Chapter 957: Why Bother?
Sunset neared.
The empress’ godly ascension was an astonishing event in which many individuals played an important part. They included the empress herself, the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan, along with everything he had prepared in the Heaveneater Region. The three gods of sun, moon, and star played a role as it related to thēir future plans as well.
The holy lands also revealed their stance. There were other parties as well, ones who had made deals with the empress, but didn’t show their faces.
For example, there was the young woman in the wedding dress in the ghast hollow.
It was easy to imagine how complicated it had been to orchestrate everything. There was little need to mention how much karma had been involved, including the predestined fate of the Grand Emperor.
Grand Emperor Swordsage had killed countless gods in his life, and seriously injured even more. Once it became possible to predict that he would perish, it was only natural that the karma would attract many gods.
All of the different interests at play made the situation very complicated. Something as shocking as this was a rarity in Revered Ancient! It attracted the attention of the entire mainland!
And down to the very end, Grand Emperor Swordsage never used his legendary final sword move. That sword seemed to hang above the heads of numerous parties. There were top species and gods as well who feared it. None of them wanted to risk being killed by it.
That was why someone as strong as Yu Liuchen ultimately chose to flee. Although it seemed like hē had been stopped by the Immortal Questioning Bell, in the final analysis, what hē was really scared of was Grand Emperor Swordsage. Hē didn’t want to tempt fate!
If no one else chose to probe for information, then the ceremony, which was nearing its end, would conclude with the empress’ success.
At that point, the peak Imperial Sovereign empress would become a god. In addition, the five past emperors would be gods. And then it would be impossible for anyone to test out Grand Emperor Swordsage. Right now, the only thing to do was see if there was anyone else out there who wanted to prohibit the empress from becoming a god.
And thus....
***
In the imperial capital of humankind, most of the commoners were nervously looking up at the empress in the canopy of heaven.
In the east of the city on Nine-Nexus Boulevard, there was a bookshop that had been around for generations. Someone inside the shop sighed. Given how unique of a day it was, the shop didn’t have any customers. A handful of employees were gathered at the entrance, where they sat looking into the sky and quietly discussing what was happening.
Behind them at the counter was the shopkeeper, whose name was Zhao Youde. He wore a long, yellow robe and was reading from a bamboo slip. He looked up.[1]
The sigh came from his mouth.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about Zhao Youde’s physical appearance. He had graying hair that, as the wind blew through the shop, swayed like reeds in autumn. He was old. Time had left his face full of wrinkles, and yet, he also seemed kind and benevolent. His eyes did not sparkle brightly, but there was something profound about them. And right now, they seemed a bit helpless.
“What’s the point?” he murmured.
Zhao Youde was the seventeenth-generation shopkeeper in this bookshop. He was also the owner, and lived in the back courtyard. He had a wife who died of illness years ago. Other than that, though, there wasn’t much about his life to complain about. His parents were still alive, his children were all very obedient, and business was good.
As a mortal, he had every reason to be content with his life. He enjoyed reading, especially classic writings. Given all that he had read and pondered, he had quite a grasp of different philosophies. Normally speaking, he called on those philosophies to guide his life. He also loved to give advice to those around him. All of his neighbors showed him a great deal of respect.
He liked his life. But today, he knew... that things were about to end. Sighing, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked out from behind the counter, his posture somewhat slumped. He looked around the bookshop one last time, then shook his head and walked toward the door.
Upon reaching the threshold, the employees sitting there looked at him in confusion.
“Boss, there are a lot of people on the streets. It’s pretty chaotic. Sir, are you...?”
Zhao Youde stopped and looked at the employees, his expression one of reminiscence.
“Twohound, you look more and more like your grandfather every day. And you, Lil’ Locust. Going forward, you need to spend more time reading and studying. Your families.... have been with me for generations. I’m leaving the shop to you. Take good care of it.”
The employees were stunned. The two he had called out by name rose to their feet to speak. Before they could, the shopkeeper had vanished.
Zhao Youde walked along Nine-Nexus Boulevard beneath the setting sun. He was invisible as he headed toward the imperial capital.
He walked along, sighing. “What’s the point...?”
Zhao Youde sighed again. He liked the world of mortals. He liked humankind. Over the countless years that had passed, he had assumed different identities as he ran the bookshop, and had interacted with many human customers. He had a lot of fond memories about them. He had long assumed that life would just continue in that way.
“The holy lands have made mistakes. But there’s no reason to rebel against them.... Ai.”
His parents and children in the back courtyard of the bookshop all seemed like real, living people. But then he sighed, and they shivered and issued similar sighs. All of them blurred and vanished, becoming motes of silver light that swept invisibly along Nine-Nexus Boulevard until they reached Zhao Youde. They merged into him.
He stood up a bit straighter. His aged face gradually started looking younger.
Then a terrifying cultivation base power surged within him. Foundation Establishment. Nascent Soul. Void Returning. Smoldering God, and then... Imperial Sovereign! The rise in power stopped when he was at the peak of the half-Imperial Sovereign level! That was a shocking level of power, yet he didn’t reveal any of it externally.
