In the darkness far from the Mid-Autumn Moon-Viewing Gathering, Gu Wen quietly watched the commotion and fighting ahead.
Beside him stood the Heavenly Secret Box, now transformed into a tall, pale Clockwork Man with no facial features.
Countless demons and monsters poured out of the Mountain and Sea Map and passed them. Boulders rumbled past as well. Yet none seemed to see them.
They stood there as though they were far removed from this world.
"Gu Wen, there's still time to turn back," the Heavenly Secret Box suddenly said. "You've lost a great deal of Primordial Qi, but with your cultivation, you could recover in two or three years at most. You're not even two hundred yet. You have at least fifty years left to live."
"The value of a life isn't decided by its length," Gu Wen replied. "Zhao Sheng lived only sixty-three years, and Wen Chao only fifty-five. Even together, they didn't live as long as I have."
"The chaos in Great Xia is beginning to surface. Live another fifty years, and you might see its fall."
"What would be the point of hiding in some uninhabited wilderness, clinging to life for another fifty years? I'd rather future accounts of Great Xia's fall spare a line for me."
A long, deep sigh came from the Heavenly Secret Box's featureless head.
"Feifei"—the spirit of the Heavenly Secret Box had named herself Fanciful Thoughts—"after I die, find that little monster born from the Mountain and Sea Map. I think the Mohist Heavenly Mechanism Lineage could flourish in her hands."
"You have that much faith in her?"
"Time is the greatest power. She promised me she'd pass on the Heavenly Secret Lineage. Even if she teaches only one student every hundred years, she can teach dozens, hundreds, perhaps more. Spirits like