After being reborn, the villain comes with a spoiler tag.

At midday, sunlight streamed through the coffered skylight in the roof, passing through the cleverly designed window frames, becoming soft and even, and falling on the bluestone-paved floor. This ensured ample light inside while cleverly preventing direct sunlight from damaging the precious books inside.

Several paintings and calligraphic works by literati of unknown dynasty hang on the surrounding walls. In the center of the room stands a sturdy pear wood desk. An open wooden scroll lies on the desk, next to which are several neatly stacked thread-bound books, and on the other side are a writing brush, inkstone, and jade paperweight.

Beside the desk, an exquisite bronze incense burner gently exhales wisps of smoke, its delicate fragrance bringing a sense of tranquility.

Wooden bookshelves surround the room, each shelf densely packed with books. Occasionally, small jade or porcelain pieces can be seen as decorations, adding a touch of elegance to this scholarly atmosphere.

This is the library of Jingyang Palace.

Since the Wenyuan Pavilion, the true repository of imperial books, was under the strict control of the divine senses of Golden Core cultivators, Su Yixuan, after weighing the pros and cons, opted for a less desirable option and brought Huo Yu and Long Yucheng to Jingyang Palace.

Jingyang Palace, as an important place for the Crown Prince to study and receive education, also belongs to the inner court and is a place that Golden Core cultivators cannot easily probe with their divine sense.

It was mealtime, and the library was empty. After carefully examining the interior with her divine sense, Su Yixuan led Huo Yu and Long Yucheng in quietly and set up an invisibility array to prevent palace servants from suddenly breaking in.

"This is the library where the Crown Prince studies. I wonder what books Fellow Daoist Huo needs? I can help you find them. If they are not here, then we will have to go to the Wenyuan Pavilion. However, the Wenyuan Pavilion is within the range of our senior uncles' divine senses, so there may be some risks."

This was Su Yixuan's first time visiting this place. Looking around, she saw that although the collection of books was less than a thousand, there were still several hundred. She couldn't help but feel a little amazed.

Huo Yu nodded slightly to indicate that he understood, and then walked straight to a row of bookshelves.

Each of these bookshelves was nearly as tall as two people, and wooden ladders were specially placed on the side so that the palace servants and pageboys could reach the books on the upper shelves.

Each bookshelf was labeled according to the categories of "Classics, History, Philosophy, and Literature," and Huo Yu was naturally looking for the bookshelf labeled "History."

In no time, Huo Yu found the books he needed.

However, the books here are all bamboo slips and thread-bound books, which cannot be viewed directly with divine sense like jade slips, so it takes a long time to browse through them.

Although Su Yixuan didn't know what information Huo Yu was looking for, she picked up a book with the title "Annals of Emperor Wu" on the cover and started reading it, while using her divine sense to keep watch over her surroundings.

Long Yucheng initially joined in and grabbed a book at random. After flipping through a few pages, he discovered that the book was entirely in traditional Chinese characters and was arranged vertically from right to left, making it extremely difficult to read. So he put it back.

With nothing to do, he wandered around the room, curiously touching and examining the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone that the Eighth Prince had used.

Half an hour later, Huo Yu finally looked up from the mountain of books beside him and put the last book, "The Annals of Emperor Ling," back on top of the pile.

After getting tired of walking around, Long Yucheng sat next to Huo Yu, resting his chin on his hand, his eyes unconsciously following Huo Yu's movements as he turned the pages of the book, his mind blank.

Seeing Huo Yu make a move, he quickly got up and helped Huo Yu put the books on the ground back in their original positions.

After everything was restored to its original state, Long Yucheng could no longer contain his curiosity and asked:

"Senior brother, have you discovered something?"

Huo Yu nodded, and uttered the most treasonous words in the calmest tone:

"Since the beginning of records, all those who carried the Vermilion Bird Seal have died violent deaths and never lived past fifty."

"What! How could this be?"

Upon hearing this, Long Yucheng's surprise was palpable, and his voice involuntarily rose a few decibels.

Su Yixuan then joined their discussion, and after thinking for a moment, she said:

"Could this Vermilion Bird Seal actually be some kind of curse?"

Huo Yu neither confirmed nor denied, but continued:

"Moreover, all of these people who bore the Vermilion Bird Seal passed away without warning after pacifying a region and achieving great things."

Upon hearing this, Long Yucheng frowned, trying to glean a clue from Huo Yu's words:

"Could it be that someone is secretly sabotaging things, not wanting these 'chosen ones' to stay in power for too long?"

Huo Yu refuted Long Yucheng's guess:

"While there is a reason for this, it is not the key issue."

"Senior brother, stop keeping me in suspense!"

Long Yucheng's curiosity was now fully piqued, and he couldn't wait to find out the answer.

Huo Yu did not answer directly, but instead changed the subject, bringing up a seemingly unrelated topic:

"In the mortal world, there has always been the concept of 'luck'."

In fact, after in-depth observation and statistics by several Taoist practitioners, this so-called "luck" does not seem to be unfounded.

Whenever natural disasters and man-made calamities strike one after another, causing immense suffering and widespread misery, there are always a few extraordinary individuals who emerge from all corners of the world to quell the chaos and bring order to a region.

It's as if the collective will of "humanity" triggers a defense mechanism when the race faces an existential crisis.

Those who set things right were called "incarnations of destiny" by researchers.

These incarnations of destiny, whether in civil administration, military prowess, or astronomy and geography, far surpass ordinary people. They remain silent until they make a name for themselves, and when they do, they stand out like a crane among chickens.

Moreover, these people not only possess outstanding talents, but the hearts and minds of the people will naturally gravitate towards them, enabling them to quickly become leaders and lead the people out of their predicament.

In addition, these embodiments of fortune share remarkably similar fates: after the chaos subsides, they quickly pass away for various reasons, as if eager to return fortune to heaven and earth, and none of them can escape this destiny.

Naturally, some cultivators harbored greed and attempted to possess these people, seizing this elusive fortune.

However, after conducting in-depth research on multiple incarnations of destiny, they were disappointed to find that none of the incarnations of destiny possessed spiritual roots.

Moreover, after these incarnations of destiny complete their mission of descending into the world, even under the strict protection of cultivators, they will quickly die due to the depletion of their life force.

When vitality wanes, it is as irreversible as the exhaustion of lifespan, leaving even cultivators helpless.

Long Yucheng was increasingly shocked as he listened:

"Senior brother, do you mean to say that all those who have held the Vermilion Bird Seal throughout history are actually incarnations of this destiny?"

However, he quickly discovered the flaw and asked in confusion:

"But apart from the early days of its founding, the Vermilion Bird Kingdom doesn't seem to have experienced any major disasters that caused such widespread death and destruction. Why then does the embodiment of destiny appear in this country repeatedly? And what exactly does the Vermilion Bird Seal represent? Could it be that the Vermilion Bird is truly one of the legendary 'Four Celestial Spirits,' in charge of the destiny of the human race?"

Huo Yu gently shook his head:

"This is just my guess, and it may not be the truth."

Su Yixuan stood to the side, glancing at Huo Yu and Long Yucheng from time to time. To be honest, she wasn't very interested in the history of this mortal dynasty, but in order to improve their impression of her, she still tried her best to participate in the conversation.

Just as she had finally found a question that would show she understood without sounding too silly, an unexpected round of applause came from the entrance of the library, interrupting the three's discussion.