The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 1095: Dao Follows Itself

Ten minutes later, the awakeners returned to their spots around the bonfire. Sitting in the center, Baili Yi held himself with a serene composure like a preaching sage despite his gloomy gaze.

It was time for another round of questions and answers. The first to speak up was Ting Ting, who had been keeping quiet. She spoke in a low voice, “Mr. Baili, I want to ask what you and your mentor went through. How did you fail?”

That dredged up some heavy memories, it seemed. Baili Yi stayed silent for a moment. Then he picked up a piece of firewood and tossed it into the bonfire, sending embers flying. “It’s too long a story to tell. I’ll give you a summary.”

“In my mentor’s round, awakeners couldn’t collect all twelve of the Rune Circuits even until the end, and most didn’t die to the doomsday, but to a civil war.”

“Nothing surprising,” War Tiger commented. “Humans are always going to do what humans do.”

Baili Yi continued in a measured tone, “At that point, most humans didn’t believe that the world would be doomed. While they sought truth and power, they did not band together under the same banner, and they often fought for their beliefs or even selfish desires.”

“There was no leading figure like Qilin fabricating the Gates as a common goal, and there was no one like Dragon who unwaveringly believed in the existence of a way out.”

Baili Yi turned to Gao Yang. “And the Divine Scion of that round wasn’t lucky enough. They didn’t have the power to stop the Malediction when it emerged. The same was true of the other awakeners.”

“The ancient wisdom is right that concern sustains while complacency kills.” Muzitu smiled while waving his foldable fan, as if he was commenting on something unrelated to himself.

Vermilion Bird looked at Baili Yi. “So, your mentor’s round failed because of the Malediction.”

Baili Yi nodded. “With level 8 Painter, my mentor avoided the Malediction and the reset and trespassed to the next round—my round.”

“My mentor hoped that my round would be the one to succeed. He gathered awakeners and led everyone to look for hope. I only joined his organization and became his disciple at a later time.”

“He believed that while he had trespassed to my round successfully, the Gluttonous Snake had noticed him already. That much was evident by the fact that elite monsters kept showing up to kill him not long after his entrance. Coincidence wasn’t enough of an explanation. It must have been the interference of the Snake.”

“He believed monsters to be the byproducts of the clash between the Gluttonous Snake and the Heavenly Way, and the monsters’ cause, energy, monsterhood were likely from the Snake. Within the territory of the Heavenly Way, though, the monsters were also under its influence, which presented in the restrictions posed on monsters, as well as their personhood. The two opposing will reach a precarious balance in monsters.”

“So that’s the switch in a monster,” Nine Frost mused.

“The previous round was the round humans were closest to success,” Baili Yi said with regret. “We found the twelve Rune Circuits and fought and defeated the pride monsters. But then the Malediction descended and merged with many Forlorn Ghosts to become a terrible abomination. In the end, our Divine Scion managed to kill the Malediction at the price of their life. Then what followed were the ones that concluded our run—the seven death monsters.”

“The seven death monsters are likely the amalgamation of the sins of the humans who exist yet don’t exist. They are incredibly powerful and impossible to predict. Without our Divine Scion, we were no match for them—”

“Apologies, allow me to stop you here,” Gao Yang spoke up. “What is the first Talent the Divine Scions in your mentor’s round and in your round acquired?”

Baili Yi said after a moment, “Judge for my mentor’s round, and Absolute Defense for my round.”

It seems that Divine Scions differ in each round, Gao Yang thought. I may be the only one with a system.

“Lucky was the Talent you awakened with, wasn’t it?” Baili Yi asked.

Gao Yang nodded readily. “Yes.”

“The Divine Scions are all born between a life monster and a human, but there doesn’t seem to be a pattern in the Talents they acquired.” Baili Yi continued down memory lane. “Then we had a showdown with the seven death monsters. My mentor called it the Battle of the Curtain Call.”

“Humanity lost in that fight,” he said simply, but his grave tone suggested an unbearable tragedy. “After my mentor’s death, I acquired level 8 Painter. At that moment, I realized that I couldn’t die yet. I had to survive somehow and become the next time trespasser, going to the next round and carrying the torch my mentor and our companions had lit. That was how I got here, with all of you.”

Vermilion Bird frowned and said with frustration, “Then why didn’t you show up earlier? Had we been more prepared, we wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

Baili Yi shook his head. “I must not do that.”

“Why?” asked Zhang Wei.

“The night before the Curtain Call in the previous round, my mentor had a conversation with me.”

Baili Yi waved his right hand. His energy rose above the bonfire, painting a scene of silhouettes in the air. Through a quaint window, a desk came into view. A candlestand held a single flame, its wavering light illuminating two figures sitting across from each other. On the left sat an old man with a long beard, and on the right, a young man.

Their conversation unfolded in speech bubbles, like an animated comic floating above the fire:

“Baili, have you calculated the battle tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“And the result?”

“Certain defeat.”

“...”

“All three thousand chess games led to losses.”

“...”

“But one game’s result is beyond my calculation.”

“How can that be reached?”

“...”

“What got your tongue?”

“Tomorrow, I won’t be joining the battle.”

...

“Hahahahaha!”

“Why are you laughing, sir?”

“I’m laughing at my foolishness! What a fool I’ve been!”

“Foolishness?”

“This old man is wrong, Baili. This old man has doomed you all.”

“Sir, you’ve done all you could—”

“That’s exactly my mistake!”

“I...do not understand.”

“Everyone and everything follows their own cause and effect, child, yet I, a mere mortal, dare to try and manipulate it! What hubris! What a terrible mistake!”

“We must go against heaven to change our fate, sir. While it may be arrogant, it shouldn’t be a mistake, should it?”

“A life has to direct themselves to their way out. A fate has to lead itself to change.”

“How so?”

“That is the Heavenly Way! They guide all lives but never dictate. They have long told us the way to save this world!”

“...Dao naturally follows itself.”

“That’s right!”

“...”

“It is not too late, thankfully.”

“What do we do, sir?”

“You’re not going to the battle tomorrow.”

“Then?”

“Wait patiently. When a flow emerges, dao, the path, follows.”