Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 192 Three individuals (Part 1)

What is destiny? There are numerous ways to express this one word: The rich and poor, bitter experiences in the course of life, the uncertain ups and downs of life, or perhaps the mysterious divine intervention?

(TL Note: I was confused whether I should use ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’.)

If the destiny is really unknowable and also an immutable existence, then its presence should not have any significance in the first place. When the heavenly book was born into the world, the people began to practice (cultivate). They started borrowing the strength of the heaven and transformed it into their own natural strength, but the cultivators would naturally not accept this assertion. They would want to think that the destiny is derived from their own dauntless spirits and the courage they possess to make a change according to their wishes.

Each cultivator has an initial connection with the world and his destiny is determined by the arrangement of stars in the sky. Therefore, the people’s understanding of their destiny is ultimately dependent on the boundless ocean of stars that appears in a starry sky.

Since ancient times, the stars in the sky, regardless of their position or brightness, are given the same value. They are solemnly and eternally illuminating the world. It is said that there are infinite lines joining these seemingly countless stars to form infinite complex patterns which cannot be fully portrayed.

Looking at the starry sky, many people would feel their hearts racing and beating rapidly in a response to their praise for the beautiful scene and the complex patterns hidden in this boundless ocean of stars. It is very natural to think that something of extremely profound significance is hidden within these patterns.

Countless years ago, the mighty big-shots of the state religion observed the relation between man and heaven and their mutual impact on each other and speculated that the stars were capable of somehow affecting the destiny of the entire continent.

While an individual’s destiny is dependent on his own specific ‘destiny star’ but his star is also interconnected with others’ destiny stars located in the surrounding region as well as with all of the stars present in the entire starry sky. This basically means that the destiny of an individual is related to the destiny of others in some way.

– The hypothesis happened to be in accordance with the philosophy of ‘The Way’ about destiny, but its explanation is again very difficult to understand: “The destiny is people and people’s trajectories always cross each other at some point.”

Infinite starry sky can accommodate innumerable lives, a myriad of hopes and desires. No matter how mysterious the concept of destiny appears to an individual, they can certainly relate to the corresponding descriptions in the meantime.

It can be said that after a person is born, his destiny will find a corresponding description in the form of a certain trajectory of stars in the starry sky. It can also be said that before a person is born, his destiny would have already existed in the starry sky, either as a short line or as a magnificent star diagram.

The cultivators who want to change their own destiny must first change the description of their destinies that exist in the form of patterns of lines in the grand star diagram. A cultivator must first change the position of his star or its brightness. And if he is able to do so then that will naturally also change several other patterns connected to his pattern. In other words, they will end up changing the destinies of several other people along with his own destiny.

The destiny never exists independently; each person’s destiny is closely linked with that of the others.

But, millions of years old records left by stargazers show that the positions of stars in the sky are unwavering. Neither the position nor the brightness of the stars ever changed in a span of countless years. So, the theory about changing one’s own destiny by changing the alignment of the stars seems like a completely impossible task. Who has the ability to step in the Heavenly tomb? Whose words can reach the stars? Who can raise his hand to pick a star? In the last volume of the book on standard doctrines of The Way, there is a chapter dedicated to ‘destiny’ and contains 600 words. Only in the second paragraph of this chapter, one can find out that a cultivator who has successfully entered the Realm of Great Freedom might be able to do such glorious acts. However, the Realm of Great Freedom is even more mysterious than the Realm of Mysterious Divinity and has only existed in mythologies. How can someone take this seriously?

But, how did some people manage to go against the heavens and succeeded in changing their destinies? In accordance with Taoist records and official statements, since the day the heavenly book came into this world, there has never been such a happening on this continent. If it really happened then because of lack of evidence, or the impact it might cause on the people, no one dares to openly talk about it.

However, in reality, the rumor about this has been circulating among the folks for a long time and it states that there have been three individuals in the past 1000 years who have successfully defied the heavens and changed their destinies.

Only these three were able to defy the heavens and had the ability to completely erase the old records of stargazing pavilions. They held such an authority that the entire human world was afraid to discuss this matter, and that was because these three individuals were once the emperors of the continent.

