The Witch Hunter System

Chapter 1177: Divination Backlash, Vaan’s Fate

Divination was the art of peeking into heaven’s secrets to calculate one’s fate and fortune, an act that naturally went against heaven’s will. As such, performing such feats wasn’t free of consequences.

Generally, lifespan was the cost of divination, which was akin to nothing for beings at the divine rank and above.

However, this is true only for low-level divinations.

High-level divinations that peek into major heavenly secrets, involving beings with great destiny or protection against such divinations, would generally consume more than just lifespan.

In such cases, besides the high cost of lifespan, there could also be a significant backlash in the form of a reverse energy flow, bad karma, heavenly tribulations, severe injuries, or even death.

"Empyrean Oceanheart, I’m afraid the price of divining my fate and fortune will not be small. It may harm you and may not be worth it."

Vaan politely refused Empyrean Oceanheart’s suggestion.

Although he had his reservations, he was also very curious about how much Empyrean Oceanheart could see if she was to perform divination on his fate and fortune.

After all, his original soul had transcended True Divinity long ago and was above the heavenly way. As such, his fate and fortune should be completely obscured in chaos, unable to be divined.

Even if heaven’s secrets contained information about him, it would be very limited and concern only his present life.

It was unlikely to expose his glorious past.

"Thank you for your concern, Sir Vaan," Empyrean Oceanheart acknowledged before saying, "However, I should be fine. After all, I am an Empyrean-level True Divinity. The price of divining the fate and fortune of a Divine Being shouldn’t be substantial."

"Also, you shouldn’t refuse me. This is something good for you. If you can learn your fate and fortune, you’ll also become aware of potential life-threatening dangers and learn how to avoid them ahead of time."

"You are extremely talent, the best I’ve seen in all my life. If you suffer any mishap, it won’t just be your lost, but the entire world’s."

Empyrean Oceanheart tried to persuade Vaan, and he had to admit that her words were quite persuasive—or rather, he didn’t have much resistance to the idea, to begin with.

What she said made quite a lot of sense.

Even though he was aware that his life tribulation would be extremely dangerous and life-threatening, he didn’t know when it would arrive or what form it would take.

As such, it was difficult to guard against it; all he could do was prepare for it.

However, if he could learn the timing and the exact danger, or even some idea of it, through divination, then he would have more options to work with, improving his odds of overcoming the life tribulations.

"Since Empyrean Oceanheart insists for my benefit, it would be rude of me to continue refusing your goodwill."

Vaan nodded with consent.

"Good." Empyrean Oceanheart smiled before informing him, "Then, I will begin. You don’t need to do anything. Just relax and wait for the results."

Divination Magic did not require Vaan’s presence at all.

As long as Empyrean Oceanheart knew whose fate and fortune she wanted to divine, she could perform the divination, even if they were worlds apart. It just consumed more power. ŔäƝȯΒÈs̩

For an Empyrean God like herself, such an increase in consumption was insignificant.

Within moments, a large magic circle was formed beneath her feet, phasing through her body like a scanner as it ascended from the ground.

In the next moment, the center of the magic circle shot out a beam of light into the sky, seemingly piercing into the heavens like a flash of lightning, yet not disappearing after the strike.

It persisted, forming a connection between heaven and earth.

Tribulation clouds soon gathered in the void outside the domain, revolving around the beam of light like a hurricane before the eye seemingly opened a passageway to another void region.

Rumble!

Tribulation lightning accumulated within the dense grey tribulation clouds, seemingly preparing to strike down on their location.

However, Empyrean Oceanheart seemed to take no notice of it. Her eyes were shut as her mind communicated with the void of another heaven through the beam of light, peering into its secrets and infinite mysteries.

Although Vaan had learned about Divination Magic and the Art of Divination in general, he had never heard or seen one performed with such grandiose such as Empyrean Oceanheart’s.

After all, the Art of Divination was supposed to be secretive, stealing heaven’s secrets while avoiding heaven’s wrath, ultimately minimizing the backlash of divination.

However, Empyrean Oceanheart’s very actions were akin to challenging the heavens, seemingly telling them, "I am going to steal your secrets, and I am right here. What are you going to do about it?"

