196 There is No Such Thing as Fate

‘Now that I think about it, His Majesty was a really extraordinary person. Hearrived in front of Fate with a cold-blooded and formidable attitude. He didnot accept Fate’s arrangement; rather, he began to decide the Fate of others.He did not wait for Taizu to choose him; rather, he chose instead and killedeveryone, leaving Taizu with only one son. Therefore, the emperor’s throne orthe bloody fate changing rumor didn’t matter anymore, and there was no need forany more discussion. Regardless, both the Zhou Dynasty and entire human worldneeded this kind of extremely effective decision. In the past, his cavalrymensuffered greatly under the hands of the Demon race during the battles withinTianliang County. After that, he suffered a disastrous defeat by the hands ofElder Brother in Luoyang City. However, regarding everything that had happened,both the Demon Lord and Elder Brother were weaker than him. He was indeed themost powerful man of this era, so the world fell into his hands. This did notexceed my expectations. Of course, too many things had happened during thisprocess, so as a result, I really could not feel happy for him.’ ‘What happened next did not exceed my expectations either. His Majesty beganto work diligently in politics, and he devoted his heart to ruling the country.As a result, the continent slowly became peaceful, and the power of the ZhouDynasty flourished greatly with each passing day. His Majesty Taizu finallygrew impatient with playing games and the beautiful female servants. Afterclosing both of his eyes, he returned to the stars, and perhaps, too much timehad already passed. His Majesty did not permit me to continue staying in thepalace, so he let me teach at the Star Seizer Academy. I could also read as Itaught, so I did not object and was very grateful. Furthermore, I understoodthe real reason why His Majesty had sent me to Star Seizer Academy because thedays of the northern expeditions against the Demon race were not far away.’ ‘After that night in the Hundred Herb Garden, His Majesty and I were no longerfriends. Although there were many things I was unwilling to do, I was willingto participate in fighting against the Demon race. His Majesty wanted to washoff all shame from the Treaty of Fallen Willow, so every lord, subject,soldier, and citizen worked diligently. In just a few years, the preparationsfor the northern expeditions were complete, and His Majesty directly made me avice-commander. This stirred up a large amount of gossip in the government.Fatty Cheng was the angriest. Everybody knew each other, and they felt I couldonly strategize on paper. I had never actually led any soldiers, so how could Ihold such an important position?’ ‘I did not try to explain myself at all. I understood very clearly why HisMajesty wanted me to become the vice-commander. This wasn’t only to takeadvantage of what I had prepared in those few years at the Star Seizer Academy,but to also force me to decide my future. Perhaps, I would die on thebattlefield against the Demon race, or I would drift far away from thebattlefield to find her or Elder Brother. However, I remained because thematter of conflict with the Demon race lasted more than one or two years. SinceI had decided this, whether I died or left, I had to help the human worldresolve the threat of the Demon race before doing so.’ ‘Very fortunately, we were victorious.’ After reading this part of the diary, Chen Changsheng breathed in deeply.Although he was only interested in the secrets of changing fate, he still couldnot help but be filled with emotion when he read the renowned general’s storyin that great war against the Demon race. Wang Zhice had downplayed that onesimple sentence, yet he did not know how much blood had been spilt nor howdifficult it was. Very fortunately, humanity was victorious in the end. ‘To the victor go the spoils. His Majesty decided to build the Pavilion ofAscending Mist and hang all of the people’s portraits who had performedmeritorious services inside. I knew that my own portrait would certainly behung inside. However, it felt extremely weird because I always felt thathanging portraits was like honoring the dead. This was something that shouldonly be done after one had died.’ While reading this part that Wang Zhice had written, he unconsciously lookedaround. Borrowing the light from the Luminous Pearl, he looked at the severaldozens of portraits belonging to those worthy subjects and renowned generals. Afamiliar feeling blossomed in his heart, and the people within the portraitsseemed to stare at him silently in the soft light. Chills ran down his spine. ‘After the Pavilion of Ascending Mist was built, Daoist Wu began to help drawportraits of us. Not long after, Zhang Sun died, the Duke of Zheng died, andthe Duke of Wei also died….. All of those people who had their portraitshanging in the Pavilion of Ascending Mist slowly passed away. It was also atthat time when a rumor began to spread between us old men. It said that in thebeginning, His Majesty was the same as his father. In order to have victoryover the Demon race, he worked together with the Orthodoxy to make an offeringto the stars, and he succeeded in changing fate in the end. As for the offeringthat His Majesty had given to the starry sky, it was the souls of the twentyfour great subjects and generals within the Pavilion of Ascending Mist.’ ‘It was a wet day filled with autumn rain on the sixth day after Du Ruyu wasburied. Daoist Wu came out of the imperial palace and met us in secret. Thesaint of painting in Luoyang City who was originally full of high spiritalready had a head full of white air, and his eyes were filled with fear. Hetold us that once the portraits of the twenty four people were completed, hewould also die. I knew that he had heard of the rumor of His Highness defyingfate and had guessed something. I did not say anything and came up with a planto secretly send him out of the capital. It was said that he arrived in JialanTemple. The reason why I did not say anything was because I did not believe inanything like changing fate, including the nods from Emperor Taizu when he wasdrunk in the palace or what he had said before he had died. I thought this wasall a lie of the old man who was unwilling to step out of the limelight,scheming to regain his own authority and powers, and wanting to give thejourney of his life an even more mysterious feel.’ ‘I really began to think about the word Fate. I began to think whether EmperorTaizu and His Majesty had really used some secret technique to change Fatethrough an offering to the starry sky. That had occurred several months laterwhen Qin Zhong was already bedridden from his old injuries. I went outside fora rare opportunity to meet him, and I just happened to see Daoist Ji who wasordered to treat him by an imperial edict. Seeing Daoist Ji’s expression, Ifinally confirmed that this matter was questionable.’ While reading this paragraph and holding the diary, Chen Changsheng’s handsslightly trembled. Up until now, Wang Zhice’s storytelling finally began to tackle the heart ofthe matter. However, Chen Changsheng did not react so severely because of this,but rather the diary had mentioned too many names of legendary figures, forexample, that Elder Brother. He should have been Zhou Dufu who had defeatedEmperor Taizong in a single battle at Luoyang. And now, his master’s name wasactually mentioned. ‘When I was writing this down, seventeen of the twenty four honored subjectsfrom the Pavilion of Ascending Mist had already died, and it was almost myturn. During this period, I followed His Majesty’s wishes. I never took up aposition in the government, but I only taught at the Star Seizer Academy. If Iwanted to investigate these matters, it was a tad difficult, so I could onlyask Qin Zhong directly before he had died. I believed that even if the emperorhad used his loyal subordinates’ lives as an offering to the stars, he couldnot hide it from Qin Zhong. As I had expected, not only did Qin Zhong know, butYu Gong and a few other people also knew of this matter.’ ‘That night, I looked at Qin Zhong who seemed countless times older than heactually was, and he stayed silent for a very long time. I did not understandwhy he still calmly accepted it even though he knew and even though His Majestyhad told him the truth beforehand. Qin Zhong told me His Majesty, the emperor,had served him many times and saved him several times. So to give his life forHis Majesty was the right and natural thing to do.’ ‘There were many people like Qin Zhong and Yu Gong, who willingly sacrificedthemselves to His Majesty’s plans for world domination, but I was not included.I was unwilling.’ ‘The Lord wanted his subject to die, but the subject did not want to die.’ ‘His Majesty was suspicious of me for many years, but I only had the utmostloyalty towards his Majesty.’ ‘What Qin Zhong had said that night before he died was correct. I had nevercorrected my own position, and I had never treated His Majesty as my own lord.I was still that young, perverted scholar who had forgotten why I set out on myjourney. I still believed that His Majesty was that young, unrestrained princefrom before, and I still believed he was my friend.’ ‘The most important thing was that I could die for many things. Even when HisMajesty’s life was in jeopardy, I was willing to sacrifice myself. To bevictorious over the Demon race and to have the country maintain peace for tensof thousands of years, I was willing to die. In fact, when I was originally inthe fields of snow, I almost died countless times, but I was unwilling to dieas a sacrifice to the stars.’ ‘It was because I did not believe in such a thing.’ ‘I did not believe in changing Fate.’ ‘For Taizu to found the Zhou Dynasty, to take down Luoyang and the capital insuccession, and to ascend the throne in front of the Mausoleum of Books, it wasnot because he had really offered the lives of his sons to the stars norestablished his own Emperor Star. Rather he was extremely lucky to have suchoutstanding sons. Under some indescribable pressure, these outstanding sonscontended with one another, and they all burst forth with dazzling radiance onthe stage of Tianliang County and then the stage of the whole continent. ThePrince of Qi was an even more outstanding son among them, and he enduredpatiently with ferocity. The overall situation made him seem strong or evenperfect. Without these sons, how could the Chen family of the Tianliang Countyobtain the glory of today?’ TL Note: Where did the Chen family come out of you wonder? Taizu and Taizongare a part of the Chen family, the same family that revolted and the one ChenLiuwang is a part of. Basically, the previous emperor (and husband of theDivine Empress) was the son of Taizong, who passed away leading to a powerstruggle with the Divine Empress and the Chen family over the throne. ‘As for this thing called Fate, it could not be further from the guesses ofthe common people who did not know any inside information. Taizu led a greatarmy of thirty thousand eastwards through Fork Mountain and conquered seventeencities in a row. The last three battles were the bloodiest, as well as the mostdangerous, but he had never relied on Fate to escape the jaws of death.Instead, the Prince of Chu and the Prince of Qi borrowed three thousandwolfriders from the Demon race. As for breaking through the encirclement atLuoyong, he used a secret method to trick his enemies and commoners, but hecould not trick his closest subjects. The night when Elder Brother killed amassive number of people in the city of Luoyang, maybe other people did notknow, but how could I not know?’ ‘The reason why humans could defeat the Demon race was because of thecountry’s strength, the wise lord, the preparations, everybody pooling togethertheir efforts and wisdom, the alliance with the Fae, the tens of thousands ofcitizens devoting their lives to battle in the northern blizzards for six yearsstraight, and finally because the Demon race suffered from internal disorder.In order to suppress the groups of rebels, the wolfriders suffered heavycasualties. How did this have anything to do with changing fate? As for thetwenty four lauded subjects being offered to the stars? Their deaths wereindeed questionable, but to me, it was just an approach of His Majesty to unitethem through joys and sorrows as their lord. They just died together.’ On the very last page of the diary, Wang Zhice wrote in this way. ‘In the beginning, the human world lacked paths. The paths only formedunderneath our feet while we walked. They depended on how we walked and how wechose our position.” “Our position was relative. If I viewed the lord as lord, then I was hissubject. If I did not view anybody as lord, then I was not a subject.” “Therefore, there is no such thing as Fate, but only choices.”