Chapter 59: A Youth Before the Black Dragon...
This was the most noble life in the Three Thousand Worlds, the coldest existence between heaven and earth, possessing an indescribable majesty—except for those great cultivators who had already transcended the mundane, how could a mere human stand firm before this black dragon?
No matter how resolute Chen Changsheng’s will, he could not withstand this ancient pressure. He pressed his lips tightly, trying to stop his teeth from chattering, but he couldn’t prevent his body from trembling. Every bone seemed to be wailing.
With a muffled thud! He did not kneel before the black dragon, but neither could he remain standing. He collapsed heavily onto the hard, icy ground, landing with great force. His mind grew hazy; he didn’t think about the pain, only repeating a few sentences over and over in his heart.
“The legend is true!”
“There really is a dragon in the palace!”
“A most noble Xuan Shuang Dragon!”
Before pushing open that heavy stone door, he had considered many possibilities.
He had thought the terrifying pressure behind the stone door might be the old palace elder Luo Luo had mentioned—someone who had reached the Cong Sheng realm and had been in seclusion for over a hundred years. Or it could be the palace’s central formation. He had even considered it might be the skeleton of some ancient dragon. But he never imagined…
Behind the stone door was a living dragon!
Since ancient times, dragon traces had become rare on the continent. Those noble and powerful creatures had gradually become divine beings that existed only in books. No one had seen one with their own eyes. Chen Changsheng had imagined the appearance of dragons countless times, longing to see one.
Tonight, he finally saw one with his own eyes, yet he wished he had never seen it in his life.
This black dragon now floated in the air before him, looking down at him from above.
The light from a thousand night pearls on the dome was entirely absorbed by its black scales. The pure black dragon body was like a living abyss, chilling to the heart. But what was truly terrifying were the dragon’s eyes—filled with coldness and brutality.
Chen Changsheng understood the meaning in those eyes. It was the look a human child gives to an ant under a tree.
It was an exceptionally pure coldness and brutality, requiring no reason, no logic.
A child could watch an ant under a tree for half an hour, then crush them all with the sole of a shoe.
This was the attitude of higher life toward the lowly.
Chen Changsheng finally understood the words Mo Yu had spoken before leaving.
Yes, no one could leave the Tong Palace, because the path of life in the Tong Palace lay beneath that cold pool.
The cold pool was a true dragon’s pool, where a black dragon lived. Any human who encountered it would die.
Only, Mo Yu hadn’t imagined that he would have the courage—or the foolishness—to persist all the way to the black dragon’s presence.
The frost on Chen Changsheng’s eyelashes suddenly fell, like snow on plum blossom petals blown away by the wind.
A faint breeze stirred in the underground space.
It was the black dragon preparing to breathe.
Chen Changsheng knew that in the next moment, he would die.
When he pushed open that stone door, he had prepared many countermeasures. Even if it were that old elder in seclusion at the Cong Sheng realm, he didn’t think he would surely die. He believed that as long as he could communicate, he could change his fate.
But behind the stone door was a black dragon.
Legend said dragons were noble and powerful, but never merciful.
Dragons would not communicate with humans, disdaining to do so—at least, disdaining to communicate with ordinary humans like him.
For this, he had no preparation.
For death, he had prepared for years. But now that death was truly approaching, he realized he still wasn’t ready.
It turned out that death was something that could not be prepared for.
The underground space was deathly silent. The light from the night pearls fell like snow upon him.
He felt cold, suddenly very tired, knowing that anything he did now was futile. So he stopped struggling to stand, stopped even thinking about what was about to happen. He looked up at the terrifying dragon head in the air, as massive as a mountain, calm and resigned.
“It seems my teacher was right. My fate really is bad.”
He didn’t know if this black dragon could understand human language, but he thought that such a noble creature, even if it could understand, would disdain to listen. So he spoke the words he had never said to anyone, addressing them to the black dragon.
“I have an illness. It can’t be cured.”
“I won’t live past twenty.”
“My teacher is the best doctor on the entire continent, and my medical skills aren’t bad either, but neither of us can cure it.”
“This illness is worse than a terminal disease, so it’s not an illness—it’s fate.”
“My fate is bad.”
“After coming to the capital, I expended great effort to finally enter the National Academy and earn the right to participate in the Grand Examination. Though I’m still far from the Lingyan Pavilion, I had taken the first step toward it. Then I met Luo Luo, and I thought my fate was improving.”
“I never expected to meet you tonight.”
“My fate, it turns out, is still this bad.”
Chen Changsheng’s face was somewhat pale, frozen by the frost and cold, unrelated to fear.
