Chapter 47: This Venerable One Feels Like Something is Off

Chu Wanning was injured, and the other three were exhausted, so once they got to the corridor outside the arsenal, Chu Wanning ordered them to rest a bit. No one spoke for a while, either standing or sitting as they inspected the injuries on themselves or someone else, recuperating their strength.

Except for Xue Meng, who was spacing out with his head drooping, lost in thought about something.

Mo Ran murmured: "Xue Meng..."   Xue Meng paid no heed to anyone else, only walked over stiffly to stand before Chu Wanning, looked up, and when he opened his mouth, his voice was shattered glass.

"Shizun." Looking at him, Chu Wanning felt an urge to pet his tousled hair, but managed to push it down in the end.

"The holy weapon I picked before, was it a fake?" Chu Wanning was silent.

The rims of Xue Meng's eyes became even redder and his eyes grew bloodshot. If not for his pride and stubbornness propping him up, tears probably would've started falling on the spot.

"Does this mean I'll never be able to have a holy weapon?" Chu Wanning closed his eyes with a sigh.

The corridor was silent save for Chu Wanning's clear voice.

"...Silly child." A single "silly child", said in a helpless sigh, and the last of Xue Meng's rationality crumbled. Unable to endure any longer, he threw himself into Chu Wanning's arms, and, clinging to his waist, began to bawl.

"Shizun... Shizun..." Failing to obtain a holy weapon from Jincheng Lake was tantamount to forfeiting one's qualifications to rise up in the cultivation world, surrendering one's chance to ever stand at the top. Everyone was well aware of this; a mortal's powers were finite, without a holy weapon, however strong, a person was still limited by their body of flesh and blood.

The young masters of the sects in the upper cultivation realm more or less all have holy weapons passed down from their predecessors. These weapons,

even if not completely compatible with their spiritual energies, were still considerably powerful. Only Xue Meng, since Xue Zhengyong and his brother had started from scratch, never received a holy weapon from Jincheng Lake.

And so, when he chose to wield the Ancestral Sword against Zhaixin Liu in mutual destruction, it was the same as choosing to give up on his spirited ambitions to rise above all.

Chu Wanning didn't ask anything, and didn't say any more, only holding Xue Meng and stroking his hair as he cried it out. Xue Meng grew up pampered,

never really suffering any injustice; he spent all his days strutting around arrogantly, and had never cried since he was old enough to remember.

But right now, tears streaked down his youthful face, and his every word came out broken, like the holy weapon he would never have, like the lionhearted aspirations that he once thought were a sure thing, all of it shattered.

"Xue Meng." Chu Wanning held the disciple in his arms, consoling him.

The waves at the bottom of the lake rippled past Chu Wanning's white cloak and his long inky hair. In that instant, Mo Ran could only see his fine curtain of lashes lowering over the fragments of gentle light beneath. Then the waves picked up, ruffling hair and garment, and he could no longer see Chu Wanning's face clearly in the dim light.

He only heard him say: "Don't cry, you're already great."   His voice wasn't quite gentle, but coming from Chu Wanning's mouth, the words were indescribably soft.

Inside the corridor, everyone fell silent as they each dwelled on their own thoughts.

Mo Ran leaned against the ice cold wall, watching Chu Wanning hold Xue Meng, patting his shoulder, and his heart felt heavy.

This journey to Jincheng Lake.

They came fresh and energized.

But left laden with wounds.

Xue Meng had been the darling of the heavens for fifteen years.

Well-regarded and high-spirited.

But in the span of one day, everything collapsed.

From now on, he will have to use the rest of his lengthy life just to try and forget these fifteen years of cutting edge glory.

When they escaped from the arsenal, they saw Zhaixin Liu collapsing slowly into the pool, like an ancient colossus finally exhausted, like the death of a gentle giant, the demise of the sun itself. The remaining merpeople scattered in fright.

The millions year old holy weapon arsenal was destroyed in an instant.

The celestial tree fell with a deafening rumble, setting off a surging tide in Jincheng Lake. Faced with the enormous whirlpool resulting therefrom, the merpeople transformed back into their large original forms in an attempt to weather the storm; Jincheng Lake was instantly filled with glimmering scales,

with little room left for mere mortals.

Mo Ran shouted: "We can't get out this way!" Just as he said that, a thick seadragon tail smashed in. Mo Ran moved aside swiftly and barely managed to dodge it.

Suddenly a black dragon swooped in, larger than all the others, pitch-black scales shimmering golden.

