Chapter 71: No One Here
This was the Never-Setting Sun Grassland, where the sun was already somewhat unusual, and now it had grown much dimmer. It wasn't a problem with the sun itself, but with the space it occupied—some issues had arisen that were difficult to describe in words.
Difficult to describe, naturally even harder to understand, but for some reason, just by glancing around, Chen Changsheng understood why the Garden of Zhou had become the way it was.
The Garden of Zhou was gradually turning desolate, certainly related to the natural disasters caused by the breaking of the rules. The reason it couldn't repair itself even after the rules were re-established was that the Garden of Zhou had been isolated from the Origin World all these days. Yes, the Garden of Zhou was a small world, a fragment floating in the river of time and space, but it must have had some connection to the Origin World; otherwise, it couldn't have appeared periodically according to certain patterns after Zhou Dufu's death.
Chen Changsheng knew why the Garden of Zhou appeared every ten years—because it needed to exchange with the Origin World.
Flowing water never stagnates.
Though the Garden of Zhou was vast, if it were truly isolated and turned into a stagnant pool, even if that pool were as vast as an ocean, it would eventually become lifeless and dead.
Standing at the highest point of the Zhou Mausoleum, Chen Changsheng looked around, faintly sensing some connection, and judged that with his arrival, the Garden of Zhou had re-established contact with the Origin World. This situation should change, but it would inevitably be a very slow, lengthy process. He didn't know if the lives dwelling in this world could hold out until that day.
The beast tide among the sea of grass was no longer as magnificent as before. Tens of thousands of beasts seemed like a large number, but on the surface of the boundless grassy sea, they appeared sparse.
Tens of thousands of demonic beasts set out again, heading toward the Zhou Mausoleum, preparing to meet the end of their lives there. Yet in the next moment, they once again sensed that aura, that feeling of being looked down upon. This time, the feeling didn't come from the distant sky but from the Zhou Mausoleum ahead, and this time, the aura was much stronger. Some demonic beasts with slightly higher intelligence could even distinguish that they had smelled this aura before.
The Upside-Down Mountain Boar stopped, straightened its body dozens of feet tall, and gazed toward the distant mausoleum. Its mung-bean-sized eyes gradually filled with a violent aura.
With a whoosh, the severely injured Earth Monkey emerged from who knows where, grabbed the fur of the Upside-Down Mountain Boar, and using only its hands, climbed like lightning to its shoulder. It let out a piercing shriek toward the distant Zhou Mausoleum, filled with anger, venom, and despair.
At the very back of the beast tide, the Jian Beast closed its eyes, its tattered ears trembling slightly in the cold wind. From the Earth Monkey's shriek, it confirmed the origin of that aura, and its body trembled uncontrollably. Ripples spread across its mottled, ugly surface, which had lost too many arrow-like hairs, like a swamp that had completely evaporated but was still damp.
These three great demonic beasts had been severely injured in the last Sword Pool Reappearance Battle, but they were still immensely powerful and ferocious, managing to survive even such a calamity. They could certainly distinguish that aura as belonging to that human youth—the culprit who had turned the Garden of Zhou into its current state.
For these demonic beasts, the Garden of Zhou was their homeland. They had lived here peacefully for countless years, only to be disrupted by the hateful humans and demons, even pushed into their current desperate situation—the sky had fallen, humans and demons had left, but they still had to live on this grassland. What could they do?
The demonic beasts' hatred for Chen Changsheng was naturally easy to understand.
Yet, for some reason, in the next moment, the Earth Monkey's piercing shriek abruptly stopped. It stared wide-eyed toward the Zhou Mausoleum, an expression of disbelief appearing in its eyes, followed by fear. Silently, it crept to the Upside-Down Mountain Boar's ear, muttered a few gurgling words, then hid its crippled half-body into the coiled horns atop the boar's head, not daring to show itself again. The Jian Beast at the back of the beast tide also calmed down, tilted its head slightly, and let out a low, deep, prolonged cry.
The Upside-Down Mountain Boar looked toward the Zhou Mausoleum, was silent for a moment, then knelt down.
Thus, tens of thousands of demonic beasts all bent their forelimbs, or lowered their proud heads, closed their eyes filled with violence and exhaustion, and knelt.
This was submission, and also a welcome—submission to the one who could bring new life to the Garden of Zhou, welcoming the new master of the Garden of Zhou.
...
...
Somewhere in the grassy sea, Chen Changsheng looked at the two great demonic beasts kneeling before him, unsure how to react.
Even kneeling, the Upside-Down Mountain Boar was like a mountain, and the Jian Beast was the same. Compared to them, he seemed so tiny. If it weren't for having met the Black Dragon beneath North New Bridge many times, in similar scenes, even though he now fully understood the situation in the Garden of Zhou, he might still have felt the urge to flee immediately. Back then, he and she had encountered many dangers in this grassy sea, and finally, the Zhou Mausoleum was surrounded by the beast tide. These two... no, three immensely powerful and exceptionally cunning and terrifying demonic beasts had brought them countless troubles. If the Sword Pool hadn't reappeared, and Nanke hadn't merged her soul with that young Golden-Winged Roc, these three demonic beasts would have easily killed and eaten him.
"I know the current state of the Garden of Zhou."
Chen Changsheng looked at the two eyes hidden in the shadow of the Upside-Down Mountain Boar's coiled horns, knowing it must be that most cunning Earth Monkey, and said, "I can help solve some problems."
