Chapter 64: Wizard’s Heart

Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Wizard’s Heart

The scale swung violently. The needle veered from the center toward the side of truth, swinging back and forth like a bird trapped in a cage, desperately fluttering its wings.

Then, a streak of white light shot out from Chen Shang’s body and landed on the scale, weighing down the side holding his heart. The scale sank heavily and finally steadied.

The boat fare was enough.

Chen Shang’s body began to fade. Watching the thick fog on the shore grow more distant, he opened his Golden Finger to see if he could trigger an entry.

But the immediate feedback left him drenched in cold sweat.

The panel wouldn’t open, he couldn’t sense any entries, and the interface had completely vanished.

"Is this the price for weighing the truth?" Chen Shang recalled the white light from earlier. He immediately shook his head. "Impossible. This is just a dream. At most, it’s temporarily blocking my connection to the Golden Finger."

He took a deep breath to steady himself, repeatedly telling his mind that this was merely a nightmare and the disconnection was only temporary.

However, another thought slithered up from the depths of his heart like a venomous snake, impossible to suppress.

If—just if—he truly lost his Golden Finger, could he still walk the path of a Wizard?

He didn’t want to answer the question, but he couldn’t stop his mind from racing.

From the moment he stepped into the Wizard System until now, nearly all of his achievements had revolved around his Golden Finger.

Ben Bo’Erba, Huluwa, Zhong Kui... all of them were dismantled from its entries. His Rune Arrays and Mechanical Design Thoughts were practically ready-made, and most importantly, his breakthrough of the Spiritual Power threshold was inextricably linked to the Golden Finger.

His senior sister had praised him as a genius in Biological Runes, but only he knew that his understanding of the subject was strictly limited to the mythological creatures he had activated.

As for the others—the Elemental System, Bloodline System, Mechanical System, Secret Medicine System, and Soul System—he had merely dabbled in them.

He hadn’t even concocted a single bottle of Secret Medicine!

Without his Golden Finger, could he have taken first place in the Apprentice assessment? The answer was a resounding no.

Chen Shang’s thoughts were a tangled mess. He didn’t want to face these questions. He gasped for air, panting heavily like a fish thrown ashore.

The frigid mist flooded his lungs, carrying a sickly, rotting sweetness.

Then, he let out a bitter chuckle. "Is my nightmare... that I never walked the path of a Wizard... and just slowly rot away in the castle at Black Crow Ridge?"

"Hey, brat! Stop dazing and get to work! Otherwise, you’ll be in for it when the Divine King arrives!" a gruff voice boomed, interrupting his thoughts.

He looked up. Before him lay an ash-black gravel path, flanked by low, withered grass that stretched all the way up a towering mountain.

At the foot of the mountain crouched a massive, shadowy figure—the Three-headed Dog Cerberus.

Its three heads drooped, six eyes half-open and half-closed. Mud and dried blood stained its pitch-black fur, while a tail resembling a thick python swept lazily across the ground.

"Stop dazing, brat! Carry out your punishment at once!" the massive voice thundered.

Chen Shang noticed the colossal, round boulder at the mountain’s base and naturally understood that this was the punishment faced by Sisyphus.

Push the boulder up the mountain, watch it roll back down, push it back up, and watch it fall again. An eternal cycle of repetition, never reaching the summit.

Of course, this was now his nightmare, too.

In truth, Chen Shang desperately wanted to escape this nightmare immediately—not because of the boulder, but because of a question he couldn’t bear to confront.

Without his Golden Finger, was he still a qualified Cultivator of the Wizard path?

The only reason Chen Shang pushed on was a lingering conviction: Ella had said that the longer one persevered, the better the Spiritual Power Crystallization effect would be.

He walked up to the boulder and pressed his hands against the freezing rock. Its surface was as rough as sandpaper. Bending down, he dug his shoulder into the stone and shoved with all his might.

The boulder shifted slightly, like a colossal beast jolted from its slumber.

Gritting his teeth, Chen Shang inched forward step by step. The gravel ground dug into his feet, his knees trembled under the strain, and his shoulder burned from the relentless friction.

