Chapter 240: The Stars Shine Bright Tonight
A clamor erupted outside the Stele Cottage. Chen Changsheng's words were an attempt to overturn a truth that no one had ever doubted. The question was, how could the stars possibly move? This was simply too absurd; no one believed it. Gou Hanshi merely raised an eyebrow. The unease that had flickered in people's hearts for a moment vanished, replaced by mockery.
Chen Changsheng was not surprised by their reaction. He knew he was certainly not the first to realize that the stars could move. At the very least, Wang Zhice, who had left behind that notebook, must have already had such thoughts. So why had there never been any content on this subject in the Daoist Canon or in everyday discussions? Because this matter could not be proven. What a cultivator saw with his spiritual sense when fixing his destiny star could not serve as evidence, unless one could fly into the infinitely high starry sky and show everything seen to the people on the ground.
Chen Changsheng had no way to prove that the stars could move, so the word "realization" was not entirely accurate. This was merely a conclusion he had deduced from the seventeen steles of the Mausoleum of the Ancients, or one could say it was an insight he had gained from observing the steles. A deduction could not convince the world, but it could convince himself, because it aligned with his aesthetic sense and his fundamental view of the world.
At least for now, it was enough that he himself could believe the stars could move. As for whether others could believe it, he did not care.
He looked up at the starry night sky, brilliant with countless stars, and said no more.
The stars in the night sky appeared motionless for eternity, but in reality, they were constantly moving—sometimes forward, sometimes backward. Their distance from the ground lengthened and shortened, and the distances and angles between the stars themselves were also continuously changing. It was just that the observers on the ground were far too distant from this starry sky to detect those subtle changes in angle.
If the seventeen steles of the Mausoleum of the Ancients described the positions of countless stars and their trajectories of movement, then how could these images be matched against the real starry sky?
He lowered his head and closed his eyes, continuing to observe the stele inscriptions in his sea of consciousness.
The seventeen steles of the Mausoleum of the Ancients arranged themselves in a straight line before his eyes. The inscriptions overlapped and connected in space. Countless lines converged into countless points. Using his will, he dismantled those images and then reassembled them. Gradually, those points began to move along those lines—slowly and smoothly, following an indescribable pattern.
Those patterns were star charts, countless star charts from different moments, flashing one by one before his eyes.
An immense multitude of stars, with time as their axis, moved ceaselessly before his eyes.
The stars walked across the night sky, and the traces they left behind, carved into the stone steles, became the inscriptions of the steles of the Mausoleum of the Ancients.
Viewed from the ground, the stars' forward and backward movements were always in fixed positions. Therefore, these changing star charts must have been observed from a different angle.
Time flowed slowly, but in reality, countless tens of thousands of years had passed, arriving at the final star chart.
Logically, this star chart should have described the positions of the stars in the real night sky at that moment.
But for some reason, the positions of the stars in this star chart were completely different from the real starry sky. At the final moment, suddenly discovering that the result was different from what was expected, many people's spirits would be greatly shaken, and they might even begin to doubt their previous thoughts. But once Chen Changsheng's mind was set, it would never waver.
He looked at the final star chart, remained silent for a long time, then raised his right hand and gently brushed the edge of the star chart.
A star chart was a true reflection, so it could not be flat; it was a cube.
As Chen Changsheng's finger brushed gently, silently, the star chart slowly rotated, its side becoming the front.
That was another new pattern, still covered with countless stars, but with a bit more solemnity and constancy.
Chen Changsheng opened his eyes and looked up at the night sky once more.
There, a brilliant starry sky shone.
The newest star chart in his sea of consciousness fell upon the real starry sky, perfectly overlapping with that region of stars in the southeast corner.
Not a single star's position was off; all the stars found their places on that star chart.
This feeling was beautiful, deeply shocking.
Chen Changsheng could not speak for a long time.
Then he thought of more things.
In that notebook at Lingyan Pavilion, Wang Zhice had once posed a question about this starry sky.
Throughout the river of history, countless sages had asked similar questions.
If human destiny was truly hidden in this starry sky, and the positions of the stars were eternally fixed and unchanging, then destiny could naturally not be changed. So why did people living in this world still need to struggle and strive?
In human understanding, the starry sky was always so solemn, so perfect, like the way of heaven and destiny—unapproachable, lofty, and not to be peered into.
Tonight, Chen Changsheng realized that solemnity did not mean rigidity, and true perfection was not eternal immutability.
Because the stars could move, their positions could change. Naturally, the distance and angle between his own destiny star and other stars were also changing.
If those connections were the traces of destiny, then did that not mean destiny could be changed?
At the end of his notebook, Wang Zhice had written four characters with forceful strokes: No Destiny.
Yes, there was simply no fixed destiny!
With a thunderous roar, it exploded in Chen Changsheng's sea of consciousness!
He had solved the spiritual anguish that had plagued him for years, the one he found hardest to let go.
He had deciphered his own Heavenly Book Stele.
The spiritual power he had comprehended from the seventeen steles of the Mausoleum of the Ancients began to influence objective reality.
Far in the night sky, specks of starlight, all interconnected.
In his sea of consciousness, on the star chart formed by the overlapping stele inscriptions, all the points lit up.
Almost simultaneously, in the night sky above the Mausoleum of the Ancients, those stars seemed to brighten by several degrees.
And deeper in the vast sea of stars, in a place almost like the other shore, beyond even the perception of a Saint's spiritual sense, a red star began to radiate infinite brilliance.
That was true starlight, starlight invisible to the naked eye, which, along with the visible starlight, fell upon the Mausoleum of the Ancients.
