Chapter 978: Eventuality P2: Boosting Fortune Without Limits

Aksai’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the pitch-black Fortune Flame reflected within his Astral Eye.

After a brief moment of silence, he communicated with his Aether Clone through their shared consciousness.

"Go ahead. Use all the Fortune we’ve accumulated. Boost my Fortune as much as you can."

There was a brief pause.

Then his Aether Clone’s voice sounded within his mind.

"Are you sure?"

Aksai frowned slightly.

"Why wouldn’t I be?"

"Because we haven’t fully dealt with the consequences of the previous Fortune we’ve used."

Aksai’s expression changed slightly.

The clone continued.

"I used Kalina’s Fortune Flame shortly after you killed her. That was the first major boost. Later, I used a small portion of the Fortune we plundered from the Sun Ocean Lord to improve your luck during Humeyin’s bloodline treatment."

Aksai’s eyes flickered.

"And?"

"The blowback hasn’t arrived yet."

Aksai’s expression became serious as his Aether Clone continued explaining.

"Using someone else’s Fortune to increase your own isn’t as simple as transferring energy from one container to another. Fortune doesn’t truly belong to us. We can borrow it, redirect it, even temporarily incorporate it into our own Fortune. But there is always a price."

"The Fortune-telling Arts I’ve mastered aren’t profound enough to completely eliminate that price."

Aksai remained silent.

"If I were to use all the accumulated Fortune right now and push your Fortune to an even higher level, I can’t predict what will happen afterward," the clone continued.

"There would almost certainly be unforeseen circumstances. Especially considering Varesh’s plundered Fortune Flame. That guy’s fortune was too strong.

"If it wasn’t for the fact that someone like us with the status of Fate Anomaly attached to us, he might not have been killed no matter who stood before him. If we use such a strong Fortune Flame in one go, it might come back to bite us in the a*ss."

Aksai’s brows furrowed.

"How bad?"

"I don’t know."

The answer came without hesitation.

"And that’s precisely the problem."

His Aether Clone paused before continuing.

"There’s another possibility you should consider. The unforeseen circumstances might arrive before the Fortune we’ve accumulated has a chance to benefit us."

Aksai’s expression darkened.

The clone explained patiently.

"Fortune and misfortune are two sides of the same coin. They aren’t separate forces that exist independently of one another. As a person continues living and taking chances, the two naturally alternate."

"You can increase the odds in your favor for a while. You can even use someone else’s Fortune to force those odds higher. But if you spike your Fortune through an underhanded method and it becomes too apparent, the balance doesn’t simply disappear."

Aksai narrowed his eyes.

"The heavens will collect the debt?"

"Something like that."

The clone’s voice became solemn.

"The heavens have their own way of correcting what they perceive as unfair. Since the effects of the Fortune-telling Arts are real, we can be sure that the heavens as an all-compassing entity is also real. Especially when it comes to cultivators.

The heavens might overlook the mortals as sudden increase or decrease in their luck doesn’t affect the world as a whole in the long run. However, cultivators are different. This is also why the Fortune-telling Arts gets more difficult to practise and use as the user’s cultivation increases.

Frankly, we are barely pulling it off because even though you, as the original, are in the Lord realm, I am still in a Novice realm as the main user of the Fortune-telling Arts. As such, we haven’t received punishment for our deeds yet. But if we play with the fire too much, our hands will eventually get burnt."

Aksai fell silent for a bit and rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"So you’re telling me that if I use everything right now, I might get an enormous boost in Fortune..."

"Yes."

"But the moment that boost ends, I could suffer an equally enormous backlash."

"Not necessarily equally enormous," the clone corrected. "But potentially severe enough to ruin whatever advantage Fortune gave you. It might even put the main body that is you as well as its clone that is me, in short, us both in danger."

Aksai’s eyes narrowed further.

"And there’s no way to know which will come first?"

"Not with my current understanding of the Fortune-telling Arts."

A brief silence followed.

Aksai couldn’t help but sigh.

"Fortune really is troublesome."

