Hearing the Way at Dawn

Deep in the night, within the imperial court.

A maid's scream shattered the silence.

Upon hearing the news, Emperor Kubana immediately cast aside his official duties and hurried toward the queen's chambers.

Inside, Queen Fina held a silver goblet. She had dismissed everyone, her face darkened, one weak hand resting upon the table.

When Kubana burst through the doors, Fina looked at him like the girl she had once been, her gaze brimming with affection yet faintly tinged with resentment.

She had taken poison—a gut-rotting venom that was carrying her toward the end of her life.

Kubana's expression was complicated. It seemed he had expected this, yet when he truly saw it, his heart still felt as though it were being torn apart.

He shut the palace doors and forbade anyone from approaching, including the imperial prince, his and Fina's son.

He stepped forward, wrapped an arm around Fina's waist, and said, "Why go this far, Fina? You should still have had all the splendor in the world. The entire empire was my gift to you."

At this point, blame had no meaning at all.

Queen Fina leaned against Kubana's chest, black blood spilling from her lips. "I want to ask you the same, Kubana, my beloved. Why? Why could you not wait even a few short years? Your soul has already been taken by Aethelred. Without you, all that splendor means nothing, because you are my splendor itself."

Kubana did not know how to answer. Countless emotions became a single sigh. "I'm sorry."

Fina shook her head with difficulty. "Don't be like that. Being with you had already exhausted all the luck and love of my life. To die in your arms makes me deeply happy. All the resentment I once held has now melted into your warmth.

"Kubana, answer me one question. What am I to you, truly?"

Kubana fell silent for a long while. In the end, unwilling to deceive his beloved, he said sincerely, "Only beneath truth."

Fina had long expected that answer. She held his face and said, "You still refuse to lie to me. I once took comfort in that quality of yours, but you know that it was also the trigger that broke my soul."

Kubana said, "I simply do not wish to deceive you, my... beloved."

Fina gave a soft laugh. "No matter. Rational as you are, you taught our child from a young age to follow truth in order to uphold your agreement with Aethelred. Since I stand beneath truth, then what about our child? Is he merely a tool for you to continue the Truth Church?"

Kubana shook his head. "No. Our child stands only beneath you. He is the crystallization of our love. If anything is a tool, it is the empire."

Fina smiled helplessly. "The prosperous empire you built through painstaking effort, at the cost of your own life, was merely a tool? If even the empire is so, then what of your life? Compared to me, our child, and the empire, where does it stand?"

Kubana rested his head against Fina's hair and said softly, "Compared to the three of you, my life is not worth mentioning."

As he spoke, Kubana snatched the silver goblet from Fina's hand and drained the gut-rotting poison in a single gulp.

"Fina, may I bear this pain with you. May we be reunited forever in another world."

Yet Queen Fina no longer answered him.

Enduring the pain, Kubana lowered his head and closed his beloved's eyes. He lifted her into his arms and laid her upon the bed.

Tenderly smoothing her hair and clothes, he lightly kissed her lips and whispered, "Wait for me. It won't be long."

Kubana raised his head. Black blood flowed from his seven orifices, but the agony in his gut could not extinguish the light in his eyes.

He raised both hands and declared, "Aethelred, my lord, I have given you everything as promised. The empire and the Truth Church are both vows I have fulfilled for you. Now, answer me. Grant me your gift. Tell me the answer to that humble wish I once held."

Radiance blossomed.

Celestial music drifted through the air.

Tang Chuan had not broken his promise. At the final instant before Kubana's death, he descended in Aethelred's form.

The fervor of Kubana's final resurgence rested upon Aethelred's eternally beautiful face. "My lord, please fulfill your promise."

The deity floated in the air, her form seeming both real and unreal. She glanced at Kubana, whose final zeal was blazing forth, then at Fina, who lay peacefully dead upon the bed, and said:

"Kubana, my most outstanding apostle, you may yet choose to change your mind and make another wish for me to fulfill."

The implication could not have been clearer.

As long as you changed your mind and gave up learning the answer, I could revive Fina, remove the lethal poison from your body, and you could remain emperor of the empire, living out your years in peace.

Yet Kubana's gaze never wavered in the slightest. He repeated, "My lord, please fulfill your promise!"

"Alas..."

Tang Chuan sighed. Without another word, he directly instilled the prepared periodic table of elements of this world into Kubana's mind.

He also allowed Kubana to perceive the elemental matter that made up the world in the same semi-omnipotent state.

Before Kubana could recover his senses, his vision instantly drew away. From God's Perspective, he watched this planet; then it drew farther away, and he became the first human to observe a Planetary System; farther still, the galaxy, the star fields, the entire Origin Universe...

