Chapter 56: The Ancient Moon Shines on the People of Today, The Wrath from the Thunder Clan
Chapter 56 – The Ancient Moon Shines on the People of Today, The Wrath from the Thunder Clan
Soon, A’Li gathered the entirety of the Wu Clan.
They stared at the mountain of butchered flesh piled before them, their eyes wide with shock.
Seeing this, Chen Changsheng offered a faint smile. “The flesh of the Thunder Beast is a rare delicacy. Please, partake of it quickly.”
“However, I must warn you. Beasts possess an incredibly sharp sense of smell.”
“Once you consume the flesh of a Thunder Beast, its kin will undoubtedly catch your scent.”
“In other words, once you take this step, the path behind you crumbles.”
He swept his gaze across the gathered Wu Clan, his smile never fading.
Ten years was a heavy span of time for mortal men.
Long enough to erode their original convictions.
Slaughtering the Thunder Clan was no trivial matter. Chen Changsheng cared little if he walked this path alone, but he would absolutely not tolerate a knife in his back at the final hour.
Hearing these words, Patriarch Gu Li instantly comprehended the weight of the decree.
Without a breath of hesitation, Gu Li barked, “What are you waiting for? Stoke the fires and roast the flesh!”
“This is a profound gift from the God Messenger.”
Spurred by their patriarch, the Wu Clan mobilized as one.
Witnessing their choice, Chen Changsheng nodded faintly, turned on his heel, and walked away from the cave.
Atop the mountain peak.
Chen Changsheng sat alone upon a desolate boulder, his gaze fixed on the bright moon hanging in the night sky.
A soft rustle announced A-Man’s arrival. She approached holding a tender cut of meat wrapped in pristine broadleaves.
“Brother Changsheng, try this. I just roasted it over the fire.”
Chen Changsheng chuckled, accepting the offering. “At least our A-Man has a conscience. Unlike that scoundrel A’Li.”
“When he finds a treasure, he only thinks to gorge himself.”
Offering her a gentle praise, Chen Changsheng ate the meat with slow, methodical bites.
A-Man rested her chin upon her cupped hands, her eyes glowing with quiet joy as she watched him.
“Brother Changsheng, once the Thunder Beast matter is laid to rest, where will you go?”
“I will leave these mountains. I must return to the work I have always done.”
Although she had long expected this answer, a profound pang of loss struck A-Man’s heart.
“Brother Changsheng… what heavy burden do you carry in your mind?”
“It is nothing profound. I am simply searching for someone.”
“She strayed quite far. I have walked this earth for nearly a century seeking her traces, and the Heavens only know how much longer it will take.”
A-Man’s eyes instantly reddened at the mention of a woman.
“She is a woman, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
The crisp affirmation silenced A-Man like a stifling blanket.
After a long stretch of quiet, her lips trembled. She forced a bitter smile. “To search for a woman for so long…”
“Brother Changsheng must love her very much.”
“Hahaha!”
Seeing those brimming, tearful eyes, Chen Changsheng broke into a rare, open laugh and gently patted her head.
“You foolish girl. So young, yet your mind is tangled in such worldly attachments.”
“Who dictated that searching for a woman requires a foundation of romance?”
A flicker of genuine confusion passed through A-Man’s gaze.
“If it is not a love etched into your very marrow, what else could drive you to wander for a hundred years?”
“Love is a joyful fleeting thing, but it is not the only anchor that binds a man to a path.”
“The woman I seek was entrusted to me by an old friend as he drew his final breath.”
“I must ascertain her safety. And if she has already departed this world, I must collect her remains and return them to the earth with proper rites.”
“It is an oath of the Funeral Man, and my way of honoring the ghosts of my past.”
Hearing the solemn weight in his voice, A-Man hastily wiped her eyes.
“Brother Changsheng, will you tell me this story of the past?”
“I will.”
Chen Changsheng offered a quiet smile and began to unroll the dusty scroll of a remarkably ordinary history.
