Chapter 169: The Shattered Road to Heaven, a Heart Riddled with Holes
Chapter 169 – The Shattered Road to Heaven, a Heart Riddled with Holes
Chen Changsheng departed. He and Little Black once again set their feet upon the Road to Heaven.
In the third year, a figure blocked Chen Changsheng’s path.
Gazing at the silhouette before him, a bitter smile spread across Chen Changsheng’s face.
“Come now, must we do this?”
“You have all left. What am I supposed to do?”
Faced with Chen Changsheng’s forced banter, Wan Yan Yue, who stood barring his way, offered him a sideways glance and spoke calmly.
“Those who were destined to die have already perished, and those who remain alive are living well.”
“Your purpose here is fulfilled. You should turn back.”
Hearing Wan Yan Yue’s words, Chen Changsheng chuckled softly. “Do not be in such a rush to chase me away.”
“I still have many questions for you. Did something happen to the two girls?”
“They suffered grievous injuries. Wu Li arranged for someone to escort them away.”
“Who?”
“Your little lover, Li Niansheng.”
“Sigh!”
“Do not spout such nonsense. She is my sworn sister.”
In response to Chen Changsheng’s feeble defense, Wan Yan Yue cast him another sidelong glance.
“Do you share blood?”
“No.”
“Then she is your little lover.”
Chen Changsheng: “…”
Faced with Wan Yan Yue’s unyielding stubbornness, Chen Changsheng found himself entirely speechless.
Resigning himself with a sigh, Chen Changsheng withdrew a meticulously crafted coffin and spoke.
“Since fate allowed us to cross paths, take a look at the casket I have prepared for you. Is it to your liking?”
Observing the coffin Chen Changsheng presented, Wan Yan Yue took a few slow steps forward, her fingers gently tracing the grain of the wood.
After a long silence, the corner of her lips tilted upward. “I like it very much.”
With that, Wan Yan Yue pushed open the lid and lay down within.
“Help me arrange my appearance. I wish to depart in my most beautiful state.”
“Furthermore, this wisp of my Divine Sense will completely dissipate shortly. If there is anything you truly wish to know, you must seize the time.”
Listening to the tranquil acceptance in Wan Yan Yue’s tone, Chen Changsheng pressed his lips into a thin line, then withdrew his tools and began to delicately apply her makeup.
One man bowed his head, his hands working with practiced reverence; one woman lay still, her eyes quietly drinking in his features.
In this fleeting moment, time seemed to crystalize into eternity.
“Do you still care for me?”
Chen Changsheng asked quietly as he carefully outlined her eyebrows.
“I have long forgotten what it feels like to care for someone.”
“Then why do I still linger in your heart?”
“Because a person is forever imprisoned by the desires they could not grasp in their youth. I will spend eternity remembering the bastard who dared to shave the wolf-fur from the crown of my head.”
At those words, Chen Changsheng’s hand faltered for a fraction of a second before smoothly resuming its gentle strokes.
“Can Wu Li succeed?”
“It is highly improbable.”
“Countless eyes are fixed upon the Lower Realm. For him to attempt to unfold a realm that has been deliberately sealed… it is tantamount to declaring war on everyone.”
“If he desires victory, he will need to attempt it again.”
As Wan Yan Yue spoke her final warning, Chen Changsheng set down his brush. Her makeup was complete.
Gazing at Wan Yan Yue’s breathtakingly exquisite face, Chen Changsheng offered a soft smile. “My craftsmanship grows more refined with each passing era. This is the most flawless work I have done in several millennia.”
Staring up at the man beside her, a sudden, unfamiliar sting pricked at the corners of Wan Yan Yue’s usually unyielding eyes.
She had fought with every ounce of her strength, yet, in the end, she had still failed to walk ahead of him.
“Could you hold me? I do not wish to face the dark alone.”
Startled by Wan Yan Yue’s sudden vulnerability, Chen Changsheng leaned back slightly, his eyes wide in exaggerated shock.
“Absolutely not!”
“I am still a pure, unmarried young man! If I am caught inexplicably embracing a peerless beauty such as yourself, how will I ever find a respectable wife in the future?”
Seeing Chen Changsheng’s ridiculous posturing, a weak laugh escaped Wan Yan Yue’s lips.
“If you cannot find one, then so be it!”
“At worst, I will simply be your wife.”
“That is even more unacceptable! You are a wolf, and I am human. Any children we bear would be howling at the moon!”
Though Chen Changsheng’s mouth vehemently refused, his arms reached down, gently lifting Wan Yan Yue from the cold confines of the coffin and cradling her against his chest.
