231 Tonight, the Stars Are Brillian

The entire area around the monolith hut was in an uproar. Chen Changsheng’swords challenged a truth that had never been questioned. The question was howwas it that the stars could move? This was really too ridiculous. Not a singleperson believed it, and even Gou Hanshi could only arch his brows. The sense ofunease in the people’s hearts disappeared without a trace, replaced withridicule. Chen Changsheng was not surprised by their reactions. He knew that he wasdefinitely not the first one to realize that the stars could move. At the veryleast, Wang Zhice had shown in his notebook that he had long begun to think inthat direction. Then, why did the Daoist Canon have nothing on this matter?That was because this sort of matter was impossible to prove. When cultivatorsdetermined their Fated Star, everything that they saw was with their spiritualsense and could not be taken as proof. It was only evidence if they could flyup to that unfathomably distant starry sky and transmit everything they saw tothe people down below. Chen Changsheng had no means to prove that the stars could move, and so to saythat he had “realized” it would not be right. Rather, this was only thespeculation that had arisen from his viewing of the seventeen Heavenly TomeMonoliths of the front mausoleum. It could also be considered as theenlightenment he had obtained from comprehending the monoliths—It wasimpossible to convince people with speculation, but it was enough to convincehimself. This was because it was in line with his idea of beauty, as well asthe fundamental way in which he viewed the world. At least for now, it was enough for only him to believe that the stars couldmove. As for whether people could believe it or not, he did not care. He lifted his head towards the brilliant stars in the sky and said nothingmore. The stars in the night seemed to be eternally unmoving, but in reality theywere in constant motion, sometimes forwards and sometimes backwards. From timeto time, the distance between the stars and earth would grow larger, and fromtime to time it would grow smaller. The distance and angle between the starswas constantly changing. It was just that the starry sky was simply too faraway from the observers on the ground. It was too difficult to perceive thesubtle changes in angle from where they stood. If the seventeen monoliths of the front mausoleum portrayed the positions ofthe countless stars, as well as the orbits they traveled upon, then how couldthis picture be compared to the true starry sky? He lowered his head and closed his eyes, once again entering his sea ofconsciousness to observe the monolith inscriptions. The seventeen monoliths arranged themselves into a straight line before hiseyes once more. The monolith inscriptions were superimposed upon each other inthe air, and then the countless intersecting lines became countless points. Heused his consciousness to have the image disassemble then reform itself.Gradually, those points began to move along those lines, slowly and smoothly,adhering to some indescribable law. The image was a star chart. Countless star charts, each from a different time,one after another flitted before his eyes. The endless variations of the stars, with time as their axis, ceaselesslymoved before Chen Changsheng’s eyes. The stars moved through the night, and the traces that they left were chiseledinto the monoliths, which eventually became the monolith inscriptions of theHeavenly Tome Monoliths of the front mausoleum. From the ground, even though the stars moved back and forth, they alwaysremained in fixed positions. As a result, this ever-changing star chartnecessarily could only be obtained by observing them from some other angle. Time passed slowly, but in reality, an innumerable number of years had passed,upon which he finally arrived at the final star chart. Logically, this star chart should have portrayed the current position of thestars in the true sky. Yet, for some reason, the stars on the star chart occupied a completelydifferent position from the real stars in the sky——In the final moment, if theresult and the expected outcome were different, many people would receive amassive shock, even so much so that they would begin to doubt their premise;however, once Chen Changsheng’s heart was set, it would not waver. He looked at the final star chart, then after a long period of silence, liftedhis right hand and began to gently pull at the edges of the star chart. The star chart was a reflection of the truth, so obviously it could not be aplane, but rather it was a cube. Along with the gentle pull of his fingers, the side of the star chartnoiselessly and slowly began to revolve, its side facing the front. This was yet another new design. On it were still countless stars, yet theyseemed much more solemn and constant. Chen Changsheng opened his eyes and once again looked up at the night sky. Over there was a brilliantly starry sky. When the new star chart in his sea of consciousness was placed over the realstarry sky, there was a region in the southeast corner that was a perfect fit. There was not a single star out of place. Every star on that star chart foundits matching counterpart in the sky. This sort of feeling was very beautiful, and very shocking. For a long time, Chen Changsheng found himself speechless. Then he thought of even more things. In Wang Zhice’s notebook, he had brought up a question about this starry sky. In the long stream of history, countless worthy predecessors had brought upsimilar questions. If the fate of man was truly hidden within this same starry sky, and the starswere eternally unmoving, then it was naturally impossible to change their fate.Then in the end, why did man struggle and strive? To the understanding of humanity, the starry sky was always that solemn andserene, always that perfect. It was like the Heavenly Dao or fate, set up onhigh, unable to be glimpsed at. Tonight, Chen Changsheng understood that to be solemn did not mean it wasrigid. True perfection did not mean being eternally unchanging. As the stars could move, their positions could also change. The distance andangle of one’s fated star with other stars were naturally also changing. If those connections were the traces of fate, then was that not essentiallysaying that fate could be changed? On the back of his notebook, Wang Zhice had written these words so forcefullythat he penetrated through the page: There is no such thing as fate. Yes, there simply was no such thing as a fixed fate. With a huge bang, it rumbled through Chen Changsheng’s sea of consciousness. He had deciphered the thing which had plagued him for so many years, thehardest thing to dispel on the spiritual level for him. He had deciphered his own personal Heavenly Tome Monolith The spiritual strength that he had