Some People Die, Yet Still Live

Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng thought for a long time, then laughed heartily. He clasped his fists and bowed. "Today, the gods descended and dispelled humanity's doubts. Having received your words, I know that the future of Blessing Shaman Kingdom is promising. I can rest in peace even if I die today!"

### "That is all I have to say. The Three Questions Three Answers are complete."

### Zhu Zhengwei quietly savored his tea.

### He knew that this stubborn and fanatical man had held a pure dream ever since his youth, when he had pushed for reform. Today, he had ultimately chosen to embrace his dream and drown in it.

### After finishing the tea in his cup, Zhu Zhengwei leisurely walked away step by step, holy white light swirling around him. Suddenly, the figure softly said, "Harm the body to forge the sacred scroll, bow the head to question the Azure Immortal. Sacrifice the self so the person enters the nation—who says the Emperor has departed from Heaven?"

### In the end, he soared into the sky on a streak of multicolored Evening Glow Qi.

### Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng stood alone before the Tea Shed, his body straight and upright like an ancient pine.

### Soon, he summoned his guards and court historian and said indifferently:

### "I will speak. You will write."

### "Yes!"

### A court historian respectfully raised his brush.

### "Today, I paid respects to a god. Three questions, three answers."

### "Blessing Shaman's realm stands upon the Continent Surrounded by Ten Thousand Seas, the Country That Swallows Wind and Drinks Qi. It began with me."

### Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng continued speaking, his voice carrying the domineering aura of a warlord. He stood silently, gazing down at the distant Royal City. As he spoke, it was as though he were recalling the words he had just exchanged. Countless emotions filled his eyes, moving everyone who saw him.

### Rustle.

### The Rosy Cloud Qi around his body gradually dissipated completely.

### Threads of multicolored light fluttered like ribbons waved by a cloud fairy.

### At that moment, all the Immortal Herbs gazed at the straight-backed old man's silhouette. They felt the unprecedented, weighty burden of history and could not help being overwhelmed with emotion.

### The Human Emperor's three questions and the god's three answers were destined to become a classic.

### Every word and phrase twisted and turned with exquisite ingenuity. They could be savored again and again in detail. It truly seemed like a tragic mythic epic—a conversation between a god from an ancient age and the first Human Emperor in the mortal world.

### The clash of the immense auras between the two people seated beneath the Tea Shed had already left everyone's hearts surging with excitement!

### Every question and answer was a cinematic climax, intoxicating everyone who watched!

### Compared with the history of Earth's civilization, it was no less than an immortal descending from Heaven to meet Huaxia's first Human Emperor, Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan.

### Someone suddenly recalled an old allusion and cried out in shock:

### "When the Yellow Emperor ascended the throne, he bestowed grace and upheld Heaven. He cultivated virtue and practiced benevolence alone. Peace reigned throughout the world. Yet no Phoenix appeared. He could only contemplate its image, rising early and retiring late, until he summoned Tian Lao and asked him about it!"

### As everyone listened to the grand ancient account, they seemed to notice certain similarities. It resembled the scene before them.

### The sun sank toward dusk.

### The sun had only a final sliver of afterglow remaining.

### Everything was tranquil. Only the soft rustling of the wind and the faint sounds of the Immortal Herbs swaying remained, as though they were recounting the vicissitudes and fleeting nature of time.

### The setting sun sank westward as time passed second by second.

### "This is truly fine weather. I have no regrets in this life." After Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng spoke his final word, the aura around his entire body collapsed completely, and he threw back his head in hearty laughter.

### When the court historian had silently finished organizing the conversation and raised his head, he saw that Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng was sitting in the Tea Shed's chair, no longer breathing. Even at the end of his life, the old man's eyes remained fixed on the other side of the sea. That was where the Wall of Ten Thousand Stones stood. That was the ocean beyond the world. That was the vast world described by the god.

### The court historian's pupils dilated, and he stood there in a daze.

### "The King has fallen." He scrambled out frantically, rolling and crawling as he went, to inform all the palace ministers.

### Around the entire Tea Shed, the temple stood in silence. The world seemed to fall completely quiet at that moment. The whole area held nothing but a dead old king and a great number of swaying Immortal Herbs.

### They were stunned as well. After witnessing that magnificent exchange, they felt their eyes grow hot, their emotions utterly tangled.

### "I suddenly remembered that post—the perspective of the wild grass on the Tea Shed. The traveler beneath the Tea Shed beneath that evening glow, his eyes constantly radiating yearning. In that year, he was the revolutionary leader speaking with that Man with the Tear Mole, filled with bold spirit and ambition, just like the line: 'In the days of youth, dressed in fine clothes and riding spirited horses, one morning he saw all the flowers of Chang'an!'"

### "I remembered another scene from later on. He had unified the Slave Dynasty, yet was utterly despairing when he discovered that wild grass on the Tea Shed and eventually consumed it. This weak mortal, who had raised his blade against the False God rulers of three countries at once, continued the path of the previous Slave Emperor and ultimately walked into his own destiny!"

