Day five was a blur of pain and movement.
We traveled through terrain that should have been beautiful,forests where red moss gave way to normal green, streams running clear instead of tinted crimson, signs that we were approaching the Vale's edge.
I barely noticed any of it.
My world had narrowed to simple things: breathe, step, don't collapse. Repeat.
"You need to rest," Yun Xia said for the hundredth time. "Wei Chen, you're going to kill yourself pushing this hard."
"Can't rest. Have to reach the exit." My voice sounded distant, hollow. "Guardian's wager. Six days. This is day five."
"The wager doesn't matter if you're dead."
"Everything matters if I'm dead. That's the problem."
She had no answer for that.
[CURRENT PROGRESS: 94 MILES / 120 MILES]
[DISTANCE REMAINING: 26 MILES]
[TIME REMAINING: 1.5 DAYS]
[INJURY STATUS: DETERIORATING]
[LP REGENERATION: +25/DAY (INSUFFICIENT FOR HEALING)]
We'd averaged twenty-five miles per day—impossible pace even for healthy cultivators. But fortune manipulation let me do impossible things.
Like walk on broken legs through sheer probability defiance.
Like breathe with punctured lungs because the odds of suffocation were manipulated downward.
Like survive with internal bleeding because I made it more probable that the damage wasn't immediately fatal.
But probability manipulation had limits. Eventually, physics caught up with fortune. Eventually, the body failed regardless of how lucky you were.
I was approaching that limit rapidly.
"There," Yun Xia pointed ahead. Through the trees, I could see where the red moss ended completely. Where the Crimson Vale's oppressive spiritual pressure faded. "The northern border. Three miles, maybe less."
Three miles. I could walk three miles.
Probably.
We pushed forward, my hand on Yun Xia's shoulder for support. Each step sent fresh waves of agony through broken ribs. My left arm hung useless. Blood had soaked through my robes from wounds that refused to close.
But I walked.
Two miles. One mile. Half a mile.
The border materialized from the forest,a clear demarcation where red moss met normal grass. Where the Vale's chaotic energy density dropped to manageable levels. Where survivors emerged from nightmare into reality.
We crossed the line.
Immediately, the crushing spiritual pressure lifted. I gasped as breathing became easier. The constant background drain on my fortune sense ceased. My cultivation, strained to breaking, finally found equilibrium.
I collapsed the moment we were safely across.
"Wei Chen!" Yun Xia caught me before I hit the ground. "Stay with me. We made it. You made it. Don't you dare die now."
"Not dying," I managed. "Just... need a minute."
"You need a physician. Actually, you need three physicians and a miracle." She was already pulling medical supplies from her storage ring. "The nearest town is another day's travel. In your condition—"
A voice interrupted from the forest ahead. Female, carrying authority and wariness in equal measure.
"Identify yourselves. You've crossed the Crimson Vale, which means you're either very skilled or very lucky. Either way, I want to know who you are before you collapse in my territory."
A woman emerged from the trees,mid-twenties, with hard eyes that had seen too much combat. Her cultivation base pressed against my damaged senses.
Foundation Establishment 7th Layer.
Behind her, three more figures appeared. All Foundation Establishment, all armed, all watching us with professional suspicion.
[WARNING: UNKNOWN CULTIVATORS DETECTED]
[POWER LEVELS: FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT 5TH-7TH LAYER]
[INTENT: CAUTIOUS, NOT IMMEDIATELY HOSTILE]
[RECOMMENDATION: EXTREME DIPLOMACY]
"Yun Xia," my companion said carefully. "Former Celestial Court Enforcer, currently fugitive. And this is Wei Chen, Fortune Foundation cultivator, also hunted by the Court."
The woman's expression shifted from suspicion to recognition. "Yun Xia. I've heard of you. They say you defected five years ago, killed your entire squad to escape. True?"
"Half true. I didn't kill my squad,I knocked them unconscious. But yes, I defected."
"And him?" The woman's eyes fixed on me. "Fortune Foundation is rare. And if the Celestial Court is hunting him..."
"He's a Fate Weaver," Yun Xia said simply. "Sealed bloodline awakening. They murdered him to prevent it. He came back."
Silence fell across the clearing.
Then the woman laughed,sharp and bitter. "Of course. Of course you're a Fate Weaver. Do you know where you just emerged?"
"Northern border of the Crimson Vale?"
"Northern border of the Crimson Vale, eastern approach to the Fate Weaver Refuge." She sheathed her sword. "Welcome to the last place the Celestial Court hasn't managed to destroy. I'm Lin Mei. And you, apparently, are exactly who I've been expecting."
