Chapter 247 Heavens Bane (2/2)

”You have a sharp mind, young one. That is true; only by experiencing death. Have you not heard of the Nirvana Realm; the highest rank up the ladder of power. But that is nothing but a travesty. No one has ever achieved true Nirvana before. This is what many dream of all their lives: to achieve Nirvana. But despite their ceaseless strife, many agonized and failed.”

Finally, Xiao Chen now fully comprehend the actual cost to achieve true Nirvana: death. Only by dying once, one had paid the toll of reaching the final destination of immortality. But it was too heavy a cost for most people to pay, especially after attaining great power. The risk was just too great. By dying, one risks entering Samsara and have all their efforts undone. ”Would anyone dare take such a risk?”

”Everything is nothing but hypocrisy! The Nirvana Realm, the Apotheosis Realm, the Grand Completion Realm, and finally becoming the allegedly-undying Immortal King! Everything is nothing but a sham! That is no true Nirvana! Even if I were to achieve the Supreme Realm, I would still be powerless again the rule of the Natural Law!”

”No one has ever achieved true Nirvana, hence no one has ever been able to escape the manacles of life and death. Hence, no one could truly wrestle the total dominion of all domains from the rule of Natural Law. This was why all seventeen Apostates of Heaven have failed!”

Xiao Chen did not remember himself falling. When he came to, he was already sitting; his knees had buckled at the revelation that everything he believed in was nothing but a farce. A blunt and ugly truth hit him: No one overthrows the rule of the Natural Law. The cost for achieving True Nirvana was nothing but a paradox the Natural Law has set in place to maintain its never-ending sovereignty upon all life. But only by achieving True Nirvana and toppling the status quo, the destinies of all life could once again be rewritten!

Xiao Chen flailed his head wildly from side to side to shake himself free from the pervading thoughts. ”No! This is the demon trying to corrupt me! Everything he said is in contrary to what Teacher had taught me! It's completely against Nature! We are the keepers of the arcane knowledge,” he remembered his teacher's words suddenly, ”We defend the Natural Law and everything that abides by it.” It was the Apostates of Heavens who had always been acting against what was right! It was they who had been trying to distort right and wrong! ”Demons, so they are,” Xiao Chen mused and said, ”what is its true intention actually?”

For the first time since coming in, he began to perceive more about his surroundings. A chilling dread snaked down his spine as he began to wonder if he had stumbled into a nightmare which he would never recover from... Then it hit him.

”Wait a minute! I had reawakened after thousands of years! Is that not dying once?!”

”Somebody had been trying, and had succeeded to resurrect me! This is all one large masterplan to ensure that I could achieve True Nirvana! But what is my role on this chessboard? Who are the hands that move the pieces?!”

Prior to this shocking epiphany, Xiao Chen had only the pursuit of the location of his teacher in his sights. He had continually suffered distractions or setbacks and had always dismissed them without much giving much thought, taking them as what they were. But now, he was beginning to think that there were more than it than that. He had always believed that it was his teacher who had arranged for him to be resurrected and she had brought him back to life because of her motherly love for him. But now, he was starting to worry. What if there was indeed another purpose to his resurrection?

”Why was Teacher trying to bring me back? Where is she now? Everything remains a mystery as long as she remains hidden!” Then again, there was something that he was certain of: his teacher would never stand alongside the Apostates of Heaven to defy the Natural Law! It was simply impossible!

”It seems that you too, have plenty of doubts that require answers, young one,” said the giant figure suddenly, breaking Xiao Chen's line of thoughts.

Xiao Chen looked up at him. ”I do,” he replied coolly, ”Too many, in fact. I would hope that I'd be able to reach true immortality one day. But I would NEVER become the Eighteenth Apostate of Heaven. Never.”

He could only guess that everything had been part of something, or somebody's elaborate scheme; from the beginning of his death, to his resurrection, and until now. All to ensure that he conquered Death.

”WHY?!” The lumbering figure roared with incredulity.

”Because I'm looking for somebody. She is the most important person to me and I have been devoting my life to search for her. And I will. I must. Natural Law be damned,” Xiao Chen said, his voice still and placid.

”She is the love of your life?”

”No. She's my Teacher and she is the reason I still live. If she's already dead, then I'll do my best to resurrect her. Even if this is against the will of Heaven, even if it costs my own life.”

There was a moment of silence between them until the shadowy figure began to laugh with amusement. ”I see... I see now...”

”What is it that you've seen, Senior?” The giant's murmurs suddenly drew his attention. ”Did you see the person I'm looking for? Where is she?”

The giant ignored him. His thunderous laughter never stopped rumbling, until he finally paused and boomed, ”We've been talking for more than an hour, young one. But it has been three days in your world. Go back. My body is no more and my soul is damaged, but I'll endure. Remember me—the great demon, Heaven's Bane!”

”Heaven's Bane?! It sounds strikingly similar to the Heaven Exterminator, the First Apostate of Heaven.”

”Indeed,” said the giant figure, once again guessing Xiao Chen's mind, ”It is the First whom I had the most respect for. Hence I forsook my own name and named myself Heaven's Bane as a tribute to him.”

The figure finished speaking and swung his large sleeves like a huge wing and slowly vanished before Xiao Chen felt everything went dark around him. When he woke up, he found himself back on his bed. Everything was like a dream just now; surrealistic and other-worldly. His mind was more refreshed now, no longer languid and lethargic now that he was out of the Heaven's Bane's domain of influence.

”So, Heaven's Bane, eh?” he mused. The name still sounded ludicrous to him. A tad silly even. Only a child could ever come up with something as ridiculous as vanquishing the rule of the Natural Law. The Natural Law is not a dictator or a tyrant that oppresses all mortal beings. It was the most supreme set of laws that governed Nature and everything in it, such as the coming and passing of seasons and the growing and wilting of plants and flowers. It was absurd to think that one could wield enough power to overthrow the rule of the Natural Law, no matter who that entity was, be that the First Devil God of the Archean Eon or the most powerful Demon God.

”But what is actually this ”Natural Law” that the evil folk is referring to? Is it the same Natural Law that I know?” Something seemed wrong to him.

As he redirected his attention back to reality, he began to realize that he was not alone in his room.