Joy of Life - Chapter 731

Once upon a time, there was a mountain. In the mountain, there was a temple. In the temple, there was a person who told a story. He said, “Once upon a time, there was a mountain…” If Fan Xian’s experience in the Temple progressed like this, then, without a doubt, the people who either anxiously awaited his survival or death would be covered in many layers of spider webs and die of delay.

Just like the world after that calamity, regardless of whether it was the cause an effect or something else, it could not sink into dry repetitions. The rebirth of civilization after its destruction would not be completely the same as before, even if the Temple existed in this world and began to endlessly impart seeds of the previous civilization through the blind-folded emissary from the beginning of humankind’s second rise.

The most obvious difference between the two worlds could not escape Fan Xian’s eyes. During the 20 odd years of his rebirth, he meditated daily and cultivated the Tyrannical martial method. This past year, he began to sense the yuanqi filling the world. This was the true difference. Human society seemed to have found a way of exploitation. The meridians in the human body were proof of this change.

If yuanqi and the zhenqi in people’s bodies were of the same origin and both traces left on the world by the calamity hundreds of thousands of years ago, it was evidence of nature achieving balance. But, why didn’t these traces make humans who lived among it die?

Using the explanation of the voice in the Temple, perhaps it was an adaptation to the environment. Furthermore, humans found some kind of balance and benefit amongst the adaptation. It was probably part of life’s innate tenacious nature.

Thinking of this, Fan Xian’s heart involuntarily filled with confusion. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he was unable to speak for a long time. What he had thought of as the most tenacious and indestructible civilization in his heart was actually a very weak existence. However, the seemingly weakest life became the strongest and most fearless existence in the face of an iron-like reality.

Humankind adapted to this kind of environment. Plants grew anew, and even animals adapted to this environment. Fan Xian closed his eyes and thought closely of all he had seen and heard during his rebirth. He suddenly discovered that regardless of whether it was humankind or animals, it seemed that neither had changed too much because of the yuanqi in the air. This reality truly astounded him.

It seemed that although radiation was terrifying, in the slow river of time, it was nothing more than a refreshing and moving sight.

After an indeterminable amount of time, Fan Xian finally shook off the shock and confusion. The smooth mirror in the air of the Temple had already left Dong Mountain and began to show all kinds of touching images.

There were people quietly hunting in dense forests and happily working in fields. There were woman doing laundry with a smile by rivers, children learning to walk stumbling by beds, smoke, villages, cities, and palaces. And, naturally, there was conflict, battles, killing, and blood.

Gradually, the images changed into scenes of martial artists practicing, either sitting in lotus flowers or sitting cross-legged on mountain peaks. They were incomparably tenacious enduring the elements and sleeping in the open. After months and years, after consulting with the sky and ocean, looking around but truly pointing within, breathing in the remaining yuanqi in the air and spilling out the muddy breath within, finally, one day, the martial way gradually took shape in the land.

“Come, come, come…” Fan Xian felt that it was because of the solid foundation he laid down in his youth through education in the Overwatch Council that he essentially didn’t develop any sense of relaxation as he watched these images. Even so, after seeing the truth of the changes in the land, his state of mind finally wobbled. A bitter and strange smile rose to the corners of his lips. To the mirror in front of him, he said in a raspy voice, “Tell me, since martial secrets were created by the people of this world, why are there such powerful things in the Temple? With just two volumes stolen, a number of Great Grandmasters were created in the world.”

Without waiting for the Temple to speak, Fan Xian coughed and said, “Having spoken so much, presumably you have figured out by history. So, don’t say such nonsense as leftover magical skills from some god realm.”

The Temple was silent for a long time. The voice finally rang out calmly, “For countless years, the Temple always observed the world. We gathered information and analyzed it, and then worked with the human body’s special biology, carrying out summarization and corrections. In the end, we obtained results from a few directions of investigation.”