[QUEST COMPLETE: LOCATE LIN MEI]
[REWARD: ALLIANCE ESTABLISHED]
[BONUS: FATE WEAVER REFUGE DISCOVERED]
[+200 LP]
[CURRENT LP: 225/3,000]
"You're Lin Mei," I said, the words taking effort. "We were looking for you. Shen Tu had a wanted poster—"
"I know. The Celestial Court has been hunting me for two years now. They've sent six tracking teams. I've killed them all." She studied me more carefully. "But you're in terrible shape. How did you cross the Vale injured like that?"
"Probability manipulation. Stubbornness. Desperation."
"Good reasons, all of them." She gestured to her companions. "Take him to the medical hall. Priority treatment. If he's really a Fate Weaver, we can't let him die before we figure out what he knows."
"Not dying," I protested weakly as two cultivators lifted me carefully. "Just need rest..."
"You need three weeks of bed rest and more healing pills than we can afford," Lin Mei corrected. "But we'll settle for one week and expensive pills. You can thank me by explaining how you survived with a sealed bloodline long enough to awaken it."
Consciousness was slipping away, darkness closing in from all sides. But I managed one more question.
"The Guardian's wager... did I win?"
"Guardian?" Lin Mei's expression changed. "You met the Crimson Vale Guardian? Actually spoke with it?"
"Made a wager. Six days to cross. Promised information about Fate Weavers if I survived." The darkness was winning. "Did I... make it in time?"
"You crossed in five days and sixteen hours," Yun Xia said quietly. "Yes, Wei Chen. You won."
The darkness claimed me entirely.
I woke to whiteness and the smell of medicinal herbs.
The ceiling above me was clean plaster, not cave stone or forest canopy. Soft bedding supported my body instead of hard ground. Someone had removed my blood-soaked clothes and bandaged my injuries with competent precision.
"You're in the Fate Weaver Refuge's medical hall," a voice said. An elderly man sat beside my bed, his cultivation base radiating Foundation Establishment Peak. "I'm Physician Shen. You've been unconscious for three days."
"Three days?" I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. Pain lanced through my ribs—healing but still damaged.
"Don't move. You have six broken ribs, three cracked vertebrae, severe internal bruising, and meridian damage from LP deficit. It's a miracle you're alive, let alone conscious." He pressed a cup of bitter-smelling liquid into my hand. "Drink. It'll help with the pain and accelerate healing."
I drank, grimacing at the taste. "How bad is it really?"
"Bad. Without cultivation to enhance your natural healing, you'd be dead. With Fortune Foundation cultivation helping..." He paused, considering. "Two more weeks before you're functional. Four before you're combat-ready. Six before you're back to full strength."
"I don't have six weeks. The Celestial Court—"
"The Celestial Court doesn't know where this refuge is. We've hidden successfully for eight years, sheltering Fate Weaver descendants the Court wants dead." Physician Shen's expression softened slightly. "You're safe here, Chen Wei. Or should I call you Wei Chen?"
"Wei Chen works. Chen Wei is dead."
"Is he?" The physician smiled slightly. "Or is Chen Wei just waiting for the right moment to return?"
Before I could answer, the door opened and Lin Mei entered, followed by Yun Xia.
"You're awake," Lin Mei said. "Good. We need to talk."
"About what?"
"About everything. About how you awakened your bloodline. About how you survived assassination. About how you crossed the Crimson Vale in record time while critically injured." She pulled up a chair, settling in like this conversation might take hours. "But first, about the Celestial Court Enforcer you fought."
My blood went cold. "Enforcer Liu?"
"He returned to Azure Peak City two days ago, filed a report claiming you died in the Razorback Ridge collapse. The Celestial Court officially considers you dead,again." Lin Mei's smile held no warmth. "Apparently your probability manipulation convinced him that reporting your survival would make him look incompetent. Easier to claim victory and move on."
[STATUS UPDATE: OFFICIALLY DEAD (SECOND TIME)]
[CELESTIAL COURT PURSUIT: SUSPENDED]
[IMMEDIATE THREAT LEVEL: REDUCED]
"So they think I'm dead."
"For now. But they'll investigate eventually, find inconsistencies, realize Liu lied to protect his reputation." Lin Mei leaned forward. "Which gives us maybe a month before they figure out the truth and send someone stronger. We need to use that time wisely."
"Use it how?"
