Book 6: Chapter 123: Change? Preserve? Replicate?
Gu Hai turned his head and looked at Jiang Lianshan, who stood in front of the group.
“Yan Heavenly Emperor, please back off!” Gu Hai said coldly.
“Hah! Back off? Are you Gu Hai or the Six Paths Veritable Lord? To think you want me to back off at this moment? Humph!” Jiang Lianshan snorted coldly, not caring about Gu Hai.
Jiang Lianshan stepped forward, and the sixty-four hexagrams suddenly appeared around him, forming a protective barrier as it pushed him to where the two Go Dao auras clashed.
“Humph! Yan Heavenly Emperor, the Immortal Origin cannot end up with you!” Gu Hai said coldly.
As Gu Hai spoke, he waved his hand.
Whoos.h.!.+
Five-colored divine light cascaded towards Jiang Lianshan.
“Five-colored divine light? Humph!” Jiang Lianshan snorted coldly as he took out an enchanted treasure that looked like a hoe.
“The fourth-ranked of the top sixteen ancient treasures, the Divine Farmer Hoe?” Gu Hai’s face sank.
The Divine Farmer Hoe swung at the five-colored divine light. As it did so, it emanated black vines that charged at the five-colored divine light.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
The five-colored divine light instantly corroded upon contact with the black vines. The five-colored divine light and the black vines vanished in the blink of an eye.
“The divine farmer’s hoe cla.s.sifying poisonous herbs? Humph! It looks like your Divine Farmer Hoe is a source of many poisons,” Gu Hai said.
[TL Note: The divine farmer is a mythological ruler known as the first Yan Emperor and is wors.h.i.+ped as a deity. He is credited with inventing various farming tools and imparting farming methods to humans. One of the most famous stories about him was about tasting thousands of unknown herbs to verify whether they were edible or poisonous, noting down their effects, and recording them for the betterment of humankind. Hence, he was also called the father of Chinese medicine. He eventually died from tasting a poisonous plant. Here is the Wikipedia entry on him: Gu Hai spoke, he took out the Life Trapper Saber. When he waved, countless stars appeared out of nowhere and formed ritual arrays. One thousand Disintegration Beams shot over.
“Be careful! That Disintegration Beam is very powerful!” Heavenly Access’s face sank.
“Humph!” Jiang Lianshan snorted coldly as he swung the Divine Farmer Hoe again. The poisonous vines formed a ma.s.sive wall surrounding him.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
The one thousand Disintegration Beams and the poison vines negated each other. Boundless energy vapor spread into the surroundings like a vast fog.
The Divine Farmer Hoe managed to wear down all the Disintegration Beams. However, the Disintegration Beams stopped Jiang Lianshan for now.
“Gu Hai, what do you want? Are you defending the Six Paths Veritable Lord, or are you defending Old Mister Guan Qi? Who are you helping?” Jiang Lianshan glared.
The Supreme Ascendant, Heavenly Access, and the others could not understand why Gu Hai wanted to stop Jiang Lianshan.
“Old Mister Guan Qi? This is the helper you sought out? Haha!” the heavenly deity body said with cold laughter.
Although Old Mister Guan was slowly pus.h.i.+ng the Six Paths Veritable Lord towards the chaotic s.p.a.cetime, the Six Paths Veritable Lord did not feel fl.u.s.tered, only infuriated.
“Mister Gu? Haha! I did not ask him to help. He is doing it on his own initiative. I know what he is thinking, so I am sure he will stop Jiang Lianshan!” Old Mister Guan Qi smiled coldly.
“Oh?” The heavenly deity body looked at the nearby Gu Hai.
Gu Hai blocked Jiang Lianshan.
“Imperial Emperor Gu, why are you doing this? Success or failure depends on this. Why are you stopping the Yan Heavenly Emperor?” Sect Master Supreme Ascendant frowned.
Nearby, the heavenly deity body was gripping Long Shenwu so tightly that Long Shenwu could not speak, but Long Shenwu appeared confused too.
