Master of Shattered Fates

The mysterious woman's silver fate lines danced through the air, interweaving with the golden threads that still poured in from the blooming tree outside. Liu Chen watched in fascination as her lines seemed to deliberately avoid touching the others, creating intricate patterns in the spaces between.

"The true history?" he asked carefully. Every instinct told him he was in the presence of someone far more dangerous than Master Feng or any of the academy elders. "I know what everyone knows. The Nine Suns Academy was founded a thousand years ago to train fate cultivators."

"A thousand years." She laughed, the sound like breaking icicles. "Such a neat, round number. Tell me, little butterfly, have you never wondered why they chose that specific figure? Or why an academy dedicated to fate cultivation would build itself around a tree that predates its founding by millennia?"

Liu Chen's mind raced. He had wondered about the old tree, particularly after reading contradicting accounts of its origins in various historical texts. Some called it a failed World Tree, others a simple ancient plant that had absorbed too much cultivation energy. But none of the accounts had ever felt complete.

"Who are you?" he asked again. "Really?"

She moved to the window, moonlight streaming through her white hair. "I have had many names. But you may call me Lady Frost." Her silver eyes fixed on him with unnerving intensity. "And I am here because you, little butterfly, have done something that hasn't been done in a very, very long time."

"The black flowers?"

"Mm." She gestured, and her silver fate lines formed a complex pattern in the air. Liu Chen gasped as the golden threads from the tree responded, creating a mirror image. "Do you know what black flowers symbolize in the old stories?"

Liu Chen started to shake his head, then stopped as memory stirred. "Wait. There was something... in an ancient text I found in the library. Something about black flowers blooming when—" He broke off, eyes widening. "When a Fate Breaker appears."

Lady Frost's smile sharpened. "Very good. You've done more research than most. But do you know what a Fate Breaker truly is?"

"A mythical cultivator who could..." Liu Chen trailed off, looking at his hands. Earlier, he hadn't just seen the fate lines. He had touched them. Changed them. "Who could manipulate fate directly," he whispered.

"More than that." Lady Frost's silver lines coiled closer. "A Fate Breaker doesn't just manipulate destiny. They can shatter it completely. Rewrite the very laws that govern reality." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "That's why they were hunted to extinction. Or so everyone believes."

A chill ran down Liu Chen's spine. "Hunted? By whom?"

"By the very institution you now serve." Lady Frost's expression hardened. "The Nine Suns Academy wasn't founded to train fate cultivators, little butterfly. It was built to control them. To ensure that no one ever gained enough power to truly challenge the natural order." She gestured to the fate lines that filled the room. "Until now."

Liu Chen's mind spun with implications. If what she said was true... "The tree. It's been waiting for someone like me?"

"The tree is far more than just a tree." Lady Frost moved closer, her silver lines brushing against his skin like cold silk. "It's a marker, planted by the last of the true Fate Breakers before they were destroyed. Waiting for someone with the right potential to awaken it." Her eyes gleamed. "And now it has chosen you."

"But why me?" Liu Chen demanded. "I was worthless. I couldn't even see fate lines until today."

"Couldn't see them? Or were you seeing them differently all along?" Lady Frost raised one elegant eyebrow. "Tell me, in all your studies of cultivation theory, did you never wonder why you understood the principles so well, even though you couldn't practice them?"

Liu Chen opened his mouth to respond, then slowly closed it. She was right. He had always grasped cultivation theory with an ease that surprised his teachers. Even Wang Hao, for all his practical talent, couldn't match Liu Chen's theoretical understanding.

"Your gift wasn't absent," Lady Frost continued. "It was hibernating. Waiting for the right moment to bloom." She smiled at her own wordplay. "Just like those lovely black flowers out there."

A commotion outside interrupted them—raised voices, running feet. Lady Frost's expression flickered with annoyance.

"It seems our time grows short. The elders are not as blind as I had hoped." She reached into her robes and withdrew a small black flower, perfectly preserved. "Take this. When you're ready to learn the truth—the whole truth—crush it between your palms. I'll find you."

"Wait!" Liu Chen called as she turned to leave. "What about the academy? What should I do?"

Lady Frost paused in the doorway, her silver fate lines swirling. "For now? Play the role they expect. The worthless disciple who had a strange accident. Let them think your new sight is just beginning to develop normally." Her smile turned cruel. "After all, they fear what they don't understand. And they understand so very little."

She vanished between one breath and the next, her silver lines fading like frost in morning sun. Moments later, Elder Sun burst into the room, followed by Master Feng and several other senior cultivators.

"Liu Chen!" Elder Sun's fate lines churned with worry. "Are you alright? We detected a strange energy signature..."

"I'm fine," Liu Chen said quickly, hiding the black flower beneath his blanket. "Just resting, as ordered."

Master Feng's eyes narrowed, his golden lines probing the room. But Lady Frost had left no trace of her presence—even the pattern of silver and gold she had created was gone.

"The tree's energy is affecting the entire eastern quarter," one of the other elders said. "Perhaps we should move him to a more secure location?"

"No." Master Feng's voice was firm. "Keep him under observation here. Post guards again. And send word to the Archival Division. I want every record we have about black flowers brought to my chambers immediately."

As the elders filed out, Liu Chen caught fragments of their worried whispers:

"—just like the ancient texts warned—"

"—impossible, they were all destroyed—"

"—what if it's really happening again—"

Elder Sun lingered behind, concern evident in his weathered face. "Liu Chen, if anything strange happens, anything at all..."

"I'll report it immediately," Liu Chen promised, the black flower cool against his palm beneath the blanket.

The old master nodded reluctantly and left. In the silence that followed, Liu Chen looked out at the transformed tree, its golden fate lines still searching, still reaching. Now he understood what they were reaching for.

They were reaching for him.

He had spent three years being worthless, being nothing. But Lady Frost's words echoed in his mind: They fear what they don't understand.

Liu Chen closed his eyes and focused on the fate lines that surrounded him. Not just seeing them now, but feeling them, understanding them in a way that went beyond mere cultivation theory. The power was there, waiting to be grasped.

The question was: what would he do with it?

The black flower pulsed once against his palm, like a tiny heartbeat, and Liu Chen smiled.

He had some reading to do about Fate Breakers.