Chapter 327 Endless Time (Part 2) Once a spirit creature gains eyes, ...
In the thick fog, the two looked at each other. Lin Feiran was probably the only person he had seen tonight who looked at him with such a direct gaze.
Lin Feiran did indeed observe very carefully. Although it was a dream, the person who came was indeed the Dao Lord.
His expression was calm, and his movements were no different from those of a human, but his skin was a sickly porcelain white, with almost no fine lines or pores, which made him look less lively and more like a porcelain doll.
But what's most captivating are his eyes. His left eye is empty, shrouded in a faint mist, while his right eye is perfectly intact, shimmering with the same golden light as Lin Feiran's at that moment, reflecting her expression like glass.
Lin Feiran didn't respond to his question. Her gaze swept over the bamboo cane, and she asked again, "Is this the body you created using the Wheel Beads?"
The Daoist Master replied, "Yes, I didn't send you a message, but I came. You don't seem very surprised."
Lin Feiran then turned her gaze to his face and pondered, "If I were you, having met so many people today, why wouldn't you come to see Lin Feiran? Besides me, there is another person waiting here."
In the white mist, a scarlet figure suddenly appeared. The person was dressed in light leather armor and had a flowing shawl around her arm. She walked to Lin Feiran's side and looked at him with the same direct gaze.
Jin Lan looked at his expression and said, "However, you seem quite surprised. Do you think I won't show myself?"
The Dao Master paused for a moment: "I'm not that surprised, and besides, we don't seem to be that unfamiliar with each other."
Jin Lan frowned: "We don't seem that familiar."
Upon entering, they were immediately confronted with two questions. The Dao Lord was not annoyed. After answering them, he looked at Jin Lan calmly, without revealing too much of his thoughts. After a while, he slightly shifted his gaze to the chessboard behind Lin Feiran.
Only then did he realize: "So you've been waiting for me all along."
Behind her was a game of chess with pieces already placed. It didn't seem dangerous, but the black and white pieces were all concentrated in the corner, and both sides were showing signs of a desperate struggle.
He paused, leaned on his bamboo cane, walked to the chessboard, bent down slightly, and ran his somewhat cold and hard hand over the chess pieces: "In all my lifetimes, I've only ever watched others play chess. I've never known what it's like to play chess with someone. Since you're already waiting for me, why don't you sit down?"
There weren't many chess pieces left in the basket. He sat down and picked up a white piece, tapping it on the board casually. It didn't seem like he was there to declare war, but rather like he was there to visit a friend.
Lin Feiran didn't want to fight him to the death the moment they met. She turned around, walked to the other side of the chessboard, and sat down cross-legged.
This was certainly not a casual negotiation; rather than a sudden event, this meeting was something she had been waiting for.
Lin Feiran is a very cautious person, especially when facing an enemy like the Dao Lord. She doesn't like to be careless and is more accustomed to keeping all information about her opponent in her mind.
Whether it's weaknesses, habitual methods, or ways of thinking.
Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory in every battle.
Now that the path to the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds has been found, and the situation there can be pieced together and deduced from Ji Changying and others, the most important thing now is to find out the Dao Lord's weakness.
She knew better than anyone that she might only have one chance to kill the Dao Lord with a single blow, and she knew too little about him, so their meeting tonight was inevitable.
The two sat facing each other, with an old chessboard between them. The lines on the board were crisscrossing, and it was different from the chessboard that Lin Feiran had drawn herself. At this moment, her black pieces had already moved several steps ahead of her.
This is a game of chess, but it's not really just a game of chess. It's not a game where you make a move and I make a move in turn. At the same time, several pieces will be placed or captured.
But even before Lin Feiran realized this was a game of chess, the Dao Lord had already made many moves in advance.
He sat opposite me, stroking the chess pieces in his hand, and suddenly spoke: "I have said this many times tonight, but I still want to say it now. I am not here tonight to kill anyone. I just want to meet an acquaintance I have never met before before everything comes to an end."