The three individuals were Zhou Dynasty’s Great Ancestor Emperor, the Second Emperor and…….The Divine Empress.

Thousand years ago, the previous reigning dynasty’s administrative style and officialdom began to rot. The people had no means to make a living, the devil race was eyeing covetously from the north while various aristocratic clans had turned their backs on morality and ethics. Countless volunteer armies staged a rebellion and sent expeditions in all directions. The whole country was already on the verge of collapse.

In the non-stop flames war, there was an emergence of numerous powerhouses on the mainland, including some from the Saint realm who appeared for the first time, from the cultivation community.

Suddenly, there was a change in the royal flag hoisted atop the city walls of Luoyang City. Today, some important generalissimo entered the eastern mountains along with the deposed emperor. Tomorrow, in the southern region, the two foolish princes took on a new lease of life, and self-proclaimed themselves as new Sima (Minister of War) and took control over the books of Saintess Peak. The powerhouses of various sects would naturally align themselves as royal entourage. It was hard to guess that in the end who was going to pick up the final piece of this broken country.

At that time, Great Dynasty Emperor used to be the mayor of Tianshui County and was the only son of the deposed emperor’s favorite concubine, so he had the trust of the populace. He issued the order to defend his city and went into hiding. It could be said that he was very mediocre, and in short, being the mayor of Tianshui County was enough to prove his mediocrity. He did not dare to step out of Qishan for several years and his inactivity once again proved his mediocrity in people’s eyes, especially when compared with those brilliant warlords. No one, at that time, thought that he could capture the world, considering the fact that no one used to mention his name and people thought that Tianshui County was a suitable place for such a mediocre. However, ironically, in the future, he had several sons who used his name to rule proudly for centuries to come.

Now, one could see the general trend of the world that would usually select a suitable enlightened ruler on its own.

Who would have thought that in the coming few years, there would be drastic changes in the mainland? There would be endless battles among the warlords and various forces would suffer heavy losses. Meanwhile, Great Dynasty Emperor continued to rest and build up strength in Tianshui County, recuperating, becoming stronger, and one day, he took thirty thousand troops and went east of Qishan. He actually won 17 cities in one fell swoop. Various aristocratic clans of the southern region formed an alliance with him and after gaining full support from the follower sects, he obtained a famous victory over the troops stationed outside Luoyang City. After he successfully captured Luoyang City, the next year, he acquired the capital city and officially ascended the throne, in front of Mausoleum of Books.

Later if we look at the history of Zhou Dynasty, there are many indecipherable events and there are many things that are logically impossible. For example, why those powerful warlords were unable to kill Great Dynasty Emperor even though they went to Tianliang County and could have killed him easily; After stepping out of Qishan, his first three battles were not in his favor, but each time he managed to come out alive from the perilous situation, indicating that he always had good luck; Outside Luoyang City, he faced dozens of fierce battles and should have died back then, but still did not die! It seemed as if he was blessed by some kind of hidden power.

If this was luck then it certainly was a big one, but since it continued for such a long time then it could be his destiny.

After Great Dynasty Emperor ascended the throne in the capital city, several famous generals went on punitive expeditions in all directions. Various sectarian aristocratic clans professed allegiance to the new emperor, and the warlords who were dissatisfied and refused to accept the new rule were exterminated. This was a time when even a great hero either had the choice to support the new rule or to get captured. The captured ones were escorted to the capital in abundance where they either resigned themselves or were sent to the execution grounds to face endless torture and wait for death.

During that time, the rumor took birth and has continued to spread ever since. The reason why Great Dynasty Emperor was able to change his destiny as a mediocre to that of a victor and was able to kill so many powerhouses, because ten years ago, he had made an alliance with that generation’s Pope and together they developed some kind of special method that simply defied the heavens and he used this method to change his own destiny. Since then, his destiny star became famous as the Emperor Star.

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(TL Note: As I still haven’t properly gone through the translations of previous translators, some terminologies may have changed depending on my interpretation of the raws. Please let me know in the comment section, if you feel that the original was more appropriate, and I’ll make the changes.)