up a barrier nearby, then took out a jade pendant necklace hidden in the cleavage of her chest and drew everyone into a cave dwelling within it.

Zu An and the others felt a chill. The other party's caution indicated that this secret was no small matter.

Sure enough, after setting everything up, Jing Teng finally spoke: "The section of vine buried in this stone coffin is actually not my true form."

Zu An and the others were immediately shocked. Not her true form?

But given Zang Ao's anxious reaction, it didn't seem fake.

If Jing Teng could truly deceive him, how could she have been tricked by him back then?

Seeing their confusion, Jing Teng sighed softly. "Speaking of which, I have to thank Immortal Lord Baopu. After he enlightened me years ago, he once divined my fate and foresaw a major tribulation in my life. It seems he saw my destiny then and made arrangements accordingly, but he just didn't tell me the truth."

"Immortal Lord Baopu?" The others looked shocked, never expecting that everything had been within his control.

"Divination can see your destiny?" Zu An was more concerned about this. He had encountered prophetic abilities before; for example, Sacrificial Wine's disciple Qi Yaoguang was skilled in astrology, but she could only vaguely discern some guidance regarding fate.

Divination wasn't unheard of in their world; it usually only predicted the fortune or misfortune of a particular event. Yet now, he was hearing that someone could see another's entire destiny through it?

"Of course. Divination, talismans, rituals, formations, alchemy, artifact forging, and rites and music are known as the seven cultivation arts. Each is profound, adhering to the fundamental principles of heaven and earth. People often spend their entire lives mastering just one," Jing Teng said with utmost solemnity. "However, Immortal Lord Baopu is no ordinary person. His mastery in this area far surpasses human imagination, which is why he could divine my destiny through trigrams."

"I don't quite understand. If he foresaw what you would encounter, why didn't he just tell you directly instead of going through all these complicated arrangements? Wouldn't that be superfluous?" Qiu Honglei asked, puzzled.

Zu An secretly nodded. She was indeed intelligent, grasping the core of the problem immediately.

"Even if he had told me, back then I was young and naive, having experienced little, so I might not have taken his words to heart," Jing Teng paused, offering an analogy. "It's like how people are told by their parents from a young age to study hard to succeed later in life, or to exercise, sleep early, wake early... You know they're right, but do you always listen?"

Her explanation immediately made Zu An and the others understand.

Jing Teng smiled. "Furthermore, I asked the Immortal Lord the same question back then, and he told me, 'Destiny cannot be changed.'"

"Destiny cannot be changed?" Zu An frowned, instinctively disliking that statement.

"Yes," Jing Teng nodded. "The Immortal Lord said that predetermined destiny cannot be altered. Even if you make every effort to avoid a certain fate, the more you try, the more you will be pushed towards that very destiny."

Zu An and the others fell silent, all vaguely feeling a suffocating sense of powerlessness in the face of destiny.

"I don't believe in destiny. If knowing one's fate meant accepting it and doing nothing, that's absolutely not my character," Zu An suddenly declared, immediately feeling the tightness in his chest ease considerably.

"Exactly. I was raised in the Demonic Cult, facing all kinds of life-and-death dangers. If I had accepted fate, I would have died long ago," Qiu Honglei likewise regained her spirits.

Wei Suo also wanted to say something, but he couldn't think of the right words, so he could only echo, "Me too!"

Jing Teng smiled faintly. "Actually, the Immortal Lord wasn't entirely pessimistic back then. Although destiny cannot be changed, it can be guided in a more favorable direction under that premise."

"What do you mean?" Zu An felt as if he had grasped something elusive, but then instantly forgot it.

"I don't understand either," Jing Teng's face showed similar confusion. "So he made a series of arrangements: he kept my true form and created an alternative one for me, telling me to retrieve it someday if I ever encountered trouble. Only now do I understand his painstaking efforts back then."

Zu An listened, filled with admiration. Immortal Lord Baopu's methods were truly miraculous.

"Where is your real true form?" Qiu Honglei asked curiously.

Jing Teng didn't answer. Her gaze fell upon the magnificent tomb in the distance.