Chapter 997: The Sun Tours, Patrolling the World
Revered Ancient was massive. It covered such a huge area that, before the broken face arrived, it had a total of thirty-seven suns, all of which were different, whether in terms of the materials they were made of, their origin, or their characteristics. They all had their own stories and secrets. But among them, there was one set of sun and moon that were especially unique.
There was one legend that claimed that countless years in the past, back when the Brilliant Heaven Godfolk ruled Revered Ancient, there were actually only thirty-six suns. It was the same with the moons.
Eventually, when war broke out between the immortals and the gods, the immortals hoisted a new sun and a new moon up over Revered Ancient. According to the legend, that sun and moon actually came from the Brilliant Heaven Godfolk. After the Brilliant Heaven Godfolk were defeated and suppressed, the Summer Immortals permitted a few of them to continue living in Revered Ancient. They had to abide by a treaty, though, which required them to patrol the world of Revered Ancient.
One of those gods was the crown prince of the Brilliant Heaven Godfolk, whose name was Golden Crow, and whose mission it was to patrol the daytime.[1]
As for the moon, its name was Night Watch. Representing kindness, innocence, and the purity of life, the moon’s mission was to patrol the night.
The sun and moon rose and set, and over the years, thēy were never able to reunite. It was only on rare occasions when thēy rose at the same time that thēy could see each other. What thēy illuminated... wasn’t specifically the Revered Ancient mainland, but instead, the mysterious outer sea.
And thus, time passed. Heaven and earth changed. The power of time cleansed the histories. As generations of cultivators came and went, and more species came to exist in Revered Ancient, the old stories about the suns and moons grew vague and unclear.
Then the broken face arrived. For differing reasons, more than half of the thirty-seven suns perished, until there were only seventeen left.
As for the stories about the suns and moons, they became even more watered down, until it was hard for people to determine what was legend and what was mere fiction. People just knew that the seventeen suns were randomly scattered across Revered Ancient, with some of them being close to each other, and others being very far away. That was why some parts of Revered Ancient were stuck in never-ending night, while others existed in nonstop daylight.
As for the mysterious outer sea, there was no light there, as that location had lost its sun and moon.
The continent of South Phoenix, plus the Holytide Region and the two regions which were next to it, ended up being somewhat lucky. The sun that existed there was one that hadn’t perished tens of thousands of years ago. It was still there. That sun would rise at dawn and provide illumination and warmth for the many living beings in the area. For countless years, that had never changed, and came to be taken for granted. It was still the same even now.
However... this particular dawn was more special than those in the past. This dawn was brighter and warmer.
Because the living people in the area were so used to the normal state of affairs, when something out of the ordinary happened, they were able to sense it immediately. That came as pure instinct. It was the same with cultivators and mortals alike, including nonhumans and animals. When that unusual brightness filled the sky, nonhumans, cultivators, mortals, and beasts everywhere looked up into the sky. All living beings were shocked to the core and were left trembling in heart and body.
Astonishment. Incredulity. Disbelief.... All sorts of emotions erupted within them.
And that was because, in the sky over South Phoenix, the Holytide Region, the Southisle Region, and all the countless islands in the sea... all of a sudden had two suns! Heaven and earth were illuminated with brilliant light!
Thanks to the illumination of two suns, the pitch black Forbidden Sea seemed emerald. The ships moving about on the waters as dawn broke stopped moving as those on board looked up into the sky in astonishment. Mortals spontaneously dropped down in worship.
The Mute and the two deputy directors were shaken to the core. Erniu’s gasp rang out loud for everyone to hear. Huang Yan looked very, very serious.
As everyone looked on, the decaying giant strode forth into the sky, dragging the bronze dragon chariot behind in a dazzling display. It was like a ball of fire, the essence of light, an enormous sun. That act of rising was the dawn itself.
Within the boundless light and heat was Xu Qing in the chariot. His mind was an ethereal blank, his thoughts completely focused on the incarnation of Golden Crow who was once again patrolling the world.
Inside the chariot, the carvings of Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits seemed to come alive, and began flowing and glowing. Eventually, they converged into a blurry form with its back to Xu Qing, standing somberly in the chariot. That figure was the very same young man that Huang Yan had spotted.
Xu Qing could now see the figure as well. His mind reeled as the golden crow projection around him shimmered, and the legacy of Golden Crow himself created a resonance between him and the other figure in the chariot.
Xu Qing felt loneliness and sorrow. He sensed thoughts.... The loneliness came from an incredibly long life. The sorrow came from the fall of a species.
The thoughts were connections to Night Watch. Without even realizing it, Xu Qing sent his own thoughts inside, until he eventually heard a faint sigh.
“The sun tours, patrolling the world.”
The giant pulling the chariot shivered as light from the chariot flowed out. The chariot became golden, like a war chariot bursting with power. The light flowed over the giant, turning into golden armor, and causing the giant’s aura to become holy. The giant looked up, and its vacant eye sockets were filled with light. Then it howled a howl that echoed out through the sky as it walked... in the direction of the outer sea.
As everyone watched, the sun which had just emerged changed directions and sped... away from the inner sea.
As it neared, the darkness of the outer sea trembled. After tens of thousands of years, it was finally... seeing light. The light landed on the surface of the sea, and it was hard to tell if it was a reflection or the original color of the sea water, but it... was violet.
Golden Crow sped through the sky over the outer sea, filling it with light. Where the chariot went, daylight came, driving away the darkness and gloom, and bringing clarity to the outer sea.
