Chapter 19: The Butterfly Effect

“Why did you kill him!”
The uncle from the apothecary hurried over, his pant legs tied up and wearing coarse linen, looking every bit the part of a common old farmer.
But appearing here meant he was anything but ordinary. Charles turned back, his expression tinged with curiosity. “He tried to kill me—should I have spared him?”
The man’s intentions had been sinister from the start; even at the moment of death, he’d tried to burden Charles with a debt of gratitude, hoping to have his last wishes fulfilled. Could Charles be so foolish?
Though the man looked as if death were imminent, Charles wasn’t reassured. He feared some secret trump card, perhaps a means of resurrection, so he ended it once and for all.
His first act of killing sent his blood surging, heart pounding like a drum. It felt as though he’d shattered some invisible prison, like an eagle soaring into the sky or a fish darting through shallow waters—he had finally tasted true freedom.
His life before had seemed tranquil and free, but in truth, it was a cage woven by countless rules, impossible to escape.
Now, he had broken those shackles himself, liberating his soul. This sensation of freedom was intoxicating.
“Is this the aftermath of killing?” Charles gazed at his own hand—fair, slender, more delicate than most girls’.
Yet it was this very hand that had just wielded the sword and ended a life!
“I never imagined your future would be so brilliant, child. Would you be willing to follow me and train?” The apothecary uncle looked at him with a complex gaze, thick with hope.
“Sorry, I’d be happy to learn from you. As compensation, you may name your terms. But to become your student… well, this man tried to use me, and I’m a bit resistant.” Charles gestured to the corpse on the ground and shrugged, helpless.
“I understand, though it’s a pity.” The apothecary uncle sighed, then smiled a little. “Let me introduce myself. My name is Niu Kelian Kane. You can keep calling me Uncle Niu.”
Charles paused, a smile blooming on his face. “Uncle Niu, please take care of me from now on.”
Fragments of information about the man flashed through Charles’s mind, nearly making him jump with excitement.
This man was no background character in the future; he would become embroiled in a terrifying battle and rise as one of the world’s superlative masters.
To cling to his leg before all that happened was unbelievably lucky.
“Uncle Niu, what should we do with all this?” Charles looked around at the scattered ashes and wreckage, fretful.
It was noon, the sky thick with clouds, and fine rain fell, sizzling against the ground.
“It’s simple—just say it was a meteorite strike. That’s what you’ll tell the baron.” Uncle Niu smiled.
Meteorite?

Before Charles could say more, the man hefted Marcus in one hand and beckoned him to step away from the courtyard.
Then, right before Charles’s eyes, a colossal black bull appeared with a thunderous roar.
The bull stood six meters tall, dwarfing even African elephants from his previous life. Its glossy black fur gleamed, and its massive horns stretched over three meters each.
A faint black aura enveloped it, its plate-sized eyes shimmering with light. It stood like a black mountain.
Moo!
The giant bull bellowed skyward, its four huge hooves pounding the earth, stirring fierce winds as it leapt and then crashed headlong into the ground.
Boom!
The earth trembled. Cracks spread in a spiderweb from the impact site, at the very center a pit over ten meters deep formed—just as if a real meteorite had struck.
“The ultimate bull demon totem—is this the future peerless brute force king?” Charles swallowed hard. Who could have guessed this seemingly ordinary peasant was host to such a violent totem?
Bull totems, like bear totems, were famed for strength. And Uncle Niu hailed from a venerable lineage of the East Continent, a tradition that might yet allow his totem to evolve further.
After all, the man before him would one day rival destiny’s chosen protagonist—a supreme soul master. Now, standing right here, he felt unreal.
“All right, I’ll go treat this fellow.” Niu Kelian waved his hand, and the massive bull demon totem vanished. He bade farewell, carrying Marcus away as easily as a chick.
Charles watched his retreating figure with envy, wondering when he himself might become so powerful.
Fortunately, he remembered he was no ordinary person either, and quickly regained his composure, leaving with his little white fox.
The courtyard was now a scene of utter devastation. Cansius had been crushed to dust by the Nine-Tailed Fox’s innate power; everything he owned destroyed—a regrettable loss.
When Charles reached the spot where his arch-enemy usually lurked, he found, to his dismay, that the man was gone.
“It’s obvious—the future has changed because of my arrival.” Charles sighed, recognizing the force of the butterfly effect.
In the original timeline, this battle was meant to occur a month later. Charles would die as cannon fodder, Bruce would kill the enemy and flee, only to be discovered by the protagonist Simon.
But now everything had changed: Bruce was truly dead, Simon’s top-tier soul artifact shattered and absorbed by the Modulator, and the third-level soul master Niu Kelian, who’d been out gathering herbs, arrived at the scene.
The Nine-Tailed Fox’s projection had descended, affecting all of Goldflash Town, sure to draw other soul masters and change the future’s course!
“It seems I must hurry.” Charles felt a growing sense of crisis. If the future changed, his precognitive abilities would be drastically diminished.

Even with the Modulator, he couldn’t ignore those so-called “protagonists,” for they too operated as if with cheats—finding treasures by chance, inheriting power from mysterious elders, buying soul artifacts from market stalls.
This group of destiny’s chosen, in time, would raise divine beasts and stir the world’s fate.
Ultimately, an invincible figure would emerge, ending the five-year world war for good.
………………
North of Goldflash Town, in an ordinary forest.
“Just wait—one day I’ll have my revenge!” A boy in coarse cloth, face twisted with hatred, his once charming thick brows and big eyes now contorted like a vengeful ghost.
The loss of his beloved and the murder of his father had forced him to mature abruptly. He left Goldflash Town far behind, determined to find a powerful martial artist as his master, to return for vengeance once his training was complete.
Chirp, chirp!
A strange creature flitted around him, like a ball with wings, chirping as if to comfort him.
Suddenly, he heard a distant explosion. Hurrying over, he found scorched earth, a charred corpse in the center of the flames, and a black-clad figure slumped against a stone.
“Help me…” The figure’s voice was barely a whisper. The boy hesitated, then approached to offer aid.
With such grievous wounds, the man posed no threat—there was no need for caution.
Following the man’s instructions, he retrieved a small vial from his pocket and fed him the medicine.
The man’s face, once bloodless, regained a hint of color after the medicine, and he smiled. “Young man, would you like to become my student?”
“You’re a powerful martial artist?” The boy’s eyes lit up.
“Martial artist? No, no. Mere martial artists aren’t even qualified to be my servants!” The man shook his head, his pale face proud.
“I am Edmon Bridges, about to raise a third-level ultimate soul beast. Follow me and I’ll make you a true soul master!”