TN: Due to some unfortunate circumstances, i’ve had to send my work computer out for repairs, so the novel will be taking a 15-day hiatus starting tomorrow. All chapters that would have been released during that period will be released at a 2-chapter daily rate after the hiatus is over, thank you for your continued support and patience with me.

———

Reading the two snippets [Competition of heroes] and [Samsara Clash for Supremacy] that he wrote on the wall, Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but shake his head.

Evidence.

I don’t have any evidence at all to support my speculation.

[The deers call out, eating apples in a field]

The deers, eating something.

How does that differ from people eating a meal?

It doesn’t.

Is there a unique meaning to ‘eating a meal’?

Thinking up to this point, Gu Qing Shan sighed.

——there are too many ways to decipher this, even without considering the broader perspective, there’s already a snag at deciphering its most basic meaning.

I’ve been separated from Shifu for far too long to know what she’s experienced recently, what she’s been thinking about recently, and what she might be trying to do.

Before knowing the complete picture, any conjecture that I make would not suffice.

Even my conjecture just now was based completely on intuition.

——what if my intuition was wrong?

Intuition…

The reason why I had such an intuition was due to what I’ve already gone through.

Gu Qing Shan fell into thought again before slowly turning his gaze towards the Delimitation Divine Sword.

Eating apples in the field.

In the field.

If ‘the field’ refers to the wilderness, then could the broader meaning be interpreted as ‘things that don’t belong to oneself’?

Using the Delimitation Divine Sword as an example——

It originally belonged in the Boundless Void, but eventually stayed in the Samsara and became the Samsara Delimitation Divine Sword, guarding over the great tomb for the Samsara.

The deers, eat things in the wilderness.

Regardless of how Shifu was thinking, and how I should actually decipher it, this sentence perfectly fits the Delimitation Divine Sword’s situation.

But there’s still no evidence at all…

Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but ask: “Delimitation, are you sure you can’t tell me any secrets at all?”

The sword floated around him slowly while speaking: 「 I can tell you everything about myself, but nothing regarding other secrets, otherwise, I’d be harming you 」

“Alright then, I have a question——- you were worried about something while I was trying to retrieve your sword hilt, you seemed to think that I would face some sort of trial of life-and-death, why was that?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

He suddenly froze.

Wait a minute.

At the time, what mission did the Samsara issue?

—–back then, a paper sheet descended from above the sky to issue me a mission:

…

[You’ve discovered a hidden legendary ferocious creature]

[You’ve renounced the Eternal Mind Seizer’s seed of power to the Samsara so that it can evolve]

[The Samsara has rewarded you with a mission:]

[Reforge the divine sword]

[Once you’ve completely reforged the Samsara Delimitation Divine Sword, all of your sealed powers will return]

…

In theory, reforging the divine sword should have been an extremely arduous task.

I also thought so in the beginning.

But what did the Delimitation Divine Sword say?

…

「 ——In reality, I was never actually broken in the first place, what you’ve all seen thus far is a disguise 」

…

The Delimitation Divine Sword actually helped me complete that mission on the spot!

And my powers were immediately unsealed!

These thoughts flashed through Gu Qing Shan’s mind, so he asked in a heavy tone: “Delimitation, at the time, you said that the Samsara afforded me a lot of conveniences, was that true? Or was it you who afforded me the convenience?”

The Delimitation Divine Sword curtly answered: 「 It was me 」

Gu Qing Shan was shaken.

That changes everything!

The one who allowed me to quickly regain my powers was actually the Delimitation Divine Sword, not the Samsara.

In other words, the Samsara had actually issued me an extremely arduous mission.

But the Delimitation Divine Sword ruined its plans!

Gu Qing Shan hesitantly said: “You…”

The divine sword continued: 「 I’ve remained for countless years within the great tomb while continuously working for the Samsara, slowly earning its trust; but sometimes, I also had a few doubts—–」

「 Back then, during the decisive moment of battle between the Samsara and the Apocalypse, why did that monster happen to appear? And why did it happen to run into my [All-Encompassing Sword Realm]? 」

Gu Qing Shan said: “So you purposely did that to see what the results would be?”

The divine sword confirmed: 「 Correct 」

“Why did you begin to worry about my situation later on?” Gu Qing Shan asked again.

「 In all honesty, I wasn’t only worried for you, but also for myself——- after all, I deceived the Samsara. It truly believed that I was already broken and fallen into a state of extreme weakness 」the divine sword said.

“How did you manage to deceive the Samsara?” Gu Qing Shan asked again.

「 In truth… essentially speaking, this isn’t the full extent of my powers 」the divine sword replied.

“WHAT!?” Gu Qing Shan exclaimed in shock.

This sword is already extremely powerful as it is, but now it says that it still has powers yet unlocked?

The Delimitation Divine Sword continued: 「 The void summoning ritual that the Wraith realm and the dragons performed only reached the lowest threshold of my prerequisites, only managing to summon me from the Boundless Void with a portion of my powers missing… 」

Lines of bloody red text swiftly appeared in the void of space:

[You’ve listened to the sword spirit’s explanation]

[Boundless Void Sword: Delimitation’s description has been updated:]

[(partially sealed)]

Gu Qing Shan was completely speechless.

