Chapter 116 What is the ultimate fate of the people of Tianshui?
The rain poured down, accompanied by lightning and thunder.
Mingzhao looked up, her gaze passing through the half-closed umbrella as she watched the spring thunder cleaving down from the sky. The dazzling light pierced through the gray sky and the dense rain, and it was at this moment that she vaguely understood why thunder belonged to the element of wood.
Lightning is like a seed falling from the sky, taking root and growing in the rain, bursting forth from the heavens with each thunderous roar. Spring thunder grows downwards, while at the same time, the grass and trees on the ground grow upwards in the spring rain. Is there something else between heaven and earth, attracting everything to gather towards the center?
Everything at both extremes extends toward the middle, ultimately returning to harmony; such as life and death, movement and stillness, black and white, good and evil...
Mingzhao's gaze fell upon the statue before him, its abdomen shattered and half lying on the ground. The remaining half of Tianxiang Niangniang's body stood on the ground, filled with spring rain. Green moss grew inside her abdomen. Ripples spread outward from the water's surface, and the overflowing rainwater poured into the ground, causing green shoots to sprout and all things to come to life.
With the decline of Xingxiang Hall, the statues and buildings here have become neglected. Occasionally, someone will come to offer a few sticks of incense as a way of remembering the past, but Xingxiang Hall can never return to what it once was. Its past prosperity seems like a grand bubble.
When the incense hall was at its peak, she hadn't visited it many times. Now that everything is gone, she comes here often. She smells the earthy scent of rain in the air and a line comes to mind: "The lotus has been gone for a thousand years, yet after the rain, its scent still carries the metallic smell of iron." The scene before her is surprisingly fitting.
Mingzhao often wanders around various places in Kunlun. The Daoist teachings and literary arts require her to constantly observe the world, combine the world with words, and understand the birth and evolution of words.
With Shen Cangyu gone, she also lost someone to discuss her insights with. Each disciple of Wenxin Diaolong had different understandings of literature, and often their insights contradicted each other, leading to conflicts when they expressed their opinions. Perhaps this is what is meant by "literary figures belittling each other."
Lu Yuan had no interest in written language, and in the past, the only person who was most tolerant of Mingzhao and could talk to her about those topics was Shen Cangyu. It's a pity that Shen Cangyu is no longer here, and Mingzhao doesn't know which of her insights were right and which were wrong.
When Mingzhao felt lost about everything, only the natural world and the words in his hand could give him a sense of reality.
If everything in this world is made up of words, then what about faith? Is faith also constructed from words?
Mingzhao thought that seemed to be true. After all, their understanding of faith mostly came from the textbooks in their hands. Without those scriptures and classics, faith could not continue indefinitely relying solely on people's words. Although the Goddess Tianxiang had perished and her faith could no longer continue, all the scriptures hidden in the statue were still collected into the scripture pavilion.
Even failures can teach future generations lessons, right? Perhaps by reading these works that explore the secrets of heaven, future generations can find new life in the ruins, giving birth to a new way of exploring the secrets of heaven.
Looking at the damaged statue, Mingzhao suddenly thought, since faith is also written, does the fall of the Heavenly Fragrance Goddess also mean the collapse of a series of written texts?
The statue's cavity was filled with rainwater, while a few leaves floated on the surface, swaying with the ripples. Mingzhao saw several fish the size of fingernails in the concentric circles of ripples. The first hall of Xingxiang Hall was on the mountain, deep in the clouds, with no ponds around it.
Where do fish come from?
Mingzhao looked up.
If it didn't come out of thin air, could it have come from the heavens?
Heaven sent fish into the water, and Heaven also sent humans to earth; Heaven has the power to create all things. Humans, too, can use the arts of Wenxin Diaolong to gain the ability to summon wind and rain and create all things. If so, what difference is there between humanity and the Way of Heaven?
The rain was falling in a light drizzle.
*
"Mingzhao, where have you gone again?"
"Just taking a stroll." Mingzhao held an umbrella in her hand, her gaze passing over the person blocking her way and looking towards a group of people not far away in the woods, one hand holding an umbrella and the other carrying a rolled-up mat. Inside the mat was a large object, hanging limply, and without even thinking, Mingzhao guessed what it was.
The fishy smell in the air was even stronger, and Mingzhao could hardly tell whether it came from the spring rain and soil or something else.
Strands of blood dripped down the edge of the rolled-up mat, mingling with the rain and the mud.
"We've run into each other again," Mingzhao thought to herself. She only knew that she would encounter this on sunny days or at night, but she never expected to see such a scene on a rainy day. How unlucky!
"Since you're here, stay here and hand over your recording bead for us to check. You can go back after we confirm there are no problems." The disciple from the Discipline Hall standing in front of her held out his hand. Mingzhao had no choice but to take off the recording bead hanging on the side of her name tag and hand it over.
As the crowd dispersed, one by one, the curtains were rolled up and the number of people gradually decreased. Mingzhao then saw the person who had been surrounded by the crowd in the center.
