Chapter 224 – The Cry of the Goose (Part Two) (2/2)

“I suppose this is it.”

Chen Changsheng said these words with some regret as he stood up and walked into the monolith hut.

Seeing the ice-cold monolith, as well as those lines which he had seen so many times he was sick of them, he shook his head. He thought to himself that his skills were truly still lacking.

For him, as well as all the other members of the grass hut seven, Xun Mei’s notebook had brought enormous benefits in terms of comprehending the monoliths. For Guan Feibai and the others to comprehend the monoliths so smoothly, the notebook had allowed them to draw closer to the wisdom of their worthy predecessor and achieve various enlightenments. As for the benefits he obtained, there were many points of reference.

In the notebook, Xun Mei had left behind many lines of thinking for comprehending the monoliths. For the Reflecting monolith alone, he had left more than ten, but in Wang Zhice’s notebook, which Chen Changsheng had found in the Pavilion of Ascending Mist, the first line he had read said that “The positions are relative”, and so what Chen Changsheng aimed to do was not follow those lines of thinking to comprehend the monoliths, but to completely avoid them and create a new path.

By means of observing the monolith inscriptions amidst the natural changes of heaven and earth, he would find an answer that was completely his own. This was how he wanted to comprehend the monoliths.

This line of thinking was most likely correct, but under his standards, it was far from perfect, or in other words, it was not pure enough. It was still a variation of the three most traditional and mainstream methods: take the idea, take the shape, and take the move. In other words, this method had still not broken away from those intrinsic lines of thinking.

He was unsatisfied, so he had spent the past twenty days in deep thought. Regretfully, he had not met with success.

Most importantly, it was just as he had told Gou Hanshi, his Dao was to follow his heart. He had always felt that all those methods, including those used by countless past experts and saints, were all wrong. He felt that the Mausoleum of Books and those monoliths still held some deeper meaning. That was what he wanted to see.

It was truly regretful that he did not have more time.

That clear and bright cry caused him to wake up. Time had passed too quickly. In the blink of an eye, only several days remained before the opening of the Garden of Zhou.

On the first day they entered the Mausoleum of Books, Gou Hanshi had asked him, did he want to go to the Garden of Zhou, or did he want to stay in the Mausoleum of Books for a bit longer. Back then, Chen Changsheng had said he was still thinking, but over the past few days he had made it clear to himself which choice he would make.

If he could not change his fate, or cultivate until the Concealed Spirit Realm, then he only had five years left to live.

Of course, he wanted to go to more places, see more sights, get to know more people.

He wanted to go to the Garden of Zhou, he demanded to go to the Garden of Zhou. Then, he would have to start comprehending the monoliths.

Thus, he began to comprehend the monoliths.

He lifted his right hand and pointed at some place towards the top of the monolith. “This is the character for ‘house’ (家).”

With the angle of light at this moment, amongst the complicated lines on the surface of the monolith, several of the shallower lines seemed to float in the light. One could faintly make out a character in these lines.

Then he pointed at another place on the monolith. “This is the character for river (江).”

Immediately, without pause, he pointed towards the top of the monolith at a mess of lines from which no one would be able to make out a character and said, “Gentle (淡).”

“Smoke (烟).”

“Reflect (照).”

“Eave (檐)”

“Autumn (秋).”

“Patch (丛).”

In the blink of an eye, he had, without pause, named twenty-eight characters, all of which were on the monolith.

The last character was light (光).

His voice was clear and bright, very similar to the cry of that goose. It was a voice of expectation, filled with that confidence and fearlessness of the unknown world.

Then, a cool breeze blew.

He vanished from in front of the monolith.