230 Seeing the Truth for the First Time

The seventeen monoliths turned into thousands upon thousands of lines, theninto innumerable points. These points had no rhythm nor reason, like inkdrizzled over a white sheet of paper. It was a design that no one couldpossibly have seen before. Then, how was it that it seemed so familiar? ChenChangsheng silently thought that the feeling that this design gave him was likesomething he had often seen, yet it was something that he had never closelyexamined. In the end, what exactly was it? The monolith inscriptions had already been simplified into countless points.In his sea of consciousness, that invisible sheet of paper only containedcountless points. No matter how he saw it, they were just points. Points, points, points…the points of stars in the sky? Even though he was still in self-observation, he seemingly felt that his lipswere somewhat dry. Because he was excited. The design formed by the monoliths of the front mausoleum…could it perhaps bethe starry sky? In the next moment, he confronted his own speculation with intense doubt andsuspicion. It was because the points that he saw in front of him were toonumerous, even more numerous than the stars in the night sky. If one said thatthe Heavenly Tome Monoliths of the front mausoleum had something to do with thestarry sky, then on the contrary, one would also say that the starry sky wasmore monotonous than the design on the monoliths. According to the most simplistic logic, there was no reason to use an evenmore complex design to portray an even simpler object. Even more importantly,if the Heavenly Tome Monoliths of the front mausoleum truly did portray thestarry sky, then there was no further way to simplify it. Unless, thesemonoliths portrayed many pieces of the starry sky. Yet, this world only had one starry sky. Chen Changsheng pondered this in silence for a long time, then after pushingaround an idea in his mind for a while, several lines slowly began to appearbetween the numerous points. If those lines were used to describe the movementof the points along their orbits, then, of those countless points on thedesign, some of the points were at different positions in time. Then all thiscould be easily resolved all at once. Yes, it should be this way. However, this forced him to face another problem. This problem was even harderto address. It could even cause the situation to become even more arduous. Because the stars could not move. The brightness of the stars could subtly change, but their positions in thenight sky were eternal and unchanging. This was a truth that had been provedcountless years ago. The star charts drafted by the countless starobservatories of this continent did not have the slightest difference. Thefocus of their observations was completely concentrated on the brightness ofthese stars. There had never been anyone who dared to question this standpoint, becausethis was a truth testified by countless people over a countless number ofyears. Just like how the sun would always set in the west. Just like how themoon was always in some faraway place that only demons could see. Just like howwater would always flow to places of lower elevation. This was a truth thatcould never be overthrown. When he was reading Wang Zhice’s notebook in the Pavilion of Ascending Mist,that had been the reason why Chen Changsheng was uncomprehending and doubtfulof the method of changing fate by changing the position of the stars. Even inthat fantasy that he saw with his own eyes that Purple Abstruse Emperor Starsubtly shifted the positions of the stars around it, he still did not believeit, because that was a fantasy, and not a truth seen with his own eyes. It was just… Xun Mei’s notebook had mentioned multiple times that to view themonoliths was to see the truth, but he had viewed the monoliths of theMausoleum of Books for several decades and yet had never encountered the truth.In the end, in order to ascend to the summit of the mausoleum and see thetruth, he paid his life as the price. Then, in end, what sort of truth did ChenChangsheng want to see? What was the truth? Was what he saw with his own eyesthe truth? Chen Changsheng left his self-observation. He opened his eyes and looked up at that monolith which truly existed. It was late in the night, but there were still many people around the monolithhut. It was not what Chen Changsheng had thought. Tang Thirty-Six, Zhexiu, GouHanshi, and the rest had never left. They had remained to watch over ChenChangsheng as he attempted to comprehend the monoliths. From early morning tosunset, right up until the stars shone in the dark night sky. At dusk, they had seen Chen Changsheng spit out blood and were very concerned. Then they saw Chen Changsheng ball his hands into fists and arch his brows, asif he had realized something and became excited. Now, they finally saw Chen Changsheng open his eyes and wake up. Tang Thirty-Six stopped holding his breath and was prepared to walk forward,but then he stopped. Because he realized that Chen Changsheng had not seen him. Chen Changsheng was still staring at the monolith, still comprehending themonoliths. His mind was so devoted, that it moved their hearts and made themnot want to disturb him. Chen Changsheng had already viewed this monolith for twenty days. In the morning light and the glow of the sunset. In the shower of rain and inthe clear sky; he had viewed this monolith in all sorts of environments, andthe changes in the monolith inscription were engraved in his heart. He had also seen this monolith under the starlight, and he had not seen anyplace on it that stood out. Tonight, the stars were as brilliant as ever, no different from any of theprevious nights. Yet, his eyes suddenly seemed to glow. That light originated from a very thin and inconspicuous line in the lowerleft corner of the monolith. There was nothing special about this line. It was just that its position andangle were just right so that the starlight coming down from the night skywould reflect off of it and into Chen Changsheng’s eyes. So his eyes glowed. Twenty days of single-minded observation and contemplation had already drawnhim very close to the truth. Tonight, this smattering of light finally allowedhim to understand everything. If the lines upon the monolith could reveal themselves and hide themselveswith the natural light, then they could become countless characters andpictures. Then where did the brightness in the stars come from? It was becausethe stars moved. Only, if the stars could change position, how was it that noone had ever been able to see it? The seventeen monoliths once again appeared before his eyes. When those monolith inscriptions were superimposed over each other, the lineson the last monolith seemed to connect in many places with the lines from thefirst monolith. At the very least they appeared to do so in his eyes. In reality, there was still a large gap between those lines. The reason why what he saw with his eyes was different from reality wasbecause his line of sight was perpendicular to the surfaces of the monoliths. The surfaces of the monoliths were the starry sky. When people on the ground looked up at the starry sky, because the stars weresimply too far away, one could believe that, when viewing the stars, one’ssight was always perpendicular to the plane where the star resided. Then, ifthat star moved forward or backwards, those people would be incapable of seeingit because they stood on the ground. They could only see that the star hadgrown dimmer or brighter. Yes, this was precisely why. Chen Changsheng withdrew his vision from the monoliths. Only then did herealize that there were quite a lot of people around the monolith hut. Tang Thirty-Six looked at him in concern. “Nothing’s wrong, right?” Chen Changsheng said to him, “The positions are relative.” These were the first words that he had seen in Wang Zhice’s notebook back atthe Pavilion of Ascending Mist. It was only now that he understood their truemeaning. Tang Thirty-Six did not understand why he had so absent-mindedly said thesewords. He subconsciously responded, “And then?” Chen Changsheng thought it over, then he pointed up to the sky filled withstars. “Don’t you see? The stars can move.” There was complete silence around the monolith, not a single voice could beheard. Everyone thought that Chen Changsheng had tried to comprehend themonoliths for too long and his spirit was exhausted to the extreme, so his mindwas somewhat unclear. Yet for some reason, seeing his earnest appearance, theywere struck with a sense of unease, as if something terrible were about tohappen. Ji Jin sternly scolded him, “What nonsense are you saying!” “Yet, they really do move.” Chen Changsheng calmly said, his tone and expression were incomparablyconfident. Because this was the truth. This really was the truth.