Chapter 2878

"What you truly should be responsible for are these Cangyan people on the Earth Mother Plain, the hundreds of millions of citizens of the Cangyan Kingdom, living, breathing people! They rely on you, they depend on you, you bear an inescapable responsibility toward them. If you die here today, that is truly letting them down."

He Lingchuan asked it: "Even if I turn back to reality, ignoring Panlongcheng, but I have a pact with karma, and come dawn, it will not let me go either."

"Hmm, what's so difficult about that?" The red snake chuckled, "You can imitate those true immortals and heavenly demons, carve out a clone, let it bear the sins and karma, then sever ties with your true self. By dawn, karma will take only your clone. Your true self, even if it retains some residual sin and karma, will not die. What is there to fear?"

"You're truly thoughtful." He Lingchuan also smiled, "You've even planned my retreat for me."

【5> He again asked the red snake: "Even if I retreat today, taking the Great Square Vessel and fleeing a thousand li away, it would only be a temporary escape. The Holy Lord of the Spiritual Void will ultimately bring the gods down to the mortal realm, and when that time comes, he will surely come to settle the total account with me."

He asked the red snake again: "Even if I retreat today, taking the Great Square Vase and fleeing a thousand li away, it would only be a temporary escape. The Holy Lord of the Spirit Void will ultimately descend upon the mortal realm with the myriad gods, and when that time comes, he will surely come to settle the score with me."

Between him and the Holy Lord of the Spiritual Void, there is no personal grudge, only a public debt. But this debt, the entries are so numerous they could encompass the entire world.

"When the time comes, we'll speak when the time comes. Between you and the Holy Lord of the Spiritual Void, is there truly only the path of you die or I live?" The red snake rarely deigned to analyze for him, "Even if the Holy Lord of the Spiritual Void comes to the mortal realm, he cannot possibly slaughter all of humanity's leaders. Your Cangyan Empire under your command spans vast territories with hundreds of millions of beings—could he truly slay you so easily? I think you know the answer in your heart."

He Lingchuan couldn't help but laugh: "You truly live up to being the divine aspect of the heavenly demon, wholeheartedly wanting to act as its spokesman."

"We don't care about your identity." The twin snakes spoke in unison, "We only follow the law."

He Lingchuan nodded, pointing at the black snake: "So, you represent obstinacy, and that is death."

Then he pointed at the red snake: "So, you represent retreat in battle, and that is life."

Entering the Panlong World is death; returning to reality is life.

To advance one step is death; to retreat one step is life.

He stood on the cliff of fate— which path should he choose?

Forward, or backward?

Is this the ultimate trial bestowed upon him by the Fate Divine Aspect?

The movements of the two great snakes froze, awaiting his choice. He Lingchuan did not hesitate, pointing at the black snake and saying: "I choose you."

"You would rather die than enter?" That conglomeration of countless voices pressed him, seeming to arise from the soul's reproach: "Why, exactly?"

"If I abandon Panlongcheng, even if I can survive temporarily, the cost is that the Great Square Vessel will never manifest in the world, and primordial force will never undergo any change thereafter. From then on, what will humanity use to oppose the Holy Lord of the Spiritual Void?" Every choice bears a price! He Lingchuan gazed at the two great snakes, "You reminded me to choose carefully, not to err. I think this is my only, and also correct, choice."

"Humans are foolish; not until the final moment do they realize they are wrong." That voice chanted, "By the time they realize, it's already too late. In this world, there is no regret medicine."

"Let foolishness be foolishness." He Lingchuan wore an expression of utter indifference, "Back then, the Abyssal King left the fire seed to Zhong Shengguang, and Zhong Shengguang passed the fire seed to me. Even if I die today, I will still attempt to pass this fire seed on to humanity."

"If you return alive, don't let the Great Square Vessel fall into the heavenly demon's hands— wouldn't that preserve the fire seed?" The Fate Snake asked him, "Whether it's the Abyssal King or Zhong Shengguang, what they strained every sinew to protect, wasn't it precisely the Great Square Vessel in your hand? You already have it— why then must you go to your death?"

But He Lingchuan corrected it: "What they sought to protect with all their strength was not only the Great Square Vessel."

"Not only?" The Fate Snake didn't understand, "Isn't the so-called fire seed precisely the Great Square Vessel?"

"No, not entirely." He Lingchuan shook his head, "There is also hope, the hope of victory; there is also a method, the method to defeat the heavenly demon. If the Great Square Vessel fails to accomplish these two tasks, cannot bring humanity hope and a method to defeat the heavenly demon, then it is no longer a fire seed. What meaning would there be in my merely preserving it?"

If so, this fire seed passed down through his lineage would extinguish in his hands.

From now on, this mortal realm might perhaps sink into endless darkness.

And he would bear the greatest sin.

He Lingchuan spoke slowly: "When I deciphered the divine aspect of the command seal of Jia Lou Tian, didn't I say so? The process from nothing to being is the most difficult. If I let this fire seed extinguish, the Black Dragon God Sovereign's thousands of years of effort would come to nothing, and I would be the sinner of humanity! One must wait until the power to oppose the heavenly demon begins to sprout again— who knows when that will be, perhaps the Year of the Monkey, Month of the Horse. There is fundamentally no pattern to follow— besides boundless power, one also needs heaven-defying luck—"

"Even you don't know when the next great qi fortune of humanity will arrive, right?" He sighed lightly, "Perhaps, there will never be another again?"

Some opportunities, once missed, are never to be had again.

Some civilizations, once severed, can never be reconnected.

"Even if the great feat of driving out the heavenly demon cannot be accomplished by me, at least I can preserve this slender spark of fire passed down through generations, and humanity will still have hope."

Having said this, the Fate Snake had nothing more to say. He Lingchuan gently shook his head, then muttered to himself:

"If I don't help Panlongcheng, how could Panlongcheng possibly help me?"

Having spoken, he raised his voice: "Make way, don't block the path. I'm in a hurry."

The Fate Snake did not make way. The black snake's head opened wide toward him, its fangs sharp as stalactites, with a black hole hidden behind— the black hole of fate.

Bottomless darkness, pitch-black darkness.

"Then, you may go on your way." Good advice cannot persuade the damned ghost.

He Lingchuan smiled with relief, strode forward, and stepped into the black snake's mouth, immersing himself in the black hole.

He had made his choice, without hesitation or regret.

……

Before his eyes was a vast expanse of dark red. He Lingchuan knew he had probably passed through the Sea of Chaos, but this process was very brief.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on a cliff. The shrubs beside him were taller than a person, and the grass blades still carried the fragrance of imperial flow juice.

He Lingchuan happened to face east; there, the mountain range lacked a corner, so he saw a star shining particularly brightly near the horizon, gleaming with a lonely yet steadfast light in the eastern dark night sky.

That was the Morning Star.

Its appearance there meant—

"Dawn is approaching." He Lingchuan murmured to himself.

He lowered his head and saw that he bore wounds, but the wound sites differed from those in reality.

Upon returning to the Panlong World, his soul wounds had become manifest.

The sole consolation was that, though the soul wounds were also severe, they were still somewhat better than the bodily exhaustion of oil-depleted lamps in reality.

(End of Chapter)