The sea water there was originally pitch black, viscous, and incredibly buoyant. There were few waves there. The surface of the water was covered with ancient flotsam and jetsam.... There were boulders, huge corpses, mysterious temple ruins, and the like.... There were huge eyes that floated around like islands. There was a terrifying godly might that filled the water. There were vast, unknown entities the size of entire prefectures, standing on the surface of the water and staring up into the dome of heaven. They were looking at the sun that had once patrolled the world.
Time passed. The giant dragged the chariot through the sky over the outer sea until midday, when the sunlight was the brightest. At that point, the giant slowed to a stop.
Countless hidden gazes and streams of divine will rose from the outer sea to bear witness.
A moment passed, and then the figure standing in the chariot in front of Xu Qing slowly turned around. He looked at Xu Qing.
When the gaze hit Xu Qing, his mind spun. Countless pieces of information slammed into him like furious waves.
This was a legacy! This was the true legacy from Golden Crow!
The golden crow projection around Xu Qing glittered brightly.
The young man closed his eyes. The giant outside of the chariot let loose a roar of grief, and then began the return trip. As the dragon chariot made its way off into the distance, the greedy darkness returned. The void created by the chariot was filled in.
Eventually... evening fell, and the dragon chariot left the outer sea. The outer sea was pitch black once again.
The giant’s golden suit of armor gradually faded away, and the giant once again had a decaying fleshly body. The dragon chariot’s light faded, and it once again became dilapidated. Evening faded away.
Erniu and Huang Yan saw the giant returning to the inner sea, step by step, its aura of death pulsing. The bronze dragon chariot came with it. When it entered the water, a gentle force emerged from the chariot, sending out Xu Qing, who was in the middle of accepting the legacy.
The chariot sank to the bottom. The giant started pulling again, and an illusory palace appeared from within time on the seafloor. Outside of the palace, the giant stopped moving and knelt.
A blurry young man stepped out of the chariot and walked into the palace. Hē walked very slowly, as if each step was full of sorrow. Upon reaching the highest point in the palace, the young man sat down in the chair there.
Time glittered around him as the musicians appeared, and Natural Sounds Welcome the Moon drifted out. As the beautiful music played, the young man’s head bowed. Sadly, as the music played, there was no moon named Night Watch that appeared above the Forbidden Sea.
The loneliness became eternal. It overwhelmed the song. It overwhelmed time. And the palace once again began to blur. The walls crumbled and it turned into ruins.
It became a tomb. Outside the tomb was the giant, who wept in grief.
***
Up on the surface, on the Mute’s dharmaship, Xu Qing was seated cross-legged.
The Mute stood by, guarding him, his heart full of vigilance. It didn’t matter who was present; the Mute was on guard against them.
The two deputy directors from the Seventh Peak’s Violent Crimes Division were visibly shaken. They looked at Xu Qing like he was a deity. What had happened that day surpassed anything they understood or could imagine. They had heard stories about the dragon chariot, but neither of them could ever have guessed that someone could sit inside of it and become a sun, then participate in the sunrise and sunset. It was so mind-blowing to them that they could hardly breathe.
Erniu and Huang Yan couldn’t take their eyes off Xu Qing.
That was especially true of Erniu. Xu Qing’s actions had left him flabbergasted, and of course, he was extremely curious to find out how Xu Qing had benefited.
Huang Yan wasn’t curious about how Xu Qing had benefited. But he did have some questions about Crown Prince Golden Crow, though he was waiting to ask Xu Qing later. At a certain point, his serious expression flickered, and he suddenly looked off toward the horizon.
A red glow had appeared in the night sky. The glow spread, invading the darkness, and turning the sky crimson. It was the same with the sea as well; it turned into something like a sea of blood. The red light converged to form a god. The god approached and stepped onto the dharmaship. Instantly, the Mute and the two deputy directors fell unconscious.
A blood wind blew, stirring the god’s red garments and hīs long hair. Hē seemed bizarrely handsome to Huang Yan and Erniu.
Erniu’s eyes narrowed, and he looked surprised. Rising in what seemed like a casual movement, he happened to place himself between the god and Xu Qing. Clasping hands, he bowed.
“What a surprise to see you here, Senior. No wonder I sensed all the glory in heaven and earth fading away. As it turns out, you were on the way, sir.”
Huang Yan said nothing, but he did start pulsing with terrifying fluctuations, and his expression was very serious.
Yu Liuchen laughed softly. “You don’t need to get all anxious. I came because Xu Qing owes me a favor.”
Sitting down cross-legged, hē waved hīs hand. A bamboo table appeared, along with four teacups. After pouring the tea, hē picked up a cup, took a sip, and looked at Erniu and Huang Yan.
“Drink.”
1. In earlier chapters, there was no way to know that ‘Golden Crow’ was a name. In fact, the golden crow was also referred to by a different name. You might remember a footnote many chapters ago in the ninedawns/Ninedawns arc in which I mentioned how there is no capitalization of proper nouns in Chinese. I brought up the example of how you could have a character named Giraffe who was also a giraffe (or something like that). This golden crow/Golden Crow thing is similar. That said, even if I had known from the beginning that Golden Crow was a name, I would have debated about whether to capitalized it from the beginning. Even in Chinese, it's not clear, so capitalizing early on would have been something of a spoiler. What's more, there is no indication that Golden Crow is the only golden crow in existence, so using the non-capitalized version up until the name reveal makes sense to me. Going forward, when referring to the bird-form, I will use the lower case, but when specifically referring to the crown prince, I’ll capitalize it as his name. ☜