Chapter 625: Xia Longyuan's Notes

Chapter 625: Xia Longyuan's Random Notes

Of course, the Wang family was bound to rebel regardless.

"When he failed to curb his greed, knowing full well that the sea mud contained the yin aura of the sea clans yet still dared to absorb it, that day was already sealed. That Cthulhu-like Sea Emperor... once driven, he could only rebel ahead of time, becoming a pawn in the game between Old Xia and the Sea Emperor. Once that step was taken, there was no stopping—only the other's destruction, or his own." Zhao Changhe gazed at Wang Daoning's corpse and suddenly said, "In a sense... Hai Pinglan set up Old Wang."

Xia Chichi nodded.

Yes, Hai Pinglan had driven the tiger to swallow the wolf, using the Sea Emperor's dissatisfaction with the insufficient population at sea as a pretext, deliberately luring the Sea Emperor ashore to provoke Xia Longyuan... thus the infiltration of the Wang family.

Regardless of who had set up the Wang family, Xia Chichi's expression had brightened considerably.

Earlier, her emotions had been too tangled, needing an outlet. With Wang Daoning dead, it was as if a stone had been lifted from her heart, and she felt instantly lighter.

"How ironic—'Pai Tian Zhen Hai'—neither did it push back the heavens, and it was devoured by the sea." She smiled, a hint of teasing in her tone: "Hey, did you ever learn that palm technique? Even if just the basics... isn't it a bit ominous? Should you forget it?"

Zhao Changhe chuckled: "Depends on who uses it. The technique itself isn't bad—such fierce aggression actually suits the Wang family's temperament quite well."

Xia Chichi asked in surprise, "How so? They're so scheming and petty—'Pai Tian Zhen Hai'—do they deserve it?"

"Wang Daoning might be the lowest-grade among the Heavenly Rankings I've seen, but he was also the most daring. Whether it was colluding with the tiger for a chance at the Imperial Realm back then, or this desperate gamble of a dragon-slaying alliance, it was full of risk... a kind of relentless forward charge. If he had won the bet? It's just a bit unworthy of a great clan—maybe it has something to do with living too long by the sea..."

"There are no 'ifs' in the world. No need to elevate the Heavenly Rankings either. With sufficient talent, ample resources, and the right path of cultivation, anyone can break through the secret vaults. Your Blood Fiend Art is a demonic technique—its only requirement is tenacity, not moral character. The one who walks the path of righteousness is you, not the technique." Zhu Que spoke calmly, then turned and entered the underground.

She had been standing by with a tense expression, but seeing that the two seemed not to notice her, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed everyone's minds were elsewhere, and they probably hadn't dwelled on Wang Daoning's nonsense. Feeling her dignity preserved, she resumed her air of authority.

Zhao Changhe watched her retreating back, his gaze flickering.

What Wang Daoning had said wasn't the key point—the key was Zhu Que's desperate rescue at that moment.

That matter... well, that back...

He didn't dare draw conclusions yet, so he tentatively said, "Thank you for your help earlier, Venerable One..."

Zhu Que paused in her steps, then waved dismissively and continued forward: "You are the Fire Pig of my Sacred Hall. What's so strange about me protecting your life? As long as you remain loyal to the Sacred Hall, you will not disappoint my intentions."

Zhao Changhe's expression turned odd, and he said no more.

He didn't know how to say it... What if he was mistaken? Better ask San Niang later?

But this wasn't the right moment either. Old Xia's corpse sat quietly on the high platform, and Zhu Que was now standing before it. Zhao Changhe feared she might have thoughts of desecrating the body, so he swiftly descended and subtly blocked her way, pretending to reach into Xia Longyuan's bosom: "Old Xia left something for me—let me see..."

Zhu Que said calmly from behind, "No need to guard so deliberately. Though I loathe him, I wouldn't go that far... and for Chichi's sake, even less so. What do you take me for?"

Zhao Changhe breathed a silent sigh of relief.

In Xia Longyuan's bosom were two pages. One was a page of the Heavenly Book, its direction unknown. The other... Zhao Changhe pulled it out and was stunned.

It was a page resembling random notes, seemingly attached to the Heavenly Book, merging with it in a miraculous way and manifesting directly in his soul sea.

It was as if Xia Longyuan's lingering soul were speaking to him, though it was likely a preset mechanism to evade the Blind One?

The lingering soul spoke, and its first words were chilling: "This world is essentially a game."

"Because it is clearly an artificial closed microcosm—like in many web novels, a world within a book, a world within a box, a cave-dwelling world—it's the same. In a closed environment, the heavens are fake, a tangible boundary you can reach but never cross; the earth is also fake—it's not a sphere, with no life on the other side. Since it's a false world, calling it a game world shouldn't be a problem."

