Volume 4, Chapter 190 – Changlun (III)

In the blink of an eye, the sea had turned to mulberry fields, and several leisurely decades passed away.

Changlun carried demon blood, and the limit of his Heaven-ordained lifespan was far longer than that of the human race. He still retained the appearance of a young man, but he no longer lived in the Shengshu Sea. After the chaos of war had subsided, he gathered together the many primitive tribes scattered across the heavenly sea and built a city on the outer edge of the forest, where they settled.

Seen only from a third-person perspective, his second entry into the world made it seem as though he had awakened to some new conviction. Not only did he throw himself enthusiastically into rebuilding this world’s civilization after the war, he also devoted even greater zeal to exploring and studying every kind of text and school of thought, as though trying to find a true answer.

Changlun had never made any secret of the reflections that came from his studies when speaking to Zhu Qingluo.

He said, “The suffering of the mortal world is bitter. For living beings to awaken to intelligence is not necessarily a blessing. On the contrary, once they know they are trapped in a sea of suffering, they become weighed down and joyless.”

“Just like you and me.” He used himself as an example. “I now hold high rank and great power… but I do not think I live any happier than before.”

“Looking back now, the days when I first entered the forest, those confused and ignorant days, were the ones when I lived most lightly and freely.”

Bai Xiang’s gaze was still drifting over the white fox when she suddenly heard the voice of the present Zhu Qingluo beside her. “At that time, I had already awakened to intelligence. I could already understand his persistence.”

“He wanted to judge whether he was right or wrong by studying the thoughts of those who came before him. And the answer he ultimately found had something to do with you as well.”

Bai Xiang’s brows drew together slightly, her tone lifting. “Emperor Feng?”

“Exactly.”

Zhu Qingluo brushed away this stretch of light and shadow and took Bai Xiang into the next scene of memory.

Within it, Changlun was kneeling before the gate of a monastery courtyard that looked plain and elegant, though its decorations, on closer inspection, revealed a restrained magnificence. He was performing a full kowtow to the people standing on the steps above him.

Where was his fox?

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Bai Xiang did not see little Qingluo at Changlun’s side, so she cast her gaze upward and noticed an old woman in the seat of honor. Beside the old woman stood a young girl in a green dress, her features still immature, yet with brows and eyes that bore an eighty percent resemblance to the Zhu Qingluo of reality.

“Changlun.” The old woman spoke, her voice stirring the clouds and mist. “You were originally a mortal spirit of the Shengshu below the Douyun lower realm. Yet in consideration of your meritorious protection of the immortal clan, we make this exception and open the immortal gate to you, permitting you to enter Changhua Monastery for study and cultivation.”

“Many thanks, Great Saint.” Changlun bowed again to the old woman with utmost respect. “I would never dare forget the Great Saint’s kindness.”

Bai Xiang frowned as she watched. She had questions in her heart, and she did not bother suppressing them. She turned directly to Zhu Qingluo and asked, “Is the one in the seat of honor a blood relative of yours?”

The clues were incomplete, but she could still infer the rough outline.

It was nothing more than this: Zhu Qingluo’s original body, that mottled little fox, had fallen from the Douyun Sea into the Shengshu Sea.

And the demon bloodline she possessed was clearly a hundred times nobler than Changlun had imagined. There was a very high chance that the rule of the Douyun Sea, and even the dominion of the Rebirth Hall, had long been led by the White-Ginseng Fox Clan.

“By bloodline, I can barely call her my grandmother,” Zhu Qingluo nodded. “She was the previous master of the Rebirth Hall. Later, during the turmoil of the Sacred Court, she was gravely wounded and suppressed by Pang Tiandao’s faction. After returning, she died without recovering. Before passing, she handed both the position of clan leader and Hall Master over to me.”

Bai Xiang asked again, “About how many years ago did this happen?”

Zhu Qingluo replied, “It should have been not long after Yao Yu severed the link between Heaven and Earth.”

So she is somewhat younger than I thought.

Bai Xiang gave her another look, thinking that many far more ancient memories likely came from the secret inheritance of the White-Ginseng Fox Clan.

“‘Severing the link between Heaven and Earth’ was like a signal, a turning point.”

As Zhu Qingluo recalled the past, she continued, “At the time, I was still not very sensible. All I remember is that once the passage between the two sides was cut off, the Sacred Court immediately began a purge, as though spurred by some sort of stimulus. Quite a few Hall Masters disappeared during that period. Even now, no one knows for certain whether they withdrew into seclusion or were suppressed and killed.”

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Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes. “For what reason?”

“I don’t know.” Zhu Qingluo shook her head. “At the time, the next Void Tribulation was still far off. Before the passage was severed, the atmosphere inside the Sacred Court had been peaceful and free. Many Hall Masters were on friendly terms, and they visited each other as frequently as neighbors dropping in.”

“But once the passage was cut off, the people led by the Transmission Venerable Saint, that is, Pang Tiandao, no longer tolerated differing ideas. They began labeling some people as ‘outsiders,’ forcing some of them to withdraw into ‘neutrality,’ and making things difficult for and suppressing the remaining ‘outsiders.’”

