Chapter 192: The Final Chance, Chen Shisan I Want Some Buns
Chapter 192 – The Final Chance, Chen Shisan I Want Some Buns
Xuan Xin offered a rare word of praise before pressing the issue.
“My second question. What of this candidate you have chosen?”
“Don’t tell me you unearthed a monstrous genius even more formidable than Wu Li.”
Chen Changsheng did not answer immediately.
After a breath or two of silence, he spoke softly. “His talent is abysmal. He cannot even compare to Wu Li’s little finger.”
“But he possesses a stubbornness that borders on madness. Nine bulls could not drag him off his chosen path.”
“He loved a girl. For her sake, he was willing to throw away his life, to discard absolutely everything.”
“Yet, when this very girl told him to forget her and start anew, he did exactly that.”
“He refuses to bow to emotion, refuses to yield to external forces, and refuses to submit to fate.”
“Once he sets foot on a path, he will walk it with terrifying conviction. His sheer stubbornness is almost infuriating.”
“Fuck!”
Hearing Chen Changsheng’s description, Xuan Xin spat out a curse, entirely losing his composure.
Chen Changsheng shot him a sideways glance. “You are still nominally a monk. Could you refrain from spewing such vulgarities?”
“So I cursed, what of it? It is no big deal.”
“As an outcast of the Buddhist path, do you think I care about the precepts of speech?”
“Still, this candidate of yours sounds fascinating. However, someone with a disposition like that is destined for a life of profound suffering.”
“Indeed,” Chen Changsheng agreed calmly. “His future will be exceptionally bitter.”
“Especially now that our paths have crossed. His suffering will multiply exponentially.”
“To truly tread the Road to Heaven, he must carve away many pieces of himself.”
“It will be akin to a man, fully awake and lucid, slicing the flesh from his own bones, one strip at a time.”
“You are a monster.”
“I am inclined to agree.”
With those words, a heavy silence descended between the two ancient entities.
After a long while, Xuan Xin spoke. “If there is any alternative, let the boy go.”
“For a destiny to earn the word ‘bitter’ from your lips… I cannot fathom the soul-crushing despair awaiting him.”
“I share your sentiment. That is precisely why I have granted him one final chance.”
“His next trial will be to brave the Northern Desert on his own. If he fails, he will be spared this bitter destiny.”
“I should also mention, he has yet to even pry open his Fountain. He is, for all intents and purposes, a mortal.”
“And his two companions are merely little fledglings in the Paramita realm.”
Xuan Xin clicked his tongue. “Then they are walking straight to their graves. The Buddhist domains of the Northern Desert are an impenetrable fortress.”
“It is certainly not a place for mere fledglings to trespass.”
“Logically, yes. But I believe he will succeed.”
“He is a man practically forged to manifest miracles. And to conquer the Road to Heaven, I require a miracle-worker.”
“Hah!”
Xuan Xin chuckled lightly. “What a maddening paradox.”
“Your foresight, Chen Changsheng, is infallible. Therefore, they are destined to succeed. Which means this boy you have chosen cannot escape the chains of fate.”
“Yet, a miracle is defined by the very act of shattering fate’s chains.”
“Do you think he can forge a third option?”
“I do not know. If I could predict it, it wouldn’t be much of a miracle.”
Leaving those words behind, Chen Changsheng’s figure dissolved into the wind, leaving only the blind monk standing in place with a faint smile.
Middle Heavens.
Working together, the trio returned Jiang Feng’s heavy coffin to the earth.
Qian Baoer retreated to a secluded corner to stare blankly into the distance, needing silence to properly digest the world-shaking revelations she had just absorbed.
Meanwhile, Chen Shisan, having just successfully sworn himself as a disciple, sat calmly on the slope of the hill, meticulously wiping the grime from two treasured swords.
Observing Shisan’s unshakeable calm, Tian Xuan pondered for a moment before taking a seat beside him.
“Where do we go from here?”
“I plan to head a bit further up the road and eat some steamed buns.”
Faced with this absurdly pragmatic answer, Tian Xuan forced a helpless smile.
“You misunderstand me. I am asking how we should proceed with our destinies.”
