Yet victory was often won by trading seemingly futile effort for it.
When the war in the Heavenly Sea reached its end, Ksitigarbha's blood soaked the Sea Viewing Terrace. The demise of a Transcendent made up for the national fortunes Qi State had expended.
Seven Hates rejected Ksitigarbha's wager of the Six Paths, and rejected Ksitigarbha's final hope as well—
At the final moment, Ksitigarbha had been willing to relinquish the future in which He attained the Dao, sharing His ideal cycle of reincarnation with the other Transcendents. That was the World-Honored One's final wish that He had never ceased yearning for—the supreme Bodhi, the eternal glory of the Buddha.
He invited Seven Hates to bring the Devil Race's strength into the new world He had built, to become part of the Six Paths.
He also invited Huang Weizhen and his Mountain and Sea Realm to join.
Of course, no one was willing to board His sinking ship.
Even the possibility of Seven Hates boarding that ship for one desperate gamble was cut off by the Son of Heaven of Jing State, forcing him to hurry back.
Huang Weizhen left the little world of tea-drinking and play-watching on his own, paying no heed to how Huang Jinmo and Zhu Weiwu had finally reached the East Sea, or how they had met Jiang Wang. Leaving behind those scenes of human drama, joyous or sorrowful, He came to the Near-Sea—
Looking ahead from here, He could just make out the tall building on a distant island, standing against the wind with the moon at its back.
With keener sight, one could see the balcony of that tall building facing this way. The doors and windows were tightly shut, and inside, nothing remained but devastation.
It was the Overlooking Waves Inn on Youxia