He was now fearless, even facing a legendary brutal black dragon.
He no longer cared whether this black dragon could understand his words or was willing to listen.
He only knew that he was about to die, and if he didn’t say these words now, he would never have another chance.
“They all say fate is predetermined, that no matter how bad it is, it can’t be changed. But I refuse to accept it.”
A strength from somewhere unknown supported him as he stood up. He looked up at the beautiful night pearls on the dome, squinting slightly, like a pitiful young beast gazing at the first ray of morning sunlight, full of longing and joy.
“I want to live. I want to live past twenty, then to a hundred, even five hundred, eight hundred years—the longer, the better. Ideally, I would live forever… But first, I must live past twenty. So I live very carefully.”
“I go to bed early and wake up early every day. I exercise every day. I never pick at my food, but I never overeat. I avoid oil and salt—not out of temperament, but because such food is healthy. I follow the medical texts, weighing meat and vegetables before eating, never finding it troublesome. By the time I was twelve, all of this had become instinct.”
“I cherish time, using every moment to study and cultivate. I want to encounter the most wonderful wisdom before I turn twenty, and even more, I want to change my fate through cultivation, so that after twenty, I might have the chance to see more beautiful scenery.”
He looked at the black dragon and said, “Yes, everything I do, every rule I set for myself, is for the sake of living. The most important thing about living is to live. I am willing to pay any price for that. I am living with all my might.”
The most important thing about living is to live, and for that, I am living with all my might—in the cold underground space, with the pitch-black distance, the fading light of the dome, and the youth before the black dragon, speaking calmly yet filled with infinite sorrow. Anyone would likely be moved.
The black dragon’s gaze at the youth remained cold and cruel. Perhaps it was because it couldn’t understand human language, but more likely, it simply didn’t care. An ant waving its front limbs angrily and tragically at a branch—in the eyes of a child observing it, it would only seem amusing or ridiculous.
Chen Changsheng no longer cared about the black dragon’s reaction. He just wanted to speak, in the final moments of his life.
“Changing fate is truly too hard. I’ve lived these years so tiredly, but no matter how tired, I want to keep living. Because the sliced pork head in Xining Town, dipped in red oil and rock salt, is really delicious. Because books truly contain so much interesting and meaningful knowledge. Because life is truly beautiful.”
“I don’t want to die, but I can’t guarantee I’ll live past twenty. More accurately, I have no confidence at all. I didn’t want that girl who sent me bamboo dragonflies to become a widow before marriage, so I came to the capital to break off the engagement. And what happened?”
“Everyone who knows me thinks I’m mature for my age, not like a fourteen-year-old youth. They all say I’m steady, but they don’t think… I only have five years left to live. I’m in my prime, yet I’m already half-buried in the grave. How could I not be steady? But how can I accept this!?”
In the past years, Chen Changsheng had been very careful to control his emotions, because great joy and great sorrow were bad for his health. But now, none of that mattered anymore. So he was no longer calm. He shouted angrily at the black dragon, or perhaps at the world.
“I don’t want to die.”
“But now I’m going to die.”
“I’m very sad.”
Chen Changsheng was deeply sorrowful, the rims of his eyes reddening. He thought he would cry, but he found that after years of controlling his emotions and refusing to weep, he had forgotten how to cry. This made him even sadder, and then he became unimaginably calm.
“Thank you for not eating me in one bite. Though this might not be your true intention, you let me finish these words, so I thank you. But I really want to live, so even if it’s laughable, please allow me to fight you one last time.”
After saying these final words, he raised the short sword in his hand, facing the black dragon.
He silently thought to himself: Death, come!
Let us settle this once and for all.
Just like in these past years.
The black dragon slowly moved toward him. A cold hurricane echoed through the vast underground space. Its body was so massive that even a slight movement could change the face of heaven and earth.
An unimaginable cold descended upon Chen Changsheng.
Frost again clung to his eyelashes. The blood in his body seemed about to freeze.
Death was before him.
Yet he was calmer than ever, even at ease.
The shadow of death and that terrifying pressure that had followed him since he was ten suddenly vanished into nothing.
He felt unprecedentedly light and clear, comfortable, as if his body had shed a great weight. No pressure at all. So this was what a wonderful feeling was like.
He finally understood: How can one overcome the fear of death? Only with death itself.
He smiled. The frost on his eyelashes scattered like white flowers.
Teacher, do you see?
I am about to change my fate.
You said I would die at twenty.
Now, not yet fifteen, I am about to die.
Fate, it turns out, is not invincible.