“What is the ultimate purpose behind walking this perilous path?”
“To head a bit further up the road and eat some steamed buns.”
The answer was identical, delivered with the exact same breezy, indifferent tone.
Only this time, Chen Shisan paused his blade-wiping and looked up at the demon youth.
The gazes of the two boys met. Tian Xuan’s eyes were clouded with the crushing weight of a thousand complex burdens, while Chen Shisan’s gaze remained flawlessly clear.
After a long pause, Tian Xuan withdrew his gaze and chuckled. “Are the buns up ahead that good?”
“Delicious. They are stuffed with meat.”
“Then we had better set off. Suddenly, I find myself craving a hot meal.”
Hearing this, Chen Shisan immediately stood, ready to depart.
“Wait!”
Tian Xuan, still seated on the grass, ultimately called out to stop him.
Staring at this human youth—the same age as himself, yet possessing such an unburdened gaze—Tian Xuan voiced his deepest confusion.
“Mister chose you, and he chose me.”
“We are marching toward an abyss of unimaginable trials. Why do you never spare a thought for the future?”
“Or rather, have you truly never considered the grand meaning behind our actions?”
Chen Shisan met his gaze and spoke with absolute serenity. “The world has never required so many complicated ‘whys’.”
“I cannot see what the future holds. I only know that if I don’t eat those buns right now, I will inevitably regret it later.”
“To bite into a steaming meat bun, to wander across towering mountains and vast lakes, to draw my sword in service of Mister.”
“These are the things I desire to do. I have never once calculated what benefits they might bring me, nor will I ever regret the blood and sweat I bleed to achieve them.”
“Perhaps this path will break my bones, but it is the path I have chosen.”
“My desire to walk it—that alone is the meaning!”
Tian Xuan sat entirely frozen.
He never expected to hear such deafening, Dao-resonating words from a human boy with famously pathetic aptitude.
Tian Xuan carried an ocean of blood debt, yet he was forced to align with his sworn enemies just to ensure the meager survival of his race.
Countless nights, Tian Xuan tortured himself with the same question: was there any meaning to this humiliation?
Was this truly his sole purpose for drawing breath?
Yet, Chen Shisan’s brutally simple philosophy severed the mental chains that had been choking him.
Yes!
To live in this world, one merely needed to pursue their own convictions. Why drown in the illusory depths of so-called ‘meaning’?
No one could predict the tides of tomorrow. The only true victory was ensuring that one’s future self did not rot in regret over unmade choices.
A traitor to his kind? A demonic sympathizer?
Let the world spit its venom. Right now, he only desired one thing: for his clan to survive, for the demon race to endure.
A heavy weight evaporated from Tian Xuan’s shoulders. He stood up with a bright laugh and threw his arm around Chen Shisan’s shoulder.
“Brother Thirteen, your words are like a bucket of icy water over a drunken man’s head! Pure enlightenment!”
“But I must admit my curiosity. How on earth did Mister convince you to follow him? Given your unique temperament, I imagine even he found you to be quite the headache.”
Unfazed by Tian Xuan’s sudden enthusiasm, Chen Shisan replied flatly. “I am not well-read. Stop using so many fancy idioms; they go right over my head.”
“And Mister never persuaded me. I simply chose to believe in him.”
“Oh?”
“What grand gesture did Mister perform to win the absolute trust of a mule as stubborn as you?”
“He waited for me in a small, forgotten town for five years, and he spent those five years trying to talk sense into me.”
“So, I chose to place my faith in him.”
“Is there anything else?”
In response to Tian Xuan’s inquiry, Chen Shisan tilted his head in thought, then said.
“He also gave me an egg.”
“You sold your life over a single egg?”
“Just because of an egg!”
As he spoke, Chen Shisan reached into his robes, retrieved two boiled eggs, and held them out.
“Do you want one?”
Tian Xuan: “…”
“I am of the Xuan Bird lineage. My entire race reproduces via eggs. Offering me a boiled egg borders on a blood insult, don’t you think?”
“So… do you want one or not?”
Tian Xuan: “…”
“Give me the bigger one.”