The people around the Stele Cottage were astonished, not knowing what had happened.
The next moment, they were shocked to discover that Chen Changsheng had vanished from before the Stele Cottage!
Like a clear breeze, like a wisp of starlight, silent and unobstructed, he came and went.
Chen Changsheng disappeared from before the Zhaoging Stele, and the next moment, he appeared before the Guanyun Stele.
Before the Guanyun Stele, he paused for an instant, then his figure vanished again, appearing before the Zhegui Stele.
Then he appeared before the Yinjiang Stele, the Jiyu Stele, and the Dongting Stele.
In just an instant, he appeared before the seventeen steles of the Mausoleum of the Ancients, then disappeared, finally arriving before that broken stele!
His eyes were still closed, lost in a state of self-forgetfulness, completely unaware of what was happening.
Tonight, the heavens showed an anomaly.
The countless stars in the night sky, observed with the naked eye, did not seem to have brightened, but many people knew that the stars had brightened. A little later, even ordinary people discovered this astonishing fact.
If a single star brightened slightly, it was hard to notice. But if millions of stars in the southeastern star region all brightened slightly at the same time, what kind of scene would that be?
Starlight illuminated the Mausoleum of the Ancients, and also illuminated the entire capital.
The streets and alleys in the dead of night seemed to have returned to daylight.
The Sweet Dew Terrace, closest to the night sky, was illuminated down to the finest detail. The night pearls at the edge of the bronze terrace were rendered somewhat dim by comparison.
The Empress stood at the edge of the high terrace, looking at the vast starry sky, her expression somewhat surprised, even grave.
She had not expected that, given Chen Changsheng's temperament, he would sit back down before the Stele Cottage to decipher the steles. She had not expected that Chen Changsheng could actually, like that person back then, decipher these steles of the Mausoleum of the Ancients, drawing in countless starlight. But even now, she still did not believe that Chen Changsheng could accomplish what that person had done back then.
Because times had changed, and the Mausoleum of the Ancients was no longer the Mausoleum of the Ancients of that time.
Starlight fell from the window onto the table. The memorials, yellowed by candlelight, became several shades whiter, and the handwriting on them became several shades clearer.
Mo Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, looking out the window, thinking in shock: Could he really have understood those Heavenly Book Steles?
In the Bitter Rain Lane of the South City, there was a government office. Its facade was plain, but in people's eyes, it seemed particularly gloomy, because this was the Qingli Department of the Great Zhou.
Tonight, the gloomy atmosphere of the office was dispelled by several degrees by the bright starlight.
Zhou Tong walked into the courtyard, reached up to lower the black gauze before his hat to block the somewhat dazzling starlight, frowned slightly, and showed displeasure.
What Chenliu Wang said to Tianhai Shengxue was inaccurate; he had not waited for Chen Changsheng outside the Mausoleum of the Ancients.
Even if Chen Changsheng had taken the top rank in the Grand Examination, in his eyes, he was still an insignificant little figure.
But now, looking at the starlight filling the sky, he finally began to have some different thoughts.
Or rather, this sky full of starlight forced him to start taking this youth seriously.
Starlight filled the mortal world, illuminating houses and courtyards, naturally also illuminating the well at Beixin Bridge.
The soil at the bottom of the well had been dug up again two days ago. A wisp of starlight, somewhat pitiful and stubborn, penetrated into the dark world beneath the earth.
The starlight illuminated the red mole between the little girl's brows, but could not dispel the coldness between her brows.
Luo Luo stood by the railing on the roof of the Academy Palace, then suddenly looked up at the dome.
The night sky here was fake; the stars were eternally unchanging, but lifeless.
She sensed something; Chen Changsheng should be doing something very remarkable.
She said to Jin Yulu, "I want to go out."
Jin Yulu was silent for a moment, then said, "You can't help him."
"The Master doesn't need my help." Luo Luo said with full confidence, "I want to go to the National Academy and wait for him, to celebrate for him."
Starlight illuminated the Mausoleum of the Ancients, and also illuminated the capital.
The Li Palace was bathed in holy starlight.
Thousands of priests and students from various academies came to the square and the sacred path, praying and worshipping the star-filled sky, their expressions extremely devout.
In the deepest hall.
The Pope looked at the starlight leaking through the hall, illuminating the green leaves in the basin. A loving smile appeared on his aged face.
Cardinal Merisa, looking at the snow-like starlight outside the hall, said with emotion, "It's like that year."
The Pope knew he was referring to the scene when Wang Zhice had comprehended the Dao and broken through his realm. That night, the entire capital had lit up.
Tonight, that scene from the past was reappearing.
Such a scene had not appeared for several hundred years.
Merisa suddenly frowned slightly and said in confusion, "Is this Gathering Stars?"
The Pope said, "No, he is still in the Thorough Darkness realm."
Merisa asked, "Then why is the starry sky so bright?"
The Pope thought for a moment, then said hesitantly, "Perhaps he is using the method of Gathering Stars to continue Thorough Darkness?"
(This chapter contains a line from the school song, and the chapter title has a gala vibe. I really like it, because it's especially brilliant, especially forward-looking, and especially fitting for Chen Changsheng. There's only one chapter today, but if you enjoy reading it, please take a moment to cast a few more votes. Monthly votes and recommendation votes are all excellent. Just before the update, I saw an ad on the Ze Tian Ji page saying that Ze Tian Ji's internal testing starts on November 7th… Ah, there are really only two days left. The producer is nervous to death. Even with my thick skin, I've been affected by him. I hope everyone can have fun when they play.)