This was the origins of the martial methods that his mother Ye Qingmei secretly took from the Temple. Thinking about it closely, it seemed right. If it weren’t for a brilliant vision and method, secrets of countless schools of thought, and careful selection from a sea of information, who could be like the Temple in the secular world and use countless years to exquisitely pick out these things?

“You imparted many useful things to the world.” This was something that had been shown in the previous images. Fan Xian would not erase the effect this ruin had on civilization. He was silent for a moment. He then said, “When humankind was opening up uncivilized territory, the Temple went so far as to directly send out emissaries to help humankind fight off tough beasts and later imparted many skills for them to be able to stand firm in the natural world. Why didn’t you impart these martial methods straight to humankind kind? In other words, the temple must have a great deal of other information, why did you keep it hidden the entire time?”

At this point, the conversation was finally nearing that woman. The death of his mother, Ye Qingmei, could not be disconnected from the Temple, regardless of whether it was the martial secrets she stole from the Temple or the craftsmanship in the palace treasury that exceeded human society’s natural progression. Fan Xian’s heart grew slightly cold. His voice was raspy as he stared at the smooth mirror and said, “Furthermore, why did you break your own rules and pursue those people across the world?”

“It’s not those people, it was just one person.” The Temple’s voice was still very calm. Perhaps it was because he had still not reached a confirmed conclusion about Fan Xian’s deduction from the information and conversation, thus the Temple’s replies still appeared unusually honest. “We are guardians, we are protecting human civilization’s last spark so that it will grow again. We want the descendants of humankind to exist in this world again. This is our mission.”

“The Temple will broadcast some appropriate skills and knowledge to the world, such as knowledge about irrigation, crops, and martial skills. But, we will not try to forcefully influence everything in the world.”

Fan Xian suddenly said, “You say that you are only a guardian and not a controller, but you have held the shadow of the Temple over humankind’s head for many years. Furthermore, you have always tried to plan for a world that you believe to be perfect according to your thoughts.”

His brows furrowed slightly. “A thousand years. It’s been a thousand years since the rise of the Wei Kingdom, and there haven’t actually been any fundamental changes to this world.”

The Temple’s voice was silent for a very long time. It then said for the first time in a rhetorical tone, “Is this not good?”

Is it good or is it not good? Who could say for sure? Fan Xian was a person with acute thinking. From the confidence in the Temple’s voice, he had long determined with perfect clarity that the thinking of the Temple. The final ruins of the previous civilization had been influenced by that great calamity, the self-destruction of humankind, although the Temple continued to carry out the orders in its program.

It was unknown if the Temple was an individual with self-awareness. But, clearly, the Temple calmly observed everything that happened in the world and prevented human society progressing to a higher level of civilization. Perhaps in its eyes if civilization followed the same path, it would be met with another calamity.

Back in the day, Ye Qingmei stirred up a great deal of trouble in the world and led the production across the entire land forward and upward. Without a doubt, she had crossed the Temple’s bottom line. Thus, the Temple had chosen the Qing Emperor in the mortal world to be their representative to wipe out everything related to Ye Qingmei. However, the emissaries of the Temple were becoming more and more scarce. Furthermore, they were repeatedly dying to Uncle Wu Zhu’s hands. The Temple had no way to understand or control the situation. The Qing Emperor continued to use the palace treasury while he, the bloodline of Ye Qingmei, continued to live.

Fan Xian’s emotions calmed a great deal. He didn’t think there was much point being angry or sad at an artificial intelligence-like existence. He supported his chin in his hand and was silent for a moment. He then said, “Regardless of whether it is good or not, you are still interfering in the affairs of the world. That does not mesh with your rules.”

“The Temple will not bother with the matters of the world and has never forcefully obstructed the evolution of human civilization. We just try to fix this process. If an external power tries to forcefully accelerate this process, we will be sure to stop it.”

The voice of the Temple calmly and coldly rang out through the entire building.

At first, Fan Xian paused. Immediately after, he began to laugh. His voice was already very raspy because of his illness, so his laugh seemed particularly dry and strange. Yet, he laughed louder and louder. His laughter echoed through the empty building until tears were rolling down his face and he couldn’t resist laying back on the ground.

