“Already knew?” Bu Jiang suddenly looked at Zanxing. “What do you mean?”
Under the vast sky, at the edge of the starry river, the woman did not speak but remained silent.
Gu Baiying pressed his lips together and looked at her. The young man spoke slowly, with each word clearly articulated, “Did you already know?”
Zanxing lowered her gaze and sighed gently.
She had known all along.
In the two days following the Qixi Festival in Heishi City, she learned from Mingjing that the spiritual veins of the major sects in Douzhou had been drying up over the years. That night, Zanxing had a dream.
She dreamed of being alone, drifting in a vast flood.
The flood was overwhelming, sweeping everything towards her. She could no longer see any familiar figures around her. The world had become a boundless ocean, swallowing everything.
She suddenly recalled the ending of At the Summit of the Nine Heavens.
In fact, since she arrived at Gufeng Mountain, the longer time passed, the fewer details of the novel Zanxing could remember.
At first, it was because she had changed the Heavenly Dao, and everything that happened in this world was no longer the same as what Zanxing remembered. Later, even though she tried hard to recall, the future direction of the story always seemed shrouded in mist, hazy and unclear.
Zanxing had always thought that it was due to the passage of time that she could not remember. Until that night, when she awoke from a nightmare, she suddenly recalled that ending.
In the final volume of At the Summit of the Nine Heavens, Douzhou faced a catastrophe. The heavens and earth collapsed, and countless lives were lost, leaving only Mu Cengxiao and his wives to ascend to the upper realm, beginning a new journey.
For Mu Cengxiao, Douzhou was merely a brief stage in his endless cultivation journey. The entire story was but a distant, insignificant chapter in a vast tome, but for Douzhou and its inhabitants, it was their conclusion.
That night, in the drizzling rain, Zanxing walked alone with a lantern to the edge of the Mingming River. Watching the Black Dragon Fish rising from the river waves, she finally realized this terrifying secret.
She could not clearly remember the future direction of the story, perhaps not because of a fault in her memory, but because in the dark, there was an invisible giant hand covering her eyes. It was only at the last moment, when there was no turning back, that the veil was finally lifted, revealing the cruel ending to her.
She saw the beginning but could not guess the ending.
The Black Dragon Fish silently floated on the swaying river waves, its gaze toward her holding a faint trace of pity.
Had this black fish, which had once leaped over the Dragon Gate, seen, or rather carried, countless cultivators like herself toward an inevitably losing game?
She looked at the dragon fish and gently spoke, “Xiao Shuang said you were a carp that leaped over the Dragon Gate of the Immortal Mountain. Since you have already leaped over the Dragon Gate, why have you not transformed into a dragon?”
“What exactly is the Immortal Mountain?”
The water’s sound rose and fell, the waves surged, but the black dragon fish did not respond.
What’s an immortal? What’s the celestial realm? Above the summit of the nine heavens, what exactly was there?
It was the Heavenly Dao.
Above the Nine Heavens was the Heavenly Dao. It was cold, indifferent, devoid of emotions and desires. It was the most just and the most unjust. It eradicated everything as easily as squashing an ant.
The struggles of an ant throughout its life were insignificant and laughable in the eyes of the vast Heavenly Dao.
It could effortlessly overturn everything.
“Yang Zanxing,” Gu Baiying gazed at Zanxing, his tone calm but with a storm brewing in his eyes. The young man spoke, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Zanxing did not reply.
That night, he had come from the rain and sat beside Zanxing. She turned to embrace him, burying her head in his arms.
The young man’s embrace was soft and warm. He was busy holding the umbrella over her to shield her shoulders from the rain, unaware of her lingering, affectionate expression.
There had been moments of fear and hesitation. Zanxing also wanted to bury her head in the sand and pretend she knew nothing. However, some things could not be ignored simply by pretending they would not happen.
She said to Gu Baiying, “There is a saying where I come from—if you make a wish to a carp, it will come true.”
On that rainy night, she had secretly made a wish to the Black Dragon Fish.
I hope I can change this ending, she whispered in her heart.
The voice of Shaoyang Zhenren echoed in the great hall: “Over twenty years ago, I made a divination with Qinghua. The divination showed that Douzhou would face a heavenly calamity in the future. Only the destined one could save the living.”
Gu Baiying was taken aback. “The destined one.”
He had heard this from Fairy Qinghua when he and Zanxing were in the secret realm of Li’er Country. They had always thought that the so-called heavenly calamity was the resurrection of the Demon King and the chaos of the demon race, but it turned out to be the reappearance of the great disaster from a thousand years ago. Douzhou would face the conclusion that had been written many years before.
“Qinghua waited for you in the secret realm,” Shaoyang Zhenren looked at Zanxing, “You are the destined one.”
“Ridiculous!” Before Shaoyang Zhenren could finish, Bu Jiang interrupted him. The red-clad woman’s brow was stern, and for the first time, a faint hint of murderous intent appeared in her usually smiling eyes. She stared at Shaoyang Zhenren. “So-called destined one—does that mean she has to sacrifice herself for you? Why? Why should my daughter save others? Why should she sacrifice herself for the world?”
“You cultivators of the righteous sect, always professing concern for the common people, can’t you find a living Bodhisattva willing to sacrifice for the world?”
She spoke venomously, “You know everything, have everything under control. Why don’t you take the Xiao Yuan Pearl yourself and use it as the stone to mend the heavens, earning eternal merit and glory?”
“We are demons, not Buddhas!”
In an instant, the celestial demon energy flowed from the Demon Queen. Her long hair, like satin, seemed to be provoked by this overwhelming killing intent, fluttering wildly in the wind.
Shaoyang Zhenren looked at her calmly, a trace of pity flashing in his eyes.
He said, “It’s useless. The Xiao Yuan Pearl is a stone to mend the heavens, but it is also an ancient demon stone, destined to be possessed by the demon race and can only be found by them.”
“The Heavenly Dao has its own profound meaning in arranging things this way.”
“So, the Demon King of that time sought the Xiao Yuan Pearl to revive the depleted spiritual veins of Heishi City, but he only attempted to refine it, never considering other possibilities.”
It was not a matter of anything else, the demon race and the human race were inherently different. Humans often produced great benefactors, with cultivators caring for the common people, putting their hearts in tune with the people’s. But the demon race was different. Demons were selfish, cunning, and ruthless, dwelling in the darkest places, indulging in pleasure, and would never sacrifice themselves for others.
The Heavenly Dao never intended to give Douzhou a sliver of hope, so this was a doomed game.
Douzhou was destined to collapse, and while the Heavenly Dao seemed to leave a stone to mend the heavens, this stone could only be possessed by the demon race. Like Gui Diaotang in the past, any demon who obtains the Xiao Yuan Pearl would desperately try to refine it.
Thus, the Demon King could not refine the Xiao Yuan Pearl and eventually went mad.
Thus, Gui Yansheng could not refine the Xiao Yuan Pearl and instead sacrificed his own soul.
In this world, there would never be a demon who seeks to save the people.
The last stone to mend the heavens would never return to its original place.
This was the trap of the Heavenly Dao.