Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 577 – To Peel or Not to Peel, That Is the Question

A scant few people knew the secret of his blood. In the Garden of Zhou, that Demon General couple and the shaman elder had all died, monsters could not speak human language, and after Nanke told her father, she would also assuredly keep this secret. Yourong would naturally not tell anyone else, so that only left…his master and Senior Yu Ren.

Last night, Xu Yourong had truthfully already warned him, but he was not willing, or perhaps did not dare, to think about it, so he did not respond.

But both he and Xu Yourong were keenly aware that this problem still existed. Just because he didn’t respond didn’t mean he could turn a blind eye to it.

Today, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets had directly torn up the window paper, forcing him to confront this problem and find an answer.

If this really was a trap to assassinate the Demon Lord, then was it really his teacher and Senior Yu Ren that had arranged it?

Chen Changsheng suddenly raised his head and asked the Elder of Heavenly Secrets, “What was the final result?”

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets slightly raised his brows, surprised that this youth could calm down in such a short time.

“I said before, when the Demon Lord returned to Xuelao City, he was already heavily wounded.””

“I am speaking of both sides.”

“The White Emperor also suffered considerable injuries. He will at least require several years to recover, but the Demon Lord’s injuries were worse.”

“Based on my knowledge, in Xuelao City, the Demon Commander and Black Robe have always been like fire and water, but it’s always been forcefully suppressed by the Demon Lord. With the Demon Lord now heavily injured, doesn’t that mean that his grasp over the entire demon realm, especially his suppression of these two individuals, has become weaker?”

“You can say that.”

“Whether it’s the Divine Empress, His Holiness, or the Venerable Senior, what most concerns all of you is whether the demons will break the confluence of the north and south, right?”

“Correct.”

“If their internal situation is not stable, presumably, the demons will have little mind to turn to breaking the confluence of the north and south.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“The humans and demi-humans will obtain an extremely precious period of integration, and the entire state of affairs of the continent will begin shifting towards us?”

“Yes.”

After this conversation, the garden once more fell quiet.

After a long time had passed, Chen Changsheng declared, “Then it’s enough.”

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets arched his brows, asking, “Enough?”

“Yes, I might have just been bait and nearly died, but if it was in exchange for so many benefits, then…it’s enough.”

Chen Changsheng gazed at the Elder of Heavenly Secrets and seriously said.

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets looked into his eyes. He saw no falseness, no reluctance, only sincerity.

“Even if you’re being used by someone else?”

“Yes, even I’m being used.”

“Are you not angry because of this?” the Elder of Heavenly Secrets asked.

Chen Changsheng thought about this for a moment, then replied, “Yes, I’m very angry, or perhaps sad. In the future, I will find an opportunity to ask him.”

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets understood his meaning and knew that he would not say the name of the planner. “Every person has their own choice to make, I just hope that you won’t regret it.”

Chen Changsheng replied, “In truth, I’ve never understood why all of you want to me to choose.”

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets thrust his hand into the mist and, through some magic trick, took out a basket of peaches.

These peaches were all plump, pink, fresh and tender, looking extremely captivating.

He took a peach from the basket and offered it to Chen Changsheng, along with a small knife.

Chen Changsheng very naturally took the knife and began to carefully peel the peach.

There was no sound as the peach was peeled and the garden was very quiet. It didn’t take long before he had finished peeling the peach and courteously passed it to the Elder of Heavenly Secrets.

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets shook his head, gazing at him as he indifferently said, “When eating a peach, to peel or not to peel, this is a sort of choice.”

The hand of Chen Changsheng’s that was holding the peach froze in midair.

“If it were me eating a peach, I would not peel it, because the peel has nutrients. But because I was thinking that Sir would eat it, and thinking of how elders’ digestion is not as good, I felt peeling it was more suitable.”

This was his explanation.

To the Elder of Heavenly Secrets, this was meaningless.

“No matter who the target is or what difference exists between the choices, in the end, you still made a choice.”

“So?”

“Sweet or salty, to peel or not to peel, to live or to die—these have always been questions.”

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets looked into his eyes, his voice calm. “Life is formed of innumerable choices. Who can avoid them completely?”

Chen Changsheng asked, “But what should one do if none of the choices is in accord with one’s heart?”

“When the Demon Lord was blocking all of you on the mountain path, as the master of Mount Han, I could have made two different responses, but whether it was activating the Heavenstone array and trapping both him and all of you in Mount Han, forcing you into desperate straits, or disregarding the Demon Lord and first saving all of you, to me, neither of them was a perfect solution.”

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets ended, “When I finally made the choice, I still relied on my heart.”

Chen Changsheng asked, “Not conforming with your heart, but in the end, you still acted according to your heart?”

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets replied, “When the sky is shattering and stars are falling, when you find it simply impossible to make any sort of rational judgment and can only rely on what your heart is feeling at that moment, that is what your heart truly feels.”

After a long period of silence, Chen Changsheng replied, “I understand.”

“Every person will have to confront their own multiple-choice questions and give their own answers. I chose to activate the Heavenstone array, letting you and Tang Tang and all the rest die together with the Demon Lord, and this was in accord with my heart. Although it wasn’t fair to all of you, I would not feel guilty, and I believe that nobody would blame me either, because the Demon Lord’s life is worth more than all your lives added together.”

“I don’t have too many complaints about this.”

“Even against the planner?”

“I only feel…they should have told me in advance, maybe…this would have made me feel better, not feel that I was purely being used.”

“Every person can only take responsibility for their own choices. I do not understand what the planner is thinking, but to you, I wish to give some compensation.”

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets gazed at him and calmly said, “I advise you to seize this opportunity.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Changsheng was somewhat shocked, and also somewhat perplexed.

With the status of the Elder of Heavenly Secrets in the continent, these words of his were the greatest temptation to any cultivator.

Whether it was gold and silver, money and treasure, secret cultivation manuals, divine weapons and artifacts, or even famous mountains and great rivers, the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets could provide it.

However, Chen Changsheng was not lacking in these. He had the Halving Blade Style, the secrets of the Mount Li Sword Style, his status as successor to the Pope, the Heavenly Tome Monoliths, and also Tang Thirty-Six.

What could the Elder of Heavenly Secrets give to him? That is to say, in what aspect was the Elder of Heavenly Secrets the most outstanding?

It was wisdom, experience, his understanding of the world, and countless secrets unknown to others.

“I would like to ask Sir for instruction on a few questions.”

Chen Changsheng’s heart was set as he spoke to the Elder of Heavenly Secrets.

This answer had clearly not surpassed the expectations of the Elder of Heavenly Secrets. He faintly smiled, the wrinkles on his face deepening.

“Who am I.”

This was the first question Chen Changsheng asked.

This was also the third question when starting from the end of the ‘Essay on the Origin of the Dao’.

From ancient times until now, innumerable experts and masters would cultivate to the peak and then afterwards look around at a loss in search of this answer.

This was an extremely famous question in the ten debates held between that Pope of divine and scholarly erudition and the Demon Grand Scholar Tong Gusi.

This was a metaphysical question, a philosophical question, a question that had already entered the scope of the Dao.

But the Elder of Heavenly Secrets knew that Chen Changsheng’s question truthfully did not pay much to attention to all that. It was very straightforward, very simple.

He just wanted to know—just ‘who am I’.