My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion
Chapter 106 - 89: God’s Restlessness

Chapter 106: Chapter 89: God’s Restlessness

"The Lord of Heaven is unsettled, the rites no longer bring harmony. Xia Houqi, kill her to mend the Heavenly Dao!"

"Nüwa mended the heavens—when the stone fell to Tushan, it was but a leftover stubborn stone from her work. Having acquired the Nine Arguments and Nine Songs, you should slay her."

"Should you spare her, and the Heavenly Gate cracks open again, bringing another deluge, do you think you possess your father’s virtue? Are you capable like your father was? You’ve already killed Boyi; why not slay one more?"

Around the altar, large and small witches pleaded with blood-streaked tears. In the distant sky, heavy clouds gathered; it seemed as if another all-encompassing flood was brewing. The nine cauldrons forged by Dayu stood silent; the heavens were unresponsive.

...

Chen Yi suddenly opened his eyes.

His mind was a swirl of chaos. As he looked around, the witches who surrounded the nine cauldrons had disappeared.

"Is this... Xia Houqi’s memory?"

Breathing heavily, Chen Yi felt warmth and softness against his back,

"The Tushan Clan’s memory of Xia Houqi..."

Chen Yi furrowed his brows, cautiously withdrew his hand from An Hou’s embrace, got up, and brushed the dust off his garments.

An Hou’s arms, now empty, shifted uneasily; her delicate brows furrowed even in her sleep.

Chen Yi sensed that the Tushan Clan’s influence on An Hou had grown deeper—and, without realizing it, was affecting himself as well.

"You’re awake?"

A soft voice sounded behind him.

Chen Yi turned back to see the female crown.

"I’ve found something,"

The female crown rose and motioned for Chen Yi to follow her.

Chen Yi nodded lightly and stepped in line behind her, entering another burial chamber.

"Do you see these murals?"

At her words, Chen Yi lifted his gaze to the murals on the chamber walls.

Within the artwork was depicted an ancient figure with a human form and serpentine body, clutching a stone to mend the heavens, ascending skyward. The crack between heaven and earth was nearly sealed by the stone.

One piece of the celestial stone remained, falling to the earth amidst mountains and rivers—that place became Tushan.

Thus, the women of the Tushan Clan were called Nüwa or Nüjiao.

Accompanying the murals were cryptic, archaic inscriptions difficult to decipher, seemingly narrating the distant history of the Ancient Era and the summer dynasty’s tangled grievances.

"Mending the heavens must mean restoring the Heavenly Dao. After Nüwa mended the heavens, the leftover celestial stone gave rise to Tushan Clan. Yet during the reign of Shun and Yu, the Heavenly Gate again cracked open. Gun attempted to steal earth essence to mend the heavens and control the floods but was executed by the Lord of Heaven. His son, Dayu, was recommended by Shun to the throne and sought to mend the heavens and manage the waters at Tushan, where he received teachings from the Goddess of the Tushan Clan. That’s how Dayu controlled the floods—but he only controlled them, he didn’t mend the heavens."

The female crown traced the murals and softly recounted scenes from the Ancient Era,

"Xia Houqi succeeded Boyi as Monarch, and the duty of mending the heavens fell to him.

The Heavenly Dao diminishes excess to replenish scarcity...

Since the Tushan Clan embodies the leftover celestial stone, she was slain, turned to stone, and used to repair the fractured Heavenly Gate.

To prevent the revival of the Tushan Clan, which could reopen the repaired Heavenly Gate, Xia Houqi dismembered her corpse, constructed an underground palace, and sealed her remains in suppression."

Listening to the female crown’s tale, Chen Yi remained silent, his gaze flickering with uncertainty.

Taichua Goddess turned to him and quietly said:

"At this point, you should have understood..."

"Understood what?"

"She sees you as her son. Perhaps killing her, rendering her into stone, is the same way to seal her anew."

The female crown’s voice was calm.

