663 Program
Fang Moye did not refute Jiang Huai.
Everyone has their own path to walk; those with different paths cannot plan together. However, she was somewhat curious at the moment: what were his thoughts?
Noticing Fang Moye’s eyes, Jiang Huai shook his head. “I don’t have any other ideas. I just feel that Ancestral Master is too lonely thinking like this.”
“I am not lonely,” Fang Moye replied, shaking her head.
At this moment, she was once again in a state of pretending, so Jiang Huai did not intend to argue with her about loneliness. He simply smiled helplessly, sat by the lake, and gazed at the pair of wild mandarin ducks in the distance. He basked quietly in the residual sunlight, watching the ducks gradually swim away.
The setting sun was a fiery red, and a gentle breeze rustled the grass. Red flowers bloomed everywhere on the mountains. Fang Moye stood beside him, not sitting down. She simply bathed in the warm sunlight. The scene felt like a moment of peaceful tranquility.
“My cultivation path is very simple,” Jiang Huai suddenly said softly.
“Hmm?”
“I’ve never thought about what the Dao is, nor the meaning of cultivation. Compared to being a cultivator, I always feel more like an ordinary person, full of greed, anger, and delusion. Sometimes I pretend to satisfy my moral superiority. Occasionally, I am greedy and despicable, getting involved with beautiful women. In the past, I also put myself in danger by saving others, and my cultivation was crippled. I thought a lot during that time.”
“Do you regret it?” Fang Moye’s voice was not cold, but indifferent.
“I wouldn’t say I regret it. If I had to do it again, I would make the same choice. Because I knew I wouldn’t die, and it was only my cultivation that was destroyed, which didn’t matter much. Not being able to cultivate is not terrifying.”
“Then what do you think is most terrifying?”
“Not knowing why you are living, yet deliberately finding a reason to deceive yourself. That is the most terrifying,” Jiang Huai replied slowly.
“I don’t think so,” Fang Moye’s voice remained calm.
“Of course, if you can deceive yourself, it doesn’t matter. But what if you can’t?” Jiang Huai was silent for a moment, then said, “Ancestral Master is willing to protect the cultivators of the lower realm, willing to come to this desolate place and become the Domain Lord. In order for the Corrupted Domain to survive, she is willing to sacrifice her own principles. Undoubtedly, she values everything in the Corrupted Domain more than herself.”
“Exchanging my life for the peace and prosperity of hundreds of millions of people, what is wrong with that?”
“Then has Ancestral Master considered herself?” Jiang Huai looked back at her. “Does it mean that for the Corrupted Domain, Ancestral Master is willing to sacrifice everything, including her own life?”
“Yes.”
“Is Ancestral Master very proud?” Jiang Huai’s voice suddenly became a little colder.
“It’s not pride,” Fang Moye still replied calmly.
“If Ancestral Master sacrifices herself and exchanges it for a brief period of peace, in another hundred or thousand years, the same disaster will descend again. This time, who will be able to stop it?”
“What if someone like me appears?”
“And if not?”
“Then will everything I’ve done be meaningless?” Fang Moye seemed a little displeased at this moment. She was unhappy that Chu Xianning’s disciple would think this way, yet she was not angry. It seemed that this was for the best; his personality would perfectly complement Chu Xianning’s stubborn nature, preventing her from acting foolishly and becoming her anchor.
She neither felt she was right nor that Jiang Huai was wrong, but vice versa, she did not agree either.
Jiang Huai suddenly turned to look at her. “I had a dream last night while drinking.”
“A dream?” Fang Moye was suddenly somewhat confused.
“I dreamed of her,” Jiang Huai said softly, looking into her eyes. “She told me that if your cultivation is only at the half-step Divine Emperor level, then even if you burn your life, you can only delay the rift for ten years. If you have just entered the Divine Emperor realm, and want to close the rift completely, you will have to burn all your lifespan.”
Fang Moye was suddenly stunned.
She suddenly realized that this was probably the reason Jiang Huai was hesitant to tell her about the mission today.
“She is indeed monitoring us,” Fang Moye turned her face away, instinctively avoiding Jiang Huai’s gaze, and said slowly, “I have another disciple. She was personally chosen by me. In the future, she will inherit everything from me. Then, when the next disaster arrives, she will step forward to protect the entire Corrupted Domain.”
“She won’t,” Jiang Huai shook his head.
“You haven’t even met her, how can you know she won’t?”
“The Divine Emperor said so. And she openly mocked your taste in disciples, saying that your disciple has already been blinded by the immense power you’ve bestowed upon her, and only thinks about your imminent death, so that she can quickly inherit the mantle, govern the entire Corrupted Domain, drain its blood, and become an emperor herself. She won’t care about the lives of these millions of corrupted beings,” Jiang Huai replied helplessly after a moment of silence.
Fang Moye’s expression was one of shock. After a long silence, she slowly lowered her eyes, unable to speak.
She did not doubt the Divine Emperor.