Mo Ran, startled: "Wangyue?!!" Wangyue let out a mighty roar, and the mute dragon suddenly spoke, with a voice low like the chime of a great clock: "Climb on my back; with the destruction of Zhaixin Liu, Jincheng Lake is soon to follow. Quickly! I will bring you out of here!" Having no other options, they could only do as instructed even without knowing if Wangyue was friend or enemy. Wangyue, carrying the four of them,

surged through the perilous waves filled with thousands of dragons, the waters parting in his wake.

"Hold on tight!" Was the only warning they got before the ancient dragon burst out of the water and soared into the skies. The pressure hit them like a ton of bricks, the flow of water like a thousand galloping horses against their bodies. They couldn't open their eyes, could hardly breathe, clinging desperately to the dragon's back with all their might just to not get flung back into the lake.

By the time they could open their eyes again, they were already high above Jincheng Lake, soaring through the clouds at the summit of Dawning Peak.

Droplets of water flew off from the dragon's large, mirror-like scales, the spray turning into countless sparkles of light, materializing into a rainbow in the sky.

Wangyue raised his head in a roar as color washed over the land.

Mo Ran heard Xue Meng's voice from behind him against the fierce gale,

full of excitement. He really was young, after all, easily distracted from his worries——             "Oh my god! I'm flying! On a dragon!" Wangyue circled above Dawning Peak, gradually shrinking in size while descending, until landing at the bank of Jincheng Lake at less than half his original size so as to not crush the rocks and flora in the surroundings, and stayed quietly in place while they dismounted.

They turned to look toward Jincheng Lake, only to see the thick layer of ice melted, waves churning and scattering fragments of ice. The first light of dawn colored the eastern skies a pure white, the sunlight spilling into Jincheng Lake,

glimmering brilliantly.

Suddenly, Shi Mei called out: "Look at the dragons in the lake!" The dragons twisting and coiling in the lake, rising and falling with the waves, gradually stopped moving and then crumbled, one after another, turning into so many specks of dust, and black chess pieces floated up from the lake,

gathering in mid air.

Mo Ran muttered: "Zhenlong Chess Formation….."

Everything in the lake, from the sea dragons to Zhaixin Liu itself, was under the control of Zhenlong Chess Formation. All of it was a match set up by someone hiding in the shadows!

Mo Ran shuddered.

Something was off with this reborn era; certain things happened earlier than they should have for no apparent reason.

When he was sixteen in the previous life, there was definitely no one who could command Zhenlong Chess Formation this well. Just who was this fake Gouchen?

Xue Meng cried: "Wangyue!" Mo Ran turned around, only to see Wangyue crouching on the ground without moving. There was no black chess piece on his body, but he appeared extremely weak, eyes half closed.

"You lot... did well... it's far preferable to have our Exalted God Gouchen's Jincheng Lake be destroyed, than to... to have it fall into the hands of a villain..."   When he finished speaking, his entire body suddenly started glowing golden, and when the light subsided, he had assumed human form.

"It was you?!" Mo Ran and Xue Meng exclaimed simultaneously.

The Wangyue before them was the very same white-haired elderly merman from before who had led them to the holy weapon arsenal. Wangyue lifted his head, a hint of guilt in his eyes.

"It was me." Xue Meng was shocked: "Y-you, why did you lead us to the arsenal? Do you want to help us or harm us? If harm, then why did you bring us ashore, but if help, then if we hadn't passed Zhaixin Liu's trial, wouldn't we have..." Wangyue looked down, voice hoarse: "Please accept my apologies.

Circumstances being what they were, there was naught else I could do. The fake Gouchen's own cultivation is insufficient, and he relied wholly on Zhaixin Liu's spiritual power to wield the forbidden technique. The only way to dispel his magic was to overcome Zhaixin Liu. I had no choice but to vest my hope in the four of you."   Chu Wanning shook his head slightly, walked over to him, and began channeling spiritual energy to heal his injuries.

Wangyue let out a long sigh: "Daozhang is kind, but there is no need. It is my time. I am the same as the other creatures of the lake, living off of Zhaixin Liu's spiritual energy, and now that it has fallen, I shall not be long for this world." Chu Wanning: "..." Wang Yue continued: "The order of life and death cannot be forced. To have lived to see the nightmare of Jincheng Lake broken, my wish is already fulfilled.

But I am terribly remorseful for having involved you four in the perils."   Chu Wanning said: "No matter. …...Do you know who the pretender is, and what he wants?" Wangyue replied: "I do not know who he is, but his goal is most likely to obtain Zhaixin Liu's power in order to command the three forbidden techniques."   Chu Wanning muttered: "The forbidden techniques require an incredible amount of spiritual energy, it would indeed be much easier with the help of an ancient tree spirit."

