Gate of God

There were only three rounds between the position of the star and the Heavenly Yuan.

Fang Zhengzhi had now cleared the first round successfully. If everything went well, he could lead her straight into Heavenly Yuan in just two more correction choices.

‘Straight into Heavenly Yuan…’

Yun Qingwu was a little stumped. When Fang Zhengzhi said that just a short while ago, she thought that he was about to do something shameless again.

However, she was truly stunned at this moment.

That was because Fang Zhengzhi had already proven to her that he did it. Moreover, he did such a perfect job that she couldn’t find any flaws.

Most importantly, she still hadn’t found out how he had managed to do it.

‘How did this happen?!’

Yun Qingwu couldn’t wrap her head around this, but Fang Zhengzhi was still dragging her along.

The duo soon arrived at the next point of connection, and nothing went wrong because Fang Zhengzhi chose the correct path once again.

So far, he had already cleared two of the three rounds.

There was only one last round left before Fang Zhengzhi could actually bring her straight into Heavenly Yuan.

“Aren’t you curious about it?” Fang Zhengzhi suddenly turned around and asked Yun Qingwu when he brought her to the pond beside the last chess piece.

“Yes…” Yun Qingwu gritted her teeth and admitted.

She wasn’t willing to concede defeat or express how shocked she was. However, she was so curious about it that she couldn’t help nodding her head.

That was because Heavenly Yuan was already within reach.

She lost.

She was utterly beaten.

“Do you want to know?” Fang Zhengzhi looked towards the sky, calculated the time, and asked again.

“I do…” Yun Qingwu nodded again.

Having heard that, Fang Zhengzhi nodded with satisfaction and said generously, “Alright then, I’ll satisfy your curiosity and tell you.”

“Are there no conditions?” Yun Qingwu was a little surprised.

Based on her understanding of Fang Zhengzhi, he’d definitely take advantage of her curiosity and make ‘unacceptable’ demands.

However, it didn’t seem like Fang Zhengzhi wanted anything this time.

That left her astonished once again.

“Conditions? What else could you give me?” Fang Zhengzhi gazed at Yun Qingwu with an expression as if to say ‘You’re already my captive, and you have nothing left. What could you give me?’.

“…” Yun Qingwu was startled, and she soon smiled bitterly and replied, “Yeah, I’m no longer the commander of the Monster Race and Demon Race, so what could I give you?”

“Actually, there’s still something you can do.”

“Like?”

“Like taking a shower in front of me or… Look at yourself, you are covered in sweat. If you enter Heavenly Yuan like this, it’s being disrespectful to the Gods.”

“Shameless!” Yun Qingwu scolded him. Then, she glanced at the pond in front of her, where a stream of water continuously surged.

She could hear the sound of water flowing.

The pond was crystal-clear.

Yun Qingwu was a little sweaty, partly due to exhaustion, and partly due to having cold sweats as a result of shock.

“Haha, whatever. Let’s go.” Fang Zhengzhi didn’t particularly mind. He pointed towards the front unseriously and was about to drag Yun Qingwu along.

“Wait.” Yun Qingwu didn’t move.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re right. We are reaching Heavenly Yuan soon, and it’s indeed disrespectful to the Gods if I remained in my current state. I want to take a shower.”

“Really?” Fang Zhengzhi was a little surprised. He brought it up as a joke but he didn’t expect Yun Qingwu to actually take his suggestion and shower in front of him.

‘Does she really have to do that?’

‘I am not mentally prepared yet!’

“Yup…” Yun Qingwu didn’t say another word. She walked towards the pond directly and leaped into it.

Water droplets splashed everywhere.

Of course, Yun Qingwu didn’t take her clothes off. Furthermore, her back was facing Fang Zhengzhi so he couldn’t even see her expression.

Having said that, when Yun Qingwu’s dress was soaked in water, it still accentuated her perfect curves.

“Damn… This is so exciting!” Fang Zhengzhi was appreciating the show fully.

“You can tell me how you did it now.” Yun Qingwu spoke flatly while she was cleaning her face.

One could tell from her tone that she had calmed down greatly and regained her usual composure after she leaped into the pond.

“It’s actually very simple. It’s astrology.” Fang Zhengzhi found a rock by the pond and sat on it, and he quickly lied down.

“Astrology?” Yun Qingwu jolted.

“Yes.”

“Then?”

“That’s it.”

“That’s it?”