### "Wuwuwu!"

### "In the blink of an eye, the scene is still the same, but the mythic Emperor who once shook the world is still in the Tea Shed. He has grown old. He has gone. Yet the god remains, still possessing the same bearing beneath the Tea Shed as in those days."

### "I saw his entire life."

### "Wuwuwu! It's filled with destiny and reincarnation!"

### "We are all just dust in this long river of history!"

### They were suddenly overcome by a thousand emotions.

### Some people died, yet they still lived.

### Some people were named Stone Light Emperor Changheng and rode upon the people's heads, throwing their weight around. Some people bent their backs and worked like oxen and horses for the people.

### Some people were named Stone Light Emperor Changshou and wanted to carve their names into stone, wanting to be "immortal." Some people were willing to become wild grass and wait for the fire beneath the earth to burn.

### Some people could clearly have lived longer, yet chose to set an example with their own bodies—to serve as leaders of humanity and calmly accept a human life, accepting the most tragic thing everyone in this world had to face: birth, aging, illness, and death.

### He was clearly so unwilling, yet he chose to accept such a sorrowful fate.

### "Sacrifice the self so the person enters the nation—who says the Emperor has departed from Heaven?" someone suddenly said, chewing over the True God's Poem from moments ago. They felt it was filled with the magnificent, epic tragedy of all living beings' pursuit of immortality!

### Perhaps his body would decay and his soul disperse, but his spirit had become a true immortal.

### "Sacrifice the self so the person enters the nation—who says the Emperor has departed from Heaven?" someone began repeating.

### Some people's eyes reddened. They cried out in grief, wishing there were a box of tissues nearby to wipe away the tears brought on by this spectacle, which surpassed even an epic mythological drama. Unable to stop themselves, they joined in:

### "Sacrifice the self so the person enters the nation—who says the Emperor has departed from Heaven?" Humanity's true nature was that of a repeating machine.

### Rumble!

### The waves of sound rolled forth.

### Within the Immortal Pool, they suddenly and spontaneously began reciting that line together. The rolling sound waves surged through Heaven and Earth, sending off this great sage.

### The ministers who arrived also stared blankly at the scene.

### They discovered an extremely wondrous and fantastical sight.

### The old man's corpse was surrounded by the qi of the Origin of Humanity, the Cloud and Mist Qi Sea. It rolled like enormous waves, layer upon layer, as though orderly immortal music and hymns were sending off this great Human Emperor.

### Within the Immortal Pool, the Immortal Herbs swayed in unison. Strange, faint singing rose and fell with the wild grass.

### The sound grew ever louder, resounding throughout the entire City of a Hundred Stones, passing over hills, fields, and deserts. It seemed to echo in the ears of every citizen—as if mourning, as if praising, as if wailing.

### Everyone inexplicably raised their heads and heard the strange sacred hymn.

### In the vast ocean,

### the other Immortal Herbs that had not been present among the six hundred Immortal Herbs began to sing as well, repeating that line: "Sacrifice the self so the person enters the nation—who says the Emperor has departed from Heaven?"

### These Immortal Herbs wanted to leave something behind for this era.

### To prove that they had once witnessed it. To prove that although they were merely spectators in this world, they had once been here.

### Boom!

### All one thousand Immortal Herbs entered a certain frequency. As the thousand foundations of the entire world, they began to make the world tremble in a special way.

### A faint hymn came from the sky, spreading to every corner of the world—to the Seaside Ghost Country, the Bronze Country, every town, and every desolate land.

### Beneath a great banyan tree,

### an old man was playing chess.

### The residents of the surrounding apartment buildings pushed open their windows and walked out of their homes in unison.

### They only felt as though a certain string in their hearts had snapped, as though some majestic existence had fallen, causing the world to take on a layer of sorrow.

### The old man raised his head and could not stop laughing. "Incredible, simply incredible! Those Immortal Herbs actually possess such a secret. They sense the world and hear the affairs of Heaven and Earth. Just how many mysterious things remain in this world for people to explore?"

### Within the endless ocean,

### a magnificent and luxurious Undersea Kingdom was being built.

### A colossal creature wrapped in a huge shadow raised its head and broke through the surface of the sea.

### It seemed to see a glow shining above the clouds over that continent—a sacred, pure white light that appeared to pierce the dusk-shrouded night.

### "What is that?" she muttered blankly.

### "So beautiful."

### "So this world's Man with the Tear Mole has come back once more." She gently closed her eyes, as though listening to the wind.

### Throughout the City of a Hundred Stones in the entire kingdom, all the Qi Consumers and Blessing Shamans knelt and began singing loudly.

### "That is qi!"

### "This is Evening Glow Qi!"

### "No! That is the Immortal Herbs speaking, sending off our people's great Emperor!"

### "History in later ages must record this: At the death of a sage, Heaven displayed an omen. The gods sent him off, the Immortal Herbs sang in sorrow, all things grieved, and the people wept!"