Destiny is ashes

Chapter 1157 Fire (16)

The capital city is in turmoil.

Recently, many people and many officials have died.

The attackers were not very strong, but they were very well hidden, especially since those killed were all mid-level and lower-level people in various departments who were responsible for the actual coordination and operation.

Although they held high positions, they had little power, few guards, and no self-defense skills. It was also difficult to trace the murderer after they died.

No matter how the Imperial Guards of Shenjing searched, or how the diviners performed their divinations, they could not find any trace of the murderer.

Some suspect that it is the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect or the True Demonic Sect that is taking action, attempting to paralyze the grassroots of the imperial dynasty and further expand the chaos by taking advantage of the recent granary shortage, but no one has found any concrete evidence.

However, within the imperial dynasty, those who secretly cooperated with the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect were filled with suspicion, because they knew that the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect was indeed behind these assassination operations!

Theoretically speaking, the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect wouldn't interfere recklessly at a time like this. Although they might create chaos and take advantage of the situation, they would never resort to such a... simple and crude assassination.

Not at all. They have spokespeople in the court and their own voices, so they don't need to resort to such a primitive method as killing.

But the facts are before us.

The Heavenly Will Demonic Sect changed its mind without informing its collaborators in the Great Chen Dynasty.

There must be a reason for this; someone must have caused this series of changes.

But who exactly is it?
Some people had a guess in their minds. Considering the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect's emphasis on destiny, the sect leader of the Bright Mirror Sect from the Suspended Life Manor, and the senior brother of General Canglinzu... the answer was obvious.

But no one was willing to think about it deeply.

Meanwhile, as chaos secretly erupted in the capital, many things that were originally hidden by the facade of prosperity began to surface.

Some families lost their children, but after reporting it to the authorities, the entire family disappeared without a trace. Other families had their ancestral martial arts techniques stolen, causing chaos overnight.

Some people suddenly went mad in the streets and alleys, talking nonsense about some mysterious news inside the capital. Some families were even hacked to death in their homes, their blood soaking through the cracks in the doors, rotting and stinking, until the neighbors could no longer bear the disturbance and the government sent people to clean it up.

Some people contracted serious illnesses, some had conflicts with officials and found themselves in dire straits, with no choice but to commit suicide by jumping off buildings, some were framed and lost their entire fortune, and some sold themselves into servitude.

Originally, each isolated misfortune, occurring to different people, went unnoticed by others and was simply assumed to be their own bad luck.

But as these messages suddenly spread, many people were shocked to discover that there were actually so many messy things happening in the peaceful and tranquil capital they had always seen.

Some even discovered that an entire elite patrol unit of the Imperial Guards of Shenjing had been wiped out.

Their bodies were frozen in frost and vines were wrapped around them. The members of this unit were at least martial artists, and the leader was even a True Person, yet they died so silently, and to this day, no one knows who did it.

The crowd was in an uproar. The neighbors who thought they were well-informed were shocked to realize that they knew nothing about the capital they had lived in for decades.

Whether it is joy or sorrow, it is all what a certain will wants them to see, but they know nothing of the true reality.

However, these noisy noises were quickly drowned out by a louder sound.

General Gu Yunzhi, the Great General of the Northern Garrison of the Vast Sea, is suspected of rebellion and will soon be escorted to the Execution Platform for execution! This major news has suppressed much of the decadent talk.

Gu Yunzhi must be punished because he is the source of all the recent chaos in Shenjing. Not only that, he is also the mastermind behind the invasion of Chenli in the Northern Frontier, the source of the Northern Frontier Demon Disaster, and even the infiltration of the Heavenly Will Demon Sect, the major actions of the True Demon Sect, and even the death of King Jing. All the mistakes are related to him.

—At least on the surface, that's the official story.

"Really?" "Impossible! How could General Gu..." "But that's what the higher-ups said..." "It's just a conflict with a powerful family!" "Shh, watch your mouth! How dare you say that!"

The news came suddenly and quickly, like clouds and rosy dawn suddenly rising over the capital, enveloping the entire city without warning.

Large numbers of imperial guards and celestial officials blocked the plaza leading to the execution platform, and the towering altar for sacrificial rites was also completely sealed off by the formation.

As the great bell at the top of the bell tower rang, the light of the sky surged, and the once solemn execution platform was brightly lit.

On the execution platform, the aged man stared intently at the candlelight illuminating the platform not far away.

Behind the candlelight, a wisp of dawn could be faintly seen. Behind the red clouds, the golden dawn was beginning to emerge, just like the candle flame, with the golden heart edged in crimson, blood-red light.

The flames were burning.

The shallow see the light and feel the heat; the profound see the consumed firewood and the drifting ashes; the wise see the fire as a whole, the relationship between the firewood and the light, the extinguishing and the ashes. They understand that fire is not any kind of substance or element, but an incredibly complex reaction, thus constructing the essence known as the image of fire.

But if Gu Yunzhi were to say it...

Fire is life.

Fuel, oxygen, and the heat that makes them react... these three elements of fire can be applied to any kind of life, or even any kind of life's organization and environment.

Human will is an extremely complex system of reactions. While the body is material, the soul is like fire, which requires fuel, oxygen, and heat to emerge. Therefore, from ancient times to the present, people have used fire as a metaphor for the human soul and mind.

Human society is similar. It may seem to have a physical form, but in reality, the consensus that constitutes the core of society is the collective soul, a complex reaction formed by the thoughts of countless people. It also needs fuel, environment, and heat to function.

Flames are easily extinguished. Whether it is a lack of fuel, a lack of oxygen (environment), or a lack of heat (power), everything from a nation to an individual will stagnate, cease to function, and stop burning.

But the flame is also eternal, just as there are always embers left under an extinguished stove, a kindling that can be passed on. If these embers are moved away, taking the heat with them and passing it on to another place, then a new flame will be lit.

Yes.

Just like the inheritance of people and beliefs, people and firewood may no longer be the same, the flames and beliefs that ignite may no longer be the same, and the oxygen and environment that fuel the combustion may no longer be the same.

But the flames continued to burn.

Without the first flame, the last flame could not burn. This 'form', which was born at the beginning of the universe, has never been broken.

and so……

"Death, it seems, is nothing more than this."

(End of this chapter)