“What else would there be? I’ve already told you that it’s based on astrology, so you can figure out the rest by yourself. Aren’t you extremely intelligent? How could the Young Lord of both Monster Race and Demon Race be stumped by such an easy problem?” Fang Zhengzhi nodded as if he was already being selfless but Yun Qingwu was still pressing him for too much.

“…” Yun Qingwu fell silent.

However, her movement in the water was obviously getting bigger. She was splashing water everywhere and creating ripples after ripples.

Fang Zhengzhi didn’t mind that at all.

He was lying leisurely on the ground and watching Yun Qingwu vent her emotions at the water. His lips subconsciously curled into a smile.

The four arts of Zither, Go, Calligraphy, and Painting.

Fang Zhengzhi didn’t understand these profound arts well. Therefore, when Yun Qingwu mentioned that the chessboard made up the 36 Heavenly Stars Formation and the mountain peaks were the chess pieces, he really couldn’t comprehend how it worked.

Of course, he wasn’t well-versed in astrology either.

However, he had made much more significant improvements in his understanding of astrology as compared to the four arts of Zither, Go, Calligraphy, and Painting because he had to understand astrology since he wanted to study Geomancy and The Art of Becoming Invisible.

Furthermore, astrology had a new name in his previous life – Astronomy.

Heavenly Yuan!

Was the centermost position in a chessboard.

However, in astrology, Heavenly Yuan had another meaning. It represented the ‘North Star’, which was complemented by all the other stars. In ancient scriptures, the term ‘Heavenly Yuan’ had long been introduced in “Records of the Grand Historian”.

When a ruler wanted to establish a new dynasty, he must proceed cautiously at the beginning.

He must change the calendar, the color of clothing, carriages, and flags. He must calculate and adhere to Heavenly Yuan (The law of the universe), as well as obey the heaven’s will.

In this case, ‘Heavenly Yuan’ could be comprehended as the origin of everything in the world, and any exceptional and extraordinary individual must understand it.

Inspired by the positions of the stars, Fang Zhengzhi thought of Heavenly Yuan’s position in astrology, and from there, he naturally figured out the coordinates that he needed to look for.

After he had identified the coordinates, he opened up his other pair of eyes with Ghost Dao as observed the 36 Heavenly Stars Formation from a bird’s-eye view.

How could he possibly go wrong after all that?

“I figured it out. Did you calculate Heavenly Yuan’s coordinates based on astrology and found the position of one of the stars with your Ghost Dao?” After a long silence, Yun Qingwu suddenly turned around and asked.

Astrology was based on the positions of the stars.

Although Fang Zhengzhi only told her a simple word, she still managed to work it out. Nevertheless, she was still shocked to the core after she found out the truth.

Fang Zhengzhi was as shocked as Yun Qingwu.

‘Are you kidding me? Did she figure it out just like that?’ Fang Zhengzhi glanced at Yun Qingwu’s eyes, then at her beautiful face, then his gaze shifted from her face and went down…

It continued moving down…

“Er!”

“You seem to have… Accidentally exposed yourself!”

“…” Yun Qingwu froze, and her snow-white face turned bright red instantly, and she said, “Fang Zhengzhi, you… You… You are shameless!”

…

Several minutes had passed after Yun Qingwu changed into a clean and dry dress and stood in front of Fang Zhengzhi. However, her blush had yet to disappear.

Fang Zhengzhi was speechless.

‘She was the one who turned around and revealed herself to me. Why am I blamed for it?”

‘Women are truly mysterious beings.’

Luckily, he had forcefully suppressed his ‘impure thoughts’ and stared for as long as he could. Otherwise, he would have failed to benefit from this incident.

“Let’s go. After entering Heavenly Yuan, you would honor your words and tell me where the eight remaining Maps of Access to Heaven are, wouldn’t you?” Fang Zhengzhi held Yun Qingwu’s hand just like before.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Yun Qingwu nodded and turned her head to the side. However, she allowed Fang Zhengzhi to hold her hand instead of pulling her hand away.

Fang Zhengzhi didn’t continue questioning her.

After all, he knew what kind of person Yun Qingwu was. If she had agreed to something, it was basically impossible for her to go back on her words.

In that case, Yun Qingwu was a righteous ‘hero’ unlike Fang Zhengzhi, an ‘anti-hero’ who always went back on his words.

Of course, Fang Zhengzhi enjoyed being an ‘anti-hero’.

