77: Chapter 77 The Person Who Faced Calamity
On the morning of the fifth day, Lu Mingyuan pushed open his door.
In the courtyard, Xuanweizi stood under the old cypress tree with his hands behind his back. The morning light filtered through the branches, casting mottled shadows upon him.
Lu Mingyuan walked over and stood still behind him.
“Master.”
Xuanweizi did not turn around, merely gazing at the distant mountains.
“Did you sleep well last night?”
“I did.”
“No dreams?”
“None.”
Xuanweizi nodded and turned to look at him.
“That is good. No dreams means your mind is settled.”
He walked toward the east wing, and Lu Mingyuan followed behind him.
Today's tea was brewed stronger than usual. The tea liquor was a deep brown, with a bitter fragrance that filled the nose.
Lu Mingyuan picked up the bowl and took a sip. It was bitter, so bitter his tongue went numb.
Xuanweizi also took a sip, without even a furrow of his brow.
“What I shall discuss today is the Person of Destiny.”
Lu Mingyuan set down his tea bowl and listened quietly.
“Do you know what a calamity is?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment. “A disaster of heaven and earth, a hardship for all living beings.”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“And what of the Person of Destiny?”
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a moment.
“A Person of Destiny... is someone who blocks the calamity?”
Xuanweizi looked at him with a profound gaze.
“Block it? Can it be blocked?”
Lu Mingyuan was speechless.
Indeed, could it be blocked?
Of the Seven Great Calamities, which one could be blocked? In the Heaven-Opening Great Tribulation, Pangu died. In the Ferocious Beast Great Tribulation, the Origin Qi of the three tribes was severely damaged. In the Dragon-Phoenix Great Tribulation, the three tribes were nearly wiped out. In the Witch-Demon Calamity, the heavens and earth were shattered. In the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, the Saints were forced into seclusion. In the Journey to the West Great Tribulation, the Luck was diverted.
Which calamity could be blocked?
Xuanweizi said slowly:
“A Person of Destiny is not one who blocks the calamity. They are one who responds to it.”
To respond to the calamity, not to block it.
Lu Mingyuan chewed over these words.
“Master, what is the difference between responding and blocking?”
Xuanweizi picked up his tea bowl and took a slow sip.
“Blocking is standing outside the calamity, trying to stop it. Responding is walking into the calamity and going through it together with the calamity.”
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“One who blocks a calamity thinks of how to prevent it from happening. A Person of Destiny thinks of how to let the calamity pass.”
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
To let the calamity pass.
Not to stop it from happening, but to let it pass.
“Will the calamity... definitely happen?”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“It definitely will. Calamities are the laws of heaven and earth, just as humans have birth, aging, sickness, and death, and heaven and earth have formation, existence, destruction, and emptiness. They cannot be blocked.”
He set down his tea bowl, his gaze becoming distant.
“But what the world looks like after the calamity has passed—that can be chosen.”
Lu Mingyuan's heart jolted.
What the world looks like after the calamity can be chosen?
“Yes. It can be chosen.” Xuanweizi looked at him. “After the Ferocious Beast Great Tribulation passed, the Three Tribes ruled the world together. After the Dragon-Phoenix Great Tribulation passed, the Witch and Demon races rose. After the Witch-Demon Calamity passed, the Human Race rose. After the Investiture of the Gods Calamity passed, the Heavenly Court was established. After the Journey to the West Great Tribulation passed, the Buddhist Sect flourished.”
He paused and then added:
“Every calamity is a reshuffling. The old order is shattered, and a new order is established. The calamity itself is unavoidable, but the state of the world afterward is forged by those who walk through the calamity.”
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
He suddenly began to understand what it meant to “respond to the calamity.”
It was not about blocking, but about walking.
To walk into the calamity, to walk out of it, and to walk into a new world.
“Then the Person of Destiny...”
“A Person of Destiny is the one who walks into the calamity and then walks out of it,” Xuanweizi said. “He is not the most powerful, not the smartest, and does not have the greatest background. He is the one who is most daring to walk.”
Lu Mingyuan asked, “Daring to walk?”
“Daring to walk.” Xuanweizi nodded. “Daring to walk into the calamity, daring to face those things that are unknown, unpredictable, and irresistible. Daring to walk a path out from within the calamity.”
He paused and then added:
“Do you know why every Great Tribulation has a Person of Destiny?”
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
“Because the Heavenly Dao needs a 'point'.”
“A point?”
