Chapter 71 The King's Choice

While Fei Yu and Wu Yu were reeling from those four words, Wei Yuan had already descended from the altar. With a wave of his hand, he invoked the mountain winds, and the young Daoist strode upon the wind, crossing layers of mountain rock, arriving outside Chaoge City, at the summit of the ancestral mountain.

Wei Yuan gazed into the distance at the city of Chaoge, then sat down cross-legged.

This time, he no longer needed to touch the mountain rock with his palm. A wisp of his divine soul consciousness had naturally delved into the ancestral veins, following the contours of the stone, reaching the altar in the hollow mountain belly. Then, using the earth's spiritual energy of this mountain, he reconstructed a temporary body.

The Bo beast was originally resting, but upon sensing Wei Yuan's aura, its pupils brightened, and it leaped up.

It emitted a sound like a war drum or a dragon's roar and ran over.

Wei Yuan helplessly reached out a hand, stopping the oncoming Bo beast, patting its head, and then looked ahead, seeing King Wu Yi of Shang sitting cross-legged there. Only as he drew closer did Wei Yuan realize that he was not actually sitting.

Wu Yi had lost both his feet, he could only sit there.

The arm that was a grotesque amalgamation of tiger claw and human limb had also been severed, leaving only the upper arm. The only intact limb was his left hand. His originally dirty and muddy clothes had been replaced by clean, simple white robes, giving him an air of solemnity and grandeur.

His back was ramrod straight as he sat there steadily.

Wu Yi opened his eyes.

"You've come."

Wei Yuan's heart stirred. He cupped his hands and bowed slightly, then, without revealing any pity or sorrow, merely smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I have kept you waiting."

He slightly lifted the hem of his Daoist robe and sat down opposite Wu Yi, seeing the city of Chaoge depicted behind Wu Yi, painted over three thousand years. He paused and said:

"The ritual is about to begin."

In the eyes of the Shang King, there was a faint glimmer in the deep, still pools of his gaze.

***

"What did you say?!"

The old man exclaimed in a low voice, losing his usual composure and calmness.

Fei Yu and Wu Yu told the Grand Tutor what Wei Yuan had said, especially the sentence that the main participant in the ritual this time was not him, but the Emperor God Wu Yi. The old Grand Tutor was lost in thought for a long time, as if his years of accumulated wisdom had vanished. Like a young man, he paced back and forth quickly.

Then he decided to immediately prepare according to the specifications Wei Yuan had stated.

Fei Yu and Wu Yu quickly conveyed the requirements to the people in charge of the ritual.

The grand ceremony held every three hundred years was a tradition of the Shang people. Compared to ordinary rituals, the only difference was the scale of participation, which far exceeded that of ordinary ceremonies. Soon, the news spread throughout Chaoge City, to the people working, the old men sharpening their weapons, the children diligently practicing, and the women weaving and sewing at home.

They all put down their work, donned the cloth garments that were only worn during rituals, and appeared on the streets, with anticipation and longing, heading towards that ancestral mountain.

***

Finally,

The sacrificial ritual began.

Accompanied by the sound of heavy instruments and solemn, grand prayers, as the people danced, the slight vibrations of their feet stepping on the mountain rocks and steps, gathered from thousands, even tens of thousands, resembled waves, so even those inside the mountain's belly could hear them clearly.

King Wu Yi of Shang was lost in thought. His only intact hand gently tapped the ground.

His lips moved, silently chanting the sacrificial poems.

Wei Yuan said, "Let's go up too."

"The scenery above is better, and the people of Chaoge City are also looking forward to seeing the Emperor God's presence."

Wu Yi didn't answer. Wei Yuan smiled slightly, pressed his palm on the ground, and the mountain's spiritual veins surged, sending Wei Yuan's wisp of spirituality and Wu Yi, whose essence was primarily true spirit, to the summit. In a place even higher than the sacrificial altar, the mountain rocks rose up, forming a table.

Wei Yuan and Wu Yi sat on either side.

Wei Yuan faced away from Chaoge City.

