Secret Buyer-Chapter 284 - 218: Reaching Across the Future, All Is Illusory

Chapter 284: Chapter 218: Reaching Across the Future, All Is Illusory

"Lift high, let down gently."

Yuan Feidao spoke absentmindedly:

"This World Venerate from who knows where... not simple at all...."

The novice monk poured tea for him, equally astonished:

"An arrow that makes thirty-three cities fade, piercing the Governor’s palm, yet only smashing a plaque..."

"I’ve heard a youngster from the Cui Family was wronged, and that lad knelt three thousand times before the Cui Family’s threshold, summoning this earth-shattering arrow."

Yuan Feidao shook his head:

"Before this, did you ever hear of World Venerate?"

The novice monk recalled:

"The Confucian seventy-two scrolls, Taoism’s one hundred and eight volumes, my Buddhist Sect’s three hundred and sixty-five sutras, among all these, none mention World Venerate."

Yuan Feidao nodded, drank his tea, and declared:

"This World Venerate is about to preach in the Golden Province."

The novice monk was startled:

"Shouldn’t it be a quiet preaching? Why cause such a massive commotion, letting all know?"

He scratched his bald head, bewildered, waiting for the elder to enlighten him.

The elder put down his teacup, spoke softly:

"An arrow capable of tearing down the lands of a city, yet only destroys the threshold of a household; after this, no one can gauge the depths of World Venerate."

"Let me ask you."

He looked towards the novice monk and gave a daily example:

"If there’s a heroic figure, wielding a divine blade through the city, using it to slay forty-eight great bandits, what do you think?"

"Such a hero!" The novice monk gave a big thumbs-up.

Yuan Feidao asked again:

"What if it’s that Butcher Zheng at the end of the street, wielding this divine blade to chop pigs and slaughter cattle, kill chickens and dog?"

The novice monk solemnly respected:

"Unfathomable."

Yuan Feidao sighed:

"Indeed, unfathomable, more than Jiangzhou’s God of Plague, even more than the Golden Governor from the heavens. Nowadays, when anyone acts, who wouldn’t first consider that World Venerate?"

"This time, World Venerate might have shot an earth-shattering arrow for a Cui Family youth, but what about the future?"

"If anyone carelessly offends the unknown World Venerate, will it still be lift high and let down gently?"

The novice monk suddenly realized:

"The more mysterious, the more terrifying, and the more unpredictable, the more one dares not to easily touch, fearing it to be a thunder pool impossible to measure."

Yuan Feidao nodded:

"Thus, monarchs of old always feared their thoughts being clearly fathomed... just as now, no one understands the thoughts of this mysterious World Venerate."

He stood up, extinguished the curling green smoke in the incense burner, sighing:

"The sky of Golden Province is about to change — the Federation’s sky has already changed."

The novice monk clasped his hands together, chanting for mercy.

......

Deep secluded place.

The Other Shore Flower Cluster swayed like a strong wind.

Yet there was no wind.

Zhang Fusheng sat cross-legged, hidden within the flower cluster, allowing the droplets of Other Shore light to envelop and immerse him, only fixing his gaze on the muddy ground.

For a long time.

The great river surged.

Words slowly emerged on the mud ground.

[Who sent you?]

Zhang Fusheng’s tense body suddenly relaxed.

No answer.

Yet it was already answered.

He was bewildered — truly Spiritual Bamboo....

In an incredible place, yes, what could be more wondrous than the future?

The entire Nine Netherworld was unexpectedly set in the future — no wonder why Nine Netherworld is untouchable!

The past can still be cherished, but the future?

Can only be envisioned.

No one can touch the next moment of the future because there will always be a next second.

Unless it is the end of everything.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Fusheng used his finger as a pen.

[My name is Zhang Fusheng, now sitting in 2142, September 19]

The flower cluster swayed more fiercely.

The Ancient Saint responded — [Nonsense].

Zhang Fusheng pondered for a moment, didn’t explain to the Ancient Saint, nor did he need to explain.

He exited the Divine Realm, found Wei Lingzhu, looked at the naive girl before him, and simply handed her a letter.

"Open tomorrow."

He then returned once more to the Divine Realm, leaving the girl alone, puzzled in the wind.

He returned again to the destination of the Other Shore.

