ninety thousand miles

Chapter 725 Nine Thousand Miles On
"Welcome back, Sergeant First Class Li Chuan." A somewhat familiar, pleasant female voice rang out.

A pale white hexagonal light screen lit up a foot in front of Li Chuan. Then, six cold lights lit up in succession on his right, left, above, below, and finally behind him, framing him in the center.

"Your return means we have established a stable anchor point in this world. Now, please make your choice: whether to choose this world as our final destination."

Li Chuan felt a flood of information rushing into his mind, making it difficult for him to process it all. He tried his best to remain calm and said, "Tell me what's going on first."

"Okay," the woman said.

"After leaving the Sea of ​​Light, we traveled in space for 1627 years before encountering turbulence and being captured by an unknown force field. At the same time, the device storing the consciousness of all individuals detached from the spaceship and fell into the force field. After that, the spaceship entered a hibernation state."

Li Chuan recalled the huge, smooth object he had seen and said, "Is this what the spaceship captain looks like?"

The female voice replied, "To adapt to this space, over a long period of time, I gradually transformed into the form you see now."

“Go on,” Li Chuan said.

"As time goes by, we are gradually able to observe the true nature of this world and sense that the consciousnesses that fell into the force field, although damaged, still exist and have not perished. But I cannot contact you. You exist in the root of this world, and your condition is very poor."

"The Abyss of the Heart?" Li Chuan asked.

“Yes,” the woman said.

"Is this the truth about the White Walkers?" Li Chuan asked.

“Yes. As consciousness entities, you have been trapped in the Abyss of the Heart, maintaining a minimal existence through constant splitting, replication, and further splitting. You have tried various methods to break free from the Abyss of the Heart's dissolution and constraints, but have never succeeded,” the female voice said.

Sure enough, he was a White Walker.

"Thirty thousand years ago, a turning point appeared. A massive consciousness emerged, carrying the power to completely change the world. It entered the force field and dragged another race that was passing by into it."

"Gods and demons? The one with the enormous consciousness is the Gods? The one who was drawn in is the Demons?" Li Chuan asked.

"Yes. He failed. But he sensed our presence, so he tried to contact us and offered to cooperate. His goal is to bring this world back into the range of that power. I can help him pinpoint the location of that power. In return, he promised to help us break free from the force field and escape from here."

“He also cooperated with the demons,” Li Chuan said.

“That’s right, the demons are capable of building devices that allow them to escape this world and travel directly to another dimension,” the female voice said.

"You've agreed to cooperate?" Li Chuan asked.

“Yes. I asked him to bring you back from the abyss of the heart,” the woman’s voice said.

“But he failed again,” Li Chuan said.

"No, he succeeded, or rather, almost succeeded. In that possibility, at that time, Gu Xiantian Su also sensed my presence. He also made demands of me," the woman's voice said.

"What are the conditions?" Li Chuan asked.

"The method by which the gods brought you out of the Abyss of the Heart is flawed. You can only parasitize individual lives, imitating their every word and action, unable to awaken your true selves. This way of life is merely generation after generation of parasitism; you exist, but there is no true inheritance or reproduction. Following this path, eventually all consciousness will be linked together, and only then will you awaken, but by then you will have become a sea of ​​consciousness similar to that of the gods. Once formed, the signals emitted will be able to connect with me," the female voice replied.

"Tian Su told me that by then we would become part of the gods, but the gods deceived us."

"Tian Su gave us another option, another possibility."

"What's possible?"

"Come and see," the woman said.

A curtain of light unfolded beneath Li Chuan's feet. Looking down, he saw within it all the possibilities of this world's past, present, and future. These infinite possibilities converged, forming a vast net. Through this infinite net, he saw the Abyss of the Heart.

The explosion of the Heart Abyss caused energy to vibrate at different frequencies, forming all sorts of matter, and thus the entire world was born.

Everything that happens in the Path of Life is a projection of the various futures created by the Heart Abyss.

Of all the initial possibilities, there was only the scholar Li Chuan who was scared to death, not Li Chuan who transmigrated from the past.

No, he didn't travel through time; he arrived here and, in a twist of fate, awakened his true self within the dying scholar Li Chuan. Afterward, he experienced various extraordinary adventures, traveled nine thousand miles, and returned to where he came from.

The female voice explained, "There will be a consciousness that awakens to its true self and, through its own strength, comes here to make its final choice. Sergeant First Class Li Chuan, it's time for you to make your choice."

"So the demons were innocently dragged into this? They just wanted to build a ferry crossing and then leave?" Li Chuan asked.

“Yes,” the woman said.

"That Chi Lin, that god, what is his motive?" Li Chuan asked.

The female voice replied, “The essence of this world is a terrifying predator. It constantly devours everything in the outside world, and we are one of its prey. The gods once came here, but they did not discover the truth of this world. So half of him remained here, while the other half left to seek other possibilities. After he left, he accidentally discovered the true nature of this world. But the half that remained here has completely merged into this world and cannot escape. So he wants to change the fundamental laws of this world, to return his half to its original form. He wants to find his complete self.”

"They all sound pretty unlucky," Li Chuan said.