If Jiang Lianshan obtains the Immortal Origin, everything will be over. We will not need to force the heavenly deity body into the chaotic s.p.a.cetime. Once Jiang Lianshan becomes the immortal, everyone will be saved. What is Gu Hai doing?
“Yan Heavenly Emperor, I’m stopping you because you have a different aim from Old Mister Guan Qi. What you would do in the future would be different. Furthermore, the two Go Dao auras are clas.h.i.+ng now. Once you enter, you might relieve the pressure of the heavenly deity body. Instead of obtaining the Immortal Origin, you might even cause all of Old Mister Guan Qi’s efforts to go to waste, letting the heavenly deity body escape,” Gu Hai said.
“Different aim? Haha! How is our aim different? Does Old Mister Guan Qi not want the Immortal Origin?” Jiang Lianshan said coldly.
“Everyone wants the Immortal Origin. No one here does not want it, including me. However, you cannot. What will happen if you obtain the Immortal Origin?” Gu Hai asked.
“If I obtain the Immortal Origin and become the immortal, I would at least not be like the Six Paths Veritable Lord, bringing harm to all life and using the paths of reincarnation to refine the souls of all life for his selfish gains. I believe that does not just apply to me. Anyone here, but the Six Paths Veritable Lord, would be more benevolent than the Six Paths Immortal, bringing fortune to all life and bringing improvements to the world!” Jiang Lianshan replied seriously.
“You are not wrong. I believe that too. You would be boundlessly more benevolent than the Six Paths Immortal, not bringing harm to all life. It would be the blessing of all life. But…,” Gu Hai said coldly.
“But what?”
“But we are people from eight hundred thousand years in the future. This is a fact. If the Six Paths Immortal becomes Immortal Jiang Lianshan… Haha! The future won’t be our future anymore. The world will change. What should exist would no longer exist. What does not exist will exist. The history of the future will change entirely,” Gu Hai said seriously.
“So what? Why can’t all life be blessed? Isn’t our trip meant to change the future? History will be rewritten from this moment forth!” Jiang Lianshan said.
“But, Old Mister Guan Qi and I do not want to change history.” Gu Hai shook his head.
“What?” Everyone’s face sank.
Even the heavenly deity body appeared startled. Gu Hai does not want to change history? No, Old Mister Guan Qi too? He does not want to change history, either?
If you do not want to change history, then why come here and cause all this commotion?
“Once history changes, would you—Jiang Lianshan—still exist? You are a person from the future. The Supreme Ascendant, Heavenly Access, the Present Buddha, and the Past Buddha are all people who existed in this time. However, what about you—Jiang Lianshan? What about Ji Dihong? Without the future you, would there be the current you?” Gu Hai asked seriously.
Jiang Lianshan and Ji Dihong narrowed their eyes.
“It might be pleasurable to seek this moment, but what is the use if everything no longer exists?” Gu Hai asked seriously.
The captive Long Shenwu appeared startled. Long Shenying, who flew back from a distance, seemed confused too.
If the history of the future changed and did not have them, what was the foundation of their existence?
Ji Dihong frowned slightly but did not say anything. Instead, he looked at Jiang Lianshan.
Jiang Lianshan smiled coldly. “Don’t lecture me on the theory of cause and effect. It’s useless. I firmly believe in the present. As long as the present exists, I exist. I just need to grasp the present. Furthermore, where did the immortal firmament come from? Don’t tell me that there is no immortal firmament without a past? Humph!”
“Alright. Let’s put that aside for now. Perhaps it might be as you said, existing now is sufficient; there is no need for the past. However, if you change history, the people I care about will no longer exist. Chen Xianer, Long Wanqing, Zang Yulian, and the others. There are also my sons. Hah! My family exists because of the current history. If history changes, my family will be gone. To protect my family, I need to do my best to keep history as it is. Nothing can go wrong!” Gu Hai shouted.
Gu Hai wants to preserve history? Jiang Lianshan wants to change history?
