Chapter 589 - 550: If the Heavens Grow Old, What Is a Human to Do?
Chapter 589: Chapter 550: If the Heavens Grow Old, What Is a Human to Do?
The Ancient Starry Road was not a peaceful path.
From the Corpse Demon’s state, Song Ciwan deduced that once a living being set foot upon it, they would face an unknowable crisis if they failed to answer a question within a short time!
’But it seems the Ancient Starry Road doesn’t mind if the test-taker gets outside help?’
The Corpse Demon’s body swayed on the silk ribbon, trembling like a leaf in a gale. It was becoming harder and harder for her to hold on. She urged Song Ciwan on anxiously, "Xing Lan Fairy, Little Demon can’t hold on much longer! It’s terrifying! I... I feel like I’m flying Beyond the Heavens! There are chaotic stars everywhere! No! Save me..."
Her body suddenly lurched to one side, and she looked as if she was about to fall off the silk path.
Song Ciwan replied, "The flask originally contained seven-eighths of a dou of wine."
The Corpse Demon shrieked, "Seven-eighths of a dou! Help me! Don’t crush me! Ah..."
Song Ciwan had not stepped onto the Ancient Starry Road, so she naturally couldn’t experience the scene the Corpse Demon was currently facing.
She was also unaware that while the Corpse Demon appeared to be treading on a silk ribbon that reached for the sky, her entire body had in fact been plunged into the void Beyond the Heavens from the moment she stepped onto it.
It was a terrifying, infinite blackness, like an Abyss.
Aside from the thin, slender path beneath the Corpse Demon’s feet, which seemed to be composed of countless tiny points of starlight, there was nothing else in the abyss-like black void.
No, actually, there was something else there.
What was it?
It was a series of chaotic, unspeakable, twisted whispers.
The Corpse Demon could hear the various whispers in the black void, but she couldn’t see what was making them at all.
All she could see was the black nothingness and the Human Race’s Celestial Pride standing back at the entrance.
The Corpse Demon had a strong feeling that she could not return to the entrance where the Human Race’s Celestial Pride stood, and she absolutely could not fall into the void!
Once she fell, those terrifying things that whispered chaotically in the void would surely tear her to pieces.
’The Corpse Demon was already filled with regret. I shouldn’t have offered to scout the path... No, I shouldn’t have coveted the Demon Saint Palace’s reward in the first place and come to a perilous place like the Ancient Divine Palace to ambush a Human Race Celestial Pride.’
’If I hadn’t gotten involved, I wouldn’t be in any danger at all.’
’But once I made the wrong choice and set foot on this terrifying path, everything spun completely out of control.’
A moment ago, the Corpse Demon had been in a daze, feeling as if a giant star had fallen from somewhere in the void and was crashing down on her head!
Whether being crushed by the star or falling into the terrifying void, both were unacceptable and unknowable outcomes for the Corpse Demon.
Fortunately, the answer the Human Race’s Celestial Pride gave for the first question was correct.
The Corpse Demon recited the answer, and in the next moment, the star crashing down on her vanished. The terrifying force on the narrow Celestial Road that had been trying to make her fall was also gone.
The crisis subsided for a moment, and the Corpse Demon had escaped death by a hair’s breadth.
The Corpse Demon began to cry with soft sobs. The Heaven and Earth Scale appeared beside Song Ciwan, and she once again received an emotional orb from the Corpse Demon: [Demon Heart. Terror, lingering fear, and gratitude from an aberrant Demon King Stage Corpse Demon. Six liang and nine qian. Sellable.]
’The Corpse Demon actually feels genuine gratitude toward me?’
’It’s not much, but... it’s still quite something.’
Song Ciwan stood at the entrance of the passage, refusing to take even a single step toward the silk ribbon. As the Corpse Demon whimpered, she waited patiently.
It was the Corpse Demon herself who, after crying for only a short while, stopped her own sobs. Then, wringing her skirt, she carefully took a large step forward.
After that one step, the voice for the second question echoed ethereally from the void.
The Corpse Demon hurriedly relayed it to Song Ciwan, "Xing Lan Fairy, Little Demon has received the second question. It asks: if there are Immortals on Yingzhou Island, and one can attain long life by kowtowing to them, should I kowtow or not?"
’This question...’
Hearing it, Song Ciwan’s heart skipped a beat.
The Corpse Demon asked Song Ciwan how she should answer. Song Ciwan said, "You want me to answer this one for you as well? This is a question you should answer for yourself."
"Yes..." The Corpse Demon’s lovely face turned deathly pale. Beneath her beautiful skin, the stark white of her corpse-bones once again became clearly visible.
She didn’t actually have a heart. She was a demon formed from bones, with less sentiment and spirit than a tiger, leopard, ox, or sheep. How could she possibly have a heart?
But at this moment, the Corpse Demon felt a strange, tightening sensation, as if her heart chambers were being squeezed.
She asked Song Ciwan, "Xing Lan Fairy, Little Demon does not know how to answer. Little Demon only asks, if it were you, and you entered Yingzhou Island, would you kowtow... or not?"
This time, Song Ciwan did not evade the question. She stated bluntly, "I would not kowtow."
The Corpse Demon immediately stammered out her own answer, "I... I would not kowtow!"
She too had answered that she would not kowtow!
BOOM—
This time, the Corpse Demon felt as if a wisp of starlight had shot out from Beyond the Heavens and plunged into her body with a strange, fervent heat.
Just as the Corpse Demon was scared out of her wits, thinking her doom had finally come, the fervent wisp of starlight did not actually harm her.
Not only did it not harm her, but the wisp of starlight that had just descended from the void actually pushed her forward a great step in an instant!
With that single step, the Corpse Demon discovered she had traversed more than half the length of the Ancient Starry Road.
The path of light ahead was becoming very short. It seemed that with just a little more effort, she could walk the entire length of the path and reach the Heaven-Reaching City on the other side!
But immediately after, the third question came.
From the passage entrance, Song Ciwan saw the Corpse Demon instantly cross most of the silk ribbon’s length. Then, stammering, the demon thanked Song Ciwan while relaying the next question, "Xing Lan Fairy, the third question, the third question... It asks, if the Heavens themselves grow old, what... what should I do?"
This question... left the Corpse Demon even more bewildered.
She was on the verge of tears again. Turning her head, she looked at Song Ciwan mournfully and pleaded, "Fairy, if it were you, how would you answer?"
The Corpse Demon had learned her lesson. This time, she didn’t directly ask Song Ciwan for the answer, but instead posed the hypothetical question to her.
Song Ciwan pondered the meaning of these questions to herself while replying, "If it were me, and the Heavens grew old, I would offer a sacrifice to Heaven."
The Corpse Demon couldn’t help but press on, "What does it mean to offer a sacrifice to Heaven? How do you do it?"
But to this question, Song Ciwan offered no reply.
Only when she received no answer did the Corpse Demon have a sudden realization—
’I must be truly stupid. What am I doing, pestering the Human Race’s Celestial Pride? What I need to do right now is answer the question on the Ancient Starry Road!’
The Corpse Demon quickly mimicked Song Ciwan’s words, "If the Heavens grow old, I will offer a sacrifice to Heaven!"
BOOM!
The entire Ancient Starry Road trembled at that moment.
The Corpse Demon only felt the path of light beneath her feet surge. The next moment, her whole body shot through the path of light, and just like that, she had crossed the Ancient Starry Road.
Carried by the slender ribbon of light, she landed directly on the back of the giant turtle!