The mirror was smooth, and the voice was quiet. The Temple did not seem concerned with why this strange traveler was so presumptuous as to laugh in such a solemn place. It just waited calmly.

Fan Xian eventually stopped his laughter. Lying on the icy cold floor, his expression was calm. He stared at the ceiling of the building. After a moment of silence, he said, “You are used to referring to yourself as a Temple. It looks like in the hundreds of thousands of years that have passed, you actually think of yourself as a god.”

No voice rang out in the Temple. Only the mirror hovering in the air floated to a position above his head and once again began to show scenes of the end of the calamity. This time, the focus was not on the grasslands and seas. Instead, it showed the people who had suffered endless hardships.

Fan Xian’s brows furrowed slightly. He knew the Temple wanted to use these images to carry out a wordless explanation. These silent images were truly shocking, but he didn’t want to see. Straightforwardly, he said, “Close it. It’s not like they’re true scenes.”

The mirror hovering in the air gradually stopped and lost its brightness. It became a flat scroll with the two ends coming together in the center, gradually closing up the image. Following the last glimpse of rotting corpses, the mirror became a stick. Then, the elder floating among the spots of light reappeared again. “I repeat, I am a guardian, not a god.”

“If you’re not a god, how could you have your own judgments and actions?” Fan Xian seemed tired. The long conversation and scenes from the long river of time made him appear uncomfortable and defeated. He pillowed his hands behind his head and stared calmly at the elder hovering above him. He asked, “You are created by humankind, but now you have begun to control the development of humankind. From what kind of processes did such an action develop from?”

“The four established laws of the Temple.”

Fan Xian’s tone was calm as he replied, “You are still used to referring to yourself as the Temple, this is the thing I am unable to understand.”

“The first established law was that the Temple must not harm humankind and only be a mere spectator when seeing humankind being hurt. The second established law was that the Temple should follow all orders from humankind but not break the first established law. The third established law ensured the Temple its own protection but could not break the first and second established laws…”

The Temple’s voice had not come to an end when Fan Xian’s brows pulled together again. He felt that these three established laws sounded familiar. However, there seemed to be some minute differences from something he remembered.

“The zeroth law established that the Temple must ensure that humankind’s interest as a whole is not damaged. The other three established laws were established under this premise.”

Fan Xian thought deeply for a long time before finally remembering where these familiar sounding laws had come from. In the novels and movies of that world, the three established laws for robots had appeared countless times. He suddenly remembered some things he had not thought about for a long time, such as the dark-skinned handsome man and robot that was even more handsome.

It seemed that in the world after he died or time-traveled, when civilization had developed to a certain level, Asimov’s three laws had actually become used in reality. What made Fan Xian feel a slight chill and fear was the last law the Temple spoke of.

Ensure that humankind’s interest as a whole would not be damaged? The zeroth law the Temple followed was this one? It seemed to be a very glorious, correct, and grand law. Yet, Fan Xian could easily spot the unusual dangerousness of it.

Precisely because of the existence of this law, the Temple secretly controlled the progress of human civilization. Thus, it ignored matters of the world and focused attention on Ye Qingmei, who had escaped from the Temple. In the end, it had even broken laws one and two and directly allied with the Emperor to wipe Ye Qingmei from the world.

The zeroth law was the most important and terrifying. The problem was in humankind’s interest as a whole. Who would decide humankind’s interest? What kind of world and what kind of social structure would truly align with the interests of humankind as a whole? In the opinion of the Temple, if things progressed as they did before and steps were taken to reach the peak of human civilization, the appearance of firearms and even more powerful weapons would only cause the destruction of human society. Naturally, the Temple would think that this did not align with humankind’s interest as a whole.

