Chapter 87: A Star in the Daylight
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A few days ago on the lake island, the Old Heavenly Mechanism had told Chen Changsheng that if he wanted to delay the eruption of his internal injuries, he should stop cultivating. He never expected that Chen Changsheng would not only ignore his advice but instead push forward with even greater ferocity and determination, preparing to break through to the next realm in such a short time. This inevitably filled him with worry and concern.
But it was already too late. The lake breeze gently stirred his Daoist robe. Chen Changsheng’s eyes were closed; he was no longer in this world.
His consciousness had returned to the most primal place, arriving above that tranquil and profound sea of consciousness.
With a slight stirring of his mind, the sea of consciousness naturally rippled, surging into unimaginably massive waves. Those waves rose ten stories high, their momentum astonishing, ceaselessly stabbing toward the gloomy sky above the sea.
Yet the sky was too vast and distant. No matter how high the waves rose, they could not reach it. At their peak, they helplessly crashed back down, shattering into countless fine white foam on the sea’s surface.
Those waves were born from the seawater. If they could not separate from the sea, they could not leap into the sky.
Under normal circumstances, sending a single thread of divine sense into the sky was not difficult for him. But today, he needed to send far more of his divine sense to that place.
So he stirred his mind again, transforming his divine thoughts into countless sharp weapons—some swords, some blades—and then… severed those thoughts.
Above the sea of consciousness, a great storm erupted. Countless gales and torrents came from the horizon, transforming into countless seemingly real techniques, slashing at the surging waves.
The National Academy’s True Sword, the Li Mountain Sect’s Mountain Gate Sword, the Fisherman’s Three Songs, the Wenshui Three Swords, the Snow Mountain Sect’s Condensing Frost Sword, the Star-Gathering Academy’s Broken Army Sword, the Heavenly Dao Academy’s Approaching Light Sword, the Southern Brook Sect’s Plum Blossom Three Variations…
Countless sword techniques manifested within the storm, dancing wildly above the sea!
Those ten-story-high waves were slashed into unsteady swaying, gradually separating from the sea’s surface. Yet an unbreakable bond remained, the deepest connection, refusing to sever completely.
A decisive shout rang out across the sea, and then a blade intent descended from the sky!
The Two Severing Blade Art, First Form: Origin of Fate!
This was the most powerful blade technique in the world. Before this blade, all things must be severed!
The great waves finally broke away from the sea and began to rise.
…
…
Once the great waves left the sea, they became a sheet of pure water, resembling the lake outside the Netherworld Abyss.
This seawater, having lost its connection to the sea of consciousness, seemed to shed all its weight. It drifted lightly toward the gloomy sky, rising higher and higher, farther and farther, until it finally followed a passage it had not truly traversed in a long time—yet one that was reinforced every day—to reach the deepest part of the sky: that sea of stars.
This sheet of water was the essence of his divine sense, the quintessence of his experience—his most precious possession.
In that sea of stars, his divine sense did not stop. It continued onward, seemingly slow yet astonishingly fast, until after a long time, it arrived at the very edge of the star sea.
This place was immeasurably far from the earth, already on the other side of the star sea.
Beyond the star sea was nothingness. But what lay beyond nothingness?
Chen Changsheng gazed into the infinitely distant horizon, feeling as though there were countless more stars faintly shimmering there.
Back in the National Academy’s library, on the night he had ignited his fate star, he had felt the same way—as if he were looking at a myriad of household lights.
Unfortunately, that place was too far away. With his current strength and refinement of divine sense, he could never reach it, never explore the true boundaries of the world.
He withdrew his gaze and looked toward an inconspicuous corner at the edge of the star sea. There, an unremarkable star sat—very small, very red, like an apple.
This was his fate star.
His divine sense slowly approached it.
That sheet of water fell upon the small red star. Instead of cooling it or extinguishing its flames, it caused the red fire on the star’s surface to rage even more violently!
The golden wind and jade dew met, transforming into countless molten streams, spraying endless starlight into the pitch-black void.
Almost transcending the bounds of time and space, that incalculable amount of starlight returned from the distant edge of the star sea to the earth, pouring into his body!
With a thunderous roar, Chen Changsheng, seated cross-legged, suddenly sank half a foot into the ground!
That was because the ground beneath him, spanning three zhang in all directions, had collapsed uniformly!
The lake wind howled, swirling around him, billowing his Daoist robe and whistling into his sword sheath, producing a wild and excited hum.
Dust rose in clouds, shooting straight into the sky like black smoke, dimming the bright sun considerably.
Someone inadvertently looked up at the sky and saw, in the gloomy heavens, a faint bright spot opposite the sun, like a star in the night sky.
But the problem was, it was still daytime. How could a star be visible? How could there be such a bright star in the world?
That person shook his head, driving this absurd thought from his mind, and turned his gaze back to the scene before him.
At that moment, only the Old Heavenly Mechanism was not looking at Chen Changsheng, seated cross-legged. He was looking at the sky.
Only he could confirm that, just moments ago, a star had indeed appeared in the gloomy sky.
The star sea held unfathomable destinies. Even he could not determine the star’s exact position, but he knew why it had appeared.
…
…
On this ordinary day at the end of summer, the noonday sun blazed as fiercely as ever. Who would notice a star that flickered and vanished in an instant? Even if someone did, who would dare believe their own eyes?
In a wilderness outside the capital, His Holiness the Pope stood before the tomb of Grand Cardinal Meilisha, gazing at his old friend’s name on the headstone. Worry flickered in his eyes. “Back then, we worried whether he might grow too fast. Now it seems that worry was justified.”
At the highest point in the capital, the Ganlu Terrace, Her Holiness the Empress stood with her hands clasped behind her back, staring at a certain spot in the sky. The sunlight was blinding, but she did not blink. From the day many years ago when Emperor Taizong had driven her out of the palace and exiled her to the Hundred Herbs Garden, she had never feared looking directly at the sun. Yet today, she was not looking at the sun. Behind her, Moyu watched her back, uneasily wondering what Her Holiness had seen that left her silent for so long.
In the most majestic, imposing, and fearsome palace of the Snow Old City, the Demon Lord sat on his throne, listening to his most loyal subordinate report on the recent unusual movements of the Demon Marshal and the conflicts between the noble princes and the forces of the military strategist Black Robe. He remained silent, still appearing as the middle-aged scholar from Cold Mountain, though his face was much paler, and that landscape was now shattered. With a weary gesture, he dismissed the subordinate. Suddenly sensing something, he looked up toward the top of the palace. After a moment of silence, he rose and walked to a green plant.
This was a persimmon tree he had brought back from the stream at Cold Mountain.
He looked at the heavy persimmons on the branches and frowned. “So soon, it’s already ripening?”