Chapter 241: The Mysterious Black Stone, the Perfect Starry Sky
Even a sage like His Holiness the Pope could not determine Chen Changsheng’s current state, because Chen Changsheng’s cultivation had been different from the very beginning. He walked a path no one had ever trodden, repeatedly defying the common sense or rules of cultivation, with many bizarre and unbelievable aspects.
Before he had even succeeded in marrow cleansing, he had already begun to observe himself in meditation, nearly dying and having his soul return to the starry sky. After receiving the Black Dragon’s help and passing through that peril, he faced a desperate situation in the Grand Examination, breaking through to the Illuminating Realm in the autumn rain. He had thought he was using starlight to cleanse his marrow, but in reality, he had always been in the Illuminating Realm.
He was always using techniques that matched his true realm.
Like an infant who, before learning to walk, tries to run; before babbling, tries to recite Daoist scriptures; before having the strength to lift a sword, tries to learn how to fight—this was certainly extremely dangerous. And indeed it was. If not for a series of fortuitous encounters, he would have died long ago.
Starlight scattered over the Mausoleum of Books, illuminating the meadow like a white felt blanket. Chen Changsheng sat before the broken stele, his eyes tightly shut. His sea of consciousness and the starry sky reflected each other, heaven and earth continuously merging with himself. Countless stars in the night sky looked down upon him, watching him in the Illuminating Realm begin to gather stars prematurely.
The aura he emitted rose unceasingly, probing into the surrounding heaven and earth, like the broken edge of the stele piercing the night sky like a sword. Invisible starlight, accompanied by those bright rays, fell on the eaves, on the steles, on his body, continuously surging into him, bringing with it a faintly cold night breeze.
If he could break through this barrier, his future would naturally be limitless.
With the faintly cold night breeze, many people arrived outside the Mausoleum of Books.
The Six Magnates of the State Religion came, with Melisande standing at the forefront.
The head of the Tianhai clan came.
Jin Yulu came.
Mao Qiuyu came.
Mo Yu also came.
They did not enter the mausoleum. With their powerful divine senses, they silently watched what was happening before the broken stele.
Chen Changsheng was still a hair’s breadth away from breaking through that barrier.
But no one knew whether he would succeed, or if he did, to what extent he would break through.
Inside his body, the gate of the Nether Palace had slowly begun to open. Countless clear waters enveloping the Spirit Mountain were flowing unceasingly, the current growing faster and faster, giving rise to many whirlpools. They carried fallen leaves from the mountain path, dancing everywhere, ceaselessly slapping against the stone steps before the gate. Though silent, it was breathtaking.
The Nether Palace was within the Spirit Mountain, and the Spirit Mountain was within the lake formed by starlight.
More and more starlight surged into his body. The lake grew increasingly unrestrained, gradually becoming like a vast ocean.
At any moment, it might burst its banks—though this lake suspended in the air had no banks.
Countless rays of light refracted back and forth within the lake. As the lake water undulated, they gradually condensed and purified, gathering together into shimmering points of light, like stars.
The countless stars of the night sky appeared in Chen Changsheng’s consciousness, then appeared in the lake. The position of each star was exact, without a hair’s error.
Yet this starry sky always felt incomplete, as if something were missing.
This starry sky was the seventeen steles of the Front Mausoleum.
But the Front Mausoleum originally had eighteen steles.
The last stele was broken, and its inscription naturally no longer existed.
Chen Changsheng had not seen those inscriptions, so the star chart in his heart was missing a piece.
If this starry sky could not be filled, then everything was for naught.
In the square before the Li Palace, His Holiness the Pope looked toward the Mausoleum of Books, reached out to catch the starlight falling from the night sky, and after a moment of silence, said, “If only that stele were still here.”
On the Sweet Dew Terrace, Her Holiness the Empress looked at the night sky with an indifferent expression, thinking that without those steles, how could today’s Mausoleum of Books be the Mausoleum of Books of years past?
Many years ago, Zhou Dufu had read all eighteen steles in a single day, and then, for some reason, did not want others to do the same as him, so he took one stele away.
From that day on, the saying of the seventeen steles of the Front Mausoleum arose.
For many years, Chen Changsheng was the one who came closest to fully deciphering the Front Mausoleum steles.
The problem was that he had no way to see that lost stele, so he might forever only infinitely approach the truth, never touching it.
Watching the starry sky gradually taking shape in the lake, Chen Changsheng instinctively sensed that this starry sky was incomplete.
He knew what was missing—the inscription of the broken stele.
He pondered in silence, unable to find a solution. His spirit roamed ten thousand miles, but he could not find that stele.
Gradually, his mind became more and more chaotic, until it grew dazed and confused.
Just then, the short sword at his waist trembled violently.
A black stone appeared on the wasteland.
The wasteland was covered with snow, and that snow was also starlight.
Chen Changsheng had already forgotten both self and the world, unaware of what was happening outside or the changes within his own body.
That clear lake absorbed countless rays of light in the sky, condensed countless beams, and was utterly translucent.
If one looked down from above the lake, this lake was like a huge glass bead.
The curved surface of the water was extremely smooth, capable of magnifying objects.
The black stone beneath the lake was magnified countless times.
In the Misty Pavilion, when Chen Changsheng had touched this black stone, he had experienced an out-of-body journey. He knew this black stone was no ordinary object, possibly even the key to defying fate and changing destiny. He had once observed it carefully, but had never found anything special on its surface.
That black stone was not large, small enough to hold in one hand, warm and smooth, its surface without even the finest crack.
If he opened his eyes now, he would certainly be very surprised.
It turned out that only when magnified countless times could one see that the black stone was covered with countless extremely fine lines.
Those lines were very complex, dense like water marks, without any pattern, absolutely impossible to be carved by human hands.
If one looked closely, one might discover that those lines were like the inscriptions on the Heavenly Book steles.
Suddenly, the black stone grew bright, just as it had in the Misty Pavilion.
The fine lines on the black stone’s surface also brightened accordingly.
They projected into the lake, becoming bright rays of light.
Then, these rays, like the inscriptions of other Heavenly Book steles, continuously condensed and contracted, turning into countless points of light.
Each point of light was a star, and countless points of light combined together formed a small patch of starry sky.
The incomplete starry sky was thus filled in.
With a hum—
Chen Changsheng’s sea of consciousness shook violently.
The countless stars in the lake simultaneously blazed with light, finally condensing into an extremely thick pillar of light that fell upon the gate of the Nether Palace.
A few days ago in the Dust-Washing Pavilion, his Nether Palace gate had been pushed half open. Tonight, under the impact of the starlight pillar, it finally opened completely.
(On Weibo yesterday, I said that to fix the update time and make it easier for everyone to read, I decided to stockpile chapters. So, I managed to save one chapter. I’ve finished writing it. I’ll go revise it now, and it should be updated in about half an hour. Absolutely no need for everyone to wait until late at night.)