Chapter 1892 - Crossing The Ganges
“The crossing vessel is here.” Someone shouted after seeing the boat. Many experts in front of the Golden Shrine circled around for a look. Even the ones that couldn’t come closer all quickly glanced over.
“Is someone boarding?” A guy had to ask.
“What happens if we go up there? Maybe we can get to the other shore.” A young expert wanted to try.
“Go up there, my ass!” His senior immediately slapped the back of his head to wake him up: “Back then, your ancestor was a top High God with three totems. He came on that boat and never returned!”
After stating this, the senior had a sad expression.
The first-timers here shuddered at this story. Even a High God with seven totems couldn’t come back?
“Does this boat really go to the other shore?” The young expert asked again.
His senior shook his head in response: “Who knows? Legend tells that no one has ever returned after boarding, as if they have disappeared from thin air. There’s no lack of famous characters boarding but yea, no success. At least not to my knowledge.”
The spectators here for the fun became afraid. Some were tempted earlier for a shot but this warning was like pouring a basin of cold water over their head.
“Reaching the other shores, freed of karma, to obtain the auspicious fruit and eternal life. I wonder if this is true.” An old expert was still tempted while looking at the boat but he managed to restrain himself.
High Gods being unable to come back were the best cautionary sign. The crowd had no choice but to let go of this thought.
Even though eternal life was quite tempting, the lack of success deterred everyone. Those stronger than them have tried and failed so they didn’t dare to take the risk.
The crowd became quite curious about the rowing corpse. It had no expression, only a corpse without emotions. Nevertheless, none tried to do anything to provoke it because everything that had to do with Buddhism here had some karmic ties. There was no escaping once being involved.
“Board it.” Li Qiye checked out the time and found that it was right. He told the princess before boarding himself.
The princess followed him without any hesitation. She had boundless confidence in Li Qiye and was fearless as long as he was near.
“Fiercest and Jilin Princess are boarding.” The scene became crowd as many eyes darted towards them.
“This Fiercest is unreal, actually daring to go. Is there something he is afraid of?” An expert was startled to see this.
Amidst the astonished crowd, the corpse rower slowly moved the boat and left without waiting for anyone.
This has always been the case for the crossing vessels. It would appear at certain intervals by the ferry and stop for a brief period. Next, it didn’t matter whether there were passengers or not, it would leave at the right time.
Legend has it that it had never stopped this particular schedule. No one knew where it came from and where it was going. Though some so-called invincible characters – the strongest of their era – had boarded, none ever made it back.
Because of this, the crossing vessel became synonymous with death. Later on, fewer people were willing to give it a shot.
Everyone watched as the duo slowly disappeared along the river.
“Hmph, Fiercest is no more from now on. Death is certain after boarding that boat, even top High Gods can’t return, let alone him.” A heavener snorted.
This race had a certain hatred for Li Qiye since recently, he had killed many heaveners.
“What a shame about the princess.” A young expert added with regrets: “She’s top two in terms of beauty and talents in Pure and will be the inheritor of the Jilin legacy. Even if she doesn’t want to become an emperor, she’ll certainly become an amazing High God. Ah, looks like she’ll be going down with Fiercest.” He sighed disappointingly, seeming a bit lonely.
“Hmph, damn this Fiercest. It’s one thing if he wants to die, why is he dragging her down with him?! He must have used some magic to charm her!” Her young admirers felt nothing but hatred for Li Qiye.
“This Fiercest guy is really bizarre though. Such a weak cultivation but he’s unbeatable, I hope he can create a miracle. For millions of years now, no one had ever returned alive. Everyone has give up hope on these crossing vessels, if he can return, it’ll bring hope to future generations. Perhaps the other shore can grant salvation.” Despite the skeptical majority, a few old big shots wanted a miracle.
If this was possible, then the future became quite bright! Perhaps the other shore truly existed along with eternal life.
The Ganges was still flowing quietly while the two were on top of the vessel. The princess looked back and could no longer see the ferry. She turned towards the other side and could only see a faint mess.
Her attention shifted towards the dead monk; it was still the same without any expression while rowing the boat.
In this split second, she felt as if they were no longer within the old spatio-temporal sphere in Pure, not even in the same epoch. This vessel has taken them out of all the karmic ties in the world as they moved slowly on this mysterious river of time.
Perhaps Li Qiye was right. The Ganges was no river; it was created from the boundless faith of an epoch and continued to flow even though the epoch no longer existed.
Anyone would be afraid in this scenario; the princess was no exception. She felt as if there was no returning until she looked over at Li Qiye’s calm expression. Her mind found peace and all traces of fear went away.
“Where is the vessel taking us? The other shore?” She asked softly.
Li Qiye gently shook his head: “It’s no longer that epoch so the old other shore doesn’t exist. That place has become a land of death, the vessel’s destination.”
“The place where no one had ever returned from?” Her heart skipped a beat.
“That’s right.” Li Qiye chuckled: “Even top High Gods can’t return alive, but we’re not going there.”
The princess was surprised because of the contradiction. The vessel wanted to take them to the land of death but they weren’t going there?
Li Qiye wasn’t elaborating and sat there with his eyes closed. She copied his appearance and sat quietly as well.
After enough time, Li Qiye suddenly opened his eyes and said: “The land of death is before us.”
The princess immediately opened her eyes for a look as well. She nearly jumped from fright because she saw many black holes at the end of the river.
These black holes piled on top of each other, from one into another, like an endless chain. The more terrifying part was that these black holes were rotating towards different directions as if they were leading to different worlds.