He paused for a moment, then put the chess piece away from his hand.
“In this game, I have nowhere to place my pieces. You had already cut off all my possible moves before tonight. But you are in the same boat; your pieces are almost completely blocked as well.”
He then pointed to one of the spots.
"Now, the point of contention between us is here. The stalemate is established, so there's no point in making any further moves."
He decisively put the chess piece back into the chess basket and looked up at Lin Feiran.
"I always thought that those who would discover me and drive me to this point would be the saints, but they didn't. In the end, it was you who came to me."
From the day I noticed something was wrong with you, I thought you wouldn't end up like this, but you did, and I'm not surprised at all... Are all people like this?
Instead of answering, Lin Feiran asked, "Do you consider yourself a human being now?"
Hearing her question, the Daoist Master chuckled, very lightly and quickly, like a ripple on a dragonfly's tail, gone in an instant: "Yes, am I human now? Does having a human body make one human? I don't think so. As a human, I still have a lot to learn."
Jin Lan walked over and sat down. His gaze flickered slightly, glancing at her almost imperceptibly before looking away.
He looked at the chessboard on the table and saw a dead white piece in the center of the board, which was surrounded by black pieces.
“You make a clear distinction, but Bi Sheng isn’t as open-minded as you. She always subconsciously treats me like a person, simply because I can speak and think…”
I used to be confused, but now I have some understanding. Perhaps it's because she respects me.
If I were a dog, or a pig, she would still have the same attitude.
He raised his hand, picked up the surrounded white piece, and put it back into the chess basket beside him.
Lin Feiran rubbed her fingertips, and finally took the opportunity to ask what was on her mind: "Now that you have a body made of the Reincarnation Pearl, you can just use it to walk in the mortal world. Why bother with that kind of rain anymore?"
The Daoist Master pretended to be deep in thought, then rolled up his sleeve, tapped his arm with his finger, and a mist blade materialized in his hand. He swiftly slashed, and a shallow cut quickly appeared on his skin. However, what seeped out was not blood, but constantly dissipating condensed mist.
He looked up at Lin Feiran: "You call this thing a body?"
He released his grip, and the mist blades dispersed: "What I want to be is someone who feels pain when hurt, shivers when cold, and cries when hungry—a truly flesh-and-blood person."
Lin Feiran was unmoved by his words, but she also did not show any sarcasm.
The Dao Lord's gaze fell on Jin Lan: "When people fall in love and then get together, another person is born. That's how people are simply created. But what if they are not human?"
Lin Feiran, do you know how something that isn't human can become human?
"have no idea."
Lin Feiran naturally answered in this way, but before the Dao Lord could speak, she tapped the table, and the surrounding clouds gathered and condensed into a fist-sized infant.
She said, "But I know how you plan to become an adult."
To find the Dao Lord's weaknesses, Lin Feiran naturally analyzed them in great detail. After some deduction, he was able to find the secret to his becoming an adult.
Lin Feiran looked at the infant, and the rising clouds began to churn.
"The first thing a person needs to become is a body, but you have replaced it with a rotating bead, creating this empty shell in front of you."
It appears to have skin and bones, and even flesh and blood attached to it, but it is all just dry bones and rotten flesh.
Further down are the meridians that cannot be created out of thin air. Since people are not good enough, you ordered people to search for the spiritual veins of heaven and earth everywhere.
In this way, the skin, flesh, and blood vessels are all there; what remains is a breath of life belonging to a human being.
When Qi flows in, the flesh and blood become invigorated, and all the meridians are unblocked.
But you are not even human. To defy the heavens, a mere little bit is not enough. To nurture a 'human' like you, the very essence of all living beings under heaven must be absorbed, hence this impending rain.
Lin Feiran suddenly clenched her outstretched hand, and the mist dissipated in her palm. She looked up at the person in front of her.