Could things of a technological civilization, these things that could improve the lives of poor farmers who worked desperately in the fields to produce food and the refugees who sold their children, never appear in this world? Fan Xian was not a believer of technicalism, but he still firmly believed that humans in the 21st century lived much more happily that humans in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Interest as a whole? What a muddled and even absurd idea that was. Was it up to an emotionless inhuman intelligence, which perhaps rarely made mistakes, to decide? Fan Xian’s face was silently white. Looking at the elder floating above his head, he was silent for a long time before he asked, “Where exactly is humankind’s interest as a whole?”

The elder was also silent for a long time. He then said, “The Temple does not know, but the Temple knows that there are some paths that cannot be traveled.”

“No wonder the last time the emissaries came from the south they killed so many innocent people along the way. If the three established laws are actually effective, how could such a situation occur?” Fan Xian looked at the elder. In a slightly trembling voice, he asked, “For the sake of humankind’s interest as a whole, this blurry ideal, you can do anything you want to do. Don’t you think that is very dangerous?”

“The Temple has methods of self-control. This is a statistical judgment,” the elder calmly said. “The Temple cannot just watch as humankind steps onto the old path.”

“Should I thank you or curse you?” Fan Xian stretched out his hands and sat up from the icy ground with a perplexed expression. Slowly, he said, “This b*tch of a zeroth established law, who made it?”

“It wasn’t made by a dog,” the elder of the Temple replied calmly, not knowing that his answer was very much like a corny joke. “When the Temple awoke, the law already existed.”

“Just because of this unknown zeroth law, you killed her.” Fan Xian’s face was pale. His dry lips were slightly raised. Quietly, he muttered to himself, but his voice grew louder. “Just because of this mysterious reason, you killed her. You killed her…”

“You killed her!” Fan Xian eyes were filled with overly complicated emotions. In a daze, he stared at the figure of the elder floating in the air. The pain entered his bones, yet he spoke very lightly.

The elder’s voice was as calm as ever, “The Temple must ensure that humankind’s interest as a whole is not damaged.”

The explanation the Temple gave to Fan Xian had nothing to do with Ye Qingmei. Instead, it was just a repetition of the icy cold creed. Immediately after, the elder said to Fan Xian, “You three travelers. I am willing to accept you as disciples and emissaries of the Temple to do work on behalf of heaven, walk among the expansive mortal world, and protect the people of the land.”

The tone of these words was markedly different to before. This was probably a portion that the Temple’s program drafted itself. Thus, it appeared particularly ethereal. Since Fan Xian had already talked with the Temple for a long time, the Temple’s reaction appeared very rigid.

It seemed that, at this moment, the elder remembered that the young and weak human in front of him was not like normal humans. He continued on to say, “My fellow man from the god realm, please remember the zeroth established law.”

Afterward, the elder sank into silence. The colors on the face formed by light changed endlessly as if carrying out a final judgment and consideration. After a moment, the elder said, “In order to follow the zeroth established law, please remain in the Temple.”

The three sentences represented the Temple’s three processes, one triggering after another. With the conscription of emissaries first, which changed into a warning for Fan Xian, and then finally announcing its intention to trap Fan Xian within the Temple.

Fan Xian listened calmly to these three sentences and rose. He didn’t appear particularly nervous or fearful. Naturally, being trapped in the temple in such a cold and icy place to spend the rest of his life was not a good future. Although the power source of the Temple was almost exhausted, presumably it had some way of producing food and related items. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Ye Qingmei to have been shut up in it for many years.

Furthermore, a mere 4-year-old Ye Qingmei was able to escape the Temple and snowy mountain with Ku He and Xiao En. Fan Xian still had two friends waiting quietly outside. He was not worried about anything. He just looked calmly at the elder in the air. After a moment of calm, he suddenly said, “Insults and fear are not true battles. Furthermore, there seems to be no need to get angry at a dead creature like you. There is no point in you trying to scare me. But, for some reason, I always feel the urge to insult you.”

“Raised by a b*tch.” Fan Xian spat out a glob of phlegm. It flew through the elder’s floating and brilliant clothes and landed with a splat on the ground.

