The Word of Heaven

Chapter 363 The Road of Humanity

The Weiyang Palace was quiet and utterly silent.

Bai Yingzhou was not angered by this. He looked at Gu Zhuo calmly, without showing the slightest wavering.

How many times in life will we be saddened by the past?

Over the past century, he has fought Gu Zhuo three times and remained undefeated each time.

From the old Xuandu to the Yunmengze after autumn, Gu Zhuo had never won against him; in fact, he suffered two crushing defeats.

However, he did not achieve a real victory as a result.

Those were merely minor victories that couldn't truly determine the overall outcome.

In the battle deep in the wilderness at the end of last spring, he was still undefeated, but Gu Zhuo won, and won decisively.

What's interesting is that if he hadn't ultimately decided to side with Gu Zhuo and take action against Yuan Dai, this victory would have been an extremely miserable one.

Looking back over the past century, the two have never truly fought a fair battle.

Judging from this, it's quite clear who is superior and who is inferior, that Gu Zhuo is still able to stand in Weiyang Palace today.

Bai Yingzhou has never denied this fact.

It is precisely because of this recognition that his life needs this battle even more, this life-or-death battle in which there will be no third person.

Thoughts only last for a moment.

Gu Zhuo had already walked to the fragments of the morning and evening bell.

They were only a foot apart.

He reached out his hand, his fingertips about to land on a certain fragment.

It is only a stone's throw away from recasting the morning and evening clocks.

Just a stone's throw away, a beam of sunlight, ignoring the obstruction of the palace eaves and tiles, shone upon Gu Zhuo as if from the void.

This beam of Buddhist light appeared so suddenly, without any warning, yet its power was enough to kill even those who had ascended to immortality.

Gu Zhuo remained calm and composed, turning his body away from the sunlight.

The simpler it is, the more powerful it is.

Bai Yingzhou remained expressionless, yet another thought crossed his mind.

Six more beams of light descended in succession, but still failed to meet Gu Zhuo, though they did briefly stop his progress.

Bai Yingzhou needed just this moment.

The lights in Weiyang Palace suddenly went out.

The light in the sky immediately changed, transforming into seven colors emanating outwards from Gu Zhuo as the center.

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

A rainbow enveloped Gu Zhuo.

An immense and overwhelming power then emerged, perfectly merging with the dazzling light, drawing a line in the sand and creating a cage.

Outside the cage, it was like an abyss, utterly dark.

The scenes outside Weiyang Palace are no longer visible.

Gu Zhuo's gaze pierced through the rainbow light in front of him and fell into Bai Yingzhou's eyes, somewhat surprised.

His mastery of Taoist arts is already comparable to his own back then—during the decisive battle in Xuandu.

No matter how much Yuan Dai imparted his knowledge, Bai Yingzhou's ability to cultivate the Daoist arts to such a high level in just a few years is truly worthy of his name.

That's all.

Gu Zhuo's gaze remained calm as before.

He took a step and stepped toward the rainbow that enveloped his body.

The moment they met, the frost-stained blue robe suddenly burst into flames, the firelight exceptionally brilliant.

His clothes were burned to ashes, and Gu Zhuo stepped out of the rainbow light, breaking free of his cage.

The night surged in like a tidal wave, carrying a terrifying chill that penetrated to the deepest part of his soul, threatening to drag him into an abyss.

He suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, recalling the story left in the Zen scriptures, and remembering the Emperor Wu who had once carried the Buddha's Zen thoughts. Thus, he learned the name of this supernatural power.

—Tung Palace.

The rainbow light is formed by the Daoist magic; what about the night?
The abyss between this life and the next.

What is the chill in the abyss?
death.

Only Buddhism can do this.

Taoism and Buddhism are interconnected, and the sublime realm that Bai Yingzhou displayed in this battle is not aptly described as unparalleled.

This is truly unprecedented and unparalleled.

Gu Zhuo felt the chill creeping in, and the faint glimmer of light in the distance symbolized the so-called afterlife.

The morning and evening bells may seem close at hand, but in reality, they are worlds apart.

Is it like Emperor Wu in Tong Palace, turning back to the palace and waiting for the raging fire outside to be extinguished, or is it to move forward fearlessly?

These are the only two paths that Gu Zhuo can take.

The voice of the White Emperor seemed to come from nowhere.

"How can we break it?"

Gu Zhuo did not answer that question.

Words speak louder than deeds.

Faced with a miraculous method that might never exist again in this world, his choice was far too simplistic.

The two fingers together form the shape of a sword.

The sword's edge pierces straight into the abyss between this life and the next.

A soft rustling sound.

As Gu Zhuo's fingers irresistibly traced a path through the night, the seemingly seamless abyss was forcibly torn open!
The crack continued to widen, and then widen further, from which a faint light flowed like water.

Those are the lights of humanity.