Am I right?
The Dao Master's expression darkened, seemingly somewhat surprised, but he did not deny it: "You're right."
Lin Feiran's rubbing fingers tightened little by little, and all the subtle clues emerged. She wanted to connect these fragmented pieces of information.
"The reason you used the Wheel of Life Beads, the spiritual veins of heaven and earth, and the lives of people to bet with me was because you saw that I was a variable at that time, so you decided to go all in."
If I win, all three items will be in my hands, and you will have no chance of survival.
But if I lose, can I seize this opportunity to take all three items, and eliminate them along with me, leaving me with no worries whatsoever?"
The Dao Lord looked at the chessboard, and his gaze changed slightly: "Yes, from the moment you appeared, it meant that this was a game with no room for maneuver. It was either you or me, nothing more. Our gamble naturally had no way out."
Lin Feiran fell silent for a moment.
The Dao Master continued, "However, you've guessed wrong about one thing. The reason I don't use people's spiritual veins isn't because they're not good enough, but because there aren't enough."
I am not a real human. Your spiritual veins, when transferred into my body, cannot sustain me for long and will soon dry up. Only spiritual veins born from heaven and earth can endure forever.
Now that it has merged with your spiritual veins, it is just right for me.
His gaze swept over the blue veins on Lin Feiran's wrist, then fell upon his own, where there was no human-like bloodline, only a lifeless porcelain white.
"The Revolving Bead is not a treasure; it is merely a bead refined from my unformed body. You can also consider it as me."
Back then, taking advantage of Ding Yi's vision of bringing peace to the world, I handed the bead to him, and he personally placed it into the heart of the first human emperor.
That was the first time I felt the pulse of my blood. It was amazing, but I never felt it again after that.
Is it wrong for me to want to live, to try being human?
Jin Lan frowned and glanced at Lin Feiran, but she was not annoyed by his words.
Lin Feiran analyzed his words in her mind, but said it again: "Of course it's right. No one can judge whether what you do is right or wrong. You want to live and be a person, which is only natural for you."
But if you want to live, others can't live, and that doesn't make sense.
The Daoist Master simply said, "It's just the law of the jungle. It's been like this since the Great War. There's not much reason in this world. Whoever survives is the one who is right."
He brushed away the thin mist over the chessboard: "Bi Sheng always says that I am the embodiment of the Heavenly Dao, but I know I am not. Sometimes I wonder if there really is a Heavenly Dao, otherwise, how could you appear in this life when I am about to achieve success?"
"Is this my destiny?"
He paused, turned the page on his own, looked at Lin Feiran and Jin Lan, gave a somewhat awkward, faint smile, which quickly faded away.
"Speaking of which, you are actually people I know quite well."
His gaze fell on Jin Lan, paused for a moment, and then turned to Lin Feiran.
"I rarely chat with people like this. Since we still have a long time tonight, I'll say a few words. There are some things I just can't help but let others know. It's a strange feeling."
Lin Feiran and Jin Lan exchanged a glance, neither of them speaking to interrupt. They simply moved closer together and sat down.
The Dao Lord continued, "You should have heard that during the great war between the two realms, a rain fell that wiped out all sins and filth."
Lin Feiran continued, "Were you born in that rain?"
"no."
The Daoist Master put down his bamboo staff and spoke as if reminiscing, but his voice remained faint.
"Perhaps you don't know, but in the original world, there was no such rain. During the war between the two worlds, there was only endless killing. At that time, I had already reincarnated many times in the world, but I didn't have much consciousness, only a vague perception."
It wasn't until after that first rain that I truly developed "consciousness and self".
After that rain, I learned to think.
"Once you start thinking, you can't help but wonder what I am."
Upon hearing this, Lin Feiran couldn't help but recall the original work. Although the book mentioned the war between the two worlds, it did not specifically mention such a rain.
