The Word of Heaven

Chapter 296 Eternal Day or Night
"I understand, but please be more specific, like starting with what you said not long ago."

Pei Jinge spoke casually, and took out a pot of wine from somewhere. He took two sips, and his cheeks turned slightly red, which looked very beautiful.

Gu Zhuo thought she would hand him the pot of wine, but in return he got nothing and had no choice but to speak.

"I told you before that I thought of two completely different solutions to the Tianwen question, and then I began to hesitate because I didn't know which solution was correct."

He gazed out at the world lit by the setting sun and said, “Those two roads… I would describe them in the crudest and most direct way possible as the difference between day and night.”

Pei Jinge narrowed his eyes slightly, drank the wine slowly, listened to the words coming along with the wind, and didn't think very seriously.

The strength of the alcohol was actually unusual. Even she couldn't bear too much without using her true energy to neutralize it.

This is why she drank at this moment but did not pass the jug over.

No matter what Tianwen was asking, it was so far away from her that she could not help but feel awe and even admiration.

Just like many years ago when she stood on the edge of Xuandu and looked up at the sky, she witnessed the appearance of countless space cracks with her own eyes. The bright sky light coated the edges of those dark cracks with a layer of sacred and magnificent glow.

At that time, the Taoist master was standing in the skylight, floating as if he had ascended to heaven.

That was a scene that Pei Jinge would never forget in his life.

She didn't want to experience the same feeling again a hundred years later, and at this moment, the only way she could do was to use the slight intoxication brought by the wine to blur the boundary between them.

Gu Zhuo didn't know what was in her mind, so he expressed his thoughts in a calm and gentle tone in the evening breeze.

“During the day, I merge with the world and become one with it, completely transformed into the Tao, bringing infinite light and warmth to the world.”

"The night is a completely opposite path. I will steal the sunset of this moment and the sunrise of tomorrow, plunging the world into an endless night, leaving only coldness and darkness."

Pei Jinge didn't listen very attentively.

So she casually put down the wine jug, blinked, and looked at Gu Zhuo seriously.

After a moment of silence, she shook her head and said, "This is certainly not the path you want to take."

Gu Zhuo smiled and asked, "Why?"

"The former is too selfless, and the latter is too selfish."

Pei Jinge said as a matter of course: "You can't do such a thing."

Gu Zhuo smiled and said nothing.

Pei Jinge hesitated for a moment, then handed over the wine jug in his hand and said, "Why does Tianwen make you think of these two directions?"

Gu Zhuo took the wine jug and looked at the wine stains remaining on it, which were glowing slightly in the afterglow of the setting sun.

"Xuan Du once had an ancient Taoist canon named Tian Wen, which tells the story of how the heaven and earth were formed. There are some facts in it, but there are undoubtedly more wrong speculations."

He said in a gentle voice: "When I first heard the word 'Heavenly Questions', I naturally thought in the direction of the nature of heaven and earth. Then thinking about my current situation, I came up with the idea of ​​eternal day and night, which I think is reasonable."

Pei Jinge said: "After all, the so-called heavenly questions are ultimately questions you ask yourself."

Gu Zhuo hummed with a nasal sound, then took a sip of the wine stains left by the person next to him.

Now that he is unable to use his cultivation level, there is actually not much difference between him and ordinary people, and he can no longer drink as much as he did in the past.

He put down the wine flask, feeling the spicy taste as if red-hot iron wire entered his throat, and said seriously: "Just like you said, I can't take things to such an extreme degree, so I stopped moving forward."

Pei Jinge thought for a moment and said, "This is very much like a process of self-reflection."

Gu Zhuo said: "Self-reflection is only the first step to solving the problem."

Pei Jinge frowned slightly and suddenly stopped talking.

Gu Zhuo looked at her, thinking that something unexpected had happened, and asked, "What happened?"

Pei Jinge shook his head and said, "No."

Having said that, her frown remained unchanged, and her eyes revealed an undisguised solemnity that was extremely puzzling.

At this time, the setting sun was about to set in the mountains, and the sunset glow became extremely intense. The lake on Baidi Mountain looked like a pot of red soup.

The returning mountain birds flapped their wings, held the evening fire in their mouths, and cried out so loudly that you would want to chop them with a sword and then put them into the pot.

Pei Jinge put his thoughts aside, turned his head and looked at Gu Zhuo who was staring at him.