As the saying goes, ‘Regardless if it’s black or white, a cat that could catch mice is a good cat’ (an idea coined by Deng Xiaoping, explaining his mindset that any method could be a good method as long as it produces results). He had always embraced the logic behind this saying so he didn’t care about any of those ‘heroic’ qualities.

‘You don’t like it?’

‘Bite me!’

That was how impetuous he was.

“Heavenly Yuan, the centermost position of 36 Heavenly Stars Formation. It seems so complicated and mysterious, and she even showered and changed her clothes. I am actually looking forward to it a little. I wonder what’s inside Heavenly Yuan?” Fang Zhengzhi was looking at the nine caves in front of him. He knew that the ninth cave would lead him straight into Heavenly Yuan.

When he was looking at Heavenly Yuan through the sky using Ghost Dao, the only thing he saw was a thick fog that was radiating a faint golden light.

He couldn’t see anything else.

If he was right, there was probably some sort of restrictive barrier on Heavenly Yuan. Furthermore, it was so powerful that even his Ghost Dao couldn’t see through it.

‘What exactly is inside there?’

The Black Stone Tablet that recorded the ancient legend about ‘mending the sky’.

The giant black rocks that paved the ground and the nine black chains that were connected to the 36 Heavenly Stars Formation.

These things should be the products of that starry space.

However, all of them… Had somehow appeared in the Black Stone Palace.

According to the legend, Mother Earth sealed up the starry space after fighting against the Cosmic Disaster. In that case, who could have possibly placed these things into that starry space once again?

Most importantly, he could tell from the expression of the Gods that had entered the Black Stone Palace that even they knew very little about this palace.

It was as if they had never seen it before.

The Black Stone Palace descended from the starry space, yet the Gods from the ancient battle didn’t know about it. Furthermore, it had a mysterious and strange powers.

Countless entangled mysteries left Fang Zhengzhi incredibly curious.

At this moment, he was about to solve these mysteries. Once he entered Heavenly Yuan, he could find the answers that he seek.

Fang Zhengzhi couldn’t help being a little excited and eager. After all, this was about the biggest secret surrounding the Cosmic Disaster during ancient times.

“Let’s go, we are entering Heavenly Yuan!” Fang Zhengzhi grabbed Yun Qingwu’s hand and pulled her straight into the ninth cave.

On the other hand, Yun Qingwu had already regained her composure.

She wasn’t surprised anymore that Fang Zhengzhi had chosen the correct cave. After all, she already knew that she had lost the best.

Fang Zhengzhi figured out the correct path towards Heavenly Yuan and solved the 36 Heavenly Stars Formation.

Now…

Heavenly Yuan was right in front of them.

Yun Qingwu also was curious about it because “An Ancient Handwritten Letter” didn’t contain any records about this Black Stone Palace.

That was precisely why she didn’t make exploring the Black Stone Palace the top priority in the past six months.

It wasn’t because Yun Qingwu was careless.

It was because she wanted stability.

Yun Qingwu tried to do everything perfectly be it planning or strategic positioning. However, she was but a single person.

She was too exhausted.

She had to convince Gods that had appeared to work for her, train an army of beasts in secret, as well as monitor the movements of all the Gods. Furthermore, she had to look for the Thirty-six Maps of Access to Heaven covertly.

There was too much on her plate.

Therefore, she spent more energy and time on the things that were recorded, and in turn, overlooked this mysterious Black Stone Palace that had long been in her control.

That was until a legend about the ‘Source of God’ appeared.

At that moment, Yun Qingwu suddenly had a feeling that she seemed to have neglected an important clue that could likely change the tide of the battle.

Then, she came.

She brought an army of tens of thousands of Monsters and Demons, together with seven Gods, and arrived at the Black Stone Palace in an overwhelming and imposing manner.

However, she did not expect… To lose.

Under seemingly impossible circumstances, Fang Zhengzhi managed to capture her despite the fact that she was protected by four Gods. Then, due to the uncontrollable situation, she had to hand over her command of the army of Monster Race and Demon Race.

After that, everything went out of control.

The situation kept changing, until eventually, Nangong Mu, under the disguise of ‘Chou Qi’, took over the command of the army of Monster Race and Demon Race. Furthermore, using the Tree of God as his body, he became terrifyingly powerful and went to war against the Human Alliance, leading to the deaths of many soldiers and Gods of the army, in order to grow stronger.