The Dao Lord looked at the chessboard, and his words began to drift. He had never talked with anyone like this before. He waved his hand, and another chessboard formed of mist appeared between the two of them.
"Let's start another game. I still want to try playing chess. I once heard a human sage say that chess reveals the heart. I have no heart, so I don't know what it would be like to actually play."
For Lin Feiran, this game of chess was the real opportunity to test the waters. She accepted without hesitation and placed a black piece on the center position, just like at the beginning.
After a moment's thought, the Daoist Master placed a white piece in another spot.
He continued, "People are the same, aren't they? Once you start thinking, you'll have a lot of questions. It's just that you're already human, so you can think more deeply, like what life, meaning, and ideals are."
But I can't think of that much; I can only think about 'existence' first.
In just a few words, the two had already placed several chess pieces.
He finally slowed down and began to ponder the game.
Lin Feiran, however, had already keenly sensed the anomaly: "So, you didn't actually initiate the cycle of reincarnation? You were also unconsciously dragged into it?"
The Dao Lord finally placed a chess piece, and Lin Feiran lowered his eyes to look at it.
As he just said, the real fun of playing chess is not winning or losing, but the strategies and tactics employed during the game, which is to see the heart through the game.
A meticulous person plans five moves ahead before placing a single piece, while a reckless person only looks at the immediate opening. A narrow-minded person is trapped in clearing a path, while a broad-minded person moves rather carelessly.
This was a good opportunity for Lin Feiran to figure him out, but so far, he had been making very strange moves. If it were an ordinary person, they probably wouldn't have made such moves.
As Lin Feiran was pondering the chess pieces, the Daoist Master replied to her, "I know what you want to test. The situation has already reached this point. Since I dared to come to see you, I am not afraid of being tricked into revealing information."
Reincarnation is indeed not something I initiate. Before I developed true consciousness, I could only perceive it repeating itself over and over again.
When he has no sense of self, every retrospective is passive, but when he develops consciousness and begins to think, everything becomes clear. He feels the passage of time and hears the sounds of the outside world.
Then, the world reached another critical point, so he went back to the past once again.
Lin Feiran paused in her move, then looked up and asked, "The critical point?"
The Daoist Master nodded: "You may all think that I was the one who brought about the backtracking, but that is both true and false."
This world has its own set of operating rules. Each time we reach a certain point, everything rewinds and starts anew. It's at these times that I've discovered that with each restart, my thinking becomes clearer, and similarly, the point in time that rewinds also moves further back.
He thought for a moment and kindly gave an analogy: "For example, the first time I can go back from the day after tomorrow to the day before yesterday, but the second time, I can only go back from the day after tomorrow to yesterday."
Lin Feiran understood what he meant. The time of retrospection was changing and gradually approaching the "present". This kind of retrospection was beyond his control. The only thing he could control was to lead people to repeat this endless cycle.
Before she could make a move, the Daoist Master tapped the chessboard with his finger, signaling her to hurry up, but Lin Feiran ignored him and asked.
"Is the critical point you mentioned this thundercloud?"
The Daoist Master did not answer: "You must listen to me continue; this is my story."
Lin Feiran glanced at him, then placed a piece and waited for him to speak.
The Daoist Master continued, "After that rain, although I learned to think, I was still in a state of chaos. I was only aware of my own existence, but I still didn't understand anything."
Until one day, a monk accidentally stumbled into my domain.
My subconscious thought was to devour him along with those energies. After all, there were quite a few people like him who had mistakenly entered this realm. At that time, I couldn't distinguish between people and energies.
But this time, he escaped, and I lost.
He placed a piece, scanned the situation on the chessboard, looked up at Lin Feiran, his right eye fixed on her left eye: "This is the first time I haven't been able to defeat a cultivator, but he also lost an eye."
Jin Lan looked at him, and Lin Feiran thought of the senior in the alchemy book, and then he understood. This was consistent with what that senior had said.