The mountain breeze sighed. The moon hung unchanged, a silent witness.
A-Man gritted her silver teeth, glaring at Chen Changsheng with wide, indignant eyes.
“She loved you!”
“Yes.”
“And you cast her away!”
“I did.”
“I saw the entirety of it, including Niansheng’s sentiments toward me.”
Hearing his cold admission, A-Man abruptly stood up, her chest heaving.
“And what of me?”
“Will you discard me just as easily as you discarded her?”
Meeting her reddened, trembling eyes, Chen Changsheng replied with absolute tranquility, “Yes.”
“Why?”
“You harbor no obsession for the Grand Dao. You walk the mortal world freely, guided only by your will. If so, why do you sever these threads time and time again?”
“If you intend to walk away, why do you show such kindness to those beside you?”
“Why not forge your heart in iron from the very beginning?”
Chen Changsheng allowed the silence to stretch.
He looked up at the brilliant, indifferent moon. “The people of today cannot behold the moon of antiquity, yet this very moon once cast its silver glow upon the ancients.”
“Mortal philosophy dictates that a man only learns to cherish a treasure after it slips through his fingers.”
“Tell me, if you were cursed to know the exact moment a treasure would turn to dust, would you refuse to hold it while it remained whole?”
“That is pure sophistry! No mortal can glimpse the currents of destiny. How can you be so utterly certain of loss?”
“Why couldn’t they? Even you possess a crude form of this foresight.”
“Consider the mortal limits. Your Wu Clan kin will wither and return to the earth. This is a Heavenly Law, a future set in stone before they even draw their first breath.”
A-Man froze, the anger draining from her posture as a cold realization struck her.
He had spoken in parables, yet the terrifying truth beneath his words was suddenly laid bare.
Her voice trembled violently. “Brother Changsheng… can you truly see the end of all things?”
“Yes.”
The absolute certainty in his voice shattered her defenses. She slowly raised a trembling hand, her fingers brushing against his cold cheek.
Gazing at the immortal, youthful visage that concealed an ancient, withered soul, her heart ached terribly.
“To endure such a long, lonely epoch… your soul must be in agony.”
“A callous forms over the pain until it is merely a dull weight. That is precisely why I take up the spade for the dead.”
“By preparing the dead, I enshrine their living memories in my mind, while burying their mortal griefs deep within the earth.”
A-Man offered no reply. The silence between them grew vast and heavy.
To clasp hands and weather the autumns of life together… It was the highest blessing sought by mortal lovers.
Yet, to wish such a thing upon Chen Changsheng was to invoke the most malicious curse under the Heavens.
To watch the one you love wither like autumn leaves, step by step, until nothing remained but a mound of yellow earth—was there any torture more absolute?
Deep within the Thunder Beast’s ancestral territory.
BOOM!
A column of lightning, thick as an ancient trunk, savagely struck the peak of a metallic mountain. A titanic shadow erupted from the shattered ore.
“Who!”
“Who dared to slaughter my bloodline?!”
A gargantuan Thunder Beast hovered amidst the raging storm. Unlike the coarse beasts of the lower mountains, its scales thrummed with a profound, terrifying purple luster.
A boundless, heaven-shaking fury engulfed its mind. Just moments ago, the bloodline connection to its direct descendant had snapped. Its heir had Perished.
Driven by the ancestral roar, countless other Thunder Beasts tore through the metallic peaks, ascending into the thunderclouds.
Sweeping its furious gaze over its kin, the purple-scaled sovereign roared, “My son, Lei Shan, the supreme talent of our Thunder Clan, has Perished.”
“Whoever severed his Dao, our Thunder Clan shall extract the debt in an ocean of blood!”
In response, ten thousand monstrous roars pierced the heavens, shattering the storm clouds above.
The decree was absolute. The entire Thunder Clan would mobilize, leaving not a blade of grass alive in their wake.