Because she knew the Divine Emperor had the ability to deduce the future and see through people’s hearts. She had personally witnessed the Divine Emperor’s divine abilities. What she deduced was not an absolute future, but a possible timeline. However, since these words came from her, they would not be wrong, or rather, the chance of error was extremely small, not exceeding one percent.
“I have cultivated for a long time and have grown weary of this world. This current heavenly disaster seems to be the moment to bring my cultivation path to an end. Perhaps this is what the Divine Emperor often calls destiny,” Fang Moye’s voice suddenly softened, her tone like that of coaxing a child.
“It is precisely because you are always thinking about the so-called Great Dao that you are so lonely. Because of loneliness, you want to escape, pushing everything onto destiny. I know Ancestral Master does not fear death, but I have a different perspective.”
“Tell me about it?” Fang Moye was no longer just standing. She came to sit beside Jiang Huai, and together they watched the setting sun slowly descend.
“If Ancestral Master has already arranged her own ending, believing that ending her journey now is her destiny, then I should not dissuade her. I should simply help Ancestral Master fulfill her wish, is that right?”
“Yes,” Fang Moye replied softly.
“Then the descent of destruction is the destiny of all beings in the Corrupted Domain. They are meant to be completely annihilated in this destruction. That is also their destiny, and Ancestral Master should not stop it.”
“This is sophistry,” Fang Moye said lightly.
“Yes,” Jiang Huai nodded gently. “But if Ancestral Master still clings to the idea of sacrificing herself for the Dao, then I will no longer assist her in completing the mission. If Ancestral Master cannot break through to the Divine Emperor realm, then she can only delay the Corrupted Domain for ten years. At that time, I will not ask the Divine Emperor for help either, and everything in the Corrupted Domain will still be destroyed.”
“Then everything Ancestral Master has done will still be in vain,” Jiang Huai looked towards the distant lake surface. The pair of wild mandarin ducks had already swum farther and farther away, becoming only two small black dots in his sight.
“Even if it’s just ten years, that’s…” Fang Moye sighed deeply here. She realized she had lost not to reason, but to power.
But the world is often like this: immense power is the greatest reason.
“Then how will you help me?” Fang Moye took a deep breath.
“I will still help Ancestral Master break through to the Divine Emperor realm, but please, after breaking through, Ancestral Master only needs to expend her cultivation to forcibly suppress the destructive rift for three years.”
“And after three years?”
“The Divine Emperor said she will find a way,” Jiang Huai replied slowly.
Fang Moye was suddenly startled.
This was undoubtedly the best outcome. She wouldn’t have to die, and the Will of Destruction would be resolved. Yet, for some reason, she suddenly felt an indescribable sense of melancholy.
She had also learned methods of deducing the world from the Divine Emperor in the past. The moment she arrived in the Corrupted Domain, she had already deduced her future outcome. But now, her deduction seemed to be leading in a completely different direction.
However, besides joy, she felt more confusion.
Perhaps after living for so many years, one would inevitably feel weary and lonely.
She had calmly prepared to end her cultivation path, but Jiang Huai had pulled her back. It was as if she couldn’t bear to watch the entire Corrupted Domain be destroyed, hence she wanted to protect it.
Her plan had not included the Divine Emperor’s intervention, because she understood the Divine Emperor best. The Divine Emperor was very indifferent and did not care about the Human Clan. Years ago, she had foreseen the destruction descending, but her explanation was that the Will of Destruction was merely parasitic on the Human Clan of the Corrupted Domain, transforming them into a different life form. They were all still life, and they would still be under her control, so there was no essential difference.
“Why… is the Divine Emperor willing to intervene?” This was Fang Moye’s final question.
But facing her question, Jiang Huai merely looked back at her, then smiled helplessly.
“Because she’s my sister.”
Fang Moye was confused.
So Jiang Huai had to add, “In this world, which sister doesn’t listen to her older brother?”
“She… listens to you that much?”
“Yes.”
“Then what if… she doesn’t listen?”
“A spanking will do,” Jiang Huai replied sincerely and innocently.
…
The sun set.
The moon quietly climbed above the treetops.
The temperature was gradually cooling. Fang Moye sat beside Jiang Huai, her white and tender feet dangling slightly beneath her Daoist Robe. She was wearing black high heels. Perhaps it was too embarrassing to serve Jiang Huai with her feet during the day, so she didn’t want him to see them again.
Her mood was now somewhat subtle, difficult to describe.
It was as if a heavy burden that had weighed on her for years had been lifted, yet it was also like she had gained a sudden enlightenment and fallen into a new confusion, her eyes filled with a mix of bewilderment and unease.
The ending she had prepared was now erased from her life by Jiang Huai. She had tried to save the entire Corrupted Domain, and Jiang Huai had tried to save her. It seemed like a win-win situation, but Fang Moye suddenly thought of something. “Did she tell you what that divine artifact’s mission was about?”
Thinking of this, a hint of shyness, annoyance, and irritation appeared on Fang Moye’s pure face. She suspected that woman was deliberately toying with her, but at this moment, Jiang Huai could only answer, helplessly and resignedly, “That was a program she set up.”
“Program?” Fang Moye did not understand this term.
