CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 37: SOME PEOPLE HAVE DIED, YET THEY STILL LIVE

Emperor Shiguang Zhi Zheng thought for a long time, then laughed completely, clasping his fists in a bow, "Today, a divine spirit descends upon the world, unraveling the mysteries of the Human Race. Having received your word, the future of the Witch Kingdom looks promising. I can die in peace!"

"Thus ends the three questions and answers, already complete."

Zhu Zhengwei quietly savored his tea.

He knew this obsessive and fervent man, from his youthful days of pushing for reform, had always clung to a pure dream, and today, he finally chose to drown with his dream.

After drinking the last of the tea from the cup, Zhu Zhengwei leisurely stepped away, a halo of sacred white light encircling him. Suddenly, the figure softly said, "Sacrifice one’s body to forge the Holy Scroll, bow to ask the Celestial Immortal. Enter the kingdom by forsaking oneself, who says the Emperor perishes in the heavens?"

Finally, riding a multicolored sunset, he soared into the sky.

Emperor Shiguang Zhi Zheng stood alone before the tea stall, his posture erect, resembling an ancient pine tree.

Soon, he summoned the guard and historian, and said calmly:

"I speak, you write."

"Yes!"

A historian respectfully raised his pen.

"Today, I communed with the gods, three questions and answers."

"Witch Kingdom, stands on the continent enveloped by the Sea of Myriad Waves, a land of wind-eating and qi-drinking, commencing with me."

Emperor Shiguang Zhi Zheng spoke continuously, his voice carrying a sense of a tyrant’s dominance, silently standing and overlooking the distant royal city, speaking while seemingly recalling the conversation just had, his eyes filled with myriad emotions, moving to behold.

Rustle.

The xiaqi around his body gradually dissipated completely.

Threads of multicolored hues, akin to a cloud fairy waving her ribbon.

At this moment, all the Immortal Herbs gazed at the tall figure of the old man, sensing an unprecedented historical weight, unable to help but feel a multitude of emotions.

The Human Emperor’s three questions, the divine’s three answers, can be deemed classic.

Every word and phrase contains unexpected turns, extraordinarily exquisite, to be carefully savored back and forth, as if this truly is a heroic epic of myth, a dialogue between the divine and the first Human Emperor of the ancient era.

The massive aura of the two who had just sat under the tea stall collided intensely, leaving those watching deeply stirred!

Each question and answer was a climatic movie scene, capturing the mind and spirit!

If compared to Earth’s civilization history, it is not less than an Immortal descending to mortality, meeting the first Human Emperor of Huaxia, the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan.

Someone suddenly recalled an old tale and cried out in surprise:

"The Yellow Emperor ascended the throne, bestowed benevolence and assumed the mandate of Heaven, cultivated virtue, practiced benevolence, and achieved peace within the universe. When he could not find the phoenix, he pondered its image, toiled and rose early, and thus summoned the Heavenly Elder to inquire!"

The crowd listened to the majestic ancient records, noticing the semblance, akin to the scene before their eyes.

Sunset dusk.

The sun had only the last faint rays left.

Everything appeared extremely tranquil, only the rustling of the wind and the gentle swaying of Immortal Herbs, as if recounting the passage of time and its fleetingness.

The setting sun sank westward, as time ticked away second by second.

"This truly is good weather; I have no regrets in this life." Emperor Shiguang Zhi Zheng finished his final word, and his entire aura completely collapsed, laughing heartily.

After the historian silently organized the conversation, he looked up and saw Emperor Shiguang Zhi Zheng sitting silently in the tea stall, lifeless. The old man, before dying, still stared intently at the sea beyond, where the Wall of Ten Thousand Stones stood, the ocean beyond the world, the vast horizon described by the divine.

The historian’s pupils dilated, utterly stunned.

"The king has fallen." He rushed madly, tumbling over himself to inform all the palace ministers.

And around the edge of the tea stall, the temple stood in silence; the world seemed completely quiet at this moment, with no more sound remaining, only the old king who had passed away, and a lot of swaying Immortal Herbs.

They, too, were dumbfounded, having experienced the magnificent dialogue, now only feeling their eyes red and senses overwhelmed.

"I suddenly recalled that post, viewing from the perspective of a wild grass on the tea stall, that evening, the traveler under the sunset at the tea stall, eyes always filled with longing, the same year as the revolutionary leader he conversed with the Man with a Tear Mole, full of youthful spirit, just like that line: Dressed in fresh clothes, riding a fierce horse in youth, seeing all the Chang’an Flower in one day!"

"I recalled that later scene, he who unified the Slave Dynasty but was utterly despondent discovered that wild grass on the tea stall, finally ingesting it, this weak mortal wielding a blade against the pseudo-god monarchs of three kingdoms, continued the path of the previous Slave Emperor, ultimately walking his destined path!"