So Wu Yi could see that city. The sun of this world slowly rose, and sunlight fell on Chaoge City, the walls, streets, houses, everything seemed to shimmer, just like Wu Yi's three-thousand-year dream. He stared at it for a long time, and finally just smiled and murmured:

"Good, good."

"So good."

***

In the sacrificial procession, the old Grand Tutor was at the forefront.

Fei Yu and Wu Yu followed closely behind.

When they looked up, they saw the two people sitting opposite each other at the highest point of the ancestral mountain. They felt the familiar, pure aura of a ghost god emanating from Wu Yi, who sat across from Wei Yuan. All three were frozen in thought. Then, the old Grand Tutor was the first to react.

His palms were trembling slightly.

"The Emperor God, it really is the Emperor God..."

"The Emperor God is indeed still here. They have not abandoned Chaoge."

He straightened his clothes, as if returning to his youth, and loudly called out the name of the deity. Then, as if it were contagious, all the surviving Shang descendants who had come to participate in the ritual all shouted the name of Emperor God Wu Yi in unison.

Mixed with the solemn and heavy tones of the bronze bells, it seemed to soar into the sky.

Wu Yu came back to his senses, his expression still excited. He lowered his head and instructed the little girl who had been chosen to offer a bouquet of flowers from outside Chaoge City to the ghost god. In the magnificent sacrificial melody, the little girl in white, holding a bouquet of flowers, walked step by step to the high place.

Wu Yi's body suddenly emitted a white light, enveloping his legs and arms.

The little girl was still a bit dazed, not quite understanding why the adults were so excited. She had been working earlier, helping her mother cut the vegetables planted in the yard with a sickle. If only the leaves were eaten, the roots would remain in the ground, and they would grow again after a while.

She looked at Wu Yi, feeling a little curious in her heart. Was this a ghost god?

It seemed different from the ones in the articles and poems.

When the sacrificial melody became melodious, she remembered what she had come here to do. She hurriedly raised the flowers grown in Chaoge City in her hands, holding them out to Wu Yi with both hands. The latter sat upright and steadily, his severed right arm resting on the stone table, and extended his intact left arm to accept the flowers.

Only then did the little girl realize that she had come too hastily.

Her palms were still stained with some dirt.

She was a little afraid and worried, but the ghost god didn't seem to care about these things. The young Daoist opposite him was also just smiling, dispelling the little girl's worries. Wu Yi looked at the child, seeing the confusion in her eyes just now, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing, nothing..."

The little girl shook her head, then hesitated and said:

"It's just that, I feel like you don't seem like the Emperor God in the legends..."

"Not so high, not so far away."

She thought for a while, and smiled, saying, "Like the uncle you might meet on the road."

Wu Yi paused for a long time. Just as the child thought she might have said something wrong, she heard a gentle voice: "Well, that's what I am, I'm just a person."

Wu Yi put the flowers on the table.

He extended his last complete, human arm.

He placed it on the child's head, paused.

Then he carefully and gently lowered it, rubbing the child's hair, feeling the softness of the strands, feeling the warmth of flesh and blood. At this point, there was no more distraction or madness in the king's heart, only calm and gentle peace, as if finding a home.

Three thousand years of wandering had been meaningful after all.

He said softly, "Thank you."

***

The child walked down from the mountain's heights with disbelief, joy, and excitement.

The light on Wu Yi's body faded slightly. He raised his eyes and looked at Chaoge City in the distance, then withdrew his gaze after a long time. Two bronze goblets and a bronze square tripod wine vessel had appeared on the table. These were the things used for sacrifices in Chaoge City for generations, even more ancient than the one in Wei Yuan's museum.

He looked at Wei Yuan, and finally asked, "Who exactly are you, and where do you come from?"

Wei Yuan had known for a long time that the explanation of a mountain spirit couldn't deceive this Shang King.

He smiled and replied, "I come from my homeland."

Wu Yi didn't seem surprised, and said, "...I see."

"It seems that the descendants of Yan and Huang still exist in the world, and they are doing well."