“The Sacred Court quickly fell silent amid that turmoil. Nearly half of the thirty-three heavenly halls stood empty. Those who remained either followed Pang Tiandao or maintained ‘neutrality.’ He was thus able to seize the central seat and take control of the Sacred Court. I have no idea what he was plotting.”

“What you mean is…” Bai Xiang interrupted her, “regardless of what the Transmission Venerable Saint, Pang Tiandao, actually wants to do, he probably began this matter more than fifteen hundred years ago.”

Zhu Qingluo hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “That should be the case.”

“The problem lies with the so-called rebel demon clans.” Bai Xiang struck directly at the heart of the matter.

“The great demon behind Yao Yu, the branch of the demon clans that helped the imperial dynasty of the main world sever the link between Heaven and Earth, should also have been one line of Hall Masters.”

In her view, the harmony of the Demon Court in the past could only be maintained by relying on “some kind of condition.”

But the severing of the link between Heaven and Earth cut off the road, and that “condition” ceased to exist. The direct result was that the harmony broke apart, and the Demon Court was forced to start turning its blades inward in civil strife, all to fight over the resources tied to that “condition.”

“Perhaps.” Zhu Qingluo, however, did not care about the subtleties here. She lifted her eyes toward the scene in memory and stared at Changlun, who was studying by lamplight late into the night. “The Rebirth Hall had two subsidiary courtyards beneath it. One was Changhua Monastery, the other Suxin Court. They were separated by gender, to keep young people from being driven by natural impulses and delaying their cultivation.”

“Changlun entered Changhua Monastery, while I entered Suxin Court. We could only meet about once each season. It was during that period, while reading through the collected books there, that he learned of Emperor Feng’s story.”

By this point, Bai Xiang could already guess what had happened next.

Emperor Feng’s ideal, joint rule by humans and demons. To the confused Changlun, that was no less than a drowning man clutching at a life-saving straw.

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But in the background of that time, the severing of the link between Heaven and Earth was about to occur, and the Demon Court’s internal turmoil was about to begin.

If thoughts like his stayed suppressed, things might have been fine. But once he showed them openly, his ending was bound to be grim.

“He was close to a senior brother at Changhua Monastery named Li Xian, because Li Xian came from a similar background. He also had more than half human blood, and could only enter the monastery by relying on his merits.”

Zhu Qingluo continued speaking with plain bluntness.

“Li Xian was greatly talented, yet because of his bloodline and origins, he was never given important responsibilities. Influenced by Emperor Feng’s ideas, Changlun often felt indignant over this, believing that Changhua Monastery’s actions were ‘contrary to Heaven’s order and obstructive to nature,’ and that sooner or later they would invite Heaven’s punishment.”

“And because I had only just returned to the clan at the time and had an enormous amount to learn, he assumed that I too was being constrained by my origins. So he resolved to submit a remonstrance to the Sacred Court on this matter.”

Bai Xiang said bluntly, “That was courting death.”

Zhu Qingluo glared angrily at her. “At that time, nobody knew the atmosphere inside the Sacred Court had changed! From the fact that Changhua Monastery could even keep Emperor Feng’s handwritten manuscripts, you can see clearly enough… who could have imagined that after a dozen years, things would turn into that?”

Bai Xiang lifted a brow. “So he didn’t die.”

Zhu Qingluo’s eyes widened in surprise.

Bai Xiang added, “When I said that, you only got this angry. Clearly, he didn’t die. Most likely he was subjected to some punishment, and even now his life or death is uncertain.”

Zhu Qingluo was shaken.

Zhu Qingluo fell silent.

Zhu Qingluo began to question her entire life.

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Am I really that childish, really that foolish?

“My memories were divided into two parts.”

After a long while, Zhu Qingluo finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

“One part belongs to the me of now. In that set of memories, he died. At the time, I caused a great uproar, awakened the bloodline divine ability of the White-Ginseng Spirit Fox, and delusionally tried to find an Order-Preserving Treasure to reforge reincarnation and pull Changlun’s soul back into the present.”

What wild wishful thinking.

Bai Xiang was starting to admire her a little.

In more fashionable terms, what Zhu Qingluo had wanted to do amounted to “recreating order” and “reforging earth, fire, water, and wind.” In the background of any cosmology, that would count as an enormous act of merit and creation. Even in a primordial cosmos, it might be enough to attain sainthood.

If such a good thing were really possible, would people stronger than you not have gone to do it already? Would it really be your turn?

You really are not just ordinarily foolish.

Zhu Qingluo had no idea Bai Xiang was roasting her in her head again. With a sorrowful expression, she continued, “The other part belongs to my original self.”

“In the memories of my original self, he did not die. Instead, Pang Tiandao’s faction sentenced him to exile.”

“He was thrown down from the clouds of the Douyun Sea into the lower realms.”

“…And wandered through countless Fangjing secret realms.”