Yet, this physical agony strangely liberated him. He was terrified that if he stopped, he wouldn’t be able to hold back the intrusive thoughts—questions about his Golden Finger, about himself, and the dreaded "what ifs."

Behind him, Cerberus’s three heads let out a synchronized yawn before the beast lay back down to resume its nap.

Fog surged up from the base of the mountain, swallowing Chen Shang’s silhouette piece by piece.

...

Chen Shang pushed the boulder up the slope, sliding half a step backward for every full step he took. Sweat dripped from his forehead, splattering against the black grit.

He used the grueling labor to block out the vexing thoughts plaguing his mind. Refusing to answer those internal questions, he poured every ounce of his focus into the stone.

Chen Shang firmly remembered Ella’s first rule: the longer he persisted, the better the crystallization effect. However, he had forgotten the second rule: to accept failure with a peaceful mind.

Three and a half hourglasses of time passed. He was nearing the summit. The peak’s outline faintly materialized through the thick fog, seemingly close enough to touch.

But unsurprisingly, the boulder slipped from his grasp and plummeted down the slope.

Watching the massive stone shrink in the distance, a crushing wave of disappointment surged over him—threatening to drown him entirely despite his mental preparation.

Dreams amplified emotions; he had no control over it.

After a brief moment of silence, he trekked back down to continue the agonizing ordeal. A second time, a third, a fourth...

There was no death in the Netherworld. But hunger, exhaustion, struggle, and despair closed in on him little by little.

He had lost count of how many times the boulder had fallen. Ten? Twenty? A hundred? His physical body grew weaker by the minute, but his heart became increasingly tranquil.

He didn’t know when the maddening thoughts had faded away, replaced by a strange serenity—a stillness as profound as the darkest night.

He no longer thought about his Golden Finger. He just pushed the boulder.

Suddenly, the dense fog split apart. Light poured through the rift and coalesced into a humanoid figure—Hades, King of the Netherworld. His voice echoed across the realm.

"If you concede defeat, I shall grant you pardon."

Chen Shang ignored Him, continuing to push his boulder.

An unknown amount of time passed—so long that Chen Shang nearly forgot he was in a dream. His consciousness shrank into a minuscule speck, like a seed buried deep in the soil.

Then, a sphere of light cascaded from even higher above. Brighter and more blinding than before, it materialized into an even taller and grander figure—Zeus.

His eyes were two blazing stars, and His voice thundered like collapsing heavens, carrying the sheer weight of the world.

"If you concede defeat, I can pardon you."

Chen Shang stopped in his tracks, letting the boulder RUMBLE down the mountain.

He didn’t spare the stone a single glance. Instead, he slowly straightened his back, stretching his stiff limbs before speaking in a hoarse voice.

"When I first arrived here, I was lost and furious. Why? On what grounds was I thrown into such a chaotic world?

"That’s why I left home when I was young. I claimed to have spent over a decade exploring the true profoundness of Cultivation, but in reality, I just didn’t want to face certain truths.

"I don’t know where the end of my life lies. But fortunately, I’ve found this path."

He raised his head, his gaze placid. "Becoming a Wizard is the absolute joy of my life."

Golden light spilled over Chen Shang, illuminating the grime of sweat and blood smeared across his face.

"What is a Wizard? Is it someone who carries a giant boulder along a path with no end in sight?

"I don’t think so. I believe a Wizard is like a child splashing their boundless creativity onto a canvas, using knowledge to pry open the rules of the Endless Star Sea. I arrive, I explore, I understand.

"I am grateful for this nightmare. It forced me to quiet down, allowing self-confrontation and self-examination, letting reason and wisdom take root.

"I can gradually use serenity to calmly and firmly accept what I cannot change, and use courage to do everything in my power to alter what I can."

Chen Shang pointed at his own chest. "I can tell you explicitly that I face myself honestly every single day, without an ounce of shame and in complete tranquility. No matter what accidents may happen, I will not waver or hesitate on this path—even if I completely perish one day.

"Zeus, I have found my boulder," Chen Shang said softly.

The next moment, the dream shattered.