90: Chapter 90 The Causes of the End Times
At the hour of chen on the fourth day, Yunhua arrived on time to pick them up.
Lu Mingyuan walked out of the courtyard gate and saw her standing under the old locust tree, holding that palace lantern. The incense in the lantern had been freshly replaced, and a wisp of blue smoke curled upward, tracing a delicate trajectory in the morning light.
"Today is the last day," Yunhua said. "After the lecture, the Queen Mother of the West will ask you a question."
Lu Mingyuan looked at her.
"What question?"
Yunhua shook her head.
"I do not know. She did not say."
She turned and walked toward the peach forest.
Lu Mingyuan and Zhang Qingyuan followed.
They passed through the peach forest, circled around the Jade Pool, walked into the ruins, passed through the stone gate, and arrived at the wasteland.
But this time, the Queen Mother of the West was not on the wasteland.
Yunhua led them deep into the wasteland. They walked past the nine-story high platform, past the Black Water Lake, past the open space where the copy of the investiture of the gods was placed, and walked all the way to the edge of the wasteland.
At the end was a cliff.
Below the cliff was the endless Void Realm. In the Void Realm floated countless broken things—half a mountain range, a corner of a palace, a dead old tree, a giant beast bone. They floated silently, like fragments of time, like the remains of history.
The Queen Mother of the West stood at the edge of the cliff, her back to them, looking at that expanse of the Void Realm.
Hearing their footsteps, she did not look back.
"Come and look."
Lu Mingyuan walked to her side and looked down.
Deep in the Void Realm, there was an extremely thin, faint red light. That red light was like a silk thread, extending from an unknown place, passing through those floating fragments, and stretching into the invisible distance.
"That is the source of The Rift," the Queen Mother of the West said. "Seen from here, it is just a thread. But when it falls into the human world, it becomes a rift a hundred miles wide."
Lu Mingyuan looked at that red light, and a feeling that was hard to describe suddenly welled up in his heart—sorrow, heaviness, and a trace of indescribable familiarity.
"My Lady," he asked, "how exactly did the Dharma-Ending Kalpa come to be?"
The Queen Mother of the West was silent for a long time.
Then, she began to speak.
"During the Heaven-Opening Great Tribulation, Pangu slew the Three Thousand Demon Gods and opened up the world. But the resentment of those Demon Gods did not dissipate."
"During the Ferocious Beast Great Tribulation, the three clans exterminated the Vicious Beasts, but the resentment of the Vicious Beasts did not dissipate."
"During the initial Dragon-Phoenix conflict, the three clans fought a great war, Luo Hou brought Chaos to the world, and Hongjun slew Luo Hou. But the resentment of those who died in battle did not dissipate."
"During the Witch-Demon Calamity, Houtu transformed into Reincarnation, and Nuwa mended the heavens. But the resentment of those who died in battle did not dissipate."
"During the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, the Ten Thousand Immortal Array was broken, and three hundred and sixty-five righteous gods were listed on the investiture of the gods. But their resentment did not dissipate."
"During the Journey to the West Great Tribulation, the scriptures were brought to the East, and countless demons were killed. But their resentment did not dissipate."
She turned around and looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"Do you know where these resentments went?"
Lu Mingyuan was silent.
He certainly knew.
That Rift, that core of resentment, that thing called An.
The Queen Mother of the West nodded.
"Correct. They settled deep within the world, accumulating bit by bit, increasing year by year. Over billions of years, finally—they developed consciousness."
"That consciousness is An."
"An is not a demon, not a god, not anything we recognize."
The Queen Mother of the West said slowly:
"It is a collection of resentment, the Incarnation of what is missing. It has no will of its own, only instinct. Its instinct is to devour."
"Devour what?"
"Devour everything—Spiritual Qi, life, Karma, Luck. The more it devours, the larger it grows. The larger it grows, the more it devours."
She pointed to the red light deep in the Void Realm.
"At the very beginning, it was just a mass of mist, hiding deep within the world. Later, it became larger and stronger, eventually tearing through the Heavenly Dao and forming the first Rift."
"When that Rift appeared, Hongjun was preaching in Zixiao Palace. He stopped preaching on the spot, looked in that direction, and did not speak for a long time."
"Later, he said one sentence."
Lu Mingyuan asked:
"What sentence?"
The Queen Mother of the West looked at him and said word by word:
"'The Heavenly Dao is incomplete; seven kalpas is the limit. After seven kalpas, it must either be mended or it will collapse.'"
"Since then, Hongjun began to search for a way to mend the heavens."
"He traveled through Chaos, visited all the heavens, and finally returned to Zixiao Palace, where he secluded himself for thirty thousand years. After coming out of seclusion, he said one sentence—"
"'The incompleteness needs to be mended, but what mends the incompleteness is not force, but the heart.'"
The Queen Mother of the West looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"Do you know what this sentence means?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"Resistance is useless?"
The Queen Mother of the West nodded.
"Correct. Resistance is useless. The more you fight An, the stronger it becomes. Because every punch you throw is feeding it power—feeding it resentment, feeding it murderous intent, feeding it hatred."
"Those things are exactly what it needs."
She paused and added:
"Therefore, mending the heavens cannot be done by fighting. It must be done by—mending."
"Mending what it lacks."
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
"What does it lack?"
The Queen Mother of the West looked at him, her gaze profound.
"What do you think?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
What was lacking?
An was a collection of resentment. Resentment was created because something was missing—
Lacking fairness, lacking justice, lacking a place to belong, lacking love.
