95: Chapter 95 The True Scripture of Mountains and Seas
Upward.
Always upward.
Lu Mingyuan supported Bai Ze as they rose slowly through the darkness. The surrounding seawater gradually changed from pitch black to deep blue, then from deep blue to light blue. The floating debris became scarcer, and the aura of resentment grew fainter.
Bai Ze swam very slowly.
It was too weak. Every few moments of swimming, it had to stop and catch its breath. The places where the black threads had constricted it were stripped of fur, revealing the flesh beneath. The flesh was covered in deep welts, like scars burned by a branding iron.
Lu Mingyuan did not speak; he simply slowed down to wait for it.
Finally, the light above grew brighter and brighter.
It was no longer the dying glimmer of the deep sea, but true light—sunlight piercing through the surface, bright, warm, and full of life.
Bai Ze stopped and looked up at that light.
Something flickered in its eyes.
"It's been... so long... since I've seen... the light..."
Lu Mingyuan looked at it.
"Just a bit further up, and we'll be out."
Bai Ze nodded.
But it didn't move.
It just stared at that light, at the shimmering reflections dancing in the water, as if looking at a distant, unreachable dream.
Lu Mingyuan did not rush it.
He stood quietly by its side, waiting.
After a long time, Bai Ze spoke softly.
"How long... have I... been trapped here..."
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
"I don't know."
Bai Ze thought for a moment.
"Three years... or... five years..."
It paused.
"Or perhaps... three hundred years..."
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
"Three hundred years?"
Bai Ze looked at him, a hint of bitterness in its eyes.
"There is... no time here... Sometimes... I'm awake... sometimes... I'm asleep... When I'm awake... I count the days... but eventually... I forget..."
It lowered its head.
"Eventually... I stopped counting..."
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
He looked at the deep welts on Bai Ze's body, its dull fur, and its exhausted eyes.
Three hundred years.
If it really had been three hundred years, then it had been trapped here for three centuries.
A being, trapped for three hundred years in endless darkness, amidst boundless resentment, under the gaze of those hollow eyes.
What did that feel like?
He didn't know.
He only knew that if it were him, he would have likely gone mad long ago.
"Let's go," he said softly.
Bai Ze nodded.
It took a deep breath and continued swimming upward.
Lu Mingyuan stayed by its side.
Finally, they surfaced.
The sunlight was blinding.
Lu Mingyuan squinted, taking a while to adjust before he could gradually see everything clearly.
The sky was blue, the sea was blue, and there was a line of green mountains in the distance. The sea shimmered, and a few seabirds flew overhead, letting out crisp cries.
Everything seemed so normal.
It was as if the darkness, resentment, and shattered consciousness at the bottom of the sea were all just a dream.
But he knew it wasn't a dream.
He looked down at his hands. The wounds on his ten fingers were still there, turned white from the seawater, with some spots already starting to scab over.
He turned to look at Bai Ze.
Bai Ze floated on the surface, gasping for air. The sunlight shone on it, making the marks from the black threads look particularly jarring. But finally, there was a spark of life in its eyes.
"I'm alive," it said softly.
Lu Mingyuan looked at it.
"Alive."
Bai Ze suddenly laughed.
The smile was strange—what does a Divine Beast look like when it smiles? Its eyes curved, its mouth pulled back, revealing two rows of stark white teeth. Logically, it should have been terrifying, but as Lu Mingyuan watched, he only felt warmth.
"Thank you," Bai Ze said.
This time, its voice was no longer weak, but clear and sincere.
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
"No need for thanks."
Bai Ze looked at him.
"Do you know who I am?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"Bai Ze. The Bai Ze who knows the nature of all things. An ancient Divine Beast."
Bai Ze nodded.
"Then do you know what it means that you saved me?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"It means... you owe me a favor?"
Bai Ze was stunned for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.
The laughter echoed over the sea, startling a few distant seabirds into flight.
"Owe a favor!" It laughed so hard it couldn't stand straight. "Yes! Yes! Owe a favor! In all the time I, Bai Ze, have lived, this is the first time I've owed a human a favor!"
It looked at Lu Mingyuan, its eyes full of mirth.
"Good! I shall remember this favor!"
After it finished laughing, Bai Ze grew quiet.
It gazed at the distant green mountains and remained silent for a long time.
Then, it spoke.
"Do you know why I was trapped there?"
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
Bai Ze thought for a moment.
"I went there of my own accord."
Lu Mingyuan was taken aback.
"Of your own accord?"
Bai Ze nodded.
"I heard there was resentment from an Ancient Magic God in the Abyss of the East Sea, and I wanted to see if I could transcend them."
It gave a bitter smile.
"But once I got there, I realized they couldn't be transcended. That resentment was too deep, so deep that even I got trapped in it."