“Yes. A point.” Xuanweizi said. “Just as water needs a nucleation point to freeze, just as a fire needs a spark to ignite, just as a road needs a trailblazer to be built.”
He looked at Lu Mingyuan with a profound gaze.
“The Person of Destiny is that point.”
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
He thought of those legendary names.
Pangu of the Heaven-Opening Great Tribulation, the Ancestors of the Three Tribes of the Ferocious Beast Great Tribulation, Hongjun of the Dragon-Phoenix Great Tribulation, Nuwa of the Witch-Demon Calamity, Jiang Ziya of the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, and Tang Sanzang of the Journey to the West Great Tribulation.
Those people were all Persons of Destiny.
They were not the most powerful. Pangu would die, the Ancestors of the Three Tribes would fall, Jiang Ziya was merely a Mortal, and Tang Sanzang was just a monk.
But they walked into the calamity.
They walked in, and they walked out.
And so, the calamity passed.
“Master,” he asked, “is a Person of Destiny chosen by heaven, or self-chosen?”
Xuanweizi looked at him and suddenly smiled.
“You have finally asked this question.”
He picked up his tea bowl and drank slowly, in no rush to answer.
When the tea grew cold, he refilled it with hot water.
Only after drinking three bowls did he speak.
“Chosen by heaven? Self-chosen?”
Xuanweizi set down his tea bowl, his gaze calm.
“When Pangu opened the heavens, who chose him?”
Lu Mingyuan was taken aback.
“It was... he chose it himself, right? There was only him in Chaos; no one else could have chosen him.”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“When Hongjun fought Luo Hou, who chose him?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment. “He went down the mountain of his own accord.”
“And Nuwa mending the heavens?”
“That was also her own...”
Xuanweizi smiled.
“Then do you think a Person of Destiny is chosen by heaven, or self-chosen?”
Lu Mingyuan suddenly understood.
“They are self-chosen.”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“Yes. They are self-chosen.”
He stood up and walked to the window.
“The Heavenly Dao provides opportunities. Before every calamity arrives, it allows some people to see the truth. But those who see the truth can choose to go, or they can choose not to go.”
He turned back and looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“Those who choose to go are the Persons of Destiny. Those who choose not to go are ordinary people.”
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
He thought of those Rifts, those Demon Puppets, and those dangers.
Every time, he could have chosen not to go.
But every time, he went.
It wasn't heaven that made him go; he went of his own accord.
“Then...” he asked, “what does the Heavenly Dao choose?”
Xuanweizi walked back to the couch and sat down again.
“The Heavenly Dao does not choose a specific person. It chooses 'possibility'.”
“Possibility?”
“Yes. Possibility.” Xuanweizi said. “The Heavenly Dao doesn't know who will go and who will not. But it knows that someone will surely go. Because there will always be some people who, upon seeing danger, will rush forward; upon seeing suffering, will reach out a hand; and upon seeing darkness, will light a fire.”
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“Those people are 'the one that escaped'.”
Lu Mingyuan's heart jolted.
the one that escaped.
He had heard Hongjun mention this term in Zixiao Palace.
“the one that escaped is not a specific person. It is a possibility. A possibility of seeking life within certain death, of attaining something within certain loss. It is not fixed to any one person; it flows. If this person does not go, it flows to the next. If this person goes, it becomes fixed upon them.”
Xuanweizi paused and then added:
“You asked just now if it is chosen by heaven or self-chosen. The answer is—heaven gives the opportunity, and man makes the choice. Heaven chooses the possibility, and man chooses himself.”
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
Heaven gives the opportunity, man makes the choice.
Heaven chooses the possibility, man chooses himself.
He suddenly thought of the path he had walked all these years.
Every time he encountered danger, every time he faced a choice, he had stepped forward without thinking too much.
It wasn't bravery or nobility; it was... instinct.
Just like seeing someone fall into water and reaching out to pull them up.
Instinct.
“Master,” he asked, “is that instinct... given by heaven, or is it something that grows on its own?”
Xuanweizi looked at him, and there was something in his gaze—was it relief, pride, or something else?
“It grows on its own.”
He said slowly:
“Heaven gives the opportunity and lets a person see the danger. But whether one rushes forward or hides away after seeing that danger is something heaven cannot control. That is a matter for the person.”
He picked up his tea bowl and took a sip.
“Your instinct was not given by heaven. It is something you grew yourself. It grew because you walked so many paths, saw so many people, and pondered so many questions.”
