Chapter 576
Chapter 576
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 576
>Chapter Title: Heart Pan
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hearing such words from the National Master’s mouth, the anger Li Huowang had long suppressed in his heart instantly flared up with a whoosh.
“You call me suspicious? Well, I say you’re the suspicious one! You missed Ji Lin’s problem before, fine, but you missed Gao Zhijian’s too! Are you just a clay statue as National Master? Or were those dice telling the truth? Is he actually a plant buried in the palace?!”
Zhuge Yuan’s plan had been flawless! With Gao Zhijian as the Emperor of Great Qi, he could have carried on everything for Great Liang.
If not for the National Master repeatedly making mistakes here, almost as if helping the dice, things wouldn’t have deteriorated to this point!
Hearing Li Huowang’s words, Huangfu Tiangang shot to his feet in fury. As he reached into his sleeve, the Superintendent of the Observatory swept a hand across his chest, and that wound that had pierced through his body reappeared.
Huangfu Tiangang, who had just been about to deal with Li Huowang, instantly crumpled like his soul had been yanked out. Clutching the wound in agony, he slumped directly onto the grand master’s chair.
“Enough. Let’s drop this. I’ll vouch for both of you—you’ve got no ties to the Sitting Oblivion Dao. This isn’t just one set of dice at work; it’s the dice from both Great Qi and Great Liang scheming together. It’s normal the National Master couldn’t see through it. We judge by traces, not intentions.”
Feeling the tense atmosphere ease somewhat, Li Huowang wisely held his tongue.
This wasn’t the time to bicker with the National Master. The escaped dice were the real problem. The dragon vein concerned the entire world of Great Liang—if the dice planned to do anything with it, the whole realm would be plunged into devastation.
“Tell me, what exactly happened after I left?” The Superintendent of the Observatory’s overlapping voice slowly rang out.
Li Huowang glanced at the ashen-faced, silent National Master of Great Liang and calmly recounted the entire sequence of events from start to finish.
As he spoke slowly, more people gradually entered the hall—Bai Lingmiao and the others, along with a gaunt, thin Daoist priest clutching a whisk, his face grim.
Once Li Huowang had laid out everything that had happened, the hall fell utterly silent. No one spoke.
Li Huowang turned to the Superintendent of the Observatory, staring at the blurry black shadow within his vast robes. For a moment, he suddenly felt as if there was nothing inside at all.
At that moment, the Superintendent of the Observatory suddenly stood. “Now that the dice have seized Great Liang’s dragon vein, I’ll keep this short. Everyone knows what the dragon vein means. Our goal is to take it back.”
“So from here on, everyone follows my orders, yes?” Though phrased as a question, it sounded like a command.
Any endeavor needs a leader, and the Superintendent of the Observatory—whether by status or strength—had every qualification to say it.
“Superintendent, sir, no problem following your lead, but before we set out, could you tell us what the dice wants with possessing the dragon vein? We can’t just charge in blind, can we?”
Li Huowang couldn’t shake the feeling that the dice’s shouts to the heavens earlier held a lot of useful information, but he just couldn’t parse it.
The Superintendent of the Observatory said nothing, silently staring at Li Huowang—watching him intently. Abruptly, his gaze shifted to Bai Lingmiao standing quietly behind Li Huowang, and to the silent followers of the Ao Jing Sect nearby.
“He wants to break free from being the heart pan of the Fighting Matron. He’s borrowing Great Liang’s national fortune to forcibly sever his link to the Yin-Yang Fighting Matron.” The overlapping voice emerged from within the crimson robes.
“Then what exactly is a heart pan?”
Li Huowang couldn’t help but ask. He’d wanted to know for a long time. Everything in this world felt foggy and muddled in his mind—deeply frustrating.
“A heart pan is a sage’s karma.” The tall, gaunt Daoist who’d been silently listening until now suddenly spoke up.
“Karma?”
“Exactly, karma. Sages must have karma to have consequences. Without karma, the sages cease to exist.”
“So what exactly is karma? Can you stop speaking in riddles? Just say it plainly!”
“All things must have a cause to bear fruit—sages are no different. Karma is the past; the heart pan is a sage’s past. If the sages who govern the heavenly laws are great trees, then the heart pan is the seed.”
“‘I am the heart pan; this ‘pan’ means I am destined to be entwined with the Three-Bodied Ancients Above for life, in death or otherwise.’” The words from his past conversation with Zhuge Yuan on Apricot Island instantly resurfaced in Li Huowang’s mind.
“The heart pan is a sage’s seed? Meaning the seed and the grown tree exist simultaneously? So does that mean Zhuge Yuan is the Three-Bodied Ancients Above?!” Li Huowang’s body shuddered violently.
“No! If Zhuge Yuan is the heart pan of the Three-Bodied Ancients Above, and you say the heart pan is a sage’s past—but Zhuge Yuan died long ago! Doesn’t that mean the Three-Bodied Ancients Above no longer exists?” Li Huowang jabbed an excited finger toward the rafters as he shouted.
“Heh heh heh. The world is vast—who told you they only have one heart pan? To be safe, they meticulously select many. And sometimes, these heart pans are even used by the sages themselves.”
“The heart pan is a sage’s past, and thus also influenced by the sage. That’s why the dice is deliberately trying to shed his identity as a heart pan. So I suspect Zhuge Yuan inadvertently helped the dice—not because he was fooled, nor because he’s some upright gentleman, but because the Three Pure Ones above him wanted to help...”
“Ahem~” The Superintendent of the Observatory’s light cough cut the Daoist off. “This is the Superintendent of the Observatory from the Four Qi, Zheng Boqiao.”
As everyone turned to him, Zheng Boqiao nodded nonchalantly and flicked his whisk. “Disciple of the Fangxian Path. Mercy to you all.”
Hearing Zheng Boqiao’s explanation, Li Huowang’s mind grew even more chaotic. He’d never imagined the so-called heart pan was like this.
This world was truly mad—the sages governing the heavenly laws had no past! And had to go find one!
“Nonsense! How could a heart pan be a sage’s karma? That’s just lies cooked up by you Monitor Division lackeys to dupe the masses!” The speaker was a follower of the Ao Jing Sect. His vast robes were soaked through on the front with blood, forming a sticky skull pattern. “Sages are simply those birthed by heaven and earth at the dawn of creation to govern the heavenly laws!”
“Heh heh heh.” Zheng Boqiao’s raspy, grating laugh followed. “Of course, each sage finds heart pans differently, and the names vary. Take your Ba Hui, for instance—it selects them through the Ao Jing ascension techniques. To you, those heart pans are called Great Elders.”
Li Huowang’s heart jolted at those words. So that meant ever since he’d ascended three times, he’d already become Ba Hui’s heart pan?