"By training you. By awakening your full Fate Weaver inheritance. By turning you from a lucky Foundation Establishment equivalent into an actual threat." Her eyes blazed with intensity. "The Celestial Court has been hunting us for generations. We've been running, hiding, surviving. But you? You killed a tracker, defeated an Enforcer, crossed the Crimson Vale. You're different."
"I'm just trying to survive."
"No. You're trying to win. There's a difference." She stood, gesturing to the window. "Come. Once you're mobile, I'll show you what we've built here. Show you why the Celestial Court fears us so much."
"I can barely walk."
"Then we wait until you can. But Wei Chen?" She paused at the door. "The Guardian's wager you won? I know what information it promised. About Fate Weavers, about why the Court fears us, about what your bloodline can truly do."
"You know?"
"I met the Guardian once, eight years ago. It told me the same things it will tell you." Her expression was grave. "And I'm warning you now—that knowledge will change everything. Once you know what Fate Weavers truly are, there's no going back to simple survival. You'll understand why the Celestial Court wants us extinct."
She left, Yun Xia following her.
I lay in the medical hall bed, staring at the ceiling, processing everything.
I'd survived. Against impossible odds, against a Core Formation Enforcer, against the Crimson Vale itself,vI'd survived.
But survival was just the beginning.
[CURRENT STATUS:]
Realm: Fortune Foundation 6th Layer
LP: 225/3,000 (Regenerating)
Location: Fate Weaver Refuge
Injuries: Critical but Healing
Allies: Lin Mei, Yun Xia, Fate Weaver Refuge
Enemies: Celestial Court (Believes You're Dead)
Time Until Discovery: ~1 Month
Recovery Time: 2 Weeks Minimum
Two weeks to heal.
One month until the Court realized I was alive.
And somewhere in that time, I'd learn what Fate Weavers truly were. What my bloodline inheritance actually meant. Why the Celestial Court feared us enough to suppress an entire lineage for generations.
I closed my eyes, letting the healing medicine work, feeling my battered body slowly knitting itself together.
The ghost had survived.
The dead man had found sanctuary.
Now came the hard part: becoming dangerous enough that the Celestial Court would regret not killing me better the first time.
Ten days later, I walked without support for the first time.
The Fate Weaver Refuge was larger than I'd expected,a hidden valley protected by formation arrays so sophisticated I couldn't even detect them without trying. Maybe three hundred people lived here: Fate Weaver descendants, their families, cultivators who'd defected from the Court, refugees from clans the Court had destroyed.
All united by one thing: the Celestial Court wanted them dead.
"Impressive," I said as Lin Mei gave me a tour. My ribs still ached, but the pain was manageable now. "How have you stayed hidden for eight years?"
"Ancient formations from before the Court's rise to power. This valley was a Fate Weaver stronghold millennia ago. When they fell, the formations remained." She pointed to nearly invisible script carved into the valley walls. "The arrays don't just hide us—they make finding us improbable. Even if someone walked through the entrance, probability manipulation makes them take a different path."
"Fortune manipulation on a massive scale."
"Fate Weaving, actually. The formations were created by masters who could manipulate destiny itself, not just probability. There's a difference."
"Explain it to me."
She led me to a pavilion overlooking the valley. "Fortune Foundation cultivation, like yours, manipulates probability. You make things more or less likely to happen. It's powerful, but limited by natural causality. You can't make impossible things happen, only improbable things."
"And Fate Weaving?"
"Fate Weaving manipulates causality itself. You don't make things probable,oyou make them inevitable. You don't work within destiny's framework,you rewrite it." Her expression became distant. "The difference between probability and certainty. Between 'this might happen' and 'this will happen.'"
"That's..." I struggled to comprehend the implications. "That's reality manipulation."
"Yes. Which is exactly why the Celestial Court fears us. They maintain power through control. Fate Weavers can unmake that control by rewriting the fundamental rules." She met my eyes. "Do you understand now? Why they sealed your bloodline? Why they murdered you? Why they hunt us across generations?"
"Because we can change fate itself."
"Because we can make their reign improbable. Can make their power temporary. Can ensure their fall is inevitable rather than merely possible." Lin Mei's smile was sharp. "They're tyrants playing at being heaven's administrators. Fate Weavers remind them that even tyrants fall when destiny itself turns against them."
[INFORMATION RECEIVED: FATE WEAVER CAPABILITIES]
[BLOODLINE POTENTIAL: REALITY MANIPULATION]
[THREAT TO CELESTIAL COURT: EXISTENTIAL]
[UNDERSTANDING: INCREASED]
"How do I learn it? True Fate Weaving, not just Fortune Foundation probability manipulation?"