"Yes, that person said the same. He said that ancient spirits are immensely powerful but extremely difficult to find. The only one traceable from the ancient records was Zhaixin Liu." "He only appeared fairly recently, and since taking control of Jincheng Lake,

he spent all his time at the bottom of the lake, using Zhaixin Liu's power to practice the forbidden techniques of 'Rebirth' and 'Zhenlong Chess Formation.'" Wangyue sighed, his eyes somewhat empty and dull.

Mo Ran felt his heart drop.

Sure enough, this trip to Jincheng Lake was completely different from the one in the past life, and all of the changes happened not long ago. Just what went wrong to make everything change course?

"He didn't have the strength to control living creatures, so he killed countless creatures in the lake and tried to control the dead instead. He managed that, and in a mere few weeks times, he had massacred practically all the creatures in the lake and turned them into chess pieces. He left only a few alive to experiment on, myself being one." Mo Ran asked: "When you came out of the water to meet me, were you being controlled by the fake Gouchen?" "No." Wang Yue slowly closed his eyes, "He may be able to control the others, like the fox spirit or even Zhaixin Liu, but he cannot control me. I am a spiritual beast tamed by the Exalted Gouchen at the creation of the world,

millennia ago. When I submitted to being his steed, I was branded with his seal,

to be loyal to one master only in life and in death." "Then why did you..." "It was an act, I had no choice." Wangyue sighed, "The intruder couldn't control me completely, but the brand of the Exalted Gouchen is millions of years old, its effectiveness a mere fraction of the original. A portion of my body did fall under the fake Gouchen's influence——the reason I was mute at our first meeting was because that person had control of my throat, only when his magic was dispelled was I able to speak again." Mo Ran asked: "Did that fake Gouchen know you were pretending?" "I doubt it." Wangyue looked at Mo Ran as he spoke, "He had planned to take your spiritual core today in order to extend Zhaixin Liu's life. But he didn't anticipate me bringing you four back to the holy weapon arsenal to destroy the ancient willow, and took no precautions against my interference." But Chu Wanning suddenly spoke: "Perhaps it's not that he did not take precautions against you, but rather that he did not have the strength to spare for such." "What does Daozhang mean?" Chu Wanning said: "There's something else that's odd about the pretender."    

Author's Notes:

Today's mini theater is, modern edition of a segment of the plot. While writing I had a universe brain moment, it felt that Mo Ran was missing something in arc, after some contemplating, the thing he's missing is cigarettes. LOL

"After Jincheng Lake's Destruction, Modern Edition" Start, Du Du Du!

Inside the corridor, everyone fell silent as they each dwelled in their own thoughts.

Mo Ran leaned against the ice cold wall, watching Chu Wanning holding Xue Meng, patting his shoulder, and his heart felt heavy.

But Mo Ran didn't say a single word, he lowered his head and fished out a box of cigarettes, there was only one left inside it. He held it between his lips,

with a clicking sound from the lighter, a cluster of sparks luminiated and then dimmed, the light reflected in his eyes looked like a newly budded poppy.

He deeply inhaled a puff of smoke, then slowly breathed it out, amidst the addictive nicotine, Mo Ran raised his eyelids. He gazed at them once again with nonchalance, then turns his face away.

He leaned against the wall, and slid one hand into his pocket.

No one spoke, rationality allowed Mo Ran to tell himself, give them a bit of time, at least one cigerette's worth of time, the little peacock needed soothing.

He was someone with a heavy addiction to cigarettes, and enjoyed the decaying taste of tar oil dissipating between his teeth.

But that day, he couldn't stop himself from feeling resentment, this cigarette seemed especially long. Damn it, he smoked for this long, this vigorous, but it fucking still had more than half left.

Mo Ran suddenly felt a sort of inexplicable irritation, he blamed this irritation on the unsatisfying smoke. He extinguished the cigarette on the wall. Then raised his head, with one hand still in his pocket, he walked towards Chu Wanning with an air of certainty.

"Mr. Chu." He stared at Chu Wanning's face, abruptly tugged at Xue Meng and straightened him up, then he dragged Xue Meng next to himself, a lazy hint of smile appeared in the corner of his lips.

"Don't just comfort my little brother, I'm upset too. How's this, you are a good person, why not see it through to the end…" His voice was like smoker's, low and hoarse, thus he cleared his throat.

"And comfort this gege too." Chu Wanning was momentarily speechless.

Absurd, the thought that he had at that time was: This rascal's "this gege",

was it him behaving like a jackass, or was it the textbook meaning, to remark that his relation to Xue Meng is "a male relative that is the same generation but is older than one's self"?