Chapter 1485: Am I Not Also a Piece of Rotten Wood?

The inner demon's words sent Kong Ru into deep thought.

He did not question the source of the inner demon's confidence.

Since he had dared to come here alone, he had already planned for everything. Whether he lived or died, what was meant to happen would still happen.

The inner demon tapped lightly on the table and smiled. "Why must the Literary Dao stubbornly resist? A new world and new rules—wouldn't that be interesting?"

Kong Ru shook his head. "The Buddhist Dao wagers on the future, and the Mysterious Gate rests on the present. My Literary Dao naturally has its own choices to make. However, it is not the place of a petty inner demon like you to wreak havoc upon this world. Even if you wore tens of thousands of faces, this old man would still recognize you. You were formed from the inner demon of that devil of the past, Zhao Yuqing. You are neither human nor demon, ghost nor immortal. To put it bluntly, you are nothing at all."

"You are nothing more than a single thought, yet you shamelessly boast of seizing the world. Is that not utterly ridiculous?"

The inner demon's expression remained unchanged. "So what if I am a thought? Do all things in this world not stem from a single thought? Would you, Kong Ru, truly not understand just how immense a change a single thought can bring?"

"Heh heh heh..."

"A thought is the beginning of everything. It is the cause that later bears fruit."

"What does it matter if I am nothing? Simply planting this cause is enough!"

The inner demon stood up and waved his hand. "Think it over carefully, old man. Your Literary Dao no longer has the qualifications to place a single game piece on this chessboard of Heaven and Earth."

"Even if I am a game piece, are you not one as well?"

The inner demon waved his hand and left the Purple Bamboo Grove.

Kong Ru watched his departing figure. After a brief hesitation, he fell back into heavy thought.

He had never believed he could escape this chessboard, but hearing those words spoken aloud still left him feeling somewhat unsettled.

"Among all living beings, who isn't a game piece..."

Kong Ru took a deep breath and paced out of the house. He had his own choices to make, and his own Cultivation to pursue.

...

Down in the Mortal World, Yun Hengzi tended to the vast rice paddies. In the blink of an eye, an untold number of years had passed.

The original bamboo hut had been renovated countless times.

He sat on a terraced ridge in the fields, gazing at the distant sunset. Raising a hand, he divined the shifts in the world's qi destiny.

"The great momentum has arrived..."

Yun Hengzi muttered to himself, "Does the destiny truly still lie with the Immortal Realm?"

He could not help but sigh softly. It was a pity he had lost so early on. But the luck of this world was always like this—once missed, it was missed, leaving no room for regret.

He stood up and patted the dust off his clothes, but his figure seemed to have hunched over through the long passage of time.

Looking up, he was suddenly taken aback.

Someone had already been waiting before the bamboo hut for a long time.

Chen Changsheng raised a teacup and looked at him.

A smile surfaced on Yun Hengzi's lips as he walked forward.

"Has fellow Daoist been well lately?" Chen Changsheng asked.

"Passable."

Yun Hengzi said, "After severing my obsessions, my thoughts have become clear. Hiding away in the mortal realm, accompanied by the clear breeze and feeding on the five grains, it is quite a pleasant life."

He sat down and asked, "The great momentum of the world has suddenly shifted recently, yet fellow Daoist still has the leisure to come here and drink tea with me. How strange."

Chen Changsheng said, "This Chen is merely a spectator, so I naturally have plenty of free time."

"A spectator?"

Yun Hengzi was somewhat surprised. "Fellow Daoist is a spectator? I thought you were always someone outside the chessboard."

Chen Changsheng shook his head and said, "This Chen is just a dead game piece that cannot be moved."

Hearing this description, Yun Hengzi froze for a moment. This truly took him by surprise.

A single sentence from Chen Changsheng pulled his thoughts back.

"We are both outsiders now. Sit down and have some tea."

As the tea was poured, Yun Hengzi shook his head with a smile and said, "Yes, outsiders. Only outsiders can be truly free. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that at all? Haha..."

"Drink your tea, drink your tea."

Chatting idly among the fields, they enjoyed the carefree nature of the moment. All past affairs drifted away with the clear breeze and bright moon.

This was also the only way Chen Changsheng could pass the time. He truly had no friends left here.

Stopping and going, meeting old faces, wandering around.

Taking advantage of the remaining opportunities to catch up, he would visit and look around, ensuring he left no regrets.

"Speaking of which, This Chen has always been very curious about your current age, fellow Daoist."

Yun Hengzi smiled. "Take a guess."

Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and said, "Over a thousand years?"

Yun Hengzi nodded slightly. "Close enough. Over one thousand three hundred years."

"However, ordinary cultivators do not possess such a long Lifespan; most live for around five hundred years. I only managed to endure such a long time because I sealed myself away to escape the passage of time. In reality, I haven't lived many more days than them."

"And now..."

Yun Hengzi looked up and smiled. "Naturally, I am about to die. If I wasn't about to die, I wouldn't have been in such a hurry to come out."

"That makes sense," Chen Changsheng murmured. "What a pity..."

Yun Hengzi shook his head. "The destiny was not mine. It couldn't be helped. Once missed, it was missed. But thinking about it, I have nothing to regret. At the very least, I get to enjoy a happy twilight to my years, rather than toiling endlessly for my whole life."

Coming back to his senses, he turned to look at Chen Changsheng and asked, "What about you, fellow Daoist? What is your age?"

Asked this question, Chen Changsheng suddenly froze.

He shook his head and said, "I can't remember clearly. I only know that I am from the Tianshun era of the Old Capital."

"When was that?" Yun Hengzi asked.

Chen Changsheng froze for a moment upon hearing this, then offered a helpless smile.

That era had long since been forgotten by the world.

After all, so many years had passed.

Yun Hengzi raised his hand to calculate, but suddenly paused and said, "Fellow Daoist is still quite young."

"Young?"

"Yes."

Yun Hengzi found it somewhat strange. His calculations showed it had only been a few hundred years, yet the person before him gave off an aura of decay, like a piece of rotten wood.

"It seems fellow Daoist has been plagued by obsessions for a long time."

Hearing this, Chen Changsheng paused for a moment and said, "In my early years, This Chen heard people say that a cultivator like me practices the Dao of Red Dust."

"No wonder..."

Yun Hengzi pursed his lips, finally understanding the situation.

If it was the Dao of Red Dust, then his current state was actually not strange at all.

To put it bluntly, the Dao of Red Dust required one to use this mundane Red Dust to polish their temperament. It emphasized the refinement of the mind and body. Once this Dao was mastered, all methods would be mastered as well.

But if one could not master it, they would likely be trapped to death here, eventually reduced to a state of total decay, just like a piece of rotten wood.

Yun Hengzi shook his head helplessly, but he could not help murmuring in his heart.

'Am I not also a piece of rotten wood?'