obtained from comprehending the seventeenHeavenly Tome Monoliths began to affect the actual world. In the distant night sky, the specks of starlight were intimately connected. Within his sea of consciousness, on the star chart made up of monolithinscriptions, all the points began to light up and glow. Almost at the same time, the stars above the Mausoleum of Books also seemed togrow several times brighter. In the even more remote depths of the sea of stars, where perhaps even thepowerful spiritual sense of a Saint would be unable to perceive, a red starbegan to exude a boundless radiance. This was the true radiance of a star, a radiance that human eyes wereincapable of seeing. A strand of this starlight fell upon the Mausoleum ofBooks. The people around the monolith hut were all stunned, not knowing what had justhappened. In the next moment, they were all shocked beyond compare as they realized thatChen Changsheng had disappeared from his place in front of the monolith hut. Like a cool breeze, like a strand of starlight, without a noise, coming andgoing unhindered. Chen Changsheng had vanished from the Reflecting Monolith. Momentarily, heappeared before the Cloud Piercing Monolith. He paused at the Cloud Piercing Monolith for only an instant before his bodyonce again disappeared, appearing before the Bent Osmanthus Monolith. Soon after, he appeared at the River Guiding Monolith, then the Fowl LanguageMonolith, and then the East Pavilion Monolith. For only an instant, he appeared before each of the monoliths of the frontmausoleum, then vanished just as quickly, finally arriving before that brokenmonolith. His eyes were still shut, oblivious to everything. He simply did not know whatwas happening. Tonight, a strange phenomena occurred in the sky. To the naked eye, it seemed that the many stars in the sky did not get anybrighter, but many people knew otherwise. A little later, even the commonpeople were able to realize this amazing fact. If one star got a little brighter, it would be very hard to tell, but if allthe tens of thousands of stars of the entire southeast region simultaneouslybecame slightly brighter, what sort of scene would that produce? The starlight illuminated the Mausoleum of Books, and it also illuminated theentire capital. The streets and alleys in the late night seemed to return to daytime. The Dew Platform was closest to the night sky, so every detail of it wasbrightly illuminated. The night pearls at the edge of the platform seemed dimcompared to the illuminating starlight. The Divine Empress stood at the edge of the platform, looking out into theboundless sea of stars. Her expression was somewhat surprised, even dignified. She did not think that, with his temperament, Chen Changsheng would sit beforethe monolith hut to comprehend the monoliths once more. She did not think thatChen Changsheng would actually be able to be like that man, deciphering theentire front mausoleum and attracting countless rays of starlight. She stilldid not believe that Chen Changsheng would be able to do what that man had doneso many years ago. As the present was no longer those days of the past, the Mausoleum of Book wasno longer the same mausoleum that it had been in the past. The starlight spilled through the window and onto the table, causing thememorials that were faintly yellow from the candle light to be bathed in white.The words upon the memorial also became much more distinct. Mo Yu raised her eyebrows and looked out the window. In surprise she thought,perhaps he really comprehended those Heavenly Tome Monoliths? South of the city in Bitter Rain Alley, there was a government office. Thisgovernment office seemed very plain, but in the eyes of the people, it wasespecially sinister, because this was the office of the Zhou Dynasty’s Ministryof Personnel. Tonight, the sinister atmosphere of this office was somewhat dispersed by thepurifying starlight. Zhou Tong walked into the courtyard, using his hand to bring the veil of hishat down, so as to block out the radiance of the starlight. He slightlyfrowned, somewhat displeased. The words Prince Chen Liu had said to Tianhai Shengxue were incorrect. He hadnot been waiting outside the mausoleum for Chen Changsheng. Even if Chen Changsheng had obtained the first rank of the First Banner duringthe Grand Examination, in Zhou Tong’s eyes, he was still an unremarkable nobody. Yet now, as he looked up at the night sky filled with brilliant starlight, hefinally began to think differently. In other words, this sky full of starlight left him with no other choice butto put this youth in his focus. Since the starlight filled the human world, illuminating houses and courtyardsalike, it naturally would also illuminate that well near the New North Bridge. In the past two days, the dirt at the bottom of the well had been freshly dugup. A strand of miserable yet obstinate starlight penetrated into the gloomyworld. The starlight illuminated that red mole on the small girl’s face, yet it wasincapable of dispelling the coldness about her. Luoluo stood beside the railing of the top floor of the Education Palace’shall, when suddenly she looked up at the sky. The night here was fake, the stars eternally unmoving, and yet they had novitality. She felt something, that Chen Changsheng was, at the moment, doing somethingextraordinary. She turned to Jin Yulu and said, “I want to go out.” After a moment of silence, Jin Yulu replied, “Your Highness cannot help him.” “Teacher does not need my help.” Luo Luo confidently said, “I want to go tothe Orthodox Academy to wait for him and congratulate him.” The starlight illuminated the Mausoleum of Books, and it also illuminated thecapital. The Li Palace basked in the pure and holy starlight. Several thousand priests and students from various academies came out to theplaza and the Divine Avenue. They ceaselessly prayed to the stars in the skywith expressions of absolute piety. In the deepest depths of that hall. The Pope looked as the starlight that leaked through the cracks of the roofand fell upon the Green Leaf, and on his aged face appeared a loving smile. Mei Lisha looked outside the hall to view that snow-like starlight, and saidwith deep emotion, “It’s just like that day.” The Pope knew that he was speaking of that day that Wang Zhice comprehendedthe Dao and broke through. On that night, the entire capital had also beenbathed in light. Tonight, the image from that day once again appeared. This sort of image had not been seen for several hundred years. Mei Lisha suddenly creased his brow and questioned, “Is this StarCondensation?” The Pope replied, “No, he is still at Ethereal Opening.” Mei Lisha asked, “Then why are the stars so bright?” The Pope thought it over, then said with some hesitation, “Perhaps, he used aStar Condensation method to continue on Ethereal Opening?”