Zhao Changhe looked up, pondering, unsure how to judge.

A closed microcosm is one thing; equating it directly to a false world is another.

But since Old Xia thought so, he had his reasons. This was just a preset image—dialogue was pointless; he just had to listen.

"Suppose this is a world within a book. Then that book is the Heavenly Book, originally a treasure of some immensely powerful immortal or god. But the owner died, and even the treasure was shattered—this is what they call 'the death of the Heavenly Dao' or 'the shattering of the epoch.' Humans rose anew from the ruins. Almost all the top figures within the world died or barely survived. How did ordinary people survive? Simply, after the Heavenly Book world perished, new life was born..."

"The more I think about it, the more it resembles a game world. If everyone dies, they just respawn—aren't they just NPCs?"

"The Blind One wants me to collect the Heavenly Book. She's dreaming. There are many gods and demons hiding in the shadows, each aiming for the Heavenly Book, believing that collecting it all will let them replace the Heavenly Dao. I only need to keep one page so that no one can gather them all, and let them tear each other apart."

"Including that Blind One, who thinks she sees everything. She'll eventually have to descend into the fray, falling from her lofty clouds into the cricket pit. I'd love to see the day she's bitten all over by others."

"As for the goal of replacing the Heavenly Dao—the Blind One thinks everyone would be interested, but I'm not. Few game players want to become GMs. She's been in the real world for only a few days—what does she know about people? What I truly want is to destroy the Heavenly Book, but I can't... I know I can't. It's the embodiment of the Heavenly Dao's form. If I could destroy it, I could annihilate the world. Or conversely, if the world were annihilated, the Book might be destroyed? I don't know if I'll ever manage that, but I'll leave this note."

"Anyway, if I just collect the Heavenly Book, the end will surely see it all become her bridal gift. At the moment I think I'm about to replace the Heavenly Dao, I'll realize I was just a tool."

"If there's any benefit to collecting the Heavenly Book, it's that I can hunt gods and demons along the way. That's what I want—to hunt them one by one, and that too can level me up. But knowing the Blind One is watching, I don't want to do it that way. I have other means to find where these people are hiding. I built a firmament beneath the Imperial Ancestral Temple, with mountains and rivers under my control, the sky my creation—I can observe any place and teleport to any location at will..."

"That page of the Heavenly Book at Gujian Lake was the most basic, the general outline page—very tempting. I knew about it very early on, but I didn't take it. I deliberately left it there to lure gods and demons, then I would strike and destroy them. But the Blind One deliberately concealed the Book's aura, even changing its form, so the gods and demons didn't know—only the great clans and the demonic sect were searching for the sword. That was a game between me and the Blind One; I lost a round. But the thing is either in my daughter's hands or my son-in-law's, a fellow countryman—she might not have won either."

"Though I don't think I'll die... Anyway, if this page of mine ever falls into someone's hands, that son-in-law fellow countryman is the most likely. So I'll attach these notes here. Even if it falls into someone else's hands, it's fine—as long as it annoys the Blind One. Whether you want to be her tool, you can decide for yourself."

"Over at the Maitreya Sect, I thought they had a page, or perhaps their goal was to obtain one. I kept waiting. They were ravaging Jiangnan, and I didn't want to interfere—I just wanted to see the end of their goal, the moment when the god or demon behind them would emerge. Wan Zhuang and Changhe meddled too much in that matter, disrupting a lot. But unexpectedly, Changhe actually managed to gather friends and kill the god behind Maitreya... So these rats in the gutter are truly trash."

"The one with some backbone was actually the Hu God... That fellow always tried to restrain me. When Changhe first met me, I raised my hand to strike the heavens—that was because he saw me leave the Imperial Ancestral Temple and tried to see if I was weaker away from my base. I beat him back. The trouble is, I really can't leave the capital in person. If someone takes advantage of my absence to seize the capital, I'd be in deep trouble..."

"I also faintly sensed... If I lost the foundation of my rule, my cultivation might go awry... The path I took back then—unifying the world—seems to have been a wrong direction. It has unknowingly become my shackle and chain. My son-in-law said that if I were to be defeated, it might be because of this..."

"I don't want to believe it. My target is gods and demons—how could I be overturned by a bunch of low-level slimes? A game has limits to be fun. Ideally, I sit here, observing all directions, and my son-in-law grows up quickly to go out and fight."

"This young man is not bad, just a bit too lustful and foolish. Who ever heard of NPCs? My daughter is at least half a human—can't you be more focused? The problem seems to be that he's starting to see himself as an NPC... With that mindset, sooner or later, he'll fall into the Blind One's hands."