Kubana sank into profound shock.

So this was the true face of the universe?

It was too vast.

The humans of the Canghuang Continent were not even a drop in the ocean.

It was too wondrous.

The brilliant colors blooming from the galaxy were the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

So this was how humanity had come into being.

So this was how planets moved.

There were other planets nurturing life as well. In the future, life would spread across these starry skies.

This beauty struck directly at his soul, leaving Kubana intoxicated by it for a long time.

To see truth in a single day—it felt as though even his soul was ascending. The insignificant achievements of an insignificant self were truly so humble...

Truth and order truly existed among all matter, all planets, all seas of stars...

Kubana felt his soul fading, nearing destruction.

He came back to himself and saw Fina sleeping peacefully upon the bed, as well as Aethelred, her celestial robes fluttering as she existed between illusion and reality.

"My lord, there is one final answer. Please tell me that as well. Since matter will eventually be destroyed and enter a new cycle, since all things will return to nothingness and ultimately bear the name of meaninglessness, then what is the meaning of humanity's existence?"

Aethelred shook her head. "The meaning of humanity's existence is, in truth, meaningless to deities. So-called meaning is merely something you define for yourselves. Therefore, I cannot give you an exact answer, because even different deities would provide different answers."

Kubana, however, refused to accept this answer. "Then, Aethelred, God of Truth whom I have believed in all my life, you have witnessed the expansion of the universe and the development of humanity throughout eternity. I believe you must have an answer in your heart. Tell me, what is that answer? Even if it differs from that of other deities, I am willing to forever believe in your truth!"

Aethelred was silent for a moment. "Happiness. The meaning of humanity's existence is to pursue happiness that belongs to oneself—not indulgence, not desire, not mere pleasure, but sincere happiness itself."

Kubana did not understand. "Happiness? But happiness always passes in a flash. Happiness itself is nothing more than a sensation produced by human genes and nerves..."

Aethelred said, "Kubana, answer me. Just now, when you learned the true composition of matter and witnessed the laws governing the stars, were you happy?"

Kubana came to his senses. "Happy! This is my ultimate pursuit! I feel an indescribable happiness! I understand now, my lord. To see what one pursues in life and find one's own faith—that is the truest happiness. Even a cup of plain tea, even a bowl of hot soup offered by one's beloved—is this the meaning of humanity's existence?

"But...

"Many people are still affected by the material world and choose to destroy themselves. What is their meaning, then?"

Aethelred replied indifferently, "They failed to find happiness. Pain filled everything they saw, so they sought answers as you did.

"But that cannot erase the meaning their writings, inventions, ideals, and the like may have brought to human civilization. At least at that time, meaning existed.

"Look back at the empire you built. Every order, every rule, every man-made thing is proof that you existed. Everything is meaning itself."

Kubana murmured words too quiet to hear, the light of thought flickering in his eyes.

A long time passed.

His consciousness returned to his body.

Struggling to rise, he knelt before Aethelred and said, "Forgive Kubana, for I can no longer follow my lord."

Tang Chuan nodded. "It is no matter. You have already done very well."

The deity's voice swept across the continent like a flood: "I am the embodiment of wisdom and order, Aethelred, God of Truth! I bestow three Oracles upon my apostle Kubana.

Died for his ideals.

Saint of God.

Human Pioneer.

May the Canghuang Continent remain as it is tomorrow. May you live in peace beneath my glory, unchanged through the passing years. Mortals... prosper on. I shall wait for you on the road ahead."

Aethelred's form dissipated.

Her majestic voice still lingered by his ears.

But none of that mattered anymore.

Died for his ideals was true.

Divine Apostle, Human Pioneer... they were neither here nor there.

With his last shred of strength, Kubana crawled onto the bed and rested peacefully beside Fina's ear. He whispered, "Fina, I'm sorry. I regret it, but if I had to choose again, I would still make the same choice... I'm sorry.

"May my departed soul become your nourishment. May my eternal damnation be exchanged for your glorious next life.

"I never asked Aethelred whether there was a next life. I did not dare. Forgive my cowardice.

"I'm here."

Kubana, a sage of his generation, humanity's greatest pioneer, and Saint of God, passed away.

He died for his ideals, and he also died from cowardice.

All three Divine Apostles had died, and a new chapter of history began.

But this time, there was no great existence to lead the way. Humanity would have to leave scattered strokes upon its pages themselves, gathering them into a book.

(PS: The groundwork is more or less complete. The pace will pick up next as we explore the civilization of the Main Universe. Thank you to everyone on the fan ranking for your donations, and please vote~)