He wasn't using an umbrella, or perhaps he had given it to someone else. The leaves overhead shielded him from half the rain, while the other half fell, blurring the bloodstains on his clothes. The man had his back to her, so she couldn't see his face or his expression.
Shen Qingyan was not wearing Kunlun's uniform, but rather plain linen clothes. Since the death of the previous sect leader, he had changed into such plain linen clothes to mourn the previous sect leader, and at the same time, he revealed his true identity.
At that time, the two things that shocked the entire Kunlun were the death of the Kunlun sect leader and the revelation that Shen Qingyan was actually the sect leader's biological son.
Although the sect leader was not highly regarded in Kunlun, he was still the sect leader. His death was too unexpected and unclear. Many people claimed that they should investigate the cause of the sect leader's death and not let him die in vain.
Elder Huang said that the sect leader died because of Wuliangsheng. She revealed the cause of Shen Yingda's death in a half-truthful, half-concealed way, preserving his dignity in the end. After all, if the fact that "the Kunlun sect leader became Wuliangsheng and fell into the clutches of the Five Evils" were to be revealed, Kunlun's very existence would collapse. If even the sect leader could not escape the Five Evils, how could the other disciples of Kunlun protect themselves from corruption?
Shen Yingda's funeral was grand and elaborate, with a magnificent burial. His disciples respected him even more in death than in life. Everyone felt his heroic sacrifice in the fight against the Five Evils deserved to be recorded in history. Listening to people recount these events, Shen Qingyan turned to look at the sword belonging to Shen Yingda in the main hall of Dragon Ridge Mountain. Suddenly, he felt that the world was full of absurdities, and life was always more laughable than anything written in novels.
Those who are alive are forgotten, but those who are dead are recorded in history. Perhaps the greatest thing about martyrs is simply the act of "martyrdom".
Since Shen Qingyan took on the title of the new Kunlun Sect Leader, there have been more and more voices opposing him. They just feel that he is not qualified to sit in this position, even though he is Shen Yingda's son and has the blood of the Shen family flowing in his veins for generations.
Many people harbor conspiracy theories, believing that Shen Qingyan deliberately killed the sect leader in order to obtain the position, and that Shen Qingyan might be an undercover agent sent by the Five Evils.
In their eyes, Shen Qingyan was merely a disciple who had only recently entered the inner sect. With the sect leader dead, if a new person had to be chosen to become the Kunlun sect leader, it should be one of the other elders, or another disciple of Wanqi Guixin, such as Qiu Sheng.
There were loud calls for Qiu Sheng to rise to power, but she remained silent and said little, simply guarding the mountain where all things returned to their hearts, personally slaying one of the Five Evils who had infiltrated Dragon Ridge Mountain after another. No one knew what she was thinking.
Since Shen Cangyu and Pei Wenjing left, Qiu Sheng has become less talkative than before.
The Kunlun Sword is no longer in Kunlun. When Shen Cangyu inherited it, she dealt a heavy blow to the disciples of Wanqi Guixin. Later, she left Kunlun, and the Kunlun Sword left with her, as if Wanqi Guixin had lost its backbone. Now, with the sect leader dead, Wanqi Guixin is like a terminal illness, beyond cure. Many say that Wanqi Guixin will become the next Seeking Heaven's Secret.
The previous one was peering into the secrets of heaven, the next one was the return of all things to the heart, and the next one might be the literary genius or the questioning of the common people; no one can escape the ravages of fate. A pessimistic cloud hangs over Kunlun Mountain year-round, like the endless spring rain.
Shen Qingyan placed the Weeping Ghost God on the sword rack in the main hall of Dragon Ridge Mountain, using its power to summon ten thousand swords to gather at Dragon Ridge Mountain and protect the mountain gate. Sure enough, ever since Shen Qingyan took the position of sect leader, the Five Evils surged forth, with people wanting to kill him and those wanting him to submit coming in droves.
Everyone wanted to take Kunlun under their control, but the one who wanted to do so the most was Wuliangsheng. Among those who came to kill Shen Qingyan were people who had infiltrated from outside the mountains and had been lying low for many years, as well as Kunlun disciples who had recently developed resentment.
The Boundless Beings, just like their name suggests, grow infinitely. Kunlun doesn't know how long it will take to eradicate them all. Nor does it know how long it will take for the world to return to peace.
Shen Qingyan watched as the blood seeped into the soil, turning the already dark earth even darker, obscuring its original color.
He thought that if the killing continued like this, the number of Kunlun disciples would dwindle. However, perhaps once everyone was killed, the world would return to peace.
How much longer will it take for him to reach the end?
Shen Qingyan turned her head slowly, looking at Mingzhao in the distance through the biting rain.
The rain poured down, and as it fell on Mingzhao's ears, she seemed to hear the sound of a world collapsing.
What is the ultimate destination of humankind?
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