The Dao Master continued, "At that time, I didn't know it was an eye, or rather, I didn't know what an eye was. Just like swallowing those vital energies, I swallowed it."
Then, I gained one eye.
Like a newborn baby, he opened his eyes for the first time and saw the world amidst a strange sensation.
As Xunzi said, once a spirit creature has eyes, it has "spirit".
After acquiring this third eye, it was as if he had finally been enlightened. His thoughts were no longer chaotic, and his mind gradually became clear. Like every living being with eyes, the first thing he did upon opening his eyes was to look at the sky, the earth, and everything within sight.
He began to understand what starlight, the sun and moon, and living beings were.
"This eye can see anywhere in the world, and when it sees wind, thunder, flowers, and grass, everything becomes different."
If you see something, you will imitate it.
I saw people suffer, I saw people laugh, but I didn't understand. I tried to imitate them, but then I realized I was just a wisp of mist, the mist that humans spoke of.
The Daoist Master raised his hand to touch his right eye, his tone remaining calm and even, as if he were not telling his own story.
"Actually, at that time, I didn't think too much because I'm not human. I don't have doubts, curiosity, or 'desires'."
He watched everything unfold, watched life, watched people die, and then everything started over again, familiar people were born again at the appointed time, and let out their first cry once more.
In this cycle of reincarnation, he discovered something interesting.
"I discovered that people are different, not because of differences in status or position, but because of fundamental differences. I discovered that it seems that everything in the world revolves around those two people."
He pointed to the two chess pieces on the board, which were Qiu Tong and Wei Changzai.
"When they are born, it seems that everything in the world becomes more vibrant and full of life. I cannot describe the difference to you. Only those who have seen it will know the difference."
But after they got married, everything began to decline and stagnate.
Then at some point, it seemed that people and events in the world could no longer move forward, so the process began to regress.
Upon hearing this, Lin Feiran stopped what she was doing. She frowned, pondering the timing the Dao Master had mentioned, and a guess began to form in her mind.
Is it because we've reached the end of the book, and everything can't continue, so it starts repeating itself?
Therefore, the Daoist Master should not know about "Qingqing Knows My Heart"...
The Daoist Master didn't notice her absent-mindedness and continued speaking.
"It was interesting to discover this. I started to observe the two of them, watching them being born, growing up, and getting married over and over again, as if it were a predetermined trajectory. Even the words they spoke were exactly the same. Then everything would come to an abrupt end, and it would start all over again."
Gradually, I began to understand what boredom meant. I stopped looking at them and started observing other people instead.
Then one day, another person entered my domain. This time, I didn't devour her, but watched her idly as she wandered around, searching for a way out. Then she began building a house and sowing seeds in that barren land.
Lin Feiran's gaze shifted slightly as she glanced at the person beside her: "...Is this my mother?"
The Daoist Master responded.
Jin Lan frowned: "When I first met you, there were already many spiritual treasures in that secret realm..."
She suddenly realized: "Ah, you mean many lifetimes ago?"
The Dao Lord nodded: "My secret realm is with me and is not affected by this retrospection. You did do that when we first met, so we have known each other for a long time."
He seemed to be saying something more, but Jin Lan didn't respond. The Dao Lord stared at her quietly for a few breaths before looking away and speaking to himself, "In short, we are very familiar with each other."
He turned to Lin Feiran and continued.
"Your mother is noisy, digging around in my secret place, it's annoying."
So not long after, I opened the passage and threw her out.
In this cycle of reincarnation, I turned to observe others. I witnessed the lives of many, and perhaps having seen too much, I don't know when it began, but doubts, confusion, and curiosity gradually arose in my heart.
He wondered, what is it like to be a human being?
I'd like to give it a try.
This was the first time he felt a desire, and he has carried that persistence to where he is today.
“After Bi Sheng dies, her spiritual veins will belong to me. This is the agreement we made at the beginning. I will help her live on, and she will offer her spiritual veins to me. Although her spiritual veins will not last for more than a few days, this short time is enough to retrieve the spiritual veins from your body.”
