Chapter 2632: A Gaze Across Time and Space

The thick high walls, the gilded corner towers, the countless buildings—all were strangely familiar.

Beneath the open city gate, crowds came and went, some pointing and whispering.

At this moment the clouds parted, a shaft of heavenly light poured down, falling exactly on the most magnificent palace complex along the city's central axis, its roof tiles and brackets glowing crimson-gold, like the first blush of dawn.

Zhao Manshu explained in time: "It appeared this morning; there was no such great city on the wasteland, officials and commoners alike debated heatedly. The king specially sent avian demons to fly over and observe, confirming it was merely a mirage, illusory and insubstantial, with nothing abnormal."

He Lingchuan stared, transfixed, and casually said: "Yes, nothing abnormal."

He recognized it at a glance—it was Ju City, the capital of the Cangyan Kingdom!

The palace complex in the city, radiant and splendid like rosy clouds, was built by his own hands; he could not possibly be mistaken.

It turned out not only the people of Ju City were gazing at Panlong Ancient City, but the residents of Panlong Ancient City could also catch a glimpse of a corner of the outside world.

Past and present, inner realm and outer world, illusion and reality—finally converged beneath the same sky.

This was a trans-temporal gaze.

He Lingchuan's heart surged with a hundred feelings; even with his composure, he felt a lump in his throat.

Did this mean the barrier between the world within the pot and external reality had begun to loosen?

He deliberately asked the Great Shaman: "Though the mirage hangs in midair, shouldn't it have a ready-made template on the ground? How is this the scenery of the wasteland?"

A mirage is a play of light and shadow, refracting the city on the ground into midair.

The Great Shaman said: "It is simply on the wasteland."

"Can it also be other regions? Can it be Lake Baikal?"

The Great Shaman glanced at him, unsure whether casually or with deeper meaning:

"Perhaps it is the reflection of a certain time-space; when heavenly and earthly conditions are right, it appears."

He Lingchuan pressed: "What kind of conditions?"

The Great Shaman laughed: "Only heaven knows that."

Seeing he avoided the topic, He Lingchuan remained silent for two breaths before asking:

"Great Shaman, have you ever been to Yujing City?"

"Yujing City?" Zhao Manshu frowned slightly, "What place is that?"

"In my dream, there is a great city that can move freely." He Lingchuan pointed to the courtyard, "The bamboo grove in the corner of your yard, the stone fruit that echoes in the wind—I have also vaguely seen them in that Yujing City. Two wicked men finally died there."

"I have not been there." Zhao Manshu spoke solemnly while analyzing for him, "You are mostly thinking by day and dreaming by night. Things you have seen in my yard were copied into your dream."

"Is that so?" But He Lingchuan himself had never entered his yard. Still, he did not expose it, merely sighing, "I thought this was one draught, one bite—could it be predestined?"

"That is also not wrong."

He Lingchuan deliberately raised his wrist, shaking the Fate Divine Seal before his eyes:

"By the way, what do you think of fate?"

The Great Shaman's gaze did not stick to the bracelet, merely giving a faint glance: "Know impermanence, act with constancy, do your best—then leave the rest to heavenly mandate."

He Lingchuan would not relent, and asked again:

"If someone is entangled by karmic debt, their blood hatred raging to the heavens, can they in the end attain a good end?"

"As long as they live long enough, karmic retribution will eventually come knocking."

He Lingchuan pressed: "But what if they are not a bad person?"

"This has nothing to do with good or evil." Zhao Manshu gazed at the people coming and going before the tailor's shop, speaking softly, "Karma is karma, it cannot be dissolved unless the body dies and karma extinguishes. Otherwise, why would cultivators and immortals throughout the world change color when speaking of karma?"

He Lingchuan fell silent.

He said nothing more, letting Zhao Manshu take the lead in questioning:

"You slept for five years—what dream did you have?"

"Ha, I dreamed I went to the Flash Gold Plains two hundred years later, then stirred up war, unified the entire Flash Gold Plains, and founded a mighty empire." He Lingchuan looked at him playfully, "Great Shaman, do you know the Flash Gold Plains?"

"I know, I have been there too." The Great Shaman laughed, "The Tiger-Wing General truly does not stand on ceremony."

The Tiger-Wing General bluntly said he dreamed of becoming emperor, truly not fearing the Great Shaman would blow wall-wind at him. If Zhong Shengguang were a bit more suspicious, would he not think he harbored designs on the throne?

He Lingchuan shrugged: "I have always been known for honesty."

The Great Shaman was amused again by him: "In your dream, what is the world like two hundred years from now?"

"Long gone is Panlongcheng, the heavenly demons still hold the Heavenly Palace and Lake Baikal, wreaking havoc upon the world. Meanwhile, the spiritual energy density of the human realm has been near bottom for over a hundred years, only recently beginning to rise rapidly in the past twenty years."

The Great Shaman said slowly:

"If Panlong State loses, your dream will come true."

If Panlongcheng loses, the final consequences will be borne by all of humanity.

"Yes, in my nightmare, Panlongcheng loses." He Lingchuan stared at him, unblinking, "But the king used the Great Square Vessel to open up a divine nation secret realm, bringing the heroic spirits of Panlongcheng inside. They lie dormant, awaiting the day they see the light again, to continue fighting for their mission."

"Oh?" The Great Shaman seemed quite interested, "Then do these heroic spirits know they have already become heroic spirits?"

This is a very peculiar question, He Lingchuan's expression unchanged:

"I think they probably do not know."

The Great Shaman nodded: "That is best for them. What do you want to ask?"

"In that dream, the king is still Zhong the Commander. He said the Great Square Vessel transforms from substance to emptiness, while the Panlong Secret Realm is the strongest link connecting reality and the Great Square Vessel. But..."

"But?"

"But one day, the Great Square Vessel must return from emptiness to substance." He Lingchuan drew a light breath, "When that time comes, what will become of this secret realm?"

"Returning from emptiness to substance is far more difficult than going from substance to emptiness." The Great Shaman spoke unhurriedly, "Let me give you the crudest analogy. After a person dies, if their soul lingers, it is equivalent to going from substance to emptiness. You see, this is quite common, is it not?"

Out of ten thousand deaths, perhaps one or two, by coincidence, leave a soul lingering in the world. In terms of human numbers, this already counts as common.

"Yes." A person dead but soul present is neither ghost nor nightmare, nothing strange.

"But this process is nearly irreversible—have you seen how many dead ghosts truly come back to life? Why we say the dead cannot be revived is precisely because the process of returning from emptiness to substance defies common sense, for between emptiness and substance there exists a mighty barrier, called the 'Law'!"

Zhao Manshu said word by word: "To return from emptiness to substance, one must challenge the Law, break through limits."

He Lingchuan thought for a moment, then retorted:

"People can die and be reborn. I know some souls can break through the mystery of the womb, adapt to a new body, and continue living as the living."

Isn't that what Emperor Mou is?

Zhao Man Du laughed: "The mystery of the womb—isn't that just the law? Wanting to break through it—how could it be so easy?"

He Lingchuan fell silent.

(End of Chapter)