Chapter 200: Another World

Luo Qi was silent for a long while; the new information had scorched his everyday understanding to a crisp.

"I don't consider myself a loose-lipped person who spreads news," the old man said casually, his single eye fixed on Luo Qi. "Perhaps Du Zhengyi feels he has an obligation to guard the secret of Gushan. However, child, have you heard of the Three Mages Secret-Keeping Curse?"

Luo Qi shook his head blankly.

The old man set down his wine glass and earnestly explained the theorem to the youth: "Three Mages can keep a secret if and only if one of them kills the other two."

Luo Qi was stunned as he listened. "That's a necessary and sufficient condition?"

"A necessary and sufficient condition," Wan Pei nodded in affirmation.

"When Pei Shu was talking to you about the Ship Ticket, didn't he make you sign a confidentiality agreement?" Luo Qi said, heavy with worry.

"Since he is a smart man, he knows that sort of thing is useless," Wan Pei said. "The matter is just there. Every so often—every year or every few years—quite a few people receive a Ship Ticket. Do you really think they all keep their mouths shut and don't say goodbye to their family and friends? In this Magic World, as long as you live long enough, you are bound to hear about this."

Luo Qi asked skeptically, "Longevity should be the most tempting thing in this world, right? Since some people know this news, haven't others had other ideas?"

"What do you think a Gushan Guard like Du Zhengyi is for?" Wan Pei grinned.

Luo Qi froze, instantly recalling the reason for Du Zhengyi's injury. Mahjong had said he was at Gushan at the time; he was guarding something. If he connected these things, Du Zhengyi was fulfilling his duty as a Guardian at Gushan at the time; he was guarding the secret of longevity, and he had been severely injured for this secret.

His heart tightened violently, and Luo Qi's angry roar escaped his lips: "This is fucking ridiculous!"

He guards the secret of others' longevity, he nearly lost his life for it, he is extremely weak because of it, and in the end, he won't be able to live a long life because of it.

He remembered the argument between the one-eyed old warrior and Du Zhengyi. He remembered that at the time, Wan Pei's suspicion of the Qionglin was the same as it was today, while Du Zhengyi's trust and loyalty to the Qionglin were exactly the same as his lifelong virtues. "Then what right does Du Zhengyi have to argue with you like that?"

"I think that makes him even more qualified to be loyal to the Qionglin," the old man said. "This seems like a paradox, but Pei Shu refusing to help his most beloved child is exactly what proves Pei Shu's selflessness and the Qionglin's fairness. If you understand Du Zhengyi, I think you will understand that he has actually always wanted a meaning, and now this matter has just given him one."

"A bullshit meaning?" Luo Qi shouted. "This world is absurd; what the hell is meaning? I don't want meaning; I just want Du Zhengyi to live, because when he is alive, I am happy, and when I am happy, this world has fucking meaning to me; otherwise, it has none."

The old man looked into Luo Qi's eyes with great interest. "Are all children today as selfish as you?"

"In what way am I selfish?" Luo Qi glared at him. "Have I harmed anyone? Is my happiness harmful to anyone? My actions harm no one, so why am I considered selfish? Do I not have the right to pursue happiness while I am alive? Does Du Zhengyi not have the right to pursue survival? And who exactly does Pei Shu represent the interests of? What common interests, what great cause—how is this talk exactly the same as what the Lotus Burners say? No wonder the Lotus Burners think the Qionglin is no different from them! And who exactly is Pei Shu? Is he a Judge who weighs the weight of souls? And who is he weighing the weight of souls for? Why is Du Zhengyi's soul not heavy enough? Does he have an appraisal certificate? Is the proof fair? Do I have the right to know?"

"You see," the old man said calmly, "you have been poisoned by humans; they would surely say your brain has been scrambled by humans. They also refuse to tell me whether those high-reaction youths I am ordered to capture are truly having high reactions. What percentage of them will have high reactions in the future? How long will they be detained, and when will it end? If I ask too much, even Du Zhengyi doesn't think it's reasonable."

Luo Qi lowered his head wearily, rubbing his face with both hands. "Setting aside right and wrong for a moment, Grandpa, let's use our brains and think together: does something like longevity really exist?"

The old man was silent for a moment, seemingly conducting a final assessment and deliberation. Finally, he said cautiously, "As far as I know, it should be true."

Luo Qi looked at him, his eyes stinging. This news stimulated him; he had never thought such a situation would arise. But deep in his heart, he knew he had been expecting such news; he knew certain things existed. Certain paradoxes had always existed, certain signs he could not ignore, and certain people had been persistently approaching the secret of Gushan.

The old man said again, "I said, as long as you live long enough, you are bound to hear about this, and more than once. I have also said goodbye to others; that was a Mage far better than me. He told me a lot, far more than what Pei Shu told me when it was my turn. That old man was a Great Mage who had mastered both ancient and modern knowledge; he did a lot of research on his method of eternal life. According to his research, he believed that all information is contained in ancient legends."

"I could write fifty of those legends in an afternoon," Luo Qi said, suddenly reaching out to grab his hair and mess it up into a disaster. He didn't look like Du Zhengyi at all like this.

"Calm down, child. You have to have some patience as a Mage, otherwise, two hundred-plus years will be hard to endure," the old man said.

"Fine, then what is it exactly?" Luo Qi looked at the old warrior.

"That Great Mage believed the key lies in the legend of regaining a young body," Wan Pei said. "Regaining a young body, and being reborn in another world."

"Which world?" Luo Qi asked. "What other world do we have, and which world can be reached by boat?"

"What is our way of traveling as Mages, child? Have you never used the Pendragon Orbital System?" the old man said. "We traverse space, traveling the shortest way between two points; we fold space."

Luo Qi finally understood. "So there isn't really any boat, is there? Perhaps it's a gate leading to another space? And the Gushan Guard is a Gatekeeper?"

"He believed there is a superior world, and that aging Mages, after regaining a young body, would pass through the gate deep within Gushan to reach that world. You can call that world whatever you like—Heaven, the Pure Land—in short, it is roughly a place like that," Wan Pei said.