Zhang Fusheng carefully recalled the past, memories hadn’t deviated, nor did history seem to change with that letter,

Standing on the muddy ground, he dipped his finger in river water, writing two words.

[Taiqing]

A fierce wind arose, the river surged.

In the Divine Realm, as if a thunderclap sounded.

Zhang Fusheng waited.

For a long time.

On the muddy ground, two words emerged slantedly, the soil settled deeply, the writer exerted considerable strength.

[Master?]

Zhang Fusheng’s last bit of doubt in his heart dissipated.

Replaced by a complex emotion spreading through his body, even his coccyx tingling!!

Afraid of making major alterations, letting the mysterious Ancient Saint cease being in the Yellow Springs River, thus only speaking one matter and two sentences on the letter given to Wei Lingzhu.

’Many years later, the Other Shore blooms’

’When you see Taiqing, that’s when I’ve come’

Zhang Fusheng wrote down words.

[It’s me, you’re in the future, I sit in the now]

He was utterly sure of this one thing, because the Now Gate within Eight Sceneries Palace reflected precisely this moment.

Indicating that this moment is [now].

But a larger question arose in his mind, is the future certain?

Certainly not.

How then could Spiritual Bamboo be exiled into the future of Nine Netherworld?

Nine Netherworld is fixed in the future, even for Spirit Bamboo in the ’future’, it’s still a further future,

Or does it mean that once entering the future, Nine Netherworld becomes a existence in ’the present’?

Zhang Fusheng leaned more towards the latter.

Suddenly his heart sank.

"If I genuinely reach far, reaching to the level of Divine Spirit or even higher... how could I sit by while Spiritual Bamboo was exiled into Nine Netherworld?"

"No, no, no!"

Zhang Fusheng’s heart grew heavier, even in an age where Spiritual Bamboo has become a god, he hadn’t yet seized Nine Netherworld?

Where was he then?

He bent his fingers, ready to write a question, but saw two sentences carved on the muddy ground.

[Such a strange thing truly exists beneath the sky, I can truly see you again]

[The kindness of guiding my path, unforgettable in this life]

An ominous premonition grew stronger.

[Spiritual Bamboo, in the later years, where did I go?]

The Ancient Saint, who is ninety percent likely to be Wei Lingzhu, quickly responded.

[September 19, 2142, you gave me a piece of stationery and then disappeared forever]

[Master Lu and I searched for you for many years to no avail—you might have fallen on that day]

Zhang Fusheng’s mind went blank for a moment.

A chill exploded from the coccyx, instantly surging through his entire body!

"I died?"

"Just today??"

A storm of shock raged in Zhang Fusheng’s heart, yet the storm eventually calmed, and the bone-chilling coldness dissipated.

Times have changed.

Even if he were to truly fall in the next moment, he wouldn’t face it with total composure, yet wouldn’t be completely lost either.

"Today... who could it be?"

"Yuan Feidao? The Golden Governor? The God of Plague?"

"The divine ancestor of the Qinghe Cui Family? Or perhaps the Ancestor of Land Immortals?"

Zhang Fusheng’s thoughts twisted and turned. The Old Master was by his side; there’s no reason a Celestial Human could kill him unless something beyond them intervened!

Wait—The Old Master?

Zhang Fusheng suddenly shivered.

Could the Old Master stealthily kill him just to exclusively become Spiritual Bamboo’s master?

His thoughts churned, yet he suddenly relaxed.

"If at other times, the possibility might indeed be there, but today? Especially when I drew an arrow toward Golden City today?"

Zhang Fusheng was certain, even if the Old Master truly had the intention to kill him, it wouldn’t be today.

How did he die, how did he disappear?

He squatted and wrote in the mud—[What happened after I disappeared?]

If he couldn’t guess clearly, then he’d deduce the present from the future!

The mud ground wriggled as the Ancient Saint answered word by word.

[In February of the following year, Chongyang fell, and in April, the Golden Governor declared independence]

[A century later, the Federation fell]

[Six thousand years later, the Different Dimension descended into reality, where all non-divine beings possessing Divine Realm were reduced to illusions]

The pen halted abruptly here and then continued.

[I recalled, indeed you disappeared after leaving me a note]

[But was it because of our conversation that you left the note?]