"Sob sob sob!"

"In a blink, the scene remains unchanged, he has already become the Mythical Emperor who shook the world, still in the tea stall, he has aged, he has gone, but the divine remains, below the tea stall, as elegant as before."

"I saw his entire life."

"Sob sob sob! This reveals fate and the cycle!"

"We, we are all dust in this long history!"

They suddenly had thousands of sentiments.

Some people died, but he still lives.

Some people, known as Shiguang Emperor Changheng, ride on the people’s heads, while others bow down to serve the people as beasts of burden,

some, known as Shiguang Emperor Changshou, wish to engrave their names in stone, seeking "immortality," while others are willing to be wild grass, awaiting the fire underground.

Some people clearly could live longer, yet choose to set an example by accepting a mortal life as a leader of humans, embracing the most tragic aspects everyone must face: birth, aging, illness, and death.

Clearly, he was unwilling, yet he chose to accept such a sorrowful thing.

"To damage the body for the Saint’s Volume, to bow the head and question the Celestial Immortal. Sacrifice oneself to enter the nation, who says the emperor ascends to heaven?" Someone suddenly spoke, tasting the recent True God’s poetry, feeling the grand epic flavor of the people’s pursuit of immortality!

Perhaps his body withered, his soul dispersed, but his spirit became a true Immortal.

"Sacrifice oneself to enter the nation, who says the emperor ascends to heaven?" someone began to repeat.

Someone’s eyes reddened, crying out loudly, wishing there were a roll of tissue nearby to wipe the tears from witnessing a scene beyond epic mythologies, and couldn’t help but echo:

"Sacrifice oneself to enter the nation, who says the emperor ascends to heaven?" The essence of humanity is to repeat.

...

Rumble!

The sound waves rolled.

Within the Immortal Pool, they suddenly and collectively chanted the sentence, the roaring waves rolled across heaven and earth, bidding farewell to the great Saint.

Even the ministers who had rushed there stared dumbfounded at the spectacle.

They witnessed an extremely marvelous and dreamy scene.

The old man’s corpse was surrounded by the Qi from the "Cloud Mist Qi Sea," as if giant waves were rolling, layer upon layer, as if there was a harmonious celestial anthem, bidding farewell to this great Human Emperor.

Within this Immortal Pool, the Immortal Herb swayed neatly, a mysterious, fragmented song rising and falling with the wild grass.

The sound grew more and more substantial, echoing throughout the entire Hundred-Stone City, crossing hills, fields, deserts, seeming to ring in the ears of all subjects, as if mourning, as if praising, as if lamenting.

Everyone inexplicably looked up, hearing this inexplicable sacred song.

In the ocean.

The rest of the Immortal Herbs not present among the six hundred at the scene also began to chant and repeat that phrase: "Sacrifice oneself to enter the nation, who says the emperor ascends to heaven?"

These Immortal Herbs wanted to leave a mark on this era.

To prove they had witnessed, to prove that although they were mere spectators of this world, they had been here once.

Boom!

All one thousand Immortal Herbs entered a certain frequency, vibrating the world in a special way, as the thousand cornerstones of the entire world.

A faint, ethereal chant entirely transmitted through the sky, spreading to every corner of the world, the Seaside Ghost Kingdom, the Bronze Kingdom, every town, every barren land.

Beneath a great banyan tree.

An old man was playing chess.

The residents in the nearby buildings simultaneously opened their windows and stepped out of their houses.

They just felt a string in their hearts break, a great presence had fallen, coloring the world with a layer of sorrow.

The old man looked up, unable to stop laughing, "Unbelievable, simply unbelievable! Those Immortal Herbs, still had such secrets, sensing the people of the world, hearing the matters of the world, what other mysterious aspects of this world are there that people can’t help but explore?"

In the Endless Ocean.

A luxurious and magnificent Undersea Kingdom was being built.

A massive shadowy creature raised its head, emerging above the sea.

It seemed to see a light shining through the mainland clouds, a holy and pure light, piercing through the impending dusk.

"What is that??" she was stunned.

"So beautiful."

"It turns out that in this world, that Man with a Tear Mole has returned once again." She gently closed her eyes, as if listening to the wind.

...

In the entire kingdom’s Hundred-Stone City, all the Qi Eaters, Witches, knelt down together, loudly chanting.

"That’s Qi!"

"That’s the Qi of the setting sun!"

"No! That’s the Immortal Herbs speaking, bidding farewell to this majestic emperor of our Human Race!"

"In future history, it should be recorded: The death of the Saint, celestial phenomena appeared, the Divine Spirit bid farewell, the Immortal Herbs sang sorrowfully, all things grieved! All Living Beings wept!"