Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1003 – Exist or Perish, the Bottom of the Well or Its Mouth?

Bie Yanghong was dead. Wuqiong Bi was also dead. They had died far away from their home, eighty thousand li away, in White Emperor City.

Their souls would return to the sea of stars, not to Xiling’s Ten Thousand Years Pavilion, so it was not crucial for them to be buried at any particular place.

There was an extremely deep fissure in the small courtyard, probably made when Chusu had burst out of the ground. It had been repaired by the chill winds from an underground river, its bottom already filled by rocks. All that was left was a pit about two feet deep.

Chen Changsheng placed the bodies of Bie Yanghong and Wuqiong Bi in the pit. Before he had time to fill the pit, a cool breeze blew in from the tree of the Celestial Tree temple. Only two piles of golden sand were left in the pit.

When Zhu Luo died, he had seen a similar sight. He knew that this was a special attribute of Divine Domain experts, so he was not surprised.

But the golden sand in the earth made him recall another matter.

Up to now, many people still believed that the Tianhai Divine Empress had been buried by him deep within the Orthodox Academy. In reality, she was in the Hundred Herb Garden.

Why was it that after the Tianhai Divine Empress’s death, her remains had not become the purest golden sand like other experts of the Divine Domain, but still maintained its original appearance?

Was this the difference between the Concealed Divinity Realm and the Saint Realm?

He didn’t think any more about this. He waved his sleeve, sending the white stones in the courtyard to fill the pit.

As he watched those golden sands gradually be buried, he silently recited several names.

Chusu, Madam Mu, Black Robe, Sacred Light Continent.

The entire continent sensed the death of the two experts of the Divine Domain. The laws of the heavens and earth responded and omens began to manifest.

In the distant Cloud Grave in the east, eddies began to form and the streams falling from the solitary mountain suddenly began to flow faster.

A one-horned creature drinking at the edge of the stream raised its head and looked into the distance, a hint of loneliness appearing in its sacred and pure eyes.

No waves could be seen on the Red River, and its mirror-like surface looked extremely strange. Low hums came from the Jings deep in the water as if they were lamenting something.

The Archbishop of the Western Wastes, who knew what had happened, sorrowfully gazed at the dark rain clouds over the small courtyard.

Behind the rain clouds, two rainbows appeared, side by side. They stretched out of White Emperor City, crossing over the wide river and towards the distant mountains, perhaps even farther.

Only now did the Demi-human Prime Minister, the Bear tribe leader, and the Shi clan leader understand what had happened. They were stunned and didn’t know what to say.

The priests, cultivators, and demi-human soldiers in the alley also knew what those two rainbows signified. One by one, they began to prostrate.

The believers of the Orthodoxy in the crowd began to recite Daoist scriptures under the guidance of the archbishop, their voices pious and reverent.

……

……

Chen Changsheng did not return to the Daoist Church of the Western Wastes. He remained in the small courtyard, as Xuanyuan Po had not woken up yet and there were still some things he needed to think about.

The Demi-human Prime Minister, the Shi clan leader, and other personages had come in succession, wanting to know the particulars of the matter, and more importantly, his current stance. But he did not see them.

The small courtyard once more became extremely silent. He sat on the wooden porch outside the room, his gaze flitting between that listless pine, the white stones, and the gray walls.

He suddenly felt tired, losing interest in many matters. For instance, he clearly knew that the entire Demi-human race was anxiously and warily waiting for his response, but he did not care.

Just like many other people, he adored and respected Bie Yanghong, but he was truly not acquainted with him. Logically speaking, he should not have been so agitated, but this event had truly dealt him a massive psychological blow.

Good people aren’t guaranteed to be rewarded, and they might not even live well, so why do we have to be good people? How should we love? Why should we live?

He gazed at the night sky, thinking of these questions that people would often laugh at but would still carefully ponder.

There were no clouds or fog in White Emperor City tonight. His view was unobstructed, allowing him to see far, to see many stars.

Chen Changsheng’s spiritual sense departed his body, floating into the sea of stars. It floated past the star that was sputtering star radiance, past the star with countless spiraling arms, avoided that star sprouting two bright wings, and continued forward. Finally, he went past that invisible crystal wall to the periphery of the sea of stars.

Only when cultivators were fixing their Fated Stars could their spiritual senses travel so far. Normally, cultivators could only sense the existence of their Fated Stars, but they would find it extremely difficult to reach them again.

But this rule had no use on Chen Changsheng, just like how that invisible crystal wall could not keep out his spiritual sense.

Perhaps it was because his spiritual sense had originally come from the other side?

A red star quietly floated in the night sky, brimming with a passionate energy. Its surface was so calm that it seemed like it could experience the passage of millions upon millions of years and not change.

This was his Fated Star.

Chen Changsheng’s spiritual sense did not fall upon his Fated Star.

This star was real and was the one closest to him, but he would forever be unable to reach it. Thus, this was the vapidest of realities, one which was liable to make him sad.

He did not want to be sad, so his spiritual sense continued forward, appearing somewhat cold.

Ultimately, his spiritual sense went beyond the sea of stars.

Far away, on the other side, he could see many more stars like the twinkling lights of a city.

Was the Sacred Light Continent there?

He wanted to go and see.

Ever since he had learned of his illness at the age of ten, the only thing he had thought about was surviving.

On that rainy night, the Tianhai Divine Empress had recast his meridians, eliminating his predestined fate. He could live past the age of twenty, could live for many more years.

From that moment, he naturally could begin pondering other questions. Only after wiping away the shadow of death could he truly begin to objectively observe his life.

He naturally wanted to find the origin of his life, find a reason to exist. But the life of tension he had lived the last few years had not left him much time to think.

Only on the night of Bie Yanghong’s and Wuqiong Bi’s deaths did he truly begin his search.

Between his spiritual sense and that faintly visible sea of stars was an unimaginable vast and cold void, the dark and bottomless abyss.

The black void was even more formless than the spatial wall, so he could not pass through it. It didn’t even seem to exist, so how could he overcome it?

Chen Changsheng gazed into the center of the black void and suddenly had a very strange feeling.

He felt like he was standing at the mouth of a well and peering into its depths.

But he also felt like he was standing at the bottom of the well and gazing up at the night sky.

Just which feeling was right? Which one… was real?

No one knew how much time had passed.

Chen Changsheng drew back his spiritual sense.

He was still sitting on the wooden porch. His gaze no longer wandered. It remained fixed on the gray wall, but it was also looking at many other places.

The sea of stars made one feel serene, and that black void could make all cultivators sense their insignificance, assisting them in wiping away the stray thoughts in their Dao hearts.

Footsteps came from behind him.

Xuanyuan Po walked up and sat down beside him.