Hearing his words, the Upside-Down Mountain Boar knelt even more completely, and the Jian Beast showed even more humility. Behind the two great demonic beasts, the dense, dark mass of demonic beasts was even more pathetic—serpent-dragons rolled their bodies, gray vultures let out harsh screeches, using every method to display their submission and docility.
In fact, any demonic beast still alive now couldn't be gentle; they were all the strongest and most dangerous. Watching this scene, Chen Changsheng felt a strange sensation.
He took out all the medicines he usually carried and threw them in front of the Upside-Down Mountain Boar and the Jian Beast. He glanced again at the eyes in the shadow of the coiled horns and said, "The severely injured eat first."
The eyes in the shadow of the coiled horns rolled around, thinking who knows what.
"I don't have enough medicine, so you must distribute it exactly as I said." He didn't look at those eyes again, raised his head to the Upside-Down Mountain Boar, and said, "I have urgent matters now and must leave. I'll come back at this time tomorrow. But if I find that anyone hasn't obeyed my words, I won't come again."
Hearing this, the Upside-Down Mountain Boar gently placed its thick arms on the ground, indicating obedience. Its palms, covered in black fur, opened upward toward the sky, like two black forests.
With this movement, its coiled horns also touched the ground.
Because of its crippled body, the Earth Monkey couldn't steady itself and rolled out, tumbling directly in front of Chen Changsheng.
Clearly, the Upside-Down Mountain Boar had done it on purpose.
The Earth Monkey didn't dare lift its head, continuously kissing the muddy water before Chen Changsheng's boots, while making whimpering sounds like crying, appearing especially pitiful.
Chen Changsheng knew it was faking it, but didn't care. He shook his head and walked toward the edge of the grassland.
He was well aware that these demonic beasts were no saints; no matter how submissive and obedient they seemed now, they were actually very ferocious. But he still wanted to help them.
Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life, and no one valued life more than he did.
He also wasn't worried that after receiving aid and regaining their strength, these demonic beasts might turn on him, because now he was the master of the Garden of Zhou. If he didn't open the Garden of Zhou, this small world would eventually head toward extinction. No matter how powerful the lives within it were, they would only face death. In other words, the Garden of Zhou was now his pasture, and these demonic beasts were his livestock. If his livestock were sick or hungry, he, as the master, naturally had to take care of them. Moreover, great demonic beasts like the Jian Beast had already developed rudimentary intelligence; he couldn't regard them as mere livestock, nor did he want to watch them die.
And the Garden of Zhou held great significance for him.
He didn't want the Garden of Zhou to eventually become a dead, silent place.
He hoped the Garden of Zhou would continue to live, just as he hoped she would still be alive.
...
...
The old rules of the Garden of Zhou had been broken, and the spatial barrier of the Never-Setting Sun Grassland had vanished without a trace.
After becoming the new master of the Garden of Zhou, part of the new rules entered his mind in an incomprehensible way. Then, he grasped some of the rules that he could understand at his current level of cultivation. As his cultivation level and strength continued to improve, this small world would reveal more rules to him. Conversely, understanding those rules would greatly aid in improving his cultivation level and strength. Because of this grasp of the rules, it took him only a very short time to leave the Never-Setting Sun Grassland, cross several mountain peaks, and arrive at the cluster of residences at the edge of the Garden of Zhou.
This was the Lakeside Mountain Retreat, once the most concentrated area for human cultivators, and also the place where he had watched the Peng carry her away.
The once elegant corridors and pavilions were now reduced to broken walls and ruins, lifeless everywhere. There was no frog croaking, only bird calls from far away, proving this wasn't truly a realm of death.
But many had died here.
The collapsed cliff had buried the most beautiful buildings of the Lakeside Mountain Retreat, with immensely heavy boulders piled from the mountain hollow all the way to the mountainside.
Looking at this horrifying scene before him, Chen Changsheng remained silent.
He couldn't move these rocks, but he could clearly sense that beneath the collapsed cliff, many dead people lay.
He stood before this collapsed cliff for a long time, then left.
Next, he went to two other gardens, but found nothing.
He went to that mountain stream, traced it backward to see that cold pool.
The pool water no longer held sword intent, nor anyone.
The lake beyond the pool also had no one. Deep in the lake water, the faint glow of the Night-Luminous Pearl could be seen.
Chen Changsheng didn't take those treasures, silver, or the books that had been soaked in the lake water for days yet miraculously hadn't rotted. He only took one item wrapped in cloth.
There was no one by the lake either. Some dark bloodstains remained among the gravel, unknown whether they were left by Qijian or Zhexiu.
Then, he swam from the lake bottom into the distance and arrived at the small lake before the Twilight Valley.
The water of that small lake had flowed away through cracks in the ground to who knows where, leaving only a dry lakebed.
Back then, he had burst out of this lake, and she had saved him.
There was no one here either.
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...
(Today is the first day of the second year of "The Legend of the Seeker." Thank you all for your companionship over the past year. Today is also the first day of my journey south with the boss. Unlike Chen Changsheng and Su Li's return south, we're not riding hairy deer but driving ourselves. Still, the journey is long—over two thousand kilometers. I hope everything goes smoothly. For this vacation, I made many preparations this month. While maintaining two updates, I also worked hard to stockpile chapters. I did quite well. I once told everyone I'd strive for two updates until the 25th, and I achieved it. But I think this kind of life... is awesome! So I've decided to keep up two updates for a few more days. The stockpile will inevitably run out. As for what to do then... forget it, let's enjoy it first. Let's happily read books and drive, appreciating the great scenery of our motherland!)