Raising a trembling hand to softly trace the lines of his face, Wan Yan Yue whispered into the silence.
“Will the image of me you hold in your heart eventually be washed away by the river of time?”
“It will.”
“Then… will you forget me entirely?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“You can smash a stone with a hammer. You can even grind it down into the finest dust.”
“But no matter how violently you strike it, you can only fracture it into smaller pieces. You can never force it to completely cease to exist.”
Hearing Chen Changsheng’s answer, a tremor ran through Wan Yan Yue’s lips.
“But if that is true… you will endure unimaginable suffering.”
“The world claims there is nothing smaller than the tip of a needle.”
“Even if the space your fallen friends occupy in your heart is crushed until it is a million times smaller than that needle’s point…”
“…as the eons flow past, your heart will eventually become riddled with an infinite number of holes. For the sake of the dead, it simply isn’t worth it!”
Realizing she was desperately trying to spare him future pain, Chen Changsheng smiled faintly.
“The moment I chose to walk this path, my heart was destined to be riddled with holes.”
“Though immortality is a grand concept, there are moments when it blurs the very boundary between life and death.”
“The agonizing sting of a breaking heart… it is the only thing that constantly reminds me I am still alive.”
Chen Changsheng spoke in a slow, measured cadence, while the weight of Wan Yan Yue in his arms grew impossibly light.
“Help me shed this form. I wish to be held by you as a wolf, just as I was back then.”
Acceding to her final request, Chen Changsheng channeled a wisp of pure spiritual power, aiding the fading Wan Yan Yue as her body shimmered and collapsed into the form of a small, snow-white wolf.
Gazing down at the creature nestled in his embrace, Chen Changsheng gently stroked her silken fur, his touch echoing the memories of a distant past.
Wan Yan Yue weakly parted her jaws, attempting to nip at his fingers just as she had done in her youth.
But the strength had abandoned her. She could not even manage to close her teeth.
Hovering on the absolute edge of oblivion, Wan Yan Yue murmured her final words. “Though Heaven’s Mandate possesses heaven-shaking power… there are times when it becomes the greatest shackle.”
“This Road to Heaven… it is actually the physical manifestation of Wu Li’s Heaven’s Mandate.”
“If the Road to Heaven shatters, then Wu Li’s Mandate is equally broken. Too many ancient entities are weaving grand conspiracies around the Lower Realm. You must tread carefully.”
“The true secrets of the Heaven’s Mandate run far deeper than anyone realizes. From here on out, you must unravel them yourself.”
With the last syllable exhaled, the little white wolf in Chen Changsheng’s arms slowly closed her eyes for the final time.
Confronted with the heavy silence of death, Chen Changsheng’s face betrayed absolutely no emotion. He merely sat in the void, methodically stroking the cooling fur of the little white wolf.
After an indeterminate age had passed, Chen Changsheng reverently placed her small body back into the waiting coffin.
However, the very instant the casket was sealed away, a violent tremor seized the entirety of the Road to Heaven.
Boom!
The boundless white void surrounding them detonated in a cataclysmic explosion. The ancient stones of the Road to Heaven beneath Chen Changsheng’s feet instantaneously disintegrated into dust.
With the foundation of the cosmic path obliterated, both Chen Changsheng and White Marsh were plunged into a terrifying, uncontrolled freefall.
Reacting with lightning speed, Chen Changsheng summoned the massive stone coffin, shoving White Marsh inside before hoisting the immense weight onto his own back and violently igniting his Qi to fly against the crushing gravity.
He did not know what bizarre domain they had fallen into, but the atmospheric pressure bearing down upon any cultivator attempting to take flight was absolutely astronomical.
Fortunately, Chen Changsheng’s foundation was profound beyond measure. By pushing his cultivation to its absolute limits, he barely managed to stabilize his descent.
As the blinding white debris of the shattered space finally cleared, a battlefield of apocalyptic proportions was laid bare before Chen Changsheng’s eyes.
There stood Zuo Xinghe, bathed in an ocean of his own blood, violently drawing upon the power of the stars to fight a desperate, losing war.
Yet, his current state was gruesome beyond words. His legs had been entirely obliterated from the knees down, and half of his chest cavity had been blown open, exposing a ruined heart.
Miraculously, the remaining half of that heart was still fiercely, stubbornly beating.
Boom!
A concussive shockwave far exceeding the first ripped through the dark expanse, as a figure was brutally launched out from the shadowy depths by an unimaginable force.
Focusing his Divine Sense, Chen Changsheng recognized the battered silhouette. It was none other than the Desolate Heavenly Emperor, Wu Li.