[Did I... change the past?]

It’s more like a question, but actually, it’s the self-talk of the future Ancient Saint.

Zhang Fusheng couldn’t help but laugh, pondered for a moment, and made a note.

[To you, I am in the past, but on the true timeline, where I am is the real present]

[I will change the two words ’Taiqing’ on the note to ’Laozi’, leave this line of text, and see how your memory changes]

Zhang Fusheng left the Divine Realm, took the note from the bewildered girl at hand, changed it with a thought, and handed it back to her.

"Keep it well, remember to look at it tomorrow."

He paused, then gently caressed her cheek, and Wei Lingzhu quickly lowered her head:

"Master."

She heard the master utter a baffling sentence.

"If I disappear after today, please investigate for years until you venture into the Nine Netherworld."

Wei Lingzhu felt a panic in her heart:

"Disappear? Master, has something happened..."

Zhang Fusheng shook his head, closed his eyes, and his thoughts returned to the Divine Realm.

Standing in front of the line of text he left earlier.

[Now, how about it?]

Accompanied by a long silence, until Zhang Fusheng thought the future had changed, and Wei Lingzhu had not been exiled to the Nine Netherworld.

New characters emerged on the muddy ground.

[In my memory, you showed me with the word ’Laozi’, but the mud shows ’Taiqing’]

[There is a conflict between reality and my memory]

[I’ve thought for a long time, yet can’t fathom it]

Zhang Fusheng felt relieved.

Indeed, the present constantly influences the future, but not entirely; the ’Taiqing’ on the ground hasn’t changed.

This further indicates the future where Spiritual Bamboo resides is in a subtle state.

Simultaneously.

It thoroughly proves the future is not predetermined.

[Discuss later]

He left this line of text, decisively withdrew, returned to reality, activated the altar, and enlisted a strand of will from Miss Mingyue’s spirit to protect him for twelve hours,

then his thoughts escaped to the Eight Sceneries Palace, wielding the Nine-Ring Scepter in one hand and the Nail-Head Seven Arrows Book in the other, sitting cross-legged on the meditation mat, vigilantly prepared.

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

Until the morning of the next day.

Time moved from September 19 to September 20.

Nothing occurred.

Zhang Fusheng opened his eyes, first saluting and thanking Miss Mingyue, then personally seeing Wei Lingzhu; as he was returning to the Divine Realm,

he wrote in the Other Shore flower cluster—[On which day did I disappear?]

After a moment.

[September 20, 2142, that morning after you called to see me, you disappeared and could never be found again]

The Ancient Saint’s handwriting emerged on the ground.

[I searched for you for a long time, followed your words, and investigated for three thousand years, until time erased all traces, yet I still could not find you]

Zhang Fusheng remained silent, leaving the words—[Wait a bit longer].

He continued to sit in the Eight Sceneries Palace.

One day, two days, three days.

Every passing day, he would ask the Ancient Saint once, about his disappearance time.

Every day’s time was ’today’.

On the ninth day, September 28th.

This time, Zhang Fusheng gritted his teeth, neither staying prolonged in the Eight Sceneries Palace nor inviting a strand of Miss Mingyue’s spirit to protect him.

He lived an ordinary day, dismissed all five Divine Favor Envoys, instructing them to leave with their respective followers,

then it was simple tea and meals, nourishing mind and body.

Still nothing occurred.

The tenth day.

[On which day did I disappear?]

[September 29, 2142, after that day, I never saw you again]

Zhang Fusheng was relieved, softly murmuring to himself:

"I didn’t disappear, nor did I fall or die."

"Time simply didn’t record my future."

"Thus, the true ’now’, to this day, means I only exist to that day in its view."

Zhang Fusheng stared at the Other Shore flower cluster, suddenly speechless.

This indicates.

This Ancient Saint is actually...

Nonexistent, ’false’.

The future holds infinite possibilities.

What he resides in is the possibility of a future without him.

Thus, every time he encounters Wei Lingzhu in reality, it is the last time the future Ancient Saint sees him.

Words appear on the ground.

[Master, are you still there?]

[Have you found the source of the misfortune? Will I meet you again in the future?]

Zhang Fusheng looked at the words on the ground, suddenly reluctant to answer.