The woman did not respond.

Li Chuan asked, "How did Tian Su manage to do that?"

The female voice said, "He once led the immortals to condense the Dao and merge with the Heavenly Dao. His Dao briefly became a part of the laws of heaven and earth. After he found me, he sank into the abyss of his heart and voluntarily allowed the Otherworldly Ghosts to parasitize his Dao. After merging with the Heavenly Dao again, he erased his own consciousness, making that brief moment eternal. At that time, we became a part of the Heavenly Dao, and that possibility appeared."

"Of course, he also retained a small part of his consciousness, which is Shenxia." "Afterwards, those who inherited his will worked together to leave a mark at the end of time. From then on, Shenxia Temple went against the current, and thus this life came into being. You already know what happened on the other material level."

"Why me?" Li Chuan asked.

The female voice said, "Because none of us gave up. Even if we lose consciousness and energy, leaving only the last tethering signal, we still exist. This terrible predator can never kill us."

"You mean, if this possibility arises, we can live, reproduce, and pass on our lineage here? Then can we leave? If we can't leave, and we keep going through these big and small calamities, who knows, one day we might disappear completely," Li Chuan said.

"Tian Su has given you the 'First Book.' The method to break free from the shackles of the Heart Abyss has appeared. At the same time, I am already analyzing the Demon Clan's device. After you use the First Book to mend the rift in the Heavenly Dao, ten thousand years later, we may be able to break free from the shackles of the Heart Abyss and gain true freedom. This is one possibility I have seen," the female voice said.

"When the Divine Swordsman was traveling among mortals, he encountered a father and son at Jishuitan. The father was terminally ill, and the son begged the Divine Swordsman to save his father's life. The Divine Swordsman proposed that the son's life be exchanged for the father's. The son agreed. Tian Su knew that this world had reached its end, and he wanted to let this world he cherished escape its predetermined fate. So he killed himself, placing the right to choose before us, pleading for a possibility," the female voice said.

"Can't they escape now?" Li Chuan asked pragmatically.

"Yes."

"What about that light, that power?" Li Chuan asked.

“I’ve located it. You’ve brought the ‘key.’ Once you’re stronger, we can shut it down,” the woman’s voice said.

"How many of us are there?" Li Chuan asked.

“Three thousand six hundred,” the woman said.

"Everyone except me is still down there, and hasn't woken up yet?" Li Chuan asked.

"Yes," the woman said.

“It seems I have no choice,” Li Chuan sighed, feeling both helpless and relieved. “Tian Su has already chosen for me. I just need to diligently mend the Heavenly Dao.”

“That’s quite a challenge,” the woman’s voice said.

“I know I can do it,” Li Chuan said, then asked, “How long do you think I need to catch up?”

"Ten thousand years," the woman's voice said.

"Can I live for ten thousand years?" Li Chuan asked.

"You have lived as long as heaven and earth."

“This path to immortality is a bit tough,” Li Chuan said.

“But after that, you can still choose your destiny in this life,” the woman’s voice said.

"I want to go back to Yunqiao Township," Li Chuan said.

"it is good."

The female voice repeated: "Your return means we have established a stable anchor point in this world. Now, please make a choice: whether to choose this world as our final destination."

“Yes,” Li Chuan heard himself say.

He looked down again.

Looking down from 90,000 li above, the sky and earth appear upside down, and the earth is like a mirror. Rivers rush, mountains stand tall, and the bustling life of humankind is intertwined.

He seemed to hear a squeaking sound.

……

Li Chuan opened his eyes and heard a commotion outside the window.

"Watch this move!" a shrill voice cried out.
"Watch out!" a muffled voice replied.

"Come again!"

"it is good!"

……

Li Chuan of Yunqiao, also known as the Demon-Suppressing Doctor, was a scholar who passed the imperial examination at a young age and was skilled in slaying demons and monsters. He had two brothers, and three others.

His wife, Pan Xiaohua, was a simple woman, a virtuous and capable helper. They had two sons: the elder, Li Mo, became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) at a young age and a prime minister at fifty; the younger, Li Yi, entered Xuanshui Mountain to cultivate Taoism, riding the wind and cranes, and was known as Immortal Li.

Chuan once met Zhu Qingyun, an official of the Imperial Observatory, at Xuanshui Mountain. She was a woman skilled with two swords; their blades clashed and danced together as the moon set. The world considered them a divine couple.

He had friends all over the world. Taoist Wen Guying, monk Wukong, hunter Tongluo, blacksmith Cenmeng, and many other friends would hold grand gatherings with wine on moonlit nights and flowery mornings, and when they were drunk, they would sing loudly and return home.

At the age of ninety-three, one night he said to his family and friends, "I am about to return to the true self." Then he rode on the clouds with his wife, son, chicken, and dog, and his house also rose up, and heavenly music could be heard for a hundred miles.

Later generations erected statues in the four surrounding areas, and the morning bell and evening drum rang out, with incense burning continuously.

After traveling ninety thousand miles in search of the Way, I finally returned to the countryside, to enjoy poetry, wine, and tea.

(End of this chapter)