Wu Yi poured himself a cup of wine, looking at the amber liquid, and said, "So, what is the current Divine Land like? How prosperous is it?"

He looked at Chaoge City, and then asked, "Do people still have to fight with fierce beasts to survive? Do they still have to worry about natural and man-made disasters, droughts and floods? Are there still foreign tribes invading Divine Land?"

Wei Yuan thought for a moment, and replied, "It's no longer needed."

"No longer needed?"

"Yes, now humans are the strongest race in Divine Land, or rather, the human realm."

Wei Yuan sat on this side, and across the small table, was a Chinese ancestor who lived more than three thousand years ago.

It turned out that this small stone table was three thousand years of time.

An old friend asked, are you all well...

And now people answer.

Answering like this--

Divine Land is unharmed.

Wei Yuan's expression was gentle as he replied, "Some of those ferocious beasts even need people to actively protect them in order to prevent them from becoming completely extinct."

"As for natural and man-made disasters, there will definitely still be some, but we already have the power to resist these disasters. If there is a drought, we can artificially induce rain, and we have water conservancy projects to adjust water levels. Floods are not as frequent as they used to be."

"We can reach for the moon in the ninth heaven, and catch turtles in the five oceans."

"As for foreign tribes, there will always be some."

"But the current Divine Land still stands at one pole of the world, unafraid of any country or force."

Wu Yi listened in a daze, and finally said, "It seems that the cultivators of Divine Land have done a good job."

"This was not created by cultivators."

The young Daoist slightly raised his head and smiled as he replied:

"This is the legend forged by ordinary people."

***

This sentence seemed to have an even greater impact on the monarch of the Age of Gods than everything said before. Wu Yi murmured for a long time before saying:

"That's how it should be."

"I used to think that King Yu was making a fuss by exiling the strange beasts of the mountains and seas."

"I thought that even if there were some fierce beasts, our human race could still occupy the human realm, but now I know that I am not as far-sighted as King Yu and the others. Fierce beasts are brutal and powerful. If we coexist with them in the same world, we would have to pay a great price even to survive."

"Not to mention those races that are similar to humans but not quite human."

"King Yu made that decision because he saw an era dominated purely by humans."

"He's really amazing."

Wu Yi shook his head, a look of relief appearing on his face: "However, since you are from the homeland, and since you have developed to that extent, then I can rest assured to leave Chaoge City to your help."

Wei Yuan said, "Does Your Majesty not want to personally see Chaoge and Divine Land?"

Wu Yi said calmly, "I have reached my limit. After today, there will be no more Wu Yi."

Wei Yuan said:

"Then, what if I said that I have another way to let Your Majesty survive?"

Wu Yi looked at Wei Yuan: "What?"

Wei Yuan opened his palm, and wisps of golden Buddha light overflowed, transforming into a Buddhist scripture in the language of this era in the void. It excised most of the Buddhist doctrines, leaving only the act of making great vows, using the power of the vows fed back by the heavens and the earth and all living beings to strengthen oneself.

It was even possible to make a great vow that could never be fulfilled.

Then, as long as this great vow existed for one day.

The self-existence connected to this great vow would also exist for one day.

This was a roundabout way, an attempt to achieve longevity equal to the heavens. Of course, it was also extremely difficult to do this, requiring great perseverance and great determination. As Wei Yuan demonstrated the Buddhist method of becoming a god through the power of vows, the Chaoge City cultivators who had received the relics from Fei Yu and Wu Yu all unfolded their palms, holding the relics.

They stimulated them with their own blood and magic power.

Thus, the Pure Land Sect relics all lit up together.

They emitted a faint Buddha light, like glittering dust, slowly rising, and the brilliant light directly enveloped the entire ancestral mountain, like a dream. This undertaking was also extremely extravagant. Wu Yi looked at the second path Wei Yuan offered, but just shook his head with a smile.

Wei Yuan said, "Does Your Majesty not like this path?"

Wu Yi didn't say whether he liked it or not, but just commented: "Using so-called great vows as obsessions, and then letting oneself exist in this world, is a very clever method."