The nearby heavenly deity body seemed to understand everything. “Hahahahahaha! Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! Gu Hai, help me deal with them, and I’ll let you have the same history!”
Gu Hai only wanted to preserve history, which meant the Six Paths Veritable Lord would be the immortal. As long as he remained the immortal, everything else did not matter.
The Supreme Ascendant, Heavenly Access, the Three Lives Buddhas, Ji Dihong, and Long Shenying narrowed their eyes at Gu Hai.
Preserve history? Everyone soon discovered that they did not care about the history of the future, as they did not have anyone they cared about.
As a result, they did not join Gu Hai in stopping Jiang Lianshan but continued looking at the Immortal Origin.
If they obtained the Immortal Origin, who cared about history?
“How laughable! How laughable! Old Mister Guan Qi also wants to preserve history? Tell me, does Old Mister Guan Qi also want to preserve history? If he does not want to change history, why send us to eight hundred thousand years in the past? Why did he do this? Why target the Six Paths Veritable Lord?” Jiang Lianshan said coldly.
Old Mister Guan Qi glanced at Jiang Lianshan and said indifferently, “I’m different from you.”
“Huh?” Jiang Lianshan looked coldly at Old Mister Guan Qi.
“The history is that the Six Paths Veritable Lord became the immortal. However, which body? Do you know?” Old Mister Guan Qi asked indifferently.
After Old Mister Guan Qi spoke, everyone’s expression changed.
“The heavenly deity body? The earthly deity body? Or the mortal deity body? Which one became the immortal? It seems that no one knows. Back then, we thought that it was the heavenly deity body. Could it be…” Long Shenying narrowed his eyes.
Everyone looked at Old Mister Guan Qi in shock.
“If I become the immortal, I am Six Paths. There will be no Immortal Guan Qi. Only the Six Paths Immortal!” Old Mister Guan Qi said.
Everyone looked at Old Mister Guan Qi’s current appearance. A white-robed Six Paths Veritable Lord?
“According to the future’s history, Six Paths imprisoned Mao Tianyun. It is currently in my hands and still alive. Those who should die have died, and those who should live are still alive. I have also obtained the Nine Palace Diagram and can correct any deviation in the future. After becoming immortal, I can keep events as they were in the future’s history. There would not be any change, exactly the same!” Old Mister Guan Qi said seriously.
“You are not changing history or preserving history. You are replicating history! Replicating the history of the future?” Heavenly Access’s expression changed.
“That’s right. I can let the Myriad Age Daoist Sect and the Spirit Mountain Holy Land continue protecting the world for eight hundred thousand years. Even the Solar Divine Palace. I can use their memories to revive the Supreme Singularity and Supreme Genesis to replicate an identical future. As long as I consume the heavenly deity body and become the immortal, I can be the Six Paths Immortal!” Old Mister Guan Qi shouted.
“You dare?!” the heavenly deity body suddenly shouted.
How could the Six Paths Veritable Lord have imagined Old Mister Guan Qi would be this crazy before this? Old Mister Guan Qi wants to replicate an identical future?
“Why would I not dare? Who asked you to kill my Yan`er? Hah! Yan`er will live in the present only if there is an identical history. Unfortunately, the time laws that Heaven sent me could only bring me to eight hundred thousand years in the past. Otherwise, it would not be this troublesome. Six Paths, just give up!” Old Mister Guan Qi said as he stared at the heavenly deity body.
“You are replicating an identical history for Yan`er?” Jiang Lianshan said with an unsightly expression.
“So, the first step is to destroy this heavenly deity body and send him into the chaotic s.p.a.cetime. Before that step, Gu Hai will not let anyone interfere. He will also not let any of you s.n.a.t.c.h the Immortal Origin to become the immortal, as that will cause history to change.” Old Mister Guan Qi looked at Gu Hai confidently.
Gu Hai frowned at Old Mister Guan Qi. A cold gleam flashed in his eyes, but he did not refute it.
“Jiang Lianshan and everyone else, please wait first!” Gu Hai performed a gesture of invitation.