"You're already learning it. Every time you defy impossible odds, every time you make survival inevitable instead of probable, you're touching the edges of true Fate Weaving." She gestured at the valley. "But to fully awaken the bloodline requires training, understanding, and time. Time we now have, thanks to the Court believing you're dead."
"How long?"
"To reach basic Fate Weaving competency? Three months minimum. To become truly dangerous?" She paused. "Years. Decades. Fate Weaving is the most difficult cultivation path in existence. Most who attempt it fail and die."
"But those who succeed?"
"Become legends. Become the people the Celestial Court sends armies to kill." Lin Mei's eyes held something between hope and fear. "Become people who can actually threaten heaven itself."
A commotion at the valley entrance interrupted our conversation. Cultivators were running, weapons drawn, formation arrays activating.
"What's happening?" I asked.
"Warning formation triggered. Someone's approaching the entrance." Lin Mei was already moving, her cultivation base flaring. "Stay here. If this is a Court attack"
"I'm coming with you."
"You're still injured,"
"I'm functional enough. And I'm not hiding while others fight." I drew Fate Severance, feeling the blade's power resonate with my cultivation. "Besides, probability manipulation is excellent for defensive combat."
She didn't argue further, just gestured for me to follow.
We reached the valley entrance to find a strange sight: a young man, maybe sixteen, covered in blood and barely conscious, collapsed at the formation boundary. His cultivation flickered,Qi Condensation 8th Layer, but suppressed, damaged.
"It's a trap," one of the defenders said immediately. "The Court sends bait to find our location."
"Or he's a survivor who needs help," another argued. "We can't turn away everyone."
Lin Mei approached carefully, her spiritual sense examining the boy. "He's genuine. That's real blood, real injuries, real terror. No one fakes that kind of trauma."
She pulled him across the formation boundary, and the boy's eyes opened—wide with fear and exhaustion.
"Please," he gasped. "They're coming. The Celestial Court. They destroyed my clan. Killed everyone. I'm the only survivor. They said... they said they're systematically eliminating all Fate Weaver descendants. Every bloodline, every family, everyone with even distant heritage."
My blood went cold. "What clan?"
"Wang Clan. Western Mountains. We'd hidden successfully for thirty years. But they found us. Sent an army." Tears ran down his face. "My parents told me to run. Told me to find the Fate Weaver Refuge. Said it was my only chance."
"How did you find us?" Lin Mei asked gently.
"My grandmother. Before she died, she gave me directions. Said the formations would guide me if I had Fate Weaver blood." He looked at us with desperate hope. "I do have it, right? The bloodline? That's why they killed my family?"
"Yes," Lin Mei said quietly. "You have it. Which is why they wanted you dead."
[WARNING: CELESTIAL COURT ACTIVITY ESCALATING]
[SYSTEMATIC PURGE OF FATE WEAVER BLOODLINES: CONFIRMED]
[THREAT LEVEL: CRITICAL]
[REFUGE SAFETY: UNCERTAIN]
"How many clans have they hit?" I asked.
"Wang Clan was the third in two weeks," Lin Mei said, her expression grim. "Before that, the Liu Clan in the Southern Provinces and the Zhao Clan near the Capital. All Fate Weaver descendants. All destroyed completely."
"They're accelerating. Why now?"
"Because of you." She met my eyes. "Chen Wei's resurrection and survival became known within the Court's intelligence network. They realized suppression wasn't working anymore. So they changed strategies,from containment to extermination."
"This is my fault," I said, the weight of it crushing. "They're killing everyone because I survived."
"No. They're killing everyone because they're tyrants who fear losing power." Lin Mei's voice was steel. "Your survival just reminded them that Fate Weavers are threats. They would have escalated eventually. You just accelerated the timeline."
"So what do we do?"
"We prepare. We train. We stop hiding and start fighting back." She addressed the gathered cultivators. "The Celestial Court thinks Fate Weavers are extinct or broken. Let's prove them wrong. Let's show them what happens when probability itself turns against them."
The defenders raised weapons in salute, their voices united.
And I stood among them, Fate Severance in hand, and understood finally what I was becoming.
Not a ghost haunting the living.
Not a dead man refusing to stay buried.
But something more dangerous: a Fate Weaver awakening to his true power, surrounded by allies who'd learned to defy destiny itself.
The Celestial Court had created their own enemy.
And we were just getting started.