Lu Mingyuan was silent.
He remembered those shattered consciousnesses on the seabed, those hollow eyes, those hungry voices.
Transcend?
How could they be transcended?
What they lacked, they would never obtain.
"Then how did you endure afterward?" he asked.
Bai Ze looked at him.
"Because of you."
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
"Me?"
Bai Ze nodded.
"The book I gave you is the true edition. Inside that true edition is my true spirit. As long as the true spirit is not extinguished, I will not die."
It paused.
"But that book was with you. Wherever you were, my true spirit was there. So for these three hundred years, I have been sensing you."
It looked at Lu Mingyuan with a profound gaze.
"Sensing you living. Sensing your cultivation. Sensing you walking step by step to where you are today."
"Every time you made a Breakthrough, my true spirit grew a bit brighter. Every time you couldn't hold on but endured anyway, my true spirit grew a bit warmer."
"It was that bit of light, that bit of warmth, that allowed me to endure until now."
Lu Mingyuan stared at it blankly.
He thought of the path he had walked over these five years—from Mortal to Qi Refining, from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core, from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, from Nascent Soul to Soul Transformation, from Soul Transformation to Body Integration, and from Body Integration to Earth Immortal.
With every Breakthrough, every time he felt he couldn't go on, he would remember the words Bai Ze spoke when it entered his dream that night—'Live on.'
He didn't know that while he was enduring, Bai Ze was also enduring.
Because he held on, it held on.
"You..."
He was speechless.
Bai Ze looked at him and smiled gently.
"So it wasn't you saving me; we saved each other."
Silence.
A long silence.
Sunlight spilled over the sea, shimmering. A few seabirds landed on a nearby reef, tilting their heads as they watched them.
Lu Mingyuan stood there, gazing at Bai Ze, a thousand words welling up in his heart, yet he didn't know where to begin.
Finally, he took out the true edition of the classic of mountains and seas from his robes.
The pages were soaked with seawater, but the writing and illustrations were not blurred in the slightest. Those Divine Beasts, those exotic herbs, those mountains and rivers remained as clear as ever.
He handed the book to Bai Ze.
"This is yours."
Bai Ze looked at the book but didn't take it.
"You keep it."
Lu Mingyuan was taken aback.
"This is your true spirit—"
Bai Ze shook its head.
"The true spirit is no longer in the book."
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
"What?"
Bai Ze looked at him.
"Back on the seabed, when you used this book to trade for me, the true spirit came out of the book."
It pointed to its own chest.
"It's back. It's back in here."
Lu Mingyuan looked down at the book in his hand and turned to the page about Bai Ze.
On that page, the illustration of Bai Ze now had its eyes again.
Those eyes were as clear as ever, quietly gazing at him.
He looked up at the Bai Ze in front of him.
The Bai Ze before him was also quietly gazing at him with its eyes.
The one in the book and the one in front of him were exactly the same.
"Then this book..."
Bai Ze laughed.
"This book is yours now."
Lu Mingyuan was stunned.
"Mine?"
Bai Ze nodded.
"Although the true spirit in the book has returned, the book itself is already bound to you. For these five years, you have carried it every day, read it every day, and used it every day. It has long since recognized you."
It paused.
"Try it now; use your Divine Sense to probe into it."
Lu Mingyuan did as told, releasing his Divine Sense and probing into the book.
In an instant, a flood of information rushed into his mind—
Three thousand six hundred types of Divine Beasts, eight thousand four hundred types of exotic herbs, one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred mountains and rivers, as well as things he had never seen, never heard of, and never even imagined.
They waited there quietly, waiting for him to look, to read, and to use them.
He withdrew his Divine Sense and stared blankly at Bai Ze.
"This is..."
Bai Ze nodded.
"The true edition of the classic of mountains and seas has now recognized you as its master."
Lu Mingyuan stood there, holding the book, unable to speak for a long time.
He remembered that night five years ago, when the mountain flood was imminent and he was trapped in a dilapidated Daoist temple. In his dream, this Divine Beast had stepped through the light and placed this book in his hands.
He had thought it was just a dream.
But when he woke up, the book was in his robes.
Since then, he had carried this book for five years. Through the Three Mountains of Daoism, the Three Temples of Buddhism, the Three Academies of Confucianism, and the Three Sects of Martial Arts. With every Epiphany, every Breakthrough, and every time he felt he couldn't go on, he would open this book and look at those Divine Beasts, those exotic herbs, and those mountains and rivers.
They didn't speak, but they accompanied him.
Now, this book had recognized him as its master.
Not because of anything he did, but because he had carried it with him for five years.
"Than—"
He wanted to say thank you, but the words caught in his throat and he swallowed them back.
'Thank you' was too light.