He suddenly recalled the words of the Wraith realm Ruler before summoning the sword

…

「 With the Dragon race’s aid, I shall offer the treasures accumulated by the Wraith realm over the countless years to conduct this summoning」

…

…In other words, during the first summoning when they summoned a Sequence Envoy, it wasn’t actually the full extent of what they could do.

A Sequence Envoy’s strength is on par with a Creator Entity of the Boundless Void.

Then——

By exerting all of their strength for the summoning ritual, as well as sacrificing numerous precious treasures, plus having the dragons’ aid——

What kind of entity would they be able to summon under those circumstances?

And yet.

Even that kind of summoning ritual only managed to reach the lowest threshold of prerequisites for summoning the divine sword.

It even had to lose a portion of its power to be able to descend upon the Wraith realm…

Gu Qing Shan was incredibly shaken as he asked: “That’s why you came up with a way to deceive the Samsara?”

「 Indeed. During the countless years I remained within the great tomb, I slowly accumulated power while also suppressing the Apocalypses, it was only at the final moments when the Apocalypses were about to break free that I shattered myself into fragments, deceiving everyone as well as the Samsara 」

Gu Qing Shan silently nodded.

That’s true.

Back in the Wraith realm, I directly accepted the sword box from Reneedol and confirmed it to be a sword that had been thoroughly shattered to pieces.

Reneedol and the Goddesses of Fate tried every method they knew, but still couldn’t repair it.

——turns out it didn’t need to be repaired at all.

It was feigning disability.

Gu Qing Shan sighed.

For a divine sword, it truly has gone through quite the journey during these past countless years.

Gu Qing Shan thought of something and tried asking: “Delimitation, if you had been able to participate in that decisive battle, how would things have turned out?”

The Delimitation Divine Sword replied: 「 At the time, I already managed to sense an expert swordsman within the Samsara, so as soon as I showed up to the Heaven realm’s battlefield, that person would have been able to sense my powers. She would have been able to fully exert my capabilities and triumph against the Apocalypses 」

“Was it my Shifu?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

「 Indeed 」

At this point, the divine sword seemed to be still irritated and couldn’t help but add: 「 Otherwise, I wouldn’t have arbitrarily answered the summon to appear in the Wraith realm 」

Gu Qing Shan was silent.

Shifu’s previous incarnation was indeed a sword user.

It makes perfect sense.

There’s no mistake.

In other words——

If nothing unexpected had happened to the Wraith realm, the Samsara would have been able to win.

—–there’s still one tiny piece of the puzzle missing.

Gu Qing Shan asked again: “What if you had been able to reach my Shifu’s hand, but the Eternal Mind Seizer happened to appear in the Heaven realm battlefield?”

The divine sword answered: 「 All of the Samsara’s Merits were condensed within your Shifu, so the Wraith realm Ruler’s strength was incomparable to hers. She was more than a match for the Eternal Mind Seizer, and even if she had lost, she could have easily fled 」

There.

Now everything makes perfect sense.

Gu Qing Shan sighed and turned his gaze back to the poem on the wall.

[The deers call out, eating apples in the field;

We have an honored guest, zithers and bamboo flutes blow;

As clear as moonlight, but when can we meet;

From such worries grow, never to cease]

Let’s not consider Shifu just yet.

I only know for sure what happened to the Delimitation Divine Sword.

Then, let’s change my line of thought.

If it was the Delimitation Divine Sword who left this poem, what would it have wanted to express?

Considering what this divine sword had experienced thus far, within the ‘competition of heroes’ that is the Samsara Clash for Supremacy, it is the ‘apple in the field’ that came from outside.

And the Samsara was ‘the deers’.

The deer ate the sword.

The sword became the deer’s protector, guarding the great tomb for countless years.

It wasn’t until the sword became suspicious of its own experiences that it did something the deer didn’t expect.

Then——-

The second sentence, ‘we have an honored guest, zithers and bamboo flutes blow’.

How should I understand this?

The divine sword… didn’t encounter anything of similar nature…

Not good, I can’t speculate anything about the second sentence at all.

Gu Qing Shan sighed and cleared his emotions before turning to the latter half of the poem.

[As clear as moonlight, but when can we meet;

From such worries grow, never to cease]

Strange.

Considering what ‘we have an honored guest, zithers and bamboo flutes blow’ suggests, why did the poet think that everything felt shaky, unrealistic, and unstable, so much so that they feel worried about it?

While thinking, Gu Qing Shan subconsciously wrote his thoughts on the wall.

Observing him, the divine sword asked: 「 What are these things you’re writing down? 」

“My speculations” Gu Qing Shan replied.

「 Do you have a clear basis for these speculations? 」the divine sword asked.

“None, but I think they’ll come in handy very soon, considering we don’t have much information and the Samsara Clash for Supremacy is still continuing, I have to prepare for it sooner rather than later”

While speaking, Gu Qing Shan also glanced at the divine sword.

Regardless of where the sword came from, it was definitely not the Samsara.

It was only later on that it turned into the Samsara Delimitation Divine Sword.

