Light Fortress
Chapter 524 - 121 The Golden Thread of Fate_3

Chapter 524: Chapter 121 The Golden Thread of Fate_3

In fact, it was the weakest of the fifth families.

The Li Family couldn’t compare with the most powerful Gu Family and Bai Family.

It was also difficult to contend against the united fronts of the Gong Mu.

That day, Changye saw neither snow nor rain; the weather was very dry, withered leaves twirled in the fierce wind, clouds hung low, and everyone’s expression was somber.

The wind swept up fallen leaves.

The fallen leaves swirled around large robes.

The dim Heavenly Curtain blended with the dim cemetery, like a faded oil painting.

Li Qingsui, clad in mourning attire, walked at the forefront of the procession.

Gone was the usual sparkle in her eyes; after her father’s death, her world seemed to have turned to shades of black and white... Everything was dimmed, a silent sorrow.

When the person on the sickbed closed their eyes.

At that time, she hadn’t realized...what forever farewell truly tasted like.

In the days and nights that followed, she no longer heard the familiar voice, nor saw the lively smiles.

All of that person was left in photo albums, in memories.

Each recollection forced her to accept the fact that "he is gone."

This wasn’t a single blow.

But blow after blow.

Afterward, she would need a long time to digest such sorrow.

...

...

Within the Qing Tomb Inner Mausoleum.

Gu Shen stood atop a small hill at the edge of the fog, silently observing the scene of people escorting the departed from afar.

A dense fog surrounded him, yet his vision was clear.

He saw the dim light fading from that girl’s eyes.

Gu Shen felt a twinge of compassion.

He shook his head, turned around, and returned to the Four Seasons Wilderness, to resume his Cultivation of Array Patterns Talisman.

Array Pattern Diagrams danced in the air.

Over the past year, Gu Shen had studied tens of thousands of Ancient Text Diagrams, and after reviewing each thrice, he would use his spiritual power to "affix" them into the void above the grasslands, as a testament to his "conquest." Little by little, these diagrams had amassed into a dense barricade.

With the use of spiritual power.

The thousands of diagrams would flow gently, eventually whirling around like a heavy snowfall in a magnificent scene.

Gu Shen had cleared eighty percent of the fog in Qingzhong.

This meant that he had nearly grasped two thousand of Qingzhong’s great arrays.

In the beginning, he could comprehend at most five Array Patterns in a single day.

Now, in his optimal state, he could understand nearly ten Array Patterns a day, doubling his earlier speed.

This speed was already quite fast.

The Tomb Guardian’s initial estimate was that, with extreme diligence and utmost effort, Gu Shen would need at least over five hundred days, nearly two years, to complete the interpretation of all Array Patterns.

Now it seemed that Gu Shen would finish them all in just over a year.

But today.

Gu Shen was stuck before a single diagram for a long time, unable to decipher it.

It wasn’t a complex diagram, and the trajectory of the Ancient Script wasn’t difficult...he was even stuck at the Dream Interpretation step he was best at.

After a while.

Gu Shen opened his eyes.

He rubbed his brow, trying to focus his concentration, returning to attentiveness.

Just then—

Master Qianye, sitting upside down in the tree, spoke up.

"These past few days, your mind seems no longer tranquil," the Tomb Guardian stated clearly.

Gu Shen was preoccupied.

Over the year, she marveled at Gu Shen’s talent as well as his "character"—it was rare to see a genius who could so completely shut out external distractions and be so immersed in the Cultivation of Ancient Language.

One must know.

Disassembling Array Patterns and studying Ancient Scripts were monotonous tasks.

There was no joy in them.

It was all memory, experience, and more memory...an endless cycle without respite.

Yet every time Gu Shen came to Qingzhong, he would exceed the expected workload, understanding the Ancient Scripts on those diagrams thoroughly.

Although she claimed publicly that Gu Shen was her Disciple...

The Tomb Guardian knew that she had never taught him Divination Skill.

She had never taken a disciple in her life.

While teaching Ancient Language, she often thought... If she truly took Gu Shen as a disciple and had him inherit her mantle, it would be a not so bad affair.

"Teacher... I..."

Gu Shen let out a wry smile.

The peace of mind he had maintained for a year was finally shaken, ripples appearing.

He was distressed.

He wanted to continue focusing but found it difficult to return to the state of greatly enhanced efficiency he enjoyed before.

Within the Heavenly Cloud, faint glimmers of golden light could be seen.

Those were the strands of Divination flowing by.

"Who among the mortals can truly achieve...not to be delighted by external gains, nor saddened by personal losses?" the Tomb Guardian said in a comforting tone, "Many times, you can opt to be a spectator, but there are always some things...you must experience personally. Departures and reunions, sadness and happiness, can only be truly understood when tasted firsthand."

Gu Shen had been unsettled these past few days.

Partly because of the final lantern’s unresolved issues...

And also due to the death of the Li Family Master.

He had only met that master once, but upon the man’s passing, he genuinely felt a thread of sadness in his heart.

"The most difficult part of Divination Skill is the calculation of hexagrams," said Master Qianye abruptly, bringing up a seemingly unrelated subject.

She pointed to the golden clouds above the Four Seasons Wilderness, "The Fate’s Thread of mortals is only a single strand, but when millions weave together, they form an entire cloud... This cloud, then, represents their fate."

Millions of golden threads crisscrossing each other.

A disturbance to one could shake countless others.

"Therefore, Divination...can only be observed, not interfered with." Master Qianye smiled and said, "To pull at one thing and affect all, if one were to touch a single golden thread, maybe the entire cloud formed by a billion golden threads would be altered. And even having seen it, the effort required is immense, and physical aches are nothing compared to the mental exhaustion."

Gu Shen contemplated this.

"Some people you may meet a thousand times, their fate’s thread does not intertwine with yours, no matter how much you tug, it affects nothing."

"Yet meeting someone only once, their fate’s thread may intertwine with yours... If they die, of course you grieve," the Master sighed softly, "That young girl hasn’t left yet; if you truly can’t let go, go see her."