He suddenly remembered the flash of something in the hollow eyes of those Demon Puppets. That was not evil; it was—what was missing.
"What it lacks..." he said slowly, "is what those who died never received."
The Queen Mother of the West nodded.
"Correct. Those Vicious Beasts lacked spiritual intelligence, so they only knew how to devour. Those who died in the battles of the three clans lacked peace, so their resentment did not dissipate. Those witches and demons lacked reconciliation, so their hatred continued. Those who were listed on the investiture of the gods lacked freedom, so they were unwilling. Those demons killed during the Journey to the West lacked compassion, so their baleful aura was hard to eliminate."
"The things they lacked, when gathered together, became An."
She looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"Therefore, to mend An, one must mend those lacks."
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
He looked at the red light deep in the Void Realm, thinking of those who had died, those things that were never received.
Spiritual intelligence, peace, reconciliation, freedom, compassion.
Each of these words was as heavy as a thousand jun.
"My Lady," he asked, "how can these lacks be mended?"
The Queen Mother of the West shook her head.
"I do not know. If I knew, Hongjun would have mended it long ago."
She looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"But Hongjun said one sentence—'The one who mends the incompleteness must be one who has experienced the incompleteness.'"
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
"One who has experienced the incompleteness?"
The Queen Mother of the West nodded.
"It means that the person who can mend the incompleteness must be someone who has personally experienced what it means to lack something. Only by knowing what it tastes like to lack something can one know how to mend it."
She looked at Lu Mingyuan, and there was something in her gaze—was it anticipation, or something else?
"You have cultivated from a Mortal to where you are now; along the way, have you ever lacked anything?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
He had lacked things.
Lacked money, lacked food, lacked clothes, lacked medicine. When he was a child in Heyin, he lacked everything. But later, his Master gave him everything.
He had lacked the Dao, lacked the Dharma, lacked guidance. But along the way, there was Immortal Master Yu Shu, Zen Master Huijue, the old gentleman Yuelu, the leader of the Beggars Gang, the old craftsman of the Tang Clan, and The Palace Guardian Taoist.
They gave them to him.
What had he lacked?
He suddenly remembered something.
He had lacked—an answer.
Daoist Songyun's nine-hundred-year-old unanswered question; he had been looking for the answer. He had been looking for five years and still hadn't found it.
"What about after Heart as the Mysterious Pivot?"
He did not know.
That was what he lacked.
The Queen Mother of the West looked at him, seemingly seeing through his thoughts.
"Found it?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded, then shook his head.
"Found a part of it."
The Queen Mother of the West smiled.
"That is enough."
She turned and looked into the depths of the Void Realm.
"The Dharma-Ending Kalpa is the seventh kalpa. After this time, either the Heavenly Dao will be mended, or the world will collapse."
"An has already formed, The Rift has already expanded, and the decline of Spiritual Qi has already begun. It will not be long before the human world becomes a purgatory and the Three Realms fall into Chaos."
She turned her head and looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"Are you afraid?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"Afraid."
The Queen Mother of the West nodded.
"Being afraid is right. Those who are not afraid are either crazy or stupid."
She paused and added:
"But afraid or not, the things that need to be done must still be done."
Lu Mingyuan was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked:
"My Lady, how many years have you been guarding this place?"
The Queen Mother of the West was startled.
"Since the investiture of the gods, I have been guarding here."
"How many years?"
The Queen Mother of the West thought for a moment.
"I cannot remember clearly. Probably... several tens of thousands of years."
Lu Mingyuan looked at her.
"Are you afraid?"
The Queen Mother of the West was silent.
After a long time, she said slowly:
"Afraid. I am afraid every day."
"Then why do you still guard it?"
The Queen Mother of the West looked at him and suddenly smiled.
"Because if I do not guard it, those who died would have died in vain."
Silence.
A long silence.
Lu Mingyuan stood there, looking at the Queen Mother of the West, looking at the Void Realm behind her, looking at the red light deep in the Void Realm.
Several tens of thousands of years.
She had guarded here for several tens of thousands of years.
Looking at The Rift every day, thinking of those who had died every day, fearing the arrival of the Dharma-Ending Kalpa every day.
But she was still guarding.
Because if she did not guard, those who had died would have died in vain.
He suddenly felt that he understood something.
Not the answer, but the direction.
"My Lady," he asked, "what is the question you want to ask me today?"
The Queen Mother of the West looked at him, a flash of approval in her eyes.
"You knew I was going to ask you?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
The Queen Mother of the West was silent for a moment, then said slowly:
"I ask you—do you know how to proceed now?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a long time.
Then, he nodded.
"I know."
"How to proceed?"
Lu Mingyuan looked at the red light deep in the Void Realm.
"Walk forward. Walk until the day it is mended."
The Queen Mother of the West looked at him for a very, very long time.
Then, she smiled.
"Good. Go."
She turned and walked toward the Void Realm below the cliff.
Lu Mingyuan was startled.
"My Lady—"
The Queen Mother of the West did not look back.
"I have guarded for several tens of thousands of years; it is time for me to rest. The road ahead, you must walk yourself."
Her figure gradually disappeared into the Void Realm.
Lu Mingyuan stood there, looking in the direction where she had disappeared for a very, very long time.
Zhang Qingyuan walked to his side, holding the heart lamp.
"Let's go."
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
The two turned and walked back the way they came.
Behind them, the red light deep in the Void Realm was still shining.
But he knew, from now on, he was no longer a listener of history.
He was a walker of the path.
Walk forward.
Walk until the day it is mended.