Chapter 9: Wall Carvings

The celestial deity Xiuke said repeatedly, “I was truly ashamed just now, mistaking you, junior brother, for the Snow Demon and attacking directly. Fortunately, your strength was remarkable, so I didn’t harm you. If I had killed you, I would regret it too late… Alas, I never thought that I, Xiuke, would stoop to killing without distinguishing right from wrong.” There was a trace of sorrow in his eyes.

“It’s not your fault, senior brother,” Ji Ning said with a smile.

“This is indeed my fault. Enough, let’s not speak of it.” The celestial deity Xiuke frowned at Ji Ning. “Junior brother Beiming, you should know how dangerous the Moon Under the Abyss is. From ancient times to the present, so many celestial deities have entered, but the only one who truly got out was the Buddha Jueming. How could you be foolish enough to come in again? Back then, I entered the Moon Under the Abyss seeking opportunities because I saw the Venerable Jueming break through to become a Buddha, and I was truly bored with my days. But since the Buddha Jueming became a Buddha, over a hundred million years have passed. At first, celestial deities still entered, but now no one comes. How could you…”

“I am indeed the only one to enter in millions of years. As for the reason, it’s a long story,” Ji Ning said with emotion. “I was forced by circumstances to come to the Moon Under the Abyss to obtain treasures.”

Xiuke nodded and quickly asked, “By the way, how is the Three Realms now? You said my master took on a disciple?”

“The Three Realms now…” Ji Ning hesitated slightly.

“A calamity has already descended!” Ji Ning’s voice was heavy as he spoke.

“A calamity?” Xiuke was shocked.

“I’m afraid it will be even more brutal than the war of the ancient destruction,” Ji Ning nodded.

“How is that possible? In that war of ancient destruction, so many died…” Xiuke was utterly astonished.

“Back then, it was the Goddess Nüwa who broke through to the level of Pangu, turning the tide. But this time… let me explain in detail.” Ji Ning concealed nothing from this disciple of the Carefree Heavenly Sovereign. If the other could get out alive, he would be on their side. Ji Ning told him everything about the calamity.

This took a full half hour.

Xiuke stood there stunned, muttering, “How could this be? The Heartless Sect had integrated into our Three Realms, and everything was fine. Then suddenly… this time, without the Goddess Nüwa to suppress them, with the Lord of All Demons’ methods, none of us in the Nüwa camp can restrain him. And on our side, the Heartless Sect is also hard to contain. If we really fight, it will only be mutual destruction. How many will survive in the end?”

When he was in the Three Realms, it was still peaceful and harmonious.

Now, calamity had already descended.

“Either the Heartless Sect dies, or we die,” Ji Ning said coldly. “There’s no choice. Though my strength is weak, I can vaguely sense from the depths of fate that one side between us and the Heartless Sect will surely be annihilated.”

“You can sense that?” Xiuke was surprised.

“Mm,” Ji Ning nodded.

“Fate reveals itself. How could there be such a calamity?” Xiuke did not understand.

Calamities do not descend without reason.

Just like the war of ancient destruction, it was because two chaotic worlds kept drawing closer, about to collide and even merge. The Lord of Heart’s Demons wanted to rule the world, but met resistance from the Pangu chaotic world, leading to a great war. And behind it all, the ‘Lord of All Things’ was secretly guiding everything.

The fate in the darkness only shows one result: one side must be annihilated. Only when one side dies can the other have a chance to live.

As for the cause of this calamity?

It had to be guessed.

The Nüwa camp speculated… it might be because of the ‘King’ of the Heartless Sect. That King, back then, was extremely close to the realm of ‘Pangu’. After merging with the Heavenly Dao, he has gradually awakened. At least part of his consciousness has awakened, and through partial control of the Heavenly Dao, he has passed a great deal of information to the Heartless Sect, letting them fight the Nüwa camp.

This forced the leaders of the Daoist and Buddhist sects in the Nüwa camp, as well as the Three Sovereigns, to speculate: Could the ‘Lord of Heart’s Demons’ be breaking free from the bonds of the Heavenly Dao, about to stir up a calamity?

Or was there the shadow of a chaotic alien race behind it?

Or some other, even harder to fathom reason?

The reason was hard to guess.