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
He thought of the old man repairing the road. When the old man saw the road was broken, he went to fix it. It wasn't heaven that made him fix it; he simply felt it should be fixed.
He thought of the Great Master sweeping the floor. When the Master saw the courtyard was dirty, he went to sweep it. It wasn't heaven that made him sweep; he simply felt it should be swept.
He thought of Tang Zhuo making hidden weapons. Tang Zhuo had done it for decades; it wasn't heaven that made him do it, but his own passion.
Those people never thought about whether they were responding to a calamity or not. They simply did what they felt they should do.
But it was precisely those things that should be done that kept this world from rotting through.
He suddenly understood a little.
A Person of Destiny is not some special kind of person.
They are those who see what needs to be done and go do it.
They are the road repairers, the sweepers, the weapon makers, the martial artists—those who do not speak, but spend their entire lives walking the path.
He looked up and gazed at Xuanweizi.
“Master, is this Disciple a Person of Destiny?”
Xuanweizi looked at him, his gaze calm.
“What do you say?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
Then, he smiled.
“This Disciple is.”
A glimmer of light flashed in Xuanweizi's eyes.
“Why?”
Lu Mingyuan said:
“Because this Disciple saw that Rift. Having seen it, I cannot pretend I didn't. Having seen it, I must go.”
He paused and then added:
“It is not heaven making me go. It is that I myself want to go.”
Xuanweizi smiled.
His smile was one of great relief and pride.
“It is good that you understand.”
Outside the window, the sun had risen.
Sunlight streamed into the room, falling upon the two of them with a pleasant warmth.
Lu Mingyuan suddenly felt as if something in his heart had finally settled.
These past few days, he had been pondering this question—was he the Person of Destiny? Was he chosen by heaven, or did he choose himself?
Now he understood.
He had chosen it himself.
From the first time he saw that blood-colored Rift, he had chosen. From the first time he walked into the Songgang Demon Cave, he had chosen. From the first time he sealed the Black Water Marsh Rift, he had chosen.
He had been choosing all along.
He had chosen for five years.
Now, he was simply acknowledging it.
“Master,” he asked, “what should this Disciple do next?”
Xuanweizi looked at him.
“Undergo your tribulation.”
Lu Mingyuan was taken aback.
“Undergo my tribulation?”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“You have reached Body Integration Perfection. The next step is Undergoing Tribulation. The Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.”
He paused and then added:
“Pass it, and you will be an Earth Immortal. Fail to pass it, and everything will be for naught.”
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
The Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.
That was the greatest hurdle for a Cultivator.
Countless brilliant figures had fallen at this stage.
“Master,” he asked, “can I pass it?”
Xuanweizi looked at him with a gentle gaze.
“What do you say?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
Then, he smiled.
“I can.”
Xuanweizi nodded.
“Then go and prepare.”
Emerging from the east wing, Lu Mingyuan stood in the courtyard.
The sunlight was beautiful, falling on the old cypress tree, the old well, and the half-closed hall doors.
Qingyuan was drawing water from the well. Seeing him come out, he quickly set down the bucket and ran over.
“Junior Martial Uncle! What did Grand-Uncle Master talk to you about this time?”
Lu Mingyuan looked at him; that young face was full of curiosity.
“He spoke of the Person of Destiny.”
Qingyuan's eyes lit up. “What is a Person of Destiny?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
“It is someone who sees what needs to be done and goes do it.”
Qingyuan was stunned.
“Is... is it that simple?”
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
“It is that simple.”
Qingyuan scratched his head, thinking for a good while.
“Then... can this Disciple be a Person of Destiny too?”
Lu Mingyuan looked at him and suddenly smiled.
“You are already being one right now.”
Qingyuan was bewildered.
“Me? What has this Disciple done?”
Lu Mingyuan pointed to the bucket in his hand.
“You are drawing water.”
Qingyuan looked down at the bucket, his face full of confusion.
“Drawing water... even that counts?”
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
“Drawing water counts. Cooking counts. Sweeping counts. Repairing roads counts. Doing what needs to be done is responding to the calamity.”
He patted Qingyuan on the shoulder.
“Draw your water well.”
Qingyuan stared blankly at him, then blankly at the bucket in his hand.
Suddenly, he smiled.
“This Disciple understands!”
He picked up the bucket and hurried toward the kitchen. His steps were light, like a joyful young beast.
Lu Mingyuan watched his receding figure and smiled.
Then, he turned and walked toward the back mountain.
It was time to prepare.
The Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation was coming soon.