Just then, Gu Zhuo had an idea.

His soul left his body faster than a lamp casting a shadow, and arrived in front of Bai Yingzhou.

Bai Yingzhou had a premonition.

Faced with the sword-like finger pointing directly at his brow, he turned his hand over and unleashed boundless light, suppressing Gu Zhuo.

Gu Zhuo ignored it.

Cutting water with a sword is undoubtedly a supreme skill in the human world, but cleaving light with a sword is even more profound, no different from the legends. Therefore, when the light was split in two by the sword's edge like flowing water, even Bai Yingzhou couldn't help but frown, his eyes revealing clear astonishment.

"This sword is already on par with the King's Sacrifice."

"I've never lost to him before. I let him win that time, you should know that."

Gu Zhuo said calmly, his sword pointing upstream, easily touching Bai Yingzhou's brow.

Ka!

With a crisp crack, countless tiny cracks suddenly appeared on Bai Yingzhou's body, bringing him to the brink of shattering.

Such intense and severe pain did not change his expression at all, because his soul had already arrived before Gu Zhuo's body.

Bai Yingzhou, who appeared in the world as a divine soul, was no longer old.

He possessed no air of royalty whatsoever; his clothes were devoid of elaborate patterns, and his black hair was not bound by a solemn crown. He was utterly unburdened, accompanied only by the gentle breeze, like a banished immortal.

Therefore, no chilling light ever rose from his palm.

Calm and calm.

Silently.

It's only natural.

This palm strike is in harmony with the power of heaven and earth.

Gu Zhuo raised an eyebrow.

That was the real surprise brought about by the unexpected; the other party had actually broken through to a higher realm in this life-or-death situation.

Why?

He turned around and looked back at Bai Yingzhou's back, and then he understood.

Long confined in a cage, I have finally returned to nature.

With Tong Palace breached and the sword's edge already upon them, at this critical moment of life and death, Bai Yingzhou finally took the step he had longed for for two hundred years.

One step is to ascend to immortality.

Both have ascended to the realm of immortals, but who is the victor?

……

……

The darkness brought by the abyss had long since dissipated.

The morning light was just beginning to shine outside Weiyang Palace.

Even as his soul left his body, Bai Yingzhou's eyes remained firm, resolute, and without the slightest hesitation.

Even if the outcome of falling behind is mutual destruction.

As I said not long ago, aside from ascending to heaven, this is the greatest meaning of his life now.

What is there to fear in death?

This outcome is enough for a battle that was destined to end in certain defeat.

Bai Yingzhou's eyes grew brighter.

then.

The bell rings.

That's a signal to go home.

Where does the soul find its home?

……

……

The power of time descends upon Weiyang Palace with the tolling of the bell.

Bai Yingzhou was trapped by time.

The palm strike that was only slightly away from Gu Zhuo began to retreat at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, getting further and further away.

"When was it?" his voice rang out, filled with barely concealed regret.

Gu Zhuo said, "You should know that."

After a moment of silence upon hearing this, Bai Yingzhou recalled the sword finger that had landed on his brow and understood.

The two gaze at each other across the fragments of the morning and evening bells.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

The morning and evening bells are located on this line.

The moment the abyss-like darkness was torn open, the outcome was already decided, but he remained oblivious for a long time.

Gu Zhuo and Bai Yingzhou's souls returned together.

The latter lowered his head and looked at the cracks that had spread to his palm, knowing that death was imminent.

He said with regret, "If the Heavenly Dao Seal and the Mountain and River Disc were still there."

Gu Zhuo calmly said, "Wait a minute, the Three Lives Pagoda is really there."

Bai Yingzhou was silent for a moment, then said, "What if I could break through to the next realm sooner?"

Gu Zhuo shook his head and said, "Then life and death will not be determined in this way. You will still lose, it's just that the process will be long."

Bai Yingzhou looked into his eyes and asked, "Am I destined to lose?"

"Yes, but it's not something to be sad about."

Gu Zhuo said matter-of-factly, "Throughout history, no one has ever been able to defeat me single-handedly."

Bai Yingzhou smiled, his smile showing no displeasure, and said, "No wonder Yuan Dai didn't dare to show himself in Xuandu back then; there's a reason for everything."

After saying this, his physical body instantly turned to dust and vanished with the wind.

As the last wisp of dust was blown away, the ethereal figure of the young man reappeared in Weiyang Palace, seemingly elusive, perhaps about to depart with his physical body at any moment.

He looked at the reconciled dawn and dusk clocks and asked, "So you're going back?"

Gu Zhuo remained silent for a long time before giving his answer.

"Do not."

Bai Yingzhou looked on with confusion and asked earnestly, "Then what are you going to do?"

Gu Zhuo turned to look at the world outside the palace. Seeing the morning light as before, he said, "I am ready to lead this world forward."

(End of this chapter)