“Of the three great divine mountains of the Great Wild, Buzhou had already fallen, and Kunlun was the forbidden place of gods, closed to all mortals. That left Penglai as the only one that could shelter and protect the living beings on earth…but not all. There were too many of them. Of the humans, the wu, and the yao, the mountain could hold only two. The rest of them would have to wait for Nüwa to prepare the Stones of Many Hues and repair the sky. Their fate was up to the Heavens.” Shen Wei suddenly stopped for a moment. “‘Up to the Heavens.’ I despise that phrase.”
“Then wouldn’t they start fighting each other?”
“Shennong originally thought that, as the Mountain God, you would be biased toward the wu and the yao, casting humans aside,” Shen Wei said. “He wanted to personally lead Zhuanxu up the mountain to see you, but you surprised him. You set up an array at the foot of Penglai Mountain. It was a simple altar holding Chiyou’s head, right in the middle of the path up the mountain. The yao had always worshipped Chiyou as their ancestor, so they immediately knelt to pay their respects. And the humans, having had the Yellow Emperor, Xuanyuan, at their helm, also worshipped Chiyou as a war god. Therefore, Zhuanxu had the humans stop and stand behind the yao with their heads lowered in respect. Only the wu ignored it completely. In their hurry to claim a spot on the mountain, they offered neither respect nor worship. They walked past Chiyou’s head as if it wasn’t there, and the moment they passed by, Chiyou’s head vanished and the true path up the mountain materialized. The wu, having already gone past, were deceived by illusion and trapped in the abyss below the mountain.”
That, then, was why the yao sang about the fall of Buzhou Mountain. That had been their chance to overtake the wu. They finally had a solid place on the land of the Great Wild, on equal footing with humans…even if it didn’t last more than a few years.
“You took me with you, and we walked across the Great Wild, which was filled with wailing,” Shen Wei said. “From Kunlun Mountain to the peach blossom grove, and from the grove to Penglai Mountain, I watched you save people, slaughter gui that were feeding upon humans, and get dragged into the war between the different races. We gui had always viewed each other as things to be consumed. We had no sentiment for our own kind. Back then, I didn’t understand anything. I didn’t understand what they were fighting about. I just thought it was wasteful that you killed without eating. And all the while, you became more and more silent.
“Come, let’s go up the mountain.” Shen Wei turned and wrapped an arm around Zhao Yunlan’s waist. Lights blurred across Zhao Yunlan’s vision, and an instant later, they arrived at the foot of Penglai Mountain. With one leap, Shen Wei took Zhao Yunlan up to the peak.
From that great height, no lightning could be seen. There was only the sky, so dark and heavy that it seemed about to fall. Layers of mist billowed off the ceaseless rain, carrying an indescribable stench.
There, at the peak, Zhao Yunlan saw Nüwa. She was alone among the clouds, long snake tail extended behind her. Below, Kunlun-jun and the young King of the Gui watched her from afar. At this point, Kunlun-jun looked nothing like he had when first visiting the Place of Great Disrespect with Shennong. He was skinnier now, making his already-pronounced features seem ever wearier. His gaze, however, was bright and resolute; his eyes were like burning torches on his gaunt visage.
Nüwa turned, worry written across her beautiful face. “Kunlun, what if Shennong was wrong?” she said. “What if we were all wrong?”
Kunlun-jun’s hands were tucked into his sleeves. His sleeves and sash billowed wildly in the fierce wind. “If we’re wrong, we’re wrong,” he said serenely. “In that case, we’ll atone with our lives and die for the cause. Then, when the Great Wild once again gives rise to a stronger, more powerful person like Pangu, he will learn from our mistakes and finish what we couldn’t.”
Nüwa sighed, her brows relaxing. “You’re right. Shennong was wrong once, and I hope he won’t be wrong a second time, but…even if he was, we can no longer turn back. You’ve grown up so much, truly. It makes me feel that even after I die, I can safely entrust this piece of land to you.”
The mere words of the primordial gods held power. No sooner had she spoken than Kunlun-jun felt the immense pressure crash down upon his shoulders. But he didn’t move an inch. Not even the King of the Gui behind him noticed anything wrong.
Kunlun-jun extended a palm to catch the rain falling from the sky, carefully feeling the crushing weight of the heavy sky and earth pressing down on him.
“I recently came to understand something, actually,” he said. “Humans are so weak and small. They can never be free of the three worms—greed, rage, and delusion. Their six senses are tainted. They’re stupid and nearsighted, violent and drawn to conflict. Why were such great merits bestowed upon you for creating such useless things? Why do the Heavens keep choosing humans over and over?” Kunlun-jun squinted into the sea of rolling clouds in the distance and the Stones of Many Hues hidden among them. “Now I understand. Humans are what most resemble the Heavens, the Earth, and us.”
“How so?” Nüwa asked.
“From the moment they’re born, humans know that they will die. Each day brings them one step closer to death, whether they be heroes or cowards. Dozens of years vanish like smoke at a snap of the fingers, after which every single one meets the same end. It’s as though they were born to die,” Kunlun-jun said softly. “But look. Every day that they are alive, they struggle fiercely for warmth, food, power, riches, love, another day to live—anything you can think of. They escape from the jaws of death countless times only to perish in their final struggle, completely exhausted.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” Two voices spoke as one, as the young king by Kunlun-jun’s side and Shen Wei by Zhao Yunlan’s side opened their mouths at the same moment. To Zhao Yunlan’s ears, the youth’s bright, clear voice and the man’s richer, lower timbre formed a strange duet. He had the sudden sense that it was he himself standing there. He and Kunlun-jun bled together in his mind.
Fully formed words appeared on his tongue, leaving his mouth without his volition. His voice overlapped with Kunlun-jun’s from thousands of years ago. “Sealing the gui away was indeed unjust, but when the wu were trapped and washed away by the flood, the sin of their destruction fell upon me. I bear the guilt, but my conscience is clear. If the Reincarnation Cycle and eternal life that Shennong spoke of can’t be achieved—if we’ve failed, if we’re wrong, if we’ve created an even greater disaster…then it was simply a failed attempt in our continued struggle. If we all die, new gods will still come. They’ll be the next to struggle for eternal life, just like us—even though we know there’s no such thing as eternity, much as how all humans will eventually die.”
Kunlun-jun suddenly turned to look at the young King of the Gui behind him, and then his gaze swept past him. It seemed to come to rest on Zhao Yunlan, several millennia in the future. Even though he knew Kunlun couldn’t see anything, Zhao Yunlan still felt as though he was looking back into his own eyes across the chasm of time.
“If ‘death’ is Chaos, then ‘life’ must be endless struggle.” The corners of Kunlun’s mouth turned up into something that was almost a smile. The ghost of dimples showed on his face. But if his smile was like that of a child, his eyes were those of an old man. “Nüwa, go ahead. With me here, you don’t need to worry about anything you leave behind.”
As he heard the entire conversation at last, Zhao Yunlan finally understood how Shen Wei had cherry-picked from such a compassionate, lamenting speech and given it a completely different flavor.
Nüwa gave Kunlun-jun a long look. The stones flashed, and a stream of brilliant, iridescent rocks flew into the sky, where they collided with the thick, heavy clouds. There came a great roar and an alarming explosion of thunder and lightning. All the humans and yao on the mountain bowed down and prostrated themselves at once.
The thunder continued for what seemed like ages, but finally it stopped. Several months passed before the sky cleared, but auspicious clouds eventually appeared, and the sun revealed itself once more, shining down on the wasted, scorched earth.