The distance between the two was neither far nor close, and it did not shorten because of drinking, maintaining the boundary of politeness.

Just like their conversation.

"What on earth did you think of?"

“It’s a rather troublesome problem.”

"Ok?"

"Almost half a year has passed, and you just figured out the solution to the first problem. How long do I have to cook for you?"

"...I remember you were very disdainful when I told you before that maybe our food would improve."

"At that time, cooking was simple, as long as it was edible. Now we have firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and all kinds of meat, so cooking has become a very troublesome thing."

"I'll cook from now on."

"Are you... serious about this?"

"Why can't it be serious?"

"I dare not ask Her Royal Highness the Princess' husband to cook for me."

"That seems to make sense. From now on, we can eat our own food?"

"So you and I are such strangers?"

Having said that, there is naturally nothing more to say.

Gu Zhuo was not angry because he understood Pei Jinge's annoyance.

He thought seriously for a moment, but still couldn't think of a solution, so he said, "This has strayed far from the original topic."

Pei Jinge was silent for a while and said, "I'm sorry."

Gu Zhuo said seriously: "I accept your apology."

Then he changed the subject very naturally, so that the sound echoing in the evening breeze was no longer related to the daily necessities of life.

In the approaching night, he began to explain why he had his current views, what was the logic behind them, and where his thoughts came from.

……

……

"Nilu means inn. Suppose the world is an inn, and I am an important guest of this inn, it is quite reasonable for the innkeeper to ask me how I feel about living here."

"Although it sounds confusing, it unexpectedly makes some sense."

"The answer I give to this question is my view of this world."

"Since it asked you, your answer will naturally affect the future business direction of this inn."

"Do you think this idea is overly narcissistic?"

"It's you, so I don't feel that way."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"All in all, I think the answer I give will be extremely important and will affect the future of the entire human world."

"Then we need to be serious about this."

"However, I cannot give an answer in a short period of time, because that answer must be the sum of my relationship with this world."

At this moment, Pei Jinge suddenly put down the wine pot, opened his eyes wide, and asked directly: "Why did you do such a thing as edicting Yu Tian back then..."

Before she finished her words, she covered her lips with her hands and laughed crisply.

"I was a little drunk and couldn't help asking the truth. Just pretend you didn't hear it."

Gu Zhuo didn't know what to say.

After a long silence, he sighed, shook his head and said, "This concerns the greatest secret and fundamental inheritance of the Tiandao Sect. Even if I heard it, I can only pretend that I didn't hear it."

Pei Jinge raised his eyebrows and said, "Then you should have kept silent and not even told me this." Gu Zhuo thought that this was indeed the case and said, "The reason why I told you why I couldn't answer is probably because I am very grateful that you asked such a normal question after getting drunk."

Hearing these words, Pei Jinge's eyes suddenly brightened, and under the influence of alcohol, he felt an irresistible strong impulse.

Gu Zhuo looked at her seriously and said, "Don't talk."

Pei Jinge didn't care and asked in a hoarse voice: "If I died, would you be sad?"

Gu Zhuo was slightly stunned. He didn't expect it to be such a question.

The next moment, Pei Jinge burst out laughing, seeming to find his hesitation very amusing.

She laughed towards the sky, but did not forget to point her index finger at the tip of Gu Zhuo's nose. There was no mockery in her laughter, only joy and indulgence.

Even Gu Zhuo could not deny that her smile was extremely beautiful and moving at this moment.

Not long after, Pei Jinge stopped laughing.

She seriously suppressed her smile, looked at Gu Zhuo solemnly, and said nothing.

Gu Zhuo felt even more uncomfortable.

There was silence in the stone house.

The sun sets completely into the mountains, and the night covers the sky and the earth.

There was a rustling sound, and the still blooming petals were blown by the wind and fell on Pei Jinge's dress.

She stood up, lifted her skirt, let the falling flowers leave like rain, and bowed to Gu Zhuo.

"It's nice to chat with you today, so I can cook for you tomorrow."

After saying this inexplicable sentence, Pei Jinge left without looking back.

Gu Zhuo was still sitting on the stone house.

He raised his head, stared at the bright moon in the night sky, and subconsciously thought of a question.

——If I could still hear your voice, what would you say to me now?

……

……

There are countless questions and answers in the world, and most of the time people are trapped in them and unable to get out.

Gu Zhuo is like this.

The same is true for the White Emperor.

After saying goodbye to Yu Sheng at the end of winter, he became a real loner, and loneliness and sadness were inevitable.

