"You don't need to try and butter me up. Since you know I followed Xiao Hei all the way here, you should be able to guess why I've come!"
Chen Xiao suddenly realized that his purpose for this trip was not to find common ground with this fellow.
He even felt that Tu Shan Che might have used some sort of charm spell on him.
After all, according to Granny Jinhua, this guy was actually a fox.
"Heh heh, you're talking about Li Qin, aren't you?"
Tu Shan Che chuckled twice. "Don't worry, I haven't mistreated her. She's living very well in the Qing Qiu Secret Realm. Of course, you can take her away anytime you wish."
"You call it not mistreating her when you've put her under house arrest?"
Chen Xiao sneered. "Are you perhaps too pleased with yourself?"
Tu Shan Che awkwardly touched his nose. "I admit I've done some despicable things, but our demon race has always focused on results, not the process. Believe me, I genuinely meant well for Hei Pi. This little fellow is a rare spirit fox, and my actions were out of appreciation for his talent."
"It's just that I didn't expect him to have such a relationship with you. It seems fate truly works in mysterious ways. In this bustling world, what ultimately escapes us is the concept of destiny."
Listening to Tu Shan Che's rambling, Chen Xiao found himself unable to muster any hostility towards him.
"What were you saying earlier about human geniuses and demon geniuses? What's going on? You seem to know a lot."
"Not that much, but I've lived nearly three thousand years. Naturally, I've experienced more than others."
Tu Shan Che said with a calm tone. "However, the more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know."
Good heavens, I'm trying to be serious with you, and you're resorting to philosophy?
Chen Xiao found the demon venerable before him increasingly mysterious. He pondered for a moment and then asked, "I once encountered a green fox in the East Ocean. It trapped me in the Qing Qiu Illusion. I've also heard that the Middle Thousand World where your demon race resides is called the Qing Qiu Secret Realm. Is there a connection between this Qing Qiu and that Qing Qiu?"
"Your Excellency, for someone so young, you seem to know quite a bit."
Tu Shan Che nodded gently. "The Qing Qiu Secret Realm is the birthplace of my Green Fox clan. Other demons are merely guests. The East Ocean green fox you mentioned is likely one of my unpromising descendants. Unfortunately, I have too many descendants to recall which one specifically."
"As for the Qing Qiu Illusion, it is an illusion array unique to my Green Fox clan. Did you see something terrifying within that illusion, Your Excellency?"
"Yes."
Chen Xiao nodded.
What he had seen in the Qing Qiu Illusion remained vivid in his memory.
Seeing Chen Xiao's furrowed brow, Tu Shan Che chuckled. "Your Excellency, there's no need to worry too much. What is seen in the Qing Qiu Illusion is merely the worst of a thousand possibilities. This illusion was originally designed to break a person's will and drive them to despair, so you needn't dwell on it."
"Tu Shan Che's explanation is the same as Amaterasu's. It seems that old hag Amaterasu didn't lie to me," Chen Xiao thought to himself.
Then, he slowly spoke with determination, "The worst of a thousand possibilities still has a chance of occurring, but I absolutely will not allow even a sliver of a chance for it to happen!"
Tu Shan Che looked at Chen Xiao, remaining silent for a long time.
He suddenly sighed, "My path is not solitary!"
Chen Xiao looked at Tu Shan Che in confusion, unable to fully grasp the meaning of his words.
"What you do not wish to see, I also do not wish to happen," Tu Shan Che said calmly, as if explaining, but more like lamenting.
"Because I have experienced similar situations five times."
Five times?
This number made Chen Xiao slightly stunned. "Are you referring to... the Heavenly Dao?"
Tu Shan Che had lived for less than three thousand years, and the Heavenly Dao descended upon the Nine Provinces once every five hundred years. This meant he had already experienced five such events.
Therefore, Chen Xiao, almost instinctively, knew what Tu Shan Che was talking about.
Tu Shan Che nodded. "The Heavenly Dao has arrived five times, and humanity has been defeated five times. Each time, it was a crushing defeat, and each time, the defeat was more severe than the last."
"Not a single victory?"
Chen Xiao frowned and tentatively asked.
Tu Shan Che shook his head. "No. If there were, I would hope for it to be the next time. Because if we fail again this time, humanity will have nowhere left to retreat... and the worst of those millions of possibilities might just come to pass."
"Who exactly are you?"
Chen Xiao suddenly realized that Tu Shan Che knew more than anyone he had ever met before.
"As you know, I am Tu Shan Che. I originally lived in the Qing Qiu Secret Realm among the Green Fox clan. Now, like you, I have taken it upon myself to save all living beings."
Tu Shan Che spoke with utter naturalness, almost as if he had rehearsed it hundreds or thousands of times.
"To save all living beings?"
Chen Xiao raised his voice, then sneered dismissively and shook his head. "I've never thought of it that way. Don't try to morally blackmail me."
"You may not think so, but you are acting as if you do. You are only one piece away from collecting all five Sacred Relics, aren't you?" Tu Shan Che said with a light smile.
"..."
Chen Xiao was speechless. "Are you spying on me?"
"There's no need. I can tell with a single glance."
Tu Shan Che's gaze fell upon Chen Xiao, as if he could see right through him, making Chen Xiao's heart palpitate.
This was a feeling Chen Xiao had never experienced before.
"If you have any more questions, ask them as much as you want. I will answer everything without reservation."
Tu Shan Che's tone was that of a confidant, and also that of a mentor.
Chen Xiao had a great many questions. After much thought, he quickly identified two key questions.
If he could clarify these two questions, all other issues would be easily resolved.
"What exactly is this organization called the Heavenly Dao? I heard they come from the Celestial Realm. So, where is this Celestial Realm?"
Upon hearing this question, Tu Shan Che smiled faintly and did not answer directly.
Instead, he posed a question back to Chen Xiao, using a question to answer a question: "How do you view the world you inhabit?"
What kind of question is this?
Chen Xiao was utterly bewildered.
"To be honest, I don't quite understand what you mean by this question. Is it a philosophical question, or a geographical one, or perhaps a physics question?"
Tu Shan Che's question was too broad, and Chen Xiao had no idea how to answer it.
Nor did he realize that Tu Shan Che had already begun to guide him.
"Perhaps I should rephrase it."
Tu Shan Che thought for a moment and said, "Have you ever considered that perhaps you, and I, and this entire world, are merely playthings for someone?"