Chen Yi turned his eyes to her, then responded:

"Heaven, Earth, Monarch, Parents, Teacher—she is the heir of Great Yu, the Sovereign, the heavenly family of Great Yu."

The female crown laughed upon hearing this,

"Since when have I seen you care this much about loyalty and filial piety?"

"Rarely broadcasted."

Chen Yi replied with a grin.

The female crown squinted at him, then asked back:

"Chen Yi, you don’t seriously see her as your mother, do you?"

Chen Yi didn’t immediately respond, neither affirming nor denying—for he himself wasn’t certain.

What he could confirm was this: in the present An Hou, he’d felt an unreserved warmth unlike anything he’d known from others.

Yin Tingxue served him out of helpless duty, Zhou Yitang was yet unfamiliar, and Min Ning hadn’t fully embraced him... Only An Hou, as she was now, gave without reservation.

"Fungi that bloom at dawn."

"What?"

"Cicadas that live only through summer."

The white-robed female crown spoke again.

Chen Yi narrowed his eyes,

"...Those were your words when we first met."

"Correct. Back then I said you couldn’t sever your earthly ties. Initially, I thought it was mere human nature. Little did I expect you would hesitate with even this fleeting connection of dew-like impermanence."

The female crown laughed softly, as if mocking his foolishness, yet lamenting his faltering path toward enlightenment,

"Chen Yi, you are even more mundane than the common mortal."

Taichua Goddess’s voice was ethereal, pure as morning dew, and the golden inscriptions around them seemed to resound with the music of the Dao. In her eyes, Chen Yi’s figure appeared increasingly insignificant.

Chen Yi smirked in return, pressing a hand onto Taichua Goddess’s shoulder.

"Has anyone ever told you,"

Chen Yi’s tone gradually turned cutting,

"Your bearing... calls for a beating?"

Yin Weiyin’s expression darkened abruptly as Chen Yi forcefully pinned her against the wall, her shoulder blade colliding with the hard surface in a jolt of pain.

Chen Yi sneered as he stared her down,

"You’re neither Yin Tingxue nor Min Ning. What I do is none of your concern. If you speak one more word, I won’t hesitate to teach you a lesson."

Yin Weiyin’s cheeks flushed hot, torn between shock and fury. Yet, in an instant, she calmed completely; it was as though the sound of the Dao resonated in her ears. She returned to being Taichua Goddess, her voice soft:

"It’s fine."

"Oh?"

"I’ll just think of it as being bitten by a dog."

Taichua Goddess said with indifference:

"Shakyamuni fed his flesh to a hawk; today, I too can surrender myself to beasts."

Chen Yi narrowed his eyes again, his expression cooling.

After a moment’s deliberation, he released Taichua Goddess and sneered:

"Hardheaded fool—you’re clinging to delusions."

Taichua Goddess gave a faint smile, turned away, and said:

"It’s you who fails to grasp the Dao. Were you Xia Houqi, and the Lord of Heaven was unsettled, the rites would no longer bring harmony."

At her words, Chen Yi remained silent for a moment, then glanced sideways, drawing his blade to press against the golden script reading, "The Lord of Heaven is unsettled."

As he carved into the inscription, he muttered:

"There was someone like you once, who told me I didn’t understand the Dao, that my six senses were impure, my three corpses heavy, my mind restless—and so I snapped her sword, made her kneel, and had her admit one thing."

"Oh? What was it?"

"That her sword... was obsolete."

With those words, Chen Yi slashed a jagged line through the inscription, severing the words "The Lord of Heaven is unsettled" like a cleaving blade.

"If the Lord of Heaven is unsettled, let Him remain unsettled. If the rites bring no harmony, then let there be no rites.

I am not Xia Houqi, not someone who lives for the nine cauldrons, let alone for the Dao.

Yin Weiyin, I’m telling you this now..."

Chen Yi sheathed his blade and stepped past the female crown,

"Your Dao... is also obsolete."