Bai Ze looked at him and smiled gently.
"No need for thanks. This is what you deserve."
It paused.
"Do you know? This book has been with me for tens of thousands of years, and no one has ever truly gained its recognition. You are the first I've seen."
Lu Mingyuan looked at it.
"Why?"
Bai Ze thought for a moment.
"Because you are not greedy."
"Not greedy?"
Bai Ze nodded.
"The things in the book—you saw them, remembered them, and used them, but you never thought of possessing them. You simply carried it and walked your path. It watched you walk, watched you step by step reach where you are today. It watched you change from a Mortal to an Earth Immortal, watched you go from knowing nothing to understanding a bit of everything."
It looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"It likes you, so it recognizes you."
Lu Mingyuan was silent.
He looked down at the book in his hand, at the illustrations and text on the pages.
They sat there quietly, like old friends.
"Then in the future..." he asked, "can I still use it?"
Bai Ze laughed.
"Of course you can. It's yours now; you can use it however you like."
It paused.
"And with me here, it will be even more convenient for you to use in the future."
Lu Mingyuan looked at it.
"What do you mean?"
Bai Ze blinked.
"It means—whatever you ask, I'll tell you. You won't have to flip through the book yourself."
Lu Mingyuan was stunned for a moment, then laughed.
"That's not bad at all."
Bai Ze laughed as well.
The man and the beast smiled at each other in the sunlight.
After they finished laughing, Lu Mingyuan put the book away and looked at Bai Ze.
"Can you move now?"
Bai Ze tried and then nodded.
"I can. I'm still a bit weak, but walking slowly is fine."
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"Then let's go. We'll head to shore first and find a place for you to rest."
He turned and swam toward the green mountains in the distance.
Bai Ze stayed by his side.
After swimming for a while, Bai Ze suddenly spoke.
"Lu Mingyuan."
Lu Mingyuan looked back.
"Hmm?"
Bai Ze looked at him.
"Back on the seabed, why did you trade the book for me?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"Because you were the one who gave me the book."
Bai Ze shook its head.
"More than that."
Lu Mingyuan was silent.
He knew Bai Ze was right. It wasn't just because it had given him the book.
Then why?
He thought for a long time.
Finally, he said one thing.
"Because you were the first person to tell me to live on."
Bai Ze was stunned.
Lu Mingyuan looked at it and said softly:
"That night, the mountain flood was coming, and I was trapped in that ruined temple, thinking I was going to die. Then you came and said, 'Live on.' So I lived."
He paused.
"Over the years since then, whenever I felt I couldn't go on, I would remember those words. Live on. Endure a bit longer. Take one more step. And so, I arrived at today."
He looked at Bai Ze.
"So it wasn't the book; it was you."
Bai Ze was silent.
For a very long time.
Then, it smiled.
The smile was light and faint, but there was light in its eyes.
"Good," it said.
"Good."
The man and the beast continued swimming toward the shore.
Sunlight spilled over the sea, stretching their shadows long.
After they had swum a long distance, Bai Ze suddenly asked another question.
"By the way, did you say just now that it took you five years to go from a Mortal to an Earth Immortal?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"More or less."
Bai Ze thought for a moment.
"Then you cultivated quite fast."
Lu Mingyuan looked at it.
"Is it fast?"
Bai Ze nodded.
"Fast. For most people I've seen cultivating, reaching Foundation Establishment from Mortal in five years is already good. But you, you went straight to Earth Immortal."
It paused.
"But then again, it makes sense. You were chosen by that person, so of course it's different."
Lu Mingyuan was taken aback.
"Which person?"
Bai Ze looked at him, a complex expression in its eyes.
"You don't know?"
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
Bai Ze was silent for a moment.
Then, it said softly:
"Never mind, we'll talk about it later. Let's get to shore first."
Lu Mingyuan looked at it, knowing it was holding something back.
But he didn't press for answers.
Because he also had something he hadn't said.
What he wanted to say was—
"Regardless of who chose me or what the reason is, the path that led to today is the path I walked myself."
But saying that now seemed a bit too early.
Maybe later.
When he had walked even further, then he would say it.
He turned and continued swimming toward the shore.
Bai Ze stayed by his side.
In the distance, the green mountains grew closer.
On the shore, a figure could be faintly seen.
It was Zhang Qingyuan.
He stood on a reef, holding the heart lamp, peering in their direction.
Seeing them, he waved his arms frantically.
Lu Mingyuan waved back.
Then, he said to Bai Ze:
"We're here."
Bai Ze nodded.
"We're here."
The man and the beast swam toward the shore.
Behind them, sunlight flooded the sea, shimmering.
The darkness, the resentment, and the shattered consciousnesses were all left behind.
Ahead was the shore.
The light.
The world of the living.