He filled the wine goblet, holding the bronze cup, paused, and smiled:

"But, ancestors protect their children."

"Kings protect their people."

"Is there any need for obsessions?"

Wei Yuan was speechless.

Wu Yi held the bronze cup with his intact hand, feeling the texture of the patterns on the bronze cup, and then he raised the bronze cup, facing Chaoge City, facing the ten thousand people under the mountain, and murmured:

"Look, Chaoge City, how beautiful."

"I moved the ancestral capital here. We carved stones in the mountains and moved them down to make city walls. We cut down trees and reclaimed wasteland. We diverted rivers to irrigate farmland. At night, the stars fill the sky, this is the scenery..."

Wu Yi closed his eyes.

Little by little, golden Buddha light slowly rose against the heavens and the earth.

It was vast and magnificent, as if returning to the past, when he looked at the people of the sacrifice and the world, when he was healthy and strong, looking at the distant world with great ambition, wanting to break the blind obedience to gods.

At that time...

Everyone was there.

Wu Yi listened to the solemn prayers, a smile appearing on his face. The heavens and the earth and Chaoge City were reflected in this wine cup, as if holding all his past in the cup. He raised the bronze cup and drank the fine wine in the cup, murmuring with satisfaction: "Sacrificial wine, how long has it been since I last drank it..."

"It really is good wine."

Clang!

A crisp sound.

Wei Yuan turned around and saw the bronze cup falling to the ground, wine flowing out.

King Wu Yi of Shang, who shot the heavens and killed gods, guarded the human realm for three thousand years, completed all his duties in this life, and welcomed the end with the most natural posture.

Wei Yuan opened his mouth, but was speechless.

Then, he saw the golden Buddha light permeating the entire world, after stagnating, suddenly churning and boiling. The Buddha light burned fiercely in an unprecedented way, grand and magnificent, dazzling and brilliant.

Wu Yi said that he had no obsessions or great vows.

But, how could true obsessions that are deliberately spoken, wishes that must be declared to all living beings,

be considered great vows?

Great vows are inherently silent.

Wei Yuan felt the light behind him layer upon layer lighting up. He picked up the wine cup and touched it against the fallen wine glass next to him, the sound crisp, then gently drank the wine. At this moment, the people still in the midst of the sacrifice suddenly noticed something, turned their heads to look, and exclaimed, seeing wisps of flowing light falling on the Chaoge City that had become slightly dilapidated after three thousand years.

And so, just as Wu Yi had said.

The flowing light continuously weaved, transforming into tall city walls, transforming into simple and ancient houses. It was just an illusion, but at this moment, Chaoge City crossed thousands of years, coming from Wu Yi's dream, to reality. People came and went within it, prosperous and lively, their faces affluent.

Outside the city were ten miles of blooming flowers.

The little girl who had offered the flowers earlier peeked and scurried through the crowd to reach Wei Yuan more quickly than Fei Yu and the others. She was anxious and asked:

"Mountain God, Emperor God, Emperor God is gone. Where did he go? Bring him back..."

Wei Yuan was stunned, reached out and stroked the child's hair, and said gently:

"He, he just fell asleep."

"He's very tired and wants to rest."

The little girl was not old, and said sadly:

"Then does he not want us anymore?"

Wei Yuan squatted down halfway and said, "How could that be?"

He reached out and took the little girl's hand, and wrote the Body Protection Incantation in her palm, and said softly: "Remember this incantation, as long as you chant it, no matter where you are, no matter when."

He paused, and smiled:

"Your king will definitely come to protect you, oh."

ps: Today's update... two in one, thank you Bai Yi Hua for the reward, thank you.

Six thousand four hundred words, splitting it normally would also be a chapter of three thousand two hundred words, mainly because it's not good to stop in the middle, so I connected it and sent it.

By the way, I'm deducing the detailed outline. I always feel that if Wu Yi accepted it, it wouldn't be in line with the spirit of these three thousand years, so I compromised, and also, he was too tired.

It's so hard to write... lying down... almost squeezed out like toothpaste.