As he walked in the afterglow of evening, he looked unusually lonely. He was thinking about his life. He had been born in the holy lands, where he had been given a mission in Revered Ancient.
That mission was to kill Emperor Dao Life! He had succeeded in that mission, but afterward, had been unable to leave. And thus, he settled down among humankind. During the entire time since then, he had never revealed who he was. He had remained in hiding. The reason was that he feared Grand Emperor Swordsage.
With yet another sigh, Zhao Youde took a step forward. That step took him out of the imperial capital, past the imperial palace, and onto Planet Ancient Emperor. His target... was the godfire on the planet!
He had no desire to fight with the empress. Nor did he want to personally see how strong Grand Emperor Swordsage was now. He had to live up to his ideals by... extinguishing the godfire.
He appeared without any introduction or fanfare. There was no thunderous rumbling. No shocking fluctuations. It was almost as if he was invisible. But the moment he appeared and lifted his hand, the empress detected his presence. Everyone looked over in shock.
He was reaching out to pluck away the godfire!
Yet before he could, a calm voice echoed around him.
“Shopkeeper Zhao, that fire is not to be extinguished.”
Along with the voice appeared a figure. He wore a violet robe, had violet hair, and facial features that looked like a work of art. They were incomparably exquisite, with long, arched eyebrows that resembled distant mountains. As for his eyes, they were full of wisdom and profundity.
It was none other than the imperial preceptor! The Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan.
He appeared in front of Zhao Youde, with his back to the godfire. Yet not even the fire could diminish his presence. He actually looked like a scintillating heavenly body illuminating the sky of Revered Ancient. His lips curved up so that he always looked like he was slightly smiling. As he spoke in his calm voice, he lifted his right hand and pushed it out.
Zhao Youde’s hand never completed its movement. The arrival of the imperial preceptor caused many human cultivators to breathe sighs of relief.
The imperial preceptor was mysterious, and yet that fact made him seem capable of almost anything.
Xu Qing didn’t say anything. He wasn’t surprised at all that this person had come. He looked on calmly. He was very interested in seeing just how powerful the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan really was.
Upon realizing that Xu Qing was looking at him, the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan looked away from Zhao Youde. He smiled warmly.
“Did you receive my gift, lil’ bro?”
Xu Qing looked down, his face completely expressionless.
The crown prince smiled again, then looked back at Zhao Youde. “I saw the time that belongs to you.”
Zhao Youde’s face fell. He was half a step into Imperial Sovereign, and back in the holy lands, he had been a powerful overlord. Other than the empress and Grand Emperor Swordsage, there wasn’t anyone among humankind that he feared. Until now. In facing the imperial preceptor, he suddenly came to the realization that he couldn’t see this newcomer clearly. He had never noticed him before.
“Since you’re interested, lil’ bro,” the crown prince continued, “you should watch closely. I’m going to sever his time and free them.”
As the crown prince’s voice rang out, the area around Zhao Youde began to ripple. His life and his past were not under his control. They were like a painting with him in the middle. It contained an image of him killing Dao Life. It also showed scenes of the bookshop, his incarnated family, and the times when he was an ancestor or a son. All of his life in the Revered Ancient mainland was revealed.
As Zhao Youde’s face sank further, the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan waved his hand to manipulate time. In the blink of an eye, the countless versions of Zhao Youde in the past, no matter what they were in the middle of doing, bowed their heads. Within the past, it was possible to see the present.
Next, all of the versions of Zhao Youde lifted their feet to step forward.
Intense rumbling echoed out. The aura of a great dao descended. The great River of Time appeared out of nowhere.
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered. It wasn’t his first time seeing the River of Time. Back in the Moonrite Region, Princess Brightblossom, who was adept at manipulating the magical laws of time, had also summoned it.[2]
In comparison, though, the version Princess Brightblossom had summoned was more like a little creek. The version right now was like a mighty river flowing from ancient times. It covered the imperial palace, the imperial capital, and in fact, the entire region. In the blink of an eye, the entire world was covered by the River of Time.
Within that river were innumerable versions of Zhao Youde, almost like fish in water. They traveled from the past and into the present, where they hovered in midair. Then all of them faced Zhao Youde and attacked.
“Pay attention, lil’ bro,” the crown prince said gently. “Each of them is a past version of Shopkeeper Zhao. If they kill him, then Shopkeeper Zhao will no longer exist. If he doesn’t exist, then his past will be as unrealistic as flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water . In contrast, if Shopkeeper Zhao kills them, then it’s equivalent to him killing himself in the past. Without a past, there can’t come to be the present. If it were you, lil’ bro, what would you do?”
1. Zhao Youde. Zhao is #8 on the list of 100 common surnames. You means “to have.” De means “virtue, goodness, morality, ethics.” Madam Deathblade says it sounds like the name of a virtuous person (I guess that's kind of an obvious conclusion....) ☜
2. Back in the Moonrite arc, Princess Brightblossom used the River of Time in too many chapters to list as references. Back then, the wording led me to mistakenly think that it was “a river of time” not “the River of Time.” I've since gone back to change those references to reflect the fact that, as directly stated in this chapter, she was indeed tapping into THE River of Time. ☜