Chapter 1873 - 1466: Holy Master Ta You, Through the Ages

At the center of the Astrolabe Platform is a pool encircled by White Jade. Within the pool, the water ripples lightly, reflecting the full moon in the sky.

Amidst those shimmering waters, a small figure dressed in white robes raises his head, kneeling there...

The pool water flows over the broad white robes of the small figure, washing his grey-white long hair. That silhouette is indescribably desolate...

"Holy Master..." The Holy Envoy Child approached the edge of the pool, hands over the chest, and knelt with a face full of devout worship...

Holy Master!

Indeed, this small figure kneeling at the center of the pool, just the size of a five or six-year-old child, is the Spirit Child Ta You, the Holy Master in the eyes of thousands of Northern Mongolian citizens!

However...

He is already in his twenties, about the same age as Borjigin Nian. Time flies, as if it left not a single trace on him. His physique, weak and almost negligible within his broad robes, his grey-white long hair washed by the pool water, seems lifeless and devoid of luster.

"They have finally come."

The voice belonging to an adult male, hoarse and majestic, carries a touch of gravelly sadness.

"Yes, Holy Master, they have come." The Holy Envoy Child raised his head, looking at Ta You who was kneeling in the pool, his little face filled with confusion. "Holy Master, haven’t you waited so long to meet them? Why did you release the Blood Rabbit? You’re condemning them to death!"

"Mere Blood Rabbit, if they cannot handle it, how can they continue to live in this world?" Ta You’s sorrowful voice sounded, filled with endless desolation, maintaining his moon-gazing posture, unchanged...

Not unchanged...

The Holy Envoy Child knew, it had never changed...

From the moment the Star Innate Tower was completed, since he came to the Star Innate Tower, he had never seen the Holy Master change his posture...

He has always been there, in the pool, praying to the moon...

"But Holy Master, they... they will die... The Blood Rabbit is coagulated by the Power of Faith, invincible and unbreakable. They will become offerings like the others! Aren’t you waiting for them? If they die, how can you meet them?" Hearing Ta You’s words, the Holy Envoy Child couldn’t help but show a trace of anxiety. Crawling a few steps, he dared not approach the bone-chilling water, stopping half a foot away from the edge, hurriedly saying.

The Holy Envoy Child’s voice received no response.

A bizarre silence gathered on the Astrolabe Platform, as though from eternal ancient stillness...

"Tongtong, humanity inevitably meets its demise... No one can escape..."

Just as the Holy Envoy Child thought the Holy Master wouldn’t answer him, the sorrowful voice rose again, carrying endless heartache, making one feel chest pain upon hearing it...

"Holy Master?" The Holy Envoy Child looked up in shock.

"Tongtong need not speak further, I will decide freely." Maintaining the same posture, as though time did not exist, Ta You’s voice echoed timelessly, sorrowful.

"Yes!" The Holy Envoy Child bowed his head, knowing further words were futile.

Yet, at the moment the Holy Envoy Child lowered his head, the frail figure seated in the pool trembled imperceptibly, but only for an instant before returning to normal...

...

In the fourth layer of the Star Innate Tower, Shi Wujue forged ahead, swinging the wooden stick ceaselessly, the ferocious Blood Rabbits collapsing before him.

Gu Changsheng and the others formed a circle, struggling along behind Shi Wujue.

Suddenly, on the top of the fourth layer of the Star Innate Tower, the scattered brilliance of stars intensified, a moonwashing-like radiance filling the entire space of the fourth layer of the Star Innate Tower in the blink of an eye.

Those ferocious attacking Blood Rabbits were instantly frozen, maintaining their attack posture, ceasing all movement.

Gu Changsheng raised his head in shock, looking at the brilliantly lit tower top, his face unusually startled.

And Shi Wujue, simultaneously, holding his wooden stick, stood protectively before them, his expression vigilant!

Such formidable oppression!

This radiance, such overwhelming oppression, even made Gu Changsheng and others feel an illusion, welling up from the depths of their hearts, of wanting to prostrate in worship!

Back to back, the group watched each other cautiously, exchanging glances, each with eyes filled with solemnity.

This fourth layer of the Star Innate Tower far exceeded their expectations.

Even Gu Changsheng and Zhou Mu felt a sense of helplessness, if not for Shi Wujue...

"Descendant of the Shi Clan, you should not be here!"

Just as Gu Changsheng and the others stood on guard with confused and uncertain expressions, a solemn and ancient voice emanated from the glowing star atop the tower.

Upon hearing the voice, Gu Changsheng and Zhou Mu immediately turned their heads to look at Shi Wujue.

Shi Wujue, upon hearing the voice, raised his head instantly, gazing at the top of the tower. His world-shocking face was filled with gravitas, and he spoke in a deep voice, "Yet here I am standing!"