The ‘Lord of Heart’s Demons,’ who had merged with the Heavenly Dao, was most likely to know. And the order from this Lord of Heart’s Demons was for the Heartless Sect to strike against the Nüwa camp!

…

“Why the calamity arises is not something at my level can know,” Ji Ning said. “In any case, the Heartless Sect has infiltrated the Three Realms and is moving against us. Naturally, we cannot just sit and wait for death; we must resist.”

“Mm.” Xiuke nodded, a glint of killing intent flashing in his eyes. “This Heartless Sect. Back when the Goddess Nüwa left the Three Realms, the Lord of All Demons sneaked back. Our side only allowed the Heartless Sect to integrate into our Three Realms to avoid suffering and devastation. I never thought… after so many years, a dog really can’t change its habit of eating shit.”

Knowing it was a war of life and death, Xiuke naturally stood on the side of the Nüwa camp.

“But we are trapped in the Moon Under the Abyss. No matter how much we say, it’s useless,” Xiuke shook his head.

Xiuke turned and walked along the corridor: “Junior brother Beiming, follow me.”

The two walked along the corridor for a while.

They arrived at the rear hall of the entire palace. The rear hall was silent, but the light from the snow made every corner clearly visible.

“I have been living here all these years,” Xiuke said as he stepped into the rear hall.

Ji Ning followed, sweeping his gaze around. The rear hall was simple and plain, but soon Ji Ning’s attention was drawn to the walls.

“This is?”

Ji Ning walked over in surprise, looking at the patterns and words on the rock wall.

The patterns depicted close-combat techniques, and the words were descriptions, all in the script of the Three Realms.

“These are wall carvings left by some celestial deities trapped here from ancient times to the present, out of boredom or despair.” Xiuke sat directly on the ground, leaning against a pillar. “Junior brother Beiming, do you have any wine?”

“Yes.” Ji Ning flipped his hand, producing a gourd of wine, and tossed it over.

“Good.”

Xiuke’s eyes lit up. He took the gourd, pulled out the stopper, tilted his head back, and drank deeply. After a long draught, he let out a long breath and laughed, “Wonderful, truly wonderful. It’s been so long since I’ve had wine. Trapped in this place, not a single soul around, always on guard against the Snow Demon’s sneak attacks—this life is worse than death.”

“Junior brother Beiming, don’t look. There’s nothing worth seeing,” Xiuke called out, seeing Ji Ning staring at the wall carvings. “They’re just things we celestial deities created and left behind. In terms of profundity, they naturally can’t compare to the techniques passed down by true gods and patriarchs. Those celestial deities, knowing they were about to die, left these techniques just to let later visitors know they once stayed here. That’s all.”

“You’re impossible to convince,” Xiuke said, seeing Ji Ning still staring, and stopped talking, continuing to drink.

Being able to drink was already a great happiness.

Ji Ning silently looked at the many carvings on the wall.

“Left by Snow Leaf, disciple of the Buddha Maitreya.”

“Left by Sword Bearer, disciple of Lord Huanmu.”

“Left by Wind Earl, disciple of the War God Xingtian.”

…

One celestial deity after another—some quite famous, others reclusive and low-key—had come to the world of the Moon Under the Abyss. Though they had fought past the yaksha, they could advance no further. Knowing their chances of survival were extremely low in this hall, they carved words on the walls to tell later visitors that they had been here!

These techniques were naturally not very profound and were of little use to Ji Ning.

At the level of celestial deities, one generally created one’s own techniques. Ji Ning had created the “Moonbright Sword Art,” which was extremely powerful in his hands. But if he carved it on the wall, other celestial deities would not care, because the Moonbright Sword Art was created by Ji Ning and best suited to him; it was of little use to others.

Even techniques created by true gods and patriarchs were of little use to them, unless they were heaven-defying sword arts like the “Five Treasures Sword Art.”

The reason Ji Ning looked at the wall carvings!

Was because he could feel that every horizontal stroke, every vertical stroke, every square character contained a kind of entrustment! It was left by powerful celestial deities before their deaths. This entrustment of faith made Ji Ning’s heart tremble. He felt that these celestial deities did not want to die; they wanted to live.

But… they lacked the strength to survive.

“I would never leave a wall carving.” At some point, Xiuke had walked to Ji Ning’s side, holding the wine gourd, and said indifferently, “If I die, I die. I’ve had enough of this life.”