When it tried to deceive the Samsara and made a new decision, it also fell into this precarious situation with me.

Those Sequence Envoys…

Demanded that I hand the sword over.

Who could have mobilized so many Sequence Envoys at the same time?

Who could have managed to investigate my foundations and know for sure that I don’t actually know the secret that the Heavenly Emperor spoke of?

The Supreme Sequence wouldn’t expose me.

The old pixie is still hibernating in the Sequence, so he couldn’t either.

——the only one remaining is the Samsara itself.

If it wasn’t the Samsara, maybe it was a coincidence?

But those Sequence Envoys all gathered together——- just to investigate whether or not I was lying to them?

Who could have given them the answer?

「 —–You’re going to act based on nothing but your own speculations? 」the divine sword asked doubtfully.

“That’s right, I had to endure being beaten up and almost lost my life, do you think I should flee instead?” Gu Qing Shan asked in return.

「 But then… how can speculations help what you’re about to attempt? In the case that your speculations are wrong, everything you’re preparing would go completely awry 」the divine sword said.

Gu Qing Shan remained silent in thought for a little bit before muttering: “In truth, I was ready to act as soon as I noticed these coincidences, after all, God doesn’t play dice, there are hidden connections in anything and everything. The bigger a historical event is, the harder somebody had worked in order to achieve it; even if that isn’t true, the one factor that always must be considered in the Samsara is ‘karma'”

“If a coincidence happened right at the most crucial moment for somebody else, they might just chalk it up to misfortune, but to me, that’s nothing but a terrible joke”

He waved his hand behind his back.

The gates of the hall swung open and Qin Xiao Lou was brought immediately in front of Gu Qing Shan.

“Junior brother? No, Sect Master, what’s the matter?”

Qin Xiao Lou confusedly tried to act solemn.

Gu Qing Shan smiled and told him: “Xiao Lou, no need to be so tense, I just want to ask you something”

“What’s that?”

“If while a group of people have gathered to sing and dance in delight, one of them suddenly feels sorrowful, why do you think that is?”

Qin Xiao Lou was a bit surprised, then shrugged: “Perhaps, nobody cooked anything?”

Gu Qing Shan paused.

“Wang Er!” he called out.

Wang Er flew into the hall and landed in front of him.

“Sect Master?”

“Hm, if while a group of people have gathered to sing and dance in delight, one of them suddenly feels sorrowful, why do you think that is?”

“…Maybe they recalled a painful event?”

Gu Qing Shan thought briefly, then called out again: “Qing Rou”

“Sect Master”

Qing Rou had already heard his question, so after glancing at the poem on the wall for a bit, she muses: “I think that they might have realized something that others couldn’t”

Gu Qing Shan turned around and asked the Delimitation Divine Sword: “What did you realize?”

「 I just… felt unwilling to be trapped within the Samsara the way I did. I just happened to feel a bit suspicious about what I went through 」the divine sword answered after thinking for a bit.

Gu Qing Shan turned to the Progenitor Fiendess and loudly asked: “Auntie, when did Shifu entrust this poem to you?”

The Progenitor Fiendess slightly curtsied, then replied: 『 Sect Master, her majesty the Heavenly Emperor suddenly entrusted this poem to me after the end of a banquet in the Heaven realm 』

So the ‘honored guest’ and ‘music’ wasn’t the whole picture.

Gu Qing Shan patted Qin Xiao Lou’s shoulder and said: “Your guess was wrong, there was somebody who cooked”

He then wrote a few words next to the line [We have an honored guest, zithers and bamboo flutes blow]:

[There is no such thing as an unending party]

Li An flew into the hall as well and looked at the wall before asking: 『 Qing Shan, are you trying to speculate the meaning of these lines that the Heavenly Emperor left? 』

“I am, what’s your opinion regarding all of this?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

Li An pondered and said: 『 I feel like your guess isn’t quite correct 』

“Why not?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

『 We Tianma have seen through many ups and downs within the myriad realms, while a party might end, another will eventually be hosted; how could the Heavenly Emperor feel sorrowful for such a thing? 』Li An said.

Another will eventually be hosted.

How could the Heavenly Emperor feel sorrowful for such a thing?

As if he was struck by lightning, Gu Qing Shan abruptly stood up: “You’re right, whether it’s an ‘honored guest’ or ‘zithers and bamboo flutes’, they can always begin anew after the last one is over!”

He started pacing around the hall as if he was possessed.

Nobody understood what he meant.

But none of them voiced their concerns, fearing that it might cut off his train of thought.

Time slowly passed.

At one point, Gu Qing Shan abruptly stopped.

He took out a black-cover book and said: “Book of the Sea, I have a question”

[I can find the origin of this poem, but if you want to ask me about your Shifu’s thoughts, I can’t help you] the Book of the Sea said.

“That’s fine, what I’m about to ask might be nothing but common sense to you” Gu Qing Shan replied.

[Common sense? What exactly are you trying to ask?] the Book of the Sea asked.

“You’ve seen the Samsara, haven’t you?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

[Yeah, I’ve seen it]

“Then I want you to tell me—— how many times did the Samsara shatter?”