"Why struggle? Even if you killed my Blood Rabbit and brought them before me, what then? Some things are better left unknown; only the ignorant will cling to such obsessions. Your ancestors were foolish; could it be you are as well?" The ancient voice, though commanding, carried a hint of pity.

"Haha..." Upon hearing these words, Shi Wujue lowered his head and laughed sarcastically. When he raised it again, his narrow eyes were filled with a cold intensity. Pointing a wooden staff toward the lustrous stars atop the tower, he spoke with hatred, "Ta You, you pride yourself on knowing the past and the present, knowledgeable of all under heaven. But do you know the agony we suffer, manipulated by you?"

The starlight atop the tower remained, yet no voice echoed in response.

"I seek but one truth! For this, I will stop at nothing, not even you will halt me!" Failing to receive a reply, Shi Wujue’s voice erupted once more in wrath.

It was the first time Gu Changsheng had seen Shi Wujue so agitated!

In Gu Changsheng’s mind, Shi Wujue had always been fiercely sinister, as though nothing under the heavens was of concern, always bearing a sinister grin, domineering and arrogant...

This Shi Wujue brimming with hatred felt unfamiliar to Gu Changsheng, so unfamiliar it was as if she had never met him before...

From the conversation between Shi Wujue and the voice, Gu Changsheng realized that the voice belonged to Ta You.

However, she couldn’t grasp what they were discussing, what it all meant!

What obsession? What truth?

Shi Wujue had never mentioned having any obsession, nor had he ever spoken of seeking any truth!

Gu Changsheng and Zhou Mu exchanged glances, a profound and unprecedented worry reflected in their eyes.

Shi Wujue had indebted himself to them, on countless occasions fighting alongside them, and regardless of his obsessions, they would choose to stand by his side.

Within the Star Tower, the voice’s owner, the master of this Star Tower, Ta You, had unknowingly become their common enemy!

Gu Changsheng and Zhou Mu did not interrupt the conversation between Shi Wujue and Ta You, and even Yuan Bao and the four from Qiwowen Du had faces like frost, on high alert.

It wasn’t until some time had passed that a sorrowful sigh echoed from atop the tower once more...

"Foolish child... may you not regret today’s actions."

"Even in death, no regrets!" Almost as soon as the voice from the top of the tower fell silent, Shi Wujue’s words poured forth.

The resolve and conviction in those words made Gu Changsheng and Zhou Mu involuntarily glance at each other.

"Life and death are unpredictable; once dead, there’s no talk of regret or lack thereof..." The voice, solemn and desolate, came again, then fell silent.

Gu Changsheng waited for a long while, only seeing Shi Wujue standing there, body rigid, with no more sounds coming from the top of the tower. Unable to hold back any longer, she grew anxious, "Hey, hey, hey! Ta You, you bastard, all I want is the map on you. Why are you making all these obstacles? Listen up, just give me a rubbing of the map on you and I’ll leave the Star Tower right away!"

The reply to Gu Changsheng was utter silence.

Just when Gu Changsheng thought Ta You wouldn’t answer, the voice of Ta You once more resounded from the top of the tower, extraordinarily authoritative, "If you cannot ascend the Star Tower, even if you gather the three keys and find the key to unlocking the Divine Demise Land, it is all in vain. Gu Changsheng, born against the heavens, you must know that life is a series of causes and effects. Everything you face now has its destiny. Whether you live or die, I cannot decide..."

Upon hearing this, the phoenix eyes of Gu Changsheng immediately widened, an angry shade flashing beneath them.

Damn it!

This rhetoric is just like that of my own Little Monk Bu Jie!

Always with that tone of whatever happens to you, you deserve it!

Dammit!

In both her past and current life, Gu Changsheng, though her hands were stained with blood, had always slain those who deserved it, so why this fate? Ending up with a life devoid of blood kin over two lifetimes?

Just as Gu Changsheng was seething with rage, there was a noticeable pause in the voice from atop the tower, transforming from authoritative to endlessly desolate as it continued, "... Perhaps even the heavens themselves cannot decide..."

These words made Gu Changsheng frown again, yet when she wanted to say more, the brilliant starlight atop the tower suddenly dimmed, becoming as faint and elusive as the three levels below, vast like the cosmos, but that oppressive radiance vanished...

With the disappearance of the light, those frozen, gruesome Blood Rabbits also vanished simultaneously, leaving only the corpses on the ground and those Blood Rabbits slain by Shi Wujue lying around...

It wasn’t until quite some time later that Gu Changsheng snapped out of her shock, turning robotically like a mummy to look at the stiffly standing Shi Wujue, hesitantly speaking, "That Ta You, does he truly know the past and present?"

She had never seen Ta You, yet his words seemed to pierce through everything, understanding even matters like her defying the heavens to be born, as if knowing everything was as common as could be, creating an indelible impression on Gu Changsheng’s mind...

Even her own Little Monk Bu Jie couldn’t achieve such insight...