Her actions, while foolish beyond redemption for mortals, were very domineering as an Empyrean God.

Obviously, Empyrean Oceanheart was confident and bold. As a seasoned Empyrean who had performed countless divinations, she had the right to be confident and bold. She was backed by experience and knew everything about divinations like the back of her hand.

For a moment, the heavens seemingly obeyed her grandiose audacity.

Without doing anything, the gathering of lightning power dissipated, discharging in different directions.

However, they suddenly surged back with rapid momentum.

At the same time, the color of the tribulation lightning constantly changed, from orange to yellow, then white, blue, and purple, before it settled on black, carrying a dreadful power of annihilation and slaughter.

It was no longer ordinary tribulation lightning but tribulation lightning that had been empowered by the Asura Law.

Empyrean Oceanheart’s eyes snapped open in shock.

Obviously, the situation had gotten out of her control, setting an unprecedented case she had never encountered.

The black lightning looming in the thick clouds in the void gave her a sense of danger.

"Not good."

No sooner than after Empyrean Oceanheart uttered these words, Asura-empowered black lightning struck down, crossing vast distances in the blink of an eye to reach her.

Although she immediately set up defensive magical barriers, even taking out her treasured artifact, to defend herself, the black lightning still shattered all of her defenses. Even her treasured artifact, a True Divinity-level turtle shell, was damaged and flung far away.

It was simply incapable of blocking the remaining force from the lightning strike.

As such, the remaining force struck Empyrean Oceanheart.

In that instant, Empyrean Oceanheart felt endless despair as the sense of annihilation and death overwhelmed her.

However, the actual damage was not as severe as she had imagined.

An arrow of black blood sprayed from her mouth as her energy flow reversed, clashing with the natural circulation and damaging various organs and blood vessels. A black mark of bad luck was also attached to her soul, and her lifespan was reduced by a billion years.

To her timeless age, a billion-year reduction was nothing.

It took Empyrean Oceanheart some time to recover and stabilize her condition. Even so, lingering fear filled her heart.

The power of that black lightning had definitely transcended the True Divinity Realm.

Yet, for some reason, much of its power dissipated on its own, leaving only enough power to inflict her with severe injuries and not actually take her life. It could be interpreted as the heavens’ mercy and warning.

Her confidence had been utterly destroyed, obliterated without a trace.

She had been thoroughly humbled.

"Are you alright, Empyrean Oceanheart?" Vaan inquired with concern and surprise, even lingering fear.

The power of Asura Lightning was truly shocking.

"Cough... I’m fine," Empyrean Oceanheart replied weakly with a wry smile, adding, "I must admit I have underestimated your fate and fortune, Sir Vaan. I thought I had already set my expectations extremely high, yet they were still too low..."

"Did you manage to learn something?" Vaan asked in surprise.

It seemed like Empyrean Oceanheart’s divination failed, but she still managed to gain something from it.

"I did." Empyrean Oceanheart nodded.

"Your fate is one so grand that it is even connected to the Lord of Chaos. That’s why I inadvertently triggered Asura’s wrath. Otherwise, the backlash of heavenly tribulation wouldn’t have been so terrifying."

"More importantly, is your fate and fortune, Sir Vaan. It seems you are fated to become an Origin Creator in the future, a being who will be on par with the Lord of Chaos, or perhaps even surpassing him."

"However, a cosmic shadow of death stands in your way, Sir Vaan. Moreover, it is extremely close," Empyrean Oceanheart gravely stated.

"A cosmic shadow of death stands in my way, huh?" Vaan forced a smile and asked, "Are you saying I will die?"

"Yes, you will definitely die," Empyrean Oceanheart confirmed with a heavy heart.

"Moreover, it won’t be an ordinary death but one that no one has ever experienced before—a death so absolute that there won’t be any chance of recovery or reincarnation; a truer death than true death itself."

"Even I myself am not clear what kind of death concept this is," Empyrean Oceanheart openly admitted.

"However, if I have to venture a guess, it would be one where all traces and history of your existence are wiped clean as if you had never existed in the first place, and even Origin Creators like the Lord of Chaos can’t bring you back."

Vaan fell silent upon hearing this.