Chapter 14: Your Future
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The World’s Core.
Geng Chen and Ouroboros observed the conditions across the various realms of the Origin Ancestral Star.
“Say, Geng Chen, why do you insist on personally leaving divine miracles behind? Wouldn’t it be better to remain behind the scenes like me, letting legends linger only within human knowledge?”
“Aren’t you fond of all your children? Wouldn’t you want them to truly feel your love? Or are you afraid?”
“Afraid? Ha! How could I fear my own children? That’s not a joke worth laughing at. Gods only need to bestow knowledge upon humans, allowing them to sing the legends of the divine.”
“You’re afraid your children will discover that you regard their reincarnation as your expression of love,” Geng Chen pressed on without sparing Ouroboros.
“Do you think my children won’t accept reincarnation?”
“Not exactly. It’s that your love is somewhat twisted. I worry your children might not all think alike. What if some dutiful ones stab you in the back? You wouldn’t be hurt physically, but it would break your heart.”
“You seem quite concerned about the East of the Origin Ancestral Star’s eastern hemisphere. Why is that?” Ouroboros chose to steer the topic elsewhere.
“Can’t you foresee the future as well?”
“I think that place just has its own unique traits, nothing more.”
“There, the gods chose to advance alongside humans. Gods and humans exist in harmony. Humans made the wise ones who brought fire, writing, and hunting tools into gods. The people there glorify the non-human aspects of great figures, turning reality into legend. Don’t you find the image of gods and humans not as different species, but as different identities, quite beautiful?”
“Isn’t it that only sacred acts make one divine, not that one is divine simply because of the godly nature?”
“Heaven and Earth are indifferent, treating all creatures like straw dogs. Likewise, the sage is impartial, treating the people as straw dogs.”
“Heaven and Earth show no favoritism, allowing all things to develop naturally. The sage shows no partiality, treating all people equally. Do you mean that the small human who founded the Eight Trigrams rejected the law of the survival of the fittest?”
“To be precise, he did not bring the law of survival of the fittest into daily life. He believed that virtue defines divinity, while lack of virtue makes one beastly.”
“Too idealistic and naive!”
“But I admire this way of thinking. He was not oblivious to the natural law of struggle and selection but chose to embrace his identity as a human.”
Ouroboros was momentarily silent, then asked, “Do you think only that place can disrupt the universe’s eternity?”
“No, all humans could. I just hold a special affection for that place.”
Ouroboros pondered for a few breaths, then said, “Let it be so then. Eventually, who is right between us will be revealed.”
“Indeed. By the way, there’s something I want to discuss with you.”
“What is it?”
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“From now on, neither of us shall observe the past or the future.”
“Oh? That would certainly make things more interesting... You’re not setting me up, are you?”
“I won’t say much else. Just tell me, will you agree?”
“It doesn’t matter much. Constantly altering the future according to one’s will can get dull.”
“Then it’s settled.”
“No problem!”
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Heavenly Emperor Mido, Qingyao Mountain.
Within a divine palace, the Heavenly Emperor Dijun sat high upon his throne.
Mu Changge and Athena stood at the palace’s center, overseeing the god Lu Wu and the patrolling god Ying Zhao stationed on either side of the throne.
“Greetings, Supreme Heavenly Emperor!” Mu Changge and Athena bowed with hands folded respectfully.
“Speak, what business does the goddess from another realm have with me?”
“I am Athena, one of the twelve principal Olympian gods of the Greek realm. I come to request the Heavenly Emperor to break the seal imprisoning my student.”
“Both I and my student have crossed from the future into this time and space. While seeking a way to help my student transcend mortality and become a god, I discovered a powerful, unknown seal upon my student. Even the rarest heavenly materials cannot break it.”
“Even if you search the world for divine medicines and relics, it will be futile. The seal on your student is very special.”
“Please, Heavenly Emperor, enlighten me!”
“What did you see when you used divine power to observe your student?”
“A dense fog that blocks my sight.”
“Are you aware of the Beast of the Universe’s End?”
“Yes, the sole cosmic entity that ushers the universe into its final phase.”
“Your student’s path has been corrupted by a curse from the Beast of the Universe’s End.”
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Athena’s expression immediately grew grave.
“You say you both come from the future. Has the Beast of the Universe’s End already appeared in that future?”
“Yes!”
Heavenly Emperor Dijun furrowed his brow. “Tell me everything you know.”
Athena then recounted in detail the aberrations occurring on the Origin Ancestral Star.
After listening, Heavenly Emperor Dijun fell into deep thought. After a long pause, he spoke: “Strange—why does this future differ so greatly from what I have seen? The Beast of the Universe’s End should not appear in the era you describe. Has someone altered the future? Or has the predetermined future been changed multiple times?”
With that, Heavenly Emperor Dijun closed his eyes and began using divine power to observe the future.
After a while, he opened his eyes and murmured, “What’s going on? The future I just saw differs from the last time I looked. And this time, the Beast of the Universe’s End will not emerge for another five billion years.”
Neither Athena nor Mu Changge spoke. Mu Changge intuitively sensed that this journey through time with Athena would reveal many secrets.
After some time, Heavenly Emperor Dijun addressed Athena: “My apologies, goddess of another realm. I was rude earlier.”
Athena smiled faintly. “Please do not blame yourself, Heavenly Emperor. I am already pleased that a great being such as yourself could clarify my doubts.”
“The seal on your student is not unbreakable; the key simply is not with me. Goddess of another realm, be patient. When the key appears, you will notice it.”
“Thank you, Heavenly Emperor, for your guidance.”
Heavenly Emperor Dijun then looked at Mu Changge. “Human boy, it is extraordinary to have such an esteemed goddess as your mentor. Moreover, I see no grand fortune or destiny upon you.”
“Your Majesty, you flatter me. It is merely coincidence.”
“Hahaha... Coincidence? Human boy, do you know that having no great fortune or destiny, yet encountering such adventures, is itself extraordinary?”
“You need not belittle yourself. I see a connection between you and the Beast of the Universe’s End. You are destined for your own story.”
Athena smiled as well. When Mu Changge chose to acknowledge her and accept her as a mentor, the tale belonging to Mu Changge began to turn. As Heavenly Emperor Dijun said, although Mu Changge bore no grand fortune or destiny, one’s extraordinariness can come through other means. Though appearing ordinary, having great adventures is indeed unusual.
A smile spread across Heavenly Emperor Dijun’s face as he said to Mu Changge, “Though you bear the curse of the Beast of the Universe’s End, fortune and calamity are intertwined. I see more than one path for your future.”
“My future...”
Mu Changge seemed to have an epiphany.