His Aether Clone didn’t respond.

There was nothing particularly amusing about the situation.

Aksai had spent so much effort plundering Fortune from his enemies precisely because he wanted to turn it into an advantage.

Now, when he actually needed that advantage, Fortune itself was warning him not to be greedy.

But after thinking about it for a few breaths, Aksai’s expression gradually hardened.

He had already reached this point.

The imperial cultivators were coming.

There was no guarantee that he would even survive the confrontation.

And if he couldn’t survive, worrying about the consequences of Fortune would be meaningless.

"Then tell me one thing," Aksai said through their shared consciousness.

"How much Fortune can you safely use without triggering a major backlash?"

The Aether Clone fell silent for a moment.

Then it answered.

"That depends on how much you’re willing to gamble."

Aksai fell silent as he considered the warning from his Aether Clone.

There was no doubt that using the accumulated Fortune came with risks.

But after thinking about it carefully, Aksai realized that he didn’t have many reasons to keep holding onto it either.

If he didn’t use the plundered Fortune now, when would he use it?

Once he entered hiding and began living cautiously under a new identity, there would be little point in carrying around such a dangerous and fleeting stockpile of Fortune.

Dangerous because he feared the powers from the Eternal Sea that were behind Varesh and not an imperial faction.

More importantly, the Fortune Flames he had plundered from others wouldn’t remain at their current value forever.

Their value would diminish with time.

And not slowly, either.

The longer he kept them without using them, the faster their effectiveness would deteriorate.

Fortune was something that had been forcibly separated from its original owner. Without being properly integrated into another person’s Fortune, it would gradually lose its potency.

In other words, if Aksai hesitated now, he would eventually be left with weakened Fortune Flames that were worth far less than they were at this moment.

That alone was enough to make his decision.

Besides, Aksai wasn’t completely without a safety net.

The Enchanted Everwood Farm still existed.

If the situation deteriorated beyond what he could handle and remaining in Dadangar World became too dangerous, he could always retreat into the Farm.

It was his final escape route.

As long as the Farm remained safe, he had no reason to fear even the worst possible outcome.

Aksai finally made up his mind.

"Do it."

His voice was firm as he communicated with his Aether Clone.

"Use everything."

There was no hesitation this time.

"All the accumulated Fortune Flames. Don’t leave anything behind."

***

At the same time in another place.

Deep beneath the underground cave, far below the chamber where Aksai had treated Humeyin, another strange scene was taking place.

His Aether Clone was sitting cross-legged at the bottom of a specially constructed pool.

The pool was filled with a strange white liquid that looked like tree sap.

It was thick and viscous, almost like honey.

Yet its texture was smoother, more refined.

At first glance, it resembled some kind of extremely concentrated aloe vera extract, only far more viscous.

The liquid slowly flowed around the Aether Clone’s body, completely submerging him.

Several branches of the Demon Tree had been dipped into the pool.

They continuously supplied the strange sap-like liquid while simultaneously absorbing and recycling it through the pool.

Aksai had created this place specifically for his Aether Clone.

The Fortune-telling Arts consumed lifespan as fuel.

And because the Aether Clone shared Aksai’s origin, it could use Aksai’s recoverable lifespan to practice the technique without worrying about the consequences as much as an ordinary cultivator would.

That had allowed the clone to advance through the Fortune-telling Arts at an astonishing rate.

But there was still a problem.

Even a recoverable lifespan needed time to recover.

That was why Aksai had created this pool. A special pool that can only be made using druidic powers.

The strange sap-like liquid inside wasn’t merely nourishing.

It acted almost like an artificial womb.

As long as the Aether Clone remained submerged within it, his depleted lifespan could be rapidly restored.

In a sense, the pool was continuously rebirthing him.

His body would age while practicing the Fortune-telling Arts, only for the life essence within the pool to replenish what had been lost and reset his lifespan once again.

It was an absurdly extravagant method.

But Aksai could afford it.

And considering how much he had invested into the Fortune-telling Arts, he needed his Aether Clone to remain capable of paying the price.