Immediately after, he dusted his bottom and turned to walk toward the great doors, tossing down one last thing to the elder of the Temple. “You are just a bundle of fireflies, yet you pretend to be the king of flames in front of me. Speaking with you is already giving you face, yet you want to keep me shut up for my entire life…”

Fan Xian walked all the way to the doors of the empty building without anything strange happening. The figure of the elder floating in the air only watched him quietly leave.

Placing his hand firmly on the mechanism to open the door, Fan Xian turned his head back and said in a cold voice with narrowed eyes, “I’m not afraid to tell you that I am Ye Qingmei’s son. I’ve killed off all the wooden emissaries in your temple. It’s still that same old line. Do well in your position as a tour guide, there’s a future for you there. Don’t keep trying to be some kind of god.”

Pausing slightly, Fan Xian smiled coldly and said, “If you make me angry, I’ll tear out your solar panels and take it back to Danzhou to heat my washing water. I’ll dismantle your main processor and have my son kneel on your CPU. Do you think you can scare me?”

Pulling open the door fiercely, an icy and snowy world reappeared in front of his eyes. Fan Xian stepped out of this perfectly preserved building. He narrowed his eyes and looked greedily at the true appearance of the world, tossing all the shocking and startling scenes he saw earlier to the back of his head. He took a deep breath and let out a roar. His voice echoed through the entire snowy mountain and valleys.

He didn’t know where the weakness of the Temple was, nor did he want to take the risk. Even Ye Qingmei, an extraordinary figure who successfully took away the Temple’s most powerful Uncle Wu Zhu, had not thought of destroying the temple. She must have had her own considerations. Although his desire to avenge Ye Qingmei had not been weakened by the sights of the ocean and fields, it had strangely evolved into some different emotions.

Most importantly, once Uncle Wu Zhu entered the Temple, he was unable to leave. This seemingly rundown place must have its truly terrifying side. Fan Xian appeared impetuous and fearless earlier because he knew that a dead thing like the Temple could not have any unnecessary emotions as holding a grudge against his venting. He just wanted to vent the bitterness in his heart.

After the roar had crashed into the mountain countless times, it gradually faded away. Two figures swept across the stone stage in front of the building as quickly as they could and came to a stop in front of Fan Xian, looking him with nervous and worried gazes.

Fan Xian glanced at Haitang and Thirteenth Wang and pulled his lips into a smile with great difficulty. He had no intention of sharing what he had learned in the building because there was no need to. He would keep that lonely bitterness and helplessness for himself to enjoy alone.

“Did you find him?” Fan Xian asked.

Thirteenth Wang nodded. Only now did Fan Xian notice him carrying a huge black chest on his back. His emotions immediately tensed as his pupils slightly shrank. Suddenly feeling like he had left out something in his calculations, he said urgently in a raspy voice, “Let’s go!”

…

…

“Clear out target one.” The Temple’s voice suddenly rang out in all directions. The elder’s figure had dissipated long ago. The Temple was the Temple. There was no longer any need to waste power in forming a human form.

Following the sound of these four normal words ringing through the empty temple, Thirteenth Wang suddenly felt the black chest on his back begin to move.

With a swoosh, the black chest immediately separated. A streak of black light flashed by. A black metal rod, with a speed difficult for humans to imagine as it calmly, accurately pierced into Fan Xian’s body.

Fan Xian’s hands tightly gripped the metal rod inside his body. He suddenly felt his mouth grow sweet, but he did not lower his head to look at the wound in his chest. Instead, he stared in a daze at the familiar face that would never age and the unusually icy black cloth across the other person’s eyes.

Fan Xian knew what he had miscalculated. The emissaries of the Temple had indeed all died off. The Temple did not have any defensive power of its own. However, he had forgotten that his Uncle Wu Zhu, who was the closest to him, had always been the Temple’s most powerful emissary.

Wu Zhu was a legend, but he was the Temple’s legend.

Fan Xian looked at Wu Zhu’s face and opened his mouth in disbelief. “If this gets out, even my mother wouldn’t believe it.”