However, the heart of Tao will eventually find peace in this pain.

After this, the White Emperor began to do what he was supposed to do.

Not to kill Gu Zhuo.

This is certainly a very important thing, but it is not what he wants to do.

It has nothing to do with Yu Sheng, nor is it some boring reason like mutual admiration, but he has more important things to deal with.

The specific details of that matter on paper were a team of the highest standards of the Qin Dynasty going to Baidi Mountain, a brand new formation built under the personal supervision of the eunuch leader, and a sacrifice in the not too distant future.

However, just when everyone including the queen thought he was worrying about this matter, he had actually left the capital.

No one in the world knows.

Just as the master of the temple once said, the White Emperor has never left the capital city once in these decades, and has turned himself into a holy statue.

In the past, he was unwilling to leave because there was no need to give someone like the master a chance to test him, but that didn't mean he couldn't do it.

Now that all the old acquaintances have died and new ones have not yet arrived, the White Emperor naturally has the greatest freedom in the world.

After leaving Shendu, he went to Wangjing.

According to records, after the capital was moved, the White Emperor never set foot on the land of Wangjing again, and never even saw the old capital again.

These are all true.

Therefore, when Bai Huangdi and Wangjing met again, it was hard not to feel emotional.

Summer has not yet arrived, and the spring rain is still lingering.

Wearing a bamboo hat, he handed out the pass he had prepared in advance, and when asked by the soldiers guarding the city, he answered with the word "home" and stepped into the old capital.

Wangjing is almost the same as Baihuangdi remembered.

——This capital city died many years ago, and even old age is powerless.

The White Emperor walked down the street, following his memories of the old days, and went to Cheung Chau Academy.

The many changes that had occurred over the past century had made this prosperous institution in his memory become extremely desolate and deserted.

He still remembered that he had attended classes at this institution for several days in a shady way.

Walking in the drizzling evening rain, passing by young and immature faces, listening to the tense discussions about the upcoming summer festival, the White Emperor went to the small green hill.

After being washed by rain, the bamboo leaves growing on the hill are more pleasing to the eye and are lush and green.

The White Emperor climbed up the stairs and finally stood in front of a two-story wooden building.

No one lives in this wooden building. The doors and windows have been sealed and even restricted by formations.

This was where Gu Zhuo lived during his three years at Changzhou Academy.

The White Emperor stood in front of the door, letting the rain continue to drip and disrupt his vision.

"You came to Wangjing not just for the Tongsheng Pill."

He said indifferently: "It's because I can't focus here."

As he spoke, the White Emperor pushed open the door and stepped inside.

The decoration inside the building remains the same as before, and all the changes that had taken place have been restored.

The White Emperor didn't care about that. He went straight to the second floor and stood in front of the bookshelf.

His eyes swept across the books and looked at the words on the spines, and scenes from the past naturally emerged in his mind.

A young man sat at the desk, casually flipping through things that had happened in the past hundred years in the dim light.

During this process, the young man chuckled at times and remained silent at times, but he was mostly calm.

The White Emperor watched quietly.

At certain moments, the past scenes that he traced back with his supernatural powers were inexplicably blurred and completely unrecognizable.

So he confirmed again that it was necessary for him to come here.

Yes, the White Emperor came to Wangjing not only to return home after a long absence, but also to see with his own eyes the traces that Gu Zhuo originally left in the world.

——On the morning of the day after Si Zhu's death, all the changes that had occurred in Cangzhou City were presented before his eyes.

There is a lot to think about.

It was unknown how long it took before the White Emperor left the wooden building.

The night rain had not stopped yet, and he was thinking about the rumors left by Gu Zhuo, and went to the front of a hall.

According to rumors, the evil deeds of the vice-president of Changzhou Academy were exposed to the public here by Gu Zhuo using Taoism.

Of course, such a law exists in the world.

With Gu Zhuo's true identity, he can still perform it even without entering the cave. This is not something worth being confused about.

However, when the White Emperor stood in front of the palace and tried to use his great supernatural powers to recreate the past, he gained nothing.

"It's all natural."

Through his bamboo hat, the White Emperor looked at the Taoist temple in the rain and was silent for a long time.

He retracted his gaze, lowered his head to look at the reflection in the puddle, and said to himself: "If it is will, it is too far-fetched. How did you establish the connection, and how can I cut it off?"

(End of this chapter)