As if he had finally finished speaking, the Daoist Master stood up, picked up his bamboo staff, and prepared to leave slowly.
"Ding Yi can't hold on for long. Thunderclouds can't be stopped by one person alone. Once you wake up from your dream, the rain will fall."
"Now, only one of the three remains."
"When I've gathered enough vital energy, this rain will stop. After the rain falls, I'll truly be able to become a human. Everything has come to an end, everything... must come to a close."
Just as his figure was about to disappear, a golden net suddenly appeared in the dream, and Jin Lan appeared in front of him, her golden threads moving in her hands, and in the blink of an eye, she stopped his departing figure.
The Dao Master paused, turning back to look at Lin Feiran: "Is this really going to happen in your dream, within your divine platform?"
Lin Feiran ignored his question, simply drew his sword, and calmly said, "This is the second sword strike I've exchanged with you."
As soon as she finished speaking, she rushed forward again. Her movements were more skillful and exquisite than before. In the blink of an eye, she was in front of the gray figure. A whirlwind suddenly rose on the blade of her sword, no longer as clumsy as the first time.
The Daoist Master looked over and said calmly, "To calm the storm."
He dodged the sword with unpredictable movements, then turned to look at Jin Lan, tapping his bamboo cane a few times: "Do you know why I use a bamboo cane? You recited this poem when we first had a pleasant conversation."
"Even if my leg is broken, I can still dig up treasure in your secret realm with this. What do you know? This is called 'a bamboo staff and straw sandals are lighter than a horse,' who's afraid!"
[So what if it's just a patch of fog? I think you have great potential; who knows, you might become an adult someday!]
[How wonderful it is to be human! Whether you're lying down or playing around, it's still a day; whether you're suffering or laughing, it's still a day!]
Jin Lan's expression faltered slightly, and the woven golden net was momentarily neglected.
The moment he turned around, he met Lin Feiran's focused gaze. His black hair spread out like a net, and his clear, spring-like eyes reflected his appearance.
A flash of sword light slashed through the air, and the figure in front of him was split in two.
The Dao Lord hesitated for a moment, but then turned his gaze back to her.
He said meaningfully, "This one strike isn't enough."
Lin Feiran withdrew her sword and looked at the blade, then at the two halves of her body that were gradually dissipating. She said, "At least this time I didn't lose my grip again."
"But you know in your heart that this is not my weakness."
As soon as he finished speaking, his figure completely vanished.
The whiteness in her dream began to recede. Before waking up, she looked at Jin Lan, stepped forward, and said, "Even without you, he would have ended up like this today."
Jin Lan fell silent for a moment.
As if falling in an instant, Lin Feiran woke up from her dream. She immediately opened her eyes and looked around. Jin Lan was no longer there. She pursed her lips slightly, touched the sword sheath, and calmed herself down.
"How is it?" A voice as soft as hail rang in my ears.
Lin Feiran looked at him and shook her head: "I'll think about it some more."
But just then, several loud exclamations suddenly came from outside the hall. Lin Feiran immediately stood up, but felt dizzy for a moment. When she lowered her eyes and rubbed her forehead, she happened to meet Wei Changzai's gaze.
He sat to the side, his gaze fixed on her, his right hand clenching slightly.
Before Lin Feiran could take a closer look, Master Xun pushed open the door and entered, looking hurried. His gaze met Lin Feiran's among the crowd.
Behind him, the thunder that had just disappeared rose again, lightning flashed, the supporting golden net collapsed in half, thunderclouds regrouped, and the tide returned.
Author's Note: PS: Actually, the completion time is quite clear now. There are only one or two chapters left. If I write quickly, I can finish the main story by Wednesday. If I don't finish, I'll wrap it up with one more chapter on Thursday. It's this week. The side story is in preparation...
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