Looking back, it was all like a fairyland.

No one stayed long.

The rest of the process was a gradual process of building a new system based on the existing foundation. This would be left to Mirage Dragon. The trip to the cave heaven also came to an end.

Shen Qiu had also gained a lot. His understanding of the cave heaven had reached a new level. He was now eager to perfect the cave heaven in his painting.

"This trip was truly worthwhile," Shen Qiu remarked.

He hadn't expected that Lin Yuan's rescue would lead to such a rare opportunity. Cao Chen shared Shen Qiu's thoughts, though this had nothing to do with him. He hadn't expected that after Shen Long and Shen Qiu, he would be the one to gain the most.

He was fascinated by the power of controlling the fate of the entire world, the power to change the entire world with just a slight flick. However, in the process, he also discovered a problem: fate is fickle, and sometimes even a small, unconscious change can cause huge waves in the world's observation.

Take Emperor Daxi as an example.

He dug up the future emperor in advance, which changed more than just the fate of this one person. The change in this person's fate involved the life trajectories of tens of millions of people.

He heard a term from Su Mu called the butterfly effect.

He felt it was very fitting. For the sake of this emperor, he would need to sort out the fate of all those who were related to him and involved with him, rationalizing these destinies so that there would be no loopholes.

He continued to do these things for a long time afterwards.

It was a cumbersome process, like a tangled ball of yarn. If one part moved, the other would follow. Su Mu felt that Cao Chen had become more haggard recently, but that was only physically. Mentally, Cao Chen was radiant, becoming more energetic day by day. When he finally untangled the yarn, he felt as if he were being elevated. Journeying through fate brought him both pain and joy.

In fact, he was not really sublimated, but his spirit reached a critical point - enlightenment.

I have a deeper understanding of the destiny.

After his enlightenment, Cao Chen was completely transformed. Su Mu now understood why Siming had such a new regard for Cao Chen. It was because Cao Chen's talent and sensitivity for fate surpassed many people's imagination, and only Siming, a fellow master of fate, could see his potential.

Furthermore, Siming saw that the only way to fully unleash Cao Chen's potential was to place him by Su Mu's side. Sure enough, in just a short while, Cao Chen had already taken another step forward. This was a significant step, surpassing hundreds of years of effort for others. This was much faster than simply building something in isolation. If Cao Chen were to return to the Tianyan Sect now, even the entire sect might not be able to defeat him on his own.

This is opportunity.

In fact, how could an ordinary person possibly control the fate of an entire world? Even if it was a cave world, this was still the case. It was only because Mirage Dragon, completely ignorant of fate, acted as a hands-off manager that Cao Chen was able to have this opportunity.

Cao Chen, however, wasn't overly proud. The further he progressed along the path of fate, the more he understood its constraints and helplessness. Now, he understood Sima Ming's constant caution.

There are many things in this that are hard to explain. Just like time: when you try to fool it, it will fool you. The same is true of fate: you must have reverence for it. Otherwise, if you create too many causes, you might be swallowed up by the consequences at any given moment.

Since Cao Chen attained enlightenment, he has become more and more like a charlatan.

Sometimes Su Mu and others would talk about it while drinking tea.

"This is an inevitable outcome. Although I don't understand fate very well, I know that the higher one goes, the more macroscopic one's perspective becomes. Have you ever heard of 'aligning with the Tao'? Cao Chen is walking this path," Su Mu said slowly.

However, Cao Chen...

"Hmm?" Cao Chen fiddled with his fingers, seemingly calculating something, and only stopped calculating and looked up when he heard Su Mu call his name.

"The path of aligning with the Dao is not easy, but I still hope that you retain some humanity as you walk it, rather than leaving only divinity. If divinity completely suppresses humanity, then you will no longer be Cao Chen; you will become an existence like the law itself," Su Mu reminded him.

"Then it will benefit the Mirage Dragon." Su Mu joked.

Cao Chen was stunned for a few seconds before suddenly waking up, sweat breaking out on his forehead. While he wasn't complacent with his enlightenment, he did think about it and realized it had a significant impact on him. Ever since untangling that tangled web of fate, that feeling of satisfaction had lingered in his heart, leaving him wanting more, more.

From that moment on, he kept calculating his fate. He could no longer remember when he had eaten or slept. He only remembered that he had been in a hazy state for the past few days.

Su Mu's sudden enlightenment at this moment made him realize that the world had become much clearer. If it weren't for Su Mu, he would have continued like this. His strength might have continued to grow, and then, as Su Mu had said, he would have lost all emotions, no other desires, only the calculation of fate, and finally he would be in harmony with the Tao, becoming part of the world's operation.

And this world is not the big world outside, but a cave world.

Isn't this just a cheap Mirage Dragon?

Having regained his senses, Cao Chen suppressed the strange feeling of satisfaction, his eyes becoming much clearer as he looked at Su Mu: "Mr. Xie."

"Haha, no need to be so polite. You have a real talent for destiny, how are you feeling now?" Su Mu said casually. Fortunately, Cao Chen wasn't too deeply involved and had good self-control; a single sentence was enough to wake him up. Otherwise, waking someone who was pretending to be asleep wouldn't be so easy.

"I feel extremely good." After suppressing his sense of satisfaction, Cao Chen felt much more refreshed. Now, even without calculations, he could see the general trajectory of everyone's fate. The biggest gain from this enlightenment wasn't the increase in strength, but the shift in perspective. He was able to view the world from a more macroscopic perspective.

Originally, Cao Chen was the weakest one in this team.

Now, after enlightenment, I can’t say I can catch up, but I definitely won’t have much problem protecting myself.

He'd been in a daze for the past few days, but now that he'd regained consciousness, he'd realized his physical weakness. While it wasn't obvious on the outside, something was amiss within him. A gap had opened between his spirit and his body, and as one grew, the other grew, leading to this problem. Fortunately, he'd discovered it early. If this state had continued for any longer, his body might have lost its grip on his spirit.