NOVGO.NET Chapter 2330 - The Truth
Chapter 2330 – The Truth
He’d always seen hope, yet it had never been realized.
When Su Yi heard that, a scene rose unbidden to his mind: a man rode on a donkey, urging it by hanging a carrot on a stick in front of its face. The donkey wanted to eat the carrot, so it kept walking forward.
But it couldn’t reach it, so it just kept walking and walking…
It was, of course, a ridiculous scene, and the moral was easily understood.
But there was no getting around it. Celestial Venerate, who’d spent a lifetime of effort fruitlessly chasing the Flame of Supreme Emergence, really was a lot like that donkey. His stubbornness might have seemed muddle-headed, but in truth, his obsession was just too strong.
Ultimately, Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye wasn’t a donkey, and the Flame of Supreme Emergence wasn’t a carrot.
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye was an unparalleled figure. No one of his level would give up on the Flame of Supreme Emergence lightly, because they were pursuing greater heights of the Dao! They wanted to place both feet firmly onto the River of Destiny, prove their Daos, and become Eternal!
Who’d give up so easily?
“Actually, after the Cataclysm of Supreme Emergence, I understood that I was not fated to master the Flame of Supreme Emergence in this lifetime,” sighed the elderly Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye, his gaze utterly forlorn and melancholy.
“You knew, but you weren’t willing to accept it,” said Su Yi. “And even if you can’t have it, you can’t tolerate others acquiring it.”
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye didn’t deny it. “In my position, would you have been willing?”
Su Yi chuckled. “As the saying goes, ‘If you haven’t endured another’s suffering, don’t urge them to be kinder.’ No one in this world can fully understand another’s pain. That said, do you know what I consider the greatest torment of all?”
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye looked intrigued. “I’d love to hear more.”
He knew that Su Yi had reincarnated repeatedly, and that he’d done so in search of greater heights of the Dao.
“You suffered because you could see the Path to Eternity, yet you could not reach it, but I once reached the end of my path and saw no higher Dao,” said Su Yi, his gaze shifting as he recalled his first incarnation, that mysterious, transcendent swordsman.
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye was stunned. “You reached the limit of your path? Don’t tell me you reached the far end of the Eternal Realm!?”
Su Yi didn’t respond. Instead, he asked, “Do you think a higher path lies beyond the Eternal Realm?”
“Most… likely?” said Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye.
“And what happens when you reach the end of that higher path?” asked Su Yi. “Is there yet another higher path waiting for you?”
“Uh…” Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye fell silent.
Such questions were, perhaps, commonplace, but there was no way anyone could have given Su Yi a definite answer.
A moment later, Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye’s heart shook. He looked at Su Yi in disbelief. “Fellow Daoist, surely you aren’t telling me that you once broke beyond the Eternal Realm, stepped onto the path beyond it, and reached the limit of that path, too?!?”
Su Yi shook his head. He didn’t know. All he knew was that his first incarnation had long since risen above the River of Destiny, and that even those as mighty as Gongye Futu and the River Lord followed his orders.
Lin Jinghong’s father, Demon God Lin, and his master, Grandmaster Bodhi, had respected his first incarnation deeply, too.
But as mighty as his first incarnation had been, his only hope of reaching greater heights of the Dao had been re-entering the cycle of reincarnation.
It was obvious how ethereal that “higher path” had seemed to his first incarnation.
When he saw Su Yi shake his head, Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye sighed. “You suffered because you saw no hope, while I suffered because I saw hope but never realized it. Ultimately, we’re different. It’s indeed just as you said: no one can ever fully understand another person’s experiences.”
Su Yi chuckled. “It’s not a competition of who suffered worse. Never mind all that.”
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye fell briefly silent, hesitated, then said, “There’s something I’d like to ask. Did you know right from the start that I’d try to stop you from acquiring the Flame of Supreme Emergence?”
There was no doubt about it. The answer to this was highly important to him.
“I started to suspect it when I reached Sundial City and you asked me to spar with your disciple,” said Su Yi.
“Why?” Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye frowned. “I wanted two potential Bringers of Order to compete in their mastery of the Grand Dao. Isn’t that perfectly normal?”
“It’s precisely because it’s so normal that it seemed so out of place,” said Su Yi. “After all, compared to something like contemplating the Flame of Supreme Emergence, a mere spar should have been trivial.
“Yet you seemed so fixated on it, and it was even the first of your requests. In your shoes, even if I wanted to make my disciple spar, I wouldn’t have chosen to do so at such a critical juncture.”
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye laughed bitterly. “It’s true. When you put it that way, it seems obvious that I was up to something.”
“It makes perfect sense that you’d want to see us spar,” said Su Yi. “After all, you learned a bit about me from the Mountain Guardian. You must have figured that my power of reincarnation was an unpredictable variable. Thus, you wanted to borrow your disciple’s hands to get a good look at the mysteries of reincarnation and figure out how best to counter them.”
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye sighed. “It’s a pity, but the disparity between you and that disciple of mine was too great. Ultimately, she couldn’t force you to reveal your power of reincarnation.”
A moment later, he said, “You’re saying that you knew then and there that I would intervene?”
Su Yi shook his head once more. “No. As insidious as the Mountain Guardian can be, I trust him, especially since he made arrangements to help me escape the Celestial Capital. You worked with the Mountain Guardian and sent your two disciples to my aid. Thus, I wasn’t overly on guard against you.”
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye was stunned. “What gave it away, then?”
Su Yi took a sip of wine. “I’m afraid that if I tell you, you’ll hold a grudge.”
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye fell briefly silent, then seemed to realize something. “It’s because of what that girl Hong Li said to you!”
Su Yi didn’t deny it.
Just as he’d been about to enter Sundial City, the young woman he’d only just defeated had called out to him. At the time, Su Yi found it strange. He’d asked her, “Is something wrong?”
But in the end, Hong Li just shook her head and said, “There’s nothing wrong, just… be careful.”
It might have seemed like she was warning Su Yi about the dangers of Sundial City, but Su Yi had only just heard about the city’s perils from her master. Hong Li’s warning thus seemed a bit extraneous.
Furthermore, she’d only just lost to him, yet here she was, warning him to be careful. This was out of the ordinary. It might have seemed inadvertent and trivial, and most people would have disregarded it.
But it was this very detail that had told Su Yi that something wasn’t quite right about his trip to Sundial City.
And the outcome proved that this warning had indeed played a crucial role! It was thanks to this warning that he noticed all the strangeness of the twelve hidden realms manifested by the Blazing Sundial.
As the strange details piled up, Su Yi finally concluded that the biggest danger in Sundial City wasn’t the city itself. Rather, it was Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye!
“That girl, Hong Li, really is a clever one. I didn’t say so much as a single word to her about my plans to interfere with your challenge, but… it seems she figured it out.” Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye looked gratified. “To tell the truth, I not only don’t hold a grudge over this, but I actually feel relieved. I trust that even without my protection, she won’t suffer too badly.”
It was obvious that he loved his disciple from the bottom of his heart. There was no concealing the doting affection in his eyes when he spoke of her.
Su Yi smiled. “Everyone has their own path to walk. Miss Hong Li has hope of one day becoming a Bringer of Order, and her future attainments in the Grand Dao are immeasurable.”
Su Yi paused, and his smile faded. “There’s still one thing I don’t understand.”
“Go ahead and ask, Fellow Daoist.”
“Why didn’t you seize the opportunity to strike while I was still trapped in the endless darkness?” asked Su Yi.
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye smiled, but his smile was a bit complicated. “The Flame of Supreme Emergence is strong enough to counter the Whip of Supreme Emergence. That’s why you couldn’t use its power then.
“I really did want to attack you then, but I couldn’t.”
He sighed. “It’s not that I couldn’t bear to hurt you, or that I had other reservations, and it’s not because I was afraid to die. Rather…”
He gazed intently at Su Yi. “You just never gave me the opportunity! I’ve never seen someone with a mind so staunch and unyielding. I couldn’t find even the slightest opening to exploit!
“Given the circumstances, I might have been able to kill you, but I couldn’t get what I really wanted.”
Su Yi’s eyebrows rose. “You… wanted to possess me?”
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye said forthrightly, “That’s right. My physical body was destroyed a long time ago, and after the Cataclysm of Supreme Emergence, my last remaining wisp of soul had no choice but to fuse with the source power of the Blazing Sundial. That’s why I could appear as each of the twelve Realm Guardians in my attempt to hold you back.
“However, this also means that my soul is completely trapped within the Blazing Sundial.
“In other words, I’m now effectively no different from the sundial’s artifact spirit. Even when the Dark Days of Legend arrive, I have no hope of breaking free or recovering my past cultivation base.
“But had I managed to seize this opportunity to possess you, I could have used your power of reincarnation and the Whip of Supreme Emergence to break free of the Blazing Sundial!
“That aside, I could have used your body to step onto the path you seek and become… a Bringer of Order!”
Here, he let out a deep sigh, his gaze bleak. “Only now have I realized that this path won’t work!
“Even if you had given me an opening to exploit, you could have used the power of reincarnation to resolve the situation with ease.”
Only now did Su Yi realize just how dangerous and terrifying his position had been.
But after giving it a moment’s thought, he couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. “You should consider yourself lucky that you didn’t find the opportunity you were after. If you have, this last wisp of your soul would have been destroyed already.”
Others had tried to possess Su Yi before, but without exception, all of them had died grisly deaths.
This was because the key to a possession lay in seizing another’s awareness and controlling their soul.
And Su Yi’s sea of consciousness… was protected by the Sword of the Nine Hells! Anyone who tried to possess him would die, no matter their cultivation base.
Celestial Venerate Zhou Ye’s gaze focused. He understood what Su YI was saying.
He didn’t know about the Sword of the